As a journalist, you get to meet people from all walks of life. Over the years I’ve met some wonderful souls, been welcomed into people’s lives in the name of a story, learned many things and questioned much.
In the 15 years I’ve been doing this, there have been a few incredible people who have, just by their very nature, etched their message into my heart—some, albeit few, have even influenced me to change my life.
Once such interview was about five years ago: “Come along and meet this guy, he’s amazing,” the publicist promised. She was talking about Don Tolman, a guy from Utah known fondly by many as the Indiana Jones of Wholefoods. I’d never heard of him, or his message.
His message, I soon learned, is simple: live with nature, by nature and from nature. Understand what foods benefit particular body functions and eat them. Stop putting chemical pills and potions into your mouth. Drink fresh spring water. Stop brushing your teeth with fluoride. Listen to your great grandmother and use her natural remedies. Know that your body’s symptoms are your body’s cures. Eating meat causes putrification and dis-ease. Question everything.
A 30-minute meeting with the Stetson-wearing cowboy felt like five minutes. His message spoke directly to me, as if what he was saying I already knew on some deep level. I’d already been following some of his recommendations, purely on instinct, such as never taking a pill to relieve a headache or antibiotics to fix an ill, and no longer eating red meat.
If you haven’t had a chance to hear Don Tolman speak, below is an interview he did with Samantha Backman. I hope you enjoy hearing his message, as much as I always do.
Why it’s great: Packed with a gold mine of information that will change the way you look at your body and the food you put in it, forever. Tolman also talks about how every wholefood has a signature that corresponds to parts of the body, such as an avocado, which looks like a pregnant woman and takes nine months from blossom to ripened fruit. If a woman eats just one avocado per week, she is helping prevent cervical cancer.
Who’s watching it: Health care professionals, university lecturers and doctors who are realising the Western way of healing with pharmaceuticals doesn’t work. Also anyone who is interested in honest-to-goodness nutrition and how it greatly improves life through diet and exercise.
What you’ll learn: How your body actually works, why disease is not a mystery and how wholefoods, water, sunshine and clean air can prevent just about any disease.
Want to know more? See www.dontolmaninternational.com
Photo by Wheeloflife.tv
In Green Tea Living: A Japan-inspired guide to eco-friendly habits, health, and happiness, author Toshimi A. Kayaki shares timeless wisdom from her native Japanese culture through useful tips and anecdotes. Not only are they oh-so handy, but most are also vegan.
Toshimi recently shared a few of her earth-loving beauty, health and household basics with me, straight from the pages of her new book…
Create smoother, younger-looking skin with a green tea face pack. Grind up used green tea leaves into a powder, then mix with water and flour until it forms a paste. Wash your face, and then apply the pack for 10 minutes. Rinse off with water and follow up with your favourite lotion.
Drink green tea to lose weight. Drinking five cups of green tea a day can burn up to 80 extra calories!
Use wet green tea leaves to clean your house. Green tea is not only an eco-friendly cleaning option, but will leave your rooms sparkling and smelling fresh! Squeeze most of the water out of wet tea leaves, and then place on dirty floors or dusty surfaces. Brush the leaves back and forth in small strokes, allowing the tea leaves to pick up dust and dirt. Sweep everything into a dustpan when finished.
Use vinegar for even the most heavy-duty cleaning! Vinegar will shine up sinks and counters, as well as kill bacteria. Scrub the slime out of your bathtub, disinfect cutting boards; even combine 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar to wash your floors. Simple, cheap and most importantly, not harmful to the environment.
Mix your own vinegar conditioner for soft, shiny hair. In an empty plastic bottle combine 16 oz water, 4 tbsps white or rice vinegar, and 3 or 4 pieces of fresh rosemary or sage. Just as effective as expensive conditioner, but far more economical.
Make your sweaters look like new. Rub a sweater with the rough edge of a dry sponge to easily get rid of pilling fabric.
Repair dry or damaged skin with a soothing green tea bath. Steep one green tea bag in boiling water for 15 minutes, then pour the tea water into your bathwater. The vitamins and catechins in green tea will kill bacteria on your skin and smooth away imperfections, not to mention contribute to a relaxing bath!
