Okay so I have decided that I no longer want to consume eggs and dairy. It's horrifying, especially after watching Vegucated, to learn that male chicks who will not produce eggs are ground up alive and put into processed meat or left in plastic bags to suffocate to death as they are thrown away. Cows used for milk production are forced to produce much more milk than is natural and if they contract mastitis, a painful swelling of the udders which produces pus and possibly fatal, some cows are not even given antibiotics. Other cows and chickens are constantly fed antibiotics whether or not they are required (as I learned in my Bioenvironmental Science Special Topics: Antibiotics in the Environment class). This force feeding of copious amounts of antibiotics has been linked to teratogenic (birth defect causing) and carcinogenic (cancer causing) consequences for animals and humans alike.
So as an informed and educated consumer, I decided that unless I know exactly where my dairy and eggs are coming from, I am just no longer going to consume them. As in, I decided to become vegan. For many omnivores or vegans, this may not seem like such a big deal since I am already a strict vegetarian...but giving up eggs and dairy (which I love!) is very difficult. They are what enable me to survive as a vegetarian at most restaurants. That being said, I had already stopped eating eggs for about two weeks and last night (after eating two packets of cheese crackers) that I needed to be healthier about my eating decisions. This morning at the doctor's office, the tactless weighing scale told me I had gained 16 pounds within the last year. SIXTEEN POUNDS. Unacceptable. Especially unacceptable as I have been suffering from knee injuries and will be having to attend physical therapy to recover and extra weight on my knee is just exacerbating my condition. The need to become healthier and live up to my morals came to the great confluence of a vegan lifestyle.
Here is what I ate today:
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| [image via angry-vegan.blogspot.com] |
So as an informed and educated consumer, I decided that unless I know exactly where my dairy and eggs are coming from, I am just no longer going to consume them. As in, I decided to become vegan. For many omnivores or vegans, this may not seem like such a big deal since I am already a strict vegetarian...but giving up eggs and dairy (which I love!) is very difficult. They are what enable me to survive as a vegetarian at most restaurants. That being said, I had already stopped eating eggs for about two weeks and last night (after eating two packets of cheese crackers) that I needed to be healthier about my eating decisions. This morning at the doctor's office, the tactless weighing scale told me I had gained 16 pounds within the last year. SIXTEEN POUNDS. Unacceptable. Especially unacceptable as I have been suffering from knee injuries and will be having to attend physical therapy to recover and extra weight on my knee is just exacerbating my condition. The need to become healthier and live up to my morals came to the great confluence of a vegan lifestyle.
Here is what I ate today:
- Breakfast: coffee made with almond milk and instant coffee powder and sugar in the raw & multi-grain bread with hummus; pretty healthy
- Lunch: guacamole/salsa with tortilla chips; not so healthy... but still vegan
- Dinner: spaghetti with a homemade portobello, onion, garlic, tomato sauce and spiced okra... pretty healthy but a bit carb-y
- Dessert: one big orange... I was desperately craving chocolate but all the chocolate in my house had milk in it, I need to remember to stop by at whole foods to buy some vegan chocolate and some coconut milk ice cream (yum!)
I think for my first day being vegan I did well and ate about 400 calories less than usual... and I feel full AND satiated! (Well mostly satiated minus the chocolate craving.) Once my body gets used to not eating so much sugar again I think everything will be a lot easier.
If anyone has any tips on going vegan, please let me know!
XOXO,
MissEcoChic
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