Thursday, March 31, 2011

Vegan Disaster Plan And Some Miscellaneous Thoughts

In response to my finding out about the book "The Vegetarian Myth" (which, as with ALL books, has some well-deserved critiques of it available; don't trust her arguments at face value. Research) and seeing the small yet strangely substantial public exodus of vegans about a year ago from their veganist ways, I am going to make an escape plan for myself, should all else fail and their claims that only meat could heal them be true (which, at this point in time, I doubt... ). I don't know why I am making this public, except to demonstrate the need to realize that as a human I am only ever one step away from a fall from grace.

Now, before I put down my little plan, I do feel the want to clarify that I haven't had meat- or intentionally consumed meat stock or meat fat- in almost four years. At all. I have not "cheated" in that respect, as some ex-vegans claim they often did while being a "vegetarian." I have not had dairy, eggs, or their by-products intentionally now for almost a year (yes, I was vegan before that, too, but out of laziness decided to return to eating junk [and I do mean junk- I went back to consuming candy bars, for goodness' sake] and realized that I wasn't missing anything and was living in discord with my values). With that said, I am sometimes not as observant or inquisitive as I should be. Perhaps once a month I run the danger of having consumed minuscule amounts of something I do not desire to consume, such as nonfat milk powder in bread. Please, believe me when I say I do not often do this, nor do I use this "ignorance" as a license to eat the animal products I claim to eschew.

Anyhow. In a worst case scenario wherein I am somehow perishing from want of animal protein or heme iron or something along those lines, necessitating that I consume some sort of animal product (outside of honey, of course, which I mentioned I do consume), I will turn to eggs. The eggs I will turn to will, if I have my own house and yard, come from myself and the chickens I will buy for that purpose. If I cannot do so, I will find a trusted small-scale chicken raiser and purchase the lowest quantity of eggs needed for my health. If that does not work, I shall incorporate those disgusting bits of rubbery meat- oysters- into my diet, for they, apparently, feel no pain.

But, God help me, I never desire to lapse into a free-for-all view of animal product eating, especially meat. My necessity for it- if ever one does arrive- will not make the death of a sentient being any less cruel or any more right in my mind.

With that said, I feel really great. Since my diabetes diagnosis, I'm eating better than ever and have more energy and more pleasant moods.

Now, for the rest- I believe I shall change the layout of this blog. While talking recently to W., he remarked upon how this blog- this portrayal of me- is very one sided and glum. That was it's intent and purpose, I have to admit: it was made to showcase the darker side of my life; the side not quite shown in public. But perhaps I should better balance this blog... And so I shall likely be changing the color scheme if I can find one that still suits me. Maybe then I shall be, with a bit more ease, more uplifting.

2 comments:

Marvin said...

I'm color-blind, so I won't care. But max yourself out. ;-) It's the content that matters.

Diana said...

I've read that clams, muscles and oysters all have no central nervous system (ie anything that even vaguely resembles a brain). I've always figured there is no ethical issue with eating them, since without a brain, I don't see how sentience or suffering can happen.

Unfortunately, I've also heard that those particular creatures tend to soak up and hold onto all the toxins in their environment, so I still don't care to eat them.

Really cool blog. Interesting blend of topics.