Thursday, February 28, 2013

Responses to Non-Veggies

If you are vegetarian or vegan I'm sure that you're aware that there are many questions/ comments that almost every meat-eater will ask/say when you inform them that you're vegetarian. Although this can get repetitive, I think it's important to have good responses. I must say sometimes I have trouble sometimes responding to them without getting frustrated and in a non-threatening manor. So I looked into it a little and combined some practical/logical responses that I liked into my own words.

Here's Some Common Questions or Comments: 
"Where do you get your protein"
-Plants are the only organisms that can produce protein, the only way we get protein from animals is from the plants that they eat. Why not go straight to the source?

"We're natural carnivores/omnivores. We've been eating meat for thousands of years."  

-We have also owned slaves, kept women from voting, participated in mass genocide, lived in caves, and ate other humans. Just because something has a long tradition doesn't mean that it's right. Also were actually designed more like herbivores than anything else. (I also touched on a response to "we're meant to meat" in an earlier post)

"That's not healthy, Let me know when you get sick"
-Interesting, when the a person has a diet full of meat and other processed foods have more health problems then one with a vegetarian/vegan diet. This includes having a higher risk of heart disease, and high blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, dementia, and many other conditions.
  
 "Well other animals eat meat"
-Animals that eat meat, which, I note, are built to eat meat, need it to survive, while humans do not. Also, animals don't have the ability to choose, while people do.

 "We're true predators."
-True predators have the speed and agility to chase down their own prey, not breed them in confined spaces so that they can't get away. Have you ever seen a human chase after a lion, kill it with it's bare hands then eat the lion without any remorse or being picky about the raw meat.

"What would you do if you were stranded and the only thing to eat was meat?"
-What would you do if you were starving and the only available food was human being?


Along with these are a couple other common ones like or "where do you get your calcium", I touched on that in previous posts.







Monday, February 25, 2013

Statistics On Veggies!

I was curious to see how many people in the U.S. are vegetarian or vegan and if the numbers were increasing over the years. So this is some information I came across.
According the the Vegetarian Times from information collected by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau in 2008:
  • 7.3 Million Americans Are Vegetarians
  • 1 Million are Vegan
  • 22.8 Million Follow a Vegetarian-Inclined Diet
Percentages:
  • 3.2 % follow a vegetarian-based diet.
  • 0.5 %, or 1 million, of those are vegans
  • 10 % of U.S., adults, say they largely follow a vegetarian-inclined diet.
Demographics:
  • 59 % of vegetarians are female; 41 % are male.
  • 42.0 % are age 18 to 34 years old; 40.7 % are 35 to 54; and 17.4 % are over 55.
  • 57.1 % have followed a vegetarian diet for more than 10 years; 18 % for 5 to 10 years; 10.8 % for 2 to 5 years, 14.1% for less than 2 years.
Other Statistics:
  • Revenues for meat alternatives such as Quorn, Boca, and tempeh have increased since 2009 by 2.4 percent, or $636 million, according to data from the Soyfood Association of North America.
  • In a 2005-2006 survey by Philadelphia Inquirer , 8% of college students said they were vegetarian and less than 1% identified as vegan. But the company's follow up 2009-2010 survey showss that 12% of college students are vegetarian and 2% follow a vegan lifestyle.
  • The number of vegetarian youth in the United States has increased 70% in just the last few years according to a recent poll conducted by the independent research firm Harris Interactive.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Veggie Restaurants in Eugene!



I was surprised to find out that there are actually quite a few vegetarian/vegan friendly restaurants in Eugene and they're good!

Oh yea and fun fact!-- Portland, OR has the most vegetarian/vegan friendly restaurants in the country!

Here's a Few Fully Vegetarian/Vegan Places:

