new member--Whimsy T

[Guest guest]

On Feb 14, 2006, at 3:48 PM, Moderator wrote:

 

1) What is your name or what would you like to be called? Call me

anything but late for dinner! (I couldn't resist!)

 

2) How old are you (roughly)? Yeah, it's been rough going for about 49

years now, but 2006 is going to be a GOOD year!

 

3) Where do you live (what country - what town, city or region)? I am

unfortunately currently stuck in St. Louis. I have lived many other

places, and hope to move from here to either the east coast/New England

area of Pacific Northwest coast as soon as it is financially possible

to do so.

 

4) How long have you been a vegetarian/vegan? I was a vegetarian for 3

years back in the early '80's. After 20 years of omnivorous eating, I

just became vegan 3 weeks ago. I was surprised at how simple it was for

me. No regrets at all. I became vegan as the result of 4 concurrent

life experiences:

(1.) Too many family losses, including a 49 year old brother-in-law and

a 52 year old sister-in-law, plus my own 49 year old brother nearly

dying of wet gangrene and a diabetic coma, as well as having to make

the painful decision to put down our 14 year old Pomeranian. All of

these events happened within 6 months in 2005. Losing our dog made me

realize how precious life is, and that animals are loving, sentient

beings with personality and intelligence, souls and the ability to feel

pain, fear, and torture. It suddenly made no sense to me why I call

some animals pets and other animals dinner. (2.) Then as I continued to

worry about my health issues, I began to read and do research on any

nutritional connections to my health. Afterall, desperate times call

for desperate measures. I do not want to die tomorrow, and with my

severe hypertension, horrible blood lipids, blood sugar problems,

fibromyalgia pain and fatigue, menstrual problems, migraines, etc., and

all the suddden deaths/near deaths of family members who were 49 to 52

years old, I realized that I am a prime candidate not just for death,

but for a terrible quality of life. And I was surprised at what the

research shows. I read the book The China Study by T. Colin Campbell,

and knew there was no other option but to become vegan. It is an

excellent book that I highly recommend. (3.) My spirituality compelled

me to become vegan. I could no longer ethically justify the raising

and slaughter of innocent animals for my palate, when all of my

nutritional needs can easily and safely be met within a vegan diet and

a vitamin B supplement. (4.) When I read that the environmental impact

(i.e. global warming and such) of factory farming causes more harm that

our cars (and I drive a hybrid), I knew that for the sake of the earth

I could no longer condone factory farming.

 

In light of all that, there was simply no other ethical, moral choice

for me than to become vegan.

 

5) What is your favourite (vegetarian) food or meal? I don't know yet.

I still need some vegan cookbooks and time to experiment in the

kitchen.

 

6) How did you find this group? search for vegan

 

7) Is there anything specific you want to get out of the group?

Connecting with others on the vegetarian path who are also looking at

weight issues; sharing recipes; support since my partner is totally

anti-vegetarian and refuses to even try an occasional meatless meal. My

partner believes that if it isn't a slab of meat, it isn't protein!

 

8) Tell us a few of your favourite things. Chocolate. My two

Pomeranians and two cats. Art. Hebrew (studying and teaching it). My

laptop Mac. Chocolate. Cooking. Crocheting. Gaining control of my

health issues by eating a vegan diet. Did I mention chocolate?

 

 

I look forward to being a contributing member of this list.

 

WhimsyT

[Guest guest]

On Feb 19, 2006, at 2:48 PM, taylor wrote:

>

> 3) Where do you live (what country - what town, city or region)? I am

> unfortunately currently stuck in St. Louis. I have lived many other

> places, and hope to move from here to either the east coast/New England

> area of Pacific Northwest coast as soon as it is financially possible

> to do so.

 

Understandable. I've never been to Missouri, but I have been to the

south and found it to be one of the harder places to eat as a

vegetarian.

 

> 4) How long have you been a vegetarian/vegan? I was a vegetarian for 3

> years back in the early '80's. After 20 years of omnivorous eating, I

> just became vegan 3 weeks ago. I was surprised at how simple it was for

> me. No regrets at all. I became vegan as the result of 4 concurrent

> life experiences:

> (1.) Too many family losses, including a 49 year old brother-in-law and

> a 52 year old sister-in-law, plus my own 49 year old brother nearly

> dying of wet gangrene and a diabetic coma, as well as having to make

> the painful decision to put down our 14 year old Pomeranian. All of

> these events happened within 6 months in 2005. Losing our dog made me

> realize how precious life is, and that animals are loving, sentient

> beings with personality and intelligence, souls and the ability to feel

> pain, fear, and torture. It suddenly made no sense to me why I call

> some animals pets and other animals dinner.

