posted July 23, 2024 Share Tweet Share Shifting to a vegan lifestyle is one of the most empowering decisions we can make. Choosing to leave animals off our plates—and eating life-nourishing plant foods—can bring inner peace, purpose, vitality, and health transformation. And yet, even as we strive to live compassionately and healthfully, we may face emotional challenges along our path. Photo credit: Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash Stepping outside societal norms can be stressful, especially early on our vegan journey. We bond with others through shared meals and traditions around food; now ..read more

posted July 2, 2024 Share Tweet Share Starting a healthy diet can be challenging when dining out. On the other hand, you’ll find that many restaurants accommodate your new eating style. I recommend limiting how often you eat out. Keep it to special occasions and focus on consuming fresh foods from the grocery store, farmer’s market, or your own kitchen. 10 Ways to Stay on Track 1. Know Before You Go Check the menu. Look for healthy choices—grilled items, salads, vegetable sides, etc. Decide before you go and stick to your decision once you get there. Collect the menus from restaurants you l ..read more

posted June 25, 2024 Share Tweet Share Photo credit: by Diana Goldman Plant-based cuisine has a reputation for being labor intensive. Consider, for example, the process of transforming an onion, a pepper, some chickpeas, and hearts of palm into these Crab Cakes. It requires a decent amount of peeling, slicing, dicing, and chopping. There are ways to simplify and make this plant-based cooking process more enjoyable. 5 Ways to Ease Plant-Based Cooking: 1. Hone Your Knife Skills Take a class. Watch an online tutorial on YouTube. All that chopping and dicing can become fun, pleasant, and even d ..read more

posted June 18, 2024 Share Tweet Share Photo credit: Simon Berger on Unsplash Curious about convincing your friends and family about the incredible benefits of veganism? It’s no secret that veganism has gained significant momentum in recent years due to mounting evidence of its positive impact on personal health, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability. However, merely presenting facts and figures is not enough to convince someone to embrace a vegan lifestyle, rather, share personal stories that resonate with them and appeal to their core values. To persuade someone to go ..read more

posted June 11, 2024 Share Tweet Share Image Credit: Love.Life Telehealth I live in New Jersey but could not find any Vegan physicians. It was exasperating going from provider to provider trying to find someone who didn’t think I needed to eat fish or that what I am doing is ridiculous. I finally found an in-person provider who understood and respected my Vegan lifestyle, but I wanted to quadruple-check, so booked an online appointment with Dr. Keary O’Connor with Love.Life Telehealth. In a Master Main Street Vegan Academy class last spring, we discussed how a Vegan can still have heal ..read more

posted June 4, 2024 During the pandemic, I took Yoga Teacher Training, and then Raja Yoga Teacher Training, via Zoom. I’d been doing yoga 52 years by then, but I’d never been in one place long enough to take one of those lengthy trainings. They connected me to the decades I’d spent around ahimsa and meditation, absorbing yoga philosophy and doing my share of downward-facing dogs. The result is, I think, my best book yet, my best writing anyway. The pub date is January 14, 2025, but this next book, Age Like a Yogi: A Heavenly Path to a Dazzling Third Act, is available for pre-order now. Since ..read more

Episode 493, original air date May 30th, 2024. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.   Founder of the Gentle Barn, sanctuaries in California, Missouri, and Tennessee, Ellie Laks shares what she has learned from animals and her new book, Cow Hug Therapy: How Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me About Life, Death, and Everything in Between. Find Ellie at https://gentlebarn.org and on Instagram @thegentlebarn; find the book on Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/cowhugtherapy Connect with Victoria Moran and Main Street Vegan at https ..read more

posted May 28, 2024 Share Tweet Share Farmed animal sanctuaries have emerged as critical havens for animals rescued from the agricultural industry. They provide a safe space for these sentient beings to live out their natural lives and as educational platforms for advocating animal rights and promoting veganism. At the intersection of farmed animal sanctuaries and the vegan movement lies a complex and deeply symbiotic relationship, where the existence and stories of the former fuel the principles and growth of the latter. Luvin Arms Animal Sanctuary exemplifies this dynamic, embodying the i ..read more

posted May 21, 2024 Share Tweet Share Let’s just lay it on the table, shall we? Whatever we in the vegan community think about plant-based meat analogues, animal agriculture is intrinsically destructive: Photo Credit: Freepik It is a major driver of climate change. It relies on a hierarchical mindset that is inherently oppressive and injurious, particularly to females (both human and animal). It is about extracting in the short term at the expense of the survival of not only humans but also the planet and the ecosystem we rely upon. We simply do not have the real estate on the planet req ..read more

posted May 14, 2024 Share Tweet Share Curiosity prevails about Vegans—you’d think our way of eating and lifestyle would be better understood by now. But let’s welcome any questions to get more people to try it. I vote for more vegans who are occasionally lapsed than fewer perfect vegans. Even lapsed, you’ve already made a difference to animals, your health, and Earth’s health. When my daughter recruited me to go vegan 15 years ago, we went full-on, but now I occasionally take a taste something with egg or dairy milk in it, by mistake or sometimes knowingly. And I even have a bite or two of ..read more