Vegan Untruths

The other day I was very excited to see the first of the spring artichokes at my local grocer. I started bagging them up, since my family absolutely LOVES artichokes, and the produce woman commented about my purchase. She asked me how I cook and eat them. I replied that I trim them, steam them until tender, then dip the leaves into lemon butter (Earth Balance), or garlic aoli. My youngest son likes to eat them plain, like everything else he eats. The produce woman, mentioned that she could be a vegetarian, but her husband won't "let" her. She said that he is a diehard meat and potatoes kind of guy. I informed her that I was a vegan, and she took a close look at my face and said, "You seem to look okay, I guess it is doing well for you, I mean you don't look bad or anything. Your skin looks good." Huh? I politely smiled, and thanked her for her ummm, "compliment" and went on with my shopping.

This is a perfect example of what is the challenge in educating people about eating a vegan diet. First off, any self respecting person, be it a woman, or man, should never let anyone else dictate to them what they are allowed to eat, with the exception of severely ill people under the care of a physician or dietician. Otherwise, you should perhaps not be with that person, or go shopping for a new backbone because you appear to be spineless. No one is going to tell me what I can or cannot do, that is a sure bet.

Next, the idea that a well balanced vegan diet, containing lots of fruits, veggies, beans & grains should be anything but health maximizing is so past being hard to believe in this day and age that it is ridiculous. I realize that you can be a vegan and eat "junk", after all, potato chips are vegan, but you cannot live that way for too long. We are being told continually by all kinds of authorities, that you should eat a "rainbow" of foods, eat your veggies, eat your fruit, & eat whole grains. No one is telling us to eat saturated fat & cholesterol. A vegan diet has no cholesterol (it is only found in animal products) and is extrememly low in saturated fats.

People need to seriously take charge of their own health and become educated about what is truly healthy and nutritious. They worry about the economy, healthcare reform, and a billion other things. None of it will matter if they are full of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and dozens of other maladies that a vegan diet can help to prevent. We need to work on preventing these diseases of our Standard American Diet, and focus on living long, active, healthy lives so we can enjoy all those things that we worry about instead of our health. Being a vegan eating a well balanced diet will only make your beauty shine, inside and out!