My Vegetarian Inspirations...part 1

Finally...the blog I've been wanting to write for 3 weeks!

As you all know (aka only Jess), I have been a vegetarian for the past 209 days. Whenever I tell someone new that I am a vegetarian, they always ask one of the following:

1. Why?
2. How could you possibly give up meat? I could never do that...
3. Do you ever miss meat?
4. Are you a vegan?
5. Have you ever cheated?

The following 5** books have been my greatest motivators & inspirations into my new way of life (Being a vegetarian is NOT a diet, it is a lifestyle!) I have also researched various articles, textbooks, & exerts from various sources to help confirm what I believe in, but these are the main ones:

**As I began writing this entry, I quickly realized that I couldn't limit myself from writing as much as I could to the point of being obnoxious. There are 2 more books that I will write about in another entry that also have inspired me- I will keep this one to 3 :)

1. The Kind Diet


Author Alicia Silverstone tells her story about her journey from a being a regular meat eater* to living vegan. She cleverly colors the remaining 66% of this book with delicious & simple vegan recipes! Being a personal trainer, I like to keep myself updated on what the new "fad diets" are*. In the past, I had always had vegetarianism on my mind, as a potential lifestyle choice that I would take on once I was older. When I was browsing through Boarders one day and saw this book, my curiosity resurfaced. After copying down a few of the recipes, Jess and I made her vegan chocolate cupcakes at my house. I fell IN LOVE with them & knew I had to buy the book immediately. Alicia goes on to share various studies & research done in factory farms & the health industry that clearly illustrate the negative aspects of eating meat. Here a just a few quotes from her book:

~"After a heart-wrenching day at an animal shelter, from which I took home a grand total of 11 dogs who were scheduled for execution, I found myself thinking 'Now What?' I was doing what I needed to do for my heart, but deep down I realized that it wasn't a practical solution; the next day the shelter would just put down another batch of dogs...and then another...and then another. I was committing my heart, soul, time, and pocketbook to these poor creatures, and that's when it hit me: How could I spend so much energy saving one group of animals, then turn around and eat other ones? There was a fundamental hypocrisy in my thinking. Weren't they all living beings? Why did we buy some of them cute little doggy beds while slaughtering others? I had to ask myself-in all seriousness-why don't I just eat my dog?"

~"That night we grilled the final steak in our freezer and sat down to our last nonvegan supper. It was quite solemn. I remember crossing myself like a Catholic even though I'm Jewish, because this was a total act of faith: I had never tried to cook without meat. I wasn't sure if I would ever eat a yummy meal again. But after only 2 weeks of being vegan, people were beginning to ask 'What is going on with you? You look amazing!'...All I'd given up was meat and dairy, and yet I began to look better in just 2 weeks!"

~"Strangest of all, we've convinced ourselves that our health has nothing to do with what we eat. People who will spend that extra 20 cents on a gallon of premium gasoline because they realize their car performs better on it will drive straight to the McDonald's for a Big Mac"

~"Dioxin is the most toxic chemical known to science and is recognized as a human carcinogen. It is estimated that 93% of our exposure to dioxin comes through eating animal products-beef, lamb, pork, chicken, dairy, eggs, and especially fish. Dioxin settles and accumulates in fat, so the more animal food we eat, the more dioxin we get"

~"Fiber is the broom that sweeps out your intestines...Meat contains absolutely no fiber. It gets stuck down there, creating a funky, stuck, acid environment"

~"Because animals raised in confined, dirty, stressful environments have a tendency to get sick, they are given antibiotics as a routing preventive measure. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 70% of the antibiotics sold in the United States go to livestock, including farm-raised fish. In fact, farmed salmon have more antibiotics administered by weight than any other form of livestock. These antibiotics are then passed on to you. Before yelling, 'Yay! Free drugs!', you should know a thing or two: When you take unnecessary antibiotics by eating meat, (a) your own healthy intestinal bacteria get wiped out, making you less able to fight off disease, and (b) the bacteria that the drugs are designed to kill eventually morph into smarter and stronger versions of themselves. In true horror movie fashion, they are literally becoming superbugs against which none of us has natural resistance. Science has not yet caught up with these superbugs, so we have no efficient antibiotics to use against them"

Like chicken? Get this...

