Making the decision to go vegan is a different path for everyone. The reasons behind the choice may range from healthy living to animal rights. Whatever they are, making the decision to be vegan is one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself, animals and the planet.
I was chatting with Be Genki‘s Sam Sample last week and she mentioned she’d recently made the transition to veganism, after years of flirting with it. I asked if she would be happy to share her journey in the hope of inspiring others who are thinking about becoming cruelty-free. Here is her story…
There’s a high chance that you may be toying with the idea of choosing to be vegan. The reason for writing this particular article is that you may find that it touches a part of you, just as living it has touched all parts of me, and that it may help inspire you to take the final step. ~ Sam Sample
Last month I finally chose to walk the vegan road. I use the word ‘finally’ because I feel it has been a slow and gradual progression over the last 15 years.
In 1995 I read the book Fit for Life
Over the next five years my taste for meat declined. Correction, not so much the taste of it, but more so the flesh component. Have you ever bitten in to a piece of meat and visualized biting in to the arm, leg or torso of an animal, and that the chewy bits of meat is too closely associated with chewing your way through the flesh of that animal? Those type of visualizations also grossed me out and ended my meat eating days, with exception to mince meat in lasagna, spaghetti bolognese and carpaccio (the paper thin raw beef), as these styles of meat required no tough chewing and melted in my mouth.
My fascination for food, health and wellbeing led me to study a 3 year Diploma of Nutrition and it was during those classes that I was exposed to the horrifying documentaries about chickens in battery farms, their ghastly diet, abnormally unhealthy living conditions and outrageous cruelty and suffering. Add to that, the accounts of negative health effects that the consumption of these chickens and eggs were having on the human population. I was so appalled by this information that I have never eaten a piece of chicken since, but somehow I remained an egg eater, as long as they were the biodynamic organic free-range variety.
As time went by and my love of food and good nutrition grew, so did my love and respect for mother earth. Each day I was inspired to learn a little more about the “truth” of the type of world we live in, how my choices can have an effect on the future of the world based on the simple fact that every time I buy a product I am saying to that company, ‘keep on doing what you are doing.’ I am supporting everything that company does: every source of raw material, every packaging solution, every environmental standard that they are undertaking, every form of employee relations and every marketing choice.
When creating Be Genki, the range of bath, body and home care products, I was adamant that the brand had to be certifiably “animal cruelty free”, not containing any animal derived ingredients and certainly not allowing any of the products or ingredients to be tested on animals. Yet, I still was consuming eggs, cheese and a portion of meat once every few months. Hmmm… I wasn’t wanting to use animal products in my skincare products but was happy to eat them. Interesting inconsistency don’t you think?!
Being an advocate for holistic health and wellbeing, and possessing the inclination to think about what consequence my choices are having on my life, my loved ones’ lives, the community, the planet, and future beliefs, standards and ideals, choosing vegan seemed like the natural thing to do that would honor everything that I believe in, (that is, to help improve my awareness, consciousness and communion with mother earth.)
The tipping point for making the choice, however, was watching the short clip VEGAN For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals. (see below). Quite simply, the short film clip makes sense. Choosing to be vegan not only nurtures myself, but my loved ones, future generations and the world in which we share. Oh… and I look and feel so much healthier since making the change. Love those extra perks!
Photo courtesy JelleS
One of my best friends and favourite intuitive healers is Rebecca Dettman. If you haven’t checked out her Psyched in Stilettos blog and her new self-titled website, RebeccaDettman.com, both are treasure troves of transformative spiritual information. I always look forward to Rebecca’s weekly newsletters, from which the following guest post was first published…
Is that a dead animal on your face?…and lying in your bathroom? Let me be really, really brutally clear about this. L’Oreal tests their products on animals. So does Shiseido. Not to mention Covergirl, Pantene, Clairol, Johnson & Johnson’s, Oil of Olay, Max Factor and Oral-B. Disgusted? Shocked? You should be – especially if you could see what happens to our poor furry friends inside those horrible, godforsaken laboratories. 
