Animal Rights Activists/Gary Yourofsky & Creating change

artist, Pawel Kuczynski

"As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures, there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together." - Isaac Bashevis Singer 

I have been vegan for a 1/3 of my life, yet I truly haven't exhibited random acts of kindness the way Gary Yourofsky demonstrates his passion for saving animals. Yourofsky of ADAPTT , has liberated 1500 minks soon to be slaughtered at a fur farm; he has chained himself to many objects during protests; and landed many fines/arrests committing random acts of kindness. You can watch Yourofsky's inspirational lecture on animal rights at BEST SPEECH EVER.
I am not aware of many other animals rights activists that have taken the measures Yourofsky has. It is remarkable the efforts Gary has made to create a vision for our future. Recently I came across a group, PALS which protests businesses on profiting off of slaughtered animals. For footage see here PALS vs Whole Foods and PALS vs Chipotle.
The actions of people like this inspires me to step up to the plate. It is unfortunate that many people like me feel threatened by "authority" figures in the process of protest. There is a chance of getting gassed too during protests! Not only protesting, but I would get fined, arrested, and interrogated for writing "KILLING" at the bottom of a Stop sign. Even something as harmless as holding a picket sign saying "COPS ARE RACISTS" would alarm a police officer. 

Founders of 30Bananasaday, Durianrider and Freelee are known for their "abundant" way of eating, for example eating up to 70 bananas a day. Durianrider draws in a large audience through ironic humor and vocalizing his opinions of the corruption within the Raw food community. Durianrider and Freelee have encouraged more people to live the Vegan lifestyle than many of the Vegan activists. Here is a recent interview of Durianrider explaining his vision for a growing Vegan community "PBG Interviews Durianrider".  

For the last two years I have been focusing on Vegans Living Off the Land in an effort to encourage people to live the Raw & Vegan lifestyle as well as living for free. I envision a world where education and information are free, where technology can live in harmony with nature, and all animals can live in peace. 

"Monkeys killing monkeys over pieces of the ground"
 Lets move on from war, enslaving races, slaughtering animals, exploiting the poor and foolish. We pretend we are unique from other people/that we are different from others; but this invokes discrimination and prejudice. Not realizing individuals have the same needs, fears, and desires creates division.

Marshall Rosenberg, an excellent teacher on Non-violent communication, explains in this video how we can radically change our perspective of others by restructuring our language, for example he says, "when can see each others needs we see our oneness-- we then can realize we get more joy contributing to one another's well-being than trying to dominate or compete".

It is in our best interest to create change from within in order to inspire others to do the same. "Nothing can be changed except ourselves" but with the technology revolution, we can provide fast information and education that will enrich a world collectively. 

Protein Myth Debunked ("Where do you get your protein!?")

"The story of protein is part science, part culture and a good dose of mythology" says Dr T Colin Campbell. In Campbell's book "The China Study" he states he worked in the Philippines to analyze foods contaminated with Aflatoxin (one of the most dangerous carcinogens), and also research who was most susceptible to the carcinogen. Campbell found that two areas in the Philippines, Manila and Cebu, had the highest rates of liver cancer due to the high levels of this carcinogen found in jarred peanut butter and corn. Manila consumed the most jarred peanut butter where Cebu consumed the most contaminated corn. Campbell goes on to note, "Namely,the children who got liver cancer were from the best-fed families. The families with the most money ate what we thought were the healthiest diets, the diets most like our own meaty American diets. They consumed more protein than anyone else in the country (high quality animal protein, at that), and yet they were the ones getting liver cancer!" (pg 36).
I really enjoyed an article "Why is plant protein better than animal protein" by OneGreenPlanet that outlined the Protein requirements, and how Protein deficiency is practically unheard of (unless you're anorexic). Not only that, but as mentioned above, the average American gets TOO much protein and fat in their diet which fuels heart and vascular issues, thyroid, mental fog, cancer/disease. 
Of course Freelee the Banana Girl always outlines her videos with a great message and information which you can watch in the video below:

For the sake of argument, vegans (at least myself) get triple the amount of protein every day or every other day than the recommended amount from calories (3% from calories.) The best sources of protein on a vegetarian and vegan diet are greens, beans, nuts, seeds, rice, oats, and wheat. All planted based sources of protein are LOW FAT, so there are lower risks of gaining of weight.

I would recommend you obtain your protein from fruits, vegetables, beans (boiled), and rice (boiled not fried.) Because nuts and seeds are high in fat, I do not eat them often (except for harvesting them off the tree during Fall and Winter month). 

It's true meat and eggs contain a high amount of protein -- but that's it! And this "precious Protein" in the form of Animal protein comes with a cost: leaching calcium from your bones to neutralize the acidity of these foods. 

Above all, and putting "nutrition" aside, does eating animal flesh and their secretions justify the slaughter and inhumane treatment of other beings? Veganism is an ethical decision with the health perks.

How to Take the Guess Work Out of Eating Vegetarian, Vegan, or Raw Food

When you're interested in changing your diet, you immediately look for recipes online or buy cookbooks -- not really looking for information on how to make the transition easier, or how to be healthy.

But, what if cooking is NOT your thing? What if you cannot prepare a meal for yourself because you're not good at it? What if you don't have time to prepare a meal? And what if you're just fed up with looking for recipes that end up costing you a butt-load, and they take so much time to make? Or what if you just don't know what to make to eat, because you're too tired?

The easiest, cheapest, and cleansing method, for taking the worry and guess work out of preparing a meal, is: eat mono meals. "Mono meals" is a phrase used to describe eating ONE vegetable or fruit (usually in large quantities to get your calories) at one meal. For example, for breakfast: 1 large watermelon; for lunch: 5+ apples; and for dinner: 9+ bananas -- strive for 2500 (women) & 3000 (men) calories a day on fruit!

Don't Be Fooled By the Supplements & Superfoods!

In the last year of my raw vegan research, I've noticed health gurus are always selling a product. One of the  world's leading authorities on nutrition, David Wolfe, is known to promote superfoods, but not real food! Why is he a health expert, if he is only selling a refined version of the food you should be eating? It's because there's no money in telling people: "EAT BANANAS!" or "EAT MANGOES!"

Photo by "Thai Food" on About.com 

Actually, I was very fascinated by the maca, lucuma powder, cacao, and spirulina that I saw online. And I was fascinated because I thought I needed these superfoods, because the authorities were raving about how much better they feel on supplements. Luckily, I NEVER bought any of those products, because I realized some of the people in the raw food world was just as blinded by marketing schemes as someone saying you need to restrict your calories or your carbs to lose weight. If you need more vitamin C, eat a meal of oranges for breakfast, then for lunch have a meal of bananas...your vitamin C levels will go up tremendously (and that's cheaper than buying camu camu.)