Transcription
SDS PODCASTEPISODE 84FIVE MINUTEFRIDAY:WHY I BECAMEVEGETARIAN
This is Five Minute Friday episode number 84: Why I Became Vegetarian.Alright guys, super excited about this episode, this is going to be a fun one.I've actually done some interesting research on this. So we are travellinghere in the Czech Republic right now, and we were in Karlovy Vary withsome friends just a few days ago. And we stayed at this one hotel which isthe only vegan hotel in the whole of the Czech Republic, or they advertisethemselves as that, and it was so fantastic. The food there was amazing.I've never had such great vegan food. It was very, very inspiring. AndHadelin even said at some point that he wants to try being vegan, so we'llsee how that goes. It'll be very interesting. And I want to try it as well now.But why I wanted to record this podcast is because a few things have beengoing on on this trip. We've been talking about vegetarian and vegan foodquite a lot. And we were very surprised when we got to the Czech Republic.We were still on the road trip with Hadelin, and we were expecting thatwhen we get to the Czech Republic, there would be a lot of meat here, itwould be hard to be vegetarian, because I've been vegetarian for a year now.At the same time, it's not. It's the opposite. So many vegan restaurants. Notjust vegetarian, but vegan restaurants, in Prague, in Brno, in Karlovy Vary,so many vegan restaurants just all over the place. I was definitely notexpecting this from a country where it gets really cold in winter. We're herein summer, so I'm not sure how all this works in winter, but it seems to bevery culturally accepted, and a lot of people are actually attending theseplaces and eating vegan, vegetarian food. So that was very interesting.And that's why I wanted to record this podcast, because I've beenvegetarian for a year now. I was inspired by a friend at the start of last year,so about April-May 2016 I started, and now it's already August 2017, andI've been vegetarian for all this time. I don't eat meat at all, occasionally Ieat fish, if I'm near the ocean and I know there's fresh fish. I eat fishsometimes, otherwise I'll eat it like once a month. But all the time it's
vegetarian, so that basically means plant stuff, and eggs, which I don't eatmuch of, and cheese. The only main non-vegan thing I eat is cheese. I don'teven have milk. I can't have milk, I'm lactose intolerant, but I'm totally finewith cheese.So that's what I've been up to so far, and today I wanted to share whatinspired me to do this, why I started on this journey, because it's reallybeen life-changing for me and I want to maybe inspire you guys to try it out,or maybe just cut down on your intake of meat. Or if you've beenconsidering trying it or not, this might be your push to trying it out. Sothere's usually three reasons why people become vegetarian. One is toprotect the planet. These are three reasons that I see, maybe there aremore. But one is to protect the planet. Another one is to improve theirhealth. And the third one is to look after the animals and be more caring foranimals.And so for me, it was the second reason. For me, it was my health. I wantedto experiment and see if I would feel healthier if I started eating vegetarianfood and became vegetarian. And I tried a couple of times before, and thediets I was looking at were more smoothie-based diets, and that didn't workfor me. But this time when I tried, it was nothing specific, I just startedeating vegetarian food and found what I like, like potatoes, and rice, anddifferent types of cuisine which are vegetarian, and it worked. And as aresult, what's important, as a result, I feel so much better.Some of you who know me a bit will know that I haven't been drinkingcoffee since I left Deloitte, which was in 2014. So I haven't been drinkingcoffee for three years. I had one coffee just to taste it a few weeks ago, but Idon't drink coffee any more. And after that, I started feeling better, like aftera few week transitional period, I started feeling better. And also, now beingvegetarian, I feel so much better. I feel so light, I never feel bloated, I feelenergetic, just everything is fantastic.
