Why I am a Vegan

[Jade]

The fact that we are removed from the slaughter of animals makes it easy to ignore the atrocities that are committed to millions of animals every single day. I actually found a vegan activist group in Denver that bears witness at a slaughterhouse - where they bring in 1400 lambs a day to be slaughtered. We gather as a group and sing songs and offer comfort to the lambs, as we can watch them be unloaded and head right up the conveyor belt into the slaughter room.

This is absolutely beautiful. Thank you Jade for this amazing service.

Thank you, Diana. Incidentally I just had become friends with more and more vegan activists in the front range area. A month or so ago, one of them was taking pictures at the slaughterhouse, talking to the babies, and I thought "I want to be with her while she does this." Luckily, and somewhat surprisingly, many other people also had the same thought. This is happening more and more, and is actually more popular in Canada and the UK than the US at the moment. http://thesavemovement.org/

Also other than beans which i cannot tolerate on a consistent basis, I fail to see a vegetable that would allow me to maintain my daily protein intake. Would I be restricted to chick peas and nuts for protein?

Firstly, it's valuable to learn to move past the protein myth. It's almost impossible to be protein deficient - if you are able to eat enough calories in a day being vegan, than you are getting enough protein. Elephants' diets are entirely leaves and grass. In the winter, moose live on twigs.

But, to have the protein intake of the body builders is likely prohibitively expensive, as any world class athlete must consume much, much more fuel than the average person. But seriously, absolutely everything has protein.

If you find beans are hard to eat, have you tried soaking them for 24-48 hours before you cook them, to sprout them? This changes their chemical composition and many people find them much more digestible.

I do not eat beans every single day. I do not eat nuts every single day. I have been a vegan for over 5 years and have never in my life been healthier - I am actually thriving. Before, I was very sickly. My rule is to try to eat as many colors as possible in a week. I also drink a green juice every morning which I believe has been giving me more micronutrients, which has also upped my energy levels. I also eat mostly organic, which is pricier, but I also buy very few processed foods, which are more expensive, so my grocery bill evens out. I probably spend $150 a week or so for two of us to eat, give or take. And I don't make any attempt to only buy on sale and stuff - if I was more intentionally frugal about it, that would likely drop quite a bit.