Food For Thought: The Joys And Benefits Of Living Vegan

  I’m fascinated by the origins of words in general and how they relate to our perception of and thus treatment of non-human animals in particular. And so today, we take a look at five common English-language words and how they relate to non-human animals. After listening, you'll never again be able to order a burrito without thinking about my favorite animal. I also include some listener calls, which range from a question about honey to what speciesism really means.   Thanks to listeners for their support as well as to The American Anti-Vivisection Society. Music provided and performed by Gosta Berling.

In addition to sharing with you some exciting news (what I just did, where I'm going, and what's to come), in today's episode I feature questions from callers all of which have to do with dealing with real-world issues. Of course, this is what I address all the time on the podcast, but as I was organizing calls, it struck me as a theme for today's episode. We’ve got one caller asking about how to be the vegan family member who's asked by children why you're vegan. We’ve got one caller asking about how to navigate talking to the organizers of an extracurricular outing that her son should be part of but that involves exploiting animals. And we’ve got another caller asking about how to respond to friends who insist that zoos are valuable for animals because they're places of conservation. Listen for my responses. 

The urban agriculture trend is sexy, hot, and extremely popular. It also has the potential to negatively affect thousands of individuals when farming and killing animals is part of the plan. In today's episode, I share my experience working to stop backyard animal farming and slaughter in Oakland and why I think acting locally and politically for animals is imperative in changing the world for animals.  Thanks to listeners and The American Anti-Vivisection Socety for your support.  Please support the podcast at JoyfulVegan.com. Subscribe to the Food for Thought podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or SoundCloud.

Join me for today's episode filled with wonderful questions from callers, such as what to do when a butcher shop moves in across the street; how to deal with "compassion fatigue": coping with the sadness of our society's rampant institutionalized animal abuse; and one from a doctor who looked for some guidance on how to talk to her patients about plant-based options. The main takeaway from today's episode is how much power compassion has to change the world.   Thanks to today's listener sponsors and Compassionate Business Partners:  American Anti-Vivisection Society  Tofurky Listen to the Food for Thought Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or SoundCloud! Your support is greatly needed and appreciated! Please support the podcast in one of two ways: become a monthly supporter or make a one-time donation.  

Because I shamelessly share photos of my beloved cats on a daily basis, many of which depict them outside with me, I'm often asked how I'm able to let them experience the outdoors in a way that's safe for them and safe for wildlife. In today's episode, I share my experience and emphasize that it's a custom decision based on situation, location, and individual cat.  Thank you to all of the listener supporters and to The American Anti-Vivisection Society for making this podcast possible.  Your support changes lives.     

Today’s episode focuses on the fourth stage of what happens when you stop eating animals: Evangelizing (Vegangelizing?). Join me as I talk about the difference between evangelizing and proselytizing and why we can - and should - fully embrace the true meaning of what it means to be an evanglizer, or a "messenger of good news." Sharing our enthusiasm for something we are excited about is a very natural, human reaction. How other people respond to it is an entirely different story.

In today's episode, I share with you a number of recent scenarios I found myself in where I had the opportunity to represent veganism and chose (choose) to do so in a positive way, whether it's ordering food in a non-vegan restaurant, dropping the "v" word into a non-vegan conversation, or meeting a friend of a friend who is on the Paleo (Pasturbation) diet. I also include a number of "What Would Colleen Do?" phone calls, including one that asks what I (as a vegan) feed my cats, one that asks about how to "be the vegan in the room" - or rather "in the workplace" - from a woman starting a new job, and one from a caller who wants to know how to engage with her mother, who has just been diagnosed with cancer and does want to hear about how a plant-based diet might help.

