4 posts tagged “vegan”
In some recent encouraging vegetarian related news, Oprah Winfrey has committed herself to a vegan diet during a three week "cleanse." Sure, three weeks isn't much, but when this lady speaks people listen.If she so much as turns 1% of her audience into vegans, that 74,000 less people straining the environment with their diets.
Before we all lose our minds regarding articles proclaiming a global food crisis, let's calmly listen to what some science-types and most vegetarians have been saying for years. This is a very solvable problem as is this whole carbon emissions thing.
It's the cows. Cows eat many times the amount of the amount of food they will eventually become, and they consume a whole lot of fresh water. And these bovine eco-terrorists emit lots of pollution. To make matters worse, at this very moment vast swaths of pristine, virgin rainforest are being cleared to make room for more livestock to graze. These acres of ancient trees, which help soak up carbon-dioxide, are being slashed and burned primarily to raise more cows which can eat up more of the world's food.
And Meat consumption is actually quite devastating to world finances. Unthinkable amounts of time and money is wasted in food cultivation and production for livestock, and then the vast meat production industry. Wasted transportation (as in millions of gallons of gas annually), massive recalls, and most crushingly the health care cost of the sick, debilitated and dying, of which poor diet is the number one killer. And the threat of mad cow disease is always looming.
A great start for anyone is to stop supporting the meat and dairy industry. There are plenty of vegan foods that taste wonderful and are superbly healthy. Instead of blaming gas prices for the food shortages, maybe the problem is just old habits. This problem has been a long time coming and even electric cars aren't going to stop us from using cows to kill us all.
It's the cows. Cows eat many times the amount of the amount of food they will eventually become, and they consume a whole lot of fresh water. And these bovine eco-terrorists emit lots of pollution. To make matters worse, at this very moment vast swaths of pristine, virgin rainforest are being cleared to make room for more livestock to graze. These acres of ancient trees, which help soak up carbon-dioxide, are being slashed and burned primarily to raise more cows which can eat up more of the world's food.
And Meat consumption is actually quite devastating to world finances. Unthinkable amounts of time and money is wasted in food cultivation and production for livestock, and then the vast meat production industry. Wasted transportation (as in millions of gallons of gas annually), massive recalls, and most crushingly the health care cost of the sick, debilitated and dying, of which poor diet is the number one killer. And the threat of mad cow disease is always looming.
A great start for anyone is to stop supporting the meat and dairy industry. There are plenty of vegan foods that taste wonderful and are superbly healthy. Instead of blaming gas prices for the food shortages, maybe the problem is just old habits. This problem has been a long time coming and even electric cars aren't going to stop us from using cows to kill us all.
As a longtime vegetarian (15 years) I've encountered and spoken to many people who have at one time or another been vegetarian or vegan but ultimately reverted back to their original diet. As it turns out, most people that I've talked to failed because they didn't really understand what they were getting themselves into in the first place. Some folks have said they felt sick, others craved their favorite unhealthy food, but none had taken the necessary steps to ensure a successful transition to a better diet.
The easiest no-brainier type method to eating right is to make reasonable and delicious substitutions of bad foods for their healthy alternatives. If you have been a big hamburger eater, substitute a scrumptious black bean burger or portobello mushroom patty. Instead of milk pumped out of a cow try soy milk, almond milk, or rice milk. If you can't go without those beloved yet bizarre meat concoctions namely hot dogs and chicken nuggets, luckily in todays modern age we have stand in veggy alternatives such as soy chickenless nuggets and meatless hot dogs. And no one should have to give up ice cream and that be the end of it so there is--and in ever increasing varieties--great tasting soy ice cream that is just as fine as any dairy type, yet infinitely more healthy.
Eating is one of life's great joys and a vegetarian diet can can both help you live longer and give you something better to eat while your here, but that's not going to happen without a little smart planning. So remember don't remove bad foods from your diet without substituting new ones because that surely is the road to ruin.
The easiest no-brainier type method to eating right is to make reasonable and delicious substitutions of bad foods for their healthy alternatives. If you have been a big hamburger eater, substitute a scrumptious black bean burger or portobello mushroom patty. Instead of milk pumped out of a cow try soy milk, almond milk, or rice milk. If you can't go without those beloved yet bizarre meat concoctions namely hot dogs and chicken nuggets, luckily in todays modern age we have stand in veggy alternatives such as soy chickenless nuggets and meatless hot dogs. And no one should have to give up ice cream and that be the end of it so there is--and in ever increasing varieties--great tasting soy ice cream that is just as fine as any dairy type, yet infinitely more healthy.
Eating is one of life's great joys and a vegetarian diet can can both help you live longer and give you something better to eat while your here, but that's not going to happen without a little smart planning. So remember don't remove bad foods from your diet without substituting new ones because that surely is the road to ruin.
