I became a die-hard plant-based eater in July of 2017 after my otherwise healthy, non-smoking 75 year-old mom was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. After getting this shocking news, I immediately consulted with my good friend, Jane Esselstyn and her father and plant-based guru, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. I dove head first into all the documentaries, books and research I could find and eventually convinced my mom to join me in adopting a plant-based diet. Eating this way gave us both hope, which was a wonderful and welcoming feeling to have amid all the uncertainty.
Throughout our journey, we’ve had both struggles and successes in the kitchen, frustration while dining out, and difficulty explaining our beliefs to friends, family and even our doctors. We stuck with it and have ultimately succeeded, but the transition was not easy and I can’t imagine how much more difficult it would be for someone who is dealing with a new, life-threatening diagnosis.
I’m happy to report that after my mom’s last chemo treatment and scan, her doctor saw no evidence of disease. He was noticeably perplexed, because people with stage four lung cancer generally don’t ever get to stop chemo and they hardly ever get to hear the words “no evidence of disease.” I immediately blurted out, “You should tell all your patients to eat a plant-based diet.” He shook his head slightly, but seemed to consider my request, which I count as a win!
Three years later, my mom just turned 79, is still taking a break from chemo and enjoying every moment of her busy, fulfilling plant-based life.
She is my “Why”.
Mallory Taylor
Plants Only.
That’s an inspiring story. I hope others read your story and make changes to their diets. My why? I was 53, overweight, menopausal, sluggish, depressed, and while I didn’t eat a lot of animal products, I did eat the occasional egg, infrequently I ate chicken, and very, very infrequently I ate red meat. The problem was that I wasn’t eating the nutritious fruits and veggies my body needed. The problem was dairy. I wish everyone would quit dairy right now.
People, including myself in the past, eat animal products foods because we have been brainwashed to believe we need animal protein, calcium from milk and all dairy. The food industry and the federal government have done this to all of us out of greed. It all comes back to greed. And selfishness. And lack of compassion for animals who deserve life as much as any human.
Pretty much every adult knows that animal products aren’t really good for you, but they continue to eat them. Pretty much every adult knows that to eat animal products you have to treat an animal like a thing (these corporate breeding farms don’t think about the life of the animal), basically torture it (cow milking assembly lines in massive corporate farms)and breed it only to be killed for some crispy fried chicken, hamburgers, and used for assembly line production of milk and all other dairy products (because most humans are selfish, myself included, and fail to see what our actions and desires are doing to innocent animals).
So while my first why was to get healthy (within five months my cholesterol went down 50 points and I lost 40lbs) my second why was because of the animals. This why became the most important why within the first week of going vegan. I don’t know if there is a vegan platform called “Why”, but there should be. People should ask themselves why they are eating animal products and why they should eat whole food, plant based foods. They should ask themselves why they think it’s ok to breed, torture, and kill animals so that they have the pleasure of eating beef, chicken, fish, and dairy products. They should ask themselves why they think a plant-based diet is not for them. We should be telling people that a plant based diet is just as if not more delicious without all the negative side affects of animal products like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer and death. It’s actually very simple.
Why? Because it’s the humane thing to do.