I started my Vegan Journey November 2007. Thanks for joining me.
In college I become a vegetarian for a few reasons. My older sister who got her degree in Physical Education told me it was healthier to become a vegetarian so I tried it and ended up eating a lot of cereal, peas and rice, cheese, yogurt and more cheese. Cooking healthy was something I never learned how to do and eating cheap foods and Mexican food from the school cafeteria made sense. The third reason for my move to a vegetarian lifestyle was a learned behavior. My degree is in Cultural Anthropology and what people ate was covered in every Anthropology course. The one topic that was never covered was the implications of factory farming. I’ve taken my blinders off and wish I knew then what I know now. Please keep an open mind and do the same.
My mom who raised seven kids which included a set of twins and triplets prepared food the only way she knew. Meat was a mystery for me as it was always brought home wrapped up in a container from the store. When it reached my plate it was disguised from its origin covered in breading or mixed into a soup or dish. Our taste buds are designed for carbohydrates so it is no wonder I often ate the coating off the meat and left behind chunks of meat. My favorite foods were made of some sort of starch but like most kids I craved sweets and dairy. I believe now that I was addicted to casomorphes at a very early age. Cow’s milk or the milk of any other species contains a protein called casein that breaks apart during digestion to release a whole host of opiates, called casomorphins. Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, author of Breaking the Food Seduction (St. Martin’s Press, 2003) maintains that there are people who crave cheese. The highest levels of casein are concentrated in the production of cheese. We’ve all heard the phrase “Perception Is Reality” and that is why major corporations advertise. The meat and dairy industries spend millions of dollars in advertising. [http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib750/aib750i.pdf].We all thought it must be true if it was in a print ad or on TV.
Being a vegetarian during the 80’s meant something different for most people then it does today. It seemed fine to eat eggs, cheese and fish and my arteries and internal organs never knew the difference. I attributed any extra pounds on my hips or thighs to lack of exercise but I know we are what we eat. There was no variety in my diet. The only vegetables I knew of came out of can, jar or freezer bag. I was never exposed to green leafy vegetables other then lettuce. By the way Kale is at least 200% more nutritious then Iceberg lettuce. In college I lived on yogurt, cheese tortillas, and a little bit of chicken and fish. I had no clue that the choices I was making were contributing to global warming, torturing billions of animals or even hurting my health.
I’m sorry to most of my friends who might read this next sentence but it is true. Most of the people from my generation really don’t know how to cook a nutritional meal. A simple easy meal for them might be putting a slice of some sort of animal flesh in a marinade, throwing it on a grill with a couple sides loaded with cholesterol and a few leaves of the least nutritious green on the planet Iceberg lettuce. Most meals these days I’ve seen are void of fiber and complex carbohydrates. Both come only from plants and are necessary in our diets to maintain a healthy and functioning digestive track. There is so much ignorance about nutrition in our society and the result is a very unhealthy population and an obesity epidemic. I have many friends that are suffering silent illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity. Too many people put faith in the medical industry. They would rather take a pill then change what they eat. I’ve heard so many excuses but it comes down to ignorance and laziness. Give me a crane to lift some people off a sofa and I can teach them how to make a great tasting, easy to prepare vegan dish.
Back in 2006 I was in a waiting room and inquired to the lady next to me about the book she was reading. It was called “The China Study”and had the subtitle “The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health”. Being the good vegetarian I was I always liked to keep abreast of diet and nutrition and bought the book. I had no idea how it was going to impact my life. Today it is ranked #98 in book sales from Amazon and there are over 593 customer reviews. I encourage you to read this book and make your own decisions based on facts. One of the many things you will find out from this book is that a huge problem in our society is one of over-consumption of protein and saturated fat. I feel empowered to make intelligent decisions about my health and what goes into my body. Food is fuel and is a part of every living cell in our bodies.
It is so easy to feed myself daily, but I like to entertain and prepare food for others. I also wanted to show J that there are many options for meals without meat and cheese that taste great and can blow away our guests. My journey took me to the internet, searching through the hundreds of great blogs and websites featuring vegan cuisine from regular everyday meals to gourmet courses. The website Compassionate Cooks by Colleen Patrick Goudreau grabbed my attention as she listed some podcasts and sample recipes. I followed her podcast link called “Food For Thought” and within a few minutes I downloaded a few of them free through iTunes. Her podcast episodes debunk the myths surrounding plant based diets, vegetarian and vegan foods, sustainable agriculture among many other topics. She is so knowledgeable and speaks so eloquently that I ended up listening to about 15 of her podcasts. She has a way of speaking that makes you feel like you are listening to a best friend. She is also a fabulous chef and has some great recipe books to feed to the family or entertain a group. Check them out.
I have to end this “about me” page by letting you know that my reason for putting this website together is not at all about me. It is about those who cannot speak for themselves.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer once wrote: “The thinking [person] must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another.”
“To the animals, it’s all the same. They want to live. If they have wings, they want to fly. If they have legs, they want to walk. If they have voices, they want to communicate. If they have offspring, they want to mother them. To humans who perceive animals as inferior, their lives are here for us to end, their wings and legs are ours to eat, their voices are ours to silence or ignore, and their reproductive cycles are ours to manipulate and use. It’s not the animals but our perception of the animals that enables us to do all sorts of horrific things to them.” …. Colleen Patrick Goudreau
My journey has just begun. Please feel free to join me.
“Be the change you want to see in the world” – Mohamid Ghandi
The Vegan Traveler
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Thank you!