Oprah goes vegan for 3 weeks.

[flvegan]

Oh, and she's blogging about it.

In her book Quantum Wellness, best-selling author and spiritual counselor Kathy Freston suggests trying a 21-day cleanse as a way to jump-start an inner makeover. Oprah has decided to give it a try! The plan is to eliminate caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten and animal products from your diet for up to 21 days. Read along as Oprah blogs for three weeks about the highs and lows of her experience.

Week One: Sunday
There was a passage in Kathy Freston's book that so related to me, I thought for a moment she was talking about me.

In the passage, Kathy talks about an overweight friend who would gain and lose. She didn't conquer the weight issue until she became a "conscious" eater.

Conscious eater. That struck a nerve. I had recently come to the conclusion that after spending weeks reading and rereading A New Earth and being on line with Eckhart Tolle that bringing a higher level of awareness to my eating was the solution I'd been avoiding. My idea of a conscious eater, however, was not quite the same as Kathy's.

I thought it meant not allowing yourself to eat emotionally and filling the void of anxiety with food, as I've struggled with for years. I thought it meant taking your time, making healthy choices and chewing slowly—being conscious of every bite and not scarfing down a meal and then thinking about the next one.

That is one level of consciousness. But what she talks about in her book is a higher level. She speaks of "spiritual integrity." How can you say you're trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?

http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/cleanse/blog/blog_1.jhtml

[stuntcat]

1. she's a flake, imo

The puppy mill show was the first time I saw her show in years. She's usually so people-centered and self-helpy, that show was a departure for her I think.

I hope she'll get a few of them thinking, she has so much power.. but it's over the same people who do NOT want to think of what happens in factory farms. I wonder if she'll even mention it.

[LeftyMom]

2. That's my concern.

Remember when she swore off beef?

My perspective on this is simple: I'm an ethical vegan. A lot of people have a hard time relating to that, because they don't normally connect ethics and buying or eating behavior. Presenting veganism as a diet, let alone a temporary one, rather than as an ethical system of which an animal-free diet is a natural result, is just going to create more misconceptions for me to have to correct.

That said, her meal plan looks amazing. I want a personal chef when I grow up.

[flvegan]

3. For three weeks, the most popular, powerful woman in America

(yeah, NOT Hillary) has gone vegan and is going to blog about it, and likely, will be heralding the merits of same.

That's really all I have to say about it.

[LeftyMom]

5. Can we not throw the word "vegan" around where it's not warranted?

AFAIK, she's changed her diet only. She hasn't said a thing about avoiding animal products otherwise, so she's temporarily a strict vegetarian, not a vegan.

[silverweb]

7. Exactly.

This new project will do a huge amount of good in raising awareness for hundreds of thousands of people -- many of whom may go on to change their lifestyles permanently.

Everyone has to start somewhere and it's not always easy in our society. Oprah is doing the work and providing the public support for many, many people to consider the reasons for and merits of veganism, or at least some degree vegetarianism.

We all ought to be thanking her and lending our support.

The fact that it's not good enough for some people is pretty fucking pathetic and explains why so many omnovores are turned of by "condescending" and "judgmental" vegans/vegetarians.

[stuntcat]

8. I hope

I hope it will raise awareness. If anyone can do it it'll be her.
Anyone eating meat anymore is ridiculous, considering all that goes into it and all it costs the entire world. She'll get some people thinking about the real cost of their pork chops and ground beef.

[silverweb]

13. Right.

I'm at a point where I don't care at all why people turn away from animal consumption, only that they do. One step at a time is fine, as long as that first step is taken.

If it's solely for "cleansing" or personal health reasons, that's fine. Greater enlightenment, understanding, compassion for animals, etc, can come later.

The first critical step is that people stop eating meat -- for whatever reason. Oprah, whatever negatives some people feel she has, is doing a wonderful thing with this 21-day project and will inspire many to follow her lead.

Many people may also take this farther on their own, even Oprah herself, as they learn more about all the ethical, ecological, and health ramifications of producing/consuming animal products for food and other reasons.

