I used to snicker at people like me when I was younger.
I’ve turned into someone many would find silly and annoying.
Because my not-eating meat is a reminder that things are NOT okay in the world.

I don’t preach my veganism to anyone — not even my kids.
I just put it out there so that people realize they have a choice in all this.

The cruelty to animals (on farms and beyond) in this world is beyond mind-boggling and beyond disturbing. Some people can handle it. They can stuff it in some pocket in the back of their mind and forget all about it.

I can’t.

Every time I cook chicken for my children, I feel it in my heart. I see packages of meat in the supermarket and I feel sick with sorrow. I can’t drink milk or eat eggs without knowing where they’re from.

It’s hard.

And, so I’ve decided. I’m no longer a vegetarian. I’m a vegan. All the way.

Please enjoy this blog as one of your sources for vegetarian recipes. So you can incorporate more vegetarian meals into your diet — thereby saving more animals. I do cook meals with poultry, eggs and dairy for my children, and I will continue to include them here.

Why aren’t my children vegan, too? Because I can’t make this choice for them, or for my husband. I respect everyone’s freedom to choose — to choose their causes and the foods they eat. It’s an individual choice.

I do make sure that I buy free-range eggs, organic milk and chicken and turkey (when possible and affordable) that’s hormone and antibiotic free and that are, preferably, from a smaller farm. I gently encourage you to do the same.

I also encourage everyone to thank the animals (before meals) for giving their lives for our nourishment…. A little respect can go a long way in your own eating experience.

May all the animals on this earth find comfort tonight….

Love, Haley-O

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I CAN DO IT!

I’ve been kind of SEMI trying to lose the weight all this time. With a chai here, a blueberry muffin there, a second helping of pasta here, and that extra spoonful of almond butter THERE (ON. MY. THIGHS).

BUT, ever since the Meditation Workshop I went to last week, I WANT TO CHANGE. And, it’s not ACTUALLY about the weight.

I’ve started to make drastic changes to my diet. While I continue to cook chicken and DEFROST ready-made meat meals for my family — always organic, by the way — I’ve gone strictly vegetarian, with the addition of organic, free-range, eggs and organic yogurt when I feel I need it. Because I DO need some dairy and eggs in my diet, or I start to feel faint. Maybe this will change. Not sure. For now, being a strict vegetarian means really listening to my body and what it needs. God knows, yoga helps with that!

That said, this week in the country has been quite challenging. I’m supposed to be eating wholesome foods: tons of fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes…. While the fam’s barbecuing hot dogs and hamburgers, I’m struggling to find something, ANYTHING, organic or at least wholesome to eat.

So, I’ve ended up eating a lot of candy — something I gave up a long time ago — for lack of FOOD. Not good.

But, today, we FINALLY went shopping at the neighbouring town’s grocery store. The only organic thing they had was Bob’s Red Mill grains (LOVE)….

…which goes to show that Bob is EVERYWHERE….

I also managed to find some brown rice pasta, some canned chickpeas, tomato sauce…. So, while the fam had their chicken and salad and COOKIES, I stayed strong and enjoyed a lovely pasta dish with chickpeas, tomato sauce and freshly grated parmesan cheese, and the lovely salad filled with local fresh veggies. Not perfect. But, better than candy.

Anyway, my meditation instructor suggested I eat clean in order to get the most out of my body — including losing this pregnancy weight. Absolutely clean. Fruits and veggies are to make up a greater-than-ever part of my diet.

The thing with this whole-foods diet is that I can’t use food as a crutch anymore. So, in one day, all these emotions are coming up. It’s all so very RAW (PUN!). And, I actually have to, erm, DEAL with them. Instead of eating to deal with them (as I now notice I’ve been doing!), I’ve been swimming lengths in the pool, walking, practicing yoga, and journal writing, and meditating when I can (even if it’s just for 5 minutes in the car!). It all helps.

It really is amazing how tightly intertwined food and emotion are for me…. It’s crazy. But, it’s beautiful to learn this here, and now, in the country — isolated from my life in the city….

Just some thoughts. Not editing this because I’m in the country and lazing and relaxing the brain.

What do you think?