Public awareness is growing about the relationship between the production of palm oil and the loss of rainforests. And that's a good thing (though much work needs to be done between the relationship between the production of animal-based MEAT and the destruction of rainforests). Grown in tropical regions, palm plantations are displacing rainforests, destroying orangutan habitats and wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. With good intentions, some activists have called for a boycott of Earth Balance, a vegan butter that uses palm oil as its primary fat, even though it doesn't source its palm from native orangutan habitats. Is it possible to source palm oil sustainably? For that matter, is it possible to source any historically unsustainable crop in a sustainable way? In today's episode, I weigh in on this issue and offer some food for thought. Thank you to today's Compassionate Business Partner: Field Roast - makers of delicious grain meats! If you value this podcast, please become a supporter. Perks and rewards ab

Italy is one of my favorite places in the world - the people, the beauty, the language, the art, the history, the music, the food. Listen to this episode in which I share the details of our first international "Vegan Travel with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau" trip, which we premiered in Italy. We ate, we drank, we hiked, we cooked, we toured, we laughed, we cavorted, we met animals, and we reveled in the wonder of this country. By the end of the episode, you'll be wondering why anyone every thought it is "hard to be vegan in Italy." After all, that's where the edible food is. Enjoy!Photos from the trip can be viewed at my Google+ page https://plus.google.com/+ColleenPatrickGoudreauCompassionSupporters who receive the transcript get exclusive details about our journey, including announcements about future trips: http://www.patreon.com/colleenpatrickgoudreauSubscribe to the Food for Thought podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/food-for-thought-joys-benefits/id147907532?mt=2

In this episode, I answer a number of questions from callers who ask: *what do I say to people who bring up abortion when I talk about animal rights? *how do I not make everyone uncomfortable when I talk about being vegan? *is it ever okay to feed birds, squirrels, deer, and other animals outside my home? *how do I handle the fact that family members want to purchase hens in order to eat their eggs. This and more on today's Food for Thought. If you like what you hear, PLEASE: Support this podcast http://www.patreon.com/colleenpatrickgoudreau Subscribe to this podcast http://compassionatecooks.libsyn.com/rss Follow Colleen on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/colleen-patrick-goudreau    

Many people think of “veganism” as a new reactionary trend against what we call factory farming, but for centuries, men and women have been thinking about, writing about, and expressing distress over the violence inherent in killing animals for human use and consumption. My personal veganism is part of a long continuum of men and women – from ancient times until today – who stopped eating animals (and their eggs and milk) not because they witnessed a modern, mechanized, industrialized factory system but because they didn’t want to be part of the brutal and unnecessary process of turning sentient animals into butchered bodies. PLEASE SUPPORT THIS WORK www.patreon.com/colleenpatrickgoudreau

In today's episode, I talk about my favorite personal care and cosmetics products and how to determine if a company doesn't test their final products or their ingredients on animals. I also discuss the importance of supporting organizations and companies striving to vet this information for us so we, the consumer, can trust that what we buy has not contributed to violence against animals. I also talk about the line we have to walk as compassionate people knowing that - even when trying to make purchasing decisions that don't hurt animals - sometimes we do so because it isn't a perfect world. Thank you to today's Compassionate Business Partners: Beauty Without Cruelty and Arbonne

The centerpiece of today's episode is how to be the best advocate for animals and veganism in the age of social media. One of the most common questions I receive is about how to respond to people who make hostile or passive aggressive comments about veganism and animal protection on their Facebook (et. al) page. I share my philosophy about interacting on social media and offer some guidance for planting seeds online. I also share my experience sleeping in our 20th California county and discovering a new "plant-based" neighbor, and I answer some questions from awesome callers, including one about humane meat and meatless Mondays and one about choosing animal rights organizations to support. Support this podcast. Become a patron today!

