Food For Thought: The Joys And Benefits Of Living Vegan

The first animal anti-cruelty law in the United States was passed in 1867, and though there is much work to be done, much work has been done to protect animals under the law since then. Join me today for my conversation with Stephen Wells, executive director for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, as we talk about the legal definition of animals as "property," legal victories secured for animals, and how this field has grown significantly over the decades, reflecting a shift in public opinion.  Visit ALDF.org.  Visit ColleenPatrickGoudreau.com. 

They said we'd starve being vegan in southern Germany. They said we'd starve being vegan in Rwanda. They said we'd starve in the Highlands. They were wrong, and we lived to tell about it. Join me on our latest excursion — this time on a 100-mile trek from Glasgow to Fort William (and a train ride to Edinburgh). I take you with us from how to pack for such a trip, what my favorite vegan hiking shoes are, what company to use to book with, how to prepare for eating while you're walking 15 miles a day, and how often to stop for whisky. Complete with recommendations, resources, and restaurants.  Thanks to listener supporters, who also receive written transcripts of each episode.   

Just because you don't consider yourself a "gardener" doesn't mean this episode isn't for you. Humane gardening is about looking through the lens of the millions of species on this planet and creating a space that enables them to thrive. It's about coexisting with rather than managing or controlling wildlife. With the help of Nancy Lawson, author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife, you can apply this concept in your own garden patch, on your apartment balcony, or as part of policy you create with city officials. In this episode, Nancy and I chat about: *how to help pollinators (and that doesn't just mean honeybees)   *what to do when you have uninvited critters in your attic *how to plant for maximum wildlife (hint: NATIVES!) *why preventing deer, plant-eating animals, from eating plants, makes no sense *why you may want to rethink birdfeeders (and plant natives instead) *how you can prevent your dog from getting skunked -how you can get on the public relations team for wildlif

“What would happen to all the animals if we stopped eating them? Wouldn’t we be overrun with cows and pigs and chickens if we stopped?” “If everyone stopped eating these animals, they would go extinct. Is that what you want, Ms. Vegan and Mr. Vegan? You don’t care if these animals go extinct??” Join me today as I address these questions.    Thanks to supporters for making Food for Thought possible and who receive written transcripts of every episode.

I believe that shifting the way we talk about, think about, and behave towards other animals will impact them positively in the long term. But I also believe that as people who care about animals, we need to be politically engaged, because it’s not enough to change hearts and minds; we also have to change laws in order to protect animals from violence and exploitation. If you're looking to become empowered and emboldened to be a voice for animals, this is the episode for you. Thank you for your support. Supporters receive transcripts of episodes. 

Research has found that the way we name animals is intimately tied to our ability to eat them. Listen to this excerpt, then head over to Animalogy for the full episode. This topic is relevant for Food for Thought listeners, so I thought I'd put it on your radar.  Subscribe to Animalogy Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you!

Having been to Rwanda, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, I can now share with you the details of our adventure. For information on what you need to do before visiting these countries, check out the Food for Thought episode called Planning and Preparing a Trip to Africa. But for what do to once you get there and how to make the most of it, sit back, and enjoy the journey.  Supporters of Food for Thought receive the itinerary and specific details of the trip.  

Easing you into the new ANIMALOGY podcast, enjoy this SPECIAL episode, and be sure to subscribe to ANIMALOGY today on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Semantics play a significant role in shaping public perception about animals and animal welfare. The meat, dairy, and egg industries go to great lengths to remove harsh terminology and replace it with euphemisms that conceal the truth and sanitize violence. In today’s episode, I talk to someone who knows this all too well: Paul Shapiro, Vice President of Policy at The Humane Society of the United States. Join us as we discuss euphemisms and doublespeak used by animal agriculture and the best terms for plant-based and cultured meat.  Please subscribe to Animalogy on iTunes and Stitcher, download the episodes, and leave a review. Thank you for helping change the way we talk — and think — about animals.

Help celebrate the ELEVEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the Food for Thought podcast by sitting back and taking in the love letters I’ve received from listeners and supporters this past year. The stories are as diverse as the listeners and reflect varied ages and backgrounds, but they all share common threads of hope, transformation, and compassion. I hope you are as moved by the letters as I am humbled by them. If you ever once thought that “people don’t change,” then you’re in for quite a treat. And grab some tea or a glass of wine.  Thank you for all your support and love these last 11 years!

Easing you into the new podcast, enjoy this episode of ANIMALOGY, and be sure to subscribe to ANIMALOGY today on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you’ve made a serious faux pas and need to acknowledge it with humility, you might be said to be “eating crow” or “eating humble pie,” both phrases of which involve animals — or do they? In this episode, I uncover the dirty little secret underneath the pastry dough in “to eat humble pie” but demonstrate why you still want to eat humble pie (or dirt) instead of crows.  Please subscribe to Animalogy on iTunes and Stitcher, download the episodes, and leave a review. Thank you for helping change the way we talk — and think — about animals.

