How to Get Your Greens In Everyday and Why Go Vegan

I'm sitting here drinking my green smoothie and blogging....my kind of morning.  Just seven months ago I was at an office job that failed to inspire me anymore and I was trapped thinking is this going to be my life?  Now this is my life: blogging vegan recipes, inspiration, health and wellness and living in NYC.  You can change your life with a little planning and alot of courage...I'm a true testament to that!  Want to know more about how I changed my life, email me at fabulousveganrecipes@gmail.com


It's easy to get your greens in at every meal; just choose a green that best suits your mood at that particular time of the day.  Spinach in your morning smoothie?  Broccoli with your dinner?  A salad for lunch?  It's easy to get some kind of green pigment into your food at some point.

1. Buy greens at the supermarket or, ideally, your local farmers market.  Spinach, kale, romaine, peppers, cucumber etc and of course BUY ORGANIC.

2. Pair your greens with whole grains, fruit and sweet veggies.  Grab a handful of that spinach and throw it into my green smoothie recipe.  Pair spinach with frozen or fresh blueberries and a frozen banana to make a yummy, sweet smoothie.  Pair your steamed broccoli with sweet potato and rice or rice pasta.

3. If you can't take away those cookies yet, add in some greens at dinner.  If you need those oreo cookies, eat them with a green smoothie.  You will slowly phase out the sugar and replace it with greens.

4. Spend most of your time and money in the outer sections of the supermarket (fruits and veggies) and phase out processed food.  Instead of buying that packaged bean dish, read the ingredients on the package and make it yourself at home; add sauteed kale to it.

This past Sunday, I attended the first vegan pledge meeting for people who want to learn more about the vegan lifestyle over the next 30 days.  I was assigned a pledge who I will help over the next few weeks; a responsibility I take very seriously.  I was so inspired by the speeches given by the organizers and founders of collectivelyfree.org

Check out the video on my facebook page of the introduction given to the pledges.

Here are eye-opening facts about factory farming and veganism.  Please visit collectivelyfree.org for more information.

1. Animal agriculture is responsible for 51% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.  That's more than all transportation combined.  Instead of carpooling, you can become vegan and actually do more good for the environment that way.

2. Cow, pig and chicken waste has contaminated 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and polluted ground water in 17 states.

3. Only 11% of the land is used for crops, which are fed to animals and fish destined to be food; 27% of land is used for cattle.

4. Eating processed meat increases the risk of heart disease by 72%, prostate cancer by 81% and colon cancer by 50%.  Vegan women decrease their risk of developing breast, ovarian or cervical cancer by 34%.

5. Those who eat fish have increased their mercury levels 10X than if they didn't eas fish.

6. Athletes who pedaled on a stationary lasted the longest when fed a completely vegan diet.

7. 70 billion land animals are murdered for food every year.  Before this, they live in enclosed factory farms where they can't even engage in normal animal behavior, they don't see the sky or feel breeze on their skin and they are greatly mistreated and neglected.

8. Male baby chicks are grounded up ALIVE because they are useless to the egg industry since they cannot lay eggs.

8. Male baby calves are taken from their mothers within an hour after birth and forced into veal crates, where they don't get any exercise, are fed grains and cry for their mothers.  Since they aren't getting their mother's milk, they become anemic and then their pink, baby meat is made into veal.

9. Pregnant pigs are forced into gestation crates for the duration of their pregnancy and beyond.  They cannot turn around, lay down properly or interact with their young.

10. 82% of the world's starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, so that these animals can be fed to first world countries and then those people consuming that animal flesh can die of heart disease, strokes and cancer.  Ridiculous?  Yep.

If everyone in the world went vegan for 30 days, can you imagine the improvement to our planet? To our health?  To the starving children in this world?

Meat and dairy production and consumption causes so much suffering to animals, people who eat it and people who are starving because food is being fed to cattle, you wonder why we still eat meat and dairy. It's because people simply don't know where their meat, dairy and eggs come from and what effect they have on our health and life.  You don't need meat to become strong, plants have protein and iron. Veggies have calcium...without the artery clogging fat that milk has.  And scrambled tofu is way better than scrambled eggs!

Interested in becoming vegan? Contact me for help and guidance fabulousveganrecipes@gmail.com