I woke up not long ago thinking, “This is the craziest thing: I’m well past 50 and I feel sensational.” I knew it was what the eccentric health advocate, Arnold Ehret, 100 years ago called “Paradise Health.” I had it: physically and emotionally.

I’ve been on a pretty good path for a long time. Although I spent the first 30 years of my life bingeing and dieting — always gaining or losing weight, and conversely losing and gaining my flimsy self-esteem — I finally got so tired of that un-merry merry-go-round that I gave up the fight and was open to recovery from the inside out. I chronicle that experience, and how others can do it, too, in my book “The Love-Powered Diet: Eating for Freedom, Health, and Joy.”

Once I wasn’t eating for a fix anymore, I was able to move toward a plant-based diet, ending up at profound, committed veganism. Even though I did it, as Gandhi once said, “for the health of the chickens,” it was a pretty decent diet for my health, too. It was easy to stay thin and avoid the heart disease and diabetes that plague both sides of my family of origin.

But about five years ago, I felt the nudge to go raw. Not 100 percent. Not slavishly or fanatically (as a compulsive overeater with a daily reprieve, I don’t do well with fads and tangents). And not in the dead of winter or when I’m at a restaurant where the A/C is set at Arctic-minus-12. But my soul or my cells or something deep inside me pressed me to take this turn as a most-of-the-time thing. I experimented with it for several months and enjoyed it. A cold snap that first spring sent me back to the comfort of hot soup and soy chai lattes. But later, the urge to return to raw came again. I woke up one morning and didn’t want cooked food. I didn’t want it the next day either. And it’s gone on like that for quite some time.

For days at a time I’m all raw, and on the days that I have something cooked, it’s usually just that: something, one thing—a baked potato, garbanzos in a salad. This isn’t a marriage or a religion; it’s an experiment in incredible vitality. The first thing I noticed after making the switch was how happy I felt. My default for contentment had gone up a few notches. People used to say, “How are you?” and I’d say, “Okay.” That was accurate. I was perfectly okay. Now I’m more apt to say “Fabulous!” and mean that. The fog has lifted. Happiness came even before energy and strength and clarity, but those have come, too.

I drink juices and eat fruits and salads and smoothies. I have some treats: dried fruit, raw desserts, “bread” and crackers and kale chips made in a dehydrator, but mostly lots and lots (and lots) of greens: green juices, green salads, green smoothies, marinated greens. I use nuts and seeds in recipes and occasionally for eating; I have avocado a couple of times a week; and I often use salad dressing that has some flax or hemp oil in it. I know I’m not overdoing, because I feel balanced and nourished and never have that stuffed, too-much-fat feeling. Besides, after going raw, five pounds left me that I never intended to lose. If some of it comes back, that’s okay.

I also don’t worry about the natural sugars that are part of whole foods. I eat fresh fruit, put bananas in smoothies and make desserts with dates and date sugar (just dates, dried and ground up). Only one time, when I made grape-and-celery juice but the ratio was too much grape to too little celery, did I get the telltale sugar headache. Now I know. It’s all good.

Someone told me when I was first recovering from binge-eating: “You can’t do this with fear.” I feel the same way about raw. It needs to be a joy and an adventure.

Strangers comment on my skin, my “glow.” Although I know we’re talking vegetables, not miracles, I do look quite a bit younger than I am (and younger than I did five years ago). I realize that I’m a mature woman and one of these days, incredible diet or not, I’ll be a little old lady. But that state is being delayed. I don’t know for how long, but today it’s a whole lot of fun when I (occasionally) share my chronological age and see the person do a double-take. Ditto for watching gym people try to figure me out: I’m not young, I eat no animal protein, and yet I’m building muscle. It’s a hoot to defy a worldview.

Although I’m not one to live my life counting on the New Ager’s favorite, “Law of Attraction,” I’m certainly “attracting” fascinating men and women of all ages who want what I have. They’re showing up all over the place, as clients in my holistic life and health coaching practice, as business contacts and as friends. I have no vested interest in converting anybody, but when people want information, I’m thrilled to share it. I mean, why keep anybody out of paradise?

If they’re interested, I take them shopping. And to raw restaurants (we’re lucky in New York to have a delicious handful of them). And into my kitchen to whip up delicacies that surprise the heck out of a novice. And I pass along the advice that helped me:

• Don’t lose too much weight. I realize this can sound like a luxury problem, but on a high-raw diet, you have to eat enough.

• Learn to love those nutrient-packed greens. Eat embarrassingly large salads. Make green lemonade — romaine, kale, apple, lemon– in your juicer. Whiz up green smoothies; put your fruity ingredients in the blender and then fill it with mild greens — romaine, leaf lettuce, spinach, kale — they’ll change the color but not the taste of your shake, and if you put in enough blueberries, your “green smoothie” will be temptingly purple.

