As my final week of my vegetarian journey comes to a close, I have ultimately realized that this lifestyle could be very practical for me long term. My body has completely adjusted to the dietary changes, and I feel better than I ever have before. I have a strong feeling I’ll continue sticking to this lifestyle from here on out.

On my previous post, I discussed the topic of iron related issues that can arise throughout one’s transition into vegetarianism. On that post, I received a comment from someone asking if I could further address the possible money related issues regarding vegetarianism.

When tackling the reasons for why the rates of vegetarianism is so low in the US, I immediately assumed one reason could be that it takes less meat to fill you up than vegetarian food, which made me believe that it would ultimately be cheaper to follow a diet containing meat vs not. I also came to this conclusion off of the fact that the menus at fast food chains (which more than 1 in 3 americans eats at on a given day) contain little to no fruits and vegetables. Since the food items at those chains are so low, I figured their ability to make their prices so low correlated with their lack of vegetarian items. It turns out my assumptions are actually completely false.

Vegetarianism can be a somewhat harder diet to follow for numerous reasons, like the effort it takes to prepare delicious & filling vegetarian dishes, but the idea that maintaining a vegetarian diet is proportionally more expensive than meat is simply false. In a study posted in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, it concluded that not only are vegetarian diets linked with better overall health, but that vegetarians (on average), save about $750 more per year than meat eaters. The vegetarian diets this study was based off of not only costed much less, but also contained much higher amounts of nutrition (via fruits, veggies, and whole grains) within its 2,000 calories when compared to the regular diet. A misconception about people following a vegetarian diet is that one must shop solely at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s and buy all organic food in order to be a successful, satisfied vegetarian. But in reality, as long as your diet follows the no meat rule, you can utilize any and all things in the grocery store, organic or not.

Often times, food companies will stamp “organic” on their product, allowing themselves to increase the price. Though there are varying opinions regarding the actual value of organic vs. inorganic food, if you’re trying to save money, there’s truly no harm in buying non-organic stamped food. Pasta, dairy, pizza, eggs…etc. The vegetarian diet isn’t, and shouldn’t be considered restricting. The bottom line here is that prior to (my) prior belief, following a vegetarian diet does not mean spending higher amounts of money per year, and if you do it smartly, you could end up saving lots.

Gregory Bove

Through the course of the semester, I developed my idea from a simple fund supporting Azza Soliman’s cause for gender equality in Egypt into an idea which required ultimately no money, and was able to support her cause while also allowing me to become closer with the cross country and track team here at Lafayette. Through them, I created a piece of art which communicates the message of equality.

Attached is a photo, which is an outline of Egypt with a gender equality sign in the middle. All of the lines are constructed from sentences that my teammates wrote regarding the importance of fights against inequality and injustice in our world.

I thought that the personal project would be more of an academic ‘to-do’, but in reality it was a confidence builder for me, as I had to talk with others who I normally do not talk to, and it was a team building exercise, as I became more acquainted with my team members, and them with each other.

So, after looking to Amnesty.com to find out about Azza Soliman, I was ultimately able to help her cause while helping a cause of my own, which I thought was special. 

As I have mentioned in the previous entries, the meat industry is full of unethical practices. For years the industry was able to keep these unethical practices hidden, however, articles, books, and documentaries have brought them to light.
The factory farming industry is focused on maximizing its output and minimizing its cost of production, to gain the most profit. This especially applies to the U.S. meat and poultry industry, which aims to make its products faster and bigger. One of the ways the industry tries to minimize its costs is by feeding animals, such as cows, corn. The U.S. government subsidies corn, as a result, farmers produce and sell corn at really cheap prices. These meat companies then feed it to cows, that are designed to eat grass. When cows are fed corn, dangerous mutations can occur and in some cases, the bacteria E. Coli evolves. This deadly bacteria can easily spread from one cow to another since these animals are kept in crowded and filthy feedlots. E. Coli can also contaminate vegetables such as lettuce and spinach because of runoff from factory farms. In addition, ground beef at the grocery store has thousands of cows mixed up in it, which increases the likelihood of the meat being contaminated with a disease.
To meet with the demand for Chicken, companies are raising them in half the time, but making them double the size they were in the 1950s. Scientists have also designed chickens to have larger breast because white meat is popular. Chickens are fed a diet of genetically modified feed, they are given antibiotics and other growth enhancers. This leads them to grow so big that their bones can’t keep up with their weight and they are unable to move. The chickens live in horrible conditions, they are kept in crowded cages and they often have no access to sunlight. Their condition provides breeding grounds for bacteria and mutations.
Furthermore, meatpacking is one of the most dangerous jobs in America and it is done by a lot of undocumented immigrants and poor people of color. They are often exposed to infections and diseases. Workers also suffer from a high number of injuries.
One should consider these factors when they go to the grocery store to purchase meat. They should consider their health, their family’s health, the mistreatment of meat industry workers, the environmental pollution and the suffering of animals. Throughout my personal project, I have learned that the process of changing to a vegetarian or vegan diet is challenging, but it is worth a try.