Mix homemade sake lotion. This simple lotion and moisturiser only requires two ingredients and some time in the fridge. Mix 7 oz cold sake and 1-½ pints water, then allow the mixture to sit in the refrigerator for a few days. Dab onto skin with a cotton ball. (Make sure to test this out on your hands before applying it elsewhere!)
Drink vinegar and water for better health. Just sipping a little vinegar every day can improve your digestion and skin complexion. Combine 1 part rice or apple cider vinegar with 7 parts water.
Main image (St John’s Wart) courtesy lepiaf.geo
Obtaining optimal health, eating living foods and detoxifying isn’t as difficult as it may seem, says New York-based clinical nutritionist and yoga instructor to the stars, Kimberly Snyder. It’s all about knowing how and having fun with it. The result—radiant beauty that glows from within—is well worth the effort.
I was fortunate to meet with Kimberly while she was in LA last year. During our chat (and snack of delish homemade raw cacao balls she brought with her) Kimberly shared all sorts of great tips about veganism and the raw food lifestyle.
Below are some of her top tips for staying young and healthy. For more fabulous vegan and living food insights head to Kimberly’s blog at www.kimberlysnyder.net. Enjoy!
1. Max out on raw greens. Uncooked greens and vegetables are a powerful beauty secret. The living enzymes in uncooked greens and vegetables contribute to skin health by acting as catalysts that assist body processes like digestion, detoxification, and rebuilding. For example, by assisting the body’s energy-intensive digestive process, enzymes free up energy for other tasks, like repairing and rebuilding the skin- the largest organ of all. Unfortunately, the valuable enzymes, proteins and vitamins found in plants are heat sensitive and can be damaged or destroyed by normal cooking temperatures. In fact, cooking can easily destroy a food’s entire enzyme reserve. So pack as many completely raw greens, salads, veggies, sprouts and fresh herbs into your diet as you can! An easy way to get a large amount of easily digestible greens is from a green smoothie. The simple recipe is available online at www.kimberlysnyder.net.
2. Add açai to your diet. Açai is loaded with beneficial nutrients and antioxidants, including Omega 3 fatty acids, amino acids, minerals, key vitamins and fiber. The Omega 3 fatty acids found in Açai maintain the structure and fluidity of cell membranes, facilitating the inflow of nutrients and the outflow of waste products, promoting youthful, smooth and radiant skin by keeping skin cells hydrated and strong. Acai is a key component of The Solution, as it is also extremely beneficial when applied topically.
4. Drink detox tea. Our bodies are constantly exposed to toxins from the environment, our diet and chemicals from products we put on ourselves. Over time, these toxins promote illness and can accelerate skin aging. The liver is the blood’s filtering system, and when it becomes overloaded, the liver stops effectively filtering and neutralizing the toxins that enter the body. These excess toxins continue circulating and are deposited in fatty tissue, building up over time. The long-term effects of toxic overload are manifested externally in the form of wrinkles and spotted, leathery skin. One of the easiest and tastiest ways to promote healthy liver function is to drink detox tea 2-3 times per week. The recipe is available online.
3. Switch to Celtic sea salt. Celtic sea salt is unique among salts because it is a sun-dried – a process that allows 70 minerals and trace elements, enzymes and even marine microorganisms to remain intact. Other sea salts are kiln-dried, which causes valuable magnesium and most other minerals to evaporate. Normal table salt is the worst of all, being irradiated and denatured sodium chloride. It not only has no nutritional benefit, it depletes the skin’s natural hydration. So make the switch to Celtic sea salt!
5. Eat more onions. This everyday food has a considerable amount of sulfur, which helps cleanse the skin and liver and rebuild connective tissues like collagen. Onions are also an exceptional source of usable quercetin, which works to eliminate free radicals, protects and regenerates crucial Vitamin E and decreases capillary fragility.
6. Add sea vegetables to your diet. Sea vegetables are about 12 times richer in minerals than average vegetables. They are an especially good source of iodine, which regulates the metabolism by feeding the thyroid, iron, B6, B12, and magnesium, which opens over 300 different detoxification pathways in the body. You can throw sea vegetables such as dulse, hijiki and arame in salads or make nori wraps stuffed with salad. All are available at any health store.
