Hippity Happity New Year!

This is my first post of the new year! Obviously blogging wasn’t one of my new year’s resolutions!

I did make a couple resolutions this year, though. One is to eat an all-vegan diet! I’ve kept this one thus far, and I’m feeling great. I look forward to trying out some new recipes this year! I need to send out a great “THANK YOU” to the vegan blogging community. There are so many great blogs out there written by individuals who are not only talented in the kitchen, but also have a knack for conveying their positive, vegan messages to the masses! KUDOS! (I will follow up with a list of my favorites in a future post!)

The second resolution I made was to get into running. Last year, I made an attempt to start running, and…well, you know how it goes…one thing leads to another. Suffice it to say, I had never run an entire mile in my 23 years of life. That is, until yesterday! I did a mile in 12:30, and I continued to run for a full 15 minutes! I feel such a sense of accomplishment that I cannot help but shout my joy from the blogging rooftops! (I also need to give a thanks here to my friend Penny, she’s my inspiration and keeps me going with her positive encouragement!)

Those were the two biggies! And, like most changes you make in life, I’m finding that these two changes are helping me make positively in other areas as well. I have been accomplishing so much lately–I love to check things off my lists! My energy has been higher than usual, and I’m inspired to keep moving forward!

HAPPY 2009!

Why I Veg Part 2

It’s interesting how much flack I get for being a “vegetarian.” It’s as if people take personal offense to the fact that I choose not to eat meat most of the time. I can understand, however, that the fact that I indulge in meat sometimes makes me appear hypocritical, but to that I say, “It’s my body and diet, and it really shouldn’t matter to you.”

My friend Kate sent me this article from Newsweek this morning. I think it is a great summarization of how me and many “flexitarians ” feel about the food we eat.

My reasons have been stated previously, and I agree with nearly every expert quoted in this piece–even the somewhat radical PETA mouthpiece who said that not being strictly vegan is like smoking two packs of cigarettes instead of 10. In my opinion, every little bit helps. If I didn’t allow myself to “cheat” I would have given up going veg all together because I would be down on myself every time I ate a piece of meat.

The last time I ate meat was this weekend, actually. My friends and I wanted to try something new, so we went to George’s Grill Kabab (3216 W. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago). We had the combination platter: shish kebabs, some sort of beef and lamb–it also came with a salad, bean soup, rice and bread. The meal was delish, the service was great and I don’t regret eating meat at all.

I am content with the relationship I have with food, and I just wish that more people were accepting of this and less eager to attack me for not being a “real vegetarian.”

Vegetarianism and Yoga

I read this article in Yoga Journal a while back and thought I’d share it since I’ve had a few comments about my Why I Veg post.

I think this article encompasses many of the themes I tried to convey in my post–the individuality of a diet and how diet can become a practice (perhaps even part of a yoga practice). Enjoy the article, and let me know what you think!

Why I Veg

I decided last April that I would make a conscious effort to become a vegan. Since then, I have done a pretty good job, if I say so myself. I have indulged in meat a few times since April, most times it’s been entirely worth it. I also have been eating dairy when it’s more convenient that foregoing it.

It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I’m not going to be a perfect vegan. It takes time, and one cannot give up because of a few slips. If I were to get frustrated and punish myself for every piece of delicious cheese and cup of yogurt that I’ve consumed, I wouldn’t have made it this far. I’ve come to find that this diet is my own, and it doesn’t matter what I eat as long as I am satisfied and feel like I’m not compromising myself and beliefs.

Speaking of beliefs, I think it is worth mentioning why I chose this lifestyle change after so many years of loving meat-especially red meat. I guess it all started with Michael Pollan. I first read Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma three years ago in a Rual Sociology course that covered society and the environment. Pollan’s research into where exactly the food we eat comes from is fascinating. He traced his meat and vegetables to the farm and does an amazing job of describing the state of agriculture in today’s society. He also detailed the process of turning corn into meat and all the inputs in between. (I’m not going to go here for fear you’ll lose your stomach and stop reading.)

After taking into account the high impact of agriculture on the environment and understanding the ways industrial farming degrades our air, water and land, I was angry. I didn’t make any changes to my diet, however. After all, I was a college student living on mostly frozen foods and Juicy Burgers!

My mom gave me a few great books for my graduation. Finally time to read for me! One was Pollan’s follow-up to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. In this book, Pollan goes deeper into the history of the American food system and offers insight into why we eat the way we do. He also gives some advice for changing our American patterns of consumption. His advice to, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” spoke to me.

I didn’t change my ways immediately after closing the back cover of this short read. I did some online research, checked out a stack of books from the library on vegetarianism and made sure I knew the nutritious value of the foods this new diet would require. With my newfound knowledge of the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, I started my journey. My first week were great. I ate vegan. No meat. No dairy. Mostly local.

This brings me to my reasoning for going vegetarian. It was really an unravelling process. At first, I was mainly concerned with my carbon footprint and the fuel I was putting into my body. As I researched, I came to many websites of organizations who preach the vegetarian lifestyle for the sake of the animals. The inhumane meat industry is something no one wants to witness, even through a grainy viral video. I came to feel for the animals I’ve been consuming all my life and, now, animal welfare is another reason I’ve steered away from animal food products.

These reasons are really only the tip of the iceberg. I also believe a vegan lifestyle is better for my health. Dairy is not something humans were naturally made to digest. Eating locally is important to me. Meat has become an issue of food safety lately; I do not trust the governing bodies that monitor the quality of industrial farming operations.

My vegetarianism can be summarized by the term Environmental Vegetarianism. Take a look at this wikipedia entry for more information and read Pollan! You can also check out the following websites for more information and some great recipes for getting your own vegetarian diet started.

I want to leave you with one last thought. Vegetarianism doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Improvement counts no matter how small!

For more information visit:
FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement)
GoVeg.com
Vegetarian Times