to each their own...

Happy beautiful Saturday! It's a little chilly in Toronto, but absolutely lovely with the sunshine!

A few days ago, my mama asked me how long I was going to be on this cleanse and, without a second's hesitation, I immediately answered, "Forever! I want to be a vegan!" There it was, I had said it, and it made me so happy! My mom, being a bit of a crunchy granola type herself, completely understood and I know she will always be supportive.

My dad on the other hand, although extremely supportive in every way he can, just doesn't get the whole vegetarian thing, let alone the vegan thing. He was raised on a good Polish diet of meat and potatoes and thinks these are absolutely essential to human existence.

This post is dedicated to my dad and all the other nay-sayers. Here is my humble explanation of why I have made the decision to be mostly vegan (I'll explain why mostly in a bit) but certainly, entirely vegetarian.

While I have always flirted with vegetarianism, I have also always loved meat, not all of it, but certainly most. Give me a burger, a nice steak or anything chicken, and I'd eat it any day. But in the last few months, my body was craving it less and less, and as I started reading countless books, something in me changed. Seeing Food Inc. was the absolute tipping point. I finally decided to give up meat two months ago for four main reasons:

• Health. There are countless scientific studies which reveal meat to be bad for the heart, a contributor to cancer and osteoporsis, and generally bad for your health. Most meat is chock-full of hormones and antibiotics, so that it can be produced more efficiently, and these really aren't good for us (or the animals!) to be digesting. In moderation, consciously raised meat isn't bad for us at all. Just 60 - 70 years ago, meat was a nice treat families would enjoy once or twice a week, or on special occasions, and it was completely healthy. Fast forward a couple of decades, when meat consumption doubles in North America, and so too do health problems. This same pattern is being repeated in developing countries now, like Japan, who for centuries has had very few health problems on it's primarily plant-based diets. None of this sits well with me, at all. There are no serious negative side-effects to a well-balance plant-based diet, at least not that I have read about yet, so vegetarianism just makes more sense to me.

• Environment. Surprisingly, this one hit me the most simply because I knew so little about it. The meat industry is one of the main contributes to global warming and climate change, more than landfills and waste treatment plants, and it certainly gives the transportation industry a run for it's money. The amount of methane and toxic sludge produced is outstanding, and the amount of oil and water consumed to produce meat may be even worse. To produce one 16oz steak requires six months of showering water (compared to about one shower for a pound of carrots)! This just isn't okay with me.

• Cruelty. I whole-heartedly consider factory farming to be cruelty to animals. Several images from Food Inc. still haunt me. While I know there are other far more kind ways of raising meat, at this point in my life, I just don't even want to go there.

• Enough is enough. I didn't want it any more and once I learned I didn't need it, the deed was done. Yes, meat may be a "complete" protein, but there is nothing in meat that you can't get elsewhere, in even greater quantities.

This is just my humble explanation to everyone in my life (very few, thankfully!) who need to understand why I'm finally on this path. Before I end, I would like to add one very important value I hold: to each their own. This is just my opinion, my journey; let yours be your own. However, at the very least, we all need to make sure our choices really are our own and not something we have adopted without very little thought or consideration.

Blah, blah, blah... have a wonderful weekend! :)

mxo