I had recently come to the conclusion that after spending weeks reading and rereading A New Earth and being on line with Eckhart Tolle that bringing a higher level of awareness to my eating was the solution I’d been avoiding…

How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?

So this 21-day cleanse gives me a chance to think about it differently and see what my attachments are to certain kinds of foods—and what I’m willing to do to change.

With a three-week commitment and an outlook like that, I wouldn’t be surprised if Oprah turned this 21-day cleanse into a life change. Once you see how easy and delicious it is to make the change, you have a hard time justifying the torture and slaughter of animals for the sake of your acquired tastes. Congrats, Oprah! We at Deep Roots are definitely with you and applaud your decision to make your body healthier and the world a better place for all living beings.

So why not join Oprah for 21 days of veganism? You can follow along with her on her 21-day Cleanse blog. Here is what she had to say about her first day:

Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. “What’s left?” I thought. Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes.

You can also subscribe to the VegTalk podcast for a special 21-day Oprahcast.

Since we can’t all afford to hire our own vegan chefs, I’ll be sure to provide lots of cooking and baking resources over the next few weeks. Sticking with the idea of the cleanse, I’ll be sure to add gluten-free and sugar-free options. To get you started, check out The Post-Punk Kitchen’s Fesenjun Tofu. The sugar is optional and if you want a natural sweetener that is high in minerals, try Grade B maple syrup.

If you would like to IM me about awesome animal-related news (I read enough depressing stuff each day), then you can do so through AIM (username: veganwonder) or Jabber (username: veganwonder @ gmail.com). You you can become my Twitter buddy (username: echris).

Technorati Tags: Oprah, veganism, 21-day cleanse

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup + 1 t. oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/4 cups oats
• 3 tbsp. water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix oil, sugars, and water.
3. Add banana and vanilla
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; then add to above
5. Stir in oats.
6. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 13 minutes. If you want a slightly hardier cookie, let the dough cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour before baking.

Enjoy!

The Cake
Dry ingredients:
2 cups dry sweetener
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
egg replacer (2 eggs worth, i use cornstarch and water)

Wet ingredients:
1 cup soy/rice/almond/whatev milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla

Last minute ingredient:
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add boiling water to mixed ingredients. Pour mix into a greased 9×13-inch pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

The Icing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup soy margarine
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tbsp soy/rice/almond/whatev milk

Combine all ingredients until smooth. Chill for half an hour and spread on cooled cake.

1. Death is death.
There is a common misconception that the egg industry (small-scale or large) does not partake in killing. This logic makes sense if you look only at the [tag]chickens[/tag] that are currently producing the eggs. But, you must ask yourself, from where do those egg-laying chickens come? After producing fertilized eggs, the chicks are then separated by their sexual organs. Male chicks are either immediately killed, raised as food, or, at best but not likely, raised to fertilize the eggs. It is impossible to predetermine the sex of the chicks, so the death of the males is inevitable.

The killing of the chickens doesn’t end with the males, however. You also have to ask yourself what comes of the hens that are no longer able to lay eggs? Chances are they end up as dinner.

2. Exploitation is exploitation
This is the fundamental difference between [tag]animal rights[/tag] and [tag]animal welfare[/tag], if you ask me. Welfare is working to win improvements in the standards of care and the methods of killing, whereas animal rights argues that animals are not ours to exploit. They have their own basic rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When child labor laws were passed in the U.S., they did not state that children were to be given longer breaks and shorter work weeks, they won the abolition of child labor, arguing that it is unethical to exploit children for their labor. This is the same line of logic that I take when looking at animals. While I’m not going to fight with those winning better welfare standards, you also aren’t going to find me working towards better exploitation practices, but rather the abolition of exploitation.

Do I think eating local eggs from farmers that you know and can talk to is better? Without a doubt. For me, however, better isn’t enough. We can’t just do enough to feel better about ourselves. We have to work to do what is ultimately the right thing. But that is a whole other topic.