While we are talking about all of the wonderful things we are currently doing (I love to read about the things everyone is already doing & I have learned new things from a lot of you) for our Mother, the Earth, and what we can still do differently to make more of a difference, including educating others to start making changes.  I haven't heard much talk about going Vegetarian/Vegan, the one thing you can do that will have MORE positive an impact on the Earth than anything else you can do.  Especially a vegan diet!  Here is a good place to start reading if you are interested in learning about your impact on the environment:  http://www.goveg.com/environment.asp

Here for the animal cruelty:  http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming.asp

More on that here:  http://meat.org/          I'll warn you, this is difficult to watch.

And here for your health:  http://www.goveg.com/healthConcerns.asp

I'll continue to post more from my families change to a vegetarian & then vegan diet.  The kids are an inspiration! LOL  & have made for some funny stories.  I'd love to hear what others think & to share stories, information knowledge, etc...

Peace Love & Light,

Kerry

Thanks Kerry a very thought provoking peice, you have made me re-think.  I use to be a vegitarian, I am now thinking strongly about going back.

Tony

Thanks for the great links! i will look at that site in depth more later, but i sent all those links to my sister, who is quite organic, but still working on the chicken and fish thing... she's doing great other than that though.. much better than me on organic foods in fact. I think i'll avoid that meat one though... Ive been disturbed many times from seeing this stuff, and I saw a chicken truck on the freeway the other day... I swore to myself never ever EVER again to eat chicken, and promised myself to be much more diligent about checking ingredients for hidden animal products, chicken broth, gelatin etc... sadly, seeing that will disturb me for a very very long time... I just hope maybe somone else out there saw it and might change their mind.

Before I sound too "preachy", I thought I should explain what brought my family to this path over 7 years ago.  We were meat-eaters, eating fast food, the whole nine yards, oblivious to what we might be eating or doing to our bodies.  My daughter, Cassie, at the age of 9 had her first menstrual cycle. I was 15 as were the other women in my family.  I was concerned but had no idea how serious it was.  Two months later she was having terrible abdominal pain and told me she hadn't been able to poop or pee in 2 days.  I got her to the Emergency room where we spent 24+ hours with the Dr's at a loss.  She had a CT (catscan) of her abdomen, they were concerned about her appendix & were about to take her in for exploratory surgery when a visiting expert stepped in & identified the problem.  He was a pediatric gynecologist, one of 2 in the US but a growing field. He identified the problem as a very small ovarian cyst and explained to me that this is all quite common amongst little girls in the US due to the growth hormones & antibiotics in the meat & dairy.  I was like, the what????  I had no clue!  While a small ovarian cyst might be nothing more than a nuisance to a woman, it can have serious consequences for a 9 year old child, including but not limited to the inability to have children.  She was already developing breasts (I didn't have any until I was 16 or 17 LOL), having VERY heavy periods and continues to have migraines before, during and after her periods.  Our only alternative at that time was to put her on birth control pills!  I was horrifed at that thought and know how dangerous that would have been, especially for a child.  Needless to say, she is still saying no to that option and is very involved in her own health and her diet.

I went through my own period of guilt and depression at the realization that what she was eating was what had caused the damage to her little body.  That's not easy on a Mom!  This was part of our calling to move out West.  We sold all of our material possessions (furniture, car & truck, etc...), bought an older RV & spent 2 months travelling across the US.  We first cutout red meat (after fast food of course), eating only chicken and trying tofu for the first time. That was not easy because we had always thought of tofu as a bad word but had never tried it.  We had NO CLUE how to cook tofu when we first started.  I remember we ate a lot of tacos, scrambling the tofu in a pan and adding the taco seasoning mix! LOL It was like adding the taco seasoning to scrambled eggs!  blech!  We got REAL sick of chicken and could not eat it anymore.  Eventually eggs got really gross.  Think about what an egg is, it's an aborted chicken!  eeeewwwwwwww  I do miss a good egg salad sandwich once in awhile, but former heroin addicts always miss heroin too. 

We have since learned how to cook tofu & tempeh & all kinds of awesome things.  We all benefitted from the diet change without realizing we ultimately needed to.  My youngest had immunization seizures due to the extremely high levels of Mercury in each of the shots they gave him at 6 weeks of age and is now mildly autistic, also diagnosed with ADHD w/severe hyperactivity.  **Ask for Mercury-free immunizations for your children & your pets if you choose to get them**  We have never medicated him and we never will.  His nervous system was damaged by the Mercury (heavy metal poisoning) and these kids are VERY sensitive to the preservatives, processed foods (WHITE sugar, WHITE bread & WHITE rice) & pesticides.  We have explored different reactions he has & found healthy alternatives (provided by our Mother the Earth) to the drugs the Dr's and the schools want to push. 

