Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Its not the first time either. We sure are a well hated group

Here's a link to the article....and...he's talking about me specifically. I'm THAT girl.

http://www.nelsonstar.com/opinion/18510 ... obile=true


I have written a response. Hopefully the newspaper will print it. Folks can comment directly on Mr. Hertz's article too after you read it but please if you do keep it intelligent and factual and don't mention knowing me, speak for all vegans!...he's a hot headed guy and he'll throw mud. He called me all kinds of 4 letter words in our original conversation.

MY RESPONSE

WHY I LOVE BEING VEGAN!

It was with great interest that I sat back in my recliner with a plate of lettuce and peanuts (and a rice cake for dessert!) to read chef Jamie Hertz's article on "vegan vs meat diets". (Dec 27th)
I'm that girl that he mentioned...and an interesting conversation we did have!
While my scrawny weak emaciated hands try to fold up the newspaper I wonder to myself what stereotypical vegan attributes readers of his article might assume of me and my diet?

Perhaps I should introduce myself? Deborah Nasmyth. Lifelong Nelsonite. 20 years carnivore, 8 years vegetarian, 5 years vegan now. I'm currently studying via Cornell University toward a certificate in plant based nutrition. I'm a competitive bodybuilder and I accept all chin up and arm wrestling challenges at the gym. I'm far from scrawny or unhealthy!
It's ironic that Mr. Hertz's article came out the same week Vegan Health and Fitness Magazine featured me as a fitness model, and the international veganbodybuilding.com website gave me a featured profile, as well as placing my...uh... derriere (in shorts!) on their main website banner.

Mr. Hertz asked me why I am vegan. I answered the question honestly. Its unfortunate Mr. Hertz took personal offence. I understood the conversation to be objective. I made some criticisms about the way North Americans think about food. Warranted, I think, by our skyrocketing obesity, heart disease, and cancer rates and increasing publicity about animal cruelty in the meat and dairy industries. (Did anyone see CTV's special on the Manitoba pig farm last month?) Mr. Hertz indicated in his article that this is a very touchy topic for him, he displayed strong emotion in our conversation, and perhaps his emotion caused him to read too far between the lines and assume there was some sort of personal attack and that he was "dumb".

I am vegan because, personally, I don't think a few minutes of pleasure on my taste buds is worth the mortal suffering of another creature. I feel it's selfish. No animals need to suffer or die for me to look and feel great! Usually people can easily accept that they and I have different opinions without getting hurt feelings or needing to publicize it. For most people the statement makes them think about what's in their own heart and question their own food choices.

Mr. Hertz made a vegan diet sound bland in his article. What I actually had for dinner tonight was chipotle lime chicken strips (vegan by Gardien, very authentic, and high in protein), an avocado, mustard, and cheese (dairy free) in a whole wheat wrap and it was absolutely delicious! Judges on the Food Network channel would have commented on the use of textures and seasoning and delighted in how the mustard elevated the avocado. I might follow up with some coconut milk ice cream for dessert. My taste buds don’t actually suffer at all.

Perhaps Mr. Hertz has an outdated idea of what a vegan diet really is? I welcome him (or anyone else interested) to join me for lunch anytime to continue the discussion.

Nelson's vegan muscle girl,

Deborah Nasmyth

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Failure: unacceptable.
Find me on facebook: Deborah Nasmyth

Well precision,
people always prefer to believe in their own world. Their meat will always come from cows that lived a happy perfect life.
Quoting the article: "there are very good places where the animals live better lives than we do and are treated with the love and care they need"
And that is from a guy that claims that he knows as much about his food as he can.

By the way, did you really call him dumb and selfish?

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my noob log =)

lol....it was a very interesting conversation we had. When I met him a few months ago he told me that he has had several relationships with women fail because they were vegetarians and he is passionate about meat and he admitted he was very leery of me (although we weren't dating or anything) so he's got a lot of resentment already built up.