I see no down side at all in what Oprah is doing with this project.

[Debau2005]

4. I want a personal chef

Sure would make being a vegetarian a lot easier. Actually it would just make life a lot easier. Oh and I want a personal driver to...can I have one?

I have always liked Oprah, and watched from time to time. But lately, I wonder about her show. She has become increasingly condescending her guests, or so it appears to me. Maybe she is just tired and bored of what she does, which is fine. If that is the case, then it's time to step back. If it wasn't for the investigations that Lisa Ling does, I don't think she would do anything but fluff. Lisa is the one doing the better work.

[LeftyMom]

6. I don't watch her show, but her promotion of silly nonsense like The Secret worries me.

I really don't want somebody to confuse veganism with a steaming pile of crap like that, and I really don't think Oprah's temporarily going vegetarian is much of a recommendation.

[Tumbulu]

9. If she talks about factory farms and CAFO's

it is a huge step. If she gets these regular people who refuse to think about these things to think about them even just for a week, it will be a beginning that was not begun before. For some of these people,or their children, seeds will be planted in their minds. People will talk at dinner about what kind of life the animal had when they do eat meat. It is much much better than nothing.

Plus all the political pundits said having Oprah back Obama would mean nothing. So, IMO her interest in this subject means a great deal and I am so glad for the Oprah discussions to be on these miserable and cruel industries.

[LeftyMom]

10. I don't think that's likely.

She's presenting this as being a health motivated thing, a "cleansing diet," not as something motivated by love of animals. If she cared much about animal issues, she'd be going vegan for real and forever.

[Chan790]

11. A trip of 1000 miles begins but with a single step...

and not everybody starts out doing things for the most ethical reasons, nor even understanding their motivations.

[flvegan]

12. That's a valid concern.

One I hope isn't realized.

A little personal stuff here. Two of my very best friends (husband and wife) went vegan for health reasons before I ever knew them. Couldn't really have given a shit about animals, the environment or anything else.

Today, he's my lawyer who also does a pile of work for the ACLU, HSUS and Farm Sanctuary. She, well, she's brilliant. She gets folks like Howard Lyman to come speak to our book club when when we read "Mad Cowboy".

I admit, I don't know a lot of folks that stay vegan after going vegan for "health" reasons. But, I can still cross my fingers.

[LeftyMom]

14. You're charmingly optimistic.

It's cute.

I'd still like to restrict the use of the word vegan to people who actually are vegan, and working to eliminate animal exploitation from all aspects of their lives. People whose diet is free of animal products but who otherwise are not vegan (for example, some religious vegetarians fall into this category) are strict vegetarians. I hate to be dogmatic about it, but the meaning of vegetarian is totally amorphous anymore, and I'd really like to work to prevent that with regards to the idea of what veganism is.

[LeftyMom]

15. I hate to prolong an argument, but there was a goat sacrifice on yesterday's Oprah.

I wish I were making that up, and it kinda sounds like an Onion story, but yeah, a goat sacrifice.

Apparently (need I bother mentioning I'm not the Oprah show type? I heard secondhand, so if anybody saw this I'd love to hear the details) she has some thing called O Ambassadors, (Off topic, but would she please stop naming things after herself? Pretty soon everything will be named after Oprah or Ronald Reagan.) which is some sort of do-gooding thing for young people, and the O Ambassadors were at someplace in Africa where they're building a school, and the locals sacrificed a goat. The goat was shown on camera, and people drinking the goat's milk, the sacrifice wasn't shown but the dead goat was.

I'm told there wasn't any critical comment from Ms. Winfrey about the animal sacrifice. Some vegan. :eyes:

[Tumbulu]

16. I cannot see how you can compare

the way the average person eats (and have become so separated from real life in the city/suburban capitalistic nation of profit over any other consideration especially an animals' right to a natural life) in our country with the way people live and eat in other parts of the world.