My own benefits came as a surprise.  I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, was VERY overweight, high blood pressue, battling depression and severe anxiety as well as severe, chronic pain.  My Diabetes disappeared when I gave up meat, my weight fell off when I gave up ALL animal products and that significantly helped everything else.  Goji berries and pulsed magnetic therapy have recently eliminated the rest. 

Remember, you are what you eat!   Peace Light & Love,   Kerry

Thank    you so much for sharing your vegetarian/vegan tale.  Sure did get me thinking.  I do lean more toward a vegetarian lifestyle as I only eat red meat when I am at my sisters house and bro-in-law BBQ's, which is not very often.  I do eat chicken, turkey and eggs some times.  I have been using tofu for a few years and really like it.

I had surgery 2 yrs ago and must eat a high protein diet.  Instead of all the meat etc. I supplement my protein intake with Isolated Whey Protein shakes as I am required to do to get enough protein.

I will now be looking more into the vegetarian diet and see what I can do.

Thanks again for this post

~Karyn~

Okay, how about you cut out McDonalds and start investing in meat that is raised naturally.  Check with some of your local farms and find one that does not use growth hormones, antibiotics or force their herbivores to be carnivores.   I only say that because I care about you & your health.  McDonalds food is horrible for you and really is not fit for human consumption.  If you have not yet seen Supersize Me!, you should. It was an eye-opener for me.  I used to love it too and I understand how hard it is to let go of that "taste" as well as the "convenience" of fast food.  I can tell you though that once I learned about the quality of our food and especially the meat, I have never had a problem NOT eating it. 

If you want to stop eating meat, you should educate yourself as far as the correct food pyramid, not the one we are taught in school.  I'll post some good food sources for all of the vitamins & nutrients you may have been tricked into believing you can only get by eating meat & other animal products.  It takes time to change & to learn.  I started this post as a way of "practicing" for the cookbook/vegan education book my family is writing and also to help educate anyone interested in what I have learned thus far.  I am hoping to hear from others also as I am still learning myself.

Oh & I am not a ridiculous health food nut, I still LOVE beer! LOL  Vegan is hard for me as I have a very large weakness for a good sharp cheddar cheese.  You can't substitute that! LOL  Other than that, I really believe that you are what you eat and that our food supply has become VERY dangerous for us & especially for our children.  Please feel free to contact me with any particular area that you have questions or want more info.

Peace Love & Light to you!  Kerry 

I used to hang around with some hippies who always reminded me that everything on the planet is food for something else , so although I don't eat meat or chicken it's not because I think it's neccessarily morally wrong. What I do believe is wrong is the factory farming conditions livestock is forced to endure , the genetic and hormonal manipulation that results in something they pass off as a pig but bears little resemblance . There is no doubt that the cattle and dairy industries have a negative effect on the environment , goats are much more eco-friendly and their milk more human friendly . I have to disagree about eggs though , unfertilized eggs are basically a just a sack of nutrition that will never have been a chicken . Of course what the egg industry does to chickens is even worse than what they do to cattle . But then there's bacon , I can't eat it , and probably wouldn't , but I have dreams.....

Blessings ,

treelovingdirtworshipper

You reminded me of that dog treat commercial Shellei!  LOL  I smell BACON!  Everybody loves the smell of bacon!  Oh man, there are smells and tastes that I miss, but it isn't worth doing that to my health.  I've been there & have learned my lesson.  It helps to know that Alzheimer's is Mad Cow and no vegetarian/vegan has ever been diagnosed with it.

I live in Eugene, the hippie capital of the US! LOL  Honestly though, there are a lot of people here who are much more focused on their health and that has been a huge help in our learning process.  We prefer to call ourselves "free thinkers" or "non-conformists". It isn't just the meat & dairy that is dangerous, the genetically modified crops are also VERY dangerous to us & to the environment.  The following foods should only be eaten if organic or heirloom seed & grown organically:  Corn, soy, wheat, potatoes & peanuts.  The introduction of the GMO crops has led to a 60% increase in Cancer.  For example, they introduced the GMO soy in the 90's and began pushing the soy hormone replacement therapy.  The rate of ovarian, uterine & breast Cancer shot up 75%!  Now our bees are disappearing as the GMO crops spread throughout the world. 

