barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf

“Veganism has given me the template
to do other things that I found
daunting at first--like becoming a
successful author and entrepreneur.
It’s a continuous source of
inspiration for me in my own life.”
Why vegan?
First, as someone who’s been vegan for almost 30 years,
I can tell you that being vegan is a liberating, joyful,
healthful, and delicious way of living in this world! I
see it as second nature to living a long, healthy,
satisfying life, just like breathing, exercising, loving,
and relaxing.
On a more scientific note, as a public health
nutritionist, I can tell you that we’ve known for
decades that plant foods are the healthiest foods to eat.
The research has been clear and consistent for more
than 50 years. Plant foods can prevent and reverse
heart disease, our number one killer, as well as prevent
and often reverse our other leading causes of death and
disability, including stroke, diabetes, certain cancers,
and obesity. And plant foods can help save the planet
and the lives of animals, too.
Unlike plant food production, livestock production for
meat and dairy causes more global warming than the
entire world’s transportation combined. The methane
gas emitted from the burps and poop of billions of
factory-farm animals accounts for more greenhouse
gas emissions than the carbon monoxide from cars. As
I often say, a hamburger damages Mother Earth more
Tracye with Dick Gregory; the man
who inspired her to go vegan almost
30 years ago
than a Hummer does. In addition to damaging the
atmosphere, producing animals for meat is a leading
cause of degradation and pollution of the earth’s soil
and water.
And consumption of more plant foods will help prevent
billions of innocent, sentient animals from being
brutally produced, raised, and slaughtered to be used as
food. Of course, plant foods are scrumptious too! In this
day and age, that should go without saying, but I’m
saying it anyway. I love good food, always have, and
with plant foods it’s even better. Being vegan is a winwin-win,
all-around.
In your book, By Any Greens Necessary,
you describe a talk from Dick Gregory as
being the catalyst in your transition to a
vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. What was it
exactly about what he said that touched
you?
Our Black Student Union at Amherst College had
actually brought Dick Gregory to campus to talk about
the political, economic, and social state of black
America. And instead, Dick Gregory flipped the script
on us and decided to talk about the plate of black
America. This was in 1986, and what we didn’t know was
that Gregory had become a vegetarian nutrition guru.
We only knew him as a Civil Rights icon and legendary
humourist. So his talk was a surprise to all of us.
And honestly, if I had known he was going to talk about
vegetarianism, I might not have shown up. I was first
introduced to vegetarianism in the 7th grade at Sidwell
Friends School in DC (which is where the Obama
daughters are now attending). My 7th grade teachers
wanted our class camping trip to be all-vegetarian and I
thought this was a horrible idea. So, I wrote a petition
against it and got a few of my classmates to sign it--but I
was overruled.
So fast forward seven years to my sophomore year at
Amherst, and there was Dick Gregory talking about
going vegetarian. Well, I started to tune him out, but
what really grabbed me was that he started to trace--
graphically--the path of a hamburger from a cow on a
factory farm, through the slaughterhouse process, to a
fast food restaurant, to a clogged artery, to a heart
attack. I had never heard anything like that before.
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