 

I'm sorry to hear about all of your losses last year. It's often

moments like that that force us to re-evaluate our lives, and it's

great that you've used this to see areas in which you can make positive

changes.

 

> (2.) Then as I continued to

> worry about my health issues, I began to read and do research on any

> nutritional connections to my health. Afterall, desperate times call

> for desperate measures. I do not want to die tomorrow, and with my

> severe hypertension, horrible blood lipids, blood sugar problems,

> fibromyalgia pain and fatigue, menstrual problems, migraines, etc., and

> all the suddden deaths/near deaths of family members who were 49 to 52

> years old, I realized that I am a prime candidate not just for death,

> but for a terrible quality of life. And I was surprised at what the

> research shows. I read the book The China Study by T. Colin Campbell,

> and knew there was no other option but to become vegan. It is an

> excellent book that I highly recommend. (3.) My spirituality compelled

> me to become vegan. I could no longer ethically justify the raising

> and slaughter of innocent animals for my palate, when all of my

> nutritional needs can easily and safely be met within a vegan diet and

> a vitamin B supplement. (4.) When I read that the environmental impact

> (i.e. global warming and such) of factory farming causes more harm that

> our cars (and I drive a hybrid), I knew that for the sake of the earth

> I could no longer condone factory farming.

>

> In light of all that, there was simply no other ethical, moral choice

> for me than to become vegan.

 

It's good to see a new vegan who's aware of all of the effects meat has

on our world. I remember being shocked about all of that when I first

started looking into vegetarianism. I had just had problems with the

idea of eating animals, it had never occurred to me that there were

also environmental implications to what I was eating.

 

> 5) What is your favourite (vegetarian) food or meal? I don't know yet.

> I still need some vegan cookbooks and time to experiment in the

> kitchen.

 

I can't think of any good vegan cookbooks off the top of my head

(although I'm sure other members can) but you can always look in the

recipes portion of our files section for vegan recipes. There's no

specific folder for vegan recipes, but many of the recipes are marked

" vegan. "

 

> 6) How did you find this group? search for vegan

>

> 7) Is there anything specific you want to get out of the group?

> Connecting with others on the vegetarian path who are also looking at

> weight issues; sharing recipes; support since my partner is totally

> anti-vegetarian and refuses to even try an occasional meatless meal. My

> partner believes that if it isn't a slab of meat, it isn't protein!

 

My husband's not a vegetarian either, although he isn't an

anti-vegetarian.

 

I've found that most non-vegetarians are reluctant to try soy and fake

meat. It's easier to get them to eat vegan meals by starting with

things that aren't necessarily associated with meat. Pasta dishes,

vegetable stir-fries, et cetera. My husband has been willing to try

fake meat but hates almost all of it. He has gotten into cooking

vegetable stir-fries though. My father-in-law came over for one and

said it was the first vegetarian meal he'd ever had. But of course it

wasn't, he's had meals that didn't include meat in them many times

before. He was just thinking about it more because he was in our house.

 

It's none of my business, but do you live with your partner? And if so,

who does most of the cooking? Whether you live together or not, does he

expect you to cook meat if you're cooking for him?

 

> 8) Tell us a few of your favourite things. Chocolate. My two

> Pomeranians and two cats. Art. Hebrew (studying and teaching it). My

> laptop Mac. Chocolate. Cooking. Crocheting. Gaining control of my

> health issues by eating a vegan diet. Did I mention chocolate?

 

I'm a Mac person too. And a chocolate person. Cutting down on chocolate

has been one of the harder things I've done in my quest to be slimmer.

But it's important to work on, and I imagine it would be even more

important with the blood sugar problems you mentioned.

 

> I look forward to being a contributing member of this list.

 

And we look forward to your contributions.

 

Welcome,

 

Haras the Wonder Frog (co-moderator)

Princess of the Sandwiches

 

] " To forget a friend is sad, not everyone

] has had a friend. " - Antoine de Saint-Exupery