I know that I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my lifetime:
The time I homeschooled Kevin. There was my puffy paint gym-shoe period in the
80’s. The time I talked Rich into moving to CA for a year. The time I went to
one of those wild Club Meds where people paint their bodies and strangers rub
suntan oil on your naked butt. That was the 80’s too. But if I was a betting
person, I bet that most of you will say that this next thing that I’m doing is
the craziest. I’m going Vegan. Or I should say, Rich and I are going Vegan-ish.
I’ve had to give up a lot of things in my life that were
hard: The closing of Border’s Book Store and the Baker’s Square. These losses
sent me into a mild depression every time I drove through town. I realize that
having an attachment to anything will give you mild depression if it’s taken
away. Unless you feel compelled or convicted, having to give up your attachment
to one’s desires, biases, thoughts and feelings can make change impossible.
This isn’t my first rodeo in trying to go Vegan. I've got 4 or 5 books I've bought but never finished. I’ve tried
before and failed by the end of the day. I've had moments where I've wrestled back and forth between Vegan and Vegetarian and Caveman style living or just forgetting about the whole damn thing. See picture: true story! I had all sorts of excuses.
The biggest was my attachment to all things dairy. I love cheese above any
other food item on the planet. Did you ever see that Christmas Dairy Federation
commercial promoting cheese? On Christmas morning, the little girl is running
to the living room with anticipation to see what Santa left her. The room was
filled with every imaginable desired gift including a car. The dad said, “Wow,
those must have been some cookies. She said, “I didn’t leave him cookies. I
left him cheese.” Well played, Madison Avenue. If I had a last meal, it was
gonna be cheese and crackers with pate’.
There are many reasons people go Vegan. One of them is my
body doesn’t do well with cheese. I’ve struggle with inflammation in my joints
(especially my hips). I know I’m addicted to cheese. There are good reasons why
it may be hard for me to give up cheese. 80% of the protein in cow’s milk
contains ‘casein proteins’. These casein molecules are digested then release
tiny opiate molecules called casomorphins. The addicting power of cheese may be
due to the fact that when they process and remove the water, lactose, and whey
proteins, the casein is concentrated—a compound that has about one-tenth of the
opiate strength of morphine. Anyone who has seen me around a block of cheese
knows that druggie dairy look of pure happiness in my eyes. 'Gimme another hit, I mean wedge of cheese.' Little did we know
that I was trippin?
In all seriousness, the real reason we are going Vegan is a few
years ago I saw the movie Food Inc. with my sister-in-law, Patti. I was gasping
out loud in the theater when I learned that they gas tomatoes to ripen them. I
had no idea how deceived I had been by advertising and how tainted my food and
water sources were.
After seeing the movie I made some small changes. I
supported all local farmers whenever I could for the sake of sustainability to
the environment--and to sock it The Man (Monsanto) for screwing over the
average farmer. It was a start, but not enough. My sister-in-law went a step
farther and would not buy or eat any meat that wasn’t butchered humanely. I
envied her and wished I had that kind of dedication. If we'd have her over for a
cookout, I had to make sure it was the right kind of chicken that was
slaughtered with care. If not, she didn’t mind, she brought her own meat to the
party.
Recently Rich and I saw the movie The Earthlings. I watched
it with Fred on my lap the whole time. He kept looking up when the cows or pigs
cried out. His ears were moving forward and back as if he was trying to
understand it along with us. I was bawling when it was over. It was the tipping
point movie. It educated my brain on how we just are so thoughtless when it
comes to animals in our culture. Sure we like our dogs and cats; they are the
chosen ones, a superior species entitled to special rights. Hmmm, where have I
seen or read about that kind of thinking in history? We choose and select
species just like race and give them hierarchal standing. What’s that about? If
Food Inc. didn’t put me over the edge about how insane it is to eat ‘mass
produced’ meat or fish in this day and age, The Earthlings movie did.
Now let me pause here to make a statement that may or may
not matter. I don’t have anything against hunters or gatherers. Let’s take the
American Indians as an example. They hunted for their food. They shared it with
their entire tribe. Most impressive was how grateful (indebted) they felt for
the animal lives that were offered up so they could eat and survive. There was
a sense of honor and respect with each hunting season. This is a far cry from
the blatant corralled cruelty and torture of millions of chemically altered
animals that spend their entire life in misery. How have we gotten so far from
such an attitude of reverence and thanksgiving?
My grandmother told me stories where her mother raised
free-range chickens in her backyard (in the suburbs of Chicago). They used the
eggs as they came out. They didn’t set up shop to force their chickens to birth
eggs daily for the whole neighborhood. When it was time, they killed it and stretched
it into many many meals. But we no longer live in those times do we? We want
our meals with meat or meat by-products 3x a day, and we want it now—with a large
order of fries, please.
