The Kind Diet

Still one of my favorite pick-me-up movies. But this post is about eating, not shopping.

I've been feeling the need to really get healthy - mind, body and soul - and feel good. On that note, I've been considering vegetarianism a bit, and picked up Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet to give me the little push that I knew I needed to commit to it. I like that in her book the focus is on kindness to your body, and also to animals. Because if I'm being honest, I've been in denial about the animal cruelty going on in our meat processing. I've been carefully avoiding seeing it or thinking about it too much (of course, sometimes it was unavoidable).

I don't care whether humans are meant to eat meat. I don't care (too much) whether the act of ingesting meat is cruel. I don't even need to begin to figure all that out yet, because I know that I do care that (part of) my dollars have been directly supporting animal cruelty. The state of most chickens, cows, pigs, raised for food, even if the worst of what you see and hear isn't true, is heinous. I would without a doubt not support it if it were happening to dogs or cats at an animal shelter. It would be a no-brainer. I was avoiding making the leap, and that's where reading this book, or watching a documentary, or visiting PETA's website is handy.

I have some stuff left in the house that I will not waste: a few hamburger patties and chicken breasts in the freezer, butter and sour cream in the fridge, and chicken broth in my pantry. But once it's gone, I'm will not be buying any more.

I love Alicia Silverstone, always have, so I was really biased towards The Kind Diet. I appreciated her tone, and it was informative on some counts, but mainly encouraging. The one huge point I took from the book: buying eggs and dairy is no different than buying meat. It also has a great section with descriptions of vegan foods, and recipes. (Although as a first food/diet book, my money is still on In Defense of Food.)

That's my big change, and along with it comes eating more healthily - more veggies and fruit, taking vitamins (watched Food Matters on netflix...), committing to going organic at least always for "the dirty dozen" and next comes exercise, cutting back on alcohol (and other vices), and whatever else needed to feel truly thrilled inside and out.