February 2010
25 posts
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Vegan Quote of the Day
VegeTexan:
I like this passage from the Essene Gospel of Peace…
“Therefore, he who kills, kills his brother. And from him will the Earthly Mother turn away, and will pluck from him her quickening breasts. And he will be shunned by her angels, and Satan will have his dwelling in his body. And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who...
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Study: Raw Foodists Have Fewer Bones →
No, not really. Raw foodists have the same number of bones as us, it’s just that their bones are weaker. Could there be some benefits to eating “dead food” after all?
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Vegan Quote of the Day
kibbles: I have a special place in my heart for whales and dolphins. They are so intelligent, it’s hard to believe they don’t kill us more often.
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Veg*an Leaders: Winston J. Craig
Dr. Winston Craig, MPH, PhD, RD.
Claim to Fame: Co-author of the American Dietetic Association’s 2009 position paper on a vegetarian diet.
Education: Master in Public Health in Nutrition at Loma Linda University, a Seventh-day Adventist university in California that promotes a vegetarian diet.
Profession: Nutrition chair and professor at Andrews University, a Seventh-day Adventist...
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Book Review: PEOPLE OR PENGUINS, The Case for...
I got this book because I somehow stumbled onto the Wikipedia article about its author, William F. Baxter, which said this:
In 1974, Baxter published a widely read and influential book on the law and economics of pollution control entitled People or Penguins: The Case for Optimal Pollution. This book, though aimed at a law audience, contains a philosophically sophisticated stance on the topic...
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Vegan Quote of the Day
CycloneT: I have gone from veg with fish to Ovo-lacto and am considering veganism. Should I move gradually or immediately to veganism?
MessyVeggie: I phased into veganism from vegetarianism. For me the easiest way was to give myself some space. You know how when people diet and they tell themselves “I can never have chocolate again,” but then spend the whole time craving chocolate? I...
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Vegans React: Genetically Engineering Animals That...
The New York Times ran an editorial in favor of genetically engineering animals to not feel pain. The author, a vegan named Adam Shriver, wrote:
We are most likely stuck with factory farms, given that they produce most of the beef and pork Americans consume. But it is still possible to reduce the animals’ discomfort — through neuroscience. Recent advances suggest it may soon be possible to...
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Vegan Habits I Haven't Lost
Putting tahini on everything.
Cooking.
Eating lots of vegetables.
Putting nori seaweed on everything.
Eating fruit mixed with almond butter for breakfast (or dessert).
Not drinking while I eat. This was specifically a macrobiotic habit, but I’m as strict about it as I ever was, even though I’ve read it makes no difference. And in fact, drinking while you eat might actually be good...
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Other ADA Position Papers Gang Up on Veganism
In case it weren’t enough for the ADA to bash veganism within an inch of its life in its position paper on vegetarianism, even their position papers that have nothing to do with veganism take gratuitous swipes at the compassionate diet. To be even bigger assholes about it, the ADA bolded all instances of non-vegan food recommendations, really hammering it home: “We do not consider a...
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“I know more ex-vegans than real vegans. And many of the vegans I know are really...”
– Hudson Valley Vegan
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Bad News For Vegans in the ADA's Position Paper on...
I finally got around to reading the American Dietitian Association’s 2009 position paper on vegetarian and vegan diets. Wow, a lot of bad news for veg*ans, especially those of the non-asterisked persuasion.
But I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Based on the multiple pleas for vegans and vegetarians to seek professional nutritional counseling, I figure this position paper is just one...
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“When I go grocery shopping I make sure my cloth grocery bag that mentions...”
– rad.badger
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Instead of Veganism: A Guide to Alternative...
If I manage to talk anyone down from a leap into veganism, I may have improved their quality of life in a general sense, but I haven’t addressed the striving for goodness that put veganism in their orbit. All I’ve done is help someone go on eating meat while feeling hollow inside. That filet mignon is tasty, but without a philosophy attached to it, it probably won’t fill the...
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Artfully Rendered Slaughter in Italy →
The best way to inoculate yourself against the arguments of veganism is to be okay with looking at images of animal slaughter. If you can admire these photographs from a slaughterhouse in Italy for their artistic qualities (link through Veg Blog), you’re in the clear.
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Why Love One But Eat The Other?... On Speed
I know I’m an opponent to veganism all that so I shouldn’t be giving animal rights advocates any ammo, but I just had an idea for an animal rights campaign that would be pretty effective.
You know the “Why Love One But Eat The Other?” campaign? The concept behind it is that if you love your dog or cat, it makes no sense to eat equally worthwhile animals like pigs and...
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My Quotes in Vegetarians and Vegans in America...
Oh man. I finally got around to reading my quotes in the book Vegetarians and Vegans in America Today. The book is about the variety of people making up America’s vegan movement. I was libertarian at the time (I felt I needed another hurdle to social viability) and they interviewed me as a representative of libertarian vegans.
I remember that for some reason I intentionally went way over...
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British Beef Wins Most Environmental Food... →
Apparently this study proves that imported tofu is more harmful to the environment than eating British beef. I haven’t read this study, as it’s not linked to from the article, but I can already see a big hole in it — what if you don’t live in Britain?
A spokesperson for the study adds the caveat that methane produced by livestock is more environmentally catastrophic than...
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“I am fortunate because my husband is vegan (and has been for much longer than I...”
– paprikapapaya
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The History of My Diet
One possible criticism of this blog is that I did veganism wrong; veganism didn’t fail me — I failed it. Now that I have no reason to keep this blog anonymous, I can talk about myself a little more. So here’s a history of my diet up until now.
Childhood. One Sunday night at a family meeting, my mom tells my brother and I to choose a meal for every day of the week. Whatever we...
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“I have at least one half-hour long nosebleed every day, and every time I spit,...”
– Drake
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Vegan Nutrition Experts on What Vegan Foods to...
If you’re vegan because of the animals, your diet will be limited in the basic vegan way — no eggs, dairy, meat or honey. But if you’re a vegan who also cares about health, that whittles your options down even further. Here’s a list of vegan foods that vegan and veganish doctors and health experts say we should avoid (or at least strictly limit) along with the animal...
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“When Brian and I first started living together I would cook him hamburger meat,...”
– mrsbadmouth
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Myth-Busting Author Calls for Grass-Fed Fridays
Lierre Keith, author of the anti-veganism best seller The Vegetarian Myth, proposes Grass-Fed Friday as a rebuttal to Meat-Free Monday:
I’m so tired of being told that a plant-based diet will save the planet. It won’t. It will only entail more drawdown of soil, rivers, species, and life. We need to get over the ideologically-induced ignorance of the vegetarian myth.
If we could increase soil...