January 4, 2014 at 7:02 pm , by Nick Shell
3 years, 1 month.
Dear Jack,
Well, needless to say,“going vegan” and “switching to a plant-based diet” were trendy things to do in 2013.
I speak from personal experience, having taken the animal-free plunge myself back last March; for better or worse, like Scrooge McDuck diving into his pool of gold coins.
(Only my leap of faith makes more logical sense than his.)
Even your Nonna (my mom) recently officially became a “mostly vegan” vegetarian (like you and Mommy are) and has been very excited to cook new recipes for us when we visit.
What was once a ridiculous lifestyle claimed by certain extreme people living on the fringes of society… has now gone mainstream.
After all, the number of American vegans doubled within a recent year and a half span. That’s a huge shift in terms of a micro-trend!
But why? How is the invisible sun (reference to the song by The Police) causing this movement across the country, affecting us normal people who don’t wear hemp underwear or throw red paint on people who wear fur coats?
“Netflix documentaries” would be my personal number one answer; though several of them are available for free on YouTube, as well: Forks Over Knives, Hungry For Change, Vegucated, The Beautiful Truth, Dying To Have Known, Supersize Me, and Food, Inc.
These days, mainstream society is able to be educated, at their own will during their own free time, and learn that despite what we are taught our whole lives about nutrition, the human body does not require the meat, milk, or dairy products of another animal and species in order to be healthy; as long as there is regular access to what I have named “the Big 6” (vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds).
Especially this past decade, I’ve witnessed big companies capitalize on “the hope” of a cure for cancer, by spreading/selling awareness to consumers; while their products often contain carcinogens- which are actually known to cause cancer. (As explained in the Netflix documentary,Pink Ribbons, Inc.)
That approach isn’t for me, though.
Instead, I tend to stick with the forward-thinking of a wise Jewish man who came to America escaping Nazi persecution in Germany; Albert Einstein, whobecame a vegetarian the final year of his life. He said this:
As these “Netflix documentaries” teach, elaborate studies like The China Study show that people who completely, or nearly completely, eliminate animal products from their bodies dramatically (!) reduce the chances of getting cancer and diseases.
It’s like this: When you stop eating animal products, you “turn off” the cancer cells in your body. But eating animal products empowers the cancer cells.
But it’s not just about avoiding cancer and disease. After all, any heckler in the crowd can just say, “Who cares? You know you’re just going to die anyway, right?”
True, but I am a guy who had extreme psoriasis for a decade… and constant sinus pressure and sinus infections for over two decades… and was very allergic to cats… and then saw all those problems go away after becoming a vegan.
Now that I’ve explained my personal motivation for becoming a vegan, I want to explain what didn’t entice me to become a vegan, in the second half of my letter.
To be continued… (Here’s the rest.)
Love,
Daddy
P.S. The pinto quinoa burger (in picture above) recipe Nonna used is from a blog called Goodness Green: Plant-Based Recipes And Wellness.
Family Friendly Daddy Blog 