I am often asked why I am a vegan, because you know that isn't very healthy or it is just plain weird. I sometimes respond by how long do you have, because there are many reasons I can give them, and just not one.
This is a bit of the evolution into being vegan, that I took. 2006 was a pretty bad year, at least the first half of it, I can say I wasn't in a really good place or environment for part of the year, and once I was gone from it I did a lot of soul searching. It was after reading Tuesdays With Morrie, I really started looking at how I was living, and my personal beliefs. I said I loved animals, but I was still eating them, hmm didn't make much sense really. I was also about 195 lbs at this time, and really needed to start doing something about my weight, I was worried about health issues, as my dad and moms parents had heart issues, not to mention other health concerns of others in my family. So I went started cutting meat out of my diet and replacing it with way to many faux meat products, which meant way to much soy. Not that soy is bad, I was just getting a lot of my protein from it, not to mention eating a lot of processed foods to get it, not really a good idea, now that I look back at it. I started working out again, running and biking. During the next year I did a lot of reading and started seeing how bad dairy and other animal products were for you as well, not to mention just the overall cruelty that goes on for the sake of these products as well as meat. I completely cut out any dairy products out of my diet at this point, using mostly soy or rice milk, and some faux cheeses. With the way I was eating and exercising I dropped 55 lbs within a year and was feeling a lot better. My blood pressure went way down, it was borderline high before I changed how I was living and eating.
Over the next 3 1/2 years what I eat is still changing, I eat a lot of different beans now, and not so much soy, though I will enjoy some tempeh or tofu from time to time. I eat a lot of quinoa and rice, and have almost cut out all gluten from my diet, I would say I am 95% gluten free. I also try to include more raw foods into my diet, and natural supplements like Vega products, to help boost my protein intake, I as am very active and workout pretty hard, and need some help in recovery, which the Vega products have provided. Reading Robert Cheeke's book and John Joseph's have even made me think about what I eat and how often. I now eat 6-8 times a day, and one of those times being Vega Health Optimizer shake. I just started using Chia seeds, and some other supplements, and will see how they work out as well for me. I would like to incorporate more organic foods and even juices into my diet, but can't right now, unless I really just had a large sum of money come my way. Though I am feeling pretty damn good with the way I am eating right now, and getting a good source of nutrients from a lot of sources. I stay around 140 these days, and have more energy than most of those I work with, that are at least 14 years younger than me, and I usually get 6-7 hours of sleep a night. Though I do see what they eat on a daily basis, lunch comes from the vending machine and is like a few bags of chex mix, a honey bun or other candy bars, and some kind of soft drink, not exactly stuff that is going to give you the nutrients you need to keep going on a day in day out basis.
Some other reasons I use for being vegan is the workers in meat processing plants, and on the farms aren't always treated very well, Smithfield is well known for being the worst to their employees. Read Gail Eisnitz book Slaughterhouse, and find out all the horrors workers endure, even after all the big reforms in the early 20th century. Environmental reasons hey it takes a lot of water and grain to make meat, not to mention factory farming produces more greenhouse gases than anything else on the planet. Let us not forget all the all the feces and urine from the animals that ends up in the water systems as well. Yes with all that feed and water we use on factory farming, we could feed the entire planet, and have plenty of clean drinking water for everyone. We could also practically eliminate heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other illnesses as well, it's pretty well documented that meat and overly processed foods lead to disease, so it's really not very good or "healthy" for you.
Again as I read more and more, and watch various documentaries, my views change just a little, and always leave me questioning what goes into my body and how it effects all the other Earthlings I share the planet with. This is just a very short summary I know, but I hope it gives some of you a bit of insight, especially any omnivore's that may be reading this, stop and think, and you can always email me if you have any questions, or want to know more.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Review Of Meat Is For Pussies
I just finished reading John Joseph's book, Meat Is For Pussies, a very good book about being vegan and not just from the health side of it. In the movie Se7en, Kevin Spacey's character, John Doe, says "Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice, you've got their strict attention." This is what John does in MIFP, he takes a very punk, hardcore, streets of New York, in your face approach in MIFP to hit you with a sledgehammer and get your attention and "scare you straight" off of eating meat forever and get your pussy ass into shape.
