The Vegetarian/Vegan Way

"Auntie was fond of food and when she was offered only a vegetarian diet she was indignant, said she could not eat any old filth, and demanded that they give her meat, chicken. The next time she came to dinner she was astonished to find a live chicken tied to her chair and a large knife at her plate.
'What's this?' asked Auntie.
'You wanted chicken,' Tolstoy replied, scarcely restraining his laughter, 'No one of us willing to kill it. Therefore we prepared everything so that you could do it yourself.'”

- Alexandra Tolstoy, “Tolstoy, A life of My Father”

Good health is the birthright of all living things, not the privilege of a fortunate few.  Good health occurs when we live in harmony with our environment and with all living creatures.  Going against the laws of Nature causes ecological imbalances and deprives us of this most precious gift – our health.

In our daily living, we subject ourselves to so many unnatural and harmful influences that we become dis-eased.  The processed and denaturalized foods we eat stress our digestive system and alter our body’s chemistry.  Our immune system becomes less efficient and our body begins to malfunction.  Poor diet is a time bomb that needs to be defused.  It is true that more and more of us are becoming aware of healthy eating messages; we know that we should increase our daily quota of fruit and vegetables to five portions a day or more, decrease the amount of fat and sugar and choose unrefined foods.  But the messages that we are given are still very confusing and often conflicting.  Because the effects of a poor diet are not immediately felt, many of us still do not see that by modifying our eating habits, our state of health can be greatly improved.  However, when asked how we feel in our everyday lives, the great majority will report feeling not particularly great.  The foods many of us choose to eat dull our senses and our minds.  As for those amongst ourselves who understand the correlation between good food and good health, there is still a long way to go before awareness is turned into action… 

The way we eat is closely linked with the way we live our lives, with the values we hold.  The changes we make in our diet reflect the changes that we undergo as human beings.  Most of us have no idea how a diet based on wonderful healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, grains, and pulses can be, because we have never been given the opportunity to try it.  Vegetables don’t have to be boring; they don’t have to keep doing the supporting role on the plate.  In the Western world, many of us have been brought up on the belief that meat is absolutely essential to our good health and that nothing can replace the quality of its proteins; many of us consider that the consumption of meat is a sign of affluence (the poor cannot afford it), status and conformity.  Studies, however, show that plant foods meet adequately all our requirements for proteins.  But mentalities evolve slowly, and because it is certainly not in the interest of many powerful groups for the world to switch to a plant-based diet, there is still a gaping lack of support for vegetarians in many parts of the world.

Vegetarianism is not just a dietary choice; it is a philosophy and a way of life.  True vegetarians eat plant-based foods, with or without the consumption of eggs and dairy products; they do not eat meat and this include poultry and fish/seafood.  Veganism goes further than vegetarianism.  Vegans are strict vegetarians; they do not eat any animal products, including eggs, dairy, honey, gelatin and avoid articles made out of fur, wool, bone, leather, silk, feather, pearl, etc. for clothes and other purposes.  
Strict adherence to all or to some only of the principles of vegetarianism varies greatly from one person to the next, depending on his/her own set of beliefs, values and state of health.  There are many vegetarian diets and this can be quite confusing.  Lacto vegetarians avoid eating dairy products but not eggs.  Ovo vegetarians eat eggs but not dairy products.  Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat dairy products and eggs but not meat, fish or poultry.  Macrobiotics is a diet consisting mostly of whole grains and beans.  Fruitarianism is a diet consisting of fruits, nuts, seeds and other plant material that can be gathered without harming the plants. 
Many people who consider themselves vegetarians are actually semi-vegetarians.  They may not eat red meat but will eat fish and poultry.  Pesci-vegetarians eat fish but not poultry.  Pollo vegetarians eat poultry but not fish.

Vegetarianism is not a new-age fad diet; it is deeply rooted in the history of certain countries, especially those of the Indian sub-continent.  Although at the origin vegetarianism began because of religious or ethical concerns, many adopt it today because of environmental, economic and health concerns.  Whatever our reasons to follow a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, they are all just as valid and working towards a Happier Planet.  By adopting a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle we can be sure that it will have a rippling effect in the whole community.

Vegetarianism as a Way to Wholeness and Balance