  • Cornbread Cafe (1290 W 7th Ave, Eugene, Oregon)-All vegan
    • I love this place, it is a vegan soul food restaurant, they have really good "philly cheese steaks", "fried chicken", and "french dips"
  • Garbanzo Grill (Food cart outside Ninkasi)
    • I just tried them and they have amazing veggie burgers! They use a really good vegan sauce and caramelized onions...yum!-Mostly Vegan
  • Lotus Garden (810 Charnelton St, Eugene, Oregon)-All vegan
    • This is a chinese place, I haven't been here yet but its on my list. They have "fried shrimp" and of course chow mien and different "breaded chicken"
  • Viva Vegetarian Grill (Food Cart-12th Ave & Willamette St, Eugene, Oregon)-All vegan
    • This is another one I haven't been to so I'm not sure how it is
  • Govinda's Vegetarian Buffet (1030 River Rd, Eugene, Oregon)
    • I was surprised to find out that it is mostly indian food, but it actually was quite good and also has a salad bar. It was also very cheap!
  • Morning Glory Cafe (450 Willamette St, Eugene, Oregon)
    • I've only had breakfast here and they make their own soysage, but I wasn't a huge fan of the taste- it tasted like gingerbread, but everything else was good.
  • Pizza Research Institute (530 Blair St, Eugene, Oregon)
    • Really good vegan and vegetarian pizza! It also has a lot of live music and good drafts.
Here's a Few, More Than Vegetarian Friendly Restaurants (I say more than because now days almost all restaurants have vegetarian friendly options)
  • PrimeTime Bar (1360 Mohawk Blvd  Springfield, OR )
    • I only put this on there because that have a really good house made veggie burger! surprising right?
  • Holy Cow Cafe (2222 E 13th St, Eugene, Oregon )
    • Haven't tried this one yet but it does serve meat but has many vegetarian alternatives as well
  • Go Healthy Cafe (3802 W 11th Ave, Eugene, Oregon )
    • Really fresh and delicious food like quesadillas, burritos, bowls, salads, and has tempeh and tofu substitutes
  • Laughing Planet (760 Blair Blvd, Eugene, Oregon )
    • Mostly burritos and bowls etc. and they are good! they also have tempeh and tofu substitutes and also probably one of the best cesear salads I've ever had and its vegetarian!(vegan without the cheese)
  • Cornicopia Bar (207 E 5th Ave Eugene, OR)
    • Has multiple vegetarian/vegan options and a really good black bean quinoa burger topped with salsa and guac yum! They also have live music
  • Cafe Yumm! (many locations)
    • Good bowls and wraps
  • Keystone Cafe (395 W 5th Ave Eugene, OR)
    • Haven't been here yet but it has breakfast along with other things and many vegetarian alternatives
-Those are the ones that I'm most aware of, but they're all good and even if your not veggie you should try them!!


Health Benefits



Another common reason that people switch from a meat eating diet to a non-meat eating diet is for health reasons. This isn't originally why I became vegetarian but it is the reason that I try to eat the least dairy as possible.

There is a common negative I found which I kinda touched on my previous post that sometimes vegetarians or vegans can be deficient in certain nutrients, but it was said that "Properly planned vegan diets are healthy, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of many diseases," said Vandana Sheth, a registered dietitian and nutrition educator in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. 


If you want to get really in-depth mind blowing information about the health benefits of a meatless diet, watch the documentary "Forks Over Knifes"!!!!!

Here's a few statistics I came across:

-70% of Americans are dying from illnesses associated with their diets. According to Surgeon General C. Everett Koop

-40 million people are diagnosed with heart disease every year in the U.S. and 1.5 million a year have heart attacks. (Diehl, Western Diseases: Their Dietary Prevention and Reversibility)

-Cardiovascular disease kills 1 million Americans annually and is the leading cause of death in the United States.

-The Journal Of American Medical Association has reported that a vegetarian diet can prevent 97% of coronary obstructions


-According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a division of the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of adults and 15 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are overweight and are at risk of weight-related ailments including heart disease, stroke and diabetes
Adapting a vegetarian or vegan diet can lower 
these statistics by....
Lowering The Risk of
-Cancer
-Obesity
-Diabetes
-Cardiovascular Disease
-Heart Disease
-High Blood Pressure
-High cholestrol
-Gallstones
-Alzheimer's 
The reason for these health benefits are due to lower intakes of saturated fat, processed foods, meats, dairy, and the higher intakes of complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, minerals, and phytochemicals. My Source and This One

Here's also a few studies I found:


-According to Harvard Health Publications There's some evidence that vegetarians have a lower risk for cardiac events (such as a heart attack) and death from cardiac causes. In one of the largest studies — a combined analysis of data from five prospective studies involving more than 76,000 participants published several years ago — vegetarians were, on average, 25% less likely to die of heart disease.


-Data from the Adventist Health Study showed that non-vegetarians had a substantially increased risk of both colorectal and prostate cancer than did vegetarians.

-In 2002, the National Institutes of Health gave Loma Linda University School of Public Health a grant to continue the research on Seventh-day Adventists.  They found that vegetarians live longer than meat-eaters. The most recent data from the study indicates that Vegetarian Adventist men live to an average of 83.3 years – 9.5 years longer than other Californians. Vegetarian women live an average of 85.7 years which is 6.1 years longer than non-vegetarians.
They also found:
- Vegans are, on average, 30 pounds lighter than meat eaters.
- Vegans are also five units lighter on the BMI scale than meat-eaters.
- Vegetarians and vegans are also less insulin resistant than meat-eaters.
- Pesco-vegetarians and semi-vegetarians who limit animal products, but still eat meat once a week or so, have "intermediate protection" against lifestyle diseases.

