Why Vegan

It took me just a week of watching Vegans on YouTube (mostly spent my time watching Bonny Rebecca) sharing their experiences with veganism, what they ate, their views towards society and basically how happy they were on a Vegan diet Vegan lifestyle, to get me hooked onto the idea of going Vegan. Then one Wednesday evening about 4 months back, I watched a documentary, Cowspiracy, and I became Vegan overnight! No cravings, no regrets, all I gained out of this was pure satisfaction and I am proud to say that I would be vegan for all of my life.

One goes Vegan for variety of reasons but I would say the main 3 are – Moral, Environmental and Health. Personally, what first got me interested in going vegan was actually to be genuinely happy. Don’t get me wrong, I am a very happy and positive person, I am so grateful for the fortunate life that I live – but I just never had a 100% happy relationship with food and I’m sure this is so common amongst all human beings out there. I wasn’t an extremely clean person when it came to eating, I generally am a healthy eater but I would still have cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, fried foods, chips and all that yummy deliciousness that geniuses had created and brought into this world. But I could never eat them without constantly stressing about it at the back of my mind I’m going to get fat, my thighs are going to be bigger, my face is going to get rounder, I’m just going to get fat, and then I would just go to the gym and workout and feel better afterwards (I do enjoy working out, not just to burn off calories, I love feeling fit and “ I regretted that workout” said no one ever). So any who, I was introduced to a general vegan diet where you can feed and nourish your body with as much whole foods – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, tubers, legumes, as you want till you feel properly full after every meal, and not have to worry about it! I wouldn’t say that I am the healthiest vegan because they practically drown everything in oil here in the cafeteria and so I don’t really have a choice, but that’s why I am so excited to be cooking my own food in Year 2 so I can properly nourish my body with all the necessary nutrients, carbs (carbs are not the enemy!! Our bodies live on carbohydrates!!) and healthy fats and knowing exactly what it is that I’m putting into my body!

Now, moving on to moral reasons for being vegan.

Humans naturally desire whole foods and we are biologically plant eaters. Just take a look at our teeth, we don’t have canines like Wolves and Lions to be ripping and tearing out huge chunks of raw meat, we have to cook out meat and make them soft enough for consumption. If a live chicken and a mango were presented to us, we’d naturally choose the mango to eat and not go “ Ooh, I’ll love to kill that chicken and have it for lunch!”. Moreover, you don’t have to season fruits or vegetables to make them taste good whereas you’d have to put some form of seasoning on all meats before consumption.

Society has told us that it is ok to kill one animal and to save another. Why?? Just because a dog is cuter than a chicken, is that a good enough reason to kill the chicken? No it is not! We’ve subjected these innocent animals to these torture chambers where they are brought up in the worst conditions and brutally killed for human consumption and even if they were grown organically in a free-range farm (which the majority of them aren't), can you imagine living your life knowing that your fate had already been chosen for you? How can you look an animal in the eye and tell it that your appetite is more important than its life? We should be treating all life equally, man and animal, and who says that humans are superior, that we get to decide who lives and who doesn’t? We look at Hitler and call him a murderer, evil and sadistic for the holocaust, but only because what he killed were humans. There is mass murder happening right here, right now, with more than 6 million animals being killed for food every hour. This has to stop.

Now, as for environmental impacts – Animal agriculture is an ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER. Water scarcity is a pressing issue in today’s world and the wars that we will fight in the future would be over water. Producing 1 hamburger takes 660 gallons of water and this is equivalent to 2 months of showering. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce 1lbs of beef, 900 gallons of water for 1lbs of cheese, 477 gallons of water for 1lbs of eggs and 1000 gallons of water for 1litre of milk. Shocking, right?? Livestock and their by products accounts for 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions with methane having a global warming power 56 times that of carbon dioxide. We are clearing forests at an unprecedented rate for animal grazing and animal agriculture accounts for 136 acres of rainforest destruction while palm oil plantation only causes 26 million. Oceans are under siege like never before and we will be looking at fishless oceans by 2048. For every pound of fish caught, there are 5 pounds of by-products such as turtles, sharks and dolphins.

