Groovy Vegetarian

Groovy Vegetarian is in my top ten blog list. I love this blog so much because unlike other vegetarian/ vegan blogs it has more than just recipes. It offers vegetarian gift ideas, benefits of their lifestyle, animal product alternatives, vegan clothing and footwear and recipes with lovely photography to go with all her posts.

I really do love this blog but there is something that lets it down. I think the layout is terrible! It is really hard to follow the posts and navigate around the blog. The first few times I went on this blog I could even figure out how to get the second page! Also there are a bunch of annoying adds placed right in the middle of some text posts. Not appealing at all.

Putting the layout and navigation aside, this is one of my favourite blogs. I just love that its not exactly the same as all the others out there. Go check it out. :)

http://groovyvegetarian.com/

Common mistakes

After seeing all the posts around on the internet, I would just like to point out that not all vegans are assholes. I am sorry that some are rude and unforgiving, but many more of us are decent human beings. I wish these stubborn people could find better ways to reason and present their argument, but they fail in that perspective and turn away listeners. Because of this, I want to step in place and do this in a civilized manner.

This means I would like to point out a few of misconceptions people have about veganism because there are so many things people either need more clarification on, or so many lies that people are being fed (after all, if more people stopped eating animals the businesses that thrive off of animals will lose money, so why would they not have reason to feed lies about vegans/vegetarians? It is how big businesses work, after all). I feel that these need to be said. No, I don’t think that you’re an awful person for eating meat and I won’t ever call you names, which is why I’m going to speak to you like the adult I know you are.
So here we go:

1.       Veganism is about more than what you eat/don’t eat. Veganism goes hand in hand with animal rights. Vegans believe that no animal should be enslaved and have their bodies used. This includes the type of products we use. Soaps, shoes, toothpaste— sadly a large list of items contains animal ingredients. So not only do we try to lessen our impact on the environment/animals by refraining from eating animal products, but we watch which products we consume also, and hope to lessen the suffering of animals that way too.

2. As I said before, yes, you will have the assholes/extremists of any group, and I’m sorry for the way they treat other people but if someone has a stand, or is giving out brochures, or would like to discuss their reasons to go vegan/having gone vegan with you, and they do it without getting angry and calling you names, please listen. Speaking is our only way of getting the word out to people around us.

3. Which leads me to this— PETA is a HORRIBLE group when it comes to getting the word out and they stopped caring about animal rights long ago. Seriously, don’t take anything that comes from this group seriously. Most vegans flinch at the mention of PETA so it would be wonderful if we stopped being associated with them. They’re the type that single out someone else just to make their point seem more impressive and this only hurts people (and animals). This group has harmed our efforts more than helped them.

4. No, we are not malnourished. This is one thing that really gets on my nerves. I have lost count on the number of times I’ve been called anorexic and being told that I’m hurting my body (the body I have worked very hard to get to a point where I stopped hating it) so I feel most strongly about this.
These are a few of the important reasons why we are not malnourished:
a) Did you know that over 60% of the Australian population is malnourished? Surely, not all of that 60% are vegans/vegetarians, when only about 1-2% of the population is vegan/vegetarian.
-b) Another thing to consider is that almost everything has protein, including a heaping amount of plant products. Another thing they don’t teach you about protein is that your body already makes its own protein. However, it is the 9 essential amino acids that your body can’t produce on its own, hence why you do need to eat protein. Did you also know that broccoli has more protein than steak?

      -c) Iron, however, is important but so are omega fatty acids. Luckily, plants contain both. Any dark, leafy green vegetable contains iron. Spinach actually pales in comparison to vegetables like Kale (a hearty cabbage that is native to cold climates) but it still contains iron. Even dried fruits contain iron. Whole grains of any sort contain iron. Pastas and rice, even the bleached, refined ones, contain iron.

Not your mum, not your milk.

People ask me why I don't drink milk. But have you ever really stopped to think about what you're drinking? What kind of process did this milk go through to get to me from the dairy farm? Cows make milk for the same reason we do, to feed their young. Now think about it again. If were drinking that milk, what does the calf live off?

Well, Dairy cows in order to keep producing milk for the ever rising demand are repeatedly impregnated. As soon as that calf is born it is taken away from its mother. A boy calf is generally killed on its first day of life, if not it is raised on milk replacers to be killed and sold as veal. Female calf’s are feed milk replacers and raised to the same fate as their mothers.

Naturally a mother cow would only make as much milk to feed their calf but now, thanks to the dairy farming industry and hormones the cows over 5 times the natural amount of milk. The hormones used cause massive health effects for the cow and birth defects for the calf. A common hormone used is BHG which causes very painful mastitis, yet they do not stop using it.

The natural life spand of a cow is about twenty five years, but the stress of producing so much milk, having her children taken away from her, the hormones pumped into her and the health problems caused by such poor living conditions usually leaves them useless by four or five years old and they are sent to the slaughter house. Being vegetarian is all well and good but I don't think most people realize that eating dairy products is ultimately supporting the veal industry.

Now, I ask you. Why would I drink milk when there are plenty of healthier alternatives like hemp, oat, soy, rice or coconut milk?

He Is just so cute, look at that.

Why?

When it comes to veganism, most of what fuels my complaints is what is simply factual. Like the way that meat and animals products destroy our health, our environment and overall, our well being as humans. With that being said, understanding those problems and the severity of those problems would require at least some research. Given, not many people actually do that research. My guess is that most that do, do make the switch to veganism, because, well, facts are facts

 I still don’t understand how people don’t make the connection. It’s not just about deprivation of us as humans or of our planet, it’s that the meat on your plate is literally someone. You can’t tell me that people don’t know the basics of what meat is, and that’s that it is an animal. That piece of flesh once belonged to a living, breathing, thinking, fearing individual. I know that your average, non vegan person can appreciate that, because of the emotional connections we have with our pets. People absolutely love their cats and dogs and people know that their cats and dogs love them. Experiencing that emotion first handedly with a pet, how can you deny it or ignore any other animal? You can’t tell me that a cow, or a pig, or a chicken is any different in anything other than anatomy.
It bothers me deeply to know that individual lives, with their own individual feelings are treated as mere objects. I know that it bothers your average person, being that if you were to ask your average person most would say they believe slavery to be wrong. So, the only difference between a vegan and your average person is accepting that they are wrong and doing what they can to fix their wrongs. The thing that sucks about that as a vegan, is knowing that I am doing all that I can to fix this problem  but still knowing that the problem exists because so many people still haven’t accepted the truth.

Anyway, the point of this post is not to express my anger at every person who eats meat, but it’s for the sadness I feel for every animal who suffers at the hand of man. I just so badly wish that I could help all of those in pain, to mend their wounds and help them feel safe. I can not think of a single feeling worse than the feeling of knowing the circumstances those animals are under. I truly hope that more people begin to make that connection and feel what I feel, because I know that somewhere in everyone we all feel that obligation.