Going Vegan: Too Much Work?
The thought of becoming vegan has been floating around in my head for some number of years. I always thought I would eventually choose a vegan lifestyle. When Morgan introduced the 7 day vegan challenge, I was quick to jump on board.
A little background about my eating style:
In high school I stopped eating red meat. In college I gave up pork. About 4 years ago I gave up all animal meat except my beloved sushi. Three years ago, I easily became 100% vegetarian. Each transition was easy to make. Other than sushi, I’ve never struggled with giving it up. I’ve never had cravings for meat. I thought a week of eating vegan would be just as easy. I was wrong.
Telling myself I couldn’t have dairy or any other type of animal product immediately sent me into a hot sweat for frozen yogurt.
Ordinary things like recipes I’ve made “vegan” came into question as I learned about sugar. Eating brunch in my neighborhood, I had so few options I ordered a bowl of fruit.
My week of being vegan quickly became more work than I anticipated.
My commitment to consuming a glass of red wine led me to phoning the Hill Family Estate to find out if my favorite wine was vegan or not. They in turn had to call their wine maker to find out. Turns out all their wines except the chardonnay are in fact vegan. I however, didn’t wait for the return call before opening up a bottle.
That was Thursday, one day after I was 100% over the idea of this vegan challenge.
I trudged on in my pursuit of veganism until…
There wasn’t any soy milk in the refrigerator for my coffee at work at 5:50a.m. Hating black coffee, I didn’t hesitate to pick up the cartoon of 1% milk and pour it into my coffee. Yes, I cheated.
What did I learn?
#1) I have no desire to become vegan.
#2) My stomach did feel somewhat better than normal.
#3) I don’t care whether or not my wine is vegan.
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The health benefits of being vegan are exaggerated. In fact, vegans often have estrogenic side effects from too much soy and they are frequently deficient in B-complex vitamins and fatty acids, which are difficult to replace. In fact, there are no vegetable sources of Vitamin B-12. The reason some Indian vegans do not have these issues is because their food is dirty and they end up consuming insect parts. Cleaner vegetables in the US make a B-12 deficiency inevitable with a purely vegan diet. Vitamin B-6 is also an issue due to the form that is contained in vegetarian sources.
B-deficiencies can lead to both cardiovascular and nervous system issues. In fact, vegans may experience a large spike in cholesterol and triglycerides.
The biggest immediate benefit of being a vegan is a reduction of fat and some weight loss . The benefits are offset long term.
The two greatest factors with a measurable impact on health are exercise and total caloric consumption. If you exercise more, and eat less you will be healthier in general. However, biologically we are omnivores. We have a medium length intestine, most people have the genes to digest lactose through our entire lives, and most people have no problems digesting animal proteins.
The American diet needs some help, but being a pure vegan is not the answer. For children, it is actually a significant health risk.
I am not sure where you get your information, but I try to do research and know what I am talking about before I express my opinion. Look at the intestines of wild animals that eat meat...dogs, lions, tigers, etc...there intestines are are so short, long and short together is about 26 inches...the human intestinal tract is about 28 feet. No comparison there. Plus we do not have the nails or teeth to tear into the flesh. Also, milk is produced for one reason...to make babies grow and gain weight. Cow milk is there to make a 40lb. calf turn into a 2000lb. cow in a couple of years...not to mention the pus in the milk
Our intestinal tract is longer than a pure carnivore and shorter than a pure vegan animal. We have canines and molars. We wouldn't experience vitamin deficiencies on a vegan diet if we were meant to be vegetarians. All great apes are omnivores, supplementing their diets minimally with insects and mineral licks.
Dietary tolerances also vary by race and ethnicity. For example, people of color tend to be more lactose intolerant than Europeans. All aboriginal people consume animals and insects, making the claim that we evolved to be vegans very suspect.
Nutritional needs in humans vary, but we lack the multiple stomachs and very long guts of vegetarian animals. Should we eat less meat? Definitely! Is being a vegan the perfect diet for even a minority of people? The evidence is against this conclusion.
Our ancestors were omnivores because from an evolutionary standpoint it offers the best chance of survival.