Citations

Food, Inc. By Robert Kenner, Robert Kenner, Robert Kenner, Richard Pearce, Eric Schlosser, Eric Schlosser, Melissa Robledo, William Pohlad, Jeff Skoll, Robin Schorr, Diane Weyermann, Elise Pearlstein, Elise Pearlstein, Kim Roberts, Kim Roberts, Michael Pollan, Michael Pollan, Gary Hirshberg, Joel Salatin, and Mark Adler. Directed by Richard Pearce.

I have really enjoyed reflecting on my commitment to vegetarianism during the course this semester. It has been interesting to look at the various perspectives surrounding meat consumption and vegetarianism through talking to other people and learning about some of the main factors and influencers to one’s choice to become a vegetarian. For me, my reason is that I do not feel that I have any right to eat another animal just because I want to or that it tastes good. This I feel is very pertinent to Nonviolence. In our modern world with the many options and choices that we have each day, we can imbue meaning and purpose in even the most mundane aspects of daily life such as pursuing a vegetarian diet. I feel that this experience has brought me closer to the food that I eat as I am more careful and aware of the types of food I am eating and where it has come from.

One major reason why I think vegetarianism has yet to really go mainstream in the United States is because of how disproportionally expensive fresh fruits and vegetables are in many areas. Furthermore, certain neighborhoods and towns have no access to produce without traveling far away by car to a neighboring town. This lack of access to inexpensive fruits and vegetables, I believe, is the major reason for unhealthy eating in America. As a direct result of immense government subsidies to Corn/ Grain and Dairy farmers, the price of less wholesome foods excluding fruits and vegetables is able to be marked down, making the price of produce artificially inflated in comparison.

In the end, I think that improving access to affordable fruits and vegetables to different communities is of most importance. It is a truly privileged ability of mine to pursue a vegetarian diet as I am not reliant on a limited quantity of food that I must survive on. Nevertheless, I have really come to appreciate the practice more than I did before.

  As this is my last post, I want to touch upon the various lessons I have learned throughout my personal project.  

1. Art and nonviolence thrive in a symbiotic relationship. Throughout this semester, I learned about nonviolent action not only through my own project but also through others. I believe in order for there to be wider support for nonviolence, we have to view creative writing and other artistic pursuits as effective mechanisms for nonviolence. Many of the nonviolent cases that we have learned about would not have been a success without artistic pursuits, which bolster my project.  
2. Writing a screenplay is difficult. I have been exposed to journalistic and other forms of creative writing in the past, but I have never endeavored to write a screenplay. It can be challenging, because not only are you writing a narrative, you are writing the production and reception of your narrative. At times, it was difficult to continue revising my vision and message to fit the confines of an acceptable screenplay, but it was worth it. Soulforce is still a work in progress, but I am proud of the work I have done thus far.
3. There is still a lot of work yet to be done. By diving into my project and constructing and intimately knowing my characters, I acknowledge that there are people in the world who face challenges similar to those faced by my characters. Our world has a long way to go, but I believe peaceful noncooperation can change the world.  

   Moving forward, I will attempt to turn my screenplay into a film. I will edit the script during the break to reflect my continued dedication to this project and the lessons of this class. I am grateful that I chose this project, it certainly has been worthwhile. 

This past Thanksgiving, I ate a substantial amount of meat, which I regret because I know that it sanctions the inhumane treatment of animals at industrial farms. On the other hand, my mother had prepared a great dinner with so much love that I couldn’t bring myself to reject it.

However, during break I also talked to a friend about the benefits of switching to a plant-based diet. I explained how this reduces the likelihood of suffering from heart disease and reduces inflammation (Adler 2018), an argument that he found very compelling since he is an avid runner.

Moreover, after thanksgiving dinner (which made me wake up with a headache), I came to the conclusion that I would benefit greatly if I adopted a (mostly) plant-based diet for the long-term. Realizing also that it wouldn’t be wise to commit to this diet religiously, because there will be moments when meat is the only available option.

I also have the intention to keep sharing my reasons for embracing a plant-based diet, even after the semester ends. In this manner, I can continue to spread awareness about the inhumane practices of the animal husbandry industry, and also share information that may help others increase their quality of life.

Finally, at the beginning of my project I foresaw constant struggle, mostly because I had the preconception that any form of nonviolent activism required sacrifice on some level. And this is true, transitioning into a plant-based diet was difficult, and in some instances of hunger I found myself craving animal protein. However, I also feel better physically, as I now feel that my energy levels are more stable throughout the day. More importantly, I feel better spiritually, since I know that my diet no longer comes at the cost of the extreme suffering of other conscious beings.