7. Sprout your seeds and nuts. A raw, dry nut is dense in calories and encased in inhibitor enzymes, which keep it from sprouting before it is in a safe environment. The sprouting process changes the constitution of the nut, making it more like a plant. The nutritional benefit is that the proteins in sprouted nuts are more easily assimilated by the body. Here is a simple method for spouting almonds: Cover almonds in filtered water in a bowl and place in your refrigerator for 24 hours. Rinse well several times. You should peel off the outer coating of the almond before eating. A handful is a wonderfully nutritional, filling snack. Throw a few in a bag and take them to work!
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As more Westerners begin to embrace the life-enhancing benefits of natural therapies, understanding what treatment works best for what condition can cause a headache itself.
Holistic health care, unlike Western medicine, treats the whole person to identify the cause of each symptom. As each body is different, treatments are then tailored to the individual—to not only cure dis-eases but also help people live continually in optimal health.
The Health and Vitality Center’s Dr Shiva Lalezar says many people who deal with fatigue, for example, may overcome it with controlled doses of Vitamin C—a common vitamin which has a profound positive effect on immune cells and is specifically anti viral when given intravenously.
“It helps patients live a vibrant life filled with energy, stamina and mental clarity through diverse natural treatments including infusion therapies,” she says.
“A 24-year female was presented to my clinic with worsening fatigue in the past six months. She also had enlargement of one lymph node in her neck which was biopsied and found to be non cancerous. All her blood work was also normal. She was however feeling worse each day and had quit working out and was dragging herself at work. She could not get out of bed in the morning and this was affecting her work.
Dr Lalezar said she did a series of blood work and found two viruses to be extremely high (Epstein Bar Virus and Cytomegalovirus).
“She also had high Candida antibodies and a low Vitamin D level. I placed her on high dose Vitamin C intravenously once a week and gave her Ribose powder (the monosaccharide sugar backbone for RNA and DNA), probiotic and placed her on a Candida-free diet.”
The doctor says within three weeks the patient’s energy level went from 50 percent to 80 percent and has been able to work out and function better at work.
According to life food expert, David Wolfe, switching from a junk food diet to a completely raw lifestyle, without adding supportive herbs such as reishi
“Whenever we have eaten anything in our life, our immune system is reactive to it,” Wolfe says. “Why? Because it’s Shakey’s Pizza, it’s Fruity Pebbles, God knows what else … Hershey’s chocolate bars, and our bodies go what the heck is this? The food comes in, the immune system is activated, white blood cells multiply—this happens every meal for years.”
“When we get on raw food, we don’t have that reaction and our body goes ‘whoa’ and it can be lulled to sleep. So our immune system can become susceptible because we’re not crying wolf on it. Very important concept. The mushrooms (reishi) keep all that buffered so our immune system doesn’t go to sleep.”
I recently caught up with Dr Lalezar to chat holistic health care:
What is one natural therapy everyone should know about and why?
DR LALEZAR: High dose Vitamin C because Vitamin C boosts up the immune system, fights against bacteria, viruses, and cancer. Vitamin C can be taken orally in the form of buffered Vitamin C up to 10,000mg per day. Oral Vitamin C however can be hard on the stomach and may cause diarrhea. Patients who need high doses of Vitamin C (10,000‐75,000 mg) can be given IV infusion. They see immediate improvement in their health.
Explain allergies and how they can be best treated?
DL: There are different forms of allergies. An IgE mediated allergy causes hives, swelling, throat tightening, and shortness of breath. This is seen with bee sting, certain medications, and highly allergenic foods such as shrimp, peanuts, strawberries, and shellfish. Allergies of this nature can be quick in onset and cause anaphylaxis and death.
Another type of allergy is IgG or IgA mediated and they are more insidious and less obvious. Patients may not be aware that their daily symptoms are due to an allergic reaction or food sensitivity. Milk, wheat, soy, eggs, beef, and citrus fruits are the most common food allergens.
Patients may experience vague symptoms such as fatigue, muscle aches, brain fog, irritability, mood fluctuations, dark circles under the eyes, inability to lose weight or gain weight, and many more! Allergies are best treated with elimination of the food, and strengthening the immune system with (omega oils), probiotic, Vitamin C. Antidote drops are also very powerful in treatment of allergies.
