RUBY WAX

Ruby wax is a comedian who now has found her path as a mental health campaigner.  She has depression and she struggled to keep it a secret for many years as it would be detrimental for her career.

A while back Comic Relief (a charity based in the UK) asked her to use her photo for a mental health campaign; Ruby then decided to write a show about mental illness and toured mental institutions for 3 years, after that the show transferred to “normal” places. What Ruby found out was the fact that people were asking the exact same questions as the ones in mental institutions.

All and all, she then became really interested in knowing and learning how the brain works and why we all have what she calls “the critical voices”. That's why she got into Oxford; to study neuroscience, in an attempt to understand what’s really going on inside our heads and in my opinion, she suceeded.

What she exposes in this video is very interesting and REALLY makes a lot of sense. Besides she makes it a really funny exerience; give it a look:   

Much love,

Tania

A POWERFUL MESSAGE

On 13^th November Justin Bieber’s new studio album Purpose came out. Now, this information is cool for me as I’ve been long waiting for it but why is it relevant to you?

Among all the hits the album is made of, one song has stood out for me ever since I listened to it for the first time; so today I want to comment/review with you this one song called Children.

Because the thing is that, in a country where clubs and discos are crowded common places and young teenagers change toys for high heels and cigarettes at a much younger age every time;  one finds club music to be senseless beats about anything silly you could imagine: love, sex, makeup, skinny shaming, fat shaming, break ups…. And this leads me to a much bigger concern than empty lyrics, and the funky beats played over and over again on clubs; it is the people listening to it every weekend –their passions, their values, their purpose in life…

I don’t know about you but to me it looks like the majority of those kids are brain-washed robots programmed to only care about how good their makeup is and who has the prettiest clothes. I don’t see a living vibrant soul wanting to change the world for better, I don’t see ambition away from materialistic useless stuff we have been trained to need on a daily basis. Oh wow, this blog post has gotten serious!

I have been thinking about this whole world-changing idea lately and it is something I want to deepen in but for now I only want to say that I am so happy that songs like this one are out there.

The song is an ode to youngsters who quoting the lyrics, want to make a difference.  The very serious message behind the upbeat dance tune sings lines like:

Look at all the children we can change

What about a vision? BE A VISIONARY FOR A CHANGE

We’re the generation who’s gonna be the one to fight for it

We’re the inspiration

Powerful words beautifully thrown directly to us; the raising generation. Asking  and even begging to change  the situation of those who suffer now and fight to give them a better future –because it is in our hands .  Following by lines like:

Who’s got the heart? Who’s got it?

Whose heart is the biggest?

Wear it on your sleeve

Bet we can make a difference

See the competition these words lead to? I bet it would be great if we cared more about how nice and lovely and caring we are and “make it a competition” than today’s who’s-prettier, who-has-a-hotter-boyfriend and who-earns-more-money toppings.  I bet the world would immediately become a better place for sure.

The outcome of the hit is a melancholy tune with a very profound and powerful message to be passed on among the youngest ones. And I found it particularly genius the fact that it could perfectly fit at a dance floor on any Saturday night! I really hope this song gets played in many places such as clubs and discos so that the message can reach those that might be lost in this crazy-brain-distracting world we live in.

I am well aware that you might despite Justin and I am not here to change that, all I want you to do is to give this powerful one-of-a-kind song a go. I know you’ll get inspired from it; after all, we are the ones who CAN make this difference he’s referring to. Here's the fabulous video for the song (even tho the song is cut out) you can also find it on Spotify or iTunes.

It all comes down to love and compassion, once again.

Tania xx

WHY VEGANS DON'T EAT EGGS

I was with friends the other day and they started wondering why I wouldn’t eat eggs; they couldn’t understand why Vegans choose not to eat them as the animal doesn’t get killed and the eggs would be there anyway so no harm is made in the process, right?  Well I guess their response is what I call misconception and lack of knowledge.

In a brief try to educate them I realized that actually none understood what veganism is about. Hiding behind the argument that the hen doesn’t get killed in the egg industry they though Vegans should eat eggs too. This brought up some concern on me as I realized that people is waaaay more uneducated than I thought.

I am going to try to explain to those of you who share opinion with my friends why Vegans choose NOT to eat eggs.

