My Position on Soy

Edamame

I have heard a lot of criticism of soy. Namely that it's so dangerous because of the phyto-estrogen. Phyto=plant. Mothers seem to be overly concerned about their little boys growing vaginas.

Here's my thinking:
People have been eating soy and tofu/tempeh for centuries with no problems. There are scores of studies done showing the benefits of soy. Check out PCRM's work.

Tempeh

What about the plenitude of hormones in animals? There's well over double the amount of estrogen found in milk and flesh than in any plant. And that's certainly not plant-estrogen. I won't even get into the amount of extra hormones the industry adds to the feed of livestock to ensure quick growth.



People that have a problem with tofu and tempeh because they're curdled and fermented-how is cheese or yogurt made?

The other thing I see is that veganism and tofu, hell vegetarianism and tofu, are often slapped together. It's assumed if you're vegan, you must consume vast amounts of soy.
Again, pay attention to sources. A lot of the studies showing how dangerous and evil soy is, is often funded by the animal agriculture industries. I suppose they're thinking is if they demonize a bean, people will be too scared to stop eating animals.
I eat soy(including tofu and tempeh) probably 2-3 times a week. That's way less than meat at every meal that I see most people consuming.
You don't have to eat soy, there are plenty of other plants to choose from. I know a number of people that can't eat soy because they are sensitive to it or have allergies. They eat other plants. Simple.
I don't typically drink soy milk either. Almond or rice milk for me. I haven't even tried hemp, oat, hazelnut, peanut or cashew milk yet.

Tofu

Troy and I also buy only organic soy. To avoid GMO's. 90% of the soy grown is to feed livestock, and it's mostly GMO, unless you're buying organic meat. So the cows are eating GMO soy, and we're eating the cows. Hmm...?
I'm more concerned with the amount of isolated soy protein I see on an astounding amount of package ingredients. This is not only with 'vegan food', but food most people buy. I've noticed this especially once I started paying attention to ingredient lists.
I no longer consume near the amount of processed, packaged food. Again, only 2-3 times a week if I'm feeling lazy, because I can make anything I want using just plants(whole foods), and if I'm not sure, I google it. Easy.

Soy(pun definitely intended!), let's not forget to use our brains when we get information.

Thought I would add Colleen' podcast regarding soy. Enjoy!
Soy Is Not Evil

Bought Husband Wool Sweater...Damn

My first day of being vegan was September 12, 2010.
Within that first week, I found out about these really cool looking sweaters while at Metro Pet Market. They're from a company called Granted Clothing. Super cool sweaters.

Lebowski

Minus one detail:
Made from wool.      wah wah  
I never bothered looking into the how we get wool.
I saw the sweaters, and I knew Troy would want one.
They are very similar to the sweater that The Dude wears on The Big Lebowski. Very cool!

Speaking of!!
For the last six hallowe'ens we have hosted a costume party because Troy's birthday is the 29th.

Scott(of 'Shannon & Scott', of our adventure friends)usually comes dressed as a drunken pirate.

This year Scott dressed as "The Dude". It was rad! 

Some guy in skull sweater

Back on topic, Alyx!!
I saw the skull sweater and I ordered Troy one for his birthday.
He loves it.
I mean, it's a siwash, and it has skulls!
What's NOT to love?  Again, rhetorical. I don't love that it's made with wool. I'm actually rather irritated. And a bit sad.

This is where I forgive myself for making the mistake. I have learned from this mistake.

You may wonder what the problem with wool is. I wondered the very same thing.

Thankfully, I found the answer on Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's podcast, Vegetarian Food For Thought.
The episode titled, The Shearing of Sheep, told me what the problems are with wool.
I know there are many YouTube videos that talk about this as well, I just really appreciate the way that Colleen delivers the information. Compassionate and truthful.

My next task is to commission someone to knit a vegan sweater with skulls for the love of my life, Troy.
I can do many things, but I don't know how to knit.
I'll start with Etsy.com.

Driving and I

I'm currently not driving.
Because of my brain injury, my driving insurer, SGI, requires my physician to fill out a questionnaire regarding my abilities. Namely, whether she recommends that I complete the written driving test, or just the driving assessment, or both, or that I should, or shouldn't drive, or what.
They sent the form back in the spring of 2010. One of my occupational therapists advised not to get it completed till I was psychologically ready to drive. I'm not.  
I still get anxiety in vehicles. Not as bad as before, thanks to counselling, but I still sometimes close my eyes at busy intersections.

I may have mentioned this before, and if I have, forgive me, my memory isn't great.
Troy was driving me to Metro Pet Market that Saturday morning for work. I hadn't had time to renew my driver's license(yes, I was that busy!), and we just had the Echo, and Troy's Harley, for motorized transportation. This was December 5 in Saskatchewan, we don't ride in the winter. Well, some do, I've seen them, but we don't. Troy needed the car that day, and I was working all day. Troy was driving me to work.
The collision happened in a quiet, residential intersection, 2 blocks from our house. How fucked is that?! 

