I need a little space

I decided I need a little space on the web to share things I come across on the web, mostly regarding food and health. The day after Labor Day 2011, I decided to give eating vegan a try. I thought I’d do it for two months, because I’ve noticed it generally takes my body 6 weeks or so to adjust to major changes and show positive improvements.

Boy, am I glad I got that one wrong!

It was maybe three or four days into eating completely vegan — no cheese (WUT?!?). no meat, no cheese, no milk, no eggs and did I mention no cheese — that I realized I felt fantastic! No gastric reflux. No general yuck feelings. My arthritis a little less painful. Four days to make a difference. So it got me thinking that maybe I could and should just go vegan forever.

Now, I am doing this mostly for health, but I am also very aware of the animal rights issues. I don’t think there’s anything outright wrong with eating meat. I believe humans are genetic omnivores. But our food production system requires that animals be tortured and poisoned merely for profit. That’s where I have issues. Big, big issues.

Some people will argue that vegan diet is not natural. I don’t see what that matters. What we have done to this planet in terms of making it toxic and radioactive, what we do to animals to serve them up in plastic wrap on styrofoam … that sure ain’t natural, either. To me, a vegan diet is a reactionary diet. And I have no problem with that whatsoever.

So that’s the mission statement. From time to time, I might post stuff that’s political or about cats, pretty much the things that keep me going these days. But I will try to focus mostly on recipes, blogs, collections of information, nutrition, etc…

Feel free to visit me on Facebook — I may start a page soon, dedicated to vegan recipes for one, since I don’t expect my family to give up meat unless they want to. If not, just look for Janet Naylor Vandenabeele and send me a message. I’m happy to friend just about anyone, but beware, I may send you a basket of cranberries or a cow if I think you’re one of my hundreds of gamer friends (mostly Cafe World and FarmVille these days).