~"...Campylobacter is the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States, and it usually arrives via chicken flesh. A dangerous little bacterium, campylobacter is estimated to infect more than 2.4 million Americans each year. It is also estimated that 70% of American chickens and 90% of our turkeys are contaminated with campylobacter, the result of the birds being housed in ridiculously crowded conditions and their regular dosing with antibiotics. In fact, factory-farmed chicken is so unclean that Gerald Kuester, former USDA microbiologist, says, 'The final product is no different than if you stuck it in the toilet and ate it"

~"A carnivore's intestines are only about 6 feet long, because meat isn't meant to hang out in the gut forever. Our intestines are 20 feet long; when we eat meat, it takes a full 72 hours to pass through us. That's 3 days, and your body, my friend, is 98.6 degrees inside! It's like having a steak sit out in the hot sun for 3 days straight. Eventually it will start to rot and putrefy. And that's what's happening inside of you. You may not feel that process now, but I challenge you to abstain from animal products for a month and then eat some meat*. You will feel how heavy and dense it feels in your gut"

Think fish don't have feelings? Think again...

~"Dr. Culum Brown, and Australian behavioral ecologist, has conducted experiments with rainbow fish and found that they have longer memories than we assumed (months as opposed to seconds), the capacity to learn, and that they transmit their knowledge to other members of their school"

Now, I wasn't planning on putting THIS many quotes from just one book, but I haven't even touched base on her points of global warming, veganism, or her recipes. If any of these quotes inspire you to learn more, please treat yourself to learning more by purchasing her book or going to her website! It is www.thekindlife.com

2. Please Don't Eat The Animals



When I bought this book, I originally thought it was going to lend me the same life connections as did The Kind Diet. However, it is a simplistic, straightforward listing of reasons and statistics about why to be a vegetarian by Jennifer Horseman and Jaime Flowers. (I wish I had that last name...!)

Ladies out there...(and for men who love boobs!)

~"The British Department of Health conducted a large-scale analysis of ten cohort studies on breast cancer and dietary facors and found an elevated risk for breast cancer in meat eaters. The more meat one consumes, the greater the risk; women who ate meat every day were at the highest risk"

And for the men...

~"It is estimated that 70% of men who reach age 80 will have the disease {prostate cancer}...A large-scale, long-term study in the Netherlands found a powerful connection between the amount of animal fats consumed and the rate of prostate cancer"

~"The average meat eater consumes 45% more protein a day than the daily recommendation...studies have shown that excessive animal protein can cause kidney damage, especially in older people. Excessive dietary protein has also been linked to diabetes and osteoporosis"

"~Based on accepted manure rates per animal supplied by the United States Environmental Protection Agency's livestock manure handling overview, the worldwide amount of wastes from cattle is...45 trillion pounds of manure per year...pigs is 6 trillion...sheep and goats is another 6 trillion...chickens 1.5 trillion. A very small portion of these mountains of manure is used as fertilizer. The rest? Polution"

~"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the waste generated by hogs, chicken and cattle has polluted over 35,000 miles of rivers. The EPA estimates that this pollution from agriculture ruined or interfered with the aquatic life in, or public use of, a startling 173,629 river miles- 25% of all river miles surveyed. Other scientists put the figure much higher; factory farms caused up to 70% of all water quality problems identified in rivers and streams"

~"A colossal 70% of the world's agriculture resources are consumed in meat production. Petroleum is used in the raising, harvesting, and transporting of vast amounts of crops fed to farm animals, as well as the transportation of these animals, the processing of the animals into meat, and the transportation of the meat to the consumer"

Please keep in mind, that when reading this last statement, what the world's population is*

~"The world's cattle consume an amount of food equivalent to the calorie requirements of 8.7 billion people."

A very simple & quick read, this book sheds light on all aspects of the effects of factory-farming, meat eating, environmental issues, health benefits, and all that jazz that could be related to vegetarianism.

