Just watched BBC's Carnage

I have watched quite a number of documentaries on the subject of vegan-related lifestyle options in recent months,  The latest, Carnage has just gone live on BBC iplayer, by Simon Anstell.  It has chosen the name carnage as an opposite concept to veganism, that of a minority lifestyle of people eating meat etc in a world full of people living a vegan lifestyle.

With all these documentaries I find myself in a difficult position.  My previous lifestyle as a vegetarian for forty years, in the end did not sustain my health.  In fact rather the opposite is true, in the end the dairy I consumed has without doubt been a significant contributor to the onset of my Rheumatoid Arthritis.

And here I am now living healthily without any dairy whatsoever.  My RA has all but gone, my bones are stronger and healthier than at any time in my life.  I have more energy and focus.  What more could I want from health?

Well such a film as Carnage presents me with a further challenge.  Yes it puts into clear focus the change inside me.  I have conquered several devils inside me over recent months, including my love of cheese.  Yes, I love the smell of cheese and I do not crave it anymore, however gooey and smelly it may be.

In chasing down my own personal good health I have come across countless documentaries arguing veganism as a global health solution.  These I can accept inside myself on humanitarian grounds.  My eyes have been opened to inhumanities of which I was previously unaware.

But.

But I cannot and do not lecture anyone else.  For each of us this is a very personal journey.  The media hype around "you need your protein", subtext "eat more meat" and "you need calcium for good bone health", subtext "drink more cows milk" are very powerful and deep going back to after WW2.  To defeat these subliminal messages means that each one of us has to accept these, what I consider, falsehoods in our own way in our own time.

There are many other sales and marketing messages that, had I paid attention to them my recovery would have been halted and I would have failed.  "Olive oil is necessary for whatever", pushes olive oil into a premium price cooking oil.  It took me a long time to break that one, but I have done it.

Carnage is another movie that helps people come closer to my reality by hypothesizing a vegan society in 2067, looking back at present day global and personal issues of eating meat and dairy.  I hope my friends and family in particular take the time to watch it, but to those who do be prepared - in some parts it is very tough viewing.

Whatever I don't have the right to judge anyone.  After all I am far from a perfect person. I have actually been very lucky to hit that almighty road-block of Rheumatoid Arthritis since it made me face up to my own health challenges and with a huge amount of effort I came out on top.

I wouldn't want anyone, even my worst enemy, to suffer RA or any other auto-immune disease.  But if you do then please consider the messages of films like carnage as part of your motivation for adopting a vegan and oil-free lifestyle.