Sarah Taylor is the author of the book “Vegan in 30 Days”, and also writes a blog http://www.thevegannextdoor.blogspot.com/. Sarah was gracious enough to give us an interview.
How did John Robbin’s book, “Diet for a New America” become such an inspiration for you in your life?
I went vegan after I gained 10 pounds in my first year of marriage. I bought Diet for a New America thinking that it was a diet book and would give me advice on how to lose weight! Ironically, while I don’t believe weight loss is ever mentioned in the book, after reading about the health effects of eating meat and dairy, how the animals are treated in factory farms, and the implications of a meat and dairy diet on our environment, I not only went vegan overnight, but I also lost the 10 pounds in about 6 weeks. I find it fascinating that, in a vain effort to lose weight and look better, Diet for a New America helped me to find my spirituality instead – compassion and kindness to others.
What would you say is the most challenging part for people transitioning into a vegan diet/lifestyle?
Interestingly, I think the biggest challenge to being successful at adopting the vegan diet is simply learning how to be prepared – especially early on while people are still in the process of committing themselves to the diet. For example, if you’re really hungry and go to a cocktail party where there is nothing vegan, you’re likely to compromise and not eat vegan. This can happen in all sorts of places or events – the movie theatre, a date at a restaurant or a work meeting. People have to learn how to be prepared for all of these situations that come up. I spend a lot of time in my book on this – eating out at restaurants, eating at dinner parties, hosting dinner parties, traveling, etc…
Did you learn anything new from writing your book, and if so, what was it?
I suppose that I learned that when you have found your passion, and you’re doing exactly what you’re meant to do, it is effortless. I am so humbled that my book is selling so well, yet I can hardly remember writing it! There was no goal-setting, no writing down all the steps, no stress or angst. The book just … happened. I believe that when we have found our calling, even the big projects become effortless.
How can a vegan diet save the world?
This is my favorite question. My husband, Mark, and our friend Mike were hiking the other day, and the question was posed, “If you were president of the US and could make one unilateral law that the whole country would immediately have to abide by, what would it be? My answer was, “I know it sounds like I’m on my vegan bandwagon, but I would make the country go vegan, and here’s why: Our country is facing a major health epidemic, almost all of it due to obesity and bad food choices. The obvious things like heart disease and diabetes are astronomically expensive because so many people have them. Many cancers are also heavily linked to diet, and although most people don’t realize it, doctors like Joel Fuhrman are finding that a huge number of auto-immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis can be treated extremely effectively with diet. So, it has been estimated that 80% of our nation’s health problems could be fixed through diet – specifically a healthy plant-based diet. So going vegan would take care of our nation’s health care crisis, and probably eradicate a lot of depression at the same time, as people with serious health problems also get depressed.
Additionally, global warming is a massive problem, and the US is at the heart of it. Although we only represent 5% of the world’s population, we contribute about 25% of the pollution. Because factory farming causes more problems to the air quality than automobiles do, switching to a vegan diet will help tremendously with our environmental problems. A person who switches from the standard American diet to a vegan diet will help the planet more than a person who switches from driving a Hummer to driving a Prius. Also, many places are having a huge water shortage and are rationing it very carefully. It takes somewhere between 2,500 – 6,500 gallons of water to get a pound of steak to your table, as compared with 60 gallons for a pound of potatoes, or 108 gallons for a pound of wheat. So, moving to a vegan diet would save a lot of our precious water resources.
But I’m not done! It’s so much more efficient to produce crops than animals, and many have estimated that if the world went vegan, we could wipe out world hunger with all the extra grains, beans and produce we could produce.
The cruelty that occurs in factory farming operations is horrific. It is terribly, terribly sad to see footage of the animals being dragged, beaten, and stuffed into cages where they spend their entire lives. Imagine being stuffed into an elevator for your entire life, sitting in your own excrement, not ever seeing sunlight, and crying out in pain from standing all day, or sitting on a wire floor. But even if you don’t care about the animals, these practices affect our nation – studies have shown that when boys in a juvenile detention center are unknowingly switched to a vegetarian diet, fighting within the center decreases by almost 40%. It is hypothesized that the adrenaline and other chemicals that course through the body when it is in “fight or flight” mode (as the animals are in when they are about to be slaughtered, and can hear the other animals ahead of them in line screaming in pain and fear) ends up in high levels in the flesh of the animals when they are killed. When we subsequently eat that flesh, it makes us more aggressive. In fact, many, many vegans report feeling surprisingly more peaceful after adopting a vegan diet.”
So, I truly do believe the vegan diet could save the world. Imagine if everyone went vegan! We could conceivably come very close to eradicating most health problems, our nation’s health care crisis would go away, the environment would have a chance to restore itself, we would have fewer issues with water shortage, there would likely be less crime, and no animals or fish would be harmed along the way. Switching to a vegan diet seems so obvious that I stand in awe that the whole world doesn’t know about this information, or think it’s crazy. But I suppose that at one time, people thought Galileo was crazy for announcing that the world is round. I like to hope it’s just a matter of time until eating meat seems just as ridiculous as a flat earth.
In your book “Vegan in 30 Days”, you give daily “assignments”, why do you think this is important for people to follow?
Motivational experts know that for anything to change, you must take action. Just knowing something, or just believing in it, doesn’t make anything happen. If you really want to go vegan, you actually have to take action and make it happen. That’s the goal of my book: to make going vegan easy, by breaking it down into manageable steps, so that people can and do take action.
In Day 28 of your book, you talk about eliminating animal ingredients, besides the booklet you recommend, are there any other tools/books you would suggest for people?
Oh yes! I have been so excited recently by all of the cell phone applications that are available! There are applications that can tell you what is vegan and what is not, including food products, makeup and cosmetics, home products and others. There are also phone applications that tell you what brands of wine are vegan and how to ask for vegan food in 70+ languages! I have downloaded so many of them!
Finally, what would you say to those who may be considering a vegan diet but are still unsure about it?
I would tell them to read Diet for a New America by John Robbins. Before I read that book, my four food groups were Swiss, Havarti, Cheddar and Chocolate! I would have sworn to you that I could never, ever, ever give up cheese or milk chocolate. Yet, in about 24 hours, I started and finished that book, and gave it all up over night. I have met countless people who have the same story. That is why I always suggest his book. There are so many other great books on the market too, but since he has seemed to convince so many thousands of people including myself, I always recommend his book first.
The other thing I would tell them is to just give it a try for 30 days. In the entire span of your lifetime, 30 days is a tiny blip. Studies show that it takes 30 days to develop a habit, and ironically, it also takes 30 days to lose your food addictions. So, while you might miss cheese at Day 7, you’ll probably wonder what you were ever so worried about by the time Day 30 rolls around!