Posted by Alice Moon on Jan.31, 2009

While I started as a very young vegetarian, it took an additional two decades for me to choose to become fully vegan. There were a number of reasons for the change, including my own moral qualms and the makeup of the food available in a modern American diet. I was concerned about dairy products and what I had come to learn about the use of hormones to increase growth and production in farm animals. I was concerned about the industry treating animals as objects, denying living beings access to sunlight, the ability to act upon their own instincts, the freedom to demonstrate normal behaviors. I believe the treatment you give an animal turns up in the products coming from that animal, just as the antibiotics they are regularly given in high doses as a preventative measure.

My partner was raised on a farm and comes from a family background where they grew and raised what they eventually harvested and slaughtered for their food. He grew up a meat eater, then took a break from it for a few years, eventually finding his way back to a regular intake of animal proteins. He would not claim to be vegetarian, but leans strongly in that direction currently because he says the food available in stores now is nothing like that which he grew up eating. He says you can taste the stockyard in the meat. When he does eat meat or dairy, he chooses eggs, cheese, and very carefully selected canned fish and he does his best to certify free range or family farmed items where possible.

Some of his habits are out of convenience. Since he is open to living with a vegan and sharing in many of the same foods I consume, we only have vegan versions of milk and butter in our house. This means there are no cooking accidents where ingredients are mixed which shouldn’t be. Still, he has a special drawer in the refrigerator and his own shelf in the pantry where items with any type of animal ingredient are kept separate.

Many of our habits are out of concern for our health. We’ve discovered that eating as if we’re poor is one of the best possible ways to keep well. Simple foods made with raw or lightly prepared ingredients, meals based around mixed grains or tofu instead of meat and potatoes (no offense to the potato), choosing less healthy and more expensive ingredients in moderation. We don’t deny ourselves or starve; we simply choose to fill up on rice, quinoa, spinach, or zucchini instead of burgers and fries or steak and mashed potatoes.

We don’t bother to shop 80% of the average grocery store as there is nothing there for us. I have to be careful as even though ingredient labeling has taken massive steps forward, companies still like to hide what exactly it is they’re putting into our food. Write to any major manufacturer and you can see the paranoia in their response. They will sometimes flatly refuse to disclose to a consumer what their ingredients consist of. My personal response to that is to take my money and walk away from not only that product, but any others the company makes. Because it is absolutely my business to know what I put into my body. We avoid prepared, packaged foods for reasons such as these, as well as to avoid the increased fat, sugar, preservatives, and other unpleasant extras which come with so called convenience foods.

I don’t diet, but as a vegan, since I can’t eat most of the foods you might be tempted by at the cash register or when you make a quick stop at the gas station, I don’t have to worry about being called by a stray candy bar or bag of chips. I don’t even look at those items as food anymore. It is also harder for me to keep snacks I can have on-hand to beckon to me at home as they are far more expensive and less readily available, so I have a bit more help when it comes to eating healthy. Fresh produce can be found at almost every store.

As time has passed, I have been able to locate a wider variety of sources for vegan items. The internet helps, but on a budget and for the sake of being green, it is far better to buy locally. I was thrilled to find a small group of shops in a nearby town where vegan items are featured. Thanks especially to those stores, I have become far better educated on other issues of food politics. Green living, veganism, fair trade, non-GMO: they all go hand in hand, one leading naturally from another. One step towards better health transitions into the next and pretty soon there isn’t even a momentary urge to look back.

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Posted under Food, Nutrition & Recipes, Nutrition.