Going Veg
EVEN
Non-violence
Compassion
Sustainability
All Life is
Interconnected
Eugene Veg Education Network (EVEN) - serving as a vegan resource since 2005
Veg Spotlight
The truth is that choosing vegan is one of the most powerfully rewarding, positive, life-changing things one can do. - Matt Bear
Read EVEN's exclusive interview with Matt Here.
Veg Spotlight
Dr. Leslie Van Romer, D.C. - EVEN Member and Donor, presents to EVEN, "Getting Into Your Pants---In 90 Days or Less"
Veg Spotlight
Veg Wisdom
In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people. - Ruth Harrison
Veg Wisdom
As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is up to us. - Arnold J. Toynbee
Credit: Anne Campbell
Veg Wisdom
Vegetarianism is a philosophy that manifests its reverence and respect for the well-being of all sentient life by advocating and striving for the ultimate adoption of a plant-based diet. - Stanley Sapon, PhD
Veg Wisdom
All beings hate pains; therefore one should not kill them. This is the quintessence of wisdom: not to kill anything.
- Sutrakritanga (Jainism)
Edu-Stat
About 2,000 pounds of grains must be supplied to livestock in order to produce enough meat and other livestock products to support a person for a year, whereas 400 pounds of grain eaten directly will support a person for a year. Thus, a given quantity of grain eaten directly will feed 5 times as many people as it will if it is eaten indirectly by humans in the form of livestock products.... - M.E. Ensminger, Ph.D.
Veg Wisdom
Children who grow up getting nutrition from plant foods rather than meats have a tremendous health advantage. They are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer. - Dr. Benjamin Spock
Veg Wisdom
Some people are still going to want to eat meat... we do agree though that vegetarianism is a healthier diet. - David Stroud of the American Meat Institute
EVEN Featured In:
~ Vegan Voices
(Beyond Joy)
~ Health Science Magazine (Member Spotlight)
~ Boomer News Interview (NW Boomer and Senior News)
~ 24 Carrot Award (Vegetarians in Paradise)
~ Vegan Awareness Year (Mayoral Proclamation, City of Eugene)
~ American Vegan Magazine (American Vegan Society)
~ Volunteer of the Year (United Way)
Become a Member
Veg Spotlight
You will find most people today are quite understanding about your personal choice and most will envy you, if not now, then when they are older and begin to have health issues. - Brian McCarthy
Read EVEN's exclusive interview with Brian Here.
Veg Spotlight
I have never run a marathon before. In the past I have done 5k and 10k races and felt a marathon would be a massive accomplishment. I have completely changed my diet. I have been vegan for a year [since 2014] already but after Christmas I decided to eat a really 'clean' vegan diet to complement my training. I don't eat processed foods and I eat plant-based foods, and I have found that this has really benefited my training. I have more energy and can push myself that little bit further. - Rachel Ward, 24 year old vegan runner
Veg Wisdom
The real truth is that a total plant-based, or vegan, diet has been shown in peer-reviewed research to be the most effective method of not only preventing, but also reversing the chronic diseases that are killing 75 percent of Americans every year...Animal foods are deficient in carbohydrates, micronutrients, and antioxidants, as well as devoid of fiber and phytochemicals. - Stuart Seale, MD
Veg Wisdom
A reduction in beef and other meat consumption is the most potent single act you can take to halt the destruction of our environment and preserve our natural resources. Our choices do matter. What's healthiest for each of us personally is also healthiest for the life support system of our precious, but wounded planet. - John Robbins, Diet for a New America
Read EVEN's exclusive interview with John Here.
Veg Wisdom
As long as human beings go on shedding the blood of animals, there will never be any peace. - Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991)
Going Veg > The Benefits
Benefits of Plant-Based Eating
by Joanne Kong, DMA
Click >> HERE
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It is increasingly obvious that environmentally sustainable solutions to world hunger can only emerge as people eat more plant foods and fewer animal products. To me it is deeply moving that the same food choices that give us the best chance to eliminate world hunger are also those that take the least toll on the environment, contribute the most to our long-term health, are the safest, and are also, far and away, the most compassionate towards our fellow creatures.
- John Robbins, author, social activist, humanitarian
Become Healthier While Helping to Save Animals and the Earth!
Every Meatless Meal Can Help:
- Reduce the risk of major killers such as heart disease, stroke and cancer while cutting exposure to food-borne pathogens;
- Provide a viable answer to feeding the world's hungry through more efficient use of grains and other crops;
- Save animals from suffering in factory-farm conditions and from the pain and terror of slaughter;
- Conserve vital but limited freshwater, fertile topsoil and other precious resources;
- Preserve irreplaceable ecosystems such as rainforests and other wildlife habitats;
- Decrease greenhouse gases that are accelerating climate change;
- Mitigate the ever-expanding environmental pollution of animal agriculture.