While the exact number of animals used for cosmetic testing is unknown, it has been estimated that around 38,000 animals are used and killed in the development of cosmetics in the European Union every year. “The problem is that most cosmetic products are imported from countries where animal testing is very widespread,” says Helen Roser, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Association for Humane Research, “and so the chances are that many of the cosmetic products that we use here everyday have been tested on animals.
“If someone sues a cosmetic company because they have had a bad reaction to its product, then the company has a better defence if it is able to claim that the product had been tested on animals and found to be safe. However, different species have different genetic make up and animals do not provide an accurate measure as to whether a product is safe for humans to use.”
Did you know this?
The terms ‘not tested on animals’ and ‘against animal testing’ on cosmetics packaging aren’t regulated – thus manufacturers can legitimately claim that a finished product has not been tested on animals, despite the fact that the ingredients used to make the finished product have been tested on animals.
The good news (thank God):
The ever-progressive European Union (who have also banned other nasties, such as DBT in nail polish – get with it Australia!!) is bringing a new ban on the testing of cosmetic ingredients into place in 2009. In addition, there will also be a ban on the sale of cosmetic products and ingredients tested on animals for all but three tests (reproductive toxicity, repeat dose toxicity and toxicokinetics) from 2009. “The ban will have a huge impact on the amount of products available to use that are cruelty free,” says Roser. “It will also be likely to put more pressure on other countries, like the United States, to ban product testing.”
Plus, check the Choose Cruelty Free website before you buy, as every brand on their Preferred Product List has filled out a comprehensive legally-binding questionnaire re: their the ingredients, formulation, manufacture, packaging and more. “If a company is on our list, you can be as certain as you can be that they have not been involved in animals testing,” says the site’s Cherie Wilson. “If a company is not on the list, it means they test or have declined to answer our questions. We have contacted every company we know of or that has been referred to use by consumers.”
So, you want to know the animal friendly beauty brands? Try these for starters:
A’kin
Al’chemy
Australis
e.l.f.
Guinot
In Essence Aromatherapy
Le Tan
Springfields
Musq
Trilogy
Rabbit photo courtesy laverrue
Main photo courtesy dreamglow pumpkincat210
1. Start with you. While scientists once believed we were separate from everything else on earth, we now know that couldn’t be further from the truth. We human beings are made up of the same stuff that makes up the stars we gaze at, the grass we walk on and the very food we eat. Spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra says it best: “At some point in our lives, the realization dawns upon us that freedom does not come from external situations or circumstance. All of creation, everything that exists in the physical world, is the result of the unmanifest transforming itself into the manifest. Everything that we behold comes from the unknown. Our physical body, the physical universe — anything and everything that we can perceive through our senses — is the transformation of the unmanifest, unknown and invisible into the manifest, known and visible. The physical universe is nothing other than the self curving back within itself as spirit, mind and physical matter.”
With this in mind, how we think about ourselves, treat ourselves and feed ourselves becomes a whole new ball game: every negative thought we hold and reaffirm to ourselves is also reaffirmed to the universe, every bad diet choice directly affects the health of universe, every unkind action or thought towards another has a direct affect on the universe and so on. Making conscious, educated choices every day is the first and most important step in healing the earth. A great place to start the education is with inspirational author and teacher, Louise L Hay and her bestselling book You Can Heal Your Life
2. Change your diet. While the meat and dairy industries do everything in their power to ensure consumers believe meat and dairy help us grow healthy and strong, there is much evidence to the contrary. Besides the undeniable health risks of eating meat and dairy that can no longer be ignored due to the rise-and-rise of cancer cases, there’s another reason it’s important to reassess the amount of animal products in your diet—and that’s the detrimental impact meat production has on the planet. A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. When asked by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) what personal change people could make to help the environment, ex-Beatles star Paul McCartney answered, “I think the biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian.” Find out how here.
