Day 32….Surely when you know better, you’ll do better?

Enjoying the last few days of annual leave by staying home and cooking. Bette has been tired since Sunday, I think the birthday week of fun has finally caught up with her.

Today my little love and I stayed home and watched TV and played. Liz did the gardening  (I honestly can’t, my hayfever is super bad! – that’s my story and I’m sticking to It! 🤣).

I did do other things, for example….I ironed a pair of jeans!!! I haven’t done that in a long time, but I truly believe you should do something every day that frightens you. So, I did It!

Tonight I decided to make a Buddha bowl for us. I love picky bowls and thought this one would be a winner.

Powered by plants!

Even just looking at the ingredients makes you feel healthier. The bowl I chose was creamy sweet potato and chick pea, with kale, broccoli, red onion and crispy baked tofu. I served it with a tiny amount of wholewheat rice and nutritional yeast.

It was absolutely amazing. I’m not going to lie. It ticked every box on my foodie wishlist. Creamy, tasty and fresh! Real plant based goodness. Free from all cruelty and death!

 

NOTHING tastes as good as compassion feels. I truly believe this.

We followed our dinner with a lovely wee pudding of soya chocolate pot and fresh fruit. I washed it all down with green tea, whilst Liz had a coconut cappuccino.

We decided to watch an old classic movie tonight. One of my absolute favourites….’Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’. If you’ve never seen it I highly recommend it. Bette Davis with her rival; Joan Crawford.

On another note, I watched a bit of ‘Earthlings’ this afternoon. I managed 20 minutes and in that time I was crying like a baby. It’s absolutely abhorrent to see how we treat animals. I honestly felt distraught and now find it hard to comprehend how people can know the things I know and still choose to eat meat, drink milk, etc.

My motto has always been ‘you do the best you can…and when you know better, you do better.’

I find it deplorable that people find it easier to bury their head and not learn about the truth, just to allow them to continue living their life trouble free.

 

People should not be shielded from the processes behind the creation of their foodstuffs. I won’t scare people into becoming vegan, but I wont shield people from reality either. We need to work together to drive change….because goodness knows, change is long overdue!

I’m perplexed how society find it so easy to separate their food from animals. We claim to be a nation of animal lovers, yet have no problem with the exploitation and abuse of billions of animals every year, for little more than a steak…a sandwich….a sweetie….a yoghurt. Why do people relate to dogs/cats…but not to cows, pigs, sheep etc?

An example of this is the current media surrounding fox hunting. I literally see people up in arms about the prospect of fox hunting being legalised again. Yet not one of these people think twice about posting the ‘ban hunting’ memes whilst bailing into their steak pie or bacon sandwich. What’s wrong with that picture??? I’m genuinely asking!

I’m heading to bed. I have a date with a gorgeous little four year old tomorrow. She finally wants to see ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

I’ll do a wee recipe blog for the Buddha bowl. Should anyone be interested.

✌

Day 29….

It’s hard to believe I’ve been on this vegan bus for 29 days. For me, it has been super simple. I think this is largely down to the fact I was vegetarian for so many years….so dropping eggs, dairy and honey were very minor little things.

Never in my life have I felt more connected to the world. Even though veganism is largely misunderstood and crazy stereotyped…I can honestly say it’s taken until now for me to feel totally connected and at ease. It’s been almost spiritual for me. A real cathartic experience.

I totally DO NOT subscribe to the ‘your vegan or your not’ viewpoint….but….that being said, I do struggle with the forums I read. Forums where people will almost verbally attack another person for choosing to consume a product with palm oil (I’ve posted about how awful the deforestation surrounding this product is) but then a few days later confess they’ve had a wee blip and ate some chicken or lamb!

I mean, come on…surely if you’ve decided to go vegan you should at the very least commit to not consuming actual flesh of a being? Like…have a quorn burger that contains and egg white….or a sip of milk in your tea because your pal had no coconut milk….but order a kebab because you were drunk and starving?? That kind of shit blows my brains. I’ve never in all the time I’ve been vegetarian had a blip where I went crazy and ate a steak!

