I struggled with this question for a long time. At first, I didn’t think I could convert to a Vegan lifestyle especially since I grew up on the typical American diet including burgers and fries. So I became a vegetarian but soon found that it was hard to stick to especially with a fast food joint seemingly on every corner.
Plus my friends were always eating quick fatty foods and so I just kept caving in. I kept feeling guilty, however, as my reason for changing my diet was to help the animals – whether they be typical pet animals or not.
The final straw was when I saw an article about how they were killing chickens and how so many farm animals were abused and bred for food. I won’t get graphic here but you really should research it and discover the truth about the abuse…
So having my forever why, I was determined to make the switch so I did some more research. The vegan diet suffers from lack of vitamin B12 and some other essentials and being 100% vegetarian made me feel very deprived so I became Pescatarian (a vegetarian who eats seafood).
Now first let me say I am not a HUGE seafood fan – I still refuse to eat crab and lobster because I don’t care what they say I don’t feel their treatment is humane either. Also let me say, I only eat sushi or fish occasionally when I just feel too vegied out! Also I have had many arguments with myself – but Laura, don’t fish suffer when they are killed…so if you are going to eat fish, you might as well eat all the meats…
Just like one wrong doesn’t make a right, eating all the meats because you’re eating fish isn’t a valid argument. Also what if someone cuts back to one burger a week instead of five? Doesn’t that help as well? Of course, everything helps. My eventual goal is to be vegan and not have cheese or dairy either, but until then I’m not eating chickens, pigs, cows, turkeys… You get my point.
So do whatever you can do to help the animals! Cut back, only buy milk and eggs from a local farmer who isn’t abusing his cows and chickens, go pescatarian, go vegetarian, adopt don’t shop, don’t buy leather goods…all of these are a step in the right direction. PROMOTE A CRUEL-FREE WORLD
