Clean up your diet, clean up the Earth.

April 22, 2010 we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Now more than ever it's important for people to recognize our Mother Earth and the damage we are doing to her. Climate Change is quite possibly one of the most critical issues facing us today. Climate change is responsible for hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme heat and cold, and many other extreme weather events. It's undeniable that human actions are directly responsible for a vast majority of climate change, and it's becoming more and more evident that we hold the key to healing the planet and that key is our dinner plate. As Danielle Nierenberg from Worldwatch Institute stated in the newly released book Gristle, "When it comes to our food, reducing or eliminating animal products is one of the most effective ways individuals can fight climate change."

So, what exactly is it about meat that's contributing to climate change? In a word, shit. That's right all of that shit that piles up from intensive factory farming. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 500 million tons of shit each year. That's THREE TIMES the amount of waste produced by humans. As a matter of fact, one CAFO (factory farm) can produce more waste in a year than an entire city full of people. All of that shit isn't only polluting the air with methane and nitrous oxide (which has 300 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide!!), but it's also polluting the surface and ground water. As a matter of fact, the EPA states that the agriculture sector is "the leading contributor to identified water quality impairments in the nations rivers and streams, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs."

Animal agriculture is actually the leader in green house gas emissions. First, even before the transportation sector including all cars, trucks, buses, planes and trains. Forty-one MILLION tons of carbon dioxide is contributed annually by fertilizer production for feed crops. This isn't including the CO2 emissions from the transportation of these crops, and the operation of these intensive agriculture operations.

In addition to water pollution and air pollution, intensive animal agriculture also contributes to the destruction of the rain forests, particularly in Brazil. In the year 200o 58.7 million hectacres of the Brazilian rain forest were lost to graze cattle and grow feed crops. To make matters worse, the Brazilian rain forest isn't being depleted to feed hungry Brazilians, it's being depleted to feed overweight, gluttonous Americans. Destruction of the rain forests has resulted in irreversible loss of plant and animal species and loss of biodiversity of this delicate ecosystem.

These are only a few of the environmental concerns when it comes to our intensive consumption of animals and animal products. If we are really going to make a difference in climate change we MUST change the way we eat. Adopting a "green" lifestyle is significant, but we will not be able to sustain our meat consumption much longer, the time to act is now! For the sake of future generations, we have NO CHOICE but to change the way we feed ourselves.

This Earth Day, make a commitment to begin eliminating animal products from your diet. Do what REALLY counts to heal our planet, and then celebrate the many joys of being vegan on Earth Day 2011!!!!

Hippity Hoppity

Easter's just around the corner, and as a vegan parent that can make you nearly as frightened as Halloween and Valentine's Day. From school parties to well meaning family members, candy centered holidays mean constant vigilance about what your child puts into her mouth. You'll be on a constant watch for Cadbury eggs and Peeps that find their way into your house, hoping to find and toss them before your kidlets realize you've taken away their booty.

Fortunately, as veganism makes it's way into the consciousness of more people, our vegan children can enjoy the holiday in a chocolate and sugar induced mania along with the rest of their friends. With vegan versions of chocolate bunnies, Peeps, and other traditional Easter candies, vegan children needn't miss any of the special treats that traditionally fill Easter baskets. Check out some of these great items to fill your child's basket this year:

Sweet and Sara: Makers of deliciously addicting vegan marshmallows bring to you Marshmallow Chicks and Bunnies (Peepers and Skippers) as well as chocolate decorated marshmallow Easter Eggs.

Divvies: In addition to being vegan, all Divvies treats are made in a dedicated allergen free facility. For Easter they offer 4 oz chocolate bunnies and pastel Easter Jelly Beans. The chocolate bunnies are made in limited supply, so order soon to get one before they are gone.

Peanut Free Planet: Because of Teeny's allergies, I spend a lot of time around candy based holidays researching and finding safe treats for her. Not all of the products on Peanut Free Planet are vegan, but many of them are. These adorable chocolate baby bunnies for instance are completely vegan, as are these totally sweet Easter Egg Lollipops.

