Veganism

Hello guys, I hope you’re all well and that this year so far has been kind to you. I felt it would be fitting to post about my journey towards being vegan, given that it’s the last day of Veganuary!

Some of you may know aleady but I have been vegan for the last 6 months or so. I thought it would be a good idea for me to explain the reasons why I went vegan, how I found it and how I feel now.

I have been vegetarian all my life, so it could be argued that the transition for me wasn’t substantial. That being said, the truth is, I loved cheese. Halloumi, camembert, cheddar, cottage cheese (or paneer), gouda, mozzerella, Boursin. The cheese board at Christmas was my ultimate favourite and as good as I was being with my diet, I could not resist slathering the crackers with cheese and chutneys. I also used to consume an entire pint glass of green-top milk at dinner with my saak and rotli (curry and chappati). So it’s safe to say that I thought I would find going vegan pretty challenging.

I was never really the one to preach to others that they have to be vegetarian and look down on those that weren’t. Each to their own, I thought. If they want to eat meat, seafood or whatever, let them! As long as they don’t force me to eat it, I couldn’t care less.

Now, that could be due to the fact that I was only vegetarian because my parent were vegetarian and so were my siblings, so there was never any meat in my household and I didn’t grow up around it at all, therefore I wasn’t really tempted to eat meat whatsoever.

More often than not, we are trained to mirror what our parents or siblings taught us, which makes sense as they are our first teachers. However, there comes a point in your life where you will (naturally) question what you have been told is right or wrong.

I was always under the impression that as my family was vegetarian, that I had to be to. I never felt that anything was missing from my life or that I was eating something I shouldn’t be because that was how I was brought up. I thought that adult humans needed cows milk, cheese, or any dairy product because I saw that my family was consuming those things.

Mid lockdown last year, I watched a couple of documentaries on Netflix which made me think hard about what I am consuming and the kinds of food I am fuelling my body with. That was when the penny dropped and my mindset and thoughts changed. Once I finished those documentaries though, I knew what I had to do.

For those of you asking, I watched What the Health and The Game Changers. It opened my eyes about a whole range of topics like protein, animal welfare, diseases (heart, cancer etc.), health, performance – just to name a few!

In total honestly, I haven’t found going vegan that hard. I was never really a fan of yoghurt in the first place, so not being able to consume that was fine for me. Milk wasn’t hard to replace as I now use soy milk in my oats, tea, coffee and baking. The only food I found difficult to replace was cheese, so much so that I barely even touch vegan cheese anymore! The strange thing is though, I don’t feel like I’m missing out.

Six months in, I feel lighter, healthier and happier. I take my time when I go shopping, reading ingredient lists and nutritional information because I want to be consuming the right kinds of food, but it could be said that you should do this anyway, whether you are vegan or not.

If you haven’t done so already, then I would definitely recommend to watch these two documentaries, if not to become vegan then at least to just expand your knowledge about the food/farming industry.

“People eat meat and think they will become as strong as an ox, forgetting that the ox eats grass.” -Pino Caruso

If you have any questions please feel free to message me! Also, if you took part in Veganuary, let me know how you found it and whether or not you will continue. I would love to know your thoughts!

Stay safe everyone! X