As with anything, it’s about being kind to yourself during the process if you decide to give up meat and dairy. Do your research to ensure you do things at a pace that works best for your body and lifestyle. An important thing to remember: vegetarianism and veganism are not diets in the common sense of the word, or religions for that matter. Rather they’re a lifestyle choice—an action resulting from understanding how everything on the earth is deeply connected, and how what we put in our mouth has a profound effect on everything we are and do. That means taking it all one meal and day at a time, so leave any feelings of guilt or failure at the door. Every step you take towards making a difference adds up. Be proud of yourself and tell yourself often.
3. Stop buying plastic water bottles, shopping bags or containers. We’ve all certainly heard it before: buying water in plastic bottles and getting plastic bags at the supermarket isn’t a good choice for the environment. Treehugger.com has an article that gets straight to the point detailing what is known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” or “trash vortex”: (it’s) essentially a floating expanse of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean now covering an area twice the size of the continental U.S. Believed to hold almost 100m tons of flotsam, this vast “plastic soup” stretches 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan. Gotta see it to believe it? Watch this.
As said before, being kind to you, also means you’re being kind to the world around you. Plastic water bottles contain the cancer-causing chemical known as Bisphenol A, which leaches from the bottles to the water you consume. Step one: buy a reusable water bottle. Step two: fit a reverse osmosis filter to your kitchen tap (same goes for the shower: many municipal water supplies are not only highly chlorinated, but also contain high levels of pharmaceutical drugs—such as antibiotics, oral contraceptives etc—which get ingested through the skin, which is the body’s largest organ. Read more here.
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At some point in our lives, if not often, we feel and/or face fears. Fear of what others think of us, fear of dis-ease, fear of terrorism. It’s how we decide to act (or not) every day that can move us closer or further away from our true, fear-less, nature. Sometimes, a little guidance can be a big help…
1. Stop eating animals.
Just as we feel fear, so too do animals. While they may not function with the same mental intellect, we are emotionally linked. When a cow or sheep is held in putrid, cramped quarters or goes to slaughter, it too feels fear—a negative emotion that is, no doubt, transferred on some level to the person who eats the animal. As a human race, we are feasting on fear every time we eat a piece of, particularly factory-farmed, animal flesh. A question to contemplate: does the amount of animal products consumed by humans contribute largely to our everyday fears? Check out Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals.
2. Identify it for what it really is: False Evidence Appearing Real.
As human beings, we are essentially controlled by two emotions: love and fear. We act out of one or the other. The beautiful thing? We have the ability to choose the thoughts we think and by guided by the emotions we feel. While much of the fear we feel is pre-programmed into us as an instinctual response to potential danger, much of the every day stuff we fear isn’t dangerous at all. We have simply convinced ourselves what we’re fearing is real.
3. Stop watching the news.
Reading and particularly watching the news is hypnotising. Watch enough negative stories and you’ll soon be in fear of walking out of your own front door. If you think about it, I mean really think about it, is there any reason we should repetitively see and hear about stabbings, murders, acts of terrorism and the like? Does it make you feel safer? Does it foster a feeling of love? Of course not, and it’s not meant to. Rather, it invokes a fear response, which in turn makes us hand over our power to those who we think can “save” us, including governments and doctors, when in fact each of us is responsible for our own reality, as well as our own health and wellbeing. If you’re an avid news watcher, put down the remote for two weeks and monitor how different you feel. A study by David L. Altheide states: Fear is bigger news than mere crime or even violence. Fear has become a standard feature of news formats steeped in a problem frame oriented to entertainment. Entertainment abhors ambiguity, while truth and effective intervention efforts to improve social life reside in ambiguity.
4. Research natural healing therapies.
There are natural herbal and homeopathic remedies that can help with overcoming fears. To quote website nativeremedies.com: “Fear becomes a problem that needs to be addressed when it turns into anxiety, panic or phobias. Herbs such as Melissa Officinalis, Lavandula Augustifolia, Chamomile and Passiflora Incarnata are just a few examples of a natural approach to overcoming fears by reducing stress, calming the nervous system and relaxing a fearful mind. Many natural remedies for fear and anxiety combine a number of calming herbs to achieve the best results for overcoming fears and addressing all the different symptoms of a panicked response.” Also explore natural healing treatments such as Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique and hypnotherapy.
