About Veganism: Take off those blinders!

 (originally posted on Nov. 1st 2012)

Happy World Vegan Day & Month to everyone!

Due to this occasion this post will be about Veganism. What it actually is, what it means to me/why I am a vegan, what I struggle with as a vegan and whatever else I can get from the top of my head. If you don't want to read this blog post, please at least look at one or two of the links below :) Thank you.
In general what most people view as a vegan is someone who does not consume any animal products whatsoever. No eggs, no milk or milk products, no honey and obviously no meat. There are different kinds of vegans though. There are vegans that are motivated by the aspect of morality, and those also do not buy products made of leather, wool, silk or any other kind of fabric made from animal products. Depending on the person, they might also be against any kind of animal experiments or animals used for entertainment. Other vegans are solely "health-vegans" and only pursue a vegan lifestyle in those areas that benefit their health. Meaning they might still buy leather, etc. Lastly, there are those vegans that are motivated by moral and health aspects in equal measure. I count myself to the last kind, although I must admit that at first I was only morally motivated.

I started out as a vegetarian in 2006 after an endless seeming odyssey of telling my parents that I am serious about it, that I am informed about the health facts, that I am NOT going to be anorexic and the usual things parents that have been “brainwashed” by the omnivore-industry since…ever worry about. There was not a specific event that made me start, but it was rather the constant feeling that it is wrong and disgusting to eat dead bodies. I continued to be very content with being vegetarian and due to lack of knowledge and probably partially lack of motivation to look into it further I never really considered veganism. I thought they were crazy and just going too far with this. Also, from what I was taught in biology classes at school I thought it was unhealthy. You know, because you “need cow’s milk to get strong bones” and such. Well, in July of 2010 I researched more about it and I decided to give it a try. I could only do it for one month though, because I probably was not informed good enough and it was also only one month before I left for my exchange year to the US. Since I barely got a spot in the program being a vegetarian I didn’t dare to be “even more complicated”. Against popular belief the US is probably the most vegetarian friendly place I’ve been to so far. There are so many more options for Veggies over there! You can just go to your city’s grocery store and buy vegan Mac’n’Cheese or Tofurkey

(turkey made of tofu). Austrian grocery stores aren’t quite there yet, but they are on the way. My favorites here are vegan Bratz (Bratwürste)

and definitely oat or hazelnut “milks”. Also, you can buy vegan cheese in online shops. Since I have never done that yet I can’t recommend any specific cheese. When I am back in the US I will, however, definitely try “Daiya Cheese”. It is said to be the cheese most similar to cow’s cheese concerning the melting ability and also taste. Anyways, back to the original topic. Finally, in February 2012 I started looking into it again and I also chose it as the topic for my final exam paper in Biology. I ordered the book “The China Study” which is often called the “Vegan Bible”, at least concerning the health aspects of veganism. It obviously convinced me completely and I totally recommend EVERYONE to read it! It will open your eyes. The struggles I have with veganism are by far not as bad as I imagined them to be when I started. It for sure is inconvenient at times but once you are in it with all of your heart AND brain you will not give it up again for the momentary pleasure of a muffin that yells at you to eat it. What is most important to me when talking about veganism is that it is not at all about being perfect. Nobody will ever be perfect, as much as one might try. The important step is the “trying”. The only real struggles that veganism brought into my life are the people that can’t deal with it. It is very hard for me to explain why I am vegan to people when they ask me, because most people won’t understand no matter how well I explain it. Some won’t understand, because they don’t want to and some try to understand but eventually keep running against this wall that has been created in their heads by school, parents and media over the years. I get really frustrated when people make these nonsense comments like “vegans eat my food’s food” or “plants have feelings too”. It offends me in a way that I can’t even begin to explain. It is just so rude to joke over a topic like this. After all, this topic is about killing and abusing innocent beings, so I really cannot see how anyone can talk about it as if we were talking about our different opinions on the new Twilight movie. The worst thing for me about being vegan is being with people that make jokes like this. Being friends or even family with people like this is hard, because at some point I will eventually lose my respect for them the same way they have lost any respect for suffering beings.
I don’t even really know where I am going with this blog post anymore. I really suck at organizing my thoughts. Must be the lacking nutrients (haha). Well, I’m just hoping that slowly more and more people will open their eyes and really see and comprehend what is going on. I wish I could put all my thoughts down the way they are in my head. But I can’t, also because there are waaaaaaay too many thoughts. This is why I am going to put a few links below this post for the ones that might want to look into the matter further. And don’t worry, they are not PETA videos of any kind of animal abuse. Although, I highly recommend you to watch videos like that if you are one of the people that pay others to kill animals in order for you to get your tasty steak.
Thank you so very much for reading this post! I know that you are an amazing person as it is, why not be even more amazing by not supporting any sort of animal cruelty anymore?

Links:
The China Study: http://www.thechinastudy.com/
Shell123ey's Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RK-_xmM4Hbs 

Gary Yourofsky “The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear” (he will also answer emails if you have questions for him!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=es6U00LMmC4
The Vegan Zombie (cooking show): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0YIRF-9_Lc

Ellen DeGeneres about being vegan http://www.ellentv.com/categories/going-vegan-with-ellen/

Katie Lynn :)