Then 2 weeks ago he started a conversation with me on facebook asking why I was vegan because he wanted to "expand his culinary knowledge". I suggested Forks over Knives and Food Inc and he scoffed and said they were mass produced and not of interest. So he definately has no real interest in educating himself. He launched into discussing how great meat tastes and how much he loves to cook it.
He said that if a person is gong to give up meat they should give up sex and driving cars too. He made some really bizarre comparisons and rationalizations. I indicated that my personal reason for being vegan is that " I don't think 2 minutes of pleasure on my taste buds is worth the mortal suffering of another creature. I think its selfish."
He got enraged and accused me of pushing my beliefs on him and that I was calling him selfish. I was just saying the reason I am vegan....very different from accusing others of being selfish or saying they should do anything. It was an honest answer to his question but he took it as a personal attack. "dumb" I never said at all....he just assumed I thought that of him.

I think, and I realized this tonight talking to my mom, that as vegans we are stereotyped as being "preachers" and that we try and convert people. So, if someone knows I'm vegan and I say something about my diet there's an automatic, possibly even unconscious, assumption that I'm trying to convert them and this bias causes them to read between the lines too much and make them prone to feeling attacked.
Not sure yet how to compensate for this in further conversations that I'll have....

_________________
Failure: unacceptable.
Find me on facebook: Deborah Nasmyth

i think we vegans make other people feel guilty, so then they attack us with the "vegans are preachers" or some other angry statement, because deep down they know we are right.

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"iam the strongest one! iam the viking!" - jon pall sigmarsson
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Gandhi

We are indeed stereotyped as preachers. Most of us aren`t, but like mrbear said, people attack us probably due to guilt. They must feel threatened by us in some weird way, so this fear is what starts everything(they trying to `convert` us, they trying to prove us wrong either by saying that veganism is unhealthy or by saying that animals never suffer or that one person won`t matter). That happens a lot to me also and I always have to be really rude in order to stop it.

Personally I think this guy is angry(or frustrated) because he wanted to have some kind of relationship with you that he realized he is not going to have. Is that even remotely possible?

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my noob log =)

Lol, ya that's remotely possible. We initially met on a dating site a few months before. At the end of our discussion he was enraged enough to declare I had the intention of trying to win him over (seduce him) and convert him and it wasn't going to happen! He wouldn't even step in my door!
And I was blown away because we were just friends and had never even discussed going on a date or anything and I certainly had no agenda.

I said I wasn't interested in him that way anyway and lied that I've been seeing someone for a few weeks now so not single anymore. I'm sure that made him feel like a fool.

I definitely think there is a guilt that he hasn't come to terms with. He has 2 dogs that he cherishes and I think he even takes them to SPCA events (society for prevention of cruelty to Animals). I always wonder how it is that most of these people supporting the SPCA are meat eaters and not drawing the line connection between their pets and pigs and cows.

_________________
Failure: unacceptable.
Find me on facebook: Deborah Nasmyth

It is entirely that ~ if an animal isn't typically considered a pet then it's probably okay to eat it. Flawed logic at its' finest

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1st Place Raw Champs 2011, 2012 (3 raw records)
Training for my first 100 mile running race

WEB: http://jimsty.wix.com/strength-vs-size
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mini-Forklift/161273440616736?ref=hl
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/user/kiwilifter?feature=mhee

Here in Brazil "Animal Protection" events often serve Feijoada, basically dead pig and beans. I also fail to see the logic in that, killing pigs to buy food for dogs and cats.


So he is passing through the anger stage =)
From -Earthlings- :
"The Stages of Truth:
1. Ridicule
2. Violent Opposition
3. Acceptance"

_________________
my noob log =)

humans are strange things.

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"iam the strongest one! iam the viking!" - jon pall sigmarsson
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Gandhi

LOL

ridicule
violent opposition
acceptance

and then.....change????

_________________
Failure: unacceptable.
Find me on facebook: Deborah Nasmyth

Don`t remember, just remember these 3 stages.
They are much like the stages of grief.

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my noob log =)