a:3:{s:7:"widgets";a:3:{i:0;a:6:{s:5:"title";s:41:"How I met Jennifer and her two daughters?";s:4:"text";s:693:"<p>I met Jennifer and her two daughters Morgan and Kristan at <a href="http://pacificgardens.ca/">Pacific Gardens Co-Housing</a>. They became our next-door neighbours. We often get email introduction from Pacific Garden Co-Housing list and I was really curious to meet them, as they seem “off the beaten path”. I have been so impressed by their strong minds and personalities. It’s with great pleasure that I am presenting Jennifer as a guest blogger. One of her daughters Kristan decided to become <a href="https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/why-go-vegan">vegan</a> and her family joined her in this lifestyle. If you want to know more about their journey, keep reading.</p><p> </p>";s:20:"text_selected_editor";s:7:"tinymce";s:5:"autop";b:1;s:12:"_sow_form_id";s:13:"576ef0c4a34a5";s:11:"panels_info";a:5:{s:5:"class";s:31:"SiteOrigin_Widget_Editor_Widget";s:4:"grid";i:0;s:4:"cell";i:0;s:2:"id";i:0;s:5:"style";a:2:{s:27:"background_image_attachment";b:0;s:18:"background_display";s:4:"tile";}}}i:1;a:13:{s:5:"image";i:666;s:14:"image_fallback";s:0:"";s:4:"size";s:6:"medium";s:5:"align";s:7:"default";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:14:"title_position";s:6:"hidden";s:3:"alt";s:0:"";s:3:"url";s:0:"";s:5:"bound";b:1;s:10:"full_width";b:1;s:12:"_sow_form_id";s:13:"576ef1e6d2a5d";s:10:"new_window";b:0;s:11:"panels_info";a:6:{s:5:"class";s:30:"SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget";s:3:"raw";b:0;s:4:"grid";i:0;s:4:"cell";i:1;s:2:"id";i:1;s:5:"style";a:1:{s:18:"background_display";s:4:"tile";}}}i:2;a:6:{s:5:"title";s:63:"Jennifer story how her daughter inspired her to become "vegan".";s:4:"text";s:4261:"<p style="text-align: left;">I am the mother of two teenaged girls who have decided to embrace a plant-based diet, effectively negating everything that I was taught about food choices. I was brought up in a family that had bacon and eggs for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch, and fried chicken for supper. When I moved out, and as a single woman, I dabbled in vegetarianism, embracing a vegetable-rich menu. And then, as a parent, my choices tended more toward a whole food, organic diet, with less meat and more fish. But we weren’t completely vegan.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            My two daughters officially began the transition to a plant-based diet about two years ago, during the summer of 2014. Kristan, the eldest, had started researching about food, and decided that she didn’t want to eat animals or animal products anymore. Morgan, the youngest, soon followed suit. They both became avid gardeners, spending time weeding and harvesting in our huge prairie garden. They surfed the Internet endlessly, searching for vegan recipes.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            I’ve had to come to terms with adopting a new signature dish – roasted vegetables – replacing the full course turkey dinner with homemade cranberry sauce I would make several times a year. Sunday brunch no longer included French toast, as we were now egg-free. Eating in restaurants has become stressful, as we peruse the menu, trying to find something we can eat. Our favourite restaurant has become <a href="http://www.greencuisine.com/">Green Cuisine</a> in downtown Victoria, where you can help yourself to various dishes served up cafeteria-style, and you pay by weight at the cash.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            Am I fully vegan? Not yet. I still take 18 per cent cream in my morning coffee. I crave feta cheese in a Greek salad. I consume Belgian milk chocolate at an alarming rate. Once every three months, I’ll have a boiled egg. But no more butter on toast. We now buy <a href="http://earthbalancenatural.com/">Earth Balance</a>, which is similar to margarine but a whole lot more healthful.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            I have completely lost any craving for meat. I used to love steak sandwiches and barbecued burgers. Not anymore. To think of eating the flesh of innocent animals makes me sick. It’s absurd, really, this dependence our society has on meat.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            Canada’s Food Guide would have us believe that we need all this meat-based protein that we suffer from vitamin deficiencies if we don’t get enough B vitamins, that we will become low in iron. I don’t quite believe it, though, as we are strong, healthy women who rarely get sick.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            I have lived near factory farms, passing them daily as I drove to work, the massive barns filled with sows and their piglets, tens of thousands of chickens, turkeys, cattle in feedlots and on the range, dairy farms. I have heard the anguished cries of the cattle at the Olds Auction Mart, where the confused, terrified animals cluster together in fear, awaiting transport to the slaughterhouse.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            On Highway Two, driving south to Calgary, I would pass truckloads of cattle or pigs or chickens, heading toward the meat processing plants in High River or Brooks. I had to force myself not to look at them, and I would hold my hand up to my face to block my line of sight.</p><p style="text-align: left;">            What would happen if the whole world would go vegan, if we stopped this senseless <a href="http://www.mercyforanimals.org/action-center">slaughter of innocent animals</a>? Or even if people would go meat-free one day a week and gradually increase it to two days?</p><p style="text-align: left;">            I won’t preach to others about our diet. People are free to make their own choices. The choice I have made, at this moment in time, is to become as plant-based as possible. My daughters are convinced that this will be their diet, forever, and I support them on their journey.</p><p>Written by Jennifer Isaac</p>";s:20:"text_selected_editor";s:7:"tinymce";s:5:"autop";b:1;s:12:"_sow_form_id";s:13:"576ef3651ff10";s:11:"panels_info";a:5:{s:5:"class";s:31:"SiteOrigin_Widget_Editor_Widget";s:4:"grid";i:1;s:4:"cell";i:0;s:2:"id";i:2;s:5:"style";a:2:{s:27:"background_image_attachment";b:0;s:18:"background_display";s:4:"tile";}}}}s:5:"grids";a:2:{i:0;a:2:{s:5:"cells";i:2;s:5:"style";a:0:{}}i:1;a:2:{s:5:"cells";i:1;s:5:"style";a:0:{}}}s:10:"grid_cells";a:3:{i:0;a:2:{s:4:"grid";i:0;s:6:"weight";d:0.5;}i:1;a:2:{s:4:"grid";i:0;s:6:"weight";d:0.5;}i:2;a:2:{s:4:"grid";i:1;s:6:"weight";i:1;}}}