Cows have been a big part of my life growing up. Ever since I was 3, I used to save food secretly and feed it to a cow that regularly showed up outside our house. You always hear that "cows need to be milked", but are never given the reason. Of course, society does not want you to know that the calves are taken away from their mothers, not given their birthright and that we use their milk instead for a 5-minute meal. Even the government subsidies dairy products in India to make them more available and profitable. All these facts drove me into a corner, with going vegan the only logical way out.
I read the word 'vegan' for the first time on a Vicco toothpaste, when I was around 16. However, being a cow lover since my childhood, I assumed that veganism is unnecessary since cows are meant to be holy in India and there would be no suffering in the dairy industry. Right? But no!
At the beginning of 2019, I got introduced to Joey Carbstrong's (a famous activist) videos and the sheer graphic and disturbing content going around in the dairy industry shook me to my core. The fact that humans need to breastfeed off another species as a whole just sounded so wrong. I went vegan then, but regretfully, couldn't hold up in my college mess, with almost every other meal involving paneer. I decided to have vegan stints every time I came back home, but eventually, I had enough of my hypocritical lifestyle and ditched dairy for good in March 2020.
A month into my vegan journey, I saw Covid-19 put the world on brakes. This allowed me to conduct proper research into vegan diets and lifestyles in general. Having been actively going to the gym, I went deep into how to fulfill my protein requirements. As it turns out, it's almost too easy. Even before I went vegan, I used to consume plain, boiled soya chunks, and I just stuck to that alongside tofu and tempeh (And yes, soya is perfectly healthy to consume daily xD). Plant protein powders can directly substitute whey, which makes everything easier.
Another misconception I had before turning vegan was that the whole lifestyle would be more expensive. I could not have been more wrong! The fact is that you start getting creative with what you eat, and most of the creativity lies in the process, not the ingredients.
The South Indian diet is almost entirely vegan, as ghee, butter, and curd are mostly used as sides and not the main dish itself. Once I realised this, transitioning became much more comfortable. Moreover, I got to know that plenty of junk foods are unintentionally vegan. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out Oreos are vegan xD. Even though I don't have a lot of junk, it's always nice to have a secret last resort :).
Of course, there are expensive vegan mock-meats and processed foods, but that remains the case for non-vegan food too. There are always different tiers of prices based on whether the food is an easily accessible grain when compared to factory-processed goods. At the root, whole foods like grains, fruits, and veggies are still the cheapest and healthiest options, so there's not much truth in the "veganism is expensive" debate.
Thinking about going vegan for the rest of your life can be daunting at the start. Of course, once you make the connection between the food on your plate and the life of an animal, everything simplifies very easily. But it's easier to think about just trying to make your next meal vegan, one meal at a time.
I've gotten used to eating much healthier once I turned vegan, and my endurance and recovery have improved a ton. Having plenty of water is very important to not just keep your body heat in check, but to shut down junk cravings. Personally, having alternative sources of hydration like watermelon, cucumber, tender coconut water, etc is a must-do for me, because it makes me think that I've eaten something rather than just hydrated myself. Either way, the end goal is to keep your body cool, and based on preference and availability, anything works well.
If you're passionate about vegan activism, the best tool in your hand is social media. Even if one in 100 react to some content and change, that's one less person harming animals. Try to constantly build up your knowledge in both industrial and health topics regarding veganism. It helps in convincing a person to take that leap. Every small bit is useful to plant a seed in someone's mind even without your knowledge!
Hey folks! I'm Sai Krishna, a native of Tamil Nadu. I just finished my CS degree at NITK and aspire to own an animal sanctuary sometime in the future :) I'm attracted to most outdoor sports, and I'm mainly a football fanatic :P Other than football, I actively enjoy going to the gym, running and cycling. I also play computer games in my spare time.