Food For Thought: The Joys And Benefits Of Living Vegan

After providing an overview of The 10 Stages You Go Through When You Stop Eating Animals (check out the previous episode called From Consumption to Compassion), today's episode focuses on the first stage: Validation and the Voracious Consumption of Information. This is the stage when you seek to get your hands on every book, every video, every bit of information you can to confirm with evidence what you already know in your heart. Join me today for the first episode of this series, and find out how I almost became a nun!

Without a doubt, this podcast has saved and changed thousands of lives, and it's imperative it stay on the air. Listen to this short episode about how to make this possible, how to get a free copy of On Being Vegan, and how we can reach thousands more people - all with your help.

Today, I read a very special story called "¡Adiós, Cordera!", written in 1892 by Leopoldo Alas (also known as Clarín). “¡Adiós, Cordera!" is a touching story of two children, named Rosa and Pinín, who love their family's cow, Cordera, like a mother. The family is very poor, and the father realizes that he must sell the beloved cow in order to pay rent. The children are heartbroken, and so is he. I'll let the story speak for itself.

I love language, and I advocate being thoughtful about the words we use – not in a way that is derisively called “politically correct” but in a way that reflects the truth and doesn’t hide it. I advocate using language that celebrates animals rather than denigrates them. I urge people to use language that says what we mean. Join me today as I talk about doublespeak, euphemisms, jargon, antonyms, oxymoron, semantics, lexical blindfolds, and other elements of language that conceal the truth in order to make us feel better about the horrific things we do to animals. I believe that as long as our violent treatment of animals stays hidden linguistically, our attitudes towards animals are unlikely to change, and they will continue to suffer. But if we choose words that promote compassion and speak truth, we can literally change the way we think about and thus treat animals. It just takes a little practice and awareness.    

I believe that the process of becoming vegan is the process of reclaiming our true compassion and becoming reawakened to it, and I think understanding the journey of going from innately compassionate child to desensitized adult to one whose compassion is re-awakened is key to inspiring it in others and to remaining awake ourselves. Once we become awake, however, another journey begins, and in today's episode, I introduce listeners to the 10 Stages we all go through once we become vegan. I believe that knowing that these stages are very real is crucial to feeling normal, crucial to understanding why people react the way they do when you tell them you’re vegan, and crucial to living in this world as a proud, joyful vegan who can effectively advocate for the animals and on behalf of a compassionate ethic.

Finding a compatible romantic partner is an age-old desire and one that comes with challenges, hopes, fears, and heartbreak - regardless of who you are, where you live, or how you eat. For vegans who want to date only vegans (i.e. like-minded folks who share similar values - something we all went!), the dilemma is the fact that because vegans represent a small segment of the general population (for now!), it narrows our choices somewhat. By the time you weed out potential partners based on age, location, gender, compatibility, etc., you're swimming alone in a pretty small pool. The obvious solution is to broaden our options by dating non-vegans, which comes with its own set of issues. Join me as I share my own experience dating an animal-eater and why it was his character - not his behavior - that drew me to him (and that eventually compelled him to become vegan). I also offer some resources on meeting like-minded folks and on how to best use non-vegan dating websites.

Afraid of being considered controlling, extreme, insulting, rude, or ungracious, some people are afraid to ask friends and family to not bring animal products into their home. Things get more complicated when you live with non-vegans who don't share your desire to draw that line. Join me today as I share some stories about how we can set reasonable boundaries unapologetically and with grace.

In celebration of the seven-year anniversary of the podcast, I feature the letters of listeners who have been transformed by "Food for Thought." The stories are as diverse as the listeners and reflect varied ages and backgrounds, but they all share common threads of hope and compassion. I hope you are as moved by the letters as I am humbled by them. If you ever once thought that "people don't change," then you're in for quite a treat.

In honor of Schuster, my beloved cat of 17 years, and Michael Scribner, my dear friend, I tell the stories of the lives and deaths of these two incredible beings who left this world days apart from one another. They both filled this world with love and joy, and they live on through the telling of their stories.

When you look through the lens of compassion, you see our desire for it everywhere you look; you see the human expression of it everywhere you look; and you see our connection to animals everywhere you look – including in art. I’m most excited by the presence of works of art that span mediums, cultures, genres, and decades, which covertly and overtly illustrate the reverence we have for animals but also the cultural and personal consequences of our violence towards them. Join me today as I explore this topic through two popular novels: Bambi: A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten and Frankenstein by Mary Shelly.