• Get a user-friendly raw recipe book that doesn’t intimidate you with exotic ingredients and unfamiliar appliances. I use Jennifer Cornbleet’s “Raw Food Made Easy” for one or two People more than any other cook(less) book.

• Take vitamin B12 regularly. All vegans need to do this. Taking B12 is the price of getting to be vegan, the way wearing a helmet is the price of getting to ride a motorcycle and giving up alcohol for nine months is the price of getting to have a baby. It’s so easy to take a sublingual (under-the-tongue) tablet three or four times a week; you don’t even have to swallow a pill.

• Consider taking vitamin D, especially if you avoid the sun (your doctor can check your levels), and perhaps an algae-based Omega 3 supplement (I use one called V-Pure; it doesn’t have an oceanic aftertaste).

• Eat pumpkin seeds for zinc, Brazil nuts for selennium, seaweed for iodine.

• Read Becoming Raw, by experienced dieticians Brenda Davis, RD, and Vesanto Melina, MS, RD, to learn the solid science extant to date on being a vibrantly healthy high-raw vegan.

• Brush your teeth after eating, especially if you’ve been enjoying sweet or acidic fruits.

• Be nice to everybody. Some people will think you’ve taken leave of your senses. Others will think your “rabbit food” diet makes for a great joke. Love them anyway.

The planet would be healthier if it produced a lot less corn, the veritable poster crop for the problems of monoculture and runoff from nitrogen-based fertilizers. The vast majority of modern corn is grown as either a feed crop, the source of high fructose corn syrup, or for ethanol. Use organic corn and cornmeal for this delectable cornbread adapted from Nava Atlas’s festive and fabulous Vegan Holiday Kitchen, however, and you’ve got comfort food that honors the Earth. “Nondairy cheese definitely adds a major ‘yum’ factor, so do try it if you can,” says Atlas. This recipe makes 1 dozen muffins or 9 to 12 squares of pan bread.

Green Chili Cornbread or Muffins

1 cup cornmeal, preferably stone ground

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached white flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

One 6-ounce container plain soy yogurt or coconut yogurt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup rice milk, or as needed

1 small fresh hot chili, seeded and minced,

        or one 4-ounce can chopped mild green chilies

1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed, optional

1 cup grated nondairy cheese, optional

Preheat the oven to 400º F.

Combine the first 5 (dry) ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the yogurt, oil, and the rice milk. Stir until well combined, adding more rice milk if needed, to make a smooth, slightly stiff batter. Stir in the chilies, optional corn kernels, and optional cheese.

Pour the batter into an oiled 9 x 9-inch baking pan, or divide between 12 foil-lined muffin tins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes for muffins, or 25 to 30 minutes for pan bread. The bread or muffins should be golden and a knife inserted in the center tests clean. Let cool slightly, then transfer the muffins to a serving plate, leaving them in the foil liners. In the case of pan bread, let it cool more completely, then cut into 9 or 12 squares to serve.

My diet actually became more diverse because I was looking for new recipes and trying things I’d never considered before, and along with this, my health greatly improved; I had more energy, my skin cleared up and I was able to drop the excess weight I had been struggling to lose since I took up a desk job.

There are countless excellent reasons to take the plunge and go vegan this year, and if you’re still on the fence about it, then this list is for you.

Veganism…

…is 100% animal-friendly

Although vegetarianism is certainly more animal-friendly than other diets, it still isn’t the best way to help end animal exploitation. Animals kept solely for the purpose of producing dairy products or eggs undergo terrible amounts of stress as they are kept in unnatural and often overcrowded conditions.

Another thing you may not be aware of is that most dairy operations immediately slaughter any male calves that are born, as allowing the calf to feed would mean less milk to sell and the extra cost of raising an animal that will never produce milk.

Other reasons to go vegan include not supporting practices such as the testing of medicines and cosmetics on animals, the use of animals for entertainment in circuses and zoos, and the abuse and neglect of companionship animals.

…is better for the environment

Raising animals for food has been listed as one of the top contributors to the most serious environmental problems by the United Nations. A plant-based diet can greatly reduce your eco-footprint as it produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions and has fewer negative effects on the environment such as deforestation, water pollution and land degradation.

…is the key to ending world hunger

Producing crops and water to raise farm animals to feed people is an inefficient use of time and resources. If all plant food would be used to directly feed the starving people on this planet rather than farm animals, world hunger issues could be resolved.

…promotes weight loss 

While 33% of Americans are currently obese, only 2% of the vegan population is classified as such. A vegan diet is lower in cholesterol and eliminates many of the unhealthy foods that cause obesity, such as meat products, which are a major source of dietary saturated fat.