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“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest … a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.” ~ Albert Einstein
2010 has hit full force. You can feel the electricity in the air.
I ended 2009 by cleaning out, dusting, getting rid of all the old, stuck energy in preparation for the new year. And now the start of a new decade has arrived, it’s time to dig even deeper. It’s time to get knee-deep into my wardrobe.
I’ve decided to box up everything I haven’t worn in the past six months, clothes I’m not really sure about, stuff that’s too big, too small, wrong colour. Even the items I don’t wear, but am sentimental about. Yep, they’re going too. My chosen charity awaits.
The year 2010 is about giving back. Living more simply. Thinking of others less fortunate. Giving without expecting anything in return. Just thinking about living that way feels good. So to do it must feel even better—for the giver and receiver.
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As 2009 draws to a close, I want to celebrate a few powerful reasons to become vegan: our little (and big) fellow earthlings who make this planet of ours truly remarkable.
Here’s to those who made the transition to veganism in 2009 and those who will take the leap in 2010. May your new year be filled with countless blessings and a whole lotta love!
A sneak peak at Life‘s Wild Animal Photos of the Year…
“Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!”
~ Theophile Gautier
“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” ~ Martin Buber
And just because… (I’m so cute!)
“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
~ Immanual Kant
When someone becomes vegan, it starts with a decision. Nothing more, nothing less.
This decision can make a huge positive difference to the lives of others, and can turn out to be the most important moment of a person’s life. I know when I became vegan, it changed my life in countless ways (not to mention the lives of animals who were no longer being slaughtered to fill my dinner plate).
Knowing how such a decision can affect humanity, animals and the planet, I was thrilled to be asked to write a passage for a new website, which was born from a desire to help others on their journey from meat eater to vegan.
Called The Vegan Decision, the website is the home of “thoughtful essays from people who made the decision to stop eating animals” and why they made the choice.
Whether you’re vegan, or considering the lifestyle, this website is no doubt going to be a great resource—a place of inspiration, advice and great tips—thanks to those who are sharing their journey. Love it!
I want to share this profound excerpt from the preface of Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm by C. David Coates, kindly highlighted in a recent comment from JC (thanks JC!).
As humans, I believe our potential is limitless, as long as we focus our attention on actions that work with nature, not against. Clearly, as C. David Coates explains so well, we seem to have lost our way when we made it our mission to act as a god, rather than work with God.
Aren’t humans amazing animals? They kill wildlife – birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed.
Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative – and fatal – health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.
So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions of more animals to look for cures for these diseases.
Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals.
Meanwhile, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and once a year send out cards praying for “Peace on Earth.”
~Revised Preface to Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm by C. David Coates~
Ex-Beatles’ Paul McCartney, who was famously quoted as saying “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”, now has a tune to encourage people to stop eating meat—at least on Mondays.
Check out his Meat Free Mondays website to send in your own little ditty, or just to get the lowdown on how eating animals affects the health of the planet and the people. Then, I say, let’s make every day a Monday!
It’s so great to know this information is getting more exposure in all the right places. Viva la vegan! (And thanks to Cynthia Morgan for sharing).
With companies such as Adidas exploiting animals for fashion, whatever is a vegan fashionista to do? Get her (and his) sneakers from companies with a conscience, sure. But where to find them?
In light of what I learned about Adidas yesterday—and other footwear manufacturers who make their wares from slaughtered animals—I went on a mission to find some cool casual shoes that were made without harming any cow, or kangaroo, in the process.
Here’s what I dug up:
• Blackspot Shoes (V1 style below) are marketed as the world’s most ethical. What makes them so? Well, the V2 hightop style features a sole made from recycled tyres, while the upper on every style is made from hemp. They’re also made in a union shop in Europe, so no humans exploited either. You can order your very own pair, for around $US75, from the super hip site Adbusters.
• Komodo’s Free Tibet sneakers (below) are ethically made, and are also shoes that keep on giving. Twenty percent from the sale of each pair goes toward the campaign that calls for an end to Chinese occupation of Tibet, and for improved human rights in the troubled region. Get them online from Hippyshopper.com for around 40 (UK pounds).
