Growing up there's certain things that we have all been taught that shaped our minds into thinking in a certain way and behaving in a certain way. These things are traditions that were taught to us mostly by our parents and our teachers. We accepted these traditions to be true because we trust our parents and teachers. When we grow up we look at them as these all-knowing figures because they are older than us and we think they know more stuff than us.
Growing up I did the same thing. I accepted everything I was told by my parents and teachers. Sometimes I could have a few doubts here and there, but for the most part I always listened to them because I thought that grown ups knew everything and that one day I would know everything as well. You know that feeling when you don't know something and you go ask your parents about it and somehow they always know the answer? I always found that fascinating. I couldn't wait to grow up and be as knowledgeable as my parents. But then something happen, I kept growing up and found out soon enough that that wasn't exactly the case.
It was around 19 years old when I started to look more into the stuff that I knew to be true and started questioning things. Soon enough I realized that everything I knew to be true was actually wrong and in most cases was actually the complete opposite of what I thought it was.
The very first thing I started questioning was the way I was eating and what I was eating. I've always been pretty athletic and always enjoyed doing physical activity and so I wanted to improve my health. I started researching on the internet what was the healthiest diet I could go on in order to both improve my health and my body and stood upon the vegan diet. After looking into this diet for a few hours I thought it was a joke. No meat, no dairy, no animal products... where was I supposed to get all the protein that I've always taught I needed to survive and grow my muscles with?! I stopped researching and went on with my day.
A few days later, while I was trying to find something to watch on Netflix, I came across a documentary titled Cowspiracy. I read the short description and decided to give it a try. At that time I considered myself an environmentalist, in college I was taking Environmental Science and it was pretty much the only class where I felt like I was learning something useful. For those who haven't seen it, Cowspiracy talks about animal abuse and how the animal agriculture industry is heavily responsible for climate change. After watching it I decided to try to go on a vegetarian diet and that was a turning point in my life.
As I started to research more this subject, I soon realized that everything I knew about nutrition and health was a complete lie.
Animal protein?
Everything but good for your health. It has actually been linked to various heart related diseases.
Milk?
Same thing. It doesn't make your bones stronger, it depletes the calcium from them making them less strong.
All these things that everyone thinks are good about animal protein, are actually the complete opposite of what they say.
After doing some more research I found another documentary titled Earthlings, this one talked about the 5 ways humans enslave animals. Earthlings deeply touched my heart. Realizing how we treat animal for our own ego was simply heartbreaking. The horrific things we do to those poor souls is simply disgusting. We kill them for food, we kill them for clothing, we enslave them from the day they are born till the day we kill them. 10 billion animals die every year for human consumption in the US alone and no one seems to care about.
Why?
Because the lie we have been told since we were little kids justifies killing them. We have to kill them in order to get our protein.
You see how f***ed up this is?
And this is just one example of what I was talking about in the beginning. There's so many things that I'm starting to realize about this world that I kinda feel a little bit lost sometimes.
What I'm learning to do is to question everything I know to be true, everything. I'm trying to escape the matrix I was born in. We live in a world full of lies, most people believe them because when a lie has been told many times, it becomes the truth. That's the reason why most people eat meat, the lie that we need animal protein to survive and be strong has been told for so many years that has now become the truth.
What they show you on TV is not the truth, zero of what they say is true. But most people are too busy working and watching their football/basketball games to realize it. And I get it, it's hard to accept the fact that you're wrong and that you've been fooled.
It was something very challenging for me at first. It's called cognitive dissonance. Going against your beliefs is something very hard to do, especially if you have been believing in them for a very long time. It's way easier to pretend everything is fine.
Most of us are afraid of change. I've learned to accept and embrace change because I know is something that will make me grow as an individual and make me a better human being. I advice you to do the same. Question everything and let change be your friend.
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you did please leave an upvote! If you'd like to leave a comment to share your opinion please do so. Have a great day!
Gabry