…can prevent osteoporosis 

For bones to be healthy, your diet must consist of a healthy balance of protein, calcium, potassium and sodium. Following a vegan diet enables you to find this perfect balance by not leaning to heavily on meat or dairy products.

…reduces your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers

According to the American Dietetic Association, vegans are less likely to develop cancer, diabetes and heart disease than meat-eaters. This is largely due to the fact that vegans get their required nutrients from healthier sources that are lower in cholesterol and saturated fat.

…can increase your energy levels

A vegan diet can actually increase your energy levels (if you are following a well-balanced and healthy diet) due to the fact that you are eating high-energy foods without the excess fat, sodium and sugar that many non-vegan foods contain.

…reduces your intake of hormones and antibiotics

Farmed animals are given antibiotics and hormones on a regular basis, which means that you will be ingesting these substances when you eat their meat or eggs or other by-products. This can also result in a bacterial resistance to antibiotics that are used to treat human infections.

…increases public awareness of animal cruelty

Veganism enables people to call attention to the plight of helpless animals in a way that would not be possible if they were still supporting animal cruelty by consuming animal products, buying products that have been tested on animals or wearing items of clothing that are made at the expense of an animal.

…is delicious

The vegan diet is far from bland or uninteresting, and most people who go vegan find that their food palate has been greatly expanded as a result of their new lifestyle. From Pad Thai with spicy peanut sauce to spinach Alfredo to sundried tomato and basil pesto sandwiches, there is still plenty to look forward to in the vegan diet.

If after reading this you’re still not sure whether going vegan is something can or even want to do, a one or two-month try-out period might be just the thing to help you make your mind up. Just make sure you take the time to do sufficient research before you start so that you know you’re doing it right (especially in terms of getting the right nutrients in your diet) and giving it a fair chance.

About the blogger:

Aileen Pablo is a health and fitness blogger from Open Colleges, one of the leading providers of health and fitness education. Aside from blogging about food and nutrition, Aileen is also fond of writing topics about education, business, and interior design. If you want to feature her on your blog, drop a line to: aileen @oc.edu.au.

You exercise to stay in shape and you eat only organic foods that are chock full of nutrition to keep your body running smoothly and free of harmful toxins. Maybe you even make a point of staying away when the news warns you that the pollution is too bad outside.

All of those are great ways to keep you healthy but if that’s all you do, you’re missing a huge part of the overall picture: indoor air quality. People today spend more time than ever before inside but most of us don’t put much thought into keeping the air in our homes and offices clean and safe.

We should, though, because poor indoor air quality can affect your body in a number of negative ways.

It makes health problems worse. If you suffer from things like asthma or COPD, studies have long shown that toxins and pollutants in the air can exacerbate your symptoms and worsen the condition—regardless of whether you’re inside or outside. In fact, a 2007 study found that indoor pollution was in some cases as much as 40 times worse than outdoor pollution.

It can lead to disease. A variety of lung diseases have been linked to poor indoor air quality, including asthma, lung cancer, and respiratory disease. It’s even been connected to heart disease in some people.

It can cause you do feel bad in all kinds of ways. Even if it doesn’t result in a major illness, people who are exposed to indoor areas with poor air quality often suffer from a number of unfortunate symptoms. Just a few of these include things like headaches, nausea, nasal congestion, dizziness, fatigue, dry eyes, skin irritation, and irritation in your respiratory system.

What You Can Do to Improve Your Indoor Air

Luckily, there are a number of steps that you can take to ensure that you have the cleanest air possible inside your home or office. Some of these are incredibly easy, while others will mean bringing in outside help.

Exercise your green thumb. You may be aware that plants increase the amount of oxygen in an indoor space, but they also filter out common pollutants. Plus, they’re attractive additions to the décor, so why not bring a few of them into your home or office?  Here are a few to consider:

• Aloe Vera: Removes formaldehyde and benzene (both common byproducts of chemical-based cleaners and paints). Added bonus: you can use the gel to heal cuts and burns.
• Spider Plant: Great for living spaces. It purifies air rapidly and removes formaldehyde.
• Dragon Tree: Also, great for living spaces. It removes formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and xylene.
• Gerbera Daisy: This flower removes benzene and trichloroethylene, but it also releases oxygen at night making it well-suited for bedrooms.
• Philodendron: Moved into a new or recently renovated home? This is the plant for you. It’s effective at removing the formaldehyde released by new walls and floors.
• Snake Plant: This one is great for kitchens since it removes nitrogen oxide produced by fuel-burning appliances, as well as formaldehyde.
• English Ivy: In addition to removing formaldehyde and benzene from the air, it’s also been shown to reduce airborne fecal-matter particles, which makes it a great fit for homes with pets.Warneck Dracaena: Like to keep your furniture looking its best? Combat the pollutants released by those varnishes and oils with this plant.
• Peace Lily: There are few things worse than a poorly ventilated bathroom. This plant will help remove mold from the air.