3. Skinny Bitch



I actually bought this book 4 years ago, and when I was 30 pounds heavier, in a desperate search to lose weight. I got about half way through it and felt rather offended by the author's writing style. After becoming a vegetarian, I began reading it again and felt more motivated than ever to continue my lifestyle. Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin don't shy away from telling it like it is in Skinny Bitch. With plentiful use of vulgarity and a no-nonsense approach, these girls don't shy away from why people (although targeting girls) can't seem to lose weight, feel clean, & love themselves...it's because you're eating MEAT and DIARY, shitheads!

The very first lines from the book...

~"Okay. Use your head. You need to get healthy if you want to get skinny. Healthy=skinny. Unhealthy=fat. The first thing you need to do is give up your gross vices. Don't act surprised! You cannot keep eating the same shit and expect to get skinny. Or smoke. Don't even try some pathetic excuse like 'But if I quit smoking, I'll gain weight.' No one wants to hear it"

~"If you study animals in the wild, you will note that they do not rely on anything other than their natural hunting ability, speed, strength, claws, teeth, and jaws. They have no tools or weapons. Now look at yourself. Look at your flimsy fingernails in comparison to an eagle's talons. Look at your flat, blunt teeth compared to a lion's fangs...Imagine yourself trying to run after an animal, catch it, and kill it using your bare hands, fingernails, teeth, and jaws. Not only would you look ridiculous, you'd probably get your ass kicked, too. And even if you were successful, envision yourself eating the kill without the aid of an oven and silverware. Yes, the human brain allows us to stay removed from the process of hunting. But does this mean we are 'evolved' and 'intelligent' and should be eating animal flesh just because we can? Man's 'intelligence' also created alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Should we drink, smoke, and use just because we can?"

Please pardon my anger here, but LISTEN UP YOU BONEHEADS...YOU MUST EAT CARBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know this has nothing to do with vegetarianism, but if you think that you cannot eat carbs and then you take on eliminating meat and possibly dairy? Raw diets are great, but have fun being a slob kabob* all the time

~"Carbohydrates are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and they are vital for providing energy for our bodies and brains. Without them, we would be comatose zombies. When we eat food, our bodies turn the carbohydrates into glucose for immediate energy and the rest is stored as glycogen for reserves"*

On another tangent, Skinny Bitch also encourages becoming a vegan. I am 100% in support of all individuals who choose to be vegan (as I am actively attempting to decrease dairy from my diet (another blog entry!)), but as this entry is about vegetarianism, I will restrict my usage of vegan quotes to only this one!

~" Go suck your mother's tits. Go on. Suck your mother's tits. You think this sounds ridiculous? It is. Get ready to use your head. When a woman gives birth, her body produces milk and she nurses her child. Breast milk can grow an 8-pound newborn into a 24-pound toddler. Sounds pretty fattening, hugh? It is. By design, it is intended to allow for the biggest growth spurt of a person's entire life. Breast milk alone can accommodate for a 300% weight gain in a 12 month period....Cows, like all mammals, are much the same. Their bodies produce milk only when they give birth...Cows' milk, by design, grows a 90-pound calf into a 2000-pound cow over the course of 2 years. It allows calves to double their birth weight in 47 days and leaves their stomachs feeling full. Sounds even more fattening than human milk, right? It is."

~"Companies want us to believe that products labeled 'free-range' or 'free-roaming' are derived from animals that spent their short lives outdoors, enjoying sunshine, fresh air, and the company of other animals. But labels- other than 'organic' on egg cartons- are not subject to any government regulations. In addition, the USDA doesn't regulate 'free-range' or 'free-roaming' claims for beef products. Because there are no agencies governmenting these claims, do you take the word of someone who makes a living on blood money? And even if the farm was free-range and humane, the animals are still being sent to horrific slaughterhouses...an undercover video of a kosher slaughterhouse revealed animals suffering the same abuse and torture"

If the previous quotes/phrases haven't made you cringe in the slightest, these will. The following quotes are taken from Skinny Bitch, but are of previous/current slaughterhouse workers who see what goes on in those concentration camps first-hand.