From the start John tells you he is going to use the scared straight tactics to get it through your meathead that meat is not good for you. He goes into how you are poisoning your body and just how you can heal and reverse this poisoning by eating a good and healthy plant based diet. Tackling the bullshit protein myth, and how eating to much protein is bad for you, not to mention getting protein from meat is just a recipe for many other health issues down the road. Diets are for jerk-offs, you think Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers is good for you think again. These "diets" are used to help make these companies rich, while you may lose some weight on them, as soon as you go back to eating "normal" again the weight comes right back. He talks about how bad these "diets" really are and why they will never work for you. Do you like being a human lab rat? John doesn't and I know I don't, he brings up the most evil bastards on this planet, Monsanto, and even Codex Alimentarius. They have a plan to give you GMO food, and use all kinds of chemicals on your food as well. Oh and have you ever thought about the fluoridation of water, you should, John brings this up and I did some digging, this will scare the living hell out of you. After all this it's time to kick cancer in the nuts, yeah eating meat is giving you cancer, but there is good news you can reduce your risk for the big C. Meat your meat, talking about what all that meat is doing to your sex life, or more like lack of ability to perform if you keep eating meat, and who wants to keep popping V and Cialis for life after 40. John even says how exercising all parts of your body, mind and spirit is what a real man should be doing, if not your still a pussy. The real inconvenient truth, eating all that damn meat is killing not only you, but the planet you live on. John goes on to give you a nice 7 day kick start to exercise plan to start getting your pussy ass into shape. Hey he even gives you a nice list of foods and supplements, along with a meal plan, and some great recipes to help you in your transition off of meat. In the appendix you'll find some books, websites, and documentaries to watch.
Being vegan for several years now I still took a lot out of this book, and it has even made me think more about how my diet is impacting not only myself, but the planet. I even am questioning some of the things I thought I new about good eating. Hey if I can take something out of this book you should too, or ladies your man should too, or men sharing this with other men. This book might be more aimed at males, but I really suggest women read it too, that way you can get your man to stop being the pussy he is eating meat, and get him to give a damn about his health and you. It is a very fast read and easy enough to read even if your intelligence isn't that of a Cro-Magnon. So you really have no excuse not to read it, so get up off your sorry pussy ass and read it already. If you still eat meat after reading this book, you are a no good pussy waste, and not even human, and really part of the problem. Like I say if a Cro-Magnon is smart enough to know a vegan diet is good for you, surely you can figure that out too, just by reading this book.
From the start John tells you he is going to use the scared straight tactics to get it through your meathead that meat is not good for you. He goes into how you are poisoning your body and just how you can heal and reverse this poisoning by eating a good and healthy plant based diet. Tackling the bullshit protein myth, and how eating to much protein is bad for you, not to mention getting protein from meat is just a recipe for many other health issues down the road. Diets are for jerk-offs, you think Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers is good for you think again. These "diets" are used to help make these companies rich, while you may lose some weight on them, as soon as you go back to eating "normal" again the weight comes right back. He talks about how bad these "diets" really are and why they will never work for you. Do you like being a human lab rat? John doesn't and I know I don't, he brings up the most evil bastards on this planet, Monsanto, and even Codex Alimentarius. They have a plan to give you GMO food, and use all kinds of chemicals on your food as well. Oh and have you ever thought about the fluoridation of water, you should, John brings this up and I did some digging, this will scare the living hell out of you. After all this it's time to kick cancer in the nuts, yeah eating meat is giving you cancer, but there is good news you can reduce your risk for the big C. Meat your meat, talking about what all that meat is doing to your sex life, or more like lack of ability to perform if you keep eating meat, and who wants to keep popping V and Cialis for life after 40. John even says how exercising all parts of your body, mind and spirit is what a real man should be doing, if not your still a pussy. The real inconvenient truth, eating all that damn meat is killing not only you, but the planet you live on. John goes on to give you a nice 7 day kick start to exercise plan to start getting your pussy ass into shape. Hey he even gives you a nice list of foods and supplements, along with a meal plan, and some great recipes to help you in your transition off of meat. In the appendix you'll find some books, websites, and documentaries to watch.
Being vegan for several years now I still took a lot out of this book, and it has even made me think more about how my diet is impacting not only myself, but the planet. I even am questioning some of the things I thought I new about good eating. Hey if I can take something out of this book you should too, or ladies your man should too, or men sharing this with other men. This book might be more aimed at males, but I really suggest women read it too, that way you can get your man to stop being the pussy he is eating meat, and get him to give a damn about his health and you. It is a very fast read and easy enough to read even if your intelligence isn't that of a Cro-Magnon. So you really have no excuse not to read it, so get up off your sorry pussy ass and read it already. If you still eat meat after reading this book, you are a no good pussy waste, and not even human, and really part of the problem. Like I say if a Cro-Magnon is smart enough to know a vegan diet is good for you, surely you can figure that out too, just by reading this book.
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