I am in Penang, Malaysia. Today and yesterday was very hazy. The sun is not shining. The air feels thick. It feels muggy and humid. The visibility is very poor. After some questioning some locals, I discovered they are burning large amounts of land in Sumatra (approx 300miles away). This land will then be used to grow Palm trees. The Palm trees are converted to cooking oils that we all use for any type of frying, simmering, searing, etc.. Or for the oils that are used in many of our wonderfully tasty vegan crackers, chips, cookies, and snacks. This smoggy hazey atomosphere I am living in is due to my addiction to cooked vegan foods.
I deserve to breathe these toxic smells, as I have been a direct supporter of cooked foods for 37 or so years. Even though I have been on the RAW VEGAN path for over 2 years now, I have had occasional "learning experiences" on cooked vegan foods.
I no longer have challenges staying vegan. Due to the ethical concerns, Vegan lifestyle seems to be ingrained in my Core persona forever. My goal is to have the same Rawvegan ingrained in my Core Persona forever. This will take more time, patience, and experience.
Maybe the USA is so rule governed that we outsource this type of process to 3rd world countries?
Traveling the world the last couple years has been teaching me so much about our environment. I had never connected environmental damage with eating cooked foods. I realize I may eat vegan cooked foods again in the future, possibly many times, possibly today, and that is OK. I don't plan on judging myself as a hypocrit just because I am learning the negatives. I realize that my culture has approx 10,000 years of eating cooked foods and that takes some time to 'unlearn'. I know I can survive and 'Thrive' on raw fruits and veggies. I am proving this daily and have been 90% of the last year.
If and When I choose to go against what I feel is best for me and eat cooked vegan foods, I plan to remember That eating cooked foods contributes to many terrible things such as deforestation, pollution, cancer causing air, WAR, and burning and itchy eyes from bad air. We can all do what we want, but i feel it's important to know what we contribute.
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2 comments:
I have been a vegan for 5 years and i have gone in 'n out of being a fruitarian eating NO cooked food but i end up doing back to it. its so hard no to. do you have any tips. also when i cook my food i only stem it, i don't eat ANY oil at all. also do you consider dehydrating food cooking it?
darrick, nice blog u have. why not attach our pic together in your blog. my family blog www.sitizaliha.blogspot.com but not updated. after penang, where u want to go? next year if u come again, mail me ok? we can eat some durian.
mroslij@yahoo.com
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