MAGAZINE - BE.ONE

Many people that have become vegan have
done so after being educated about the animal
agriculture and feel quite strongly about it from
a compassionate point of view. Yet many of us
feel hushed to voice our opinions in fear of being
seen as an activist. So why is it that the “V” word
is so controversial? And seems to evoke strong
opinions and feelings in others. I speak to Rich
and Nick Stone, twins, that currently work in
the building trade and became vegan two years
ago. They say they would never change it for the
world, no matter how much people may take
the piss. Rich is currently studying nutritional
medicine and the two of them have plans to go
traveling for adventure and further study in plant
based nutrition, Ayurveda and yoga. Nick and
Rich generally finish each others sentences, so
these answers are combined points of view.
Can you tell me how your vegan journey started?
I suppose you could say I was having a bit of a low
point wondering what am I doing in my life at the
moment, then I was about to order 20 chicken
breasts, (we were going to the gym a lot at the
time and thought we needed the meat for the
protein) It really dawned on me and struck a cord
and I thought shit I’m going to be contributing to
all that death and I would be accountable for the
death of 10 chickens. It didn’t feel good. We then
went veggie for 6 months. We carried on eating a
lot of cheese and dairy, but the more we looked
into it we realised that this wasn’t ethical. Some
friends of ours went vegan and we were like wow
thats cool, imagine going the whole way, so we
did.
Can you explain how some people say becoming
vegan can help with health?
When you look at the human body and you look
at what foods are aligned with the body and what
foods have negative affects on the body you will
see how animal produce does not tally up with
what the human body is designed to consume.
We don’t deal well with dietary cholesterol and
eating meat is very heavy on the body. Whereas
with plant foods, our bodies are designed to
take in all of the antioxidants. There are so many
studies out there that have proved that illness
and diseases can be stopped and reversed from
living on a plant based diet.
Apart from health benefits and saving animals
,veganism can hugely help the environment.
Some people may even go as far as saying it
could save the planet. What are your thoughts on
this?
Yeah totally the foot print that animal agriculture
has on the planet is huge. The amazon rainforest
is being torn down to create space for crops to
grow food for agriculture but the rainforest is the
worlds lungs. The documentary Cowspiracy is
amazing to give all the environmental facts and
figures, we would really recommend that people
should watch it.
What was the hardest thing about becoming
vegan?
Giving up cheese.
And how did you get past that?
Manned up, seriously you just think of the
animals first.
How do people take it when you say that your
vegan?
More recently it feels more accepted but I think
that’s because we are a lot more confident. To
begin with people would take the piss they would
think that it was extreme and weird, but it helps
now that were more educated.
Many people seem to think that being vegan is
extreme but yet don’t question whether killing
animals is extreme, whats your view on this?
There’s a really cool Youtube video called the
Be.one - 46 - Wellness