Source: North American Vegetarian Society
Advocating Healthy, Compassionate and Ecological Living
Unexpected Benefits of Going Vegan by Maria Mooney, MSW, LSW
I am a proud, passionate, and tried and true vegan for almost five years now. My initial transition to veganism was precipitated by the devastating diagnosis of a "progressive and incurable" neurological disease with no known cause, cure, or truly viable treatment. I tried it all, surgeries, potent narcotics, physical therapy, and even seven day long inpatient intravenous ketamine infusions, all proving, for me, to be nothing more than butterfly band aids placed over the gaping wound that is a progressive neurological disease. Although my diet was never atrocious, it was inflammatory, and the switch to veganism has allowed me to manage my condition to the point of reversing the damage I thought had been done indefinitely.
Beside the incredible impact plants have made on my chronic health condition, we all have heard, and some know firsthand, about the marvelous and unprecedented benefits of eating plant-based, including reduced inflammation, increased energy and alertness, lower blood pressure, improved gastrointestinal health, glowing, clear skin, lesser environmental impacts, and the avoidance of the unnecessary suffering of millions of sentient beings (just to name a few).
But what about the unexpected benefits of going plant-based? Below are four unexpected benefits to going vegan.
1. Compassion for Others - Over time, the compassion you feel for the animals you refuse to consume morphs into a compassion for ALL sentient beings (hopefully), as you begin to consider the happiness of all individuals. Extending compassion is an important practice and our moral imperative.
2. Compassion for Self - The compassion that you feel toward animals and other individuals will then (hopefully) inevitably spill over to a compassion for the self. Taking the time to treat yourself well by eating high quality, nutritious foods often leads to other intriguing and beneficial self-care practices, such as meditation, yoga, and self-forgiveness, and self-love.
3. Clarification of Morals and Ethics - If you have decided to become more than just a dietary vegan, you have forced yourself to take a moment to consider and establish a moral and ethical code to govern your days. First, you become devoted to non-violence toward animals, and next, you are considering where you stand in terms of several other important causes.
4. Connection to Like-Minded Individuals - There are some absolutely wonderful communities filled with outstanding individuals online and in person that you may have never stumbled across if it weren't for a switch to veganism. If you haven't, take a moment to peruse the internet so that you can become connected to like-minded folks following similar paths with similar values. Sometimes, a little support and connection can make all the difference.
Meat Production = Wasted Resources
Meat Production = Wasted Resources
Vast amounts of energy, water and land are required to convert vegetation into meat. It takes 5 to 20 calories of fossil fuel to create just one calorie of energy in the form of meat; ¼ to ½ of a calorie of fossil fuel produces one calorie of plant food energy. In other words production of even the least energy-efficient plant food is nearly ten times as efficient as the most energy-efficient animal food. To produce one pound of meat takes an average of 10 tons of water - the amount a small family uses for all purposes in a month. Vegetarians of Alberta Association
Why Kick the Meat Habit?
Why Kick the Meat Habit?
For the Earth
- Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than automobiles.
- Livestock farming pollutes the water more than all other activities combined.
- Meat-based diets require 10-20 times as much land as plant-based diets.
For Your Health
Kicking the meat habit will reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other chronic diseases that kill 1.3 million Americans annually.
For the Animals
More than one million animals are slaughtered every hour to supply Americans with meat. Going veg will save innocent, sensitive animals from crowding, drugging, mutilation, and other factory farm and slaughterhouse atrocities.
Did You Know...?
Animals raised for food are just as intelligent, lovable, and sensitive as the animals we call pets. Yet, they never have "a nice day." From birth, most are caged, crowded, deprived, drugged, mutilated, and manhandled in factory farms.
Attempts to improve the treatment of animals have not worked. Our best option to end these atrocities is to stop subsidizing them at the market checkout counter.
Dropping meat and other animal products from our diet is more than an act of compassion. It also reduces our risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other diseases that cripple then kill 1.3 million Americans every year. It reduces pollution of our waterways by animal waste and destruction of wildlife habitats.
Source: Farm Animal Reform Movement
Vegan Wolf
Every day more studies prove that the healthiest diets are plant based, not animal based.
One can't be a true environmentalist and still be eating animal products. Today's "modern agriculture", egg industry and dairy industry are just as cruel as the slaughterhouses, veal, pork, beef, turkey farms, etc.
All are simple facts, so can anyone justify still eating meat??
10 Main Reasons for going VEGAN
- Animal products are unnecessary.
- What you eat is a learned habit.
- Much healthier to avoid meat and dairy products.
- Much more environmentally friendly to eat a vegan diet.
- Feed more people on a plant diet than animal-based one.
- Using animals is incredibly cruel. Why force any pain?
- Religion/spiritual reasons---"Thou shalt not kill."
- Saves money.
- Reduces the national debt.
- Vegan food tastes great!
Go here for additional info: 10 Main Reasons for going VEGAN.
No Animal Food/Nutrition and Diet (with recipes!)
by Rupert H. Wheldon
Veggie Brothers is proud to present the slightly edited version of the very first British vegan cookery book which appeared in 1910. It's as valuable today as it was back then.
