Dairy and Eggs – Power Plants

It all started when I found this documentary titled ‘What The Health’ on Netflix in 2016 and took the bait! Initially, I was kind of confused by the title. What does it mean? My attention however quickly drew to the image. I certainly admired Joaquin Phoenix as an actor and convinced myself that if he had something to do with it, then it’s got to be good! I watched the film in one sitting and it became the beginning of ‘an end’ in my life.

The movie “What the Health” argues that a plant-based diet is the key to preventing and reversing chronic diseases. It raises questions about the influence of the food industry on health organizations and criticizes the health effects of animal products, particularly:

Processed Meats: The documentary highlights the World Health Organization’s classification of processed meats as a carcinogen, similar to cigarettes.
Red Meat: It also points to the link between red meat consumption and increased cancer risk.
Dairy and Eggs: The film suggests dairy and eggs can negatively impact health.

The movie was provocative! I was in my late forties and had started to experience occasional health challenges. I also had the experience of my relatives who were suffering from chronic diseases such as heart disease, and diabetes and I wanted to avoid that fate for myself and my family. It felt that the movie was targeted right at me and I either began to seriously question my current food choices or bear the consequences of severe health challenges ahead. I was ready to give up meat and dairy but was scared to pull the trigger. How can I remove dairy from my diet, especially with my sweet tooth? How can one give up on cheese? or eggs? How am I going to enjoy pizza without cheese? How would I get enough protein?

What followed my existential shakeup was a voracious consumption of YouTube videos on the subject, Internet research of related articles, and discovery of this whole new world that I didn’t know existed.

After much research, I ‘settled’ on becoming a vegetarian as I wasn’t ready to give up on dairy and eggs. It took a ‘lot of courage’ for me to give up meat. Ok, well hardly any courage, given that I had spent the first fifteen years of my life in India being a complete vegetarian. I started eating meat after coming to Canada to fit in among my new friends. So really, I had just lost my way in search of social acceptance.

I justified becoming a vegetarian by just reconnecting with my East Indian roots. My mother had been a vegetarian all her life, so why couldn’t I have chosen that path for the rest of my life?

I mean what could be so hard, I asked? … <please stay tuned>