Tried this once before when I was blaming my drinking, my depression (and triggers for drinking) solely on a non vegan world…
Slightly wiser now, thanks to experienced (non vegan) people here and in other sobriety communities…
That being said, Im looking to connect with like minded people who have experience in recovery from alcohol and also maybe to support those who want to live a vegan lifestyle but need some support (or motivation?)
Please one request, I’m not up for public debates-especially in chat. However, if anyone is particularly against veganism or alternatively is sincerely up for discussing it, I would be more than happy to have a civil video chat for my YouTube channel (0 subscribers- just for my own enjoyment!)
I’m not a vegan unfortunately. But I usually lean to the fruitarian lifestyle during spring/summer season here.
However I’m having celiac, milkprotein, soy, peanuts and treenut allergies. So I’m eating a lot of vegan food. And in my younger days I was a vegan for years.
I gladly try new vegan recipes and products as long as I can eat them and they don’t interfere with any of my other allergies.
I do eat meat nowdays, but I preferably don’t cook or prepare it, I just can’t stand doing that.
If most vegan products wasn’t made out of soy,I would probably go vegan again.
Thanks for reaching out! I’m sorry you’ve had such a struggle with allergies- I can’t imagine!
I’m not sure about your circumstances or location so not sure what to suggest. I know there is always a way around allergies but the nonvegan society makes this a struggle to say the least! (And easy for me to say)…May I ask what prompted your veganism in your younger years? Was it for ethical reasons? Hats off to you for this stance while juggling allergies and all the other likely obstacles!
I’m in Sweden. Actually I’m out in the sticks in a small village on the Swedish Countryside. Born and raised.
When I was a kid my parents had a fast food place. And as I said I’m raised on the countryside, I’ve been hunting, fishing and all that for years. What we ate came either from my grandparents farm (The had sheep’s and chickens and bees) or from what we catched by hunting and fishing. Or from our own fast-food place.
But with times people get older, my parents sold their fast food place. Grandma and grandpa sold their farm, we lost the right to hunt and fish on the land. Nothing sad, just the way it goes.
By that time I realized that I didn’t want to eat or prepare store bought meet, that I had no idea where it came from or what it was raised at. And I had a hard time with the thought that the meat in the store is mass-produced, and I couldn’t stand the smell from vacuum packed store bough meat. I still can’t.
And with the Milkprotein allergy on top of that, the vegan option was easy.
Unfortunately I got a huge nutrition deficit from it, and my doctor recommended me to stop. I still have a hard time cook or prepare meat, so I let my husband do it. If I get to choose I prefer beans or lentils or gluten-free vegan options. And fruit, I absolutely love fruit
Hi there, I’ve been a wannabe vegan on and off for about 2 years now. I really hate the way we treat animals and the planet, but I’m also very overweight at the moment and struggle to lose weight eating a vegan diet. I guess I’m just not very good at cooking so end up eating vegan junk food. If you can recommend any decent vegan cookbooks I’d love to hear about them. How long have you been vegan? x
Thanks for reaching out! I eat a lot of vegan junk food too! So amazing that you have the moral motivation there. It’s just about trial and error honestly. I could give you some recipes but there are millions upon millions!! Unfortunately it’s about getting out there and trying different stuff…YouTube is a great place to search for healthy vegan recipes until you find some you like.
Look up seitan (wheat meat) for a good middle ground! I’d love to hear some of your attempts…If you like I could let you know 1 recipes to get you started…?
I’ve been a member here for couple years. For alcohol abuse. Animal rights/ human rights/ social justice activist. I also regular volunteer at the Sanctuary. I was lucky early on to join an amazing group in NYC n made lifelong friendships.
Hey Jenna! It’s difficult to know what to say here…for me there is a distinction between “plant based” and “vegan” and as you seem to lean into both I’m not sure how to respond.
Plant based is usually for health reasons. It is diet focused and the words seem to centre around how it makes the human feel.
Vegan is the moral philosophy side which you mentioned
Though it’s great that you feel good when you eat plant based, veganism is something different- it’s a moral position. Always a tough conversation to start up…
I assume you are aspiring to the vegan side of things because of your mention of the ethics?
