Monday, August 20, 2007
Going Vegetarian 2
The video in the last post does not have any disturbing animal footage. Sorry, I forgot to mention that. It's actually about global warming and the effect of factory farming on global warming... and how "environmentalist" politicians and Hollywood stars are still eating meat. I chose to post that one because it's what started my whole interest and my research. So, if you didn't watch it because of that, you should take a look, it's actually pretty interesting. Well, it was to me anyway. I wouldn't post shocking animal footage... yet anyway. Maybe someday I'll be a brave enough little vegetarian to use my own blog to show my own beliefs and such, but until then, if you're interested in finding out the truth of factory farming, go to GoVeg.com and watch the video called "Meet your Meat." I guarantee you it will open your eyes. Even if I did post it, sadly, I think only maybe one viewer would watch it, and it would probably be my mom. =) *Love ya Mom!*
Unfortunately, nobody wants to know where their food comes from, nobody wants to know what is involved in getting that meat to their plates, or how that meat is affecting their bodies. The same goes for so much of our processed food. Nobody cares what hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup is, or what it's doing to their bodies either. The shit these companies are putting into the nation's food is killing us.... slowly. But if you don't care enough to research it for yourself, you should do it for your kids. One of the facts I read that convinced me to go vegetarian was "heart disease starts in childhood." Because your life long eating habits is what creates heart diseases; they don't happen over night.
This really made me think. Do I really want to put food into Carlee's body that might eventually cause her a heart attack at age 38 if she eats it until then. Ummm... I don't even have to think about that for a nano second. The answer is NO! Oprah used to say on her show (it is one of my favorite quotes,) "You do as good as you know how, and when you know better, you do better." This has been one of my personal mottos since I first heard her say that a few years ago.
I have researched for the past two weeks. I've read: Raising Vegan Children in a NonVegan World, Vegan Freak, Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet, and am finally starting on reading through my first vegan cookbook: The Everyday Vegan: Recipes & Lessons for Living the Vegan Life.
Becoming Vegan is possibly my greatest asset as we begin this next health step. This book was so full of information, I couldn't put it down. It has everything you would need to know. What vitamins you need, how much you need, where you can get them, what diseases and cancers these vitamins prevent!!! Deficiencies to avoid with a little planning (mainly B12, but now vegetarian foods are fortified with it), and even about deficiencies meat-eaters get as well (without even knowing it!) It even has info on being vegan while pregnant or breastfeeding. There's info on how to eat vegan if you're very athletic or into bodybuilding. Best of all, there's info on nutrition of vegan toddlers! This is definitely staying in my personal library. So, yes I've done my research, and I now know WAY better, and we're going to be doing WAY better.
After only two weeks, I feel so much better! It's really amazing. I heard that it takes 6 months for all the chemicals and such from eating meat to fully leave your system. I can't wait to see how I feel after 6 months then, if I already feel this good. This is just after two weeks of eating vegan at home, and vegetarian at restaurants (which we've been to only 1 restaurant in the past 2 weeks lol.)
Another event fully convinced me I had made the right decision. My cholesterol results came back from a test I had done in July. Now, we ate very healthy. We never even considered eating hydrogenated oils, we ate 90% lean beef, chicken, skim milk, only whole grains, no HFCS, everything was as healthy as it could get (or so I thought.) When I read my results and the explanation from the doctor I was shocked. My cholesterol is a little high! WTH? only a little, but still! I ate the healthiest I knew how, healthier than ANYONE I know!!! and I still have higher than normal cholesterol?!? Are you freaking kidding me? Now, don't freak out family, it wasn't too high, actually it was just a few points too high. But still. Eating the way we were, I should have had the optimal cholesterol levels that they want you to have, and I didn't. Now, high cholesterol runs in my family. Had I known that animal products were the only source of cholesterol in our diet, I would have become vegetarian permanently a lot sooner. I wasn't too freaked out about the results, because we had already started eating vegetarian; I knew I was already going to be reversing this bad cholesterol I had accumulated. However, I couldn't help but wonder, what if I hadn't had that test done just then? What if I hadn't found out how bad meat is for you with its cholesterol and saturated fat? What if I hadn't researched vegetarianism at all? Where would I have been in 10 years? 20? 40? On cholesterol medicine? On the verge of a heart attack? No, I'm taking care of this now. I'm taking care of myself now and I'm taking care of my family now. End of story.
