I support clients who are vegetarian or not.

I follow Gabriel Cousen's protocol strictly with clients who are Vegan and steer people who are kapha and Vata away from macrobiotic living with lots of raw and uncooked foods.

The reason why I am not a Vegan is because I cannot at this time invest in keeping up strictly on my B-12 stores and weigh and measure my food, etc- I was a Vegan for a few years and I got very sick and just did not feel well the whole time.

I also do not consume soy (read my blog on soy), at all, and this would also make a difficult Vegan life for me.

In working with vegan's over the years-I have seen quite a few suffering from ill effects of depleted B-12 stores, anemia, hormone imbalances from soy, food shaming tactics and paranoia-I am not sure if it is the paranoia which causes the shaming and guilt about food or vice versa-but some have borderlined as obsessive compulsive-which may also be attributed to Vata's and Kapha's trying to live within a Pitta diet. I just don't know.

This is not to say that every Vegan experiences these issues but that I have seen a pattern-similar to the one Gabriel Cousen's addresses in his book "Conscious Eating". I do believe that Vegetarianism-is superior-in terms of reverence (truly, what is a humane way to "kill") and enzymes but the longer I work in this business the more balanced perspective I get. I also would like to say in defense of vegetarians that most American's get far too much protein, which leads to liver problems with ketone bodies, kidney stones and problems, and decreased immunity.

Most of my friends are Vegetarians and we have alot of respect for eachother. I wrote an article for a magazine about diet extremes and finding a balance-you might enjoy it...please email me for a copy, or I will post it soon....

Clearly-there is a need for us to appreciate and honor our bodies-what we put into them, etc. While the killing of animals is a tragic exchange for human life-

I put it underneath the vast amounts of forced infant genital mutilations and horrendous birthing practices which amount to child abuse from Doctors and parents to babies. Let us work together improving the peaceful and loving conditions of Mothers, babies and their births-and in this way, animals will get the fall out of a natural change of heart from a society of humans that were loved and protected as children. Peace begins with me!