Vegan Rant

I find it as a vegan very irritating that others feel the need to criticize my diet. I get it that there is this stereotype of a "preachy" vegan that sets everyone on edge with their views telling non-veg heads that their diet is wrong etc etc. I am not one of those by any means. I feel that if my diet is something that interests you then you will be naturally curious and ask me about it. For me my choice of food is about my life and philosophies not just simply what I choose to eat. I come at it from a very Buddhist point of view in terms of wanting to be compassionate, gentle and non-harming. I also feel that I do not have the right to decide that anything else's life is any less important then my own. Each creature has it's own purpose and agenda and I do not have the right to treat that as a commodity. I also feel that there are a lot of great thinkers, revolutionaries, athletes, spiritualists and artists that are vegan and that is something worth emulating. I want to evolve and leave as small of an imprint on the earth's consciousness as possible. I want to be a friend to all those I encounter, a gentle soul.
But that is just me. My personal views which I in no way push onto others. I have a bible of factoids in my head that I can spew on a dime about why we should invest in a plant based diet but again nothing turns people off faster. I don't bother wasting my time or trying to convert people.

Having said all that I am human. And as such there are times when I am not strictly vegan. There I said it. For me meat wasn't an issue to give up. It was dairy. I am a bonafide coffee addict: double double ( 2 creams, 2 sugars for you non-Canadian readers, or Timmie's fans.) For years I rationalized not being able to give up real cream, substitutions all sucked. I tried them all. But finally I was able to first kick the sugar and then slowly the cream. To me the dairy industry is one of the worst; and I noticed that perhaps due to the hormones I hit this plateau with my weight; my curves got curvier and there wasn't a thing I could do about the bloating. And after a few  months of giving up cream-13 pounds came off. But I am getting off track.. I will on occasion indulge in a piece of cheesecake or a piece of salmon or tuna. X-mas time there may be turkey. Again this is so few and far between say maybe 5x a year that I choose to consume meat. I am anemic and went through a period where my hair was breaking and falling out- so I thought maybe I should try animal protein. Now I simply know it is time to vary my diet and I haven't had that problem for a long time. But the point of this confession is the fact that I love how meat eaters feel the need to point out my lack of veganism at these times. Like I don't harp on a carnivore for the time they choose to eat a salad and tell them they are a bad hypocritical meat eater. Like for some reason this constitutes a failure of some sort. Never mind that the other 360 days a year I uphold my beliefs or diet. I once read this book by raw foodists saying that once you choose to go with a plant based diet you will notice that an invisible line will be drawn between you and carnivores. And there will be aggression towards you for your choices. Truth be told I have noticed this time and time again. As soon as I say I don't eat meat people's backs get stiff and they either feel the need to state well I ain't gonna become a vegetarian-it's not going to happen without me so much as bringing up idea at all. Or people justifying not being able to give up or survive without their protein or asking me stupid questions like how do I get my protein.

I really just wish people would just stop making such a big deal about the whole thing..

 

Vegan Food Swap

I was looking for something to participate in and I came across this: a pen pal vegan food swap. I love getting fun mail and I love food so this was perfect. The idea is that each month  you send an email to the blog linked below in either the US or Canadian version and she in turn sets you up with a random partner in your private email address. You send to them and someone else sends to you. The limit is under $20 and once you get your package you write a little thing about what you got and add a picture.

So here is what my lovely partner sent me.

The sweet potato cookies were full of chocolate chips and walnuts and so delicious they didn't last long at all. I need to find me a recipe for those. And the coffee was rich and yummy and totally on the spot as I am a coffee addict but it has to be gourmet coffee for me. And I've always wanted to try something by The Merry Hempsters so the lip balm was an awesome treat. Everything was wonderful and yummy and I am so happy that I signed up for this.

It's also really fun to search out vegan products to send to your partner. It seems like people really put a lot of thought into it and try to find items that are local. I know I had a lot of fun checking out the health food store and now when I am at a grocery store I make mental notes of things I see that could be used in the next swap. This is definitely way more fun than getting bills in the mail!

If you want to sign up here is the blog..http://meshell.ca/blog/veganfoodswap/

North American Hemp Co.

I was looking for a new lotion to soothe my suddenly extremely dry  winter skin. Having moved from a damp climate to a dry one my skin suddenly went haywire and became very dry and flaky. My requirements where natural ingredients, paraben free,animal ingredient and cruelty free. I came upon the North American Hemp co. at the drug store and decided that since my skin was so dry it could probably use the wonderful properties of hemp. I purchased Hemp Holy Grail unscented body lotion at $9.99 for 342ml.
The body lotion is nice and thick with a pleasant slightly nutty aroma. I use it everywhere- on my body and my face and have noticed that since I have used it my dry scaly skin is no more, yet there is no greasy residue afterwards.

In case you are unfamiliar with hemp's wonderful properties it contains loads of Omega 3,6 & 9 oils which makes it wonderful for skin dryness and elasticity. A little goes a long way so this lotion will last you forever- ok maybe not that long but a few months for sure. I use it everyday right out of the shower from tip to toes.

The North American Hemp co. is based out of Ontario, Canada which also fits my criteria of trying to purchase Canadian made products. They make a whole range of hair and skin care products from body lotion, face cream, hair serum and styling products. Each contains certified organic hemp seed oil.  For whatever your needs there is a product out there for you.  You can also visit their web site and find some fun facts about hemp's history and skin benefits.

http://www.northamericanhempco.com/home.html

Food for thought.

I have been reading Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin and came upon this awesome quote.

"Think of how you feel when you are angry, afraid and grief stricken. Bear in mind the physical feelings that accompany these emotions. These emotions fear-grief- rage- produce chemical changes in our body. They do the same to animals. Their blood pressures rise. Adrenaline courses through their bodies. You are eating high blood pressure, stress and adrenaline. You are eating fear, grief and rage. You are eating suffering, horror and murder. You are eating cruelty. You are what you eat. You cannot be thin and beautiful with a glowing complexion when you eat fear, grief and rage. "

http://www.skinnybitch.net/

Sexy Vegan Men

Just thought I would add a shout out to some sexy famous vegan men out there. Add some eye candy to this little blog of mine..Also interesting to note that none of these men look sickly or skinny. In fact they all have some pretty hot bods..
Casey Affleck

Bob Harper

Anthony Kiedis

Jared Leto

Tobey Maguire

Jason Mraz

Joaquin Pheonix

Davey Havok

Russel Brand

Ok I'll stop there for now..Pant pant..

Animal Testing.

I hate animal testing. There is no reason for it. We have grown well beyond any need for such testing on beauty products and therefor there is no valid reason for why a company would still choose to resort to this.
But here it is Loreal- one of the biggest beauty companies out there- still testing on animals. And by that I do not mean they give them a lovely little bath with some nice smelling shampoo. Perhaps they need to resort to this to pay all of their celebs like Jay Lo their frigging millions in endorsements.

Earthlings

Has anyone out there watched the documentary Earthlings? I'm sure many vegans out there have. I couldn't make it through the entire thing, it was so heart breaking. I hope everyone watches it- perhaps it'll make us as a society think about our actions.
They just came out with these and I want one. http://www.earthlings.com/0/earthlings-store/test-product.php