Voracious Vegan No More
One of the most controversial topics right now regards a post made by the Voracious Vegan, titled 'A Vegan No More.' Tasha, the voracious lady behind the post, discusses her battle with numerous vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and her decision to go back to being an omnivore after 3.5 years as a vegan. Her blog is now titled Voracious Eats.
Quite obviously, the post opened up a floodgate of responses, including everything from encouragement to death threats. Tens of thousands of people visited the page, and she recieved hundreds of comments, emails, and phone calls. Her server crashed as a result of the outpouring support and criticism.
Meat or Veggies?
Where do I stand on this? It's hard to say. I have been vegan for three years, and I am personally, the healthiest and happiest I have ever been. My blood tests are excellent, my body is lean and firm, I have energy, my skin glows, and my hair shines. However, that is me personally. I am not Tasha. I don't know what she eats, how much she eats, how her body functions, or why she feels better as an omnivore instead of a vegan. And you know...it's also not really my business.
The Great Divide
To be honest, the only thing that makes me sad about such a post is the division it creates between omnivores and vegans. Some omnivores take this story and run with it, exclaiming that there is no possible way that anyone can be healthy on a vegan diet. At the same time, some vegans will take the opportunity to verbally abuse someone over the decisions they make, which shows the lack of love and compassion that is generally central to a vegan diet.
Just Live With Love
I still personally hold a lot of value in and passion for a vegan diet: My views have not changed, and I doubt they ever will. That being said, I would like to encourage everyone to live with an open mind. Love others for who they are, rather than hating them for the decisions they make. Live as compassionately as you can, whether it's by being vegan, donating food and clothing, or volunteering in a soup kitchen. We won't heal our world with war. So long as there is love and understanding, there will be peace.
Much love <3
Char, xo
4 comments:
I just read that post toda. I cannot believe someone would make death threats over something like this!
While Tasha did write that she received death threats, we can't know what was actually said to her, or written to her.
I fully support someone taking care of her health, but to blame poor health on veganism seems such a disservice. I think there are as many unhealthy vegetarians and vegans as there are omnivores. What is important is consuming a balanced diet for optimum nutrition, and making sure to take in enough nutrients for your specific lifestyle, i.e. plenty of protein and calories if you work out hard every day. This takes work, and not everyone devotes the time.
It is so upsetting to read comments from people blaming a vegan diet for lack of health and nutrition for most people. It's really a shame Voracious Vegan's post enabled this sort of "spin".
My two biggest problems with Tasha's post was that she claims she felt ill as a vegan, all the while blogging about how great she felt. So--she was lying. Now she says she is telling the truth, in what sounds like ye old Weston-Price conversion story, which doesn't help her credibility.
When is she telling the truth? There are so many holes in her story that she's bound to become a laughingstock on the internet. Nice how her hair got thicker after eating meat for just a couple days, eh? Just doesn't work that way. For that, I kind of feel sorry for her.
My personal experience with other Weston-Price cultists has been when you disagree with them, they go crazy and make all sorts of false accusations and ad hominem attacks. How does it make sense that veg*ns--well known for being violent and murderous!--would make death threats? I will remain skeptical until some evidence is shown.
She says she's sorry she didn't look before she leaped into veganism--but she's done the same exact thing jumping into the pseudo-scientific world of Weston-Price, Paleo diet et. al., which is another panacea which has been sold just as falsely as some misguided people sell veganism.
To me she's a novelty addict, a pendulum swinging from one extreme to another. Too bad she didn't learn her lesson and take her time to research before making her embarrassing and histrionic public confessional.
Well said, both of you! I was honestly never a follower of Tasha's, so I never saw her write about how "great" she felt as a vegan, nor did I know she suffered health problems. But I agree, to jump after a couple of days as an omnivore & say so many things are better, & to do a complete 180 on everything she believes is a bit extreme. I can't imagine eating meat or dairy & feeling amazing after...but that's just me :)
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