Make sure there’s no asbestos. It’s amazing how many “helpful” materials and technologies we use that later turn out to be dangerous. Older homes and buildings often used cancer-causing asbestos to insulate them, so if you suspect this where you live, bring in a professional who know how to safely get it out of your place and make sure it’s properly disposed of.

Keep your floors clean. It doesn’t matter if you have wall-to-wall carpeting or hard floors, if you don’t do a good job of keeping them clean, dangerous toxins and contaminates will take up residence and cause you problems. Use vacuums with HEPA filters or microfiber mops for the best results, and try to do this cleaning at least two or three times a week. While you’re at it, get a doormat. Not only will you keep your floors free of dirt, you’ll avoid tracking in anything harmful from outside like chemicals or pesticides.

Find a good air purifier. Ever used a strainer or collander? Well, air cleaners work on a similar principle, except that instead of helping with food preparation, they’re designed to suck in allergens, contaminates, and pollutants. Air cleaners can remove various allergens, odors, bacteria, and toxins using different kinds of filters, but allow clean air to pass through and come back to you. Definitely do your homework before making a purchase, though, because models can run from over $1,000 to less than $150.

Crack a window. Probably the easiest and cheapest solution on here, it’s surprising how much cleaner you can make your air just by opening the windows every once in a while. We’re way too use to sealing ourselves off from the world and cranking up the A/C, but once the pollutants are already inside, all that does is help them to circulate. Let fresh air in and you’ll also be pushing contaminates out.

Watch the humidity. Too much humidity can make your space a breeding ground for all kinds of unwanted toxins, but you can keep yours low by using a dehumidifier, repairing leaks, running the A/C, opening windows, and (in places like the bathroom and kitchen) turning on exhaust fans. What should your humidity level be? Somewhere between 30 and 50 percent, according to experts.

Remember, maintaining a healthy body and lifestyle isn’t about doing just one thing. You have to look at the big picture and ensure that you don’t neglect something important. In the case of improving your indoor air quality, you might actually be saving your life.

Bio

Josh Weiss-Roessler is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. He writes blogs, articles, press releases, newsletters, and more for individuals and small businesses. Learn more at WeissRoessler.com.

As the world entered a new age in the Mayan calendar, thousands of Zapatistas silently descended from their communities and marched into the towns of Chiapas, donning their famous pasamontañas and paliacates around their necks, reigniting the hope many of us had felt since their inception in 1994. “Did you hear it?” a Marcos communiqué asked. “It’s the sound of their world ending. It’s that of ours resurging.”

The excitement of the Zapatista’s silent march, a deft display of political theater, reignited my own commitments to seeking justice along the US/Mexico border and put into conversation three seemingly disparate but political contiguous happenings of 2012: NAFTA’s 10 year anniversary of being signed, Barack Obama’s successful bid for reelection, and the Zapatista’s silent march.

The US’s beloved Barack Obama has made more waves with his rendition of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” than with his immigration policy. Perhaps he’d rather have it that way, since this Nobel prize-winning president has been responsible for more deportations than any president ever before.

At the same time, Obama continues to pursue the ends of NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since its inception on January 1st, 1994, NAFTA has deepened the chasm between the US/Mexico agricultural economies and displaced small farmers (many of whom cross the US/Mexico border in search of better paying work and end up being deported).

January 1st, 1994 is also politically salient for another reason, and it’s no coincidence. It’s the day that the Zapatistas officially declared war on the Mexican government, criticizing its inability to act on the will of the people and simultaneously critiquing NAFTA for the horrific implications it had on Mexico’s small and indigenous farmers.

So what does this cycle of cause, effect, and punishment have to do with non-human animals? Plenty, in fact.

Live animals and meat make up a staggering $4.5 billion of US trade through NAFTA. NAFTA is nothing more than a tool of economic expediency – it helps mobilize capital faster than ever. And as Nicole Shukin might remind us, the question of the animal and capital are not independent, but rather mutually constitutive. And she’s right, NAFTA has not only seen a surge of importation and exportation of alive and dead animal bodies across the US/Mexico border, it has also witnessed a boom in the US food and agricultural industry.

Free trade has opened up the channels for US based companies to expand their markets and export their business across the border. The first Mexican McDonalds set up shop in 1985; today, there are over 500 McDonald’s across the country, where one can trade the standard McMuffin for McMolletes. Both McMuffins and McMolletes feature factory farmed meat, both of them trickle pennies back up into the pockets of a few people who do business in exploitation.