Another reason to buy organic (& local!) is the concentration of pesticides & chemical fertilizers in your food.  The meat & dairy has the highest & most dangerous levels of pesticides.  I was stunned when I learned that.  It makes sense though.  When we bring pesticides into our body, they never leave. They're stores in our tissue.  The animals consumer food laden with pesticides also and it is then stored in their tissue.  We then consume that meat & take on even more pesticide concentrations.  Can you think of a pesticide that DOESN'T cause cancer?  Also, DO NOT buy produce grown outside the US (Mexico & South America)!  They haven't banned ANY pesticides nor do they have any health standards.  I won't get into the horrible things that go into our milk supply on the factory farms.

Goat milk & cheese is a good alternative to cow dairy.  Baby cows have a much higher fat content need than human babies and a goat's metabolism is much closer to our own.  It's much less fattening and lower in the dangerous dairy sugars that bring our metabolisms to their knees, hence the rapid onset of adult onset diabetes in children, etc...  Of course, I will never falter from iterating that human babies need their mother's breastmilk not some chemical laden formula or even worse, cow's milk.

Well, I'm 100% Irish & we believe that beer is a food group! (sorry for the stereotype)  It's a grain I believe....barley, hops....  LOL  Although, to our surprise, some beer is not vegan!  I could not figure out why beer would not be vegan.  Okay, a honey wheat beer, that makes sense cause honey isn't vegan (if you are that strict), but what other animal products?  It took some research and I finally found that canned beer & beer in a keg is filtered through sturgeon bladder!  eeeewwwwwww  So, I only drink it out of a bottle now. LOL Even cheap crappy beer like Budweiser is vegan, so no too much to worry about there as long as it isn't in a can.  Sure wish I could get my hands on some REAL Guinness though!!  All we have is the crap they make in Canada & try to pass off as Guiness here in the states!  

Cheers! 

I am not vegitarian, though my meat intake is minimal. I like a healthy balanced diet and enjoy my dairy. I also have occasional cravings for that slice of bacon with my lettuce and tomato.  Though I have had soy ham and turkey that tasted good, it is hard to find.

While I have no problems with vegans or vegitarians, it's not me.

I don't disagree with going veggie. but Personally i like my meat. I understand what you are saying it is a "healthier" lifestyle. But you don't have to become a veggie to eat healthier. I try to buy the meat brands that are organic that don't use antibiotics or growth hormones. its alittle more expensive but if i dont' have to eat meat with growth hormones in it then fine i'll spend the extra $$ for it.

But it is a good idea to go veggie. I respect that. I just don't respect it when vegetarians tell me its wrong to eat meat. and i'm going to hell or something along those lines.

If you ingest soy products please remember they must be fermented such as tempeh, misso, natto, and soy sauce.

Here is the link with some info on soy. Just a side note, I have done my research on the topic and the info can be found from different sources: http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/avoid_soy.htm

I no longer ingest dairy products and consume VERY little meat, trying to make sure there are no hormones and that the animals had been treated humanely.

Everyone makes their own choice. It does not matter to me what you put into your body, just make sure it is healthy. I don't wear fur, real or fake, and I do wear and use leather products; which I am trying to faze out. Does this make me a good person? It is all with what one wants to do. To thy own self be true.

I have read a little bit about that Joanna, but am finding that it isn't necessarily the truth.  Like Bev said, you have to weed out the spin out there and I very much agree with that.  Living on the West Coast, I have been able to speak to a lot of Asians who were not raised in the US.  They DO consume a lot of tofu and they are undeniably much healthier than we are.  They eat very little meat, if any at all.  The only dangers of tofu that I have found to be true & significant, are the ones not made with organic soybeans.  Genetically Modified (GMO) soy is extremely dangerous & is known to cause very high rates of Cancer.  The push in the 90's to use soy hormone replacement therapy caused a dramatic spike in breast, ovarian & uterine Cancer, ironically this was when the GMO (FYI the plant has been crossed with pesticides and is deemed unfit for human consumption) soy hit the markets.  We are now eating more tempeh though and do enjoy it.  We are trying to cut down on the seitan (wheat meat) due to it being primarily gluten.  It's so easy to make from scratch at home though & saves a lot of money for my family & it's sooooo good.  I think the best advice is READ INGREDIENTS, know what you are eating & eat as if your life depended on it.  Your body will tell you when you eat good things & when you eat bad things! LOL  I've had heartburn enough to know that is true!    Here are some good sources of the things that even Dr's, in error, tell us we have to eat meat to get:

Calcium:  Sesame seeds (more absorbable & more calcium than milk), figs, almonds, beet greens, broccoli, seaweeds (kelp, Agar, Irish Moss & Dulse), turnip greens & watercress.  The are the best sources & there are many more, too many to list them all.