~"I seen them take those stunners-they're about as long as a yard stick-and shove it up the hog's ass..They do it with cows, too...And in their ears, their eyes, down their throat...They'll be squealing and they'll just shove it right down there"

~"Pigs on the kill floor have come up and nuzzled me like a puppy. Two minutes later I had to kill them-beat them to death with a pipe"

~"Only you don't just kill it, you go in hard, push hard, blow the windpipe, make it drown in its own blood. Split its nose. A live hog would be running around the pit. It would just be looking up at me and I'd be sticking, and i would just take my knife and-cut its eye out while it was just sitting there. And this hog would just scream"

~"I could tell you horror stories...about cattle getting their heads stuck under the gate guards, and the only way you can get it out is to cut their heads off while they're still alive"

~"One time I took my knife-it's sharp enough-and I sliced off the end of a hog's nose, just like a piece of bologna. The hog went crazy for a few seconds. Then it just sat there looking kind of stupid. So I took a handful of salt brine and ground it into his nose. Now that hog went really notes, pushing its nose all over the place. I still had a bunch of salt left in my hand- I was wearing a rubber clove- and I stuck the salt right up the hog's ass. The poor hog didn't know whether to shit or go blind"

Skinny Bitch goes into great detail about the FDA, USDA, EPA, and all government & monitory regulations in the meat and dairy industry. In addition, Rory and Kim teach you what to replace meat and dairy with, all with looking & feeling sexy and skinny! I have to be honest, if you're looking for a "less scary" motivator, go with The Kind Diet. But if you're willing to take on these nasty facts full force, read Skinny Bitch or Please Don't Eat The Animals.



Now, before you begin accusing me of being a judgmental, crazy hippie...please understand that I want to share this with you because these are the reasons that I, Holly, became a vegetarian. This doesn't mean that *you* need to become a vegetarian! I am mostly accepting of people's lifestyle choices*, one of which being if they eat meat or not. ALL of my friends, ALL of my family, and MOST of my co-workers eat meat, and I love them more than anything in this world. Just because I, personally, choose not to eat meat, doesn't mean I judge anyone who does. Most vegetarians & vegans also feel this way. Most of what gives us a bad reputation isn't the few that may judge or criticize, but it's the mere FACTS that they don't want to hear. Deep down, most individuals have a general idea of how the meat industry works. But for the clear-cut facts to be displayed without any sugar coating, people may feel that it is us, the vegetarians- the people who are only relaying the information- who are the bad guys and who are to blame. We aren't. We just have done our research and are living a lifestyle in which seems best fit for us. If any part of this blog offended you, I deeply apologize. My intention is not to offend you, my intention is to tell you why I am a vegetarian. These facts/reasons/beliefs are why.

These are 3 of the 5 books that have sparked my inner appreciation for myself and God's creations. There is SOOOOO much more for me to learn & discover. And this is not to say that I will NEVER change my mind...because if there is reasonable belief and evidence for me to eat meat again, I will. But- this is the way of life I am choosing to live right now. And I am 100000% happy with it :) :) This blog has ~hopefully~ answered 4 of the 5 main questions people ask me when I tell them I'm a vegetarian...and to answer the 5th one: No, I have never cheated :)

Until next time...

xoxo
<33holly



1* ALL authors of these books were once meat eaters
2* You would not BELIEVE how many people ask us about adkins, weight watchers, southbeach, grapefruit diet..words of advise: Weight watchers would be the only "acceptable" diet, to my knowledge.
3* More often than not, when a person who has abstained from meat for at least a month begin to eat it again, they throw up the first few times. Those individuals who know me well enough know that this would be a huge factor that I'd have to consider...
4* In my world geography class in 2006, which is the last time I researched this statistic, the world's population was around 6 billion.
5* Slob kabob is my term for being tired/sluggish/hung over
6* I can write a whole other blog about what kinds of carbs to eat, as there are ones to definitely avoid. But that's for next time :)
7* I DO support being a vegan...but again, that is a totally separate blog entry :)
8* I don't agree with rapists, heroin users, wife beaters..etc etc..OBVIOUSLY!