WHY FOOD SHAMING IS WRONG

It's disappointing today to see so many vegans who, for perfectly valid ethical and environmental reasons, use guilt and shame to, firstly, defend their own food choices and secondly, beat-up on meat-eaters.

Why do this? To feel morally superior? Many remind me of Christians who are 'holy', for 2 hours on a Sunday, then go home and beat the kids. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and all that. The fact is millions of small animals, birds, bees and insects are ripped apart andr poisoned by, 'Big Agriculture', in order to put fruits and vegetables on vegan plates.

All you do, when you become an ideological vegan, is turn eating into warfare and become paranoid about everything you put in your mouth.

Food should be eaten in an atmosphere of calm and peace. I know what I am talking about because I was an 'insufferable vegan'. Cringing at anyone eating a prawn cocktail.

It is spiritually wrong to instil shame and guilt in others. No good comes from polarizing opinion and driving meat-eaters away, making it harder to get them back. When you condemn others you bring anger, rage and hatred into your own psyche. How does this benefit you?

I use juicing, blending and raw fruits and vegetables because they are excellent cleansers and regenerators. The transformations I see are amazing. Even after many years I still get a buzz from it. Long-term it's a different matter but you get the point.

Sell the BENEFITS of a vegan diet. Tell your story of how it transformed your life. This is a much better way to promote your message. And if people still eat meat, don't condemn them. Food Sensitivity Testing has shown that some do well on meat and some do well without. How you look and feel shows what foods are most agreeable to you.

Idealism is all well and good when you live in Costa Rica, Goa or Thailand. But most people cannot afford, or find, uncontaminated fruit and veg, grown locally, tree-ripened, picked in season, eaten immediately. They find fruit tasteless because they are habituated to sweet, sour or salty, don't do well on raw, they may live under 6' of snow for much of the year, or they simply wish to remain (pardon the pun) 'pig ignorant'. If you weigh 300lbs and live in California, raw fruit and veg is fantastic. If you are 140lbs, living in Alaska, it isn't going to happen. 

The reality is 84% of vegans wash-out after a few years. Cold, 'spaced out' and often terribly thin. They are forced to stop, despite their strong ideological stance.

Be well

Paul Keenan

Author of 'Fire Your Doctor Choose Life', founder of 'WellnessPaul', creator of THE HEALTH NAVIGATOR™ and LYMECLEAR™ Lyme Disease Program