MAN'S FOOD
Health and happiness are within reach of those who provide themselves with good food, clean water, fresh air, and exercise. A ceaseless and relentless hand is laid on almost every animal to provide food for human beings. Nothing that lives or grows is missed by man in his search for food to satisfy his appetite.
Natural appetite is satisfied with vegetable food, the basis for highest and best health and development. History of primitive man we know, but the possibilities of perfected and complete man are not yet attained.
Adequate and pleasant food comes to us from the soil direct, favorable for health, and a preventive against disease. Plant food is man's natural diet; ample, suitable, and available; obtainable with least labor and expense, and in pleasing form and variety. Animal food will be useful in emergency, also at other times; still, plant substance is more favorable to health, endurance, and power of mind. Variety of food is desirable and natural; it is abundantly supplied by the growth of the soil under cultivation....
Table of Contents:
- The Urgency of the Subject
- Physical Considerations
- Ethical Considerations
- IThe Aesthetic Point of View
- Economical Considerations
- The Exclusion of Dairy Produce
- Conclusion
Nutrition and Diet
- Science of Nutrition
- What to Eat
- When to Eat
- How to Eat
Food Table
Recipes
Protecting Our Planet---and Animals---One Meal at a Time
The Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet
When we choose vegetarian foods, we help the Earth!
Each of us can help protect the planet—and animals—one meal at time simply by eating vegetarian foods. And with so many meat-, egg-, and dairy-free options available today, choosing a more sustainable and compassionate diet is easier than ever.
>> Read "Eating Sustainably" by Compassion Over Killing.
The Hidden Burden
Vegan Summary
Here is a concise and to-the-point summary of some of the benefits we reap when we go veg. Thank you, Jenny! Nice job!
If you could improve your health, help alleviate world hunger, reduce animal abuse, reduce global warming and environmental damage and save hundreds of thousands of litres of water, simply by refraining from doing one simple thing ...would you?
Well, simply by refraining from buying animal products you can achieve all this.
Today, more and more people are realizing that choosing to be vegan is far more than a mere 'dietary choice'. It is about rescuing the planet from destruction and preventing human suffering as well as non-human suffering. It is about creating a sustainable future.
In third world countries, children starve next to fields of soya and grain destined for export as animal feed for Western nations. For every 10 kg [22 lbs.] of plant protein fed to cattle, only 1 kg [2.2 lbs.] is converted into meat.
The irony is that whilst the world's poor are dying of poverty, millions of affluent Westerners are dying from heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and cancers, largely caused by eating animal products.
Water scarcity is reaching crisis point. According to the CSIRO [Australia's Commonwealth Scientific & Research Organization], every kilogram [2.2 lbs.] of meat consumed requires up to 100,000 litres [26,420 gallons] of water to produce. In contrast, rice, our thirstiest crop, requires only 1500 litres [396 gals.].
November 1st is World Vegan Day ... the perfect day to make the decision to try a more healthy, sustainable, and compassionate vegan lifestyle.
Reprinted with permission from Jenny Moxham, Monbulk Australia
Why Veganism?
Why Veganism?
People choose to be vegan for health, environmental, and/or ethical reasons. For example, some vegans feel that one promotes the meat industry by consuming eggs and dairy products. That is, once dairy cows or egg laying chickens are too old to be productive, they are often sold as meat. Some people avoid these items because of conditions associated with their production.
Many vegans chose this lifestyle in order to promote a more humane and caring world. They know they are not perfect, but believe they have a responsibility to try to do their best, while not being judgmental of others.
Source: Veganism in a Nutshell, Vegetarian Resource Group
Yoga of the Heart
Excerpts from Yoga of the Heart - 10 Ethical Principles for Gaining Limitless Growth, Confidence, and Achievement by Alice Christensen
"A Yogi, for instance, would say that the quality of sweetness "lives" in fruit and is transferred to your body when you eat it, expressing itself in you as a feeling of sweetness. Likewise, the quality of excitement lives in spices, so when you eat spicy foods, the quality of excitement expreses itself in you.
In the same way, it is felt that violence lives in meat. This concept is discussed in ancient Yogic texts, where the eating of meat is compared to eating the quality of violence itself. By killing in order to eat, you have moved into that primitive feeling of fear and aggression, and the violence that lives in the meat expresses itself through you. That is why a vegetarian diet is usually associated with Yoga and the practice of Nonviolence.
...The reasons for a vegetarian diet are much deeper than the simple principle of not causing harm to a living thing. Shaivism teaches that hatred springs from meat and that violence hunts you like an animal, through meat. It goes on to say that the way an animal dies has an effect on you, even if you yourself have not done the actual killing.
Some of the old books on Kashmir Shaivism actually outline three specific crimes against living things (animals or human beings). The first is taking away life, even though the animal or person is innocent and has done nothing to deserve death. The second is the crime of inflicting great pain while killing. And the third is the crime taking away its strength by trussing it up and tying it down. These old books further say that one has to pay dearly for acts such as these and that it takes 20 lifetimes to pay for such violence. All violence is a result of the spiritual body being ignored, denied expression, and repressed."