There are, of course, many other vegan candies that will fill an Easter basket nicely. Or, if you are so inclined you could try your hand at this veganized version of the famous Cadbury Creme Eggs. I haven't tried this recipe personally (this might be the year), but I've read many people's absolute ravings on their success, so if you are feeling ambitious give it a go. Or better yet, create your own new, favorite, vegan Easter candy.

And let's not forget, a chocolate bunny, or a few cute Peepers and Skippers will be more than enough candy in the kidlets' baskets. I often fill baskets with stickers, temporary tattoos, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, crayons, coloring books, etc. Point is, an Easter basket can and will be just as fun sans oodles of teeth rotting sweets.

In addition to dealing with the barrage of non vegan candy making it's way into your kidlets grubby little hands, there's the extra special bonus that Easter provides.............the opportunity to be the freaky family that denies their children the opportunity to turn hard boiled eggs a multitude of pastels. Don't fret, it's not a big deal, in my pre-vegan experience children bore quickly of dunking eggs in food dye anyway, so there's really nothing lost. Replace this tradition with a new one that you create. Last year we made these "clay" eggs and painted them. Not only was it great fun, we now have keepsakes for years to come.

Holiday's as a vegan don't have to be stressful, with a little thought and a little organization your vegan holiday will be as special and rewarding as your vegan lifestyle. You can celebrate this Easter season and revel in the knowledge that you are celebrating this holiday of new life in a caring, kind, and compassionate way.

How are food and yoga related?

If you keep up with the social networking sites and you follow anyone who is in anyway involved with yoga, chances are you saw the New York Times article last week titled When Chocolate and Chakras Collide. This little article moved through the internet like a wild fire through a dry forest. Food is always a big issue when it comes to yoga, it's one thing that no one can seem to agree on. What should we eat, when should we eat, does it all even matter?

This particular article put a new spin on the whole yoga/food debate. Should yoga and food be combined? Is the mat a place to share a meal or is it just a sweaty piece of equipment, a tool of the trade? Can sharing a meal after a yoga class be a sensual experience? Should it be? These were all questions raised by the article and discussed amongst the yoga community.

The thing that struck me first about this article wasn't really about the article at all. What I first noticed was that this was posted on Facebook pages, and tweeted on Twitter innumerable times throughout the day , and everyone seemed to want to know everyone else's opinion on the subject, but no one seemed to want to give their own. Things like yoga and food are taboo, but why? Food is a part of our lives, an important part of our lives. The foods we eat, how we prepare them and how they effect us physically and energetically are as important to our yoga practice as asana. However, for many of us we are either uncomfortable with some aspect of our food intake, and therefore avoid talking about it. Or, we are too comfortable with it and don't want to be forced to look at our habits differently. Discussions about food are often seen as judgemental, sort of a “who's yogi-er than who” contest. That's simply not the case. Speaking about food, our choices and why we choose them is just another form of practicing satya with one another. If we are truthful with ourselves and others no conversations are uncomfortable.

But, I digress, back to this article........can food and yoga be mixed? And, does it matter what we eat?

Yoga and food can most definitely be mixed, in my opinion. Both food and yoga are nourishing physically and spiritually. Food that is prepared in a mindful, compassionate, and loving way fills a person with compassionate, loving energy. After all, food is energy, both physically in the form of fuel for our bodies, but also energetically in the form of Prana. Food is also a way of community building. Community is an important means of support for our spiritual growth. Growing is hard and it's best done with the support and guidance of others.

