AWESOME veggie encounter today.

[silverweb]

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]So I was on my way home from an appointment, got off a bus and headed for the light rail stop. A young fellow got off the bus right after me and we started chatting pleasantly as we crossed the street. He mentioned that he'd had a burger the day before and had felt queasy ever since, wondered if the meat was bad.

"How serendipitous that you should ask!", I replied. (Not exactly in those words, but I know an opening when I see it.) So I started explaining about the cruel, filthy conditions that meat animals live and die in, the antibiotics and hormones they're fed, the concept and reality of "pink slime" and the multiple meat sources in just one burger. He listened, absolutely horrified, said he had never heard any of this before.

We continued our conversation on the light rail and an athletic-looking young man across from me, who had been quietly looking out the window, started nodding and finally said, "I'm vegetarian. Not vegan, but working towards it. She's right, man. Meat's no good for you." A lady two seats away piped up and named the store she shops at, raved about veggie meat substitutes, naming specific brands and products. I was also able to refer them to the web for veggie recipes and YouTube for more information about industrial meat ranching.

When I got off the light rail, there were 5 people still talking among themselves about being or wanting to be vegetarians. These were not city commuters in business suits, but everyday folks: One older man with a bike, two 20-ish African-American males, one 50-ish white woman, and one 30-something Latina.

I got off that train after hand clasps all around feeling on top of the world, with the biggest grin I've worn so far this week. The word is out and people are paying attention!

[vt_native]

1. I've been a vegetarian for ten months or so.

Love it! Don't really miss meat, glad I don't support animal cruelty.

[ginnyinWI]

2. going on three years.

I read Neal Barnard's book about reversing diabetes and got started on a plant based diet. I felt stronger and healthier right away and dropped some pounds. Blood sugars are down and I can eat without counting every carb now (I am not and was never on medication for diabetes). What worked for me is cutting way down on the saturated fat in my diet; it clears out your cells, apparently.

Still need to improve things: fewer refined carbs for example. I am on more of an Ornish diet these days--occasionally eat fish (once a month maybe) and some egg whites in mayonnaise, for example, but mostly vegan most of the time.

I started at age 59: never too late to improve things.

[Nay]

3. That's interesting -- I have been contemplating going vegetarian (I was a

vegetarian for about 10 years in my youth) since I became diabetic 3 years ago. It's too bad that protein is one type of food that doesn't bump blood sugar, but I am pretty sick of meat. I also have problems with high cholesterol that might be helped by going meatless/eggless. I would love to take no statins, which I need now, but which cause me some muscle aches.

I have already managed to ditch all refined carbs, plus I don't eat potatoes, white bread, or rice at all. I now have normal blood sugar with diet and 2 Metformin (at the lowest dose).

May I ask you to provide more detail on how high your blood sugar used to be, and what it is now? If you are OK with that, please PM me. I can use all the help I can get.

[veganlush]

5. have you tried

Veganaise? it's an awesome mayo substitute

[Nay]

8. No, but I've seen it in the health food store. Thanks for the tip -- I will

get some the next time I'm in there.

I could give up meats easily (they bother my stomach anyway), but I'll have a harder time giving up dairy foods.

[byronius]

4. A friend talked me into going vegan four years ago.

I'd never go back. The effect was incredible. Skin problems cleared up, lost thirty-five pounds, I'm stronger, sharper, and I Haven't Had A Cold Since. This from a five-cold-a-year guy, all of them two weeks of misery. Not. One. Since.

Power. It's total power. I snap back from exercise faster. I hike harder. Fricking amazing.

Never going back, ever.

Plus, the fake meat industry has got it dialed in. Vegetarian Plus from Taiwan has a selection of vegan meats -- ginger chicken, citrus barbecue spareribs -- OMG. So good.

Wish I'd done this a lot earlier.

[LeftyMom]

6. I had an interaction a bit like that recently at the grocery store.

I was using the self checkout because it was Sunday Before Football and the lines were miles long, but the woman running the self checkout came over to help me because apparently you can't scan your own beer. She noticed that I had some coconut milk ice cream and asked me how that is, and explained that her doctor wanted her to eliminate dairy because of some health problems, and I told her that I'd been vegan for 12 years and that my son always has been, and how healthy he is. Turns out her teenage son went vegetarian briefly and wants to try it again, so I pointed her toward a few places to get recipes, and suggested a better milk substitute than she'd tried before.

It was a bit embarrassing to be talking about healthy eating considering it was Sunday and before a Niner game, so of course I was buying beer and chips and the healthiest things in my cart were a few avocados and a portabella.

[silverweb]

7. It's great, isn't it?

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I love that more and more people are paying attention, interested, and eager to move towards a healthier, more humane diet.

And don't worry about the football snacks. Even non fans understand!

[Arcanetrance]

9. I'm glad people are listening and taking note

I used to be one of those people that would mock vegetarians and vegans making jokes about bacon being good. All that started to change the first time I went to a slaughterhouse and got a job processing animals. The conditions were absolutely disgusting. It started I stopped eating pork completely than cut back everything else to where I'm down to eating meat twice a week cause of my dad. But that's changing cause he's going to go to an all vegetarian diet at the behest of his doctor.

[silverweb]

10. I'm glad, too.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]More and more people like you and your dad are either cutting back on or eliminating animal products from their diet. The health benefits have definitely hit mainstream consciousness.

I think that's partly because of Bill Clinton's success as a vegan and publicizing it, and partly because more boomers are getting the recommendation from their doctors. When I signed up for Medicare Advantage, one of the first questions asked after "Do you smoke?" was, "Are you vegetarian?"