With recent powerful documentaries and books, the world has learned that food production is a seriously dreadful business. We spoke to one vegan activist who believes consuming animal products is unhealthful, immoral, and spreads bad animal mojo. Fed up with the body- and-mind numbing effects of Western medicine, this alternative soul looks to yoga, meditation, and veganism for healing.
I was born in Sicily and my parents lived off the land for ten years. I grew up eating mostly everything we had: chickens, pigeons, goats, fish, milk, eggs, and cheese. We also grew fresh produce, some of which we would sell at local markets. Later, we moved to Totnes, in Devon, and my mum had a garden where she would grow vegetables. So I was used to living naturally and eating fresh food. My diet was always healthy.
Things changed when I had mumps a few years back and was bedridden for over two weeks. It was horrible, but in some ways the process was actually enlightening. While I was going through extreme pain laying on my bed, I started delving into myself and started figuring out how to deal with the pain without pain killers. I found a few techniques that really helped, one being singing— the internal vibrations were an amazing healer for me. I also tried using different foods and tea to help overcome the pain of the mumps, not wanting to take antibiotics or other traditional, Western drugs. It felt like they were merely numbing the pain while not really healing me.
It was through that suffering that I started meditation. I was meditating about one hour per day, playing music, and practicing Kundalini yoga. It was a significant transformation. The philosophy and lifestyle linked with yogic history runs deep. They talk a lot about diet and I’ve found that the deeper inside yourself you go, uniting the body, mind and sprit, you really feel the subtleties that exist within us all. You start to become more aware and connected to what your body really needs and the kind of food it craves for.
I initially stopped eating meat almost two years ago and became a pescatarian (a diet of fish and no meat), but after more yoga and meditation I started getting put off by the feeling of a dead animal in my body. You have to remember that no matter how humanely an animal gets killed, it still suffers some form of trauma at the end of its life. For me this is very much linked to vibration, when the animal is waiting in line to get its blood drained or shot in the slaughter house or factory farms (which is where 74% of the world’s poultry, 45% of beef, and 68% of eggs are produced) they are often shaking like crazy with intense fear and I’m sure it knows exactly what’s about to happen to it. Then we go and eat the meat of these terrified creatures and I personally feel it has a profound effect on our human energy. On some level the animal’s fear prior to its death is transferred to us by eating the meat.
There is a study comparing carnivores with herbivores suggesting the length of our intestines, which is about three times the length of our whole body (around 23 feet) is much longer than that of carnivores, which means food stays in our body far longer. Long enough to rot. We also don’t chew in the same way as meat eaters; they chew straight up and down while all herbivores chew in a circular motion, like we do. So there’s plenty of research that suggests we are not built to eat dead animals.
I also stopped eating eggs and cheese when I realized we can get way more protein from just one cup of cooked quinoa, which contains 18 grams of protein. Nuts and other alternatives to meat and eggs contain very high amounts of protein as well. The whole myth surrounding cow’s milk and it being linked to the calcium intake that we apparently need is money-making bullshit. Of course we need our mother’s milk when our bones are growing, but once they are fully grown we no longer need to drink the milk of another animal. Would you lope up to a mother cow and start sucking her nipples? Cow milk is full of saturated fats, cholesterol, mucus, sugar, and so forth. In 8 oz of cow’s milk you get 300 grams of calcium, which is exactly what you get with 8 oz of soya milk…funny, that!
There is no need to eat animals and so many reasons to eat a vegan/raw diet: for our heath and well being; for the planet and sustainability; for the love of all sentient beings, including ourselves. I’ve experimented with lots of foods, talked to vegetarians, raw food-ists, fruitarians, and vegans. I agree we all have differences. Our constitutions are different, but I strongly believe that our bodies are designed to consume fruit and vegetables only, probably not even cooked.
I am the happiest I’ve ever felt in my life. I am full of energy and enjoying exploring other foods. I won’t be eating any dead animals ever again.
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