We are currently growing enough food to feed 10 billion people, yet we still can’t end world hunger because worldwide, 50% or more grain is fed to livestock. 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, which are eaten in western countries. We could end world hunger today if we stop the breeding!

I am not forcing or even trying to make everyone go vegan, but if everyone just took small steps towards reducing the demand of meat, the results would be incredible! The changes don’t have to be drastic; you could just cut out meat from 1 or 3 of your meals a day and slowly increase this amount as you get more comfortable with it.

I probably sound a little angry especially when talking about moral reasons for being vegan but it just makes me so emotional. Yes, I have enjoyed meat for the past 18 years of my life - I love beef, chicken, sushi, seafood and I wouldn’t deny that they taste good, but after educating myself on all the detrimental impacts of animal agriculture, I can now fully stand up for the rights of animals!

Just to share what helped me in making my decision about going vegan

1.     The documentary Cowspiracy, which is on Netflix but you can just find it online as I did. Here’s a fact sheet for the summarized findings in the documentary.

2.     Bonny Rebecca’s YouTube channel and Tumblr

3.     Other YouTubers: Steph, Hannah, Tess Begg, The Happy Pear (for recipes)

4.     A logical explanation

It is currently 1:25 pm and I have yet to start on work today, but I have no regrets in spending my time writing up this post because I'd like to share more about Veganism and hopefully try to encourage others to just do a little to make the world a better place 

xx Have a great weekend everyone! xx

Week 2 shenanigans

Went to the Dean Village as mentioned in my previous post - new year's resolution of experiencing more is still going strong! It was a small yet lovely village and it was so serene 

Someone I know once said that she was so happy to be back in Edinburgh after being in London for the Olympics to catch a few live matches and the one sound that comforted her and signified that she was back home was the sound of her own footsteps - I thought this was so sweet and so true because Edinburgh is such a vibrant yet peaceful city 

Just a 15 minute walk away from the Dean village was the Stockbridge market which was just a regular Sunday market which we visited. Natasha, Lucie's friend from the University of Bristol, came with us as she was visiting over the weekend and being a vegan as well, we headed to the vegan chocolate stand and tried various flavours of chocolate and I ended up just getting a lose piece of vanilla flavoured chocolate. I like how you'd always manage to find a vegan stand in any market here, thank you Edinburgh :') 

We headed to the Scottish National Gallery after the market. I am always in awe of how artists can paint portraits so well because I could never get the features of a face to look so realistic. Intricate details in a painting never fail to amaze me - the creases in curtains, the shadows of different objects, the veins on a hand, or even the tiny tiny individual heads in a crowd of people. 

Something about being able to see the people in this photo just makes me feel so comforted, I have no idea why 

Had lunch in my room on Thursday, whilst watching sunbeamsjess's New York vlog :)

I bought cumin (my favourite spice ever!!) and sprinkled it on my smashed avocado on a rice cake and it made all the difference 

I had a mango as well and just look how delicious it looks!!

After my Sustainability, Society and Environment lecture that same day, Lucy and I met Lucie at Kilimanjaro Coffee for some nice, chill time. We all had a hot chocolate which was much needed in the cold and rainy weather

That's Lucie beside me and Lucie on the far right and they are 2 of the 4 flatmates that I'll be living with in year 2! The other 2 are Juliet and Marlena and I would have never imagined this but the house would have more vegetarians than meat eaters with Juliet and Marlena being vegetarian and I, a vegan! We'd probably sneakily try to convert the 2 Lucy's into being vegetarian day by day - nah I'm just kidding hahah. I cannot wait to start preparing my own meals next year but there's still a long way to go before we move in 

We have already started flat hunting which was pretty fun but I've had 2 other friends who'd already been to flat viewings this week which is a little scary because they're so ahead of the game! But I'm positive we will be able to get a nice affordable place. Paul (mum's friend who I met in London for lunch) called that evening just to check up on me which was so incredibly thoughtful! We had a nice little chit chat and I told him how the portable heater that I got for my room was literally saving my life as he had encouraged me to do so, and we just talked about uni and he ended the conversation with " take a deep breath ", "brace yourself for the exciting semester" and "don't worry about the whole social situation in uni " as I was being a quite anxious about it. I'd have to get him a gift the next time I see him 