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A few years ago, I was completely addicted to coffee. A soy latte here, a mocha chino there. But from the moment I became vegan I also gave up my love affair with caffeine and switched to health-boosting herbal teas. Now, I drink just about every herbal tea around, from dandelion leaf to sage. There are now loose leaf teas in my kitchen I’d never dreamed existed.
One of my favourite places on the planet to drink tea was Dr Tea’s on Melrose Ave in Los Angeles, until it temporarily closed its doors last year. The man behind the much-loved tea sanctuary Mark Ukra dared opened the tea garden in a city known for its countless Starbucks and loyal coffee addicts who frequent them.
So while the English swear by it and the Japanese cherish it, in the United States, Mark (or Dr Tea as he is affectionately known) says tea is one of the least favoured drinks, despite its documented health benefits.
Considering he comes from a family of Middle Eastern tea merchants dating back more than 400 years, it’s little surprise Dr Tea has become the unofficial spokesperson for tea in the United States. His book, The Ultimate Tea Diet, also showed that tea was good for more than just getting your daily dose of antioxidants.
I recently caught up with Dr Tea and asked him to share some interesting tid bits about the ancient beverage that comes in many varieties, yet is derived from just one powerhouse plant: the Camellia Sinensis.
SD: How can tea help coffee drinkers kick their habit?
DR TEA: I had this exact issue. I found that tea is essentially consumed exactly like coffee, hot and or cold. It can be placed in the same cup so you have the same feeling. They both have caffeine, albeit, tea has less as well as L-Theanine which counteracts caffeine’s harmful effect in the brain. Now taste of course is not easily matched although I sell a coffee tea, which is a tea I have roasted in a coffee roaster so it looks and smells like coffee.
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About a year ago, a relative was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He was told bluntly by his doctor he wouldn’t make next Christmas. With those words, and not being prepared to hear them, everything turned to blur.
After one course of poisonous chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the relative changed direction and undertook a more natural approach, cleansing his body and replacing usual unhealthy meals with foods from nature. While he’s not in the clear, he has a new lease on life and has, in effect, become his own doctor, managing his own body. He has taken it upon himself to do his own research. It’s now likely he will indeed see next Christmas. Probably the Christmas after that, too.
So, the question remains: what gives another person the right, doctor or otherwise, to tell another human being when their approximate date of death will be? When did we make it part of the health “care” system to strip away a person’s hope? When did Western doctors become psychics?
Read More Post a comment (0)Each time I visit the supermarket, especially the big chains, I remind myself that every product I buy is an endorsement for that particular brand, the company’s values (or lack thereof) and the quality of food inside the packaging.
I’m often amazed that much of the produce on the shelves (in NZ) is shipped in from China, the US and beyond. Most of these are gassed or treated in some way to stop vegetables from sprouting, fruit from spoiling etc. So customers are not only buying pesticides with their “food”, but also other chemicals used to preserve the produce for the boat ride across the big blue. Of these chemical-laden loads, one only then has to wonder which ones were born in a laboratory … nutrient-deficient genetically modified imposters. Wannabe apples, if you will.
But the great news is, the more people who buy organic, locally-grown produce, the more supply there will be. Additionally, the more people who choose to eat this way, the less dis-ease there will be. Whether we consumers want to believe it or not, we can turn things around, every time we line up at the register. Every beep of the scanner is a vote.
Buying food as nature intended may hurt the hip pocket more than the mutant kinds that currently fill many supermarket shelves, but the vibrant health that can result from eating healthily means fewer doctors appointments and hospital visits in the long run. It’s also a beautiful way to contribute to the restoration of the planet. It’s a win-win for all.
“If doctors, with all of their knowledge of the human body, would merely become familiar with the principles of health and the simple natural laws that God established, and share them, they would be performing the greatest humanitarian service to mankind this world has ever known.” ~ Dr. George H. Malkmus
Before I became vegan, I didn’t really give much thought as to what was organic and what wasn’t. Fast forward a couple of years and I won’t eat anything else. I know it’s the best thing for my own health and the health of the planet (not to mention the farmers who aren’t spraying toxic chemicals).
