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September 2nd of this year will mark my official one year anniversary of being vegetarian! There have been lots of new experiences this year as I tried to settle in to the "vegetarian groove". Let's start with why I decided to become vegetarian in the first place. As my friends know, I am a huge animal lover to begin with (especially dogs) so eating meat had always lightly weighed on my conscience. Up until halfway through last year, it was manageable, as long as I didn't think about the journey my food made from slaughterhouse to table. I made the common "ignorance is bliss" mistake and had been turning a blind eye to the horror show these animals were constantly put through. Slowly, I became more and more aware of what I was ignoring every time I ate a piece of meat. I began to feel guilty, imagining the poor little pigs when I ate bacon or the sweet eyes of the cow that now sat as a burger in front of me. It never occurred to me that being vegetarian was manageable, I never dreamed I would be able to live without meat. I mean, bacon, burgers, tacos...I have to admit that even now these sound tasty. But they also bring a sick feeling to my stomach when I let my mind wander. Eventually I decided to try being vegetarian, at least for a bit. I told myself that if I decided that I really needed an In-N-Out burger or if I couldn't resist a fresh taco, that I could always just get a fast meat fix and then go back to being vegetarian. And so on September 2nd, I started my new vegetarian diet.
At first, it was novelty, being able to go to a gathering or a friend's house and say "I can't eat meat...I'm vegetarian". As time went on, though, I quickly made a shocking discovery that is a common misconception against vegetarians. Not eating meat was not as hard as people made it out to be. I was sure that after a month I would be dying for a juicy burger...but instead I found as time went on that I became increasingly put-off by meat and the smell of meat. It's not that I didn't like it anymore, just that I didn't crave it as much as I thought I did. Sometimes the smell of frying sausages makes me feel sick and I have dreams that I've accidentally eaten meat or been forced to eat meat and I wake up a little freaked out, glad that I didn't actually cheat my diet. However, there have been a few times in my experience where mix-ups have occurred...
One of the most confusing things for vegetarians I think is gelatin. Gelatin is (by Merriam-Webster dictionary definition) a "glutinous material obtained from animal tissues by boiling" that is used in many candies and some desserts. It's difficult for vegetarians because you have to look carefully at the packaging of anything that has a jelly-like consistency. One example is gummy bears. However, what I didn't realize was that sometimes medicine can even have gelatin. My brother and I used to take these Vitamin D gummies, to make up for all the sunshine we used to get in California (Vitamin D comes from the sun) and I didn't think twice about the fact that they were gummies. I guess I just figured that since it was kind of a medicine that it wouldn't have it. Well about four months after September was when I finally figured out that they did indeed have gelatin in them. I felt so guilty that I hadn't realized it sooner. Eventually, I realized that things like this happen when you're on a vegetarian diet and you can't always know if something has a small trace of meat in it. Another close call was when my family bought some chocolate mousse for dessert but I didn't realize until one bite in that there was gelatin in it. The only thing I can say is to check the ingredients if you have any doubts and stick with what makes you comfortable. Personally, I don't eat things that have touched or come into contact with meat, but that's a personal choice. You can also choose to continue eating gelatin and candies with gelatin and just avoid main meats (although I think that's kinda cheating ;). In the end, it's your choice.
There is another term that you've probably heard called a "flexetarian". A "flexetarian" is pretty much someone who tries to eat less meat but still eats it occasionally or when it's served at a gathering. *Disclaimer* I do not mean to offend anyone who considers themselves a "flexetarian" and I do think it is still better than eating meat often. My personal opinion is that if you're "flexetarian", you might as well just go all the way. It's not as hard as being vegan so you might as well just do it. That being said, I am talking about if you are doing it for animal rights reasons.
The reason I went veggie is for animal rights reasons. A lot of people know about this, but choose to ignore it, which is really sad. A lot of people just aren't aware either of how animals are kept and raised. I feel the best way to get though to people is to face them with the truth. It's time to stop ignoring the real truth and it's time to stand up for these animals. They are still beings, even if they aren't as advanced as humans, and mistreating them and abusing them is not acceptable.
Warning: If you are sensitive or squeamish you might want to skip this part.
Let's start with chickens. Here is an excerpt from a book based around animal rights activists on how chickens are really kept.
"The birds are stacked in mesh cages, eight or ten levels high, with ten or twelve birds crammed into each tiny cage. Chickens get extremely frustrated being huddled together like that, so the farmers cut their beaks off as soon as they're born to stop them pecking each other.
Unfortunately, the beak isn't dead tissue like a horse's hoof, it contains hundreds of thousands of nerve endings and it feels about as painful as having your nose chopped off without being given any anesthetic.
After six weeks crammed inside mesh cages, without ever standing of a blade of grass, or seeing a glimmer of sunlight, the birds are ready for slaughter. This whole time they've been crapping through the mesh down on to the birds below them. Right at the bottom, the sticky white chicken sh*t is so deep that some birds' feet are torn out of their sockets as they're pulled out of it for the ride to the slaughterhouse.
Once they arrive, the chickens are hooked upside down onto a conveyor belt. A rotating blade is supposed to slit the chicken's throat. But chickens have a tendency to wriggle and the knife misses every seventh or eighth bird. Now, you might think that not getting your throat cut is a lucky break, but it's not. Because all the dangling, bloody, chickens keep rolling along until they're lowered down into a tank of boiling water to loosen off their feathers. And instead of having it's throat cut, the poor bird gets boiled alive."1
Yeah. It's bad. And bloody. And it's the truth. Now, this text is a little outdated, so full debeaking is no longer allowed, but unfortunately, beak clipping is still permitted in egg-laying hens whether caged or free-range. Instead of knives, farmers now use infrared lasers to do the cutting, but it remains just as painful to the chickens. Here are some quick numbers on chickens for you to look at:
-There are more chickens in the world than there are any other species of bird: more than 50 billion of them are reared annually for food.
-The British poultry meat industry produces approximately 875 million chickens, 17 million turkeys, 16 million ducks and 250,000 geese a year for consumption. (And that's just Britain!)
-Poultry accounts for around half (49%) of all meat eaten in the UK.
-Around 47% of eggs sold are free range.2
So that's the cold, shocking, scary, very real truth on how animals are treated. And that's just chickens. Imagine how cows and pigs are treated after hearing that story. It's sad and horrifying and not right. Animals may not be as intelligent as the human species, but they can still think and feel. You would never torture a human like that, so why is it okay to treat animals this way when they feel the same things? I don't believe in pushing my opinions on other people, but I really do think that this is wrong and that people should go vegetarian. I understand that some people can't for health reasons or because they don't have the resources, but for everyone else, it's not that hard and it makes a bigger difference than you think. That's why this September 2nd, I'm inviting all of you who are interested, who want to make a difference, and who care about animals and animal rights to go vegetarian with me and join the fight. Scientists say that there will not be enough food to feed the population by 2050 by following current water consumption ways and by continuing to use a lot of our water supply in processing animals to eat. However, we are also told that if humans cut down on getting their food from animal-products by 15%, we would be back on track for 2050. 3
Join me on September 2nd and make a difference for the animals and for the future.
Sources:
1. Man vs Beast by Robert Muchamore
2. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/24/real-cost-of-roast-chicken-animal-welfare-farms
Hi guys,
I hope you didn't feel like I was pressuring you too much! I just want to make people aware of the situation in the hopes that I can encourage others to support the cause. Be sure to shoot me a message if you plan on joining me on September 2nd! As always, thank you for your support!
Lorelei xx
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