Adler, Allan. 2018. “The darker side of inflammation”. Accessed November 28, 2018.

https://healthbeat.spectrumhealth.org/the-darker-side-of-inflammation-vegan-diet-stroke-heart-attack/

While meditating about positive thoughts, I came to the conclusion that nonviolence in practice is a mindset that one has to have. Meditating has helped me form the mindset to stick to the ultimate goal of the project. To impact those one the team to provoke them to want to win games and dominate. Unfortunate for football players, but fortunate for this project it  had to be in a positive way. It has been difficult adapting to the nonviolent side of the practice, with football being the vessel, due to the violent nature of the sport, but with nonviolent communication skills learns through the process of embodying nonviolence I am perfecting the techniques everyday.

After a week of routine meditation, through nonviolent practices noticed that I have grown farther away from meats, naturally. Consuming less meat was not a problem for me because for the first 6years of my life, I was a vegan. My family and I slowly began to transition from vegan to vegetarian, and soon after unfortunately, with our busy schedules could not afford to keep up with the diet. By logging back into to that during this personal project I have noticed that my diet has become a lot healthier. I began to eat more leafy things, spinach and greens and for a snack I would find my self eating an orange or apple. I am a lot more awake throughout the day. I think that anyone can benefit from doing this once in their life because it is a learning experience. You learn how to handle situations differently due to the information you know about nonviolent techniques. Knowledge is power! With the projects coming to an end, I plan on continuing these practices going forward with the seasons here at Lafayette College. I am not trying to leave here with a couple of wins. I did not come here for that, and it needs to change. Nonviolently.

As the season came to a close, I began to think about the project in a different light. I continued with my conversations with people on the team in hopes of better communication by being on the same page. While I think the team is coming along better with communication, I figured the project should shift more internally and personally. I adopted meditating as my nonviolence tool to achieve.

I remember meditating in middle school and rarely in high school. With and busy schedule, I found the time to meditate 45 minutes before I go to bed. For 20 of those minutes I would sit still listening to my breath, my mind in thought. I would think about nonviolence and all the ways it can help us navigate life positively. With the season sending the way that it did, frustration surely built up inside and I found meditating as a way of relaxing and clearing my mind. Instead of verbally communicating something, that might have been taken negatively, I would reframe from saying them. I would then meditate.

My mind naturally drifted to those instances and because I did that, I had better night sleeps. Waking up after meditating is mind refreshing, and I would not have discovered it without this project. Going into off season workouts, I will incorporate both nonviolent communication skills and meditation techniques to further promote nonviolence.

For the past two weeks I have been trying out a new form of mediation called Metta meditation. Metta meditation is a type of meditation that focuses on compassion and love. Metta is a Pali word meaning kindness, good will, and benevolence. This kind of meditation comes from traditions in the Buddhist religion, specifically the Tibetan and Theravada lineages.  To do this, one sits down cross legged on the floor with closed eyes, making sure that the spine remains upright. To begin one generates feelings of kindness and benevolence towards yourself, and then to others. A popular progression is co concentrate on feeling kindness and compassion towards yourself, a good friend, a neutral person on your life, a difficult person in your life, all four of these people equally, and then gradually send these thoughts to the universe. This progression makes sending these feelings to people you may dislike easier by starting with yourself and loved ones. In conclusion to this meditation, you should have developed a feeling of wishing happiness to everyone in the world. Another easy trick to send these good thoughts is to visualize the suffering of others and send them love, or imagining someone and wish them happiness.

To be honest, I was a little skeptical of this type of meditation, it sounds a little cheesy to me. Nonetheless, in the spirit of Thanksgiving and the holiday season I decided to give it a shot and try Metta meditation once a day for about 15 minutes. To my surprise, I felt really good after completing the meditation each day. Wishing happiness to others, especially people I do not know personally, is something I do not do very often.  But when I started to routinely remind myself of my love for myself, family, friends, and people in the world, I found I had a more accepting attitude about my self image, and that I was getting angry less. Especially during the holidays when my huge extended family stays with my immediate family and I in our small house, tensions start to arise because we are all sharing a small space. However, I found myself getting angry or annoyed less during these tensions, because I was able to have more compassion due to my Metta meditation.

I believe Metta meditation can contribute to the greater scope of nonviolent practices because the core of this meditation is unconditional forgiveness, love, and kindness towards all kinds of people. The thought process of self love and love of others helps to humanize the enemy, and increase your compassion towards others. Additionally, the core concepts of nonviolence is to recognize the human in all people and to use kindness during disagreements or violence. Metta meditation could help many people develop compassion for themselves, friends, and family in their everyday lives which can improve relationships, as well as develop compassion for people in the media who may anger them which leads to a happier lifestyle.