Let’s face it: we need to retrain our brains – By Nicole King

Let’s face it: we need to retrain our brains – By Nicole King

FOR those of us who have lived in Spain for any number of years most will no longer be surprised nor ‘turned off’ by seeing fish served with their heads attached.  Most of us don’t dismember prawns with a knife and fork. It all comes down to how we’re brought up, where we’re brought up and what we’re used to.

I grew up calling bacon sandwiches ‘beef’ sandwiches and our Christmas tree a Chanukah bush; I also believed in Santa and the Tooth Fairy. I also believed that it was essential to eat enough meat and fish to be healthy and that drinking my daily dose of milk a must. I had no reason not to believe this; the perfect example of how easy it is to live a lie without knowing it.

I now know that none of this is true. In fact, not only is it not true but also that behind many of the untruths lies a cesspool of adverse economic interests and Machiavellian reasons to ensure that our false perceptions persist.

I can’t believe how easy it is to put everything I know aside. Obviously ignoring the truth and taking the blue pill is easier than changing a lifetime of habits and irrational programming.

My daughter studied animal sciences at Essex University with the campus on a working farm. I now know that in order to produce milk cows have to be pregnant.

Sounds logical but how many of us realise this or have ever thought this through? How many of us appreciate that in order to get them pregnant they are repeatedly raped, over and over and over again, by a machine; literally until they drop?

I never thought either how the mother cow could feel whilst witnessing the kidnapping of her new-born being hauled off; to slaughter.  Such suffering ‘justifiable’ because we need her milk on our cornflakes and soya milk just won’t do.

I’m amongst the worst. I know all this and yet although more aware than before, I still eat meat and drink milk. As with more and more athletes, my daughter and son-in-law however have chosen a plant-based diet. Although my kids have no objections to me, or anyone else, eating whatever I like, I recently had to witness my two-year-old granddaughter’s reaction to seeing me being served with an  ‘espeto’ of sardines.

I just thought it looked delicious; this was not her impression. At first she was delighted to see ‘fishies’, but then confused as to why they weren’t moving and why they were on a plate. My daughter told me not to worry; that she would have to see this anyway; but surely not from me! I could see her confusion and I had no worthy explanation.

That’s when I swallowed the red pill: I need to retrain my brain and face the truth; there’s no justification to eat anything with a face, even if it’s only so that I can look my granddaughter squarely in hers.

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Nicole King’s opinions are her own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.