My father has a saying. We only call something stupid for two reasons- 1. We are afraid of it 2. We don’t understand it.
For me, one of the hardest parts of living a healthy lifestyle is discussing it with other people. A lot of people demand to know why, and when you give your reasoning will criticize you. To this day I am BAFFLED by that reaction. How can it be stupid to live a more natural, healthy, moral life? I have literally argued with people for hours, days, months, about my choice. This is partially my own fault. Simply explaining that it’s MY choice should be reason enough, and if I weren’t so stubborn I would leave it at that.
What I find to be interesting is that I consider myself fairly well educated on the subject and a majority of the time the ones doing the arguing have no scientifically proven information. Sure they may argue that we need protein. But where did that idea come from? The media? Advertisements? Parents and familiy? A social construct with no empirical evidence what-so-ever? YEA! That’s exactly where it came from. So in essence you are challenging my choice and my lifestyle because you don’t have the information and education on the subject to fully understand it. Anyone who looks at the evidence with an open mind must admit that a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle is AT LEAST equally as healthy as a typical western diet. The FDA will even agree with me on that one. And for the record protein is in beans and legumes of all types, tofu, about any meat replacement you can find is made of SOY, along with ice cream and other dairy replacements, not to mention delish greens are FULL of protein and tons of other amazing nutrients and vitamins without being full of the disgusting antibiotics, diseases, and fats found in meat.
This isn’t to make anyone feel bad. I was one of those people. I never took the time to research it for myself. Even once I began eating an animal free diet, I still didn’t know as much as I should have on the subject. Perhaps this is why I left so many discussions allowing people to “make” me feel stupid. I hadn’t done the proper leg work to back up my belief. My only purpose in this post is to encourage (maybe challenge is a better word?) those who haven’t researched it themselves to please do so. Please do not come at me with your naive argument that doesn’t have two legs to stand on, much less four. AND if you do have a well educated argument I would LOVE to hear it. I honestly believe that if you dont look at an argument from BOTH sides then you haven't done your work. Only allowing yourself to be exposed to research that supports your belief means that you don't believe it. If you know you are right then you shouldn't be afraid to go over and check out the other side. This should only strengthen your beliefs.
For the record, I don’t consider this blog to be a sufficient source of information. Even though I feel certain that my points are well backed and based in unbiased (maybe a little biased. . .) research, it’s up to each of us to do the work for ourselves and form our own opinions. (Read Eating Animals this second!!!) My hope is to inspire people to make their own decisions and live their life however they decide is most healthy for them personally. (I just know that by encouraging this, no one would ever choose to continue eating the products we call meat, while knowing the truth about where they came from).
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