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog, these are my personal opinions, I am not a doctor nor am I a specialist. These are things I've learned from books, documentaries, and online research.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Foods For a Balanced Diet



Like many of you know its pretty common for people to tell you, when they find out your vegetarian/vegan, that you are deficient in certain things and that you are going to get sick. Although this can be true by not paying attention to your nutrient intake, it differs from person to person and how well they plan their diet.(And P.S. I think it's funny when a non-vegetarian says this because I guarantee if they went to the doctor, just because they eat meat, doesn’t mean there not deficient in anything or have a perfectly balanced diet.) Below I made a list of the top 5 nutrients that vegetarian/vegans can be deficient in by not eating animals and/or animal products and what you can eat to make sure you're getting these nutrients.

The top 5 nutrients that vegetarian/vegans
can be deficient in are:
1.      Vitamin B-12- This one is hard to get in other foods so most people just take a supplement.
2.      Iron- There are tons of foods you can eat to get iron- some of them being: tofu, lima beans, potato, pinto beans, kidney beans, kale, pumpkin seeds, black beans, spinach, broccoli, almonds, quinoa, raisins, green beans, whole wheat,oats, corn, peanuts, blueberries, bananas and raspberries.
3.      Zinc- Ways you can get this is through baked potato, oats, pumpkin seeds, soybeans, rice, kidney beans, ginger root, wild rice, peas, leeks, lentils, cashews, sunflower seeds, and lima beans.
4.      Omega-3- The best way to get this nutrient is through flax seed, walnuts, and chia seeds
5.      Calcium- Drink soy, rice, almond or other milk substitute. (I LOVE almond milk) and of course, I limit my dairy intake so I don't usually eat these products, but you can get your calcium from real milk.

One last tip that helps me- I always carry almonds, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds in your car, purse, etc. This helps me get at least 2 of the nutrients above. It also helps me with my weight control because when I'm on the run and I get hungry I just eat a few nuts/seeds and prevent myself from getting super starved so won't to pig out when I do eat. Also when I have them on me it reminds me to eat them!

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog, these are my opinions, I am not a doctor, nor a specialist. This is all information I've learned from multiple books, documentaries, and researching online.

Support Podcasts


For people that already are vegetarian or vegan or people that are just curious, I absolutely love the podcast by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, when I'm needing some positive encouragement or don't know how to deal with certain situations, I listen to her podcast. She has one on pretty much every topic. You can find them on her website here.. This Link.. But I'll list some of my favorites as well with some links to those too.

Black Bean Tacos!

Simple Delicious Black Bean and Corn Tacos!

-This was a perfect substitute for my hard taco cravings and even more delicious without the meat and its super easy!


Tacos
1 pack of hard shell tacos
1 can Black beans
1/2 can corn
1/4 cup of chopped jalapenos
2 tbs. taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream (or vegan sour cream)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic
salt and pepper to taste
-And if you need a meat substitute in there I suggest
Yves taco crumbles they are just like the real thing!

Toppings
3 cups shredded lettuce
1 16-oz. container prepared salsa
1/2 onion chopped
2 large tomatoes, diced (1 cups)
2 avocados, diced (about 1cups)
1 cups shredded cheese or daily shreds (vegan).
  1. First heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook 1 minute more, or until fragrant. Stir in beans, corn, chili powder, half of the taco seasoning,  Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low, and simmer 5-10 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally.
  2. Mix together the remaining taco seasoning and the sour cream (or vegan sour) and spread it on the bottom of the taco shells.
  3. Put a little of fresh chopped onion and jalapenos onto the sour cream in the bottom of the shells.
  4. Than put your bean and corn mixture on top of that
  5. Than top with your favorite toppings: lettuce, cheese (or vegen cheese), tomato, and avocado.
  6. My favorite last step with these tacos are La Victoria taco sauce!....Soo good but if not top with some salsa!
-Goes great with any leftover black beans and some mexican rice!

Factory Farming, Know WhereYour Food Comes From

I'd like to touch on factory farming a bit....I came across someone the other day that literally had no idea that the conditions of the animals of the source of their food was even remotely cruel. What I've came to realize is how uneducated many people are when it comes to knowing where their  food comes from and the conditions the animals suffer in so people can eat them....to be honest its hard for me to even research some of these things because it is just so horrible and cruel. But I think it's very important just to be aware that these things are going on..so....here we go..