First of all, it’s true that the hen does not get killed –at least during their productive lifespan- in order to get the eggs BUT those animals spend their lives confined in tiny cages not even having a chance to breathe fresh air. So between this and death I couldn’t actually decide which one is worse.

If you say this ain’t evil explain me what is?

Now let me clarify some points to make this explanation a bit easier:

1. Only female chickens (i.e. hens) lay eggs.

2. EGGS ARE HENS’ MENSTRUATION: when a hen hasn’t been fertilized they lay the eggs most people consider food; if they happen to be fertilized chicks are born.

Moving on, hens naturally lay  about 18 eggs per year but due to decades of genetic manipulation and selective breeding, egg industy’s hens produce 250 to 300 eggs per year. In other words, we have modified their bodies up to such unnatural state that it results in high rates of disease and mortality. Forget to mention that it all has been done without any consent/right to do so, of course!

Now let’s think for a moment that hypothetically were woman instead of hens in those cages; doing the math, we all know that women only ovulate 12 times per year so as the greedy hypothetic industry of woman periods doesn’t have enough, they genetically and hormonally modify women’s bodies so that they ovulate every day of their lives!! If you reading this happen to be a woman this might resonate with you as you can easily emphasize with the beings that ARE in this situation; that is because evil is evil no matter who the victim is; there is no difference in the atrocity no matter who it applies on: a hen or a woman.

 

Not to talk about the 6,000,000,000 newborn male chicks 

killed every year as byproduct of the egg industry.

 

So, we have now seen that Vegans do not consume eggs because even though the animal does not get killed their bodies do get modified without any consent and do not enjoy the freedom they naturally deserve; and as I have explained, we CHOOSE to see evil as evil without distinction of who the victim is.

Let’s move on to a much twisted excuse. When saying: well but my grandparents happen to have some hens in their backyard so they take care of the animals by giving them a big natural place to run and be free, those animals have the perfect lives so why not take THEIR eggs in return?

Here is where commodification steps in. “Commodification is the crime as much as killing is.” Veganism is much more than keeping the animal alive; it is much more that giving the animal the happiest of lives. Veganism is about equality, about seeing the animals as if they were humans. In spite of what they have made us believe their bodies are not machines; a hen’s body is not an egg-producing-machine. A computer is a machine, hens are sentiment beings.

The reason your grandparents have hens in their backyard is not unconditional love, it isn’t because they love them and want to selflessly take care of the animals (like domestic animals such as dogs or cats). No, they OWN hens because they WANT SOMETHING FROM them. This is called commodification. Their bodies do not belong to us and neither does what comes out of them. I’m sure people wouldn’t agree to have old hens in their backyards –who don’t lay eggs anymore. This is because they take care of the animals in order to get eggs IN RETURN; which means that they are USING those animals –who, by the way, can be as happy as you want– to get something from them.

So, vegans –or at least ethnical vegans– see animals as sentiment companions who have the same rights and desires as one would and, for so, don’t want to be killed, tortured, caged NOR USED AS AN OBJECT. That is why we not only advocate that the animals don’t suffer or get murdered in behalf of another specie (humankind) but also that they are not seen as commodities or objects.

EATING OR CONSUMING eggs does not apply to those conditions therefore it is unethical, evil and cruel to participate in that no matter how good the hen has been treated in the process.

None of that changes when buying

 from cage free, range free, organic or 

however-you-want-to-name-it

NOTE: Also let me mention that the egg industry –along with the dairy industry- is the highest form of ANTIFEMINISM as it is literally the commodification of the female reproductive process.

I hope this post enlightened you about what you are really collaborating with/paying for when you choose to consume eggs.

Thank you for your time,

Tania.

SOURCES:
- freefromharm.org/eggfacts/
- common sense, empathy and compassion

DESTROYING MEAT EATERS' MOST COMMON EXCUSES

Hey you courious creature! I've compilated some of the most common arguments/excuses that people who consume animal products use against the Vegan lifestyle and argumented them down. The responses are manly based on Gary Yourofsky's "The excuses" speech which I really recommend (I've linked the video down below). I am aware that there are many many many more non-sense statements against Veganism so if you are really bothered by one in particular ask it to me (click here) and I'll try to argument it down for you too. Enough of rambling already so let's get started:

Plants are alive; you kill the plants when you eat them

Let’s start this issue telling you that plants are not doted of a general nervous system such as animals do. Plants do not have a bowel movement and DON’T SHIT. Also, a plant does not have a mother; when was the last time you could differ the members of a “vegetal family”? How about never? You really need to be crazy to think that the broccoli dies when we collect it. Have you ever heard the broccoli scream for its life?  I’m sure not.