Protein (amino acids):  Bragg's amino acids instead of soy sauce (much lower in natually occurring salt), legumes, nuts/seeds, nutritional yeast, tofu, avacado, papaya, coconut, spinach, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chives, garlic, carrots, celery, cucumber, kale, spirulina, potatoes, pomegranates, goji berries, etc...

Vitamin D: Sunshine!, Alfafa, chickweed, eyebright, fenugreek, mullein, papaya, red raspberry, and rosehips.

This info comes from The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit For Life Kitchen by Marilyn Diamond.  This book is HUGE and has TONS of great info.  I got it in a Goodwill store for $1.99!    Another book I highly recommend is Back to Eden by Jethro Kloss.  The original editoin was copyrighted in 1939, around the same time Rife found the cure for Cancer.  A very brilliant & repressed era.

Let me know if you are wondering about any other nutritional requirements and good sources.  I think these 3 are the most misrepresented.  I've done a lot of research on all of this as I have 3 children living this lifestyle with me.  They are the reason I do it! 

I love hearing everybody's feedback and thoughts!  I too struggle at times to not eat meat or dairy.  I try not to eat for flavor, but for health & I always pay later when I eat something I know I shouldn't have! LOL

Peace Light & Love,

Kerry

After many years I have returned to my roots. I was a vegetarian then I damaged my spine, But i'm ok with that, the doctor at the time advised me that some of the tablets that I needed worked better if i ate red meat, so I did.  Now I no longer take those tablets, not needed now, I am back to my old ways. So as of today I am vegetarian.

Tony

I am also a vegetarian, and I agree that it is much healthier,but I have to disagree with Kerry about one thing.

ALzheimer's disease is not Mad Cow Disease. There is currently a diagnosis for Kreutzfeld Jacob variant ( which is Mad Cow) that can be made before a patient death. However, a definite diagnosis for Alzheimer's cannot be made until an autopsy is performed.

While I agree that some of the symptoms seem to be the same, they really are two different diseases.

VIVA!

Vegetarian International Voices for Animals

A great site.

Links, recipes, facts ,etc

http://www.viva.org.uk/

Due to health issues that started about 3 years ago I was having difficulty digesting meat which resulted in feeling ill after eating meat,I was,up untill about 4 months, ago eating chicken in hopes the protien would help my hair loss that was due to a lack of protien-after viewing a video on care2 about slaughter houses I could no longer eat chicken.I have found there are many non-meat protien sources and since I have been diagnosed as having "Mal-Absorption" which has led to many other health issues caused by vitamin deficency-the chicken was not going to help much.So,I became a vegetarian for health reasons primarily but now knowing the cruelty of slaughter houses as well as how these animals are pumped full of chemical's-I have become a devoted vegetarian,I will not cook meat for my hubby or children,but if they stop for a burger while out that is fine-I believe to eat meat or not is a choice they have to make for themselves.

http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Veggi_Cooking

This link will take you to a site called The Vegetarian Cookbook, run by veggies for veggies and vegans..........

Michele you are so right, you can not force anyone to agree with you about anything. You should do as you are  lead by example.  You will feel better inside and mentally now you are at one with nature....

I know I feel better mentally since I returned to the natural way of eating for me..Vegetarianism.....................

Hello All,

I just read all of this great info, and wanted to put out there to you, what ideas you might have for typical aches, and pains. My health has always been something to be grateful for everyday of my life, however lately I wake up with shoulder,neck,feet aching. I absolutely know that thru our diet we can eliminate most health issues.  In my mind, a good balance of food groups, and balance in life is something to abide by.  My son and wife who live in Santa Cruz eat only organic foods, and have raised their 3 children this way.

Im looking for suggestions on what to eat, or what not to eat to for these most common aches. HELP......

Kristine C.

Hi,

I am  have been a Vegetarian since the early 90's. I did  it for my health, for the cruelty endured by animals, I have never missed having meat in my life. My choice also have extended to my consumer choices too. I aviod McDonlands  because of thier destructive habits towards the rain forest to have beef. Being a Vegetarian, just helps makes you be a better world cizten and lessen your footprint.

Peace and Grace,
Brad

Like so many, I love "my" meat. (especially steak)  But recently one of my best friends was dignosed with a gastro intestinal disorder that can kill him.  He's only 28 years old.  The cause.... MEAT!  In support of him, we tried to stop eating meat...Easy right? Not at all.  But after trying Boca and Morning Star products, (which are extremely tasty by the way) we can not seem to desire the old ground beef.  We still eat meat on occassion, but actually prefer the soy/veg products now. 

I may not be a complete vegan, but each small step in still a step..... Health wise & environment wise.  I believe everyone should at least replace 1-2 meals a week to start with, and soon they will replace 3-4, or more.  Each step helps!