“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian.” -Paul McCartney

I am grateful that on a soul level, I was born a vegetarian. I loved and respected animals as a young child, even though I was raised in a meat eating family in the middle of Kansas! I remember getting violently ill, after eating a bite of roast when I was 6 years old, which lead me to stop eating beef and pork. Unfortunately for the chickens, I continued to eat them until my late 20’s. However my 21 year old cat, Samantha, helped me see the light that stopped me in my tracks from eating meat once and for all. Samantha was dying from kidney failure and I made the choice to end her suffering, by having my vet put her out of her toxic misery. As I held her precious body in my arms, because I wanted my face to be the last thing she saw before passing on from this life, to more life, I watched as the Vet pricked her frail body with the needle and in an instant I felt her soul leave her body. In that defining moment, I felt in my heart the deepest connection to all animal souls and that I had no right to be eating them, so I made the conscious decision to stop eating all forms of meat once and for all.

I am a vegan first and foremost for the animals, for their protection and safety, to help them live their lives free of pain and suffering. I do not feel God put them on the planet to live a life of confinement, fear, pain and being slaughtered, so that people can get their “protein” fix for the day. Plants, nuts, beans, vegetables and even rice, believe it or not, have protein. Plus the human body does not need as much protein as the media would like to convince us. Excess animal protein in your diet can lead to cancer, kidney stones, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.

When I shifted from being vegetarian to vegan, by eliminating dairy and eggs from my diet, my body began to heal itself of acne, allergies and asthma. Why my doctors never asked me about my diet, is beyond me … Instead they gave me lots of prescriptions for these conditions, when all I really needed to do was change my diet!

Going vegan is great for your health, the animals and the environment! If you can just start by having one vegan meal a day or week and slowly start retraining your taste buds, to the joys of a plant based diet, I trust in time you will begin to crave foods with more prana or life force and not want as much meat that has been stripped of all life force, in the rearing and slaughtering process. Ask your soul what it would like to eat at each meal and really listen to the answers … remember on a soul level we are ALL ONE.

Namaste’ – the divine in me, honors the divine within you and in all beings.

VEGAN RESOURCES:
www.vegan.com – Vegan site
www.farmsanctuary.com – Sanctuary for rescued farm animals in NY and LA
www.animalacres.com – Farm animal rescue in Los Angeles
www.madcowboy.com – Former rancher Howard Lyman’s website
“Quantum Wellness” by Kathy Freston
“The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell
“Eat More, Weigh Less” by Dr. Dean Ornish
“Diet for a New America” by John Robbins
“The Mad Cowboy” by Howard Lyman
“Animal Theology” by Dr. Andrew Linzey