The opening of the US/Mexico border for select capital has meant huge opportunities for big businesses that can now profit from political and economic differences. For companies like Tyson, which have been profiting off animal slaughter for decades, this meant the opening of up of new markets and the opportunity to avoid US environmental regulations.

In his article on swine flu, Al Giordano traces the emergence of swine flu from the US, across the border to Mexico. While many pounced on the opportunity to advance xenophobic political projects within the US by blaming Mexico for the outbreak, Giordano traced the flu’s origin back to the US. – the outbreak came from a factory farm in Mexico that was owned and operated by Smithfield, a US-based animal agricultural behemoth.

Following a record-breaking $12.5 million lawsuit in 1985 for polluting waterways, Smithfield was able to escape US environmental regulations by moving some of their factories outside of the US. As Giordano notes, “none of that indicates that this flu strain was born in Mexico, but, rather, that the North American Free Trade Agreement created the optimal conditions for the flu to gestate…and threatens to become international pandemic…Welcome to the aftermath of ‘free trade.’ The real name of this infirmity is ‘The NAFTA Flu,’ the first of what may well be many new illnesses to emerge internationally as the direct result of “free trade” agreements that allow companies like Smithfield Farms to escape health, safety and environmental laws”

We are living the shadow of the animal industrial complex. Last year, some 50 billion land and sea animals were killed for human consumption in the US. One cannot simply go into the wild and kill 50 billion animals to feed a nation. It takes several countries to feed one with such bloated and blind consumption as the US. It takes a system for producing, reproducing, and transporting the thighbones and breastmeat and rumps of those beings we call animals. Following Ford’s example, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations have transformed the factory into its most precise and economically successful incarnations, building upon animals as its cogs.

My point here is to problematize the political and economic power relations that are shifted by the border and to expose how border politics advance the interests of the industrialized animal agriculture sector. That’s why a transnational animal liberation movement is needed now, more than ever.

This April, the Justice sin Barrerras tour will embark on a 14-stop tour across Mexico, delivering over 40 presentations to animal rights supporters and activists from coast to coast. Almost certainly, this tour will be an important historic moment in the timeline of the modern animal rights movement, marking perhaps the first truly transnational grassroots collaboration in the movement. And while we can only hope that this campaign acts as the catalyst to bring transnational consciousness to the animal rights movement, we can at least take the time to reflect on the opportunities that such an event might offer us. I must admit my contribution to this project has been limited to this article, but I want to offer my humble hopes for the ways in which the effects of this tour will manifest:

1. Highlight intersectionality:

Already, feminists in particular have done a good job of articulating the simultaneously invested political projects of animal liberation and feminism. Environmentalists have also done similarly. However, a consciousness of animals surrounding state politics has yet to be clearly delineated. A cross-border collaboration invites such an exciting premise.

2. Build transnational analysis:

The mainstream animal rights movement continues to take its philosophical and social cues from the global north. This is not to underscore the immensely important contributions that people outside of these borders have made in building movements and developing alternative philosophical arguments around the animal. However, the mainstream discourse around animal rights is largely Eurocentric and continues to export itself around the world through imperial access to power. Transnational analysis and work in feminism was instrumental in helping third world womyn of color feminism achieve its supple and nuanced foundation. Such a horizontal stretching of coalition building has the possibility to bring similar things to animal rights.

3. Confront colonialism

Undoubtedly, one of the greatest contributors to dominant discourses on animals is colonialism. Colonialism and its various technologies (among which NAFTA is definitely one) have succeeded in producing very particular geographies of power in human-animal relations. These geographies have been used to legitimize deeply oppressive systems of power, both between humans and animals, and humans and othered/racialized communities. A decolonial approach to animal justice, then, may serve as an important tool in rethinking the animal. That is, an unlearning of the animal as we know it, and a building of knowledge around indigenous/third-world approaches to the animal may rescue the movement from its imperialist suggestions and provide new answers to envisioning the human-animal.

4. Prioritizing anti-racism

Almost three years ago I interned at an animal rights organization and left the experience completely frustrated with the whiteness of the organization. But it soon became evident to me that this wasn’t just a problem of this non-profit, but of the movement in general. This isn’t to suggest that animal liberation is a white idea. But rather, the rhetoric and epistemology that govern the movement are tinged by the post-racial brand of racism. In a transnational coalition that runs across racial difference, an expressedly anti-racist politic is not only obvious, it is necessary. This opportunity to articulate anti-racism and animal justice within the same conversation can maybe help open a similar dialogue we’ve been refusing to have in the states.

