Asking for Almond Milk: My Month of Veganism

March 8, 2021

Between meat alternatives in grocery stores, oat milk everything, and the number of plant-based recipes online, it has never been easier to go vegan. So, despite being told that I was cheating by choosing a 28-day month, I went vegan for the month of February. Veganism is a diet that does not include any animal products. Meat, dairy, eggs, honey, and gelatin are all no-goes for vegans.

Vegans currently make up 1-2% of the U.S. population which, surprisingly, is not a significant increase from ten years ago. The popularity of plant-based alternatives has certainly increased however, making plant-based foods a $3.3 billion industry in 2018. The reason why plant-based foods have boomed in recent years, despite a low percentage increase of vegans in the U.S., is because not many Americans are willing to adhere to a strict vegan diet.

People decide to adopt a vegan diet for a number of reasons. Some vegans believe animals should not be used for food or do not like the way the animals are treated, others disapprove of the large amounts of carbon emissions released from the meat and dairy processing industries, and some go vegan for health purposes. As much as I care about these issues, I went vegan out of curiosity.

Responses to my diet-change were mixed. My mom and her friends were supportive but worried that I would not get the protein and Iron my body needs. Most of my friends were merely curious about how the month was going. The most opposition I received was from my sister who reads a lot about nutrition. To meet the concerns of others and take care of myself, I made sure to invest in a month’s supply of vegan protein bars (which were delicious by the way).           

Other than vegan protein bars, my diet largely consisted of salads, peanut butter toast, hummus, coffee with almond milk, and whatever the vegan station at the Rot had to offer. While there is a lot you cannot eat as a vegan, there are still so many options available.

I did notice a few physical differences. I was not as tired and lethargic as many people thought I would be, nor did I have a large change in weight. The main difference I noticed was how much I needed to eat. Most calorically dense foods are animal products, so to my calorie count similar I had to eat a larger volume of food. Also, it may be that I changed my skincare routine slightly during the month, but I swear my skin has never been clearer than during my second two weeks of veganism. However, to make my marketing professor proud, I will say that correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

More than physical differences or newfound knowledge of plant-based dieting, I learned discipline from my month of being vegan. I had done fasts before, usually from certain foods or social media, but not many of them lasted more than a week, and the ones that did didn’t cut out so many things at once. There were so many times I had a voice telling me that no one would know if I cheated, but I had to remind myself the commitment I made.

Funnily enough, the hardest day of veganism for me was the last. It was easy to think that one last day simply did not matter. I think too often in life we see the finish line and slow down. It was a good lesson to learn with something little like one month of vegan, so that I can be faithful in bigger things like my schoolwork, faith, and simply getting older. Paul was a great example of this. In 2 Timothy 4:7 he is able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.

I know you are all wondering if I cheated, and truth be told, I did. Not intentionally though! On Valentine’s day someone gave me gummy bears that didn’t have gelatin, so I thought they were safe, but after eating them I saw they had beeswax. I also ate a yeast role on my very first day that, in hindsight, definitely had an egg in it.

Not intentionally cheating was no easy feat either. During the latter-half of the month I found myself just wishing I could have chicken for dinner or goldfish crackers for a snack. It was also hard when all of my friends would be eating something that I couldn’t have. I had to tell myself “no” a lot.

You may be wondering if I plan on staying vegan. Well, I can tell you as I sit here eating goldfish; no, no I do not. While I think I will still end up eating many plant-based meals, I also enjoy animal products. I think the reasons people choose to go vegan are extremely valid, but unless you think killing animals is morally wrong, there are ways to keep the others in check. As consumers, we have a lot of voting power through our dollars. If a certain company is known for animal cruelty or makes no effort to be ecofriendly, we can stop purchasing from that company.

In the end, I will hold to what the Bible says in Romans 14:14 and 23, “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean […] But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”. If you can in good faith eat meat, then go for it, but if you feel convicted maybe you should refrain. In the end, it is all about how God can be most glorified.  

References:

https://sentientmedia.org/how-many-vegans-are-there-in-the-u-s/

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