It's not a soapbox, it's a personal choice

I'm going to a special fundraiser tonight for my leukemia running group (http://www.SheCanRun.com). It's a $50 a plate dinner at a fondue restaurant, very nice. As a vegan, there will be very little that I can eat but I will still have a great time. I'll be discreet and respectful, if being vegan isn't about being peaceable, what's the point?

But it's generated a lot of discussion over the last several weeks and I just wanted to acknowledge that our food choices are very personal. There is stronger cultural bias over mealtime than there is over religion!

It's okay to say, "I've got to have my MEAT!" Or, "No way could I give up ICE CREAM!" (Okay, out in "the world", it's coffee or alchohol.)

But do you see? Nobody wants to be TOLD what to eat. We didn't like it as kids and we sure don't like it as adults.

I have gotten into marathon running this last year. I am over 50 and never was athletic a minute in my life. I was slender -- just my body type and metabolism -- but I was not fit. Didn't ride bikes, didn't ski or play golf, didn't go to the gym. Nothing.

But I am now so aware of the lack of health in the people around me. Even just walking past them in the mall, I'm aware of heavy breathing and pudgy bodies and the pallor of people who spend their time on the couch, the redness of people who drink too much. When I eat with my co-workers in restaurants, oh, I'm so horrified by people consuming three days of calories in one meal!

But at the end of the day, it's PERSONAL. Nobody makes those big switches without coming to their own conclusions on it.

So relax, enjoy my blog. I'm not evangelizing a plant-based diet. This is just about my own personal journey.