International Elephant Day

As a blog dedicated to the love and respect of animals, I thought I should let everyone know that today is the day dedicated to the love and support of these large, beautiful and endangered animals. .In 1979 there were an estimated 1.3 million African elephants. Today, only 470,000- less than half of that- remain, some authorities even estimate the number to be considerably lower. Elephants are being killed for a number of reasons, some highly publicised, and others- not so much.

Elephants, we know, are facing poaching for their tusks which are used to make ivory. This barabric pratice involves the elephant being killed for less than 2% of its full body- it is extreemely wasteful and extremely cruel. The loss of more than half a million elephants in a decade was due primarily to killing for ivory. The ivory trade- which is most popular in Asia, and from which most of the ivory is obtained from Africa- is responsible for the deaths of thousands of elephants anually.



I was shocked today to learn of another reason why elephants are being killed these days- for their meat.
In January, Two wild elephants were found slaughtered in a national park in western Thailand, alerting authorities to the new practice of consuming elephant meat
"The poachers took away the elephants' sex organs and trunks ... for human consumption," Damrong Phidet, director-general of Thailand's wildlife agency, told The Associated Press. Some meat was to be consumed without cooking, like "elephant sashimi," he said
Elephant Sashimi- it just sounds so absurd- why? Is what I wondered, why would anyone want to eat an elephant? Well, according to the article on Daily News, some Asian cultures believe that eating the elephants sexual organs boosts ones libido or sexual prowess.
Well, this just makes me sick to my stomach, honestly killing an endangered animal and therefore speeding up the road to extinction all for a libido enhancer?  Try some vanilla candles, or maybe some figs? Just please, leave the elephants out of it.

And don't buy ivory either.

Live and let Live,
SmileAloud

Olympic Fever!

It's official. London 2012 has taken over my life. Who else loves the rush, the excitement, the patriotism of the olympics? It truly is an amazing event, and what makes it even more amazing is the almost super-human power the athletes display, showing amazing dedication, strength and skill in their sports. Impressive. But what is even more impressive is an athlete who can do that on a vegetarian diet, proving to the world that meat does NOT equal strength.
So todays inspirational celebrity is Lizzie Armistead, who was the first medal winner for Great Britian, when she won her silver medal for cycling.
Read more about her inspirational story on my Inspirational Celebrities tab, and feel free to tell me your views on London 2012!

Live,Laugh,Love,
Cynthia

Babay Steps: How to wean yourself off meat

Most experts agree that, although it works for some, quitting meat cold turkey ussually results in a confused body and even withdrawal syptoms. So thats probably not the best way to become vegan or vegetarian. Thats where my baby steps plan comes in (I'm really excited I thought of this!!). The plan is to cut or substitute one thing each week (or twice a week if you are feeling totally hardcore.) Every week I'm going to post a suggestion as to what you can do to cut off that meat from your life, and also some sub-tips to do along with your main goal just for fun :)
So, we'll start with a relatively small one today:

Today, I pledge to eat the veggie burger instead of the beef or chicken.

This one is quite simple because veggie burgers are so delicious, and in many burger joints they do have that option. Veggie burgers are not only minus the cruelty, but they also have loads of other one-ups on beef or chicken burgeres like:

1. Lower in fat and calories!

Woop woop! Who doesn't like to hear those words? In fact many beef burgers contain 10g or more of fat, and the vegetable alternatives average at 3 or 4g- less than half!

2. Rich in fibre

Fibre comes from the cellulose found in the cell wall of evrery plant cell- so every veggie burger is packed with fibre. The meat alternative-not so much.

3. Less cholesterol

Veggie burgers have significantly less "bad" cholesterol compared to their (especially red) meat alternatives. Actually, some ingredients in veggie burgers, like soy, contain phytochemicals that reduce the levels of LDL or "bad" cholesterol in the body

So, the mini-goal this week is to choose the veggie burger over the meaat- this can also apply for any other veggie alternative! To help you, theres a delishh veggie burger recipe from Cooking Light on my recipes page!

Stay green, Love life

SmileAloud

Been gone long

Hey, I haven't posted anything here in ages and that's cos I had a bit of a personal crisis, of meat-eating porportions :/ i'm not talking a full U-turn back into my meat-eating ways. No. More like a temporary stint with chicken. Needless to say I was quite ashamed of myself and felt like a hypocrite, but when I think about my cause its still as strong as ever, whether I've eaten chicken or not. I do, however need to appreciate the discipline and passion it takes to be veggie and I just want to give a massive green salute to all my peeps out there who have gone years without eating meat. For me, its been almost 2 years, and they certainly have not been perfect (I have given into the temptation on more than one occasion) but it is still a belief I hold very dear to my heart and I will always continue to strive for that total meat-free perfection-actually, all-animal-product-free perfection, because that is what I see as strength, as passion and as the truest form of love for animals.
Smile,
Cynthia

Baby Steps

Baby steps is all it takes to get that meat right off your plate!

OK, so maybe you might be thinking that it's going to be REALLY hard to become a vegetarian...well i've got news for you..it's really not!
Before I became veg I literally ate meat at EVERY meal. I'm talking bacon for breakfast, chicken for lunch and pork chops for dinner. My whole family eats meat. I stressed out a lot about how much I thought I was going to miss meat and put off the decision for a LONG time...until one day I just decided to do it!

My first attempt was full-blown immediate cut-off of all meat products. And that worked.....for exactly 11 and a half days. So when I chose to try again I was more smart about it. These are the baby steps I took to become a vegetarian.

1. Cut out red meat
Because it's not really my favourite and it's also the most unhealthy

2.Cut out fish 
Also not my favorite

3.Cut out pork
Letting go of those ribs....

4.Cut out chicken
This was definitely the hardest...I LOVED chicken. It took me about 2 months to let it go.

This worked for me...and whenever I feel i'm about to loose sight of why I chose to do it, I play back scenes in my head of all the videos and all the information I've read about being veggie- that really helps. I imagine the blood and the pigs screaming and I know that never again in my life (or at least the foreseeable future) will I eat meat.

So, what I'm trying to say is that trying to move things to fast will make it harder to keep up in the long term. I don't want being vegetarian to be just a phase in my life y'know? I want it to be my new and improved lifestyle :)

Don't rush things! Baby steps....baby steps...:)

xxx Cynthia