While last year wasn’t a particularly good year for veganism when a number of foodies fell off the wagon. This year is shaping up to be an even worse one.
While most rational people are able to see through the reducetarian rubbish as just that. When a “former vegan” claims that being vegan caused her to become sick and nearly lose her life, it is a little harder to brush off.
This is exactly what is going on now with the media attention around the release of Jordon Younger’s book “Breaking Vegan”.
The media is salivating at the chance to demonise veganism as something that only people with mental problems follow, linking it to the made up “disorder” orthorexia.
Yet looking at what has happened to Ms Younger, and the countless former vegan foodies before her, one thing becomes painfully obvious.
Being vegan is all about them.
These people have become addicted to the pleasure of fame and notoriety of social media.
As is usually the case, these sorts of lifestyles don’t last long, and the individual comes crashing back to earth.
While I do have some sympathy for Ms Younger, and the impact that her choices have had on her life, I believe that blaming a made up “disorder” is simply hiding what is really going on.
One article I read says that for a period of time, Ms Younger drank nothing more than juice for three or more day a week. As a consequence, when she started consuming solid foods again, she ran into problems. So much so that she “started avoiding solid food more and more, until I had so much eating anxiety that I was an absolute wreck to be around.”
To me, this has nothing to do with eating healthy or being vegan at all.
Here’s the drum, it doesn’t matter whether you eat a plant based diet, the Mediterrian diet, Atkins, Pritikin, or SAD, if you have an unhealthy relationship with food, you will have problems.
Despite originally going vegan for health reasons, I can safely say that not once over the past 20 years did I become obsessed with what food I ate.
While I will admit that we as a society are partly to blame, and should shoulder some of the responsibility for what happened to Ms Younger. “We” as fellow vegans should have reached out to her sooner, and let her know that there is more to being vegan than taking photos of food and starting a clothing line.
Veganism ISN’T about food, nor is it about wearing t-shirts with catchy phrases on them.
Veganism IS about the animals.
It is a social justice movement against the oppression, and commodification of other animals.
Isn’t it time we started acting like it?