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In the meantime, I must tell you. Something very bizarre is happening to me. First it was the clothing. About a year ago, I noticed it. I could no longer wear leather. I’d become one of those people I used to shake my head and roll my eyes at. No leather for me. No purses, no shoes, no belts, no UGGS (so wanted UGGS this carazay winter!).

It SUCKS that my pinkberry case is leather and that there’s nothing I can do about it because it has a special magnet in it that locks the pinkberry so I don’t dial China by accident or something, BUT every time I look at it, I mourn….

Anyway, I knew this little event — the day I stopped wearing leather — would evolve into even MORE intrusive proclivities…. And, this week — the week the husband traveled sans moi to balmy BAHAMAS — it happened. I’ve become vegetarian almost fully.

I say ALMOST fully because I’m still nursing. ALMOST fully means I may eat chicken, turkey or salmon once or twice a week WHILE gagging. Yes, chicken is becoming physically repulsive to me. It won’t be long before I banish it completely.

I just love animals too much. I empathize with them. When I eat chicken, I FEEL for that chicken! I thank it…, but thanking it isn’t enough for me anymore.

What’s more? Since I started eating vegetarian — really macrobiotic — meals, my weight’s been dropping LIKE IT’S HAWT, I feel cleaner, and I’m less apt to eat at night….

Leonardo Da Vinci was a vegetarian…. So was Einstein! And, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle…. I learned this today while searching for my Thursday thirteen……

I’ll still have to cook nonveg meals, like, for Josh-O and the kids because I can’t make this choice for them…. But, I’ll stick to eating my grains and beans and nuts and veggies. I can still do dairy and eggs. I’ll never give up cheeeeeese.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
-Albert Einstein

…13 CELEBRITY VEGETARIANS! My fellow veggies are HAWT! Check it!!!

1. NATALIE PORTMAN — ““I am a very strict vegetarian … I just really, really love animals, and I act on my values.” Natalie has also launched a VEGAN SHOE line. I MUST check it out…. Cheaty needs some new SHOES!

2. PAUL MCCARTNEY — “Many years ago, I was fishing, and as I was reeling in the poor fish, I realized, ‘I am killing him – all for the passing pleasure it brings me.’ Something inside me clicked.”

3. ALICIA SILVERSTONE — “Being vegan helped me realize I can say and do what I believe is right. That’s powerful.”

4. CARRIE UNDERWOOD — “I stopped eating beef at 13 and stopped eating all meat a few years ago. I would feel guilty that what was on my plate was walking around yesterday. Either I could live with that or stop eating meat. I choose the latter, and I’m happier for it.”

5. KEVIN EUBANKS — “I didn’t start eating this way because of concern for animal rights or anything like that,” says Eubanks. “I just couldn’t stand the meat we were getting, and being a broke student, I just gravitated towards fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and some fish.”

6. ALYSSA MILANO — “I turned vegetarian after 9/11. A friend of mine came back from New York and said that he couldn’t stand the smell of burnt flesh. It immediately reminded me of a barbecue.”

7. CHRIS MARTIN (…the silent type, of course)

8. JOSS STONE — “I feel there is no need to cause another living thing pain or harm. There are so many other things we can eat. I have never eaten meat in my life and I’m five feet 10 inches and not exactly wasting away. A wise man once said, ‘Animals are my friends and I’m not in the habit of eating my friends.’ That is exactly how I feel.”

9. PAMELA ANDERSON — “”Chickens, pigs, and other animals … are interesting individuals with personalities and intelligence. … What people need to understand is that if they’re eating animals, they are promoting cruelty to animals.”

10. JOAQUIN PHOENIX — “”Holidays can be murder on turkeys. Let’s make this one for the birds.”

11. SHANIA TWAIN — “I think there’s something odd about eating another living anything.”

12. TOBY MAGUIRE — “I just never really liked meat. I had a really tough time even eating chicken. I would start imagining what I was eating and the life of the animals and all that kind of stuff.”

13. CASEY AFFLECK — “When people ask me why I don’t eat meat or any other animal products, I say, ‘Because they are unhealthy and they are the product of a violent and inhumane industry.’”

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