I’m not talking about calories here – I’m talking actual physical guilt. The guilt you feel when you cause another to be hurt, or take part in that suffering some way.

We are all guilty of blindly eating foods that we have no idea where they came from (no, not the grocery store’s shelf – there’s a whole lot that happens before it gets there) or that we don’t know exactly what’s in them. It’s a difficult act to take part in, because once you know, you cannot ‘unknow’. Most people would rather not know how that juicy steak came into being on their plate, because if they did, they’d likely not eat it. This would cause some serious lifestyle changes that, let me tell you, are not a walk in the park.

Having watched some of the Earthlings documentary recently, I’ve started to have to think more ethically and wondering how on earth I’m going to cope with this. The scenes in that movie show you your worst fears of how animals are treated in this world in the name of ignorant consumerism – they cannot be unseen. Traumatised after 30 minutes and jolted into the realisation that humans are indeed @ssholes.

Where do you stop? How do you live a normal life? How do you eat out socially with non-vegetarians? What started as pescatarian, moved on to vegetarian, is now leading into veganism. We’re not just talking food here, we’re talking clothes, pets, cosmetics, non-animal-friendly materials and unethical products in all areas of your day-to-day life. All these things contribute to the violent torture of animals and the raping of our environment and it’s not easy to find vegan-freindly alternatives.

Having some amazing vegetarian/vegan friends along the way helps a lot, but mingling with the rest of society seems to be a problem.

I just know that I’d rather consume life-giving food than life-taking foods. And I don’t want to be part of any industry that contributes to the unethical treatment of animals. Maybe it really is that simple.

Stick around for some more posts about this journey, I’m sure I’ll have lots to share along the way. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter too.