This Is Why I'm A Vegan

Why Am I A Vegan? Why You have only vegetables but not meat? Why not considering plants as also living things with feelings?

Even though veganism seems to be discussed widely on the internet, it is not so popular. Lots of people even have heard about veganism. I think I became vegan while I was in ninth grade ( 14 years). I even heard the word vegan until my dad had introduced the concept when we(my family) were having our breakfast.

After a few weeks, I realized that being a vegan is a great thing to do and decided to follow the strict plant-based diet. I was a Lacto vegetarian then. I became a vegetarian at my 12 years which was an idea that came to me after reading a lot of 'vegetarian articles and benefits' of it.

 But actually, I was a vegan in my thoughts and realized that I wasn't really when I came to know more about Veganism. I still used honey! My uncle and my father's close-knit friend Ratheesh was the first person who told my father that vegans don't use honey. Afterward, you could guess that I had quitted from using honey.

That night, after covering articles about vegan prohibited products, I really knew what a vegan was. That was the day I really became a vegan (at my 15 years).

I knew that Veganism was a concept that restricts maximum exploitation. Not only honey but also broccoli, avocado, and even silk and wool are included in their restricted items.

Among these products, silk is the cruelest exploitation. Silkworms are boiled to death without any consideration. When Hitler had done the same to his enemies (jews) in concentration camps, we humans bannered with the face of humanity and equality. But we never ever thought about what some of us wear is a part of this big tragedy. So by saying just having a plant diet, you cannot claim you are a vegan. You should take it to your cultural level to become a real vegan.

Veganism is not just about having a plant-based diet, but also getting the concept of reducing the maximum exploitation. From clothes we wear to the food we eat - all are included in it.

The Vegan Society was established in November 1944. The evidence of restricting the use of animal products has been said to be traced from before 2000 years. Vegetarianism was the ancestor of veganism. Even Pythagoras the famous Mathematician from 500 BCE had promoted vegetarianism. 

But the origin of veganism is in 1806, when two Europeans Dr. William Lambe and Percy Bysshe Shelley, publicly gave up the use of eggs and dairy products.

This is the main history of great veganism.

Now let's come to the point. Even though the reason for me to become a vegan was not actually its benefits, but a curiosity to test myself with such a diet. And later, I realized this diet had lots of benefits. 

The main advantages of being a vegan are that,

• Reduce the risk of heart diseases including heart attacks by lowering the levels of cholesterol in the body.

• It helps to lose weight.

• The chances of getting diabetic are less when compared to others. The vegan diet is good at lowering the A1C levels, which helps to manage diabetics.

• It improves kidney functioning and sustains a lower blood sugar level.

• It protects against cancers to a great extent.

• It also decreases pain in arthritis.

If we are gonna list there may be many, but I won't bore you by this way. Being a vegan has lots of benefits, but a single issue that it can cause you a deficiency of b12, which can only be rectified by having fortified cereals or taking a supplement.

A Word To Say

Lot many people use to say that "There are butchers, and that's why we eat meat." But if no one eats animals, there won't be any of these butchers. Similarly, a few of them say that cutting down plants, leaves, and fruits is exploitation. They also add that vegans are indeed exploiting nature. So what is the difference between people who use to eat meat and use to eat plants?

There is a large difference, that people who use to eat meat exploit animals and remember that here life is being pulled out. At the same time, when plant parts are cut down, there is no harm to the plants, and even a cut-down plant can survive by growing again. In the case of animals, this doesn't happen. Even though similar species could be grown with their eggs, it's not the same life.

I'm not at all stating that vegans do not exploit, but just create a realization for these questions. 

I think everyone should follow a vegan diet because the resources we use to grow animals are twice the population and thrice than the food requirement of the whole world, which can make a self-sufficient world without poverty. It is our choice to decide what we should be in our present life.

Here I would love to quote The Vegan Society's motto One World. Many Lives. our Choice.

I think it is equally important to allow all animal species to live in this world along with us. What we humans do to nature and to our species destroys ourselves. We are here, on Earth not to exploit the natural resources, but to live with nature with our commonly available resources. 

The message behind veganism should be considered seriously. If the world realizes this message, we can still make the Earth a paradise. Global warming which we have made will lead to the apocalypse not so far. Remember, the coming generations will struggle to make a living because of our dreadful deeds for our greed for luxury.