Why I am Going Vegetarian

Stole this quote from Karol Gajda:

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” – Albert Einstein

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I assume most of you saw this title and thought this was fairly random for a simplicity blog. Well, stick with me and I will explain.

This past weekend, I watched a special on Planet Green entitled Blood, Sweat and Takeaways which follows a handful of fast food junkie British youth (roughly 20 years old) as they attempt (emphasis on attempt) to do the jobs that bring the food to our local drive-thru. What they come to realize is that the food they eat back home comes to them by the sacrifices of other men, women and animals a world away. Before moving on, I strongly suggest you check out Planet Green and the shows it has to offer. It will open your eyes too.

These British youth started their journey by working in a rice field in Thailand alongside Thai people that were twice or three times their age. They made a measly 17 cents American an hour. They weren’t even able to sufficiently eat or pay their rent with this on top of being exhausted each and every day. The youth saw that these people were being taken advantage of so that they could have cheap rice back home. However, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

The next work stop for the British youth was at A Bangkok chicken factory. One of the young men loved fried chicken and thought nothing could taste better touching his tongue. He was in shock and awe when he witnessed the hundreds of Thai workers hanging, killing, gutting, chopping, and preparing the chicken. The chickens were in cages their entire lives and now were in the process of being “processed”. The workers did the same job for 10 hours/day with the same hand movements. Can you say carpal tunnel syndrome? They had to stand on their feet for the entire time. They had to meet demands of the company owners. They had to do all of this and made less than an American dollar an hour.

What many people don’t realize is that this is actually not just happening in Thailand? This is happening in our own backyards and we don’t even realize it.

All of this combined with watching Food Inc. a few weeks back has led to this decision: I need to become a vegetarian.

In SIMPLE Health & Fitness, I mentioned that I was a vegetarian at two different points in my life. I did it more for the challenge and intrigue than for animal and people cruelty reasons. I believe that becoming a vegetarian or vegan is a great way to simplify your life and your impact. By doing so you may be able to focus on a plant based diet that sufficiently provides for your well being. When I was a vegetarian before, the experience wasn’t all bad, but slowly, I forgot the benefits of doing so and gave in to my weak mind by going back to meat. Today, I am hoping I can stay strong and beat the cravings as I take on this challenge. I say it is a challenge because I have become accustomed to eating meat multiple times a day without even thinking about the consequences to the world by my habits. However, challenging myself is necessary to sustaining a progressive future.

I have been following the lifestyles of Leo Babauta and Karol Gajda for some time now and think that if they can do it, there is no reason I can’t. They are both vegan and though I won’t be going to that extreme, vegetarianism will be quite the lifestyle change for myself. For me, I have found that researching and exploring any and all possibilities for my diet are necessary. By taking the advice of those I already regularly follow, I will be able to glide into this process rather than fa

ll from a plane.

I don’t know how long this new life will last. I hope forever, but never know what tomorrow holds. I know I can do this for an extended amount of time, but will need to venture into new, strange, and exciting food worlds to really be successful. Let the journey begin…

David Damron
The Minimalist Path