Change Your Diet, Change Your World  

Really all I did was quit eating meat and dairy. The food I ate was mostly delicious and satisfying. I still snacked when I wanted to and ate to similar levels of fullness as before. With minimal effort I discovered so many wonderful new foods that I never felt deprived or wanting. In fact, my food universe is much bigger now than it ever was.

I did fall short of vegan purity a couple of times in that I ate a salad that appeared to have some dairy in the dressing (although I did my best to avoid the dressing) and the lactose free cheese we bought did have some milk protein in it. However, I have since discovered some good tasting vegan cheese that we’ll use going forward.

Did I miss meat and dairy? Until we discovered that there were vegan cheese alternatives, cheese was by far the thing that we missed the most. However, that is a non-issue now as the non-dairy cheese alternatives are rated at 5 stars by chefs and have an identical taste and texture to dairy cheese.

Surprisingly, I really don’t miss beef, chicken or fish at all. We really didn’t eat much pork so that wasn’t an issue. The one thing that I did miss was having a couple eggs on the weekend. However, that really isn’t that big a deal.

They say it takes 2 weeks to form a new habit and during the first couple weeks were some adjustments in terms of not going out for fast food at lunch anymore and being more selective about where we dine out at. However, those minor challenges were easily addressed with a little forethought.

Virtually everyone I’ve encountered thought that going vegan was pretty cool or, at worst, interesting. The knowledge that I was improving my health combined with the excitement of this seemingly effortless weight loss made it all worthwhile. As I learned more about the societal and environmental impact of factory farming that reinforced that I was doing the right thing.

When you stop to think that nearly half of all greenhouse gases are related to methane produced from the factory farming that also gives me great reason for hope. While it can take several decades for carbon emissions to work their way out of the atmosphere, the damage done by the methane gases can be reversed in just a few years.

If others jump aborad the band wagon and go vegan to improve their health, increase their body’s ability to ward off killer diseases like heart disease and cancer, then we could literally change the world. Not only can we reverse the negative effects of global warming, but by reallocating the grains grown to feed factory farm animals we will have an ample supply of food to feed the starving people of the world.

Money spent by the US Government for the farm subsidies to artificially reduce the cost of meat would allow us to sell these vital foods to impoverished nations. Instead of the United States being viewed as a nation of selfish people, we would earn the respect of the world by sharing some of our abundance with those who are in need.

Also, because raising animals for slaughter is so water intensive this would also resolve many of the clean water and water shortage issues facing countries across the world. While it may take a couple gallons of water to grow a potato it uses over a hundred gallons of water to provide us with a single 1/4 pound beef patty on a hamburger. In factory farms, the cows lead a sad and artificial life before being killed in order to produce a fast food patty. Immigrants were paid little and worked in dangerous conditions in order to provide that hamburger or piece of chicken.

So should you eat fish instead? No! Commercial fishing of our oceans is depleting the global fish populations to dangerous levels. Declining prices mean that fisherman have to catch more and more to earn less and less. Factory fish farms cause pollution areas and are breading grounds for disease that nearly always have a negative impact on the ocean’s wild fisheries.

What is so empowering about this all is that the food choices we make every day have such a tremendous impact on society and the environment. While I became a vegan as part of a 30 day experiment the changes I made had a measurable positive effect on the world.

I hope that readers will feel inspired to conduct their own 30 day trials. Who knows, you may find that you also enjoy feeling better, looking better, saving money and improving the world for your family and generations to come. You may even come to the conclusion that this will be a permanent change. I certainly did.

While I started with a 30 day commitment to being a vegan this was such a rewarding experience that I am going to re-up my commitment. However, this time I am committed to changing for life.

There are so many positives associated with this change, I just can’t imagine going back to the way I lived and the way I felt before. I want to be healthy. I want to do good. I want to leave the world a little better place than it was. It’s all good!