Why being vegan rocks
Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle From All-Creatures.org

Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.

FROM


Alexandra Beane, This Dish is Veg
April 2013

Being vegan opens up your eyes to so many things in the world that may have once been hidden. When you go vegan, you are no longer blind to the pain and the suffering in the world. While it might feel good to live in ignorance, when you do open your eyes, you finally feel free to make your own decisions and break away from what’s “normal” or “socially acceptable.” You also start to realize that if what’s “socially acceptable” means murder, abuse, and greed, you no longer want to be a part of it.

Being vegan rocks. Not just because I can feel great about everything that ends up on my plate, but because I have never enjoyed food as much as I do now. Maybe that goes along with feeling good about what I am eating and knowing that I am eating compassionately at all times, but going vegan was the best decision of my life, right there with marrying my husband.

When I first went vegetarian, I did it for the animals. When I went vegan, I actually did it more with my own health in mind, rather than the animals. When I started to learn more about the horrors of the dairy industry, my own health slid to the side and I realized that I would be vegan for the rest of my life—not for myself, but for the animals. Whether I liked it or not, I pledged to stay vegan. It just so happened that I loved being vegan from the start, and have never felt a single regret. My only regret goes back to when I wasn’t vegan and how I wish I had gone vegan sooner.

There are so many reasons why being vegan rocks. The first reason is that vegans are doing their best to reduce pain and suffering in the world. It is something that you can feel good about on a daily basis, with every single piece of food that you put in your mouth. Every bite of food shows just how much you care about the animals, the planet, your own health, and the health and well-being of others.

Being vegan is not a diet, and that is another part about being vegan that rocks. Instead of going on a diet, I just eat well all the time. Being vegan means that you eliminate all the most harmful things for a person to ingest, such as animal and their by-products. Even though I am eating many of the same things that I always did, I am using different ingredients in familiar recipes, which happen to be much healthier ingredients. I can eat cookies and cake and not get sick from eating them, and I never feel bloated or heavy after eating vegan desserts. Plus, they are so much more delicious!

Being vegan opens up your eyes to so many things in the world that may have once been hidden. When you go vegan, you are no longer blind to the pain and the suffering in the world. While it might feel good to live in ignorance, when you do open your eyes, you finally feel free to make your own decisions and break away from what’s “normal” or “socially acceptable.” You also start to realize that if what’s “socially acceptable” means murder, abuse, and greed, you no longer want to be a part of it. You start to realize what you are meant to do in the world, and this is a pretty freeing feeling.

Being vegan means you are constantly thinking about ways to improve the world. When you start to try amazing new foods that are completely cruelty-free, you start to wonder why other people won’t bother to do the same. We are given all of this amazing food for a reason, so why are people choosing to not eat it? Why do people choose death over life? Why do they allow animals to be killed when they don’t need to be, and why do people consume animals and their by-products when it’s putting their own health in danger?

Aside from gaining a clean conscience and living a lifetime of activism, being vegan also opens up your eyes to all of the amazing food that we are naturally provided. People tend to think that being vegan would be “boring” or “dull," but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Isn’t it boring or dull to be making the same foods all the time and not trying different ingredients or stepping outside of the box? Omnivores limit themselves far more than vegans do, especially when they say things like “I could never be vegan” or “I could never give up cheese." Omnivores limit themselves to animals and their by-products, while vegans are trying everything from sea vegetables to nutritional yeast, to tempeh and seitan, plus so much more. Vegans have a long list of foods to eat, and the variations never end.

Vegan meal plans are far more interesting than chicken, steak, hamburger or pork chops, but most of all, the knowledge that no animals are being harmed in the making of a meal is the absolute best part about being vegan.

Being a vegan is easy, inexpensive, delicious, exciting, and compassionate. Plus, it’s healthy and it’s green and eco-friendly. There are so many reasons why being a vegan rocks, and I suggest that you try it for yourself. Do it for yourself, the planet, and for the animals. Never rely on somebody else to change the world. Who else will do it if you don’t?

Alexandra is a lover of all animals, but has a soft spot for especially dogs and rabbits. She believes that life is not complete without an animal to love. Alexandra is highly passionate about animals and animal rights, and wants to raise awareness of the cruelty that many animals suffer in the best way she knows how, and this is by written word. Alexandra is a recent graduate of Metropolitan State University in Minnesota, with a degree in Professional Writing and a minor in Creative Writing. She absolutely loves to write news and creative nonfiction, and obsesses over spelling and grammar. 


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