I don't really think there's much debate on whether food and yoga can be mixed. I think the real issue presented in this article is this, should food and yoga be mixed as a means to draw more people to yoga, and to essentially make money. As David Romanelli, founder of the “Yoga for Foodies” series puts it, “It’s a way of getting people in the door,” he said in an interview. “The world is a better place if people do yoga. And if they come because chocolate or wine is involved, I’m fine with it.” I don't disagree that the World would indeed be a better place if more people did yoga, but I don't believe that's the motivation here. Bringing someone to yoga under false pretenses, doesn't serve the yoga community as a whole. People will find yoga when they are ready, and they will find it for the right reasons, not because someone gave them a piece of chocolate cake and a glass of wine when they were finished. Indeed, Mr. Romanelli even admits in the article that he saw yoga as a business opportunity before a spiritual one. “The “yoga industry” now represents about $6 billion in annual spending by American consumers on classes, videos, mats and apparel like the $158 Apres Yoga jacket at the upscale chain Lululemon, according to Yoga Journal magazine”. Yoga is not an industry, you don't need special apparel, special equipment, or any other material things to follow a yogic lifestyle. This article is just another commentary on the American bastardization of what yoga really is.

This article goes on to discuss what has most definitely become a hot button issue in yoga communities. What foods should a yogi eat? Can a person practice yoga and continue to eat meat? I guess the answer to that question is both yes, and no.

I believe that a person can indeed practice yoga, and eat meat. However, I don't believe that you can fully embrace and understand the true liberation, the true freedom that yoga offers if you are yourself enslaving other beings. We must liberate others in order to experience liberation ourselves.

There are some rather “famous” yogis who openly admit to eating meat. One such yogi, Sadie Nardini is quoted in this article as saying, “Nowhere is it written that only vegetarians can do yoga,” she said in an interview. “We do not live in the time of the founding fathers of yoga, and we don’t know what they wanted us to eat.” Indeed, we don't know what foods the founding fathers of yoga prescribed. However, we know quite clearly that they prescribed ahimsa, non-violence. Ahimsa is viewed by many to be the cornerstone of the yoga practice. Given the modern methods of farming and meat production anyone would be hard pressed to say that it wasn't a violent industry. Whether someone realizes it or not, if they participate in eating meat they are contributing to and encouraging this violence. Not ahimsa by any stretch of the imagination.

This doesn't mean that I think one can't or shouldn't practice yoga if they eat meat. I think everyone should practice yoga. I do however think that one should see this for what it is and stop kidding themselves into believing it's something it's not. Excuses only hold us back from growth. Yoga after all is about refining ourselves and getting closer to god. If one isn't doing the hard work of self examination, and admitting his faults, then it seems wrong to call himself a yogi. You can't live yoga and still keep all of your old habits. Words have definitions for a reason, and we can't just change the definition of ahimsa to suit our meat eating. Ahimsa is the practice of non-violence. Slaughtering animals for unnecessary food is violent. Period.

We have no problem noticing, admitting to, and attempting to change our other faults. Take satya, truthfulness, for instance. None of us would try to change what satya means in order to keep telling non-truths. Instead, we admit that we are human, we recognize and admit that we've made mistakes, and we try our best next time to do the right thing. This doesn't seem to be the case with meat eating. This is a habit so deeply ingrained in us that we can't even detach from it enough to admit that it may not jive with our chosen path.

Speaking of satya, you could examine the meat eating habit as it relates to any number of the yamas and niyamas and see that eating meat is contrary to these important precepts that have been given to us.

