Where did all the Vegans Go?
Includes myself
Food is a fascinating topic of discussion.
Some will tell you oatmeal is horrible. Others swear by it as part of their morning ritual. The man who set the world record for fastest marathon in 2023 claims he had Oatmeal for breakfast the morning of that very race.
We are the only species of animal on earth that struggles to or even has a thought about what we eat. Every other animal knows intuitively what to eat, and how much to eat. We simply struggle with the vast quantity of choice along with the vast quantity of food available.
What about veganism?
In 2017, I went vegan after watching one of those documentaries on Netflix that was meant to be exposing not only the meat industry, but also the pharmaceutical industry. The idea was that meat consumption was making us sick to perpetuate a cycle of needing medication to mitigate symptoms of illness. There was also a deep dive into factory farming and the way our food is produced on a large scale and all of the problems that come with large scale production. It was a very convincing documentary, as many are, and I immediately transitioned from the way I was eating, to going full vegan overnight.
Around this time, was the same time that Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods came about to provide a product that resembled meat but was a ‘plant-based alternative’. Having these alternatives were initially exciting, as not long after starting this journey of going vegan, I was certainly struggling to find ways to eat enough on a given day. I also subscribed to a plant-based meal service to help with ideas around dinner time.
As time went on, I could feel myself struggling on a physical level and by the end of the second year I shifted back to eating eggs. Not long after that, eating meat in moderation.
Upon reflection of that time, I found being vegan a positive experience, opening myself up to a different way of thinking about food and that not every meal has to contain animal foods. You learn to get creative and do things in a slightly different way than you did before.
However, one of the key reasons I moved away from ‘plant based alternatives’ was that a lot of foods I was eating were incredibly processed. You can’t really compare the 10 to 20 ingredients in a Beyond Meat burger to Ground Beef in terms of a nutritional profile and bioavailability. Eating processed foods is a big problem in this country. I see my students constantly eating things from a vending machine loaded with chemicals, food dyes, and artificial flavors.
Worst of all for me, is they are starting the day with these things absolutely wrecking their gut and their energy and ability to focus for an entire day.
Nowadays, I see a lot less encouragement to go vegan, perhaps I have just shifted away from looking for it, but I see more and more people focused on eating good meat and eggs, fruit and less vegetables.
There is a battle against seed oils, preservatives, and other harsh chemicals being added to our food and one place where the vegan argument is a losing one is that a lot of plant-based alternatives are heavily processed and contain things we should avoid.
That is the cost of convenience however, if you are trying to sell something in a store it has to have at least some of these things.
Although, I don’t quite understand why we should have to end up paying more for things with less ingredients.
Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.
Brad