Let be honest, look down at your belly or your thighs. We’ve
paid for our overconsumption with our health. I’m not at the natural God-given
weight God created me to be. Why? Because I was sold a bill of goods by savvy
advertising people who knew how to manipulate my Limbic system. Look at how sad
we all were the day Hostess died; I lit a candle.
Now, I understand that what we eat or don’t eat is all very
personal and emotional. I’m not here to judge you. I'm mad at myself for my own lack of self-control. Really, I judge rich Lobbyists in
Washington and the Mad Men on Madison Ave who have duped us for the last 60
years. The people who have made it hard for poor people to get healthy because
they drove up the price of healthy food and subsidize cheap grain to lower the
cost of unhealthy food.
One thing I’d like to be clear about as we lean into this
Vegan way of connecting to the world around us: I’m not on a crusade to change
others. These are my own convictions and others need to decide for themselves.
It’s a bit like politics I suppose—I’m willing to dialogue and express my
opinions, but want to respect everyone’s freedom of choice. So I promise I
won’t become one of ‘those people’. I’m not going to tell you eating meat is
murder or throw red paint on your leather jacket. I have no desire to become
legalistic about being Vegan. I was once a legalistic Christian and that was an
affront to the Kingdom of God and people who knew me. We know that we can make
others feel uncomfortable or feel guilty just by passing on the meat, or cheesy
vegetable dish. I actually found myself saying to Kevin almost instinctively,
“Moooooo!” as he was giving me grief for being Vegan. So being defensive is
something I’ll have to keep in check too.
Rich and I have talked about how we can hopefully do Vegan
well, while at the same time recognizing we are still flawed human beings. Meaning,
we are not going to be perfect Vegans. We know we have a brain that is wired with defaults
patterns of eating when under stress. That may be difficult to overcome at
times, but we will do our very best. Luckily, sugar is Vegan. And I’m not going
to be the Vegan Police. I hope you won’t do that to me either. You may be
tempted to say ‘Ah ha, isn’t there a hint of honey in that granola bar you’re
eating. Did you know that?’ Probably not because I didn’t put on my glasses to
read it!! If we occasionally consume something that is less than Vegan we will
not be plagued with guilt, but simply rest content that we are trying to be
conscientious and do our part. Being Vegan-ish is a bit like driving a Prius.
It still uses gas, but far less then a regular car. It’s our meager attempt to
be kinder to God’s creation.
We talked to Dave our local nutrition expert at the health food store in town. He said, "You may even find that being Vegan doesn't suit what your body needs after awhile. Honor that. Eat what your body needs not what you want." Great advice.
So I’m certain there
are going to be times when I pick up something to eat because I’m starving and
there is nothing Vegan to eat except limp lettuce. In those Vegan-ish moments we’ve
decided that we will be Vegetarian. That way we won’t end up saying, ‘being
Vegan is too hard’ and give up; we won’t throw the Vegan Baby out of the veggie
bathwater. If we are invited over to someone’s home, we’ll eat what is put in
front of us (especially if they don’t know us well). We’ll eat it with gratitude and thank God for
the hands that prepared it (and maybe the animal who gave it’s life). I want to
be able to socialize still. It’s about relationship to all the Earthlings.
Those that know us well will eventually see we’re serious and prepare something
with veggies or grain in it. Try not to spaz or over-think it friends. When in
doubt, Pinterest has great ideas. If nothing else, Oreos are Vegan. Who knew??
Ghandi said, ‘You must be the change you want to see in the
world’. I’d like to see the end of mass factory torturing of animals. On so many levels, it's hurting us too. I’d like
to see our water supply and oceans healed. I’d like to see Washington work to
serve the greater good instead of the almighty dollar. I’d like to see
compassion rise up in our hearts for all the living Earthlings on this planet
great and small. I want to change some things about me personally too (like
giving up addictions) and that is why I’m going Vegan-ish.
Lastly, I would just like to add that for those who believe
in God, I think this a moral issue as well with room for interpretation and lots of room for grace. I do
believe God permits us to occasionally eat animals for our sustenance, but this
doesn’t excuse cruelty to animals under any circumstances. Yay God!!! He was
probably Vegan-ish too.
Exodus 23:12a
“Six days you shall do your work, and
on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest.”
(NKJV)
Proverbs 12:10
“Whoever is righteous has regard for
the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” (ESV)
Deuteronomy 25:4
“You shall not muzzle an ox when it
is treading out the grain.” (ESV)
