Day 18 of Veganism
It’s been 18 days since I embarked on my journey of becoming a vegan. Previously I reported on my progress on Day 5.
Since then I have had a lot of people question, discourage and support me. Although it is disheartening for people to poke fun at my decision I believe it’s because they do not know their facts. Or they want to be right.
All in all, everyone makes a choice as to what they want their life to be. I do not judge or turn my back on people who choose to eat meat. This is what I want my life to be like and no one is going to break me away from that. I’m always up for a good challenge though!
Lauren commented on a few things in my last post. Which I’d prefer to answer here.
- My hunger has evened out already. Which is a huge relief. The annoying feeling of an empty stomach was starting to irk me. While buying a lot of groceries has saved me money it is difficult to eat out now. Because vegan restaurants in the Seattle area are not in every neighborhood (especially in mine) it is hard to get by with eating out. Not to mention my friends don’t find it easy to go out with me or cook food for me. Sad, but true.
- “Are you also getting rid of leather, silk and wool?” I have not discarded or sold any of my animal byproduct clothing. I do have a few pairs of shoes and boots that are made of suede and leather. I have a few jackets made of wool. I decided not to get rid of these items purely on the fact that it’s the middle of the winter and do not have money to purchase new jackets. Also, while this is a huge life decision it is also an experiment for me. Ultimately my goal is to become vegan for life but am still waiting to see how long I can survive. The last step in becoming a true dedicated vegan is choosing to buy animal free products including clothing. I previously discovered earth and animal free clothing while writing Eco Sexy.
I am still getting used to the whole idea of being a vegan. As crazy as it sounds I look forward to more challenges.
Comments
Lauren Oujiri
Hey Sophia – great progress, congrats. I still have friends that are sort of uncomfortable about my vegan life and we don’t eat out as a result. I totally agree on holding onto the wool and all for now. As I mentioned in my article about going vegan, it is a long process, and the right way is however works for you. It is a good challenge to take up!
Pax.
Greg Horne
I am 1 month away from a year without meat! April first is my day of celebration. I just wrote an article about a meal you all might enjoy here:
http://www.greghorne.com/blog/?p=323
Field roasts are awesome.
My experience has been 4/5 vegan most of the time. Breakfast is vegan, lunch is mostly vegan, and dinner is usually always vegan.
The rest of the time I may have a bit of cheese if the eatery I am at just does not work perfectly. Admittedly hanging out with non vegans has not always worked out to 100% vegan.
I had eaten some vegi egg roles from Trader Joes that have egg product in them. I suppose as long as the egg comes from happy healthy chickens…
My biggest success has been discovering that all my friends are extremely supportive. Most started buying alternative vegi/vegan products just to test them out, some that I have not even tried. So that rocks.
Keep up the good work!
nathan
My girlfriend is a vegan and i’m a “mostly vegan” (i eat eggs, but no dairy). We are sort of conflicted on the issue of non-food animal products. She comes at this from a perspective of our treatment of animals and stands opposed to supporting industries that exploit animal life to make products. I am an environmental scientist and have a lot of beef (!) with CAF’s and other aspects of the animal industries that wreck ecosystems in the name of profit. While neither of us would buy a fur coat or anything like that – that can be easily substituted for other natural materials, there are some things that cannot be replaced (and stay as environmentally friendly) by non-animal products. An example is footwear. If it’s not leather or fabric, it’s generally made from petroleum based plastics that will not biodegrade. They are forever, on a human time scale. So you really have to pick and choose, and it takes a thoughtful, open-minded person to objectively weigh the consequences of each decision. Good luck!