We had a yield sign.
We yielded. Like we do at every yield sign, especially where we live. We have seen far too many people ignore them, with terrible results! We live near two high schools and we've seen how those kids drive. Damn rights, we yielded!
Now, I don't remember any of this. This is what Troy tells me, and I truly believe him. I really do. It wouldn't surprise me if Stand By Your Man, started to play in your mind. That's fine.
I would be lying, if I said I never wondered, even for a moment, if that was the case, but I really do trust Troy's driving. I still feel remarkably safe with him.
We yielded, and looked, and Troy says there was no vehicle coming to his left, he checked right, started to go across the intersection, and there was a Dodge Durango very close to his left window. We were t-boned.
We spun up the road, past the church and four houses, jumped the curb, through a hedge, hit a tree, and then slammed into the front porch of a house.
The Durango, I'm not completely clear what path it took, but my general understanding is that it jumped a curb, and took out a tree. The people in the other vehicle fled the scene. There was open liquor in the Durango, but they weren't caught till later that day, so couldn't be tested for drunk driving.

So that explains my anxiety about intersections.

I take cabs to whichever appointment I have. SGI pays the cab company for these trips. I have a file number.
As well, for picking up groceries if Troy and I can't go together. Those trips are at my cost. Luckily, I only have a 20 minute walk Extra Foods. Although, there's a lot of stuff they don't carry, like kale. But they do sell Daiya! I walk most places. I live in the perfect neighbourhood, with close access to most things.

I worked on the driving simulator at Wascana Rehab. The other vehicles in this simulator were driven by crazy drivers! Totally realistic in that way that real driving can be! No . . . this simulator doesn't use people to be drivers, the other vehicles were controlled by the computer.

I do get crazy anxious when in a vehicle for an extended period of time. For example, in the summer, we drove from Regina, Saskatchewan to Vancouver, British Columbia to visit friends and family. It was a great drive. Troy and I rocked out to LMFAO and Lonely Island, and listened many episodes of  Vegetarian Food For Thought for the 20 hour drive. I wasn't feeling overtly anxious. Nothing note-worthy. Other than sweating like a pig!
Which is a totally inaccurate idiom. Pigs don't sweat. This is why they're shown as dirty and muddy. Like elephants, they roll in the mud to cool themselves, keep bugs away, and protect their skin from sun damage. Sweating like a human, would be much more accurate. They also don't like to defecate where they sleep. Very clean non-humans!
Anyway! I was sweating badly, and for no real reason. I mean, it was hot out, but our current car(Matrix) has AC. I was also washing off my stinky armpits and reapplying pit stick at every bathroom break. Didn't seem to matter, I was a stinky mess. We had even packed some camping gear, so we could stop and camp on our way to Van. I stank so badly, that we stayed at a hotel in Castlegar, so I could shower and start over. Apparently, this was anxious sweating. It still happens. Hopefully, not for too terribly long.
I have been healing quite well and quick. Next summer, maybe I won't be sweating terribly.
It's nice to dream.

***update~Defeating My Driving Anxiety***

Dairy

Cows have to be pregnant to lactate. 

Yeh, should be common sense, right?!
You would think so . . . but I somehow never knew! I'm a smart girl, I should know this! I mean, I know that mammals have to have babies to make milk, I know this!
I just wasn't putting the two together. And maybe you haven't yet either. 

Cows are pregnant for 9 months, same as us, so every year the cows are impregnated. Most of the time, it's artificial insemination. Usually with a machine, sometimes with a person's arm. 

Financially, it just doesn't make sense to feed a bull to keep him alive, when that bull isn't guaranteed to impregnate that cow when they're together. Hours could be wasted, waiting for the bull and cow to get it on! Hours, that could be spent, pumping more money, er, I mean, milk from the cow's udders.

Dairy cows in Canada are only used for about 3 lactation cycles. Or till they're 4-5 years old. Cows naturally live about 25 years.

The dairy industry uses cows for such a short amount of time because as the cows get older their production wanes. This is also why they are kept pregnant. The majority of ground beef is made up of  'spent' dairy cows. The reason they are sold ground up is because these cows are so physically destroyed, that no one will buy the bruised and damaged meat they can see.

They're milked 2 or 3 times a day. A large number of dairy cows suffer from terrible ailments, like mastitis. The machine doesn't know when it's sucking up milk or puss. There is an allowed amount of puss per glass of milk. According to the USDA, a cup of milk, should not contain more than a single drop of puss.
Still. We're drinking puss?! Gross!
To be fair, the milk is pasteurized . . . but . . . THERE'S STILL PUSS! Sure, it's clean puss...but it's puss, all the same!
Who wants puss in their milk? One, two, three, NOT IT!

Dairy cows also suffer from lameness. Basically, she's putting so much of her body's own minerals into the milk meant for her baby! The minerals are taken from her bones, and her bones, physically, can't keep her up, so she collapses often.

