Compassionate Eating

How can anyone look at that cute little piggy face and think of food? If you spend much time with animals, you soon realize that they have emotions very similar to ours.

Animals have their own hopes and wishes, as anyone with dogs can attest. Just pick up their leash or say the word “walk” and your canine friends will very clearly let you know their hopes.

Animals love their young, and enjoy hanging out with their companions. They feel fear and they like to play. Animals also mourn the loss of their loved ones, particularly mothers and babies when separated. They feel lonely. And of course they feel physical pain, just as we do.

There is a movement afoot these days promoting “humane” rearing and slaughter of animals for food, but how humane is it, really? It is definitely an improvement over the horrible conditions of factory farms, but ultimately it is just another way of trying to make people feel good about killing animals. The whole industry, no matter how “humane” it claims to be, is entirely unnecessary.

Brainwashed by the Meat and Dairy Industry

We’ve all been brainwashed about the importance of animal protein – and now it’s “healthy fats” that supposedly can only come from animal products, but none of it is actually true.

I had to reprogram my brain with an endless barrage of scientific studies, before I felt sure that a whole foods vegan diet was actually the healthiest option. There was so much conflicting information that it took me years to sort out the facts from the lies promoted by the meat and dairy industry.

I jumped into the vegetarian lifestyle without a second thought, over 50 years ago. No matter what, I just KNEW I wasn’t going to eat animals again – though I eventually made an exception for small amounts of fish.

I was vegan for awhile, but my health began to suffer. Something was missing in my diet. The solution, it seemed, was to add in occasional eggs and fish, though I also went through phases where I cut them out completely. Eggs and fish did supply the Omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin B 12 I was missing, but now I know there are better ways to get those nutrients that don’t involve harming animals.

This was all before the advent of the Internet, so good research was hard to find. I read lots of books on health and diet, and experimented on myself. In retrospect, I realize that experimenting with radical dietary changes wasn’t so good for me, but I learned a lot. Now I can help you avoid the mistakes I made.

A Properly Balanced Vegan Diet Proves to Be Best for Animals and Best for Our Own Health

The vegans I met in my youth were not very healthy, living on extreme macrobiotic, junk food, or fruitarian diets. Plus, vegans got a lot of bad press in nutrition circles, so I was wary of going “all the way.”

I am so glad I kept tracking down the research until I discovered people like Dr. Michael Greger and Anthony William, the Medical Medium. Thanks to them and others, I now know that a whole foods plant-based diet can be the healthiest diet of all.

It turns out that compassionate eating can actually be better for us, as long as we include a variety of whole plant foods, ideally organic, and a couple of essential supplements like vitamin B-12, zinc sulfate, and a few foods that provide the Omega 3 fatty acids that form EPA and DHA.

And when we stay healthy, we will be able to help the animals for a lot longer, as Jeff Novick said so well:

“The animals you are trying to help are counting on you to be there for them. Therefore, dying young or becoming sick and disabled will only reduce your chances of being as helpful as you possibly could. So many animals are counting on you and need you and will die if you are not around to help them. Therefore, if only for their sake, please take care of yourself.” – Jeff Novick, RD

As it turns out in every good story, love always wins. Following our compassionate impulses will lead to:

better health for us
less burden on our medical system
less E. coli and salmonella in our food supply
millions of animals freed from lives of torture
preventing water pollution
less water consumption
lowering carbon in our atmosphere
less clear-cutting of forests
safety for mustangs, burros, and other grazing animals
less rainforest habitat destruction

As we increase our compassion for animals, we will also be more compassionate toward each other. Compassionate eating will make the world a much better place for all beings.

Thanks for doing your part!