This Almost Vegan Thing · 16 September 2012
After just a month or so into my new health regime, it seems that I am destined to be almost vegan. For a few different reasons.
You might think that my primary reason is because I cannot seem to give up meat. Rest assured that I certainly can. In reality, I just may not want to give up fish. After all, we live in the northwest where salmon is king. And even though we do not eat it often, I love sashimi and sushi. (Sashimi is the raw fish and sushi is the rice.) I might not need either, but I will probably partake of both the next time they are placed in front of me.
Eggs are another reason I will probably not make it all the way to vegan. I could give up fried eggs with my pancakes, but giving up eggs in baking is a different story. There are egg substitutes and ways to bake without eggs, but that seems much too difficult. Of course, if ease was even a consideration, nobody would be vegan in the first place.
Then there is honey. Vegans do not eat products or excretions of animals. I do not need milk or dairy anymore, but I love honey. It is better on pancakes than syrup. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches are great snacks. My grandma used to bake bread with honey. And lots of people eat it in the Bible. These are just a few of the many reasons I will keep eating honey.
The other reason I will probably stay almost vegan is because of all the stuff about compassion towards animals in all the literature I have read about veganism. I am all for being humane toward animals, but I do not think that eating them or using their skins is wrong like most vegans seem to. After all, God clothed Adam and Eve with skins from animals that He sacrificed for their first sins. So I cannot really get completely behind eating vegan for animal rights reasons. At least not without being a complete hypocrite.
A cause that I do share with vegans is that we should not be polluting the environment with animal factory waste. There are feedlots around the country and around the globe which pollute the environment. People used to complain about manufacturing plants dumping toxic waste into rivers and pumping noxious fumes into the atmosphere. Now, we think little of the animal waste doing the same things due to feed lots and factory farms. Or if we do, our cries are drown out by the lauding of cheap meat, dairy, and eggs. We need to get rid of factory farms or at the very least control their pollutants.
Whether you believe me or not, I am not copping out on the whole vegan thing nor am I hedging my bets against eating meat. I am committed to eating a whole food, plant-based diet. Mostly. Then again, plant-based does not necessarily mean meat free. Still, I do not feel the need for meat much anymore. I do not crave it, nor have I gone hungry eating little to none of it.
I have great respect for vegans even if I do not share all their core values. I certainly share their desire for better health. But for now, I cannot say I am going all the way. For now, I am going to stay on this almost vegan thing.
© 2012 Michael T. Miyoshi
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