The only reason we have any vitamin deficiency with a Vegan diet is because of what we have done to the soil. We have over sterilized our soil...where do you think that Cows and all other herbivores get their B12...they do not wash their grass and vegetables. There really is no evidence to support any dietary choices, except that animal products cause heart disease. The thing with scientific theories is that that is all they are. It is only considered true if no one has dis-proven it yet. And, as far as the teeth go, if you choose to believe you came from a wild ape may God bless you.
Animals either consume or manufacture their vitamins. In the case of cows and other vegetarian animals whose metabolism requires b12, they have bacteria in their gut that produces B complex vitamins. This is not a theory, it is a fact.
B-complex vitamins cannot be transferred from soil to plants. This is simply impossible. Any B12 you find on plants is from insect parts left on the plants. This has absolutely nothing to do with "sterilizing our soil."
Since dirt can carry a variety of nasty bacteria that could make many people sick, it is best to wash your food . If anything, ecoli and other diseases like hepatitis are typically much worse in a modern farm (see issues with spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.)
Like many other vitamins, humans can store some b complex vitamins in their livers. Some people have larger stores than others that can last months or even years. In a pure vegan diet, these stores are eventually exhausted. This is not layman theory, but an established fact. It also supports an omnivorous diet, where a particular vitamin source might be unavailable for a while but eventually re-incorporated later.
Also, your understanding of a scientific theory is incomplete. A hypothesis is a proposition that has yet to be disproven or fully supported through observation. A theory is based on established observations, physical evidence, and predictions that are then shown to be true. With your definition, I could say I have a scientific theory that blue turtles live under my house and since it has not been disproven, it must be a valid theory.
There is a very easy book that I recommend to everyone who obviously does not understand evolution or biology in general. It is called "Your Inner Fish," by Neil Shubin. You don't have to be a scientist to understand the content. It is very accessible.
We are by genus and species a member of the great ape family, which includes gorillas, chimps, orangs, and bonobos (pygmy chimps). We did not descend from these animals, but we share at least one common ancestor. The evidence is in our DNA. Read and educate yourself. Mother Jones won't have the scientific information you need to understand the world better.
True, our current teeth are not well adapted to tearing apart raws meat... but then our teeth are the result of an evolutionary process that cookingbplayed a part in.
I don't find being vegan hard, especially when cooking for myself at home. I use So Delicious coconut coffee creamer - it's amazing, I make my own vegan soft serve with my Vitamix (or food processor even)...or just buy the So Delicious vegan ice cream. The Earth Balance butter, Toffuti sour cream, Toffuti cream chese, Follow Your Heart mozarella, and Daiya cheese I've found to be very tasty - totally worth it to me to not have cholesterol when I eat "cheese" - and not to mention all of the bad/gross stuff that is in dairy...and lastly, contributing to a better life for a cow by not having to be milked hours on end per day makes it worth it for me.
I understand what you're saying when you go out to restaurants - but even now, a lot of pizza places are carrying soy cheese, here in San Diego. There are a lot of options out there, and yea, sure, maybe we all slip up from time to time - but the general idea is to minimize meat/dairy intake, whether it be for health or compassionate reasons.
I encourage you to venture out and give vegan another try - look up recipes on blogs for help. Good luck!
This is the problem with trying veganism without any education of the actual ethical component to it. Yes it is healthy but NO ONE sticks to a diet. How many people go on and off fad diets! The things that keep me vegan is knowing about the BILLIONS of animals that suffer as a product of our agricultural system. As such, I CANNOT consume animal products because I know I am contributing directly to their harm.
I don't know why you would even try this without educating yourself about these issues. I also think that veganism is a process and for those that REALLY want to be vegan, set a goal date and slowly phase out animal products. The process of finding substitutes and the new recipes takes longer than a week and for you to give up because it was too hard is TOTALLY LAME!!
Also- I feel like if you give up all animal products besides vegan wine, you're doing pretty damn good!
so if you don't want to be vegan and don't care, why write an article about it? Veganism isn't hard, for those who actually care about being began.
Rather then going vegan "cold turkey" a gradual buildup could work rather well.
I started some years back by cutting down on my meat consumption, and as I have adapted to vegetarian I've started making, more and more vegan meals (many vegetarian meals easily become vegan, in my experience).