But, anyways, even if plants could feel and they died when collecting them, Veganism is still better because by eating animals you have to kill the plant first, in order to feed the animal until it’s big enough and then you kill the animal. By eating directly from plants you trigger less suffering to living beings, so this puts Veganism still ahead.

Animals are here for us to eat them

If you think that humans are special you are missing a point. You don’t really think that the entire animal kingdom worships us? Thinks we are special? Believes that we are the image of God? We are a bunch of bullies, criminals and killers.

Their bodies do not belong to us. Commodification is the crime as much as murder is.

We need meat to get protein

Unless you plan on starving yourself to death it is impossible to not get enough protein in a Vegan diet. You couldn’t even do it if you tried because all plants have protein even fruit has around 5% of protein, nuts and seeds and beans and lentils have plenty of protein. And by the way, beans and lentils have 25% of protein. So the misconception about eating meat to get the protein is nothing else than that: a misconception!

Humane killing

Let me tell you that straight: there is no such thing as humane killing, or humane slaughter, or humane rape. If I told you there is a place in Thailand where they humanly raped kids for the child porn industry; you know, they have a big backyard to play every day for six glorious hours in between the rapes, would you support it? I don’t think so. Is that because rape is always evil no matter how it is being done?

There is no right way to kill someone who doesn’t want to be killed.

God says it’s okay

If your excuse is to say that God put all animals in this planet to be our slaves you have a really twisted conception of God. Because if you think that such things as slaughterhouses (house-of-slaughter!!!!!) are approved in the eyes of the Great divine; so that we can cut off the heads off his terrified animals. If you think that he doesn’t mind that we steel newborn babies from their mothers, or cut their horns and beaks and tales and teeth off while they’re fully conscious, then what does de DEVIL do?????? What could a cow, a pig, a chicken or a turkey ever do to deserve the wrath of Got himself?

               

We are carnivores

Comparing the human body to other’s carnivores and omnivores we can spot some huge interesting differences to prove that we are by all means herbivores. For instance, the length of intestines in humans and herbivores falls between 7 to 13 times the length of the torso section of the body while the length of intestines in carnivores/omnivores is only 3 to 6 times. Also, the lower jaw moves from side to side –and the food is grinded and chewed- in the mouths of herbivorous. The jaws of animal meat eaters only move up and down, vertically and they don’t chew, just rip an swallow. Also humans sweat through their pores to cool down unlike dogs, cats or lions –who pant.

We have canines

Hippos have the largest canines of all animals and they’re 100% herbivores.

Veganism is expensive

Since when did bananas and apples and carrots and cucumbers and potatoes and broccoli and tofu and barley become more expensive than meat, milk, cheese, eggs and honey? There are some pricey vegan things out there, hell YES!, blueberries are 4€ a package but you can get 4 bananas for 1€. Veganism is actually one of the cheapest “diets” out there if you stick to the basics (i.e: lentils, rice, potatoes, pasta, veggies,…….).

Watch Gary's speech here.

Much love,

Tània

My first (mini) collection!

I want to present to you all my first collection ever! I've named it the Imperial Collection and it consists of 3 long gowns that share a sophisticated character with a glimpse of a seductive cut.  You can see it in the videobook featuring my sister (thanks babe for modelling for me, you are the best) or head to the site taniatomasx.weebly.com .

Now let me tell you that my very first idea was to do only ONE of the dresses, as it is how I have always "worked": desinging what could be a gala dress or day-to-day dresses, skirts, tops, playsuits... Anything that would come to my mind! But never keeping a connection between them.  So how I came up with this collection? Truth is: by mistake. Turns out that I bought waaaaaay too much fabric for the dress I first intended to sew so by a follow-up of coincidences and good combinations of fabrics that I happened to have at that moment the Imperial Collection was born.

I liked it so much and people's response was so good that I have already starded working on my next "Collection" (and I am soooooo excited about it).

Oh man I love life so much,

Tània.

