As I've gotten more interested and invested in both cooking and my health I started to look around me for a good way to eat healthily after I was finished with pronokal and whilst I have had 'off periods' on this diet where I ate pretty normally (cooked my own meals and kept it lower carb but included fruit and dairy) I started looking at other options.On this quest I somehow stumbled upon veganism - specifically something called 'raw till four' then as a sideline fully raw and just everything vegan. I found it really interesting just because it was the complete opposite of what I was doing. I was eating less than 10 grams of carbs a day and no sugar whatsoever, not even from a natural source whilst this 'movement' was all about nothing but fruit till 4pm and then stuffing yourself on carbs.
I knew I could do this diet as it was no less extreme than the pronokal one I'd already embarked upon but ultimately I got annoyed before I'd even started. Not with the food on offer - with the people. As I started to do my serious research I started coming across more and more excessively obnoxious people and got irritated to the point where I didn't want to be anything like them. I wasn't going to come into this diet because meat is murder and milk is rape and blah blah blah wah wah wah. This change that I'm undergoing is for me and no one else. I came across the self righteous comments about 'true vegans' caring about the animals and their rights and if you didn't care about them and were doing it for yourself you weren't a 'true vegan'. There was so much infighting among the different 'sects' of veganism that it felt like a religion with break away factions and an attempt to gain knowledge often seems to be met with ridicule and cruelty. I had heard that consumption of meat makes a person aggressive and can say clearly that if that is the case there are a lot of vegans cheating on their diets.
There was so much condemnation and apparently it was so disappointing to each of these people personally that Ellen Degeneres ate eggs and how we as a human species are not omnivores but herbivores/frugivores (a comparison based on teeth and the length of our intestines for both of these different groups) despite the scientific evidence to the contrary (like lack of multiple stomachs and binocular vision and similarity to chimps who are also omnivores and...other crap - go look it up I'm too lazy to list everything) because 1) to say these things would not be beneficial to their purpose and 2) these two whole scientific studies said so! I don't know if they're ignorant or trying to play on the ignorance of others but I became annoyed yet again. Are you sensing a pattern here?
I think my pointing out that human beings are omnivores invited the response that I should go and hunt/kill an animal with my bare hands and eat its still raw flesh with blood dripping from my mouth about three times. I can only assume that this was meant to be off putting?
There was also the refusal to admit that anyone who wasn't vegan could be healthy and everyone who was vegan would automatically be healthier and roar roar roar rabble rabble rabble blood tests. FYI the only thing my blood tests showed was a deficiency in iron - so I ate more red meat and it's all good. And goodness help whoever decided that they didn't feel their best as a vegan and went back to eating meat as there is no one diet that suits every single person in this world - it's like living in a bad teen angst film, full of unnecessary drama and self appointed 'mean girls/boys'. 'ain't nobody got time for that.
A popular phrase was the 'benefits of the plant-based diet versus the meat based diet'. I found this to be yet another ridiculous statement. Not because of the health benefits but because of the 'meat based' description. I do eat meat quite happily but meat is not the base of my every meal - plants are. Yes my diet includes meat. I will eat some type of animal whether it is beef, turkey, chicken or fish at least once a day about five days a week (and on the other two I'll eat eggs - still an animal product), however, vegetables (or plants) are my lunch every day seven days a week and are always at least half of my dinner. Just because plants are not the only thing I consume it does not mean that my diet is not also 'plant based'.
There also appeared to be a belief that veganism would cure an eating disorder to which I will say that anybody who perpetuates that myth can go f*ck themselves.
Quite frankly I just found it ridiculous and the only thing that I was put off by was the notion of joining the ranks of veganism. Perhaps one day I'll reconsider but for now I may just keep eating meat out of spite. Not the world's greatest motivation I know but what can I say? They really annoyed me.
Ultimately the point of this post may make no sense to anyone who stumbles across it and that's okay because it was just meant to be a platform through which I may vent. If you are interested in exploring different diets, despite what I've said I would encourage you to look into veganism as an option for weight loss and health (if there wasn't something intriguing I wouldn't have looked into it as much as I did) but also to properly research before embarking on such a change. To be an omnivore (which we are whatever diet you follow) means that we have a choice on whether to include meat in our diet and despite what some people may inform you, barring some medical condition or just your own feelings on when you feel healthiest, meat is not necessary - we can get the nutrients we need (protein and B12 etc) from alternate sources so this diet is not as extreme as you may initially think but you should still be aware of what health concerns could crop up, and, after a few weeks, as with any diet, cravings will pretty much stop or you can find a way to satisfy them within the parameters of what you're eating.
To anyone who managed to read their way through this congratulations and I hope you make whatever choices you feel are right for you and your health in order for you to lead the best life you can.
Ellie.
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