Why I chose to remove animal products from my lifestyle
I’ll never forget when my brother said: “How can you tell when someone’s a vegan?”
I said: “How?”
“They tell the whole world!”
Too funny and amazing at the same time! Why? Because I shared exactly that over on Instagram 4 weeks ago. Sharing my passions with you daily is my whole 365 mantra. Yes, I know it’s only been 4 weeks but I am super proud of me and my entire family for supporting my journey and being so committed to eating and using less animal products in their everyday life.
Without writing a thesis, here’s why I chose to remove animal products from my lifestyle (and scroll down for the 5kgs I’ve lost during this process too!) ;
Cows Milk belong to their baby calves not human beings
Or any other animal milk for that matter. As a mother of four healthy children I was told after breastfeeding them for 18-20 months, to continue their milk supply from a cow. How stupid was I? Correction, uneducated. I am their mother, not the cow. Besides we are the only mammals on the planet that continue drinking milk after our infancy, so it made no sense to me whatsoever to continue dairy in our household. Soy and nut milk lattés here I come! To read more about what I researched check this out and Cowspiracy.
Besides a recent Harvard study also proved that we must remove dairy from our everyday diet;
Animal rights and factory farming
I personally feel the animal agriculture industry is causing such suffering, deaths (over 56,000,000,000 billion animals are slaughtered each year!) not to mention environmental degradation to us humans as well as animals that deserve a good life on this earth. Who are we to kill and eat them? By eating meat and dairy products we are causing major global warming issues, pumping all these toxins and poisons into our bodies and the rest of the ecosystem.
Here’s a video I watched and shared with the kids and Adrian (they had no idea animals didn’t see the light of day or fresh air and water.) Instead they see them packaged in the meat department at our local supermarket! Factory farming needs to stop and we can Make It Possible. Another good documentary to watch is Forks Over Knives.
Humanity
A close friend in social media left me a comment saying I was a little extreme waking up the next morning and telling my family I went vegan overnight! To which I replied;
“I’m all about making an EXTREME change but it’s not about me. It’s about the animals, our water, world hunger, compassion, the rainforest, wildlife, our health, peace, our world but most of all LOVE for humanity this is the real EXTREME change behind me choosing a vegan lifestyle for me.”
When I know something is not right, I stop doing it. That's why I couldn't go vegetarian as it was pointless drinking animals milk and eating eggs when it's still belongs to them. Eggs to me are life so I now view it as improper vs my once upon a time request for soft poached eggs on sour dough toast.
Even religious comments were left about God has given us animals for our consumption but they totally forgot about one on the most major commandments in the Bible “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” End of story for me, I just don't want to be part of anything that has to die for me to eat or wear. NO MORE!
There is no humane slaughter. I want to feel compassion and humane in all the things I do in my daily life and eating meat or using any animal products is no longer part of who I am. I know, it took me 43 years but better late than never.
It was also one of Gary Yourofsky presentations (he also replied to my comments on that video below) that sealed my decision to choosing a vegan lifestyle.
Along with this Instagram video (may I just warn you this is quite a disturbing video but it's what made me realise I don't need to eat eggs anymore) it's footage taken from a Victorian Hatchery discarding baby male chicks and mulching thousands of them to death! Remembering male chicks don't lay eggs so no profit for the egg companies!!!
Even if my family and I can make a difference and rescue a small handful compared to the billions of other animals that need to be rescued, I want to be that change. We need a place of hope in our world, animals are being terribly mistreated and I don’t care about the organic farmers, allowing animals to graze on their green pastures, killing them with kindness is still inhumane.
We can’t rescue them all but you can make a difference today and share this with your friends. I am learning each and every day so if you are reading this and have some information to share, I would love to hear from you.
Together we can make a difference in the world.
What a beautiful tribute this painting brings. . .
"My mother is the earth, my father is the universe, my temple is in nature, and the animals they are my friends." So beautiful. . . we are one 🌱🌏
I would love to continue this conversation with you, please leave your comments below or on today's Instagram post as I'm here to continue to share my healthy and happy lifestyle to motivate you everyday!
PS: not to mention I lost 5kgs when I removed all my butters, eggs, cream, milk and meat!
BIG love to We Are Veganuary for the challenge!
XxDani