I lived in a part of West Africa where there was a 40% infant mortality rate. The women farmed and grew all the food, raised the children, found the firewood and then cooked the food. Then the men, whose sole job was to pray to Allah, got to eat the food first and whatever was left over the women and children got. I read that they averaged 800 calories a day and that seemed high.

Animals ate what people could not and every so often one was killed and eaten. Sometimes a chicken and for rare occasions, maybe twice a year a goat or a sheep. We are talking very little meat consumption. No eggs as every egg may become a chicken. And yogurt from any animal being milked.

This has nothing to do with the world we live in. Where animals are confined, living a life of illness and torture, so that people can eat meat 3 x per day 7 days per week.

[LeftyMom]

17. I'm not really comparing anything.

I'm just saying that Oprah is about as vegan as my cat.

[flvegan]

18. Your cat really shouldn't be vegan.

But wait:

"and the O Ambassadors were at someplace in Africa where they're building a school, and the locals sacrificed a goat"

Did Oprah or someone else sacrifice a goat?

I'm not justifying it, but if Oprah didn't cut the throat then I have to take it at face value. I know "ambassadors" that kill animals every day. AND, this might just be a religious thing. Not my cup of tea and not an excuse for me, but also not something I'd chain her to the back of a truck and drag her down the street because of.

Also, a quick Google of Oprah vegan (no quotes) garners 243,000 hits.

I do think we'll disagree on this for a bit. Which would have me sleeping on the couch for a bit, yes?

:(

[LeftyMom]

19. Oprah, alien has 279,000 hits.

:D

Also, you wouldn't fit on my couch. It's only about 2/3 the length of the normal sort. But I have a king size bed, which apparently means that we have to agree to disagree. Even though you're wrong. :P

[flvegan]

20. I still fail to see how

Oprah, for better or worse, hurts the vegan community by choosing such a diet for 3 weeks. And then, periscope up, what if she carried that choice forward?

Didya see the publicity that Lyman got because of Oprah? Mad Cowboy wasn't just mad, he was insane!!!

[LeftyMom]

21. Because it makes veganism look faddish, temporary, and like a diet rather than an ethical system.

Did you hear the recording of her first vegan meal? :rofl: If being vegan means thanking the hummus for coming to the table, I think I need a new label. :rofl:

[flvegan]

22. Right, so veganism, if not for ethical reasons is rubbish then?

[LeftyMom]

23. If not for ethical reasons, it's not veganism.

Strict vegetarianism, but not veganism.

I know a few people who fall into that category (usually religiously motivated vegetarians) and they prefer not to identify as vegans, because they're not AR motivated.

[flvegan]

24. Okay.

The difference being? By difference, I mean that between what might be an ethical vegan and the lesser "strict vegetarian" that adhered to a vegan lifestyle but didn't have the ethics to back it up.

[LeftyMom]

25. Ultimately, veganism is an ethical system.

If somebody doesn't have that ethical framework, they're not vegan.

I know I'm being annoyingly dogmatic, but I really don't like the way that the meaning of vegan is eroding. I'd hate to see it become what vegetarian is, so degraded as to be utterly meaningless.

[flvegan]

26. Why not?

Why if not ethical framework can't someone proudly wear the "Vegan" badge?

[LeftyMom]

27. Because words have meanings, and that's what this one means.

Otherwise, we get people calling themselves vegan with chicken nuggets on their breath (true story.)

[flvegan]

28. Right, but

folks will call themselves various things, and it matters little.

I still don't see how some KFC drumstick munching individual plays into this.

[LeftyMom]

29. Because without a shared terminology, we can't have a movement.

If words have no meanings, so much time gets lost arguing about what was meant, that there's no time to communicate about what to do and why, and thus forward movement is impeded or impossible.

To go back to the example of "vegetarian" and what that word does or doesn't mean, (apologies if the vegetarians feel picked on, but it's a perfect example of my point) I've bought "vegetarian" cookbooks that wound up having hints in the recipes about where to add meat! I really don't want to see veganism, either as a term or a social movement, reduced to meaninglessness in that way.

