Today is quite literally one of the most beautiful days I can remember, especially for August in DC. It's just over 70F, not at all humid, sunny with a light breeze...I'm in heaven. We went to a nearby farm that sells their own as well as local produce and stuff and picked up some nectarines and two dish towels with chickens on them for a wedding gift for friends (they raise chickens). Now Danny is out hacking back bushes and mowing the lawn (after he spent yesterday washing all of my parents windows, which is not an easy feat considering they have twenty-two floor-to-ceiling windows that make up the back part of their house!) I'm going to hop out there in a little while and prune my tomato plants which are, to put it simply, out of control. They're bushy and healthy and I'm getting more of the fist-sized ones instead of the cherry ones which my parents prefer to use, so that's nice. I got all excited last weekend and started planning out how next year I want onions and squash and peppers but then I realized I won't really be here next year since rotations will have started. Boo.

Speaking of vegetables, you're probably wanting to know how the vegan thing is going. One word: awesome. In the few short days since I made the leap, I have made a bunch of new recipes (I made falafel last night for the first time ever - everyone liked it!), lost three pounds and just felt good in general. My first real challenge was last night: my dad made an awesome chocolate cake for my grandmother's birthday dinner last night. I was able to resist pretty easily last night but when I sat down to eat lunch today a big waft of chocolate amazingness came floating up to meet me and it was so hard not to reach over a swipe a glob of fudgey icing off the plate (don't worry, I didn't.) I've been trying to focus my recipe searches on things that are either already vegan or easily made vegan. I think once I'm completely "over" animal products, it will be easier to swap in vegan meats and cheeses; right now, when I remember what a good steak tastes like, I think I'd just be setting myself up for disappointment if I tried to make something Really Not Vegan taste like Something Vegan, if that makes sense. I have had frozen vegan burgers, but I've always liked them so I don't think that's as big a deal.

Anyway, it's a glorious day outside - not going to spend it in front of the computer! Happy lazy Sunday :)

Today is the first day of a new month, which means its resolution time. Lately I've been a little lazy in my brainstorming and I think my productivity has reflected that. However, July's resolution - to broaden my horizons - was so successful that it creates the perfect segue ("seg-way" - I know, I didn't know how to spell it either) into August's resolution:

I'm going to go vegan for the month in the hopes that I can go vegan for the foreseeable future.

Whoa, right? I've mentioned that I stopped eating pork in my first year of vet school. I've talked about becoming a vegetarian, and I was really successful (and happy!) with my resolution to eat less meat earlier in the year. I felt better physically, mentally and "morally". But now, to leap into veganism cold turkey (or should I say tofurkey or turk'y)?

Let's break it down.

First, what does it mean to be a vegan? Generally speaking, a vegan does not consume anything that came from an animal. This includes meat, dairy and eggs but extends to products like gelatin and leather. But that's the simple version. I see vegans in a few distinct categories - those who do it for dietary reasons, those who do it for the morals and those (a subset of the second) who take it to the extremes.

Next, why do I want to be vegan? I would consider myself a mixture between the first two categories. Having been nearly vegetarian for a month, I felt great eating less meat and I lost weight. But I'm definitely in the second category, too. I don't like how a lot of livestock are raised: small cages for poultry and pigs, pushing animals - especially dairy - to their limits to their detriment, unenriched environments, etc. I particularly don't like how there are so few (and then only loosely regulated) regulations on transport to slaughter and slaughter. There is so much room for error and I hate the idea that an animal that I consume (or a product of an animal that will one day go to slaughter) could have been one that was ineffectively stunned or injured badly on the trailer or whatever.

The funny thing is, a lot of people look at lab animals like this and while it is largely untrue, there are always instances that crop up that make you sad due to human error. So how can I possibly be OK with animal research? I'm going to be there, working my rear off to make sure that every single creature under my control is treated with the utmost care and respect. I feel like my contributions to the problems outweigh any moral qualms I might have. In addition, I think the field of lab animal medicine is a lot more progressive than that of production and that makes me feel as though a lot of positive steps can and will be made. I don't feel that same assurance with the food industry.

So what will I eat? No meat, dairy or eggs, of course. But if I examine my reasoning for wanting to become vegan, I've decided that I will allow myself to eat animal products that come from local producers that raise their animals in a way that I feel happy with (free range chickens, for example) and slaughter their own livestock. As they have far fewer animals to process and do not have to ship to a far-away slaughter house, I can feel more confident that the animals will undergo a humane death. If people want to bash me for that, that's fine. It's about doing what I believe is morally acceptable.