WELCOMING A NEW PROJECT

I am not liyng if I say I am a wreck of nerve right now. I am scared and terrified but in a positive-kind of way I guess. Ok let me start from the beginning:

I have always loved sewing and designing but for some reason I have always tried to keep it a secret as I thought it was weird for someone my age. I started sewing dresses for my friends and me when I was a little kid; I remember taking my grandma’s sewing kit and repeatedly asking my mom for some cool-colored fabrics. I would always have a project in mind –whether it was a dance to perform for our families or a photoshoot to pretend we were a rock band- and then I’d plan and think of every detail to carry it out: make up, dresses, choreography, songs, speech…

I have been a planner my whole life; as I grew up there was always some kind of crazy project I had in mind involving creativity and imagination skills. I never realized how my personality shined through these projects/skills/behaviors, it all always ended up overshadowed for what we –me and my parents- thought was important: school.

As a teenager I focused on my grades and put my target into getting into college –which wasn’t hard as I have always been a good student- and, just like most of my friends, I got into Uni. I’ll be starting my forth year next September and I have been doing fine. Just like “it is supposed to be’’ anyone might think: you graduate from high school and go to College and then get a job and a husband, you have kids…. But wait, STOP.

It would all be just as perfect as it sounds if it wasn’t for the fact that during this whole process of growing-up-and-realizing-who-you-are-and-who-you-want-to-be I didn’t consider at all which my true passions really are. So after some help/advice from my friends and family I have decided to let my abilities shine and forget about what people might think. So now I state loud and strong: I LOVE SEWING AND STYLING AND DESIGNING AND CREATING and I am finally out to work for what I really like doing because it is what ultimately makes me happy.

Now that you know my story, it’s time to introduce you to the project behind it all. I have decided to call it Tania Tomas x –there is not a particular reason for the x at the end just the fact that the name by itself was already taken on Instagram haha. I don’t know exactly what it is or what it is going to become all I know is that I am ready to give it my best. Think of it as a kick-start platform to show/share with the world my work and get in touch with anybody who might be interested in it.

As one may expect, I am still discovering my boundaries and experiencing with all kind of shapes, fabrics, textures, patterns… I plan to expand my –skimpy little- knowledge in regards of fashion/design as I have finally realized that it is not only a hobby and I want to pursue it.

I know this is a stupid blog post that rarely anyone is going to read but with all being said I hope I can finally feel free of judgements –my own most of the time- and let go/grow my imagination. Now if you have read this I deeply appreciate your time, if you want to head over to taniatomasx.weebly.com it’s the site where I’ll be working on everything I have told you about.

I hope you have a nice day and that you get the chance to do what makes you happy J

PS: I thought it would be fun to show you some of my very first dresses as a tiny 9-year-old designer so I looked for some old photos I had developed. I know there has to be more old treasures like these somewhere around the house but I have no clue where -crazy analog times. Anyway, enjoy them: 

Tània

I see no difference. What about you?

Image source Unknown.

Let's celebrate life!

All these days of stress and endless boring hours of studying have been creating an hostile athmosphere inside me. I have been complainig and protesting way too much lately because, you know, being locked up in your room day after day studying for upcoming exams while seems like everybody else is having a great time is not a cool position to be in. 

Situations like that are the ones where complainig, stressing out, shaming, moaning and feeling bad at everything is the easiest thing to do. But this mornig when I woke up I gave myself a few seconds to actually thing and analyze my behavor towards the situation I am facing. Then I realized that all this negativity is doing to me is making it harder.

I kind of had like a clarity moment and realized how easy and effortless would be to go trough exam period -or any period, just life in general- if I was focusing on the positive and good things in my life and within me rather than in the small-tiny-parts that may not seem as appealing. I can surely assume that that no one likes exams and studing but what about the opportunity I have to actually take those exams? I mean, my mom couldn't attend college because her parents were not able to afford it. Now my parents are giving me the oportinity to do it! This is something I should be celebrating rather than complaing. 

And I know for sure that my existence if full of other amazing things that I sould feel blessed about. A tone of things/gifts that should be celebrated every single day of life but that unfortunatelly I tend to take for granted. So I came up with a list. Every thing I could think of that I have the privillege to enjoy in my tiny yet astonishingly lucky existence. I want to state, loud and clear right now, that I will forever be thankful for. 

