A vegan is...

To me, a vegan is...
An activist.
A chef.
A critical thinker.
An environmental activist.
A conscientious consumer.
A friend to animals.
A compassionate leader.
A defender.
An advocate.
An ethicist.
A conversation-starter.
A visionary.

What does vegan mean to you? (Please comment!)

Do vegans recover more quickly from surgery?

I had my tonsils out a couple days ago and was told I'd be sleeping most of the first few days, have a severely sore throat, and need to take about a week off from work. My surgery was on Friday and other than one nap during the weekend, I didn't need extra sleep, I was able to go for walks, do dishes and other normal activities, and I was able to switch from liquids to mushy foods pretty quickly! I'm already back at work today (Monday) and feeling fine - other than a little discomfort when I swallow.

My point in all this isn't to brag (okay, maybe a little) but to consider what factors may affect recovery time after a surgery. Since I'm not vegan for health reasons - I hardly ever miss dessert after a meal - I don't think I can claim that veganism is the miracle-worker, at least in my case. I have heard, and do believe, that having a positive attitude going into a surgery can help avoid complications during surgery and speed up recovery. I was thrilled that I was going to have a tonsillectomy from the moment my ENT suggested it. I had been waiting to hear that suggestion from my doctors for months. The past couple years I've had sinus problems and whenever I mentioned it to my doctors they just suggested taking different allergy medications, even though I tested negative for allergies. The allergy meds had only helped some of the symptoms and weren't my idea of a permanent fix.

I would guess that in most cases people don't look forward to having surgery and may even get really nervous beforehand. I, on the other hand, was extremely excited to finally have a solution to my sinus problems, and I think going into the surgery with such a positive outlook may have helped. So if there are any readers out there who may be dreading a medical procedure they need, try to stay positive about it. Focus on how improved your quality of life will be afterward, and remember that surgery complications are rare and surgeons today know better than ever how to handle them. Don't worry that something will go wrong until you are given a reason to worry.

"Humane" meat, dairy & eggs

There are so many labels out there that convince ethical shoppers that they're buying humanely raised products: 'organic', 'cage-free', 'free-range', humane meat. Unfortunately, because of poor regulations and requirements, consumers need to look beyond the label to be assured that what they're buying was produced in a way that they would consider humane.

The basic requirement to label something as "organic" and "free-range" means that the animals have some access to the outdoors. In reality, this often means that the animals grew up in a crowded, filthy warehouse with thousands of other animals, which had a couple small doors that led out to a small muddy lot. Of the animals near the doors who have the chance to go outside, few probably choose to do so because of the condition of the outdoor lot.

Our Hen House has a great podcast addressing these labeling concerns. (I'm no where near caught up on listening to their more recent podcasts, so this one is a little older.)

The unfortunate truth for many meat-eaters is that if they really want to be assured that their products were ethically raised, they need to visit the farm - or at least do a good amount of research into it. In the case where they are able to find a friendly-looking farm, they should not forget to ask the following questions:

• Under what conditions are the animals slaughered? Does the farm do its own slaughtering and make sure that the process is slow enough to properly stun the animals for a less painful slaughter?
• What happens to the male chicks of egg-laying hens? Are they cast off as waste and suffocate to death in a garbage bag?
• What happens to the male offspring of dairy cows? Are they sold to veal farms to be kept in a tiny crate, or are they allowed to live out their lives?

In my opinion, this sounds like a whole lot of work and research to do. Especially if you're planning to eat meat/dairy/eggs out at restaurants. When I worked at a restaurant, I had no idea where our meat came from - and I'd be surprised if most waitstaff that are asked do know that answer.

While being vegan can lead people to obsessively read ingredient labels and look up definitions for ingredients they've never heard of, it doesn't have to be that hard. You can make a big difference in the amount that you support animal agriculture by just avoiding the obvious things: meat, fish, cheese, butter, yogurt, eggs, milk, etc. It's up to you how much time and effort you'd like to put into avoiding animal products, but let me assure you that buying a whole chunk of humane meat most certainly contributes to more suffering than accidentally buying a loaf of bread with a bit of milk in it.

So if you're really concerned about animals' well-being, be prepared to do a TON of research and ask many questions of the farm(s) that you buy from. Otherwise, the simpler option in my opinion is to go for vegan options as often as you can.

So you don't want to give up meat, huh?

Giving up meat is hard for many people, especially if its been a large part of their diet their whole lives. Giving their taste buds a new experience to save animals from a lifetime of suffering just doesn't appeal to some people. In all seriousness though, there are a couple things I'd like to say about giving up meat / going vegetarian.

First of all I'd like to mention that while giving up meat, or going vegetarian, is usually the first step that people take on their way to veganism (and an important one!) it doesn't necessarily mean that they're causing less suffering to animals than someone who was sort of the opposite of vegetarian - someone who ate only meat and no dairy or eggs. Here is a quote from Donald Watson, the father of veganism:

[A]s the vegan idea developed, we [Leicester Vegetarian Society] saw, or some of us did, that, although vegetarianism was a very useful "stepping-stone" to veganism, and one which we had all used to get to where we were, unless the consumption of dairy produce was limited, it could be an even more cruel diet than the orthodox diet, where the meat came from a large animal like a cow which was feeding one meat-eater for a year or two, whereas the milk drinkers -they were going back to the cow suckling (what a bizarre idea that is!) at virtually every meal and claiming to be leading the way to a more humane life!

[The full interview of Donald Watson]
So if you can't quit gnawing on the flesh of an animal, maybe you can still do good by swapping in some soy milk. [Edit: As xodarap pointed out, here is a more quantitative look at the number of animals which are killed to produce each animal product, suggesting that those concerned with the number of animals killed for their food should give up eggs.]

Second, in about 6 months you may be able to enjoy meat guilt-free thanks to the progress being made with lab-grown tissue!