Friday, October 26, 2007

More Vegan Than Vegan

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Ha ha! Now that song is stuck in your head!

For the past week I've been thinking about the extent of my veganism. Of course I wouldn't buy, eat or wear anything that harmed an animal, but what about a human? Sweat shops are making us cheap but stylish shoes, clothes and bags. Huge companies are making vegan food.

I've been trying to curb my consumerism and mostly buy second-hand vegan items, but there have been a few trips to SuperTarget and Old Navy that I'm not too proud of. Is this like saying that "I don't eat THAT much meat."?? I hope not.

I have the same problem when it comes to food. If I buy Silk soymilk or Boca Burgers, it somehow contributes to a larger company that is evil. (I'm too lazy to research this right now. Even if I'm wrong - you get the idea.)

Ideally, I would just buy thrift store clothes and eat fruits and veggies. Strange, as I'm typing this, it doesn't seem that difficult...

Stay tuned, dear reader. You may have just witnessed a life-changing epiphany. Cool. :)

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Oh, Shoes!!

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Today I saw an old friend, a pregan friend, if you will. She brought up how I used to really love expensive, name brand shoes and bags. I hadn't really thought of this for quite some time now. About a year ago, I gave all of that stuff away and hadn't given it a second thought.

Vegan shoes and bags are ridiculously easy to find these days. Designers like Steve Madden and stores like Payless all have really adorable vegan options. I've even gone to thrift stores and come out with three pairs of brand new, sexy shoes!

Handbags are even easier to find! One of my favorite brands is Matt & Nat - they have tons of different styles. Thrift stores, of course, are the BEST place to find handbags. I've found more vintage LeSportSac bags than I know what to do with.

I don't think I've ever paid full price for a scarf, and I have A LOT of scarves. Thrift stores always have adorably funky NOT SILK ones. I have one that looks like an Andy Warhol painting with chairs all over it and another with squirrels all over it. These are things they don't make anymore! :)

Hmmm, yet another reason it's easy and fun to be vegan!


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Sunday, October 21, 2007

Piggies.

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Hi everyone. I cheated and copied this from PETA's website. Fuck PETA, but I though this information was good and worth looking at again because I love piggies!!

EAT PIGGIES AND DIE!!!!!!!!

1. It’s a fact—ham, sausage, and bacon strips will go right to your hips. Eating pork products, which are loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat, is a good way to increase your waistline and increase your chances of developing deadly diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, asthma, and impotence. Research has shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters. Plus, meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than pure vegetarians are. Every time you eat animal products, you’re also ingesting bacteria, antibiotics, dioxins, hormones, and a host of other toxins that can accumulate in your body and remain there for years. Learn more about animal products and your health.

2. Pigs Have Feelings Too
Ninety-seven percent of pigs in the United States today are raised in factory farms, where they will never run across sprawling pastures, bask in the sun, breathe fresh air, or do anything else that comes naturally to them. Crowded into warehouses with nothing to do and nowhere to go, they are kept on a steady diet of drugs to keep them alive and make them grow faster, but the drugs cause many of the animals to become crippled under their own bulk. Learn more about cruelty to pigs. Check out these videos from pig farms in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

3. Pigs and Playstations
Think that you can outplay a pig on your Playstation? You may be surprised. According to research, pigs are much smarter than dogs, and they even do better at video games than some primates. In fact, pigs are extremely clever animals who form complex social networks and have excellent memories. Eating a pig is like eating your dog! As actor Cameron Diaz put it after hearing that pigs have the mental capacities of a 3-year-old human: "[Eating bacon is] like eating my niece!" Learn more about pigs.

4. Pigs Prefer Mud, Not Crud
Pigs are actually very clean animals. If they are given sufficient space, pigs are careful not to soil the areas where they sleep or eat. And forget the silly saying “sweating like a pig”—pigs can’t even sweat! That’s why they bathe in water or mud to cool off. But in factory farms, they’re forced to live in their own feces and vomit and even amid the corpses of other pigs. Conditions are so filthy that at any given time, more than one-quarter of pigs suffer from mange—think of your worst case of poison ivy, and imagine having to suffer from it for the rest of your life. Learn more about what happens to pigs in factory farms. Check out the mange-ridden pigs on these South Dakota and Nebraska pig farms.