The part that truly breaks my heart, is that the cow's baby is stolen from her.
Usually, within the first 24-48 hours.
That milk was meant for the baby cow, not for us! So we steal every baby she ever has. The infant females go into the same servitude as their mothers, and the boys are sent to slaughter as veal.
I hear from many ex-dairy farmers and undercover agents that the mother cows bellow and cry for their babies for days. All she wants is that baby!
As a woman, and a feminist, the controlling of female reproduction cycles really bothers me. I don't have children, but it is still extremely offensive to steal a new mothers' baby. I don't care what species that mother is!
I truly do not understand how human mothers, after learning the truth, can keep consuming such an offensive and dirty product! Do they just pretend it isn't happening? Do they keep telling themselves that cows naturally 'give' milk to humans, like a gift?! The cows would suffer more, if we didn't take the milk?!
I'm just asking because I can sort of relate. Cause that's what I told myself as a lacto-ovo vegetarian years ago.
I also didn't put the veal industry and the dairy industry together. They are one and the same.

The dairy industry(along with school, the government, our friends and families) makes us believe that cow's milk is the only good source of calcium. (it isn't-btw!)
The calcium that cows usually get is found in the leafy greens they eat. We could just eat the leafy greens... Since cows no longer eat greens(instead they are given soy, corn, and wheat, and kept indoors for easy milking), their feed is supplemented with calcium.
Once pasteurized, the milk is supplemented with vitamin D and more calcium.

The fact is, the animal protein(casein) in the milk makes our bodies acidic. Our bodies can't stay acidic for long or we die. To neutralize the acidity, our bodies need phosphorus. The only form of phosphorus, our body has access to, is the calcium phosphorus found in our bones. To solve the acidity problem, the calcium phosphorus is removed from our bones, the calcium is peed out, and the phosphorus makes our bodies more alkaline.
So, why do we have shelves, and shelves of calcium supplements if we're consuming so much calcium from dairy??

This is why there is so much osteoporosis in North America. When we drink milk from mammals, our bones don't absorb the calcium. They get rid of it.

I'm sorry I don't have references for a lot of this information. It's all from the many, many books I've read, There's loads of websites, just google it, and you'll find it. Easy.
Eating Animals by Jonathan Saffron Foer has really great information, I know off-hand. This post was mostly from my memory(!!), and Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's podcast, Vegetarian Food For Thought.
Actually, Where Do I get My Calcium If I Don't Drink Cow's Milk?, and Milk Is A Natural Food, And Cows Naturally Give Milk, So What's Wrong With Drinking It? are both very helpful and informative podcasts regarding milk, cows and calcium. The best part is she sites her sources. Unlike me.

My mom assumed that the Canadian animal agriculture systems were not 'as bad as' the States animal agriculture systems. After doing some digging, I have found the Canadian systems to be more out-dated and often more cruel than the American systems. Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals is one of the groups I get the Canadian information from.

Vegetarian Food For Thought

I started to listen to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegetarian Food For Thought in the late fall of 2010. Not too long after my first official day of being vegan(September 12, 2010). I knew she had a podcast, and it got rave reviews! 

Just so we're clear: I had no idea what a podcast even was! 

I loved her writing in the The Joy of Vegan Baking and The Vegan Table, and I wanted compassionate responses to some common questions regarding veganism. The reason I waited so long to start listening, was because I couldn't just listen, I felt like I needed to be doing something else. I started to listen to the podcast on walks. 

Which was tricky to start. My balance was not stellar at that point, and even my walking was a bit clumsy. 

But, if I've learned anything from having a brain injury, it's that practice makes everything easier! I practiced just holding up my torso, and that's gotten much easier. I've practiced printing and math, and those have gotten better. I've practiced speaking, and that's almost 100% now(I still miss words, and forget how to pronounce them, or use the wrong word, but it's better! I swear!). 

So I listened to her podcast over and over, trying to memorize her words. That was also tricky because my brain still wasn't remembering. I had many lists and notes! It was rather ridiculous actually. Now, I'm able to recall much more! Not near the number of notes required for me to function!
She's taught me to be a joyful vegan. Truly. I don't know if I would've been so steadfast in my veganism without her leadership and encouragement! 

She has a masters in English, so she really gets our language, and talks about it a lot. The way violence towards non-human animals in our language perpetuates violence in action. She encourages everyone to think of compassionate alternatives to our usual violent non-human animal idioms. 

I've recently started using 'put all of my apples in a row', rather than ducks. She has lots of examples in Vegan's Daily Companion. I've started using 'non-human animals' when talking about other species. This way of talking throws people off a bit. I appreciate how it can get people thinking.

I also started using her, 'I can eat it, if I want it, but I don't' mentality. It's helped in many a situation, and again, encourages people to think that they do have choices, whether they know it or not!

Troy will listen to her podcast on drives out to the farm, or when we're driving anywhere out of the city. He really likes her stuff.
I subscribe to her free podcast on iTunes and even got her Vegetarian Food For Thought app for my iPhone!

I know she's been crazy busy this past year and a half, but I am itchy for more podcasts!

Don't get me wrong! I love and adore all of her books!  Her books taught me to bake and cook! That's huge! Teaching people how to nurture their bodies is vital! The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan's Daily Companion and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge were all fantastic, the BEST, in fact! But it isn't quite the same as a soundbite.