Hi, len and everybody! I can't believe I just discovered this thread. I never knew it was here until I saw it on the hot list.
I'm a work-in-progress as far as the vegetarian life. About two years ago I began the process of conversion after reading Andrew Weil's 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. I changed everything: threw out the old partially-hydrogenated fats in the pantry, found that Whole Foods/Bread & Circus was the best place on earth, bought only organic foods, switched to bottled/filtered water, and gradually changed my diet to veggie + fish and chicken.
At the time, I suffered from a variety of ailments, and every single one of them disappeared on the Weil program. So I became a convert. Although I slide in and out on some of my goals (walking every morning, for example) for the most part I've stuck with the program. And along the way, I lost 30 pounds, a lovely side effect.
Finally, early this year I finally gave up the chicken, and now I'm gradually giving up the fish. I can't imagine life without cheese, however, so I don't think I'll ever be a vegan.
But here's a topic I'd like to throw out for discussion: pet food. I'm very concerned about the meat and beef by-products used so extensively in pet food, primarily because of mad cow disease. So I've switched my cats to the "Wellness" brand that is only available at select pet stores. They claim that the ingredients are human quality and that they use no meat by-products. Fortunately, my cats love the stuff.
Pet food labeling mostly falls in the "don't get me started" category. For years I've been scrutinizing cat food labels. Clearly, there are no "truth in naming" requirements for pet foods: "Savory Salmon" has ingredients as follows: meat by-products, liver, fish, salmon.
I'm concerned that pet foods are a dumping ground for the "meat by-products" that nobody else wants to buy because they may just happen to carry the nasty prions that we don't want in our own food.
Any thoughts about the pet food issue???
}->---------->>>> |