THIS IS THE ETHICAL PART
And Is Not Pretty!

I'll start with a few facts: (I try to make most of these links as well so you can view the full sites)

-Each year, more than 58 billion cows, pigs, chickens, and other innocent, sentient animals are caged, crowded, deprived, drugged, mutilated, and manhandled in the world's factory farms and slaughterhouses. In the US alone, 10 billion land animals are abused and slaughtered every year.

-According to a 10-year investigation based on interviews with slaughterhouse workers and USDA inspectors, many animals actually survive the slaughter process. Many -- alive and conscious -- are skinned, dismembered, gutted, scalded, and drowned in their own blood.

-Huge amounts of antibiotics and pesticides are used to fight the spreading of diseases and bacteria, as farm animals would get sick due to the crowded conditions, dirt, and humidity in the pens.

-Weak and injured animals are often left to fend for themselves with open wounds or infections, without food or water. They wait in pain for a slow death, as veterinary care is considered too costly for individual animals. Many cases of animal cruelty are documented where still living animals have been thrown away as trash, as they were too weak to stand-up or walk.

-Humane killing methods are often ignored to keep the production line running, and many animals are improperly sedated or stunned before being scorched in boiling water, throat-slit, beheaded, or bolt-shut. If these methods don't manage to kill them, the animal cruelty intensifies beyond belief, as they are dismembered piece by piece, often still conscious, on the fast-moving production line.


Here's a few popular videos that show the treatment and living
conditions of our food sources......
Warning: they are not pleasant


 Paul McCartney Documentary














An Undercover Video From a Factory
Farm in Wyoming:











Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Enviornment

I'd like to try to touch on various aspects and reasons why people start to feel compelled to become vegetarian or vegan. One of those reasons is the impact that the meat industry has on our environment and world hunger thus far.




-The federal US government subsidizes 35% of feed crop production and US taxpayers paid $56 billion on corn subsidies over the last 12 years. 80% of this corn is used for farm animal feed. Without these subsidies, industrial farming would be inefficient and much too expensive for producers and consumers.


According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institution:


-Seven football fields worth of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals and the crops that feed them.


- Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., 80% is used to raise animals for food and grow grain to feed them which is almost half the total land mass of the lower 48 states.


- In the “finishing” phase alone, in which pigs grow from 100lbs to 240lbs, each hog consumes more than 500lbs of grain, corn, and soybeans; meaning in the US, pigs eat tens of millions of tons of feed every year.


-Chickens, pigs, cattle, and other animals raised for food are the primary consumers of water in the US----EX: a single pig consumes 21 gallons of drinking water per day, while a cow on a dairy farm drinks as much as 50 gallons daily.


-It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of cow flesh, whereas it takes about 180 gallons of water to make 1 pound of whole wheat flour


According to the United Nations:


-a global shift toward a vegan diet is one of the steps necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)


-Reports that roughly 80 percent of ammonia emissions in the U.S. come from animal waste.



-Each day, factory farms produce billions of pounds of manure, which ends up in lakes, rivers, and drinking water. Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as does the entire human population of the United States—87,000 pounds of waste per second!


Disclaimer: This is a personal blog, these are my opinions, I am not a doctor, nor a specialist.

Famous Veggies!

There's lots of little random things that have and still help me through this process and provide me some comfort and a sense that I'm not alone. One of these little pick-me-ups is finding out that some of my favorite celebrities and historical figures are or were vegetarian or even vegan. Hes a list of some of them:

Historical Figures: (these ones blow my mind, for the fact that these people practiced this so long ago).
-Albert Einstein
-Rosa Parks
-Leonardo Da Vinci
-Cesar Chavez
-Vincent Van Gogh
-Thomas Edison
-Benjamin Franklin
-Mahatma Gandhi
-Martin Luther
-Buddah
-Plato
-And many many more!! :)

Celebrities:
-Paul McCartney-Woody Harrison                                       
-Billy Idol
-Russell Brand
-Natalie Portman
-Christian Bale
-Hayden Panettiere
-Kristen Bell
-Tobey Maguire
-Pink
-Ke$ha
-Jessica Chastain 
-Michelle Pfeiffer
-Anne Hathaway
-Ellen DeGeneres
-Ben Stiller
-Joaquin Phoenix
-Carrie Underwoood
-And once again many many many more!!!! :)

Insperational Quotes

The original incident that started to change my perception and thinking from the "norm" to how I feel now (which was weird because it never bugged me before) was my last experience of catching and killing over 150 crawdads and then having me and my family toooo lazy to put in work to peel them and eat them and than watching 90% of them getting thrown into the trash...they all lost their lives for nothing, just because we wanted something to do. I decided that I just can't take the life of living things anymore for sport, food, or just because I can. After this incident what encouraged me, helped me, and pushed me along was a series of quotes. They really got me thinking in a new perspective. Here are a few that I like:

"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions 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, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cards praying for "Peace on Earth". - Preface from Old MacDonald's Factory Farm, by C. David Coates.