In some stores here (If you’re still in Sweden) they’re selling something called No egg egg replacer by a brand called orgran. Sometimes in the gluten-free shelf and sometimes in the dairy free shelf. I use it amd think it works just fine. It’s expensive but god knows eggs are expensive toi here nowadays.
I know you’ve said you’re not up for public debates so I hope this doesn’t seem like an attempt to start one.
I like meat and fish, but my ex, who I was with for 6 years, was a vegan and I only ate vegan food during that time. It was great! Really enjoyed it, varied and tasty. I don’t have a bad word to say about it or the ethics behind it.
Don’t see how that could be taken as an attempt to start a ruck! Welcome Charles!
I’m glad you had a positive experience with vegan food! Hopefully this will one day lead you back to it?
(At the risk of starting a debate!!!) Can I ask why, if you agree with the ethics, did you go back to eating meat and fish? Do you consider your own sensory pleasure of higher value than the life of an animal? (especially given that you mentioned you can have varied and tasty food without the unethical behaviour)
That question may be considered too much- but when I realised I needed to stop drinking and said “I really love my wife. I want to stop drinking” – someone asked me “why are you still drinking then?” It hit me like a tonne of bricks! I find straight talk is valuable, for those willing to hear it, and if the person hearing it understands that the questioner means no ill-will
That’s not entirely straightforward to answer. I have lived in rural areas for around 20 years, and it’s easier to access meat from animals that have lived good lives, rather than by the awful methods used to keep costs down for supermarkets. And these particular animals exist for the purpose of being eventually being killed, so they simply wouldn’t have existed. Which, of course, is not entirely justification in itself. And, as initially mentioned, I like meat and fish. What really makes me recoil is modern farming methods and (no offence @JasonFisher) 100 million sharks killed per year, 73 million simply having their fins cut off and dumped back in the ocean to drown so some tosser can have their shark fin soup or shark fin delicacy. What the fuck is that all about. Or dogs. Or wet markets.
I notice first off you didn’t respond to my question of whether or not you think your sensory pleasure is of higher value than an animals life… Essentially, if you can choose to be vegan and avoid paying for an animal to be killed (even 1 animal) why don’t you make that choice of non violence? And if you choose the option of violence, then how can you morally justify killing the animal. Surely every time you make a food choice (with this knowledge) then you are making the choice between your sensory pleasure and an animals life (social conditioning and ignorance notwithstanding)
You seemed to side step it by answering that you lived in a rural community for 20 years and that “accessing meat from animals” - a classic euphemism - mixed with the free range argument of “good lives”
The question of the animals life being lower than your preferences still looms (no matter what life they had- it could be argued that the better life they had, its more unethical to end it?)
You sort of make the point that it’s justifiable to bring them into existence for the sole purpose of killing them, but then almost pull back from that realising its perhaps not something to argue? Imagine it in any other context…breeding dogs for dog fighting, breeding foxes for fox hunting- “at least they got a chance to exist for a little while- we are doing them a favour”
You then make the point about the mass production of it all, and seem to differentiate this from your choices. I suggest we are all responsible for our individual choices, whether we can effect the big machine or not.
Those sharks you mention are killed as bycatch when fish are caught (1lb of “waste product” including shark, whale, turtles etc for every 5lb of fish). You are against dogs being hurt and eaten…I would ask what is the moral difference between killing and eating a dog and a pig? Culture should not dictate morality- we know this from history and the present. Injustice should be looked at through the eyes of the victim, not the oppressor.
For me, this hasn’t entered into a full debate- but if it soon enters that place- if you have more objections - id like to withdraw and invite you to a private video chat if you would be interested atall?
No, I don’t think I’d be interested at all. I simply answered some questions you had, not realising you’d be subjecting what I considered to be a relatively reasoned response to forensic scrutiny. I didn’t initially realise you were an activist, but good luck, I’m sure you’ll bore more people to death before you run out of steam.
You didn’t answer any question i asked brother…and quite a mean response really😔
I’m here asking questions about why we can’t hurt less (or as close to zero as possible) animals, and you’re here saying I’ll “bore people to death” before I run out of steam…which is seems like you’d be happy about…less people asking people to stop hurting animals for no reason…
Seems you’re happy to defend ideas that justify your behaviours until someone challenges them…then the cognitive dissonance hits aaaaand…
The classic meatflake. They always surface eventually! God knows I was the same with my drinking
x