Let's look. Satya, truthfulness. We are not being honest with ourselves or others when we refuse to do the self examination necessary to see our meat eating as wrong. Asteya, non-stealing. When we eat animals we not only steal from them parts of their bodies, their babies (in the case of the dairy industry), and their lives. We steal from them their very life purpose. Animals are sentient beings. They all have a life that matters to them. Bramacharya, conservation or redirection of vital energy, or moderation. Our meat eating, and indeed our eating in general, is anything but moderate. Meat is an absolutely unnecessary part of our diets. If we are eating in moderation, following bramacharya, we eat only what we need. Eating the flesh of stressed and scared animals also steals from us our prana (vital life force). Aparigraha, non-greed. If we really examine the reasons why we eat meat we will see that what it all boils down to is greed. We like the way animals taste, we like the way cheese tastes, and therefore we continue to consume them, no matter what the cost. Saucha, purity. Saucha is about purifying our bodies through mindfulness. It's an opportunity for us to consider the foods we put in our bodies. Our food should nourish and sustain us, not weigh us down and fill us with the stressed and terrified energy that we take in when we consume the meat of a slaughtered animal. Santosha, contentment. This refers to appreciating the qualities of our life without greedy desires. Again, taking us back to Aparigraha, the practice of non-greed. Tapas, self-discipline. Breaking old habits is hard. Avoiding animal products and living outside the status quo is a practice in self discipline. Swadhyaya, self study. In order to reach samadhi we must embark on a journey of self study and refinement. Examining the attachment to meat and why we are so reluctant to give it up is in itself a practice of swadhyaya.

So, yes, while we may never know exactly what the founding fathers wanted us to eat, we do know the way in which they wanted us to behave. Eating animal flesh, especially in this day and age is certainly not a behavior that aligns with the founding fathers intentions.

Faking It.

Recently on Twitter there was a Tweet that went something like this......if wearing fur is morally wrong then isn't wearing faux fur and propagating the idea of fur wearing just as wrong? This simple statement then lead naturally to the question of replacing your leather goods with pleather. And not surprisingly it lead to the questioning of the morality of eating fake meats. There is always chatter of this sort going around in the vegan community, sort of like a "how vegan are you" contest. Are you vegan enough that you don't wear clothing resembling animal skins or eat anything that's meant to resemble a hamburger? Perhaps you shouldn't even call yourself a vegan if you do. This crazy idea about which vegans are the most vegan goes on constantly.

I say, enough with the names, enough with the "I'm more vegan than you" attitude, a vegan is a vegan is a vegan. I do believe that veganism is more than a diet. I do believe that veganism is a lifestyle of awareness and compassion. I don't believe that vegans are or should be perfect. If you don't wear or eat animals or their secretions, if you don't use products that were produced through animal testing or with animal ingredients, and if your intent is to cause as little harm to animals, the environment, and yourself as possible then you are a vegan. Let's face it, if your intentions are good but you aren't a "perfect" vegan it doesn't make me any less vegan, so why should I care what you call yourself?

But I digress, now on to the issues at hand. Is it contradictory, or "unvegan" as it were, to wear faux fur and pleather and to eat meat analogs? Honestly, and maybe unpopularly, I don't think so. I've not ever been one to wear fur or even want to wear fur, so faux fur isn't really a huge draw for me. But if you like the look of fur I don't see anything wrong with wearing the faux variety (that is assuming of course your faux fur isn't made with dog fur; you can read more about that here). Pleather is hard to avoid. I mean, if you want to ever wear anything other than canvas sneakers then you pretty much don't have a choice (and canvas sneakers won't keep your feet too warm or dry in this snow and ice). As for meat analogs, I don't see the big deal. It's not meat so really, why does it matter. I mean if I'm honest, I didn't stop eating meat and wearing leather because I all of a sudden decided I didn't like the taste of a hamburger or that leather was "so last year". I don't avoid these things because I dislike them, I avoid them because I disapprove of them. They are cruel, inhumane, and absolutely unnecessary to my survival. So what if I miss the taste of a cheeseburger or like the look of a sexy pair of black knee high boots. I don't consume them and THAT'S THE POINT. Becoming vegan wasn't about thinking that cheese was the most disgusting tasting thing on the face of the Earth. As a matter of fact, I think cheese tastes pretty darn good. Becoming vegan was about becoming unselfish, it was about putting my own selfish desires aside and living my values.

So, if you want to fake it go for it. Get that faux fur trimmed coat, buy those sexy patent pleather heels, and find the tastiest, juiciest vegan burger you can find. It's your intent that counts. If fake fur, fake leather and fake meat and cheese help someone give up their more cruel counterparts we, the vegan community, should be happy about that. Any means to a less cruel society is still a means to a less cruel society.

