Over the last little while I’ve offered up some tasty vegan morsels for you this Christmas and any Christmas to come. These recipes are good for many other occasions too. For example, the vegan Christmas dinner is one that we use to celebrate many special occasions. From birthdays to Thanksgiving.
I’ve tried to cajole your taste buds and hunger with vegan dessert recipes too. And there are others here that you can browse through and find.
Some of us go vegan for health reasons – it is the healthiest diet after all. And some of us need to go vegan to save ourselves from health conditions that are getting worse.
Many great doctors including Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn have shown you how a plant based whole foods diet can prevent and even reverse heart disease. Many of these same doctors including John McDougall have provided strong evidence that the vegan diet can reverse diabetes and help you eat well while still losing a ton of weight.
These are admirable benefits to embracing the vegan diet. I call them the gifts of veganism. When we stop harming – or allowing other people to harm – animals, we find that we stop harming our own bodies with the flesh of that suffering.
And that brings we to the crux of today’s fireside vegan chat. I want you to consider the millions of reasons to go vegan this Christmas, right now or anytime when you’re ready.
There are literally a million reasons being provided to us every hour to embrace the compassionate lifestyle of veganism.
1,000,000* animals are eaten EVERY hour – in the US alone. And to eat them means to kill them.
I’d ask you to think about that for a moment. Within one day (less than 24 hours) we eat the same numbers of animals as the entire population of the top 10 US cities.
Or put another way, in each hour, Americans eat enough animals that if they represented cities, you’d eat your way through these 6 of the top 10 largest cities in America: Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas or San Jose.
Do we really care so little about sentient life that we can casually slaughter the equivalent number of animals per hour that there are people living in some of the bigger cities in the US?
And not to mention the suffering that is incurred by these feeling beings. The suffering is horrendous and cruel. If you don’t believe me you can search elsewhere to find out.
So to take a moment out of our regular scheduled broadcasting I wanted to ask you.
When it is known that a vegan diet is at LEAST as healthy as an omnivorous diet – according to the American Dietetic Association why not choose a veg*n diet?
If there is no nutritional or health based need to eat animals why be party to the horrendous suffering? Why side with the suffering and slaughter of a million feeling beings per hour?
I know it is out of sight and therefore out of mind. But not any more. I’ve just planted the seed in your mind. Let it blossom into the compassionate flower of veganism. I know it is not easy to give up a way of eating that you’ve been doing your whole life.
I know it will be hard to change the dining experiences with your social circle. But it can be done. There are a lot of vegans in the US who have done it before you. I think it is easier than being party to sticking knives into birds and mammals.
Please take a moment out of the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, greeting guests and cooking Tofurky to think about the real meaning of Christmas.
Even if you aren’t Christian, even if you are atheist or agnostic, Jewish, Buddhist or Muslim the meaning of Christmas is one of fellowship and peace. For a moment, let’s not look at our Holy Books literally, but let us contemplate the themes of the characters within.
Would Jesus care to slaughter his father’s creation for a mere morsel of tasty flesh when such is not required for our health? Would Muhammad?
I ask you to think about the theme of peace this season. Of goodwill. Is it not an abomination that we exact the toll of cruelty from fellow creatures just so that we might eat them? To give them nary any space to forage, to roam, to nurse – to keep them in a cage – does this not put heaven in a rage?
Choose the embrace the reason for this season. Choose to put peace on your plate. Choose to go vegan for Christmas and beyond. I’m here to help.
* Over 9 billion animals slaughtered in the US per year. 9 billion divided by 365 (days per year) then divided by 24 (hours per day)