And in fact, one thing improved significantly, is that before becomingvegetarian, for some reason, maybe a year before becoming vegetarian, Irealised I cannot eat bread any more, because I started getting bloated aftereating bread. And bread is something that I really, really like, and I'vealways loved all my life, and I started being worried, maybe I'm a celiac, andmaybe I can't eat wheat any more, and so I stopped eating bread. I reallycut down on bread. But after becoming vegetarian, removing meat from mydiet, I can now eat bread again, and it's so much better. I can eat pasta andso on. It's really, really cool. So in terms of health, it definitely has benefits.Of course, consult a doctor and do your own research, do not take this asblind advice. But for me, it's had fantastic benefits in terms of health.And now I'm slowly being vegetarian and hanging out with people, andmeeting more people who are vegetarian, I'm slowly getting to know aboutthese other two reasons. So the planet reason, how you're helping theplanet, and also how you're protecting the animals, and how you're savinganimals. And for me, those aren't the primary reasons, but they becomevery, very powerful additional benefits that I didn't think about at the start,I didn't consider them as important, but now I can see how they are moreand more important, what contribution I am making to the world by beingvegetarian.For example, in terms of the planet, I'll give you an example. To produceone burger, it takes approximately 50 litres of water in terms of the cropsthat the cows will eat, feeding the cows, and so on. So to produce about oneburger, the meat required for one burger, is about 50 litres of water. So youcan eat a burger, and that's pretty much the same as leaving your showerrunning on for almost a whole day, or not a whole day, but a couple ofhours. So that's a big impact.And then there's other things, like for instance, the greenhouse effect. Well,guess what. That doesn't come from power plants, or cars, or airplanes. All
of these exhausts, and all of these oil plants, and refineries, and so on, allof them amount to less than 50% of the greenhouse gases that we have onthe planet. More than 50%, I think it's like 52%, of those greenhouse gases,and the most toxic one of them, methane, they actually come from cows,from their digestive systems, and from the gases they emit as a result oftheir digestion. And that's something that when I found out, I was reallyshocked by this, and I had to double, triple-check that, and that really isthe case.So that's in terms of saving the planet. And in terms of saving animals, weoften don't realise how mistreated animals are, and we are seeing more ofthis and slowly understanding that being vegetarian is definitely reallyhelping, or keeps me at peace that I'm not contributing to animals gettinghurt.And so, without going into too much detail on this, I just wanted to sharemy story on this, but also, I wanted to share three movies with you whichcan help you whichever way you're thinking about exploring this space, ifyou are thinking about exploring this space. If you're worried about theplanet, then the movie for that is called Cowspiracy. That's the movie Iwatched. Out of these three, I've only watched that one, and I'm reallylooking forward to watching the other two, but Cowspiracy really talksabout the planet and how becoming vegetarian can help save the planet.And it talks about the other two aspects as well, but at the same time, Ithink that's their main focus: how we're hurting the planet through thisproduction of meat and cheese and dairy and so on.The second movie, about health, is Forks Over Knives. I haven't seen itmyself, but from the trailer and from what I've heard about it, it sounds likeit's mostly about health and it's actually got Dr John McDougall in there,who's the leading doctor on plant-based diets and he's got a really cool blogand so on. I really like him. I follow not exactly his diet, but a lot of things
I've learned were from him. So Dr John McDougall, if you like, but he'sinterviewed in the movie, and it's called Forks Over Knives. So check outthat movie if you're thinking about all of this. If you want to just explorethis topic, not necessarily become vegetarian, but if you want to explore thistopic from a health perspective, Forks Over Knives.And finally, if you want to see how you can help save animals and be morefair to them, then the movie for that is Earthlings. But with that one, I'vegot to warn you, I haven't seen it, I will watch it, but it's got very, verygraphic scenes. So be very cautious if you want to watch it, because it's avery sad movie, and the worst thing is that it's all true. It's all, all true. It'snot just like a science fiction movie, it's exactly what we're doing withanimals. So I've heard of people who watch that movie and just afterwatching that movie, they just became vegetarian on the same day. Andwhole families who have done that, just because of what it portrays. But becareful that it is very graphic at the same time.So there we go, that's three movies: Cowspiracy for environment reasons,Forks Over Knives for health reasons, and Earthlings if you want to explorethis topic from the point of view of animals. And ultimately, I'm lookingforward to watching all three. I'm going to get onto it very soon. Andhopefully this will inspire you. And even if you don't become vegetarian,maybe this will help you perhaps reduce the meat intake. And if not, that'stotally fine as well. Maybe you'll just get some additional education in thisspace and we all love learning here, so it's always interesting to learn athing or two about how our bodies work, how the environment works, howthe world works.So there you go. Hope you enjoyed this episode, and hopefully that willinspire you to look into different ways that you can improve your health,improve the planet, improve the way we treat animals, and things like that.
So thanks a lot for being here. And I look forward to seeing you next time.Until then, happy analyzing.
Forks Over Knives for health reasons, and Earthlings if you want to explore this topic from the point of view of animals. And ultimately, I'm looking forward to watching all three. I'm going to get onto it very soon. And hopefully this will inspire you. And even if you don't become vegetar