Experience a trip to the United Kingdom through the lens of an animal advocate / literary nerd / vegan. Where else will you learn the origin of the word Shambles, walk on the Yorkshire moors, eat at wonderful vegetarian restaurants, meet British icons Alan Davies and David Mitchell, and hear poetry by William Wordsworth? It's all here in today's episode!

I believe that change will occur for animals only as we change their status, and one thing we need to change is the way we talk about them. Every word we choose can contribute to upholding the existing paradigm that sees animals as ours to hurt, ours to eat, ours to kill, ours to use, as ours to do with whatever we please. OR we can choose words that reflect a new compassionate paragigm: one that sees animals as ours to share this planet with – not as subjects of ours but as co-habitants, as fellow Earthlings. We can shift that paradigm everytime we open our mouths to speak.  Join me on an etymological journey that demonstrates that how we talk about animals can liberate THEM and US from our violence against them. 

Six years in the making, and it's finally here: The 30-Day Vegan Challenge ONLINE (www.30dayveganchallenge.com). Join me today as I announce and describe this unique, first-of-its-kind, life-changing program that enables you to join anytime and immediately log in to your very own password-protected account to access the daily messages, videos, audio podcasts, resources, and recipes! Addressing your every question and challenge, The 30-Day Vegan Challenge holds your hand the entire time, helping you to break free from old habits and to experience lasting benefits – both tangible and intangible. Stick around for the entirety of the podcast, as I read an incredibly beautiful email at the end that testifies to the power of compassion!

If you've heard any variation of "Eating meat is a personal preference. I respect your preference not to eat animals just like you should respect my desire to eat them," then today's podcast episode is for you. Is it "respect" someone is looking for when they say that, or is it "approval?" Is it okay for vegans to disagree, and can they still do so with respect? (Pssst...the answer is yes!) Find out that and more (including how there is no such thing as an "animal-eating vegan," though some people declare themselves to be) in today's episode.

John Oswald, born in Edinburgh in the 1700s (the exact date unknown), was a philosopher, a writer, a poet, a social critic, a revolutionary, and an eloquent voice for animals and compassion.  Join me as I celebrate The Scottish Voice of Compassion and read excerpts from his essay,"The Cry of Nature: An Appeal to Mercy and Justice on Behalf of the Persecuted Animals.”

Even though I address a number of typical responses and excuses in previous podcast episodes, I felt it was important to return to this topic, because there really is such an interesting dynamic that takes place when someone says "I'm vegan." Some responses can throw the vegan for a loop, including: "I'm vegan, too, but I eat chicken, fish, and eggs" or "I tried being vegan, but I felt tired and lethargic" or "I used to be vegan, but now I buy 'humane' meat, dairy, and eggs and feel good being connected to my food" or "I used to be vegan, but my acupuncturist told me I had to start eating (animal) meat again, and so I have." Take a listen, and hopefully some of my suggestions will help when replying to such statements. 

In celebration of the six-year anniversary of our podcast, I feature the letters of listeners who have been transformed by "Food for Thought." The stories are as diverse as the listeners and reflect varied ages and backgrounds, but they all share common threads of hope and compassion. I hope you are as moved by the letters as I am humbled by them. If you ever once thought that "people don't change," then you're in for quite a treat.

You don't really know how opinionated the world is until you become pregnant. And when yiou're VEGAN and pregnant, look out! Tune into today's episode for nutrition recommendations (protein, iron, folate/folic acid, calcium, Omega 3 fatty acids/DHA) and resources and books for being a healthy, happy, pregnant vegan.

The newest fad diet on the block combines all the trends of the day: "low-carb," "gluten-free," and "low glycemic index," instilling fears about healthful foods and waxing poetic about animal flesh and fluids. You might call this a "retro" diet in that in doesn't look forward; it looks backwards. Way backwards! Not backwards 10 years or 100 years but 20,000 years! Join me as I discuss the The Paleo Diet: why it's not sustainable, why it's a just fad, why its claims cannot be substantiated, and why it appeals to people who Pasturbate.

As we say goodbye to 2011, I wanted to share with you a number of wonderful ways we'll enter 2012 together. Consider this my Happy New Year message to you filled with special announcements and gratitude for all your support.