I've been Vegan for the last 5 months. Yeah, including Christmas and NY. And I don't see it changing during Easter either :-)
I have seen so many interesting reactions in my friends, colleagues, relatives (and I will get more in a few days when going to visit the family). The most common ones are two, actually: one is the unanimous conviction that I will get sick because I won't eat enough proteins and the second that it is so tough to give up meat and dairy - how do I do that?!!
I think I need to write the answer to the second one, as it's not about a book full of recipes. It's actually pretty simple: priorities. I ask myself every single day 'what is more important to me' - in various aspects of my life. And concerning food, the answer has been - at least in the past 5 months: staying alive and healthy for as long as I can.
I am terrorised by the perspective of getting ill and dying in a horrible manner. Horrible means that I can't take care of myself, that I would be in bed for months or years, that I will be a pain in the a@$ for my family and whatever friends might stick around if that happens.
Looking at my family, the genes suck. Big time. In the past years one aunt died of cancer, one due to a stroke, my grandmothers died of cancer (but the grandmothers were quite old, so at least they got to live their life more than my aunts). The remaining ones have depression, Parkinson, diabetes, high blood pressure and I don't even want to know what else. That really sucks. For them, first. As I had the inspiration to get out of the country and I am not available to take care of them. Then for me, because I saw (or heard) what it means to suffer for months - or years - in bed, where relatives had to feed you, change your diapers and basically get sick of you before you died. It's rough, I know, but it is also the way I see it. I loved those people dearly and it hurts to remember them and what they went through. This is also why I gave up on any hope or dream that God could exist. This is so crappy and these people were so nice there is no way in Hell (!) they deserved to go like that. Anyway...
Worse, I have friends or colleagues who die at impossible ages (younger than me) of cancer and the likes, leaving small children or spouses to manage as they can.
I hate it. And I am scared shitless. That I could be next. That I could leave my kids to grow up without me. That I could torture my husband for ... no idea how long before dying. That I could depend on others and I would hate my last days or months on Earth with a vengeance.
Not eating meat and dairy?? Beats it every.fucking.minute. Do I have any guarantee this is a solution? None whatsoever. Can I control my genes or my environment? No way. I control what I eat. Period.
But then again, I have been known to have a somehow unusual logic. Sue me.