I realize that to think about the border is to, at first, recognize it as real. This ran contrary to the political poster emblazoned on my bedroom wall from where I write, one that reads “My body is indigenous land…THERE ARE NO BORDERS.” But it is only from a position of acknowledging the immense power and privilege that borders signify, that we begin the messy work of envisioning a utopian future beyond borders. What that utopian vision is, I’m still unsure, but one thing I can be sure of is that no Shangri-La of mine harbors neither human nor animal oppression.

What is the title of your upcoming book?

All I know if that I’ll be writing one. The publisher of my current book, Main Street Vegan: Everything You Need to Know to Eat Healthfully and Live Compassionately in the Real World, has asked for another that has something to do with veganism, and I’m eager to get started. Life is so busy right now that I may need to escape for a week, go somewhere quiet and lacking WiFi, and focus on just what I have to say next.

Who is publishing your book and what is the expected release date?

TarcherPenguin, provided they like the proposal for the new book as much as they like the sales of the current one!

How long did it take you to research and write this book?

I’ve written eleven books. One of them, The Love-Powered Diet, took a solid two years. Another, Fit from Within, just about wrote itself in under four months. The others have been somewhere in between. That timing question is curious, though, because when I say ‘four months’ or ‘two years’ or whatever, I’m talking about the first draft of the actual book. A proposal can take me six months, and the editing process can go on almost that long.

What inspired you to write this book?

Since I haven’t been inspired for the new one yet, I’ll tell you about Main Street Vegan, which came out last year. I’d gone to a PETA fundraiser and was so moved that all I wanted to do was write them a check with lots and lots of zeroes at the end of it. I wasn’t in a position to do that and I wanted like the dickens to be able to be of some serious help to animals. I was mulling that over in the subway on my way home that night and I quite literally inspired – a voice in my head really – that my next book was to be Main Street Vegan, have 40 short chapters with a recipe after each one, and be written to someone not so different from the woman I was in Illinois and Missouri and Wisconsin back in the 1980s when I wanted to go vegan but didn’t think it was possible.

So, do you have an agent?

Yes, Joelle Delbourgo.

What is your favorite aspect of writing a cookbook?

I don’t relate to writing cookbooks, although I like to read them. The recipes in Main Street Vegan were largely donated by wonderful colleagues who are chefs and recipe creators as well as authors. Robin Asbell donated a yummy one, as well as other cookbook celebrities such as Nava Atlas, Jennifer Cornbleet, and Isa Chandra Moskowitz. If I ever do a cookbook, someone else would do the recipes. My first choice for the job is Lisa Pitman from Toronto: we think similarly about food and nutrition, and she’s gifted at both creating recipes and photographing food. I see myself more as a philosopher who writes. Doing a cookbook doesn’t feel as if it’s my work to do in this life, but you never know.

What is the hardest aspect of writing a cookbook?

Everything: that’s why I’ve never written one! I think it’s the precision of recipe creation that would cause me the most trouble. I do some creative cooking in my own kitchen, but to have to repeat that process like a scientific experiment is daunting to me. I’m a wordsmith by nature and will let the cuisine experts do what they do.

What interesting things would we find in your refrigerator right now if we were to open it?

Ah, ‘interesting,’ the word of many meanings…Actually, my fridge is in an unusual state right now because we’re two days past the most recent Main Street Vegan Academy course. This is a training and certification program for Vegan Lifestyle Coaches that I do four times a year here in New York City – the next author featured in this series, JL Fields, is a graduate of the program and a certified VLC. During the program, we go out to eat some (the vegan restaurants in this town are beyond belief) but I cook a lot, too, and I’m eating through the leftovers: kale, steamed sweet potatoes, one bag too many of yellow Finn potatoes (those aren’t in the fridge, of course), quite a bit of tofu, and three glorious chocolate bars since someone gave me boxed chocolates just before the Academy began and I served those instead of parsing out squares from the bars.

What is your favorite sound in the kitchen?

What a lovely question! I’d have to say it’s the boiling of my electric kettle. Every kitchen in the UK, including the temporary flats I’ve stayed in with my husband when he’s had work there, has one of these and, since I’m a tea drinker anyway, it’s a must-have appliance for me. When I hear that it’s boiling – it’s really quick – I feel that pre-tea contentment.

Which actors would you chose to place your main characters in the rendition of this book?

I write nonfiction, so we’re not apt to get one of my books made into a movie, but I am the co-writer with my enchanting husband, William Melton, of Miss Liberty, a family feature film about a cow who escapes from a slaughterhouse and the human adventures that ensue. Gene Baur, co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, is our co-executive producer, and we’re in pre-production with Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment. As for actors, we’re in the embryonic stages of casting but our goal is to have an all-vegetarian cast, and stars of that description are all over Hollywood!

