For the vegan, the fact that he has to supplement his lack of animal product proves him omnivorous.
His recognition of this fact makes him an intelligent being.
His exercising of it makes him a compassionate one.
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A few weeks ago, I watched "Food, Inc." It had an immediate effect on me, but traditionally this sensation is short-lived and doesn't really make much of a difference to me in the long run. I did, for a few weeks, focus more on eating healthy food; avoiding the heavily processed stuff, junk food, and fast food. I ate a lot less meat in that time even though my vegetarian wife has been out of town working on her internship, which you'd think would provide me an opportunity to indulge my hamburger or steak cravings.
In any case, last week I finally did cave. I hadn't eaten any junk food in a long while, and I hadn't drunk any soda. While sitting and playing video games one evening (the opportune time - when I'm sitting on my ass), I decided a can of Dr. Pepper and a quarter of a bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos was a good idea. That sat surprisingly well with me for the rest of the evening. However, morning came, and things were not quite the same.
My mouth was dry but oily. My stomach was churning. I had a pounding headache and felt like I'd become the guy from "Supersize Me" two weeks into the project. I almost didn't go to work.
Later that day, I strongly considered fasting for a while, just to totally cleanse myself of toxins. I wanted to start exercising, too, but realized after very brief thinking that I'd be putting way too many eggs in one basket.
After reading Michael Pollan's book, Food Rules, I decided a vegan diet seemed reasonable. I've been trying it out for almost a week now, and I actually feel pretty awesome. I've been eating veggie stir fry mixed with lotsa nuts, drinking some Naked Juice and soy milk every day, and eating a bunch of raw produce. I'm also drinking a glass of red wine every day (though I mix it with some juice to sangria it up a bit, since I really don't like wine alone).
Although I'm going with the vegan diet, I can't say I totally lived the lifestyle. I still wear my Italian leather jacket, and I was taking a fish oil supplement capsule daily for the healthy benefits. The jacket I've had for years - I don't see my continued use of it as any harm; the fish oil supplement I just don't see as being necessary, and I don't think it's harvested as harmlessly as something like overproduced honey from bees.
All in all, I'm happy with how this is going. I am only 5-6 days in; we'll see how it goes over the next few weeks.
~A
bitchin'
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