reseaching the crazy vegans

I have the pleasure of a day to myself and decided to spend it researching and reading. ((heaven)) So after sleeping in with the poodle (please pay homage to his cuteness below. What a dear!), I had a breakfast of fresh pineapple and headed to the bookstore to research...(deep breath)...Veganism.

Not anything I EVER thought I would pursue information on. Before you start throwing rocks (or bacon) at me, I am not even vegetarian. But while putting in some well-earned couch time I stumbled upon a documentary on Vegan eating and wanted to see what these crazy people had to say for themselves. And there was some interesting stuff there, some of it I agreed with.

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Basically: I totally agree that fresh fruits,vegs, and whole grains are amazing and delicious and can save your life. So I want to learn how to eat more of them. We eat an excess of the other food groups (meat&dairy) and not enough of the groups that our body needs in larger portions. This backwards eating is making us sick.

Honestly, I couldn't finish reading the information on animal cruelty. It is so hard to wrap my mind around how cruel some people can be just for fun. It made my stomach lurch to read what some of the employees at some meat plants would do to animals for fun. Things that did not involve killing or processing. I think it is fine to kill an animal to eat, but I do not think it is okay to torture and animal to watch it suffer. I don't know that I am ready to jump on a bandwagon and believe that everyone in that industry is a sadist, but some of this information has made me think. To really come to my own conclusion I will need to do some more research.

I know the subject of animal cruelty is somewhat contraversial. How much should we care? Is it right to invest so much energy into an animals rights when people around the world are treated just as cruely all over the world with no advocate? What are your thoughts on the matter?

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I took a break from my reading to try out some healthy food and make a fresh, nutritious lunch. Here's what I came up with.

 Garlic+baby spinach+sliced portobello mushrooms+drizzled with some balsamic vinagrette.

*Finished Product*

The recipe needs a little tweaking. (maybe some extra balsamic...) It wasn't a flavor explosion. But maybe my tastebuds and mind need alittle retraining in what is "good."