Since leaving the US, I’ve been astounded at how tricky it is to buy organics. Big chain supermarkets in New Zealand only offer a very limited selection — hardly enough to fill a dinner plate. I won’t even talk about how astronomically expensive they are.
So the question remains, how do we bring real, affordable organics to the masses while keeping the big corporations honest? It’s the big businesses that threaten the future of organics, because they come at it from a money-making point of view—not from what’s best for the consumer. Get it out quick at as little cost as possible to them. If it looks like an apple, it’ll sell as an apple. Who cares what the nutrient content is.
Science has helped these corporations meddle with nature, with genetically modified produce on supermarket shelves just about everywhere. Studies have shown such meddling is at a huge cost to human health. Big corp organics could be mutant potatoes that resist anything nature throws at it. It may have grown without pesticides and without a scratch, but it won’t mean it’s healthy to eat.
Organic Nation TV caught up with The Environmental Working Group’s President Ken Cook (see video below) to chat about the potential issue of big corporations hijacking organics, threatening its quality and the current standards.
Host Dorothee Royal-Hedinger asked Ken to talk about the anxiety some consumers and activists feel about the trend of big corporations taking over organic brands as well as the tension between making organic food affordable and maintaining the standards on which organics were founded.
He was interviewed at Kickapoo Country Fair held by Organic Valley, a farmer-owned cooperative of more than 1,300 organic family farmers nationwide, in LaFarge, Wisconsin.
Courtesy of organic.org, I’ve included a top 10 list of reasons to grow and buy organics, as well as why we all can benefit from supporting the organic industry, regardless of where you live in the world.
1. Reduce The Toxic Load: Keep Chemicals Out of the Air, Water, Soil and our Bodies
Buying organic food promotes a less toxic environment for all living things. With only 0.5 percent of crop and pasture land in organic, according to USDA that leaves 99.5 percent of farm acres in the U.S. at risk of exposure to noxious agricultural chemicals. Our bodies are the environment so supporting organic agriculture doesn’t just benefit your family, it helps all families live less toxically.
2. Reduce if Not Eliminate Off Farm Pollution
Industrial agriculture doesn’t singularly pollute farmland and farm workers; it also wreaks havoc on the environment downstream. Pesticide drift affects non-farm communities with odorless and invisible poisons. Synthetic fertilizer drifting downstream is the main culprit for dead zones in delicate ocean environments, such as the Gulf of Mexico, where its dead zone is now larger than 22,000 square kilometers, an area larger than New Jersey, according to Science magazine, August, 2002.
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I’ve been spending loads of time in front of the computer screen (and reading books), which has resulted in some nasty eye strain. While I’m none too pleased about limiting my time on my beloved Mac and reading less, I’m looking at it as an opportunity to up my intake of foods that are über good for eye health.
Carrots are at the top of my list to put my eyes back on track. Why? Besides the fact they look like an eye—nature’s signature to show they’re good for eyes (see below)—they’re also loaded with antioxidant compounds and are rich in pro-vitamin A carotenes. Beta-carotene helps to protect vision, especially at night.
Carrots also protect against macular degeneration and the development of senile cataracts, which is the number one cause of blindness in the elderly.
Some other great foods that are said to be super beneficial to eye health, thanks to their A, C and E vitamins, include:
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I’m so glad my recent post about using extra virgin coconut oil as an all-over moisturiser inspired some of you to head to the (organic) supermarket instead of the (toxic) beauty counter!
But before you slather on this skin-smoothing oil, get your hands on a dry brush from your local health food store, wellness shop or the like. Using a dry brush is one of the biggest gifts you can give to your skin and your whole lymphatic system.
The simple act of brushing in small circles, toward your heart, each morning, can give you a health lift you may never have thought possible.
As the body’s biggest organ, it means our skin also has the biggest job of eliminating toxins. If we can give it a helping hand dumping the nasties, it will reward you big time with glowing skin and great health. Dry brushing exfoliates, stimulates skin renewal and offloads toxins.
Some of the other documented benefits include:
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For every one celeb that goes on drunken binges and late night joy rides, there’s at least two who spend their time doing positive things. Take Charlize Theron for example. The talented actress has teamed up with Toms Shoes, the company that gives a pair of shoes to the needy with every pair sold—a one-for-one-deal.
