The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus
Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘Vegetarians’

Vegetarians Have Small Brains

Vegetarian of the future!
Vegetarian of the future!

And in unrelated news: water is wet, winter is cold and the sky is blue. Of course vegetarians have smaller brains, how else to explain their insane diet? According to an article on Signs of the Times, written by Unvegan Hero Barry Groves, so much of brain size is determined by fat intake. As he says, “About half our brain and nervous system is composed of complicated, long-chain, fatty acids.” Plants don’t have these fatty acids and our bodies aren’t exactly capable of making them ourselves. But you know what are capable of producing these fatty acids? Dumb herbivores.

Eat Tofu, Kill Earth

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Now that is a band.

Once upon a time there was a group of people called vegans. Among other things, these people claimed that their diet was better for the environment than eating meat. Had they been right, the world would be a much different place, but luckily for us, they were wrong. In fact, they eventually learned that their diet was actually worse for the environment than eating meat.

Exposing The Vegetarian Myth

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Essential reading.

What do you get when you mix a huge dose of recovering vegan with liberalism and some over the top feminism? No, not Roseanne Barr on Atkins. You get The Vegetarian Myth, by Lierre Keith. Flashpoint Press was nice enough to send me a copy of this eye-opening book and although it took me a few months to get through, it has been an enlightening read. In it, Keith combines her own personal experiences with some good hard data to help debunk the vegetarian myth as we know it.

Hilary Swank: Unvegan Hero

It’s always good to hear about a celebrity returning from the dark side of foodery known as vegetarianism. The newest celebrity to do so is none other than Hilary Swank.

As the star of films like Million Dollar Baby and Boys Don’t Cry, Swank showed what it meant to be tough. In fact, being tough is the reason she has given up vegetarianism. According to Marie Claire magazine, Swank “…just started withering away.” That’s not good news for the Next Karate Kid. You can’t be the praying mantis without eating meat.

World Vegetarian Day

According to a bunch of crazy people, today is World Vegetarian Day. I’m not sure who came up with this mad idea, but it is extremely misleading. So few people in the world are actually vegetarians that designating a “World Vegetarian Day” is similar to having the World Series of baseball only include teams from North America. Ludicrous.

It’s not like it really matters anyway, the only people that will be celebrating are actual vegetarians, and no one really pays attention to what they’re doing unless they’re half-naked.

If Trees Could Speak…

Out with it!
Out with it!

From The Wizard of Oz to The Lord of the Rings, talking trees have been a part of fantasy for a long time. Well, perhaps these thoughts should finally be freed from the land of myth. I recently discovered an old article thanks to this article in The Huffington Post.

It is entitled “Do Trees Communicate for Mutual Defense?” by Larry Gedney and although it’s from way back in 1986, the article cites a lot of research I had never heard of before. According to the research, trees under attack are able to communicate to each other to warn them about the danger. Once warned, the other trees can then defend themselves, such as by producing a chemical to ward off attacking insects.

Sadie Nardini: Unvegan Hero

This one might be a bit of a stretch, but reading it just made me so happy that I thought I should write about it.

Sadie Nardini is a big-time yogi (for my loyal readers, this is someone who practices yoga). Typically the thought of yoga people makes me sick. They often carry a holier-than-thou attitude and usually a vegetarian diet comes along with it. Nardini, however, has recently outed herself as a meat-eater to buck the trend.

Destination: Namibia

It looks like I’ve found the next stop on my quest for a meaty utopia. No, not Taco Bell. This time I hear a whole country calling my name: Namibia!

According to an eye-opening article from WHL, Namibia sounds like a paradise on Earth. It is entitled Namibia: A Truly Meat-Loving Country, by Rachel Harlech-Jones. In the article, Harlech-Jones writes about how the country didn’t even seem to know what a vegetarian was when she first went to Namibi (apparently they now know what a vegetarian is, but “still do not really know why vegetarians exist.”) This has nothing to do with a bad language exchange since their official language is English. Rather, they are just my type of people, constantly confused by people who don’t want to eat meat. 

Is Vegetarianism an Eating Disorder?

It’s not technically an eating disorder, but maybe it’s time to think of vegetarianism as one. According to research from some reputable universities earlier this year, “[vegetarians] may be at increased risk for binge eating with loss of control.” That’s an eating disorder in my mind.

I can’t say that I’m too surprised. Malnourished vegetarians certainly do not get enough of the foods their body needs. If I ate salad and kale for every meal, the first opportunity I had to eat food with nutrients would definitely send me into a food binge.

Shakira: Unvegan Hero

shakira-hips-lieIt’s not hard to be a fan of Shakira. Her music is catchy if you’re into that kind of pop music, but even if you don’t enjoy that kind of music, she can be appreciated for her other assets (like her work ethics and personality, of course). Now there is even more reason to like Shakira; for being a failed vegetarian.

But that sounds harsh, in my mind she is not a failed vegetarian, but an accomplished unvegetarian. According to The Times of India, she attempted to become a vegetarian after adopting pet chickens and becoming close with them.