5. Farming Family Values
Factory farms are pure hell for pigs and their babies. Mother pigs spend most of their lives in tiny “gestation” crates, which are so small that the animals are unable to turn around or even lie down comfortably. They are repeatedly impregnated until they are slaughtered. Piglets, who are taken away from their distraught mothers after just a few weeks, have their tails chopped off, their teeth are clipped off with pliers, and the males are castrated—all without painkillers. Learn more about cruelty to pigs.

6. The Manure Is Blowing in the Wind …
A pig farm with 5,000 animals produces as much fecal waste as a city of 50,000 people. In 1995, 25 million gallons of putrid hog urine and feces spilled into a North Carolina river, immediately killing between 10 and 14 million fish. To get around water pollution limits, factory farms will frequently take the tons of urine and feces that are stored in cesspools and turn them into liquid waste that they spray into the air. This manure-filled mist is carried away by the wind and inhaled by the people who live nearby. Learn more about how factory farming damages the environment.

7. Bacteria-Laden Bacon and Harmful Ham
Extremely crowded conditions, poor ventilation, and filth in factory farms cause such rampant disease in pigs that 70 percent of them have pneumonia by the time they’re sent to the slaughterhouse. In order to keep pigs alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them and to promote unnaturally fast growth, the industry keeps pigs on a steady diet of the antibiotics that we depend on to treat human illnesses. This overuse of antibiotics has led to the development of “superbacteria,” or antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. The ham, bacon, and sausage that you’re eating may make the drugs that your doctor prescribes the next time you get sick completely ineffective. Learn more about the effect of eating meat from sick, diseased, and drugged animals.

8. Hell on Wheels
More than 170,000 pigs die in transport each year, and more than 420,000 are crippled by the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse. Transport trucks, which carry pigs hundreds of miles through all weather extremes with no food or water, regularly flip over, throwing injured and dying animals onto the road. These terrified and injured animals are rarely offered veterinary care, and most languish in pain for hours; some even bleed to death on the side of the road. After an accident in April 2005, Smithfield spokesperson Jerry Hostetter told one reporter, “I hate to admit it, but it happens all the time.” Learn more about cruelty to pigs during transport.

9. Killing Them Without Kindness
A typical slaughterhouse kills up to 1,100 pigs every hour, which makes it impossible for them to be given humane, painless deaths. The U.S. Department of Agriculture documented 14 humane slaughter violations at one processing plant, where inspectors found hogs who “were walking and squealing after being stunned [with a stun gun] as many as four times.” Because of improper stunning methods and extremely fast line speeds, many pigs are still alive when they are dumped into scalding-hot hair-removal tanks—they literally drown in scalding-hot water. Learn more about what happens to pigs at slaughter.

10. Ditch the Bacon and Get Fakin’
Save pigs from hell and yourself from bad health by feasting on faux pork products instead. Stuff a sandwich full of Yves brand veggie ham slices, or throw some Lightlife Smart Bacon into a sizzling skillet—the freezer and “health food” sections of your local grocery or health food stores are packed full of these and other tasty substitutes. Check out VegCooking.com for hundreds of recipes, product recommendations, vegan meal plans, and a shopping guide.

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Saturday, October 20, 2007

on being (and staying) vegan....

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I believe I have a better insight to this than, say, someone who has been vegan for years and years. So, i thought i would put my two cents out there and hope it helps new vegans...

I've made a few attempts at veganism in the last ten years. What the hell happened? Let me tell you... I am shy and pretty lazy. These qualities have cause me a lot of problems in my life, one of which was committing to veganism. I would find myself in a situation, dinner at my fiance's parents house, lunch with friends or finding myself in a restaurant with few veggie selections and PANIC. I don't like causing a scene or to draw extra attention to myself. So, I would order a seafood dish or a vegetarian dish. After this, it seemed futile to attempt veganism again, since i've already eaten meat or dairy.

