On a tangent of that subject my co-worker told me the other day about the fact that Oprah is going vegan for a week. How convenient. It's cool, and I'm currently browsing the Oprah page about her going vegan. I hope maybe, that if someone so high profile as Oprah does it maybe people won't be such douches about veganism. I'm so sick of people giving me crap. I haven't been vegan on this tour and it's a point of conflict for me. I feel very very very very very hypocritical- like doing something I know is wrong and going ahead and doing it, knowing making the wrong choices. I just don't know what to do about it.
My whole reasons for being vegan seem moot while I'm on the road. Major reasons I was/am vegan is because of the environmental impact the meat and dairy industry has on our world, the mistreatment of animals, the fact that I love cows so much, I like living with doing as little harm as I can in the world (and I believe causing animals harm is part of this equation as well as the environment), and while cheese is delicious drinking milk and milk products are kind of weird (if you think about it you're eating something comes from a pregnant mom boob- just a cow boob. I wouldn't consume human boob juice meant for human babies so why use cows?) . Those are the broad points. but yeah. On the road I feel like a lot of those things don't carry over and it turns into me standing there with my arms crossed "mehr, i need my dairy free foods blah blah blah, i'm going to eat crap this iceberg salad and a baked potato instead". I don't feel like I'm making much of an impact. Most of the restaurants I go to will not have any interest in making things more vegan friendly, and when there's only one vehicle getting to a vegan friendly restaurant isn't always possible. All I feel I achieve most of the time is the biggest check at the table, a confused waitress and a pissed off chef. I feel like my efforts are futile. If you couldn't tell I'm having conflict with this right now. but anyways. It's few and far between, my dairy consumption that is- i look forward to being more solidly vegan again soon.
so back to the whole oprah thing I decided to pull off some key points that I liked, mostly because it's things people give me most crap about when i tell them I'm a vegan.
Blah blah blah vegan what about calcium. duh calcium comes from milk. lies.
"for the most part, and absorption is typically better from these sources than from dairy products."
do vegans need to take vitamins:
"Actually, vegans generally have better overall vitamin intake, compared with meat eaters. "
another thing that people contest me with- freaking protein
< charset="utf-8">"A plant-based diet easily provides all the protein the body needs. There is no need for meat, dairy products or eggs for protein, and you are better off without them. Vegetables, grains and beans give you plenty of protein, even if you are active and athletic"
From oprah's freaking website. I hate people who made me feel like I'm spewing bs or that I am idiotic when I tell people these things. Honestly, I did my research, I'm not an idiot, though I think being vegan puts you in a lot of people's 'dumb ass' category (bc my food choices are so threatening to your mcdonalds hamburgers and 14oz steaks). But I geuss when Oprah says it it's true and not only true but legit; coming from a dreadlocked fat hippie it must be some liberal propaganda. I shouldn't be getting mad about this. But part of me feels so alone in so many of the things I feel and believe in when it comes to food. Frankly I believe we are messing shit up and our food consumption in this country is gross. We waste so much, and our food gets further and further from Food each year. We need to radically shift the way we look at food, consume food and keep our bodies healthy. I'm right up there with everyone else shoving french fries in my face from this place or the other, and I do love me some processed food here and there, but really, thats not the way to stay healthy or sustain our planet. Going back to the moeny thing earlier we waste so much. We waste fuel from transporting the foods we need -the way we "need" banana's in december or squash in July. We throw so much food away. Today I ate at the casino buffet and it saddened me to think of all the food that must get thrown away every night. Revolting really when people don't have enough to eat day to day in our own country. The biggest issue with all of this is my professions mean I don't always have a choice but to buy into this wasteful lifestyle. Or at least walk along the stream of the rest of the masses, even if it is on the outside.
Unfortunately my lifestyle makes it as such that I can't live (foodwise) the way I'd like. Some day I'd like to live eating locally, get a grease car and a house that's completely off the grid. (especially a tiny house on a trailer! ) but right now that's not feasible. I'd have to change my job/career path and I don't even know what that is, but I do know to afford a lot of the things I want to do I'd have to settle for something that doesn't make me happy. So I have to choose the short term or long term, which is a shitty decision to make.
so. .. there is my rant. honestly this is not what I had intended this blog post to be. but evidently I wanted to get that out there. So there it is interwebs. Mich's short opinion on food and oprah making veganism seem more legit.
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