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  • Flowers Fields

[ ] It was 1972 that I started my vegetarian journey. I was at WelMet summer camp at age 12. (Howard Stern was a counselor and kitchen boy there with his first radio show!) A fellow camper put a fork in a round deli meat slab and said “baa baa". It was leg of lamb. I see for the first time it's someone’s leg. From then on, I could not eat meat. I could no longer eat someone’s body parts.
In September after summer camp, I saw the film: “Bless The Beasts and the Children.” It’s about boys freeing bison. The bison were to be killed the next day. The boys were trying to save the bison from extinction and being killed. Excellent movie.

I learned to play the song Dona Dona on the guitar. It’s an Israeli song about a calf going to slaughter.

All three things inspired me to stop consuming meat. Still, I ate dairy and fish, not seeing the connection.

- [ ] As an athlete, I had psoriasis, arthritis and migraines. At 19 I had cancer cells burned out. At 21 I finished college and went to visit my vegan Aunt Glory. Here I learned to eat vegan and started to juice fast. This is May 1981. Aunt Glory and her son were living with her best friend, Heart Phoenix and her kids. I learned a lot.

- [ ] After 6 weeks of living with them and mostly fasting, I lost weight and felt great. I mostly fasted the first year of being vegan. I’d eat mostly raw vegan between fasting.

- [ ] Never had cancer cells again. Migraines gone. Pounds dropped off. Psoriasis lessened dramatically.

- [ ] I’ve been vegan ever since.

- [ ] Through my Aunt’s friend Heart Phoenix I learned about her sister’s place, www.GentleWorld.org, the longest running vegan non profit community living together.

- [ ] Been involved since 1981 and have seen veganism grow tremendously. We’ve written and published books (The Cookbook For People Who Love Animals; Vegan Nutrition Pure and Simple; Pregnancy, Children and the Vegan Diet; Incredibly Delicious, The Vegan Paradigm); produced seminars; had vegan Celebrity Banquets; rescued and saved animals; flew banners; gave cooking demos; demonstrated and marched for animal’s rights; were the executive chefs at Animal Rights conferences; took over hotel and restaurant kitchens; opened vegan restaurants and catered. We consulted other vegan restaurants too. We hope the world quickens its pace towards veganism.

1982, Dr. Klaper visited and moved in with us. What a game changer for the world!

- [ ] In GW you can see the wealth of information that exists with people vegan almost 50 years. I am happy to be part of an organization that has been trying since the late 70's to veganize the world!! Www.gentleworld.org

- [ ] For the past 13 years I have also helped with the NY Coalition for Healthyschoolfood.org. And I’ve been involved with FarmUSA.org and the World Peace Yoga Jubilee. Before the jubilee, I produced the first World Peace Diet retreat with Will Tuttle.

- [ ] In my 40 years as a vegan so much has changed! And we’re just getting started. Join us!