Page 6 - Fall2011

Letters

VEGAN CHALLENGE from were able to engage in civil dis- warmish weather. He already prepares
I thought you might like to see this course—their emails were insulting to his own beet kvass. Recently, I taught
article I wrote for the June/July issue me, told me to stop spreading lies, that I him how to make kimchi and chicken
of the Wedge Co-op Newsletter. (The should be arrested, that I'm an idiot, and stock, and left him with more than ten
Wedge is the largest single-store natural so forth. I see this as proving my point: quarts of the latter, which he was already
foods co-op in the country.) It's a com- without enough B and cholesterol, a sipping every morning.
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ment on Oprah's "vegan challenge," person's thinking becomes very rigid I have never seen my father this
and it has generated a lot of drama here and black-and-white; they become un- teachable or eager to learn about food
in Minneapolis. www.wedge.coop/ able to make the neurotransmitters that as medicine. While hitting bottom prob-
newsletter/june-july-2011/my-vegan- support healthy moods and as a result ably helped, I credit the work of WAPF
challenge-to-oprah feel persecuted and angry all the time. for his turnaround, and I am truly grate-
The vegan community was enraged I've been practicing holistic nutri- ful for the commitment and sacrifice you
after the print and online newsletters tion for fifteen years, and in my practice have made.
came out and sent lots of hateful, angry I've seen many recovering vegans. I've Mark Seevers
email to the Wedge (and to me) filled seen their personalities go from angry San Mateo, California
with vicious, unhinged-sounding rants and depressed to much more open and
demanding the article be removed from whole again with the addition of health- ANCESTORS
the website. The Wedge panicked and ful animal protein and fats to their diets. I have just finished listening to
took my article down from the website I myself was vegan for two years in my the 2010 Conference on MP3. What
and replaced it with an apology to the early twenties and had the same experi- an incredible value those lectures are!
vegan community. ence. One of my favorite lectures was by Dr.
Then the Traditional Foods group The article (a slightly longer, un- Nicholas Gonzalez. Rather practically,
here went on their own campaign and edited version) is also posted on my he suggested that we would be well-
sent a lot of emails to the Wedge in sup- website at www.jennette-turner.com/ served to eat the foods of our ancestors.
port of the article. I met with the General publications.cfm?id=17. If your ancestors came from Hawaii,
Manager of the Wedge (who didn't know Jennette Turner a diet low in fat and meat and high in
the article had been taken down) and Minneapolis, Minnesota fruit would be a good choice. But if your
pointed out that rational people accept ancestors came from Alaska, you would
that there are viewpoints different from A TURNAROUND need a lot of animal fat and meat. The
their own; only radicals insist that all In seven months my now eighty- Mediterranean Diet would be a great diet
other voices be silenced. She reposted three-year-old father has gone from for you, if your family came from the
the article and took the apology to the being bed-ridden at the Chicago area's Mediterranean. The Chinese diet; good
vegans down. There is now a note fol- Northwest Community Hospital for ten if you're from China. Which made me
lowing my article saying that a vegan days with no appetite and a diagnosis of wonder: what did my ancestors eat?
nutritionist will provide a response to congestive heart failure and then kidney My grandma turned ninety this
my article in the next newsletter. It will failure, to a man who walks his dog year. She grew up on a farm in Holland,
be the cover story. roughly four blocks every day. He daily and she and my Grandpa immigrated
I've gotten a lot of feedback on the ingests raw milk, raw cream, raw butter to the U.S. in the early 1950s. She lives
article. I find it interesting that the veg- and raw eggs from Fresh-from-the-Farm alone, in her own house, and is still
etarians who emailed me were generally Co-op in Lemont, and has decided he "sharp as anything" (as mother reports).
positive, with comments like "thanks needs to start eating raw beef along with I wrote and asked her what they ate when
for pointing out what I need to pay at- his grass-fed liver and onions. Last week she was growing up. Here’s her reply:
tention to." None of the vegans I heard we played thirty-six holes of golf in “As far as I can remember, yes,
6 Wise Traditions FALL 2011 FALL 2011 Wise Traditions

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