Should there be so many??

As the Vegan Examiner for Louisville I just published an article describing the many classifications of a vegetarian diet. It seems that as the popularity of vegetarianism has grown, the number of classifications has grown as well. There's a category of "vegetarian" diet to fit nearly any diet you choose. There's vegan to describe a person who consumes and utilizes nothing derived from an animal to flexitarian which describes a person who actually includes all foods in their diet.......but still, the label identifies them as vegetarian.

My question is this; should there be so many labels. Shouldn't the term vegetarian describe a person who only consumes plant based foods? Why does there seem to be such a need to identify as a vegetarian? Is it perhaps because people realize (either consciously or unconsciously) that consuming animal flesh and secretions is inherently wrong? Is it because people recognize that a plant based diet is better for their health? Is it because they realize that a plant based diet is more sustainable?

My personal opinion is that the myriad labels be dropped, that there be one term. I prefer that the word vegetarian describes a person who does not consume animal flesh, animal secretions, or the result of animal labor (honey), and animal slaughter (gelatin). I feel that the word vegetarian looses it's meaning when we begin to add those that eat fish, or those that sometimes consume meat (flexitarian). Vegetarianism should be a lifestyle of health, compassion and sustainability, period.

Share your thoughts.

Diet and Yoga

As a yogini every aspect of my life is approached with a yogic attitude. Yoga is indeed a lifestyle for me that goes beyond asana, pranayama and meditation. Each moment of each day is a practice of my yoga. We are faced with a plethora of choices on a daily basis, some we act on, some we don't, but there is not one thing we choose more times in one day than the food we eat. It's something we all do, every single day, preferably 3 or more times a day. Food and diet gives us an opportunity each morning, afternoon, and evening to live our yoga. Yoga promotes a healthy body, mind and spirit and without proper nutrition our full potential will not be reached.

In yogic philosophy there are 3 gunas. The gunas are the earthly qualities that bind our spirit to our body. The gunas represent an attitude that can be applied to everything in our life. The three gunas are tamas (the quality of being sluggish or lethargic), rajas (the quality of being over stimulating or over active), and sattva (the quality of being pure, relaxed and clear). These 3 qualities can be evident in all of our choices, from the food we eat to the way we approach our jobs.

In Ayurvedic medicine foods are classified with regard to their guna. Sattvic foods are foods that are wholesome. They keep us centered, and peaceful. Sattvic foods keep us nourished and energized. Examples of sattvic foods would be organic fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and grasses. Rajasic foods are foods that are stimulating to the nervous system. They create an unbalanced effect on the body-mind-spirit connection. This category includes coffee, sugar, tea, tobacco, flesh foods and oily or fried foods. Also included in this category are onions and garlic. While these are both very healthful foods they produce a stimulating effect on the body. Tamasic foods are foods that detract from our health and pollute the body. These are stale, spoiled, decaying, highly processed, and chemically treated. Tamasic foods create an unbalanced energy state within our bodies.

Asana practice teaches us to cultivate mindfulness. We learn to still the mind and allow ourselves to become one with the moment. This is easy to do on the mat, as we twist, turn and contort our bodies it's hard for the mind to be anywhere else. The challenge comes when we move our practice off of our mat. Remaining open, aware, and mindful as we go about our daily lives isn't always easy. There's no better place to start than with the activity you do more often than any other, eating.

As you cultivate awareness around your meals you will begin to notice the subtle energy shifts that occur within you based on your food choices. You will notice that when you include more sattvic foods you feel energetic, full of life, and ready to take on your day. When you fill your body with tamasic foods you will feel sluggish, lethargic and inert. With this increased awareness of your subtle energies you will naturally begin to make smarter and healthier food choices. As the mind becomes centered, peaceful, and clear you will be able to continually evaluate the quality of your diet, and start to question and possibly abandon some of your food addictions that are detracting from your full potential.