My Dad really was a butcher. He is now retired from that and changed careers to become a Fire Ranger. When I lived at home with my parents we had almost anything you can imagine on our plate at dinner time. Besides being a butcher for a major food chain, my dad is also a hunter. I have tried almost anything that can walk, crawl or fly. We raised pigs, chickens and rabbits on our little farm and also had a ton of dogs and cats and a few horses always running around. Because we lived out of town we also had our share of elk, deer, cougars and bears (oh my) run through our property.
 |
| Me with one of our many chickens :) |
The first time I became a vegetarian I think I was 11. It was shortly after 'slaughter day' on the farm. A bunch of our friends and family came out to help and I remember my dad, his brothers and friends all wearing white painting suits with a lot of blood splattered all over the front of them from the many pigs we had been raising. What a pretty sight. I couldn't find my pet pig, HERMAN and got a bit upset, so I went into the house and heard a noise in the bathroom. My mom and Aunt were hanging over the bathtub soaking freshly slaughtered chickens in warm water so that the feathers would pluck easier. I'll never forget that smell..... Hello vegetarianism.
I had always been a lover of animals, but I guess never put two and two together before. I had always hated milk, but other dairy products were in different forms so I could separate where they came from. How can something so cruel be so delicious? Very strange.
You know why I became a vegetarian, now why I chose veganism. I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism about 6 years ago. I don't want to bore you with the details of everything, but Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormone. If you want to know more, you can go to this website or just google it. This blog will probably have little to do about it. Anyhoohaw, I have it and I take medication, but it never felt like it was doing anything. I would ask my doctor if the dosage was right, but my levels were fine. I still felt like poop. In the spring of 2010 I felt so sluggish that I thought maybe I needed a cleanse or something to jump start my energy, so I thought I would try to be vegan for 2 weeks. Before the two weeks were even up, I decided that this was for me. I felt energized, healthy and clean. Without dairy weighing me down I felt so amazing!
So besides saving the animals and planet, I can say that I have never felt better in my life...how can that be a bad thing? :)
The more I read about veganism and a lot of causes, I know I have made the right decision. I do talk about my way of living with people, but would like to think I don't stand on a soapbox. Everyone is obviously able to make up their own minds, I just hope that if you choose to eat something you at least know where it comes from, how it was raised/made and what the ingredients are.
