Vegetarian Star

“And I’m winning. When’s the last time you heard someone who said, ‘Boy, am I eating more red meat’? You can go to any truck stop in America and tell them you want vegan and they’ll know what you’re talking about. They used to jump back like it was a communicable disease.”

—Howard Lyman, former 4th generation cattle rancher and author of Mad Cowboy, during  a speech given for Earth Day. Lyman adopted a vegan diet for health reasons and is now an animal welfare activist who travels around the country, talking about his background while promoting a vegan diet.

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What are your plans for the weekend?

Don’t lie and say you have a life, instead head over to the World Veg Festival in San Francisco.

Featured presenters include Skinny Bitch author Rory Freedman, author of the Quantum Wellness books Kathy Freston, Mad Cowboy Howard Lyman, the Humane Society’s Dr. Michael Greger, author John Robbins and more.

Besides star speakers, the event will have cooking demos, cuisine sampling, a kiddie play area and Veggie Speed Dating.

Yes, veggie speed dating. Find the love of your life who’s breath smells as garlicky like yours.

The two day party is this Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4, from 10 AM to 6 PM at the San Francisco County Fair Building, Lincoln & 9th Avenue entrance to Golden Gate Park.

There’s a suggested donation of $6, and it’s free for everyone before 10:30 AM on both days, free for children and students and seniors with I.D.

On Saturday night at 6:45 PM, there’s a catered dinner, $20 for cooked and $25 if you like it raw.

For more information, visit sfvs.org.

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So let’s play a little game. How many animals go into a 4 ounce hamburger? Four, eight, 10, 12? Sorry, game over. It’s more like 200-1,000! Yes, we know this makes you want to vomit, but there’s nothing like hearing the truth from someone who’s walked the line.

Howard Lyman is an animal rights advocate who grew up farming, became a factory farmer himself, then did a complete 180 and became vegetarian.  He’s also the author of the book “Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won’t Eat Meat.” You may remember his name being dropped in 1996 when he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show. He and O said some pretty bad stuff about meat. They both were sued by The National Cattleman’s Beef Association and both (obviously) got off the hook.

After finishing college, he turned his small family owned organic farm into a factory one with over 30 employees and 7,000 cattle (which, according to the stats above, all 7,000 of those cows could easily be mixed in with only a measly seven Happy Meals. McYuck!)

It took an illness, paralysis, and lying in a hospital bed for him to fully think about the implications of what he was doing. He thinks the world needs to get more into organic farming, and everyone, regardless of what’s on their plate, must realize the impact of how diet, farming, and the treatment of animals effects the earth.

“We don’t all have to agree on the diet we choose, but we have to agree that this planet is the only one we have. We need to think about where we’re going and we need to do it in this generation.”

via The Orion
Photo: jeckman on Flickr

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Scott Jurek is an ultra marathoner who is featured in the October issue of Vegetarian Times, along with Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie.

Not only is he a vegan athlete, he is also a yoga man, and an instructor for a class he attended took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his lifestyle.

Jurek made his final decision to go vegan after a friend let him borrow, “Mad Cowboy,” by Howard F. Lyman, a former cattle rancher turned vegetarian.

“This book really opened my eyes to the factory farming nightmare and how unhealthy it was for me, the animals, and the environment,” he said.

And although turning veg has done great things for him, he’s cautious to anyone who thinks cutting out meat alone will make you healthy.

“It’s not like you wake up the next morning and feel ten times better. The changes are more gradual and you can see them better once you continue down the path for a while and then look back. In regards to competing and training I noticed my recovery times had shortened, that I was less injury prone, and had a higher level of energy. Above all, the major changes were in my relationship to food preparation and intake. I became very concerned not just about veganism, but about proper nutrition. I’ve come across many vegans who are still drinking soda pop. The point is you can be vegan and still have an unhealthy diet.”

Read the rest of the interview with Scott in Jai! Magazine.

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