LIFE OF A VEGAN
Ichose to live with no meat, no flesh, no blood, and no chemicals, eat nothing but plants, and use nothing but crueltyfree products. I am Vanessa Baldosano, a 24-year-old Palawena and I choose to live as a vegan.
I started out living a vegan life for almost a year. Before, I became a vegan, I started out as a vegetarian. Let me tell you a difference between a “vegan” and a “vegetarian.” A vegetarian eats veggie but still consumes dairy products and other animal byproducts like goat’s milk. Basically it is just a diet but veganism is more of like a lifestyle. Vegans are allowed to only use products that do not include animal killings and should not be tested in animals, from soap to dresses we wear. Perfumes and anything put in our bodies should only be chemical-free.
Here’s my “vegan” story. Well, I started out turning Vegan when I worked in “Bahay Kalipay,” a raw food and retreat house. They helped me thoroughly understand what veganism is and the importance of veganism. The support group is one of the greatest factors to live a vegan life knowing that you are in a circle of people living with the same lifestyle is a “comfort” for me.
Let me give you a rewind. I grew up here in
Palawan. Growing up, I didn’t have any idea about veganism. Everyone in the family is a meat-eater. Until I worked in Bahay Kalipay, where I was influenced by their practice and the people around me as they practice raw food eating while some were vegan. I learned the science of veganism.
Living as a vegan is not easy; the temptation around you will always bother you. But for me, the key to veganism is selfdiscipline.
It taught me a lot. It taught me how to value animals, care for them. Imagine how many animals are being killed to produce meat. It really kills me knowing that I am going to eat animals that have emotion and life.
It’s kind of weird but believe that when animals are killed especially pigs, they cry a lot, the stress level when they are killed for meat still exist on their flesh and that, we, humans, tend to consume those stresses causing us to be more emotional.
When I started out being a vegan, I feel like I am making the world a better place not just for me, but for the animals who live in this world.
We also use chemicalfree products. So, instead of buying perfumes, we use essential oils and use organic shampoo, thus, making a move for environment conservation.
When it comes to health, a lot has changed in me. I feel more energetic, even stronger. The fallacy with most people is that they thought that body needs meat but plants and veggies are enough to fill that body with protein.
Being a vegan taught me how to consume what my body needs not what it wants. When I started to feel the cravings, and get stressed, I don’t stress eat, what I do is fill myself with meditation, I go on yoga.
The problem with eating veggies and anything that is plant-based is that I get to experience a lot of healing crisis, the smell of meat started smelling as something bad for me. And it’s like my taste buds only accept anything that is vegetable.
The greatest thing with my vegan life is that I feel more connected to my body than before. I learned to love myself more by eating and taking what is safe and healthy. I also get to love animals and this world more.
I feel more positive and alive, knowing that I eat healthy and live healthy. I get to connect with my body, keeping it fit and clean. Veganism is more than love for your body. It is actually being selfless for you get to care a lot for animals and for the environment. Plus, the appreciation of plants makes me appreciate the farmers more.