The Question Is...

For those of you who don't know I eat a plant based diet. I didn't always eat this way, no, up until 4 years ago I ate animal flesh. Back then when I would come across vegetarians or vegans I would be curious about their diet. Of course, I had been led to believe that I needed to eat meat in order to get my protein intake. I couldn't eat dairy because of an allergy. I had been told in order to get leaner as an athlete, which translated to getting faster, I had to eat more protein. This took effort from me. I was the kid who gobbled up her vegetables, preferably raw, and was told she couldn't leave the table until she ate her meat. So, when I would come across someone who didn't eat meat, I of course was very interested in what they did and asked the inevitable question that all vegans and vegetarians get asked.



The answer is, the same place as a cow does. (with the exception of those poor cows who are fed ground up parts of beef. Imagine if you were at a family dinner and you asked what made the mashed potatoes and gravy so yummy and your aunt said, grandma always liked to feed us so thought she could one more time). I am not in the business of converting anyone, heck, me hearty still chews flesh, but I am saying that you can survive and even thrive on a plant based diet if you so choose. There are people who say that it takes too much work to get all your nutrients when you eliminate animal products. I say, that there are vegans who do not eat a nutritionally dense diet, but the same can be said for many meat eaters. So the question should not be 'where do you get your protein?', the question is 'where do you get your nutrients?. You may have to repeat your answer, I may not hear you over the whirl of my vita mix making my morning green smoothie.