[flvegan]

30. Wait..."we" who?

[LeftyMom]

31. We meaning me and my army of vegan ninjas.

Actually, I'm just saying that so that I can have a giggle when all this shit is over, and I find "commands cadre of vegan martial artists" in my file.

Vegans and/or AR people (and that there's not a neat overlap of the two groups is a sign of failure, but I digress.)

[Critters2]

34. I'm confused. The religiously motivated vegetarians I know,

including me, do identify as vegan (if they are indeed vegan) and are AR motivated--for religious reasons. So, I'm just not getting what you're saying.

[LeftyMom]

35. I'm talking about religions that prescribe a veg*n diet, not people who feel it is consistent with

their beliefs.

For example, Seventh Day Adventists. At a class where I guest lectured, the speaker before me was a nutritionist who was SDA and trained at one of their hospitals- she explained that while what would now be considered a vegan diet is suggested by their beliefs (one's supposed to be, at minimum, vegetarian) but, since the motivation is different (forgive the paraphrase, and my faulty memory, but I believe that she said they believe that as the world becomes more corrupt closer to the end, that animal foods would no longer be safe to eat, so it's more a matter of safety and personal purity than AR, though some may also have animal welfare concerns,) they generally don't identify as vegan.

My understanding is that's fairly typical.

[Critters2]

36. I did my clinical at an SDA hospital, and it was veg, but not vegan.

In fact, most days there were two cafeteria entrees--one a fake meat and one an egg dish. And they used dairy, too. I never got all of the motivations around this. The chaplaincy staff was very careful not to give the impression they were trying to evangelize us. Indeed, they were very respectful of the faith of the rest of us (all UCC or American Baptist in my group). But it was clear the motivations were health-oriented and not ethical. And I know it never occurred to them to be concerned about animal ingredients in non-food items, nor animal-testing, nor clothing...They just weren't vegan. Neither are the SDAs I know here.

Their motivation was completely health-oriented. They also avoid caffeine, which was the real challenge for me. I finally gave up and started bringing my own teabags to the hospital. Life has enough headaches!

So, I guess I was unclear because the SDAs I know are vegetarian but not at all vegan. Not even close. Thanks for clarifying.

[nankerphelge]

32. Check out this choice phrase from her blog...

We're on our own…no Tal this week. Today, I'm ordering out from a vegan restaurant here and bringing some things from home, like gluten-free waffles for breakfast. I sure will be happy to return to gluten. The Morningstar veggie sausages are a keeper—nice flavor and no pig had to sacrifice its life.


Of course, all the father's day recipes she has up involve some animal sacrificing... maybe the skepticism in prior posts is deserved.

[LeftyMom]

33. The "vegan" thing is over. And the gluten-free thing.

http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/cleanse/blog/blog_main.jhtml?promocode=HP42

"This week was harder without Tal, but we've managed to do okay. Yesterday, I prepared breakfast for the VCT before doing the show. I brought gluten-free waffles and Morningstar vegetable sausage that Tal had left in my freezer from his shopping at Whole Foods. Delicious and easy breezy to prepare."

Morningstar breakfast sausage contains: TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (WHEAT GLUTEN, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WATER FOR HYDRATION), EGG WHITES, CORN OIL, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF SALT, SODIUM CASEINATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, SUGAR, CELLULOSE GUM, MODIFIED POTATO STARCH, CANOLA OIL, SPICES, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, HYDROLYZED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (SOY, WHEAT, AND CORN), CARAMEL COLOR, GUAR GUM, SOY SAUCE (SOYBEANS, SALT, WHEAT), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS FROM NON-MEAT SOURCES, GUM ARABIC, ONION POWDER, MALTODEXTRIN, VITAMINS AND MINERALS (NIACINAMIDE, IRON , THIAMIN MONONITRATE , PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE , RIBOFLAVIN , VITAMIN B12), DISODIUM INOSINATE, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, SUNFLOWER OIL, XANTHAN GUM, SESAME SEED OIL.
Allergen Information:
CONTAINS WHEAT, SOY, EGG AND MILK INGREDIENTS.