Unfortunately, nobody wants to know where their food comes from, nobody wants to know what is involved in getting that meat to their plates, or how that meat is affecting their bodies. The same goes for so much of our processed food. Nobody cares what hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup is, or what it's doing to their bodies either. The shit these companies are putting into the nation's food is killing us.... slowly. But if you don't care enough to research it for yourself, you should do it for your kids. One of the facts I read that convinced me to go vegetarian was "heart disease starts in childhood." Because your life long eating habits is what creates heart diseases; they don't happen over night.
This really made me think. Do I really want to put food into Carlee's body that might eventually cause her a heart attack at age 38 if she eats it until then. Ummm... I don't even have to think about that for a nano second. The answer is NO! Oprah used to say on her show (it is one of my favorite quotes,) "You do as good as you know how, and when you know better, you do better." This has been one of my personal mottos since I first heard her say that a few years ago.
I have researched for the past two weeks. I've read: Raising Vegan Children in a NonVegan World, Vegan Freak, Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet, and am finally starting on reading through my first vegan cookbook: The Everyday Vegan: Recipes & Lessons for Living the Vegan Life.
Becoming Vegan is possibly my greatest asset as we begin this next health step. This book was so full of information, I couldn't put it down. It has everything you would need to know. What vitamins you need, how much you need, where you can get them, what diseases and cancers these vitamins prevent!!! Deficiencies to avoid with a little planning (mainly B12, but now vegetarian foods are fortified with it), and even about deficiencies meat-eaters get as well (without even knowing it!) It even has info on being vegan while pregnant or breastfeeding. There's info on how to eat vegan if you're very athletic or into bodybuilding. Best of all, there's info on nutrition of vegan toddlers! This is definitely staying in my personal library. So, yes I've done my research, and I now know WAY better, and we're going to be doing WAY better.
After only two weeks, I feel so much better! It's really amazing. I heard that it takes 6 months for all the chemicals and such from eating meat to fully leave your system. I can't wait to see how I feel after 6 months then, if I already feel this good. This is just after two weeks of eating vegan at home, and vegetarian at restaurants (which we've been to only 1 restaurant in the past 2 weeks lol.)
Another event fully convinced me I had made the right decision. My cholesterol results came back from a test I had done in July. Now, we ate very healthy. We never even considered eating hydrogenated oils, we ate 90% lean beef, chicken, skim milk, only whole grains, no HFCS, everything was as healthy as it could get (or so I thought.) When I read my results and the explanation from the doctor I was shocked. My cholesterol is a little high! WTH? only a little, but still! I ate the healthiest I knew how, healthier than ANYONE I know!!! and I still have higher than normal cholesterol?!? Are you freaking kidding me? Now, don't freak out family, it wasn't too high, actually it was just a few points too high. But still. Eating the way we were, I should have had the optimal cholesterol levels that they want you to have, and I didn't. Now, high cholesterol runs in my family. Had I known that animal products were the only source of cholesterol in our diet, I would have become vegetarian permanently a lot sooner. I wasn't too freaked out about the results, because we had already started eating vegetarian; I knew I was already going to be reversing this bad cholesterol I had accumulated. However, I couldn't help but wonder, what if I hadn't had that test done just then? What if I hadn't found out how bad meat is for you with its cholesterol and saturated fat? What if I hadn't researched vegetarianism at all? Where would I have been in 10 years? 20? 40? On cholesterol medicine? On the verge of a heart attack? No, I'm taking care of this now. I'm taking care of myself now and I'm taking care of my family now. End of story.
Labels: food, vegetarian
¶ 1:30 PM