-loving parents

-amazing little sister

-besfriends

-a bed to sleep on

-hot water to shower

-food to eat

-fruit

-acces to clean water

-a roof above my head

-internet acces

-phone and laptop (and mostly all the electronic devices)

-clothes to wear and to keep me warm when it's cold

-strong legs that carry me everywhere

-overall health

-practising rythmic gymnastics and having great teachers

-hard-working spirit

-college

-Harry Potter books and movies

-Justin Bieber

-Raw fruit festival

-american family who I love and apreciate to death

-sewing machine

-unlimited imagination 

-braces (did I really say that?)

-flat mate and living whith my best friend

-a home where I feel safe at

-a country there is no war

-freedom

-opinion and freedom of speech

-veganism and the good impact it has on me as a person

-compassion

-animals I share the earth with

-the sun and the moon doing their thing so that we have an optimal enviroment

-simply being alive

....

I certainly know this list could go on and on forever and that is the good thing about it!! I now know that i have absolutely no reason to be/feel unhappy or uncontent in ANY way or aspect of life. Even you if you are reading this meaning that you have internet acces are in probably no different situation than mine here, so please, let's celebrate life! Let's celebrate when life is raw; when it's simple and pleasant but also when it's hard and dark. Let's embrace whatever oportinity we have in front of us and let's make the most of it. Just the fact of being here -alive- is so BIG that not a thing should overshadow it. I love you; I love life; I love MY life. Right now, any time, any moment. And I truly hope YOU feel the same way. 

PD: what is it about exam block that I always end up ranting about life in a deep-meaningful-shocking way? haha

Tània. 

Cows vs dogs: Who's life is more valuable?

This beautiful cow is no different from your dog or your cat. She feels and loves just as you know your pet does; she doesn’t want to feel pain and avoids any kind of suffering just as you also know your pet does.  But instead, you protect your dog -or cat-, you feed them, you love them, you play with them; you give them any kind of attention all of that while, at the same time, you are paying someone to torture, rape and murder a large quantity of those other beings. When did we learn that a dog’s life is more valuable than a pig’s?  Even so that we have built ANIMAL SHELTERS where homeless dogs and cats are taken care of and SLAUGHTERHOUSES where pigs, chickens, cows and bulls are being murdered? Where is the logic in this system?

We, humans, are compassionate animals which mean that we are capable of feeling sympathy and sorrow for another being who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. We have all experienced that when we see an injured dog alongside of the road fighting for its life having nowhere else to go. When we are little we all have our compassion full, whole, strong… that’s why we always see little kids somehow trying to protect all kind of animals; for them, all animals are his/her friends. As we grow older our compassion fractures: we are taught which animals to love and which animals to torture. We learn that dogs and cats are worth our attention, money and love while we turn our heads away of the cows that are being raped year after year, the pigs that are being dismembered without anesthesia and the chickens that are being brutally debeaked.

Every animal in this planet loves, feels and has the same purpose in life: to survive; none of them wants to be killed and tortured. Consider putting yourself into the cow, chicken or pig position and try to realize the hell any of those beings are confined to live just by default, just because people have been programed to look away and not to care.  NOTHING in this world, and I repeat: NOTHING is worth the suffering of another being.  And remember that peace begins at the dinner table. 

101 REASONS TO GIVE UP MILK

You may have been told since little how important is to drink milk. Moreover, this beverage has been considered throughout the years to be jam-packed with all the essential food groups as well as vitamins and minerals such as calcium. I’m sure some –if not all- of these phrases may sound familiar to you: “drink milk to make your bones strong”, “calcium in milk prevent you from osteoporosis”, “You need to drink milk to get enough calcium”, bla, bla, bla… I’m here to tell you that we’re dealing with one of the oldest, most entrenched myths of all time.

Once again, I am going to ask you to open your mind and listen to what I have to say. You are free to believe it or not but, anyway, I urge you to start doing your own research.

First of all, we are not physiologically “prepared” to drink cow’s milk and if you don’t think so; how do you feel about having a glass of dog’s milk? Cat’s milk? Giraffe’s milk maybe? I bet you agree with me that none of those animals’ milk is meant to end up in our mouth; so the same applies for cow’s milk.

When a baby cow is born it weights 50kg and gains approximately eight times it’s weight by the time it is weaned; on the other hand, when a baby human is born it’s weight is no more than 5kg and the baby won’t even get to 15kg within one year! So think about all the imbalances that cow’s milk can produce to the human body.