Easing you into our new podcast, enjoy this episode of ANIMALOGY, and be sure to subscribe to ANIMALOGY today on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Of the 88 constellations officially recognized by Western astronomy, 40 of them are named after animals — 43 if you count the mythical animals. We’re going to talk about 12 of them today — the 12 that make up the zodiac from Western astrology — ALL of which contain animals. After all, the word zodiac is Greek for “circle of little animals.” FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR ANIMALOGY:  1.Subscribe to Animalogy on iTunes and Stitcher and download the episodes. 2. Leave a 5-star rating on iTunes.  3. Leave a review on iTunes. High ratings, reviews, and downloads in the first month increase the chances of high placement on iTunes. 4. Become a monthly supporter of the podcast. For just .33 cents a day, you receive transcripts to each episode; for $1.00 a day, you get bonus episodes. Your support helps us reach the goal of making it a weekly, ad-free show. 5. Share t

Easing you into the new podcast, enjoy this episode from ANIMALOGY, and be sure to subscribe to ANIMALOGY today! Coccyx is a small triangle-shaped bone at the base of the spinal column in humans and other apes, such as gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. Representing a vestigial tail and most commonly called the tailbone, coccyx was the name given to this part of our anatomy by ancient Greek physician Galen because of its resemblance to an animal, making the word an "animalogy." Can you guess the etymology? All is revealed in this episode of Animalogy, a podcast about language and the animal-related words and expressions we use every day.

Easing you into the new Animalogy Podcast, please enjoy this SPECIAL episode; in exchange, please listen and subscribe to Animalogy Podcast! As Inauguration Day approaches, not everyone is talking about the inauguration of the next U.S. president; some are talking about the animals hidden within the word itself. This inaugural episode of Animalogy, a podcast about the animal-related words and expressions we use every day, takes us back to the politics of ancient Rome to reveal the birds behind the words inaugural, inauguration, auspicious, auspices, and more. LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE TO ANIMALOGY PODCAST! 

Just a quick announcement to let Food for Thought listeners and subscribers know that the Animalogy Podcast is now live! Please follow our 5-point plan!: 1. subscribe 2. download 3. rate & review 4. share 5. support

Today's episode is all about Animalogy, whose timing could not be more perfect not only because of the urgency of the need to transform our negative perception and ill treatment of nonhuman animals but also because we are living in a time when we are all called upon to be linguistically sensitive to vulnerable and disenfranchised groups. And perhaps no group is left out of our consideration more than the nonhuman animals of the world. We are all encouraged to be aware of and mindful about our language when it comes to those who don’t look, emote, or sound like we do. Animalogy shows what it would look like to accord that same respect to nonhuman animals — not because it changes them but because it changes us. Take a listen.  Listen to Food for Thought by clicking the play button below or by subscribing to or listening through iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud.    

Vegan options in L.A. continue to grow, as does my Northern Californian envy for the delicious restaurants and pop-ups in this city that has grown close to my heart over the years. Take a listen to the details of our recent trip to the city of angels; perhaps it will inspire a visit of your own.   

Did you know that some seemingly animal-related words and phrases have origins that have nothing to do with animals? In today's episode, I offer up the backstory to words such as piggyback, monkey wrench, round robin, and spelling bee.  Thanks for supporting Food for Thought.  Music by Gosta Berling.

Get ready to geek out on language and animals! We've talked a lot about animals hiding in familiar words and phrases, but did you know animals are lurking in the very letters that make up these words? If I haven't blown your mind yet, check out this episode to learn more about this fascinating history. 

A collective noun is “the name of a number (or collection) of people, animals, or things taken together and spoken of as one whole.” There are hundreds of these nouns of multitude, including those for animals, many of which are deeply embedded in our language despite being several hundred years old. You may refer to a gaggle of geese, a litter of puppies, a flock of ducks, a pride of lions, a A pack of wolves, or a murder of crows, but do you know whence they came? Join me today as we dive deep into these little bits of poetry. Listen by clicking the play button below or by subscribing to the RSS feed or listening through iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud. Thank you for your support of this podcast. You can support at Patreon.com/ColleenPatrickGoudreau and at JoyfulVegan.com. 

As an advocate for animals and compassionate living for over 25 years, you can imagine I've made mistakes, I've learned a bit, and I've thought a lot about what is effective -- and what is not. And so I give you 10 Habits of Highly Effective Advocates. Take a listen, and enjoy some lil' shareables, if you're so inclined to share:  *The goal is to live according to compassion. The goal is not to “live according to veganism.”   *When you think being vegan is the end goal -- the badge, the destination, you get hung up on trying to be perfect or achieving a state of purity, and you forget what being vegan is all about.  *Being vegan is the means to the goal and that goal is unconditional compassion and optimal wellness.  *Highly Effective Advocates understand that perfection is the enemy of the good. *The problems we face in our world are not because we have so much compassion we don’t know what to do with it. The problems are because people aren’t living according to their own values of compassion and kindness.