I love to eat. I do
it at least five times a day because I am what they call a “snacker”. I have
eaten a regular American diet most of my life, which means I have excluded no
food from my diet (meat, plants, sugar, cooked, raw, etc). I love the taste,
texture, cultural experiences and the warmth and comfort food provides. If you
know me than you know 60% of my diet consists of raw plants anyways.
On my recent visit to
China I have found myself re-working what my food intake and aftermath experience
means to me and have come to the conclusion that food is not just good; it is fuel
and my main living source and something that I love to share.
I have been experiencing
changes all year, included but not limited to the country I live in, the job I
have, the friends I surround myself with and the places I travel (inevitable
the food I eat). I have grown exponentially this year constantly challenging
myself to live a different place, take different jobs, make different friends,
eat different foods and be more intentional about all of them.
<---- I think this is what the animals looked like right before they were skewered and heated to look like this -->
My new challenge: Eat
vegetarian.
Besides
my stomach causing me some grief and my mind not being able to shake the picture
of the animals squished together in a small container waiting to be killed and gouged
with an iron rod skewer to be placed over a fire there are health and
environmental reasons to convince me going veg is the best choice for me right
now.
Although I am not afraid to die I also don’t want to live until I’m 100 (this is not a direct challenge to the universe). It is not possible for me to ignore the research
that I have read and heard about that supports the phenomenon that animal protein fertilizes and encourages
the growth of cancer cells (liver, breast, lung, more) per Pleneat.
Plant protein (wheat and soy) does not do this. Protein is an essential part of
our diets, especially if we are active people so it is important for us to
consume. Nobody wants to fight cancer and we don’t have to. This and it aligns with yoga practice of being physically well, spiritually thoughtful and universally intentional.
Research
has further shown that the slaughtering of animals increases greenhouse gas emissions
that contribute to global warming and the discharge of reactive nitrogen that
increases dead zones in the ocean that contribute to the unnecessary mortality
of many sea creatures. Not okay. If this doesn’t get you, think of seeing
nothing when you choose to snorkel. Not cool.
Furthermore,
it has always been important to me to make a difference and if I can do it a
bite at a time I am happy to.
Ghandi
encourages us to “Be the difference you want to see in the world.” Bring it,
Ghandi. I want to see people live with more intention, sincerity, generosity
and communication. What better way to start or incorporate this living-working
model than through the common love language of food?
Andrew and I happy to be eating loctus root in many different varities (pickled, fried and chillied). Look how much fun we are having eating veg!
A ripe and beautifully fresh sunflower plant given to us as a snack in the mid day in China.
I
can’t wait to learn and share new recipes, try new ingredients and challenge myself with daily intention in my quest to become a vegetarian.
Recipes guaranteed to excite anyone's tastebuds, creative ideas and inspiration will come from these blogs (at least initally).
Not only are you an individual making a difference, but you are the ripple of hope: It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.- Robert F. Kennedy South Africa, 1966
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