On a random note, I have fallen in love again with S Club 7! 2 nights back I just had the random thought to listen to their songs again and it rekindled my love for them, in particular the album Sunshine! I still remember they had a tv series on Disney Channel and that my favourite member of was Rachel , oh the memories :') 

Winter Wonderland

Took a trip to the Pentland Hills in Edinburgh on Saturday and it was such a magical day :') 

The entire grounds were covered in snow and I felt like I was in an entirely different country! The view was honestly breathtaking and the company made it all better as well 

It took us about an hour and a half by bus to the Pentland hills and then another hour of walking (prolonged because we kept stopping to take pictures along the way but how could you have not?) before we reached the start of the Harlaw Woodland Walk

 

We saw a horse and a pony along the way to our destination!

There were loads of people who had brought their dogs along and you could tell that the dogs were just loving life and having a blast running everywhere and anywhere as none of them were on their leads. At one point of time when we stopped for lunch at the visitor's centre, there were about 15 dogs on site which was lovely!

Many families had children and they'd all brought their sleighs along to slide down the slopes (picture on the right with a girl holding a snowboard) 

We tried sliding down the hill as well but because I was wearing jeans, I just went down squatting down as I didn't want them to get wet. But Gordon went down on his belly and a few others just sled down on their butts!

(am I sexy yet)

I had such a great day here! Though I had completely lost touch in my fingers and toes, it was definitely worth it and I would go again anytime. A man we met at the visitor's centre told us to come back during the summer and I can imagine how beautiful it must be with greenery and flowers all around! It also started to snow as we headed back which made everything so much more magical 

We all made it back to Pollocks at around 4:30pm and I took a nice, hot shower. I didn't realise how tired I was till I got back and told Erin I was too tired to head out to the pub that night and ended up just watching Crazy, Stupid, Love with Niamh whilst drinking a hot chocolate :) Was a nice chilled evening to end off the day and I really enjoyed the movie as well! If you haven't seen it already, please do!

Today I am heading out to the Dean village and Stockbridge market! It also snowed quite heavily last night and so the entire grounds of Pollock Halls is covered in snow and it is such a pretty sight! I guess the fact that it looks pretty just makes the cold slightly more bearable 

Can't stop talking about the weather

We have been blessed with a whole week of amazing weather where it has been sunshine and no rain! It is undoubtedly significantly colder now, than before the winter break had started and I am definitely not a fan of this cold weather. It takes about 15 minutes of my hands being exposed to the cold before I completely lose my sense of touch in my fingers and I absolutely hate that numb feeling and then I get to lectures and I can't write properly for the first half of the lecture as my fingers are still de-frosting and my handwriting goes ugly and I hate that :(( 

I've got to get myself a good pair of gloves and though the ones that mum gave me are so effective in keeping my hands warm, they're lined with animal fur so I don't want to wear it 

Any who, I am so lucky that I'm able to catch the sunrise to school every Mon,Wed and Fri when I walk to the Kings building for 9am lectures 

It had snowed on 3 occasions as well and heavily! Arthur's seat has been snowcapped for the past 2 days and it looks stunning - again feeling so lucky that Pollock Halls is located right in front of Arthur's seat so that we get to see this beautiful hill every single day 

(Really have to keep reminding myself not to take this for granted!)

It was a Thursday that I took this photo of Arthur's seat and Beverly and I decided to head out that day as I only had a lecture at 3pm later on and she had no class at all. We'd agreed that it be illegal for us to just stay in on such a beautiful day and not take opportunity that we were both free on a school day to experience new things! We then decided to head to the Princes Street Gardens to admire the winter flowers. But we were very wrong in thinking that the gardens was an all-year-round thing - it was just plain mud and soil everywhere with no flower in sight :( The Christmas market was located in the same place and I'd guess all the stalls were set up at the same place that they'd grow the flowers in spring/summer time and that's why the grounds were just made of lose soil! We were so disappointed but still tried to make the most out of our day by running errands (that we practically made up on the spot hahaha) I headed into Primark and got a few things (necessities, I promise) and then into M&S to get some food (always need to stock up on my personal pantry in my room) and then we both got ourselves a small Ivy each for our rooms (and also compete who can keep it alive for the longest time) Beverly kindly brought all my shopping back for me whilst I headed off for my Sustainability, Society and Environment lecture. This is the optional module that I picked this semester and I really enjoyed the first lecture I had this week as it's more of what I am interested in doing as it's geared towards the climate change and sustainable development aspect of my degree rather than the more biological-sciency aspect of it 