Just like every mammal in this planet, we have to drink milk form our mothers during the early stages of life. Human’s milk is the most nutritious food; just by itself it is meant to provide the newborn all the vitamins and minerals –found in the right amounts and proportions- the baby needs to grow and develop to its full potential. Once the baby is old enough, there’s no need keep drinking milk; nor from our mother, nor from the mother cow’s.

But with all that being said, we still find ourselves drinking milk at 20, 30, 40 years old. Why? Because society has repeatedly been saying that milk is our best source for calcium. Ok so I suggest asking the gorilla- known to be one of the strongest animals- that lives free in the jungle to start drinking a glass of milk a day to prevent osteoporosis. It doesn’t make any sense right? So why are us humans still believing the milk myth?

Let me explain you something; calcium is a mineral that is found in our bodies, 99% of the calcium is found in our bones and teeth. When we consume animal protein (i.e. milk, eggs, meat…) our bodies produce sulfuric acid (battery acid!) to burn/digest it; as a result, this causes an excess acid load in the body –which is meant to be alkaline.  This situation triggers a biological correction; in order to neutralize the Ph acidity our bodies dispose of a mechanism for long term survival; and as we can not be acidic the calcium in our bones is pulled out to buffer all that excess acid load. So we end up losing a lot of calcium through our kidneys and leaving the body via the urine, so that the net result after the process is an actual calcium deficit.

This explains why the countries that consume the largest amounts of milk are also the countries with the most cases of osteoporosis and bone fractures (there’s hundreds of studies on that, go look it up for yourself).

So by now, we have uncovered the misconception about the (un)health reasons we have been told to consume milk but the many facts that make today’s milk such an unhealthy drink haven’t even started.

In order for a cow to produce milk it obviously must give birth and the calves are taken away from their mothers within hours after being born - in order to maximize profit- but hey that’s a completely different story I’d rather write about another time. In order to keep the lactating at maximum yields, cows are forcibly artificially inseminated year after year and live confined in primarily indoor operations, usually tethered by the neck inside barren stalls unable to practically move (click here for a visual). Cows are genetically modified, fed steroids and hormones to produce up 12 times more milk that they would naturally produce, in order to keep up –their bodies are working with such “extreme” unnatural conditions- the cows are fed antibiotics (55% of the US antibiotics are fed to livestock) and drugs. Moreover, those cows will only live up to 4-5 years instead of the 25 living in natural conditions. In other words: dairy cows are extremely unhealthy. Imagine someone sick; so sick that lives off antibiotics, pain killers and drugs and has a really poor nutrition. Now imagine this person giving birth. Do you think doctors would recommend her to breast feed? I don’t think so. Then, going back to the sick cow, why would someone want to drink that milk????????? Under current industrial methods, milk is nothing else than a toxic bovine brew of man-made ingredients such as pus cells, hormones, antibiotics and pesticides all of which are bad not only for us but also for the environment.

As when it comes to environmental facts about the dairy industry I won’t be that extensive because, I repeat, I’d rather let you do the research - so that you don’t think that I am trying to convince you with nonsenses-; let me just give you a glimpse of some data:

- Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32.000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

- 1000 liters of water are required to produce 1 liter of milk.

- The meat and dairy industries combined use nearly 1/3 (29%) of all the fresh water in the world today.

- Livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land.

- A farm with 2.500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people. 

- Cows produce 568 billion liters of methane per day. 

- Throughout the world, humans drink 20 billion liters of water and eat 10 billion kg of food each day; on the other hand: Worldwide, cows drink 170 billion liters of water and eat 61 billion kg of food each day.

And the list could go on and on… but I’d rather stop here. I want you to look at the big picture; it may have been a good idea some hundreds of years ago to start drinking milk from another species in order to survive, but nowadays it is more of a bad idea. Me, just like you, had been drinking milk since a little kid without questioning the reasons; not even thinking that it was unnatural for us to drink milk from another specie. Yet nobody had ever told me the truth and the facts behind it.

And no, don’t worry about your cereal or your morning coffee; there’re plenty of plant-based alternatives out there with hundreds of different flavors. I know most of the people are afraid of change and it may seem hard to replace something you have been doing for that many years but, trust me, it’s neither hard nor difficult to transition and the good facts about it overlook any other reason!!

 Haz clic aquí para leer la entrada en Español.

