Why am I Vegan?

Why am I Vegan?

I became Vegan a few years ago because I read some evidence based studies that persuaded me my food habits and addictions severely damaged my body and its functioning, reducing my life expectancy. I realized and knew I was risking debilitating disease instead of a quiet and peaceful old age.

 I remain Vegan because I now daily have a much more satisfactory experience of my body. I now have far more satisfaction in all my mental functioning around health and well-being, than ever I had being a meat, dairy and egg eater. Before I became Vegan I had an ambivalent, almost schizoid, experience of myself around food. I loved and craved the succulent flavors of meat and dairy products, eggs and bacon. I felt guilty eating these knowing how the animals were treated to produce my food. I felt overstuffed and guilty after every major dinner, and I could not stop gaining weight, no matter the difficult and anxiety producing the diets I tried.

All that anxiety and guilt is in the past. Being Vegan has set me free to be my best self, to cease being at war with myself. To eat as much as I want, whenever I want, without fear of weight gain or bad health caused by food. The virtue I feel at taking care of my whole body/mind connection this way, far outweighs the occasional craving I still feel for a meal of fat and sweet. And I no longer contribute to the 18% of greenhouse gases the meat animals make. And as a bonus, I feel a kind of spiritual glow around the ritual of preparing food, choosing what I will eat, knowing what I want to eat just then, and why.

Donato April 11 2013