Reason for Vegan?

I actually am the healthiest when I'm vegan - but here's the thing.

I believe that everyone's constitution is different. For one person, meat may make them feel great. For another, not so great. I believe that we can read all the books, discussion boards, etc - but really, no one will tell you better than your experience.

This is true with everything in life.

I'm here now because I threw my veganisim out the window, and ate too damn much junk for about a year. So, here I am, returning to my lifestyle that gave me the best health, most energy, and rockin' bod.

So, listen to your body - and do what it tells you to do. Pay attention to your energy and how you feel. And don't assume that another person will feel the same way with YOUR diet.

I know that most people don't eat eggs because of the detrimental housing of the birds, but I have chickens - only 3 hens and a rooster - and they just roam about our yard, eating spare grain and veggie/grain leftovers that we through out for them then come home to their little roost and lay eggs.

Would a vegan find this okay? I mean, they may not eat the eggs still but at least I treat my chickies like pets so I didn't know if it was a complete riot against owning farm animals or just the mistreatment of them.

I also have a similar query about sheep and wool - if it wasn't for the poor care and housing, would they find wool clothing more acceptable?

As for humanely treated backyard chickens: I think they have charmed lives, but if you bought them through most suppliers, the chicks were subjected to sex-sorting. In some instances, the male chicks are ground up while still alive, or tossed into a barrel to smother to death slowly. So.....I will eat the occasional family-hen egg, but I feel better when I eat plants. Less complicated to me, ethically.

Wool: There are so many nice, warm fabrics made from plant or synthetic fibers that I don't feel the need to buy wool, so I don't do it. I covet a warm vegan winter coat from VauteCouture.com. They are made from some incredible fabrics which can be thrown in the washing machine. Way back I took a tailoring course, and judge the construction of these coats to be excellent. With choices like these, why trouble my mind, thinking about whether the sheep were roughly treated while being shorn. Or worrying what happens to balding, aging sheep.

It simplifies my life to buy vegan, and not wonder.

I am vegan for both. For my dietary reasons I wholeheartedly believe plants are the healthiest diet for you, and consuming animal by-products causes many of the diseases that are swamping America, and slowly taking over other countries that are eating more animal by-products.
I also do it for ethical reasons I believe that animals were not created for our use. I also do not want to take part of the cruel slaughtering of millions of animals a year. I know animals feel pain, and just because they can't use words to tell us, the voice should still count.

I also do it for environmental reasons. Animal production takes a significant toll on the environment and being an environmentalist myself it is against my morals and everything I stand for.

I'm not giving up this.

Cipher didn't contemplate being inserted back into the Matrix over a plate of veggies

From what I've gathered, you can't really be "vegan" for dietary purposes only. You either are or you aren't, and if you ARE vegan then you're not buying/wearing leather/wool/etc either.

I started doing the vegan challenge awhile back, but it wasn't for me. So.. I don't know what I am now, a pescatarian that doesn't eat dairy?

I think you can call yourself whatever you want. I most often refer to myself as plant-powered, since I don't like the way some vegans get the holier-than-thou attitude described above. I started out being a vegetarian about 15 years ago for health reasons and I'm now doing it for ethical reasons as well. I seem to do best on a vegan diet, but I say to each his or her own. I think if you're making the effort to have a more plant-based diet I think it is commendable.

Hmm.. so I just read a topic on this forum called 'Eggs, The Truth' or something, and in that one the claim was eating eggs daily reduced the risk of cancer. Then this topic says eating eggs more than once a week increases the risk of cancer...