Photos:

Sources:

www.cowspiracy.com

www.thedailymeal.com

www.vegsource.com

www.gorillaprotein.com/monkey_osteoporosis.html

freefromharm.org/dairyfacts/

www.peta.org

http://www.adaptt.org/

www.womenshealth.gov

www.worldwildlife.org/industries/dairy

I am not trying to convince you

First of all I’d like to say that I went Vegan because I cared about animals; and then I did it for health reasons after reading the book 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas N. Graham, and it surely was an overnight change.

Let me go a bit deeper into that: I have been eating meat, fish diary and eggs since little just as anyone in our society does. I loved cheese; I would put it everywhere, just think of a dish –anything you can imagine- and I can assure you that I used to put cheese on it. I ate meat every day but was not a big fan of fish. Anyways, I started reading the book as everyone on social network was saying about how good it was. I then remember talking about it to my parents saying that it was a really interesting reading and I was loving it but I could never in my life give up all the animal products that I was tremendously consuming on a daily basis by then. So instead, I thought about trying to incorporate more plant based foods in my daily intake because -as the book states- it’s the food we’re designed to thrive on.

By that time, two videos on you tube went viral: 101 reasons to go vegan and the best speech ever. And it really was that second one that made me jump on the Veganism  –I didn’t even know the meaning of veganism by that time so I had to do some research.  I gave up all animal products and started eating plants and fruits following the 80/10/10 ratio –which stands as an 80% of carbohydrates, 10% of protein and 10% of fat from the total calories consumed per day.

A while after that I decided to watch a documentary called Earthlings –i.e. living creatures that inhabits on Earth- and it really changed my perspective forever. I totally recommend to anyone to watch it because it shows the truth about all the suffering and murder that is conflicted to innocent animals and I encourage you to at least take a moment to see it because as painful and hurtful as it looks it shows perfectly  what is going on.  After seeing the truth I realized that I was on the right path –I’m not saying by any mean that veganism is the right and/or only way to live- I felt something so strong; a feeling of union so deep towards all the creatures on earth. 

I immediately felt like it was my job to protect all those innocent animals; I had to be their voice so I tried to convince my family but it was a total failure. I was an emotional wreck by that time because I strongly believed that it was my “job” to speak for the animals and advocate for their freedom AND our health. I continuously got angry at the people that didn’t envision my point of view and was not willing to listen what I had to say. As months went by and my attempts kept failing I started to realized that I could not “force” anyone to live their lives as I thought because everyone is entitled to have their own point of view. Since then I’ve kept quiet and accepted everyone choices to eat whatever they want without saying a word to try to change their mind, but today I –again- came across another brilliant speech of the same guy as the best speech ever Gary Yourofsky and the flame in me just got a bit brighter. I don’t want to try to convince people anymore –mainly because there’s nothing to convince you about- just as no one convinced me to go Vegan almost one year ago; I simply was shown the truth and once I was conscious about it I did what I had to do; and I can assure you that transitioning to a plant based diet is the best thing I have done in my life.

So the reason I’m writing this is to make you realize –as long as you are willing to listen- that there is an alternative way to live. I want to encourage you to just watch any of the documentaries I’ve listed –and linked- above and/or start doing some research. You must know that there’s really nothing to convince you -you will convince yourself once you understand it-, but in order for that to happen the information must reach to you. So just, please, do yourself, the animals and the planet a favor. 

To read this entrance in Spanish click here. 

1am crazy thoughts

I'm not all into the message behind this random text but I though it was pretty and makes a little sense. Enjoy the words but don't look for a deeper meaning behind it because I adbocate to find love in so many diferent places and ways rather than wait for the perfect person to shake your life. 

Someday, when you less expect it,

someone is going to turn your word upside down

shaking you in every way you could ever imagine

the look in your eyes will light up

to compete against the brightest of the stars.

Nothing that was important before

will seem as big as

being in his company,

touching him,

kissing him,

hugging him,

talking to him,

loving him.

It will all take you back at your early ages

when the world looked so tiny

that all the problems where  fun games.

You’ll laugh just the way a kid does

and nothing will make sense anymore.

You’ll cherish every single flaw

that makes his person exceptional.

You’ll go nuts,

insanely crazy,

but it will all make perfectly sense for you;

the both of you.

And you’ll understand why

it never worked out before.

Tània