Charlize co-designed a pair of the unisex, limited edition slip ons for her African Outreach Project. The design (see below) was launched on the footwear website just yesterday.
Made from all-vegan material, Charlize’s shoes were inspired by the baobab tree and feature the tree’s silhouette, which is embroidered on blue and orange canvas.
A portion of the proceeds from each pair will go directly to the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, which provides education about the need to provide sustainable health, education and recreational resources to remote areas with high rates of HIV/AIDS.
“I’m thrilled to have Toms Shoes as a partner,” Charlize says. “We are so grateful for their generous donation of shoes to the students that we work with. They are passionate about the kids and have been incredibly supportive of the work of the Africa Outreach Project. It’s exciting that we’re able to come together in such a cool and creative way to bring attention to the needs of many South African youth.”
The limited-edition, vegan shoes are available for $US54 and are sold exclusively on Tomsshoes.com. Best get in quick if you’re keen to snap up your own pair … the women’s style is already on backorder…
I love the idea and practice of being your own doctor … listening to your body to understand what works—or doesn’t—to bring you to your personal, ultimate state of well-being.
Looking to a general practitioner for health advice has never felt right. Why, I often wondered, did doctors generally look so unhealthy, yet were offering me pills and prescriptions that were apparently guaranteed to make me healthy?
I started questioning doctors as an eight year old, wondering how they (supposedly) knew my body better than me. My trusted family doc told my parents I didn’t have a broken leg. Not being able to walk should have been a clue that I did. Or so you would think.
So now, if I’m looking outside of myself for health and diet advice, I want to know straight away if the person is living by their own book. Ultimately, I believe there’s not a soul on God’s green earth that knows my body better than me. It’s just a matter of listening to what it’s saying.
“The first thing is to realise one’s limitations. It should be obvious that the moment one transgresses those limits, one falls ill. Thus a balanced diet, eaten in accordance with needs, gives one freedom from disease. How is one to know what is the proper diet for one? The purpose of all this is that everyone should be his own doctor and find out his limitations.” —Mahatma Gandhi
“If you are not your own doctor, you are a fool.”—Hippocrates
“Medicine is the most distinguished of all the arts, but through the ignorance of those who practice it, and of those who casually judge such practitioners, it is now of all the arts by far the least esteemed.”—Hippocrates
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~
One of the things I told myself when I transitioned from meat eater to vegan was, be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up if you happen to fall. There are bound to be hiccups along the way. It’s what you do with the hiccup that counts. Allow it to pass with ease or make a fuss trying to cover it up.
This conscious kindness has also extended to others in my life who may not have experienced the same lifestyle transition as me. Sure, I lectured my family on the health and moral issues associated with animal consumption. But I learned. This is my journey and it’s not for me to force it on others who are also on theirs — whichever path they may ultimately choose, is completely and utterly up to them.
Loving leader or persistent preacher? Results always speak louder than words. That said, we vegans (who, more often than not, have much energy to burn) can certainly channel that passionate energy into positive self-talk, as well as projects to help spread the word. Here are just a few of my favourites:
1) Start a blog that’s dedicated to helping meat eaters transition to a vegan diet. Fill it with hints and tips you’ve learned along the way. There are many out there who want to give veganism a go, but may not know where to start!
2) Throw a vegan dinner party. Invite friends and family to a three course (or more!) spread that will change the way they think of vegan, forever. For recipes, check out the myriad vegan books on Amazon or head to blogs such as Vegan Yum Yum.
3) Animal shelters are filled with animals who need love and people who want to give it. Volunteer one day a week. Share your stories with animal lovers who may well be inspired by your story.
4) Write to restaurants that don’t include vegan options on their menus. A kind letter with some good ideas, positive facts about the vegan diet and stats on how many vegans live in the area can work wonders. The promise of extra customers may well be an incentive for restaurateurs to get their vegan on.
5) Ask the question: how can I serve? Write a list of your talents and skills and then look to non-profit organisations (that resonate with the vegan in you) which could benefit greatly from your help. Check in with your local Vegan Society which may also have some great ideas. Just being you (and vegan) will help to spread a positive vegan message amongst everyone you meet.
Love this (except the curse bit)
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).
“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.” — Isaac Bashevis Singer, quoted in You Said a Mouthful