"There can be no justification for causing suffering to animals simply to serve man's pleasure or simply to enhance man's lifestyle." -The Dean of York

"True benevolence or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation." - Joseph Addison

 "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull plough, he cannot run fast enough to reach rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. -George Orwell, Animal Farm

"People are the only animals that drink the milk of the mother of another species. All other animals stop drinking milk altogether after weaning. It is unnatural for a dog to nurse from a mother giraffe; it is just as unnatural for a human being to drink the milk of a cow." Michael Klaper, M.D., American author and international lecturer:

Compassion Quotes:



"Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures."
- His Holiness The Dalai Lama


“The assumption that animals are without rights, and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance, is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.” - Arthur Schopenhauer, German Philosopher

"An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language."-Martin Buber

The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" -Jeremy Bentham

Quotes about hunting:

"Whether hunting is right or wrong, a spiritual experience, or an outlet for the killer instinct, one thing is not is a sport. Sport is when individuals or teams compete against each other under equal cercimstances to determine who is better at a given game or endeavor. Hunting will be a sport when deer, elk, bears, and ducks are... given 12-gauge shotguns. Bet we'd see a lot fewer drunk yahoos (live ones anyway) in the woods if that happend. -R. Lerner, letter, Sierra

"Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow-creatures is amusing in itself. - James Anthony Froude, Oceana, 1886

After starting this process I felt so strongly I made it permanent that this was how I was going to live the rest of my life. I'm not quite there yet but I'm working on it! So I got my tattoo. It says Ahimsa, a word rooting from Buddhism and Hinduism. Its meaning is to not injur or show cruelty to any creature or any person in any way..it also means kindness and consideration for other people and things as well as deals with the sense of responsibility and duties. The word also breaks down to this:
Abstinence from animal products
Harmlessness with reverence for life
Integrity of thought, word, and deed
Mastery over oneself
Service to humanity, nature, and creation
Advancement of understanding and truth

Resources

First off I'd like to start by listing a few resources that I found very helpful when it came to making this decision and brought a new light to the "norm"


BOOKS:

-Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Erik Marcus
-Skinny Bitch


DOCUMENTARIES:

-Forks Over Knifes (has crazy studies and facts about health in the US comparative to other countries)
-Vegucated (this one was good because it takes everyday meat eating amerians and puts them up to a 30-day vegan challenge)
-Food Inc. (lets you into the politics and reality of farmed animals and the cruelty involved)
-Food Matters (information about Americas overuse and effects of pharmaceuticals)
-Earthlings (I haven't watched yet but I hear is good)

PODCAST: Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (LOVE THIS PODCAST!)

About Me

Hello, my names Katelyn and these are a couple of my favorite animals....my puppies and kitty!! I recently made the choice to become vegetarian for mainly ethical reasons and eat the least amount of dairy products as possible ...until I can take on more. I've came to realize that I no longer want to contribute to the killing of animals and that we just don't need them to survive anymore. Although, I came to find out, it also has been a healthy and environmentally friendly choice as well. I decided to start this blog to share condensed information that I came across over the past year and to be able to have an output and share my thoughts, for this has definitely been a challenging road so far! but still very rewarding!!! I'll try to post interesting things, (also recipes and random fun facts) that I find and thoughts to hopefully help educate people and support fellow vegetarians and/or vegans!

<a href="http://www.blogcatalog.com">BlogCatalog</a>


Disclaimer: This is a personal blog, these are my opinions, I am not a doctor, nor a specialist. This is all information I've learned from multiple books, documentaries, and researching online.

Mini Farm Animals!

 So I decided some day these are
going to be my new pets!!

Pygmy Goats

Teacup Pig

 

 








  
Studies have shown that pigs are smarter than any other domestic animal and they are considered by animal experts to be more trainable than dogs or cats. So don't eat piggies!(Link)

This is a video of a pig doing cool tricks!
                                                


This video is about a rescued pig...so cute!