Join me in this episode in which I share with you my recent journey to the Big Apple, lauding the vegan restaurants I frequented and the animal activist/friends I cavorted with. And, amazingly, this California snob admits that NYC does some things better than we do in the Golden State. I also answer a couple questions from some lovely women who are learning to remain joyful vegans in a non-vegan world. Thanks to today's listener sponsors, as well as our Compassionate Partners: Animalearn - animalearn.org/compassion - compassion in classrooms Tofurky - tofurky.com - delicious plant-based meats Today's music by: Gosta Berling - gostaberling.com

Join me for a great episode in which I answer some really common but important questions about how to deal with people who poke fun at or ignore your concern about animals. I also answer a great question about the myth that it costs more to eat healthfully. All of this follows my joyful riff about living among wildlife. Thank you to today's podcast sponsors: Animalearn - animalearn.org/compassion (free resources for opting out of animal dissection in schools) FakeMeats.com - fakemeats.com (your one-stop shop for your favorite vegan meats!) Music by Gosta Berling - gostaberling.com THIS EPISODE COMES IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN to bring BACK The 30-Day Vegan Challenge. Please support and share!

The first edition of The 30-Day Vegan Challenge book sold almost 20,000 copies before going out of print. Help me bring back a new (improved) edition so it can resume changing and saving lives. Listen to this episode to find out why I need YOU to make this possible. We have only 30 days to make this possible!

So many vegans have been conditioned to be apologetic, self-effacing, or even ashamed for manifesting their values. Lest they be called selfish, rigid, or unreasonable, many compromise what they care about most to please someone else. This plays out in many scenarios but especially during wedding-planning. Whether or not you're getting married, this episode will pertain to you, as it focuses on why you can and should speak up for who you are and what you want. Thanks to today’s podcast sponsors:   Animalearn - animalearn.org/compassion (free resources for opting out of animal dissection in schools)   Coral8 - coral8.com (fashionable, economical, ethical shoes for women)   Field Roast - fieldroast (the best artisan, vegan grain meats)  

I get a lot of questions from both men and women about finding compassionate clothing and shoes made without animal skins, fur, hair, or other body parts(!) - that are both fashionable as well as affordable. Today, I share my thoughts about why it costs a little more to make ethical wares, and I assure you that you don't have to trade fashion for compassion. You can have both. I also explain how Colleen Patrick-Goudreau almost became Alexandra Goudrick. Tune in to find out what the heck I'm talking about! Thanks to today's podcast sponsors: Animalearn - animalearn.org/compassion (free resources for opting out of animal dissection in schools) Coral8 - coral8.com (fashionable, economical, ethical shoes for women) FakeMeats - fakemeats.com (your go-to online store for vegan meats and jerky)    

My love of film began when I was very young and my parents took me to the movies every Friday night. Granted, some of the films I saw were incredibly inappropriate for my age, but I'll always be grateful for seeing Benji in the theatre when I was 6 years old. I almost didn't make it through for all the tears I cried, but it is truly one of my earliest memories of realizing how empathic I am. If someone else is suffering, I can't help but suffer, too - and so we have the beginning of my animal advocacy. Also, some great callers with great questions for how to live compassionately and healthfully; i.e. vegan. Thank you to our sponsors: Animalearn - animalearn.org V-Dog - v-dog.com eCornell Center for Nutrition Studies - nutritionstudies.org   Music featured: "Across the Lake" by Gosta Berling - gostaberling.com  

In today's episode, I discuss the origins of the word "animal," whose root word means "soul" - something humans are in danger of losing if we keep denying non-human animals theirs. Thanks to today's sponsors: 22DaysNutrition.com, AnimaLearn.org, & FieldRoast.com. I also share the origins of other animal-related words (beast, creature, brute, brute and savage) and answer your questions and calls: one being from a student whose science teacher challenges her about animal issues in the middle of class and another being from a woman who wants advice for discarding her wool- and lambskin-lined boots. Finally, there's a question about the difference between Vitamin D2 and D3 - and yet another about what I feed my cats (for the umpteenth time: meat!). Thanks to today's sponsors: *22DaysNutrition - protein and energy bars and powder - 22daysnutrition.com *Animal Learn, the education division of AAVS - animalearn.org *Field Roast, the makers of artisan vegan meat - fieldroast.com