© Victoria Moran – November 2012 class in front of Pure Food and Wine after a heavenly lunch

I have a theory borne out by observation: when you want to do extraordinary things, you sometimes get extraordinary help. Example: I knew my last book was supposed to be called Main Street Vegan, saying right there in the title that it was for regular folks like the girl I was back in Kansas City when I went vegetarian, or the young mom I was in suburban Illinois when I took the vegan plunge way back in the ancient ’80s. But my publisher didn’t like “Main Street” and wanted a new title. Long story short: I ran into Michael Moore (yes, thatMichael Moore) on the street, he thought I had a great title, and he convinced my editor to let Main Street Vegan proceed without a title change.

To my mind, that’s practically a miracle. But it was just the first one over here on Main Street, because once I knew I had my title, related ideas started cropping up. The Main Street Vegan radio show (Wednesday afternoons onwww.unity.fm, and podcasted later on iTunes) grew out of this, as well as Main Street Vegan Productions (we have a feature film in the works about a cow who escapes from a slaughterhouse), and Main Street Vegan Academy (MSVA), a 5-day, in-person intensive leading to the certification of Vegan Lifestyle Coach & Educator (VLCE).

Here’s how MSVA works: You come to New York City. The first response to that information is often, “Gulp!” But I look at it this way: The vision for Main Street Vegan Academy is to offer not only top-notch information, but also a life-altering experience, an experience that calls for bringing your body as well as your intellect along. New York is Disneyland for vegans. We have vegan restaurants of every stripe, and successful, longstanding vegan businesses, such as Vaute Couture, MooShoes, ObsessiveCompulsive Cosmetics, Babycakes Bakery, HighVibe (raw food retailer), and more. Part of the MSVA curriculum is field trips to these places where students can learn from the proprietors, see firsthand what a thriving vegan business looks like, and, if they wish, do a little shopping.

The academic portion of the program is intense, but lots of fun. We cover:

• The plant-based basics: Marty Davey, MS, RD, does “Vegan Nutrition 101” and “Nutrition for the Life Cycle”
• Animal rights (Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan ofwww.OurHenHouse.org have taught this segment, as has Eddie Garza ofMercy for Animals)
• Vegan beauty and fashion (Joshua Katcher of www.thediscerningbrute.comis a professor of sustainable fashion at the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising; he’s also a faculty member at Main Street Vegan Academy)
• History of the vegetarian/vegan movement (with Rynn Berry, author of Food of the Gods and professor emeritus at The New School)
• And environmentalism and the vegan business with Michael Parrish DuDell, formerly with Ecorazzi.com and now president of his own consulting firm, Race & Vine.

Our primary emphasis, however, is helping our students transmit this information to individual clients and to groups. To that end, I teach such classes as “Working with the Overweight or Food-Addicted Client” (I myself have kept off over 60 pounds for nearly 30 years, and I’ve written about this in my book The Love-Powered Diet), “Public Speaking and Media Training,” and “The MEND Program,” an acronym-based proprietary program for coaching people to better health and more joy of life. Renowned vegan baker Fran Costigan (www.francostigan.com) teaches “The Art of the Food Demo.” In addition, a panel of MSVA graduates return to share information about precisely how to work with others in a coaching situation, setting up the business, and marketing your services. A typical course provides some 40 hours of instruction, in addition to field trips and meals.

And when someone – or something – special comes through town, we do our best to make that part of the MSVA curriculum. For example, when Stephanie Redcross and her inimitable Vegan Mainstream team do their Vegan Professional Bootcamp in Manhattan on August 24^th, we’ve arranged for the students enrolled in our August class to attend as part of  their MSVA training.

This is a very special, “boutique” experience. One graduate said, “Other than having my two children, this is the best thing I’ve ever done.” Each class is small – 12 to 14 students. We share many meals onsite (all food served is both vegan and gluten-free, and we accommodate students’ allergies and preferences), and because the program is morning-to-evening with an optional dinner out each night at one of NYC’s fabulous vegan restaurants, we get to know one another really well. This leads to long-term friendships and professional collaborative opportunities, underscored by our private Facebook page for alumni and bi-monthly Master Class conference calls for all graduates. This provides both continuing education and a chance to get acquainted with graduates from courses other than your own.

Our graduates include yoga teachers, an RN, an oral surgeon, a psychotherapist, a clergyperson, a couple of image consultants, personal trainers, a corporate trainer, holistic health counselors, teachers, office workers, students, stay-at-moms, – people from all walks of life. The age range has been early 20s to mid-60s, and we’ve had students from California, Montana, Texas, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia, and even Australia and Qatar, as well as from the Northeastern U.S.