I believe, It’s like anything…you need to be emotionally ready to make a change. You can’t stop smoking if your brain isn’t there…you can’t diet if your mind isn’t on board….you can’t do anything unless your entire being is on the same page.  I think that’s why, when you’re truly ready, you don’t suffer the same.

Whilst shopping today I suddenly became aware of the posters printed outside the supermarket…and it became instantly clear to me how fucked up society is.

Observe…

The absurdity of the above billboard. There is farmer John…all laughs and smiles. Happy as a pig in shit (such a shame many pigs never feel joy like that). There he is, the bold John…walking around his field of live cows. Living and breathing creatures…enjoying the sun beating down upon their backs. Happy! And in the square next to that image….a chunk of the same cow’s flesh…partially cooked, being carved!!! It’s fucking horrendous! The stuff nightmares are made of…a live being one side, in the middle a smiling assassin, and in the next image a bit of the deed body…still seaping blood from its tissue!

Why the hell does Joe Bloggs find that appealing???

I truly don’t see meat as meat any more. I haven’t done for many years. I see people eating chicken and to me it’s parts of a body. They’re pushing parts of a corpse around on their plates to me.

I see Chefs displaying cuts of meat on Sunday cooking shows, usually with entire carcasses hanging behind them…and all I can think is…’Oh my fucking god, that’s a dead body’. You’re salivating over a corpse. It physically repulses me. Cooking shows are absolutely ruined for me now….thanks veganism…I’ll never enjoy an episode of ‘Man Vs. Food’ again!!

Fish make me feel even worse as they are laid there, in all their glory, glazed eyes staring into space!

For many years I didn’t make the same connection with milk or cheese….but now, when you sip your glass of milk…I see puss: white blood cells, blood, bacteria. I see suffering and calves being dragged from their Mum, before she’s delivered her placenta.

It all repulses me!

And THAT is how I manage any cravings. That is why I don’t take a sip of a milkshake or a nibble of chocolate. Because I have made a decision…an informed decision…and I will not allow desire or greed to alter my moral compass. It’s as simple as that, for me!

Sure…I miss things, but I LOVE the freedom of compassionate living much more!

I do not in any way preach to my 4 year old, she was raised vegetarian (because I didn’t know better) and she will make her own choice about veganism or becoming an omnivore. But…she must be paying attention as she had a very enlightened chat with me today going round the supermarket .

She said, out the blue. “Mum, I will never drink milk any more…or eat eggs…or cheese. I want to be a vegan!”.

I told her that was a nice thought and that she could definitely do that if she liked but there was no pressure as some change is better than nothing. I asked her about chocolate and she said “No, I won’t have that as vegans don’t eat that”. I was very impressed.

Fast forward 10 minutes to the chocolate aisle of Tesco. She spots buttons.

Bette: Mum…I want these.

Me: Ah, but they have milk baby. Theyre not vegan.

Bette: Ok!

Wow…that was easy! I’m impressed.

Bette: Mum…I want cones for my vegan ice cream. I want these ones!

Me: Those ones have chocolate baby, That means they contain milk. So they’re not vegan.

Bette: Oh ok…but I still want them. I’ll just try them ok Mum. I’ll be a crazy vegan!

🤣🤣

Ah well…she tried.

In fairness, since coming home she’s refused the cones and just ate the ice cream. So, who knows what’s going on in her head! Only time will tell.

Time for bed. We watched ‘Split’ today – fabulous movie, for anyone who hasn’t seen it. Creepy too!

Let’s hope I can get to sleep.

Night night ✌

Unlucky for some…but thankfully, not us!

Day 13 vegan.

In summary. Things that have been 🖒

• A rare Saturday off with my girls.
• Yummy lunch in a gorgeous wee cafe (see previous post for details!)
• No rain during our dug walk!
• Finding some oatly barista in Morrison’s.
• Finding this little cheeky message on a bar…which made me laugh out loud.

Gotcha. Caught you reading under the flap of a beetroot bar. There’s a place for people like you.

• Coffee. This always makes me happy!

Family coffee & snack

Now we’re home. Snuggled on the sofa watching ‘Get Out’ ..with a cheeky wee bagel burger (and a can of irn bru). 🤣