Wow! It’s been a long time. I was taken by
my doctoral exams and then September just flew by, I did not ever realize it! I
feel like it is time to talk about how I became vegan. I stopped at my hands
getting better treatment by using natural dishwashing soaps, and in general
natural household products. So my apartment was getting a gentle treatment,
free of harmful chemicals. I, on the other hand, was still using body products
that used parabens, and other harmful chemicals. Then I found this video while
going to a class. If you have 5 minutes, watch it!
I realized that the chemicals in our body products were just not regulated.
Worse, they were not tested in combination with one another! I realized that I
was putting on my skin a chemical pot-pourri of substances that were not
controlled or tested together for harm. If you are interested in checking what
is in your products, go to Skin Deep. Sometimes the information
is dated, but I still think it gives a good idea of what is in most products.
But to be honest, it seems incredibly daunting (and expensive!) to switch all
my body products to natural ones. Most natural products are more expensive than
base lines you will find in pharmacies. But they are certainly cheaper than higher-end
lines (that still have the same chemicals than base-line products). So I
started small: I started with trying new deodorants. I knew that aluminum was
controversial (it might be implicated in breast cancer) and tried several
deodorants. I think since then I must have tried about 8 different brands, out
of which I really liked 4. My favorites are Aubrey’s Organics roll-on, Lafferoll-on, Veleda Rose spray, and one I found in my current Natural Food Coop Herbal Aloe All Natural. (No I have not been paid by any of those
companies, I just want to share my finds).
I now have switched all products, except
one: perfume. I love perfume (you can tell I do have French genes in my body!).
As of now, I only spray perfume on my clothes and avoid putting it on my skin.
I tried several brands of perfumes (Burt’s Bee, Love & Toast – I do love
their hand moisturizer though) but I find that the smell does not stay long,
and it is not as strong as I like (although I do like the smell per se). I have
decided to not replace the perfumes I currently own, and hopefully by the time
they are finished I will have found suitable replacements!
When I met Cathy, it was the day she moved
in my apartment to become my roommate for 4 months. At that point I was not
eating too much meat, still drinking cow milk (although I stopped that same
semester, it was making me sick) and very much liking cheese (on pizza or
pasta). Cathy did not buy natural household or body products, but on the other
hand she was vegetarian, liked organic produce, and cooked every single meal
she ate (I am still impressed!). I think she thought I was intense about body
products, and I thought she was intense with her cooking from scratch all the
time, and being a vegetarian/temporarily vegan at home. She was also very
passionate about being a vegetarian. Although I did not decide to be a total
vegetarian while I was living with her, discussions with Cathy made me think
that maybe, if I was working so hard to have good household products and body
products, maybe I should care about the quality of what I put in my body.
I moved in with my current roommate, who is
pescetarian, and started to think more intensely about eating meat or not. At
that point I would still be buying 2 chicken breasts a month, eating fish, and
cold cuts of meat. After several months, I decided to just cut meat altogether
and labeled myself “pescetarian”. I was eating fish twice a week, and eating
tofu, some faux-meat, or cheese to replace the protein. I continued that until
last May when I started a 30 day vegan online program. I had heard about it the
previous year, my very good friend Sarah-Claude had wanted to take advantage of
the bring your friend special and split the cost. I was not ready the year
before, but this year, I felt like I needed a cleanse. The semester had been
rough, and I was still stalled on my weight shedding (I had too much
triglycerides too at the time). I thought that it sounded like a great idea and
started doing that.
I felt so good. I never felt bloated
anymore, I was cooking all the time (and loving it!), running was fun. I really
felt awesome and it was not hard for me. I felt like I did have some sushi
cravings (I like raw fish. I like raw meat too. Yes, I’m a freaky vegan lol),
but that was really easy to handle. During the 30 day vegan program, the host
was a 90% vegan type of person. I thought, oh that sounds good, maybe I can eat
vegan all week, but then have one meal of pizza or sushi (really the two things
I miss the most). So I pretty much decided I would do that.
During that online class, I also decided to
look at resources about veganism (why it is good, etc). I already owned several
vegan cookbooks, I knew I liked the food. I did not really liked the “oh you
have to be vegan what kind of a person are you for not being one!!! Poor
AnimalS!!!!” discourse. Not all authors are like that, and I actually do not
own any book of an author that says it so bluntly. I decided that I would watch
Forks Over Knives (Free on Amazon Prime) and listen to their arguments about
being vegan (I watched Food Inc some time ago, but I do recommend it, it is a
good movie to watch about the treatment of animals in the food industry). In
Forks Over Knives, we follow two doctors who have independently of each other,
reached the same conclusions: eating a plant-based diet is healthier. Eating
animal products raises the risks of heart disease, and has some carcinogenic
effect. Their studies and the evidence convinced me. After all, I had been
trying to be healthier all along. I felt awesome, and those studies showed it
was healthier for me! Sold!!! (By the way no more triglycerides for me! yay!)
I also discovered how much of a strain on
the environment it is to raise animal for meat. Foregoing animal products
actually means that my impact on the environment is more limited, and that is
something that goes along with other personal commitments.
I did not really care too much about the
animal protection part of the deal but really thought I could make a health
change by becoming vegan. But as I am now starting month 5 of being vegan, I
find myself thinking that the conditions animals are kept in are not good. That
having an industry of raising animal for meat is wrong, and defends moral
principles that are not mine. I read Veganist
[insert link], and was very moved by the descriptions of the treatment of cows
in the industry, the constant impregnation of cows, the taking of their calves
with which they bond instantly, the bad treatment in some of the farms… It just
made me realize how uncomfortable this made me feel. I find myself getting on
the fair treatment of animal wagon, and I never expected I would!
So here I am now, vegan. September is over and
the only animal product I had were 3 cupcakes from my friend Lili’s birthday.
The first 2 I ate to help her out (she had bought many and I felt like I could
help), and the last one I ate because I can’t have sweets in the house and not
eat them (yes Lili, you are reading this, but I was not the only one to have a
cupcake on Saturday!! Yes Rachel, I totally just dished you out). I felt bad
about that third one, but I really can’t help myself! Although usually I pass
easily on sweets that are not vegan, I just could not that day. All in all a
good month animal-wise! No sushi, no pizza, and really I realized I could get
protein at sushi places by eating edamame salad. That just leaves pizza. But I
also decided that if I want to cave in to the pizza call, I’ll buy organic
pizza.
That was a long post, but I hope you can
see that I never thought I would get to where I am now, that changes were always
incremental, and that for me, it was about the environment and my health,
rather than a compassion for animals, although it does end up I care about that
too!
See you soon with pics from the blueberry
picking and jam making from July, pics from apple picking, and hopefully more
recipe, and discussions!