MSVA is offered four times a year. We’re enrolling now for June, August, and November of 2013. Detailed information can be found atwww.mainstreetvegan.net/academy. We ask that everyone who applies be vegan already since our training is to enable you to coach and teach others to adopt this lifestyle in all its aspects. You can use your MSVA Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator certification on its own, or add this certification to other training you’ve received or plan to receive (i.e., Vegan Mainstream, E-Cornell Plant-Based Nutrition certification, Hallelujah Acres Health Minister program, Institute for Integrative Nutrition, etc.): None of us can learn too much about this life-changing and life-saving way of being in the world.

© Derek Goodwin

This group was different from the earlier ones in that we didn’t have a single person from the local (NY/NJ/CT) area and instead welcomed students from California, Montana, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida, South Carolina, and Massachusetts.

We learned about nutrition from Marty Davey, RD; fashion from Joshua Katcher and Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, “Supporting Mixed and Transitional Families” from Jen Gannet, VLC; and vegan pregnancy from Sayward Rebhal, VLC, also a participant in the course.

Michael Parrish DuDell taught Environmentalism and Vegan Business; Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan, JD, of Our Hen House, taught “Essentials of Animal Rights and Animal Law”; Fran Costigan deliciously delivered “The Art of the Food Demo” and “The Sweet Dilemma”; Sharon Nazarian, VLC, regaled us with the fine points of social media; a panel of graduates, Dianne Wenz, VLC, Alicia Leeds-Meyers, VLC, and Jamie Karpovich, VLC, shared on coaching techniques; and historian Rynn Berry finished us off with a fascinating exploration of vegetarian/vegan/raw-food history from antiquity to the present day.

I filled in with Public Speaking & Media Training; The Client Questionnaire; Working with the Overweight and/or Food-Addicted Client; Elements of Ayurveda; and The M-E-N-D Program (meditation, exercise, nourishment, and detoxification); and the class was present for my live radio show, with two students having the opportunity to co-host with me (that was the Feb. 20 show, which you can check out at Unity.FM, on Stitcher, and iTunes).

Not to leave out my favorite activities of all: our fabulous field trips in NYC – to Vaute, MooShoes, High Vibe, BabyCakes, and more – around and about this magnificent and utterly vegan-friendly city. Students who arrived early made it to Chloe Coscarelli’s book signing at Candle Café West, and the rest of us were there the next evening for dinner. We also had a divine luncheon at Pure Food and Wine (thanks to Sarma Melngailis and her staff for paradise on plates), dinners at Mana and Café Blossom, and graduation lunch at Peacefood Café.

Main Street Vegan Academy is a heaping helping of magic four times a year. It’s an adventure, an education, a vacation, and a game-changer. If reading about it makes you tingle, I hope you’ll be able to attend one day. I feel so incredibly lucky that even though it’s a lot of work and organizing and details and energy going out, it’s delight and amazement and gratitude and new friends coming in. In other words, if getting to be part of it every time doesn’t make me the very luckiest person on earth, it’s gotta put me in the top 5.

2. Appreciate every relationship in your life: your romantic partner (or the one who’s on his/her way), your parents and children and siblings and extended family, and your friends who are like family you picked yourself.

3. Be a romantic. Take a candlelit bubble bath. Read The Time Traveler’s Wife or a Jane Austen novel. Make a Valentine for your truelove or your grandchild. Watch a movie like When Harry Met Sally or Moonstruck. Read the “Add a Little Romance” essay in Creating a Charmed Life.

4. Enjoy your body, whether someone else will be enjoying it today or not. Buy yourself some perfume or some lovely something from the lingerie shop (sorry, guys: a few of these suggestions are gender-specific). Get a massage or simply indulge your winter-dry skin in a long, lotion-lathering or in abdyanga, the Ayurvedic warm-oil massage. Put fresh sheets on the bed, some lavender oil on the pillow, and snuggle up with your sweetie or your thoughts.

5. Give some love to the world at large. Find some pain and make it go away. A Valentine-specific project that has my heart each year is from www.dogsdeservebetter.org. This group is dedicated to educating people that dogs deserve better than to be chained or crated outside. They need a home and a family and attention, and they give back so much more than that. If you go to their site, you can help support their “Send a Valentine to a Chained Dog” project (and if you’re not reading this till after Valentine’s Day, it’s not too late to help).

6. Clear space for what you want to enter – whether that’s a love interest, a better job, more money, less fear. Spend a day this weekend or next clearing out drawers and closets (somebody actually wants your junk), cleaning the cobwebs and dust bunnies from beneath the heavy furniture, and getting a head start on spring cleaning. By the time spring gets here, you’ll have far better things to do than clean!

7. Remember that you are dearly loved. You are made from love and the Great Mystery that created you loves you more than you could imagine. Whatever your relationship status at this moment (or job status or pants size or net worth or anything else, for that matter), you are involved in greatest love affair going. Experience it by cherishing yourself, listening to the Inner Voice, and falling in love with God more and more every day.