In my mid-twenties I lived in Seattle. I recall being at a dinner party and people having this intense conversation about organic food. There was a pretentiousness about the conversation so as I left the table I said, “whatever, I thrive on pesticides.”

THAT IS NOT TRUE.

My wife says that I minimize events related to my health. I think I lean more towards drama queen on all life events. Either way, this past year I had a breast cancer scare and a thyroid cancer scare. Last Friday I graduated to having breast exams every year instead of every six months. The thyroid is still monitored every six months but I feel okay about that. I completely believe the reason I did not get cancer is because of the foods I choose to eat and the foods I choose not to eat.

I don’t recall when I became a vegan? I was a vegetarian since childhood. I just never liked eating meat. That may discredit me with some folks, thinking it’s easy to give up something you never liked in the first place. But wait… for me it was dairy. I really thought cows naturally get pregnant and we use their milk for food; similar to chickens naturally lay eggs so what’s the harm. I loved dairy. I ate it regularly with no awareness of what I was supporting and what I was consuming.

I don’t recall why I began to educate myself on industrial agriculture? I would find articles online to read, I began following environmental groups, and I remember reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Sofran Foer. Here is everything I learned: know how food ends up on your plate. Before you put it in your mouth know how it was conceived, how it was born, how it lived, how it was treated, how it was slaughtered, how it was processed, how it was packaged, and how the entire process impacts the earth.

It mattered to me that industrialized chickens are raised in such squalor and so neglected that they contract horrible diseases. To protect humans from eating contaminated meat caused by the disease, it is common practice to soak chicken carcasses in a chlorine bath. It mattered to me that buying dairy was supporting the veal industry. It mattered to me that the FDA and USDA are paid off by those who financially gain from the policies that allow the practices of industrialized agriculture. It mattered to me that factory farms emit such toxins into the air it impacts the health of humans who live near the factory.

A plant-based diet is better for the environment. It is the single biggest way to reduce your greenhouse gases, global acidification, eutrophication, land use, and water use. Big words for less crap going into the atmosphere, destroying the earth, and polluting our waters. AND ta-DA, a 2017 meta-analysis found that a vegan diet significantly lowered the risk of total cancer by 15% compared with non-vegetarians. (EPIC-Oxford study and the Adventist Health Study).

Trifecta: A plant based diet is better for the planet, your health, and the animals.

Here is an easy recipe to get you started: Vegan American Chop Suey!