With so many awful things happening in the world, being vegan offers you the opportunity to make a choice that is kinder, more responsible, and ultimately essential for the future of the planet

Mez is vegan and a runner from the UK. Her primary reason for starting an IG account was to save all the animals. Mez, like almost all children, grew up loving animals and enjoyed seeing animals on farms, fields, and zoos. Meatless Movement recently had the opportunity to chat with her.

Mez told Meatless Movement that once she learned about the reality of how animals are treated in the U.K. and all over the world, she couldn’t imagine ever willingly being involved in the cruelty and suffering that comes with eating animal and animal derived products.

Tell us more about yourself, please

I’m Mez and I’m from Sunderland in the UK, which is in the Northeast, by the sea. I’m a part-time postgraduate student at Oxford University and a long-distance runner.

I always find that making super nutritious pre and post run food is very motivating for me
plantgirlmez

It’s actually very, very difficult to learn the truth about our relationship with animals and i’m sure I’ve got a lot more to learn
plantgirlmez

I became vegan after Veganuary 2020, after a failed attempt at Veganuary 2019…I’d been pescatarian for about 8 years prior as I’ve always loved animals. I took the opportunity of the increased downtime during the pandemic to educate myself about dietary and lifestyle choices that were kinder to the world around me and of course, veganism came up time and time again.

The more I learned, the more I couldn’t believe the harm that a conventional omnivorous diet was doing to the planet and realised I couldn’t be part of it. ‘Protest Kitchen’ by Carol Adams, Lucy Watson’s ‘awakenings’ and Peter Singer’s ‘The Ethics of What We Eat’ were transformative for me.

Veganuary – The Go Vegan 31 Day Challenge

Veganuary felt like a way to attempt veganism without the pressure or shame of doing a straight up permanent lifestyle change, even though that’s what it ended up becoming.

I remember struggling with low energy for the first few days of Veganuary, but as I persisted, I felt a huge increase in my energy, and was regularly running in the mornings and the evenings, just to blow off my energy. It felt amazing.

I’m ashamed that it took me so long to realise that you can’t love animals and also eat them, put them in cages, and make money from their exploitation.
plantgirlmez

With so many awful things happening in the world, being vegan offers you the opportunity to make a choice (at least three times a day) that is kinder, more responsible, and ultimately essential for the future of the planet. No matter what happens in your day, or the world around you, being vegan allows you to be sure that you’ve actively taken the steps that you can to avoid supporting suffering and cruelty, and that is truly priceless.

The vegan market is constantly evolving with new products coming out all the time
plantgirlmez

To those who are considering going meatless, veggie, or vegan, I would say thank you. Making an effort to live a more conscious and kind life is a wonderful thing to do. You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to try. An all or nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, and the planet and animals will be grateful for what you can do.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about being vegan is that you’ll become weak, and that you won’t get all the nutrients you need. If you do a little research, this won’t be the case. I take some supplements, but I mostly get what I need from my diet. As a vegan I can run a 19-minute 5k and a 1 hour 30 half marathons, it doesn’t hold me back, but it fuels and inspires me.

If a restaurant doesn’t have a specific vegan option, make your own out of starters and sides
plantgirlmez

The place for vegan food in the world is the Good Apple Café in Sunderland, England. It was doing meatless food way before it was cool. The team are super talented and creative and are always trialling mind-blowing recipes alongside their staples and classics. Their full works brunch, Mexican breakfast wrap, and herby quesadillas are a dream. Mexico 70 in Sunderland are also awesome, half of their taco menu is veggie and vegan. Wagamama also has a stunning vegan menu these days, and Wulf and Lamb in London is a favourite too.

Hère to encourage and inspire you to make kinder choices for animals, humans, & thé planet
plantgirlmez

One of the huge realisations I’ve had, is how truly intersectional veganism is. Most people know about the harm that eating an omnivorous diet does to the planet, and are aware of the ethical concerns around the treatment and slaughter of animals, but fewer people know about how an omnivorous diet plays a part in exacerbating food poverty (animal agriculture takes up way more land and produces way less food compared with arable farming), racism (in the US, those who live near factory farms who are adversely affected by the toxic waste produced etc, are disproportionately black families), and poor mental health (think of the challengers faced by abattoir workers faced with death and bloodshed every single day). Carol Adams poses a compelling argument about the close relationship between misogyny and meat-eating.

Most people would like to think that they don’t support racism, sexism, poverty etc, and veganism allows you to stay true to those principles, and to align your behaviour with your morals.