Initially, I went plant-based vegan for health reasons – mainly due to watching my friend Kim’s battle with cancer & loosing it. However, I don’t think you can become a vegetarian, vegan or a plant-strong eater without at some point running into animal activism. My father had talked about it when I was a child and even a little when I was an adult, but Hey…he had gone back to eating meat and I shamefully admit, I wasn’t able to hear it or fully comprehend what he was saying at the time!

“Out of the dark”

After the two of them moved to “the other side” I feel as if the blinders have come off! I am no longer blindfolded, deaf, or blind to these horrors! It pierces my heart when I think of all the animals that are daily suffering & dying in factory farms just so someone can have a piece of meat on their plate…something that they don’t even need and that is making humans & our planet suffer at the same time! (Dad, I finally GOT IT! Thank you to you over there on the other side….and Kim too! I miss you both!)

A few days ago, Concious Vegan  had posted this wonderful part of a debate on Pinterest. This is Philip Wollen speaking…by the end of this, I had tears in my eyes. Thank you, Philip Wollen, you & people who work for animal welfare are my heroes!   This speech is only 10 minutes long! Do watch & listen to this excellent speech!

Now, I’m starting to wonder if I will ever get out of writing about “MILK” of any shape and form. By now, you’re probably wondering if I’m obsessed with milk. The fact is that I have never really liked milk or needed it. For breakfast I eat steel cut oats with a banana and some walnuts sprinkled on top…There’s no milk! For breakfast, I start my day with a cup of tea!

Ok, lets get to why I’m writing about “milk” again and this time about Soy Milk! Today I received my lovely copy of Ani’s Raw Food Essentials. Check it out!

I had heard really good things about this book. Well, of course, the Universe would have it that I read her “Soy Story” (p. 169). Ani talks about the difference between soy in Asia vs. soy in America, which is processed and not fermented. She quotes Dr. Kaayla Daniel, the author of The Whole Soy Story. He says, “Today’s high-tech processing methods not only fail to remove the anti-nutrients and toxins that are naturally present in soybeans but leave toxic and carcinogenic residues created by the high temperatures, high pressure, alkali and acid baths and petroleum solvents.” Oh, that sounds really appetizing! NOT!

Ani goes on to say that Westerners eat ten to twenty times more unfermented, highly processed soy than is eaten in Asia. She writes, “Ironically, this unfermented soy contains enzyme inhibitors, which block protein absorption. What’s even scarier is that almost 90 percent of American soy is genetically modified, and the soy crop grown in the USA contains the highest levels of poisonous pesticide contaminants.” She goes on to list a slew of ailments, from common food allergens to a weakened immune system.

The next irony Dr. Mercola points out, “Dow Chemical and DuPont, the same corporations that brought misery and death to millions around the world through Agent Orange, are now the driving forces behind the promotion of soy as a food for humans. They are financing anti-meat and anti-milk campaigns aimed largely at those concerned about animal welfare and the environment, trying to convince them that imitations such as ‘soymilk’ are not only healthier than the real thing, but better for the earth too.” What can I say? I’m shocked! Like I have said before, these large corporations don’t care if you or I get sick…They do care about the Almighty Dollar!

Further, “There’s no evidence that consuming soy products can improve health, reduce environmental degradation or slow global warming. In fact, the evidence suggests quite the opposite.” Again, the majority of soy produced in the United States of America are highly processed and are not good for you nor for the environment. It needs to be natural, raw & whole.

Learn more from Ani’s wonderful book about the benefits of eating more unprocessed whole foods – the ones the FDA call “superfoods”, which have been proven to increase our overall health & vitality. Now, here’s something I can buy into and live with!

PS. I hope this will be one of my last “milk” posts!