Friday was a pretty chill day. I got myself a pair of gloves from Primark and that helped slightly in keeping my fingers functioning before I got to my lecture that morning. However, I honestly think I need a face mask because my nose and cheeks feel like they could fall off in the cold and my ears get so red as well. Oh Edinburgh, I really have a love-hate relationship towards you because you're so beautiful but too cold :'( I've mentioned previously that whenever that temperature is above 10 degrees, I'd count that as warm but now my standards have changed to when the temperature is above 5 degrees - now that's depressing. I managed to head to the gym between lectures and I really need to get my stamina back because I felt quite breathless after running for 7km when I could usually run for more :( Later that evening, Niamh, Erin, Sania and I went to the Odeon to watch The Danish Girl! I enjoyed the movie though I felt it was rather slow-paced but Eddie Redmayne's acting is really superb. I still prefer his character as Stephen Hawking though

I need to layer up much more for the winter and also wear a beanie more often - I've just learnt that it is important to keep your head warm as you can lose quite a lot of heat from your head (which I've never thought about), that means goodbye to red ears! 

Back to reality

Niamh has just left my room as we watched Just Go With It together and now I'm alone in my room again contemplating whether I should start reading up for my practical session for my Techniques of Management module later tonight or tomorrow morning... It does not feel good to be back :( I'm really not looking forward to starting school again and it has gotten significantly colder which makes everything just so much more dreadful but I've bought a heater for my room so that's saving my life right now

I miss the hour-long walks in the woods every morning with Watson and Aunty Helene, the homely feeling of the tack house and being able to speak my mind about anything and everything under the sun with Aunty Helene as we take down the christmas tree, organize the kitchen cupboards, prepare dinner together and have a cup of tea whilst sitting near the fireplace before getting into bed. The few days I had in York have been absolutely amazing and I have been blessed with such loving company who take care of me so well and treat me like their own <3 I cannot wait to be back and hopefully this time remembering to bring my cookbook with me

I miss you Watson <3

This was taken at Darlington Station because I got on the wrong train from York back to Edinburgh and ended up having to get on 3 trains instead of just 1 but the trip only took 45 minutes longer than it was supposed to and I guess its all just a learning experience (I tell myself that is)

The man sitting next to me could see me from the corner of his eye taking pictures of the sky and he kept looking up to check the window to see what I was taking a picture of and after 3 lifts of his head, he decided to close his laptop and look out the window to appreciate the sunset as well 

I felt so happy in that moment as I felt that I made a tiny difference in influencing a stranger to appreciate the beauty of nature

So many people have told me this winter how warm it has been and that the weathers all over the world have been going a little crazy and it really worries me at how fast the effects of climate change are being felt now. I just watched Jack and Finn's short clip on Climate change and I recommend everyone to go see it - not that it's the most fantastic video you'd ever watch but its an easy one to watch and the facts are clear and easy to understand 

I have been questioning myself lately about what I really want to do in the future and I have been taken aback by my own insecurity and uncertainty because I do know that I want to help the environment and prevent the impacts of climate change but I don't know how I am going to do it. When people ask me "So with your degree, what career are you going to have?", I get a little uncomfortable because I do not have a clear, precise answer and when I get a oh alright, you don't really know what you're gonna do yet and I'm not very impressed by that kind of reply, I feel a little crushed on the inside

There's so many things on my mind right now and it's been long since I've had this sudden rush of late night thoughts! I guess I just have to do my practical work tomorrow morning since it's getting a little late and I'd like to sleep earlier everyday as a new year's resolution 

Other resolutions :

1. Keep in touch more with friends and family from home. Be the one making the effort and not the one waiting for them to ask you how you are 

2. Eat better (even as a vegan - don't be surprised, vegans don't always have to be the healthiest people)

3. Experience more (anything at all!)

xx Goodnight xx