At this point in my life, I hadn't read much about veganism, and the things that I had read were from organizations like PETA and Vegan Outreach. The message that I got from these organizations was that it was okay to be 99% vegan. This was really confusing to me. It seemed reasonable enough, but it just didn't make much sense. Another thing that was strange to me were PETA's campaigns against veal, foie gras and fur. Sure, those things are awful, but I didn't understand why they would pick those items over dairy, meat and leather. I'm not blaming these organizations for my lack of commitment; I'm saying their messages are inconsistent and confusing, and if you're lazy, you don't look too hard for more information.

About a year or so ago, I picked up 'Vegan Freak' by Jenna and Bob Torres and my perception of veganism changed drastically. They made it seem easy to be vegan. This book led to reading more about veganism, and ultimately, a real understanding of what it means to be vegan. Every day I am taking a stand against animal abuse. Every day I am a constant reminder to people that they do not need to eat nor wear animals to exist happily in the world.

It's not hard to be vegan. I don't feel deprived. I've tried so many different types of food now. I can cook now! It doesn't kill me to suggest a vegan-friendly restaurant or to send food back to the kitchen. I can take as many shitty vegan jokes you can think of. It all comes down to me living a life I can be proud of.


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Monday, October 15, 2007

today sucks

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and these are the things i suck at.

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Sunday, October 14, 2007

ha ha!

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i just had to post something to get the scary post to go away. maybe tomorrow i'll post something with words, about how i feel and make it very long and insightful. you will be touched and forever changed.

ew.

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this really freaks me out.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Journey. Not the band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTMzPpwc36M


(okay. I couldn't resist.) (god. i love this song.)


I am going to have to remember to not blog when I am feeling crazy. The problem with the Kate Spade planner... solved. I just bought a cheap fabric planner. Craziness like that kept me from committing to veganism for a long time. I thought that I would have to be perfect from the second I proclaimed my veganism to the world!! Now, I am learning it is a journey.


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more about vegan dogs!


Thanks everyone for the concern that I might be killing my dogs. Dogs are omnivores, which easily allows them to eat all sorts of stuff. I've talked to my vet (who is a hunter and omnivore himself) and he is confident that a vegan diet is healthy. He said that Westies (Darby) are prone to skin allergies and a vegan diet is BETTER for him.

Look at him!! Tell me he doesn't look happy!!!!!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

pregan items?

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Last spring I went through all of my clothes, shoes and handbags and got rid of about 90% of my leather and wool items. It was awesome! As time went by, non-vegan things would surface and I would give them away. BUT THEN!!! I found my old Kate Spade day planner, it's the perfect size, satin on the outside but LEATHER on the inside. I bought it years and years ago, and I think I'm just going to use it until it wears out. I've spent a lot of time debating this with myself.

So, I'm wondering.... is there anyone else out there still using their pregan items? Or am I just being unethical? Or am I just being too hard on myself? Or am I just obsessing about this? Or ....

Saturday, October 6, 2007

whew!

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This afternoon, I was thrown a bridal shower. Initially, this scared the hell out me. It turned out really well. I now have a years supply of lacy things and the Kitchen Aid pots and pans I've had my eye on forever! (thanks New Mom and Mom!)

But the best thing was that EVERYONE LOVED THE FOOD!! We served a platter of veggie sushi, a kick-ass green salad, roasted nuts, tons of hummus and crackers and Amy's Roasted Vegetable pizza. For dessert my mom made strawberry tarts and banana bread. MMMM! :) Everyone filled their plates up and went back for seconds. My mom (bless her heart) explained to everyone about veganism and it was the cutest thing. At one point, she asked me to show everyone the 'vegan' tattoo on my wrist to show how dedicated I was.

And now, I'm drinking the gifted wine from the gifted wine glasses and preparing to use the Victoria's Secret gift cards. Not bad.