• Ethletic high top sneakers (below) are made from 100 percent fair trade certified organic cotton canvas upper and durable rubber sole. The sole is produced with natural latex, which they say is tapped from a tree in a well managed and growing forest. All dyes are PCP and AZO free, which I guess means no icky chemicals. Relive your inner Grease for around $US56.
• While I prefer to steer clear of companies who use animal parts in any of their products, it’s still nice to see mainstream companies such as Saucony producing a shoes for us animal-free folks. This shoe is the Vegan Jazz Sneaker, a running shoe for him or her. Check out your local Saucony supplier.
Know of any other ethical footwear companies doing their bit for a greener world? Feel free to share below!
I was a proud Aussie until we began slaughtering our most recognisable icon, the beloved kangaroo.
It’s hard to think about these beautiful creatures being hunted down with guns, knives and clubs for monetary greed and personal gain, all under the guide of “pest eradication”. Have you ever known another country to proudly display a “pest” on its Coat of Arms? Or on the tail of its national airline? Me either.
So what happens to these majestic animals once they’ve been killed? It’s a long list. Here’s an excerpt from an article on the Australian Wildlife Protection Council:
Kangaroo paws are made into bottle openers, and stuffed heads into wall mounts. In the orient, you can buy “the Golden Ball Purse,” a small coin purse made from a kangaroo’s scrotum. In England, golfers can pay to sport a furry, fuzzy natural hide golf bag. In Germany and other parts of Europe, people have developed a taste for kangaroo meat. Italians make shoes from the leather. Americans wear these and other leather products made from kangaroo, often without knowing it. The hides are desired for the softness of the leather and there is the added advantage of no expensive feeding costs before slaughter. Never mind the extreme cruelty to many millions of wild animals or the mismanagement of wildlife for great financial gain. All of us, not just Australians, are part of the problem.
Six million kangaroos were killed in 1999 alone. Now, according to reports, our lovable Skippy is facing extinction.
Here are my Top 5 ways to help save the kangaroo:
1. Write to groups such as the Australian Wildlife Protection Agency and ask how you can help them get the word out.
2. Arm yourself with accurate information from websites (ActNowForAnimals, StopKangarooKilling.org, SaveTheKangaroo.com, AnimalLiberation.org) dedicated to the cause, to learn everything there is to know about this barbaric sport. Then blog about it to spread the word.
3. Boycott and write to restaurants, businesses and companies that sell or use kanagroo fur, skin, meat or any other body parts in their products. Some of these include:
• Adidas (sign a petition here);
• Kangaroo Export Import International;
• Country Hide and Skins;
• Macro Meats Gourmet Game;
• Packer Leather;
• Aussie Game Meats;
• Southern Game Meat;
• Aussie Best;
• Australian Bush Store;
• The Leather Shop.
4. Write to the Australian Government;
5. Support the the call for the European Union to ban all kangaroo products.
Who knew the Coat of Arms was a menu?
It’s great that more and more companies are coming out with vegan product lines. But just because no animals were harmed in the making of these lipsticks, moisturisers and the like, does it mean they’re good for you? Not always.
Unless the ingredients are natural and organic, chances are you could be slapping man made chemicals on your bod. These chemicals are absorbed through the skin, into the bloodstream and contribute to toxicity that can lead to various dis-eases. Yikes. Whoever coined the phrase “beauty is pain” was right on more than one level.
The Environmental Working Group has a comprehensive list, called The Cosmetics Database, that’s well worth keeping handy. It features many of the products we’ve all come to know and love, complete with their toxicity/carcinogen level. You’ll never look at your mascara the same again.
Vegan Peace also has a comprehensive listing of ingredients and products that can help determine if your beauty products are indeed vegan friendly. Then it’s just a matter of determining which of those are human friendly.
A great natural beauty line worth Googling is Living Nature, which is made “of” New Zealand and is low on the scale of harm according to The Cosmetics Database.
Better yet, find beauty fixes right from your own kitchen. Here’s a handy how-to intro from The Green Dove.
Bursting the Beauty Bubble
