Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 127

kind cures: aby tells her parents shes a vegan

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Kind Lifer Aby recently shared how she told her family about her decision to go veg. Check it out:

“Five months ago I decided to eliminate red meat from my diet as a way to improve my digestion. A member of The Kind Life for about two years it took me a while to actually order your book so when I finally got it and started to read it I told myself ‘I can't read a book to become a vegan while I still eat fish and chicken!’

The very next day I woke up and told my parents about my new decision. I had a special talk with my dad who had already tried to convince me to go back to red meat. He didn't say a word for about five minutes and then said something like ‘You're an adult and you know what you're doing.’

I went to my room and 10 minutes later he knocked at my door and asked me to write a list of the things I can eat so he could add them to the grocery list. I literally wanted to cry! I was so touched!

It took my mom a little bit more time to process the info but now she supports me. We just came back from a weekend in San Antonio and while visiting a book store my mom was very excited to choose a book with vegan recipes with me!

kind cure: carol heals her baby's eczema

I've been a yo-yo dieter my entire life and I'm only 26! Diagnosed with glucose intolerance five years ago I've always suffered from being overweight. Tired of struggling with my weight and losing money with so-called doctors and diets that do not work at all I felt so connected with you while reading about your battle against weight as well! So here I am and I've decided to go vegan for the rest of my life.

It's been two weeks so far and I have to say I feel great! I've lost six pounds and I love the way my body is starting to look and how my clothes fit! I still have a lot of weight to lose but I have faith not only in The Kind Diet but also inmyself. I have my parents' and friends' support so I guess that's all it takes.

I would also like to share that I've felt calmer and more peaceful about being able to improve my relationship with my dad an issue that I had already tried to fix with therapy. It’s getting better by just going vegan!

Thank you so much Alicia this is certainly the best way to feel great lose weight and save the planet!"

Your story makes me sooo happy Aby!! As I was reading this I was so moved. I’m just so proud of how you handled this. How amazing that your mom and dad came around! It sounds like you’re not preaching to them at all just telling them what you need. With all the success you’ve had maybe they’ll get on board too. I’m so happy and I think your picture is adorable. You’re so cute! I want to give you a big hug and a kiss!

If any of you kind lifers have a success story to share private message me or upload your story to your profile and “like” it. I may feature you on the homepage of  The Kind Life!

Related Posts:
kind cure: kathy finds what's missing in her life
kind quickies: 10 tips for curing a cold
vegan bodybuilders in the ny times!

the third annual hemp history week

Hemp products generate over 419 million in sales each year yet we’re not allowed to grow it in the United States. It’s so flat out stupid that every other country grows it but we don’t! American farmers are missing out on that revenue and importing hemp is prohibitively expensivemeaning consumers have to pay more for this healthy sustainable material. It’s the most unpatriotic policy you can imagine right? Ridiculous on an economic environmental and health level!



Why I Love Hemp

I have been a fan of hemp products for years. I have bought hemp clothes and napkins for the house and couches made with hemp...and on a regular basis I buy hemp milk and protein powder for the hubby. At one point my husband also had a great hemp wallet! I had a hemp backpack that lasted me twelve years and traveled the world with me. Enough friends told me ‘you are ridiculous wearing a backpack.’ I didn’t listen to them for 12 years but now I seem to carry a purse and bags like a grown up most of the time. And of course my EcoTools bags are made with hemp! Anywho hemp is my friend and it would be way more eco to be growing it here in the U.S.

Hemp is not just used to make clothes; it’s also a great source of complete protein with ten amino acids omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids Vitamin E and iron. Hemp can also be used to make cosmetics building materials and auto parts for real! The downside is that right now it’s illegal to grow hemp in the U.S. so hemp product manufacturers have to import their raw materials and farmers in the U.S. are missing out on an entire industry!   

Get Involved

During Hemp History Week there will be events happening all over the country! Let’s help farmers and ourselves by renewing support for hemp farming in the U.S. and educate our elected officials about the economic benefits of growing non-drug industrial hemp on American soil. 

Visit HempHistoryWeek.com to find out what events are happening near you.

What is your favorite hemp product? Is anyone working on this issue? What else can we do to make hemp legal in the US? Let’s fix this problem!!

More about hemp...
Great Hemp Protein
Hemp History Week 2011

kind eats: my husband's "dirt dog"

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If you live in LA you know about the hotdog stands that pop up on street corners at night around the time shows end and bars close. They smell gross to me and by the way I've heard they smell way better than they taste. Haha anyway my husband recently came up with a veg take on LA's ubiquitous street dog. Enjoy the dirt dog!

The Dirt Dog
By Christopher Jarecki

Before I met Alicia I was not the best eater. In my late teens and early 20s I lived off top ramen frozen burritos and whatever my stoney roommates and I could mix together to taste good. Maybe that's what inspired this…

The other night we were in a pickle with no food made and no groceries so I rummaged through the fridge and came up with THE DIRT DOG. It's a bunch of seitan pan-fried with some hickory smoked flavor juice that's probably been in our fridge for a couple years I think Alicia had a bloody mary party once and it was left over from that. Here's how you make it:

The Dirt Dog

Ingredients

1 onion
Seitan
Liquid smoke if you don’t have liquid smoke there’s no need to go out and buy it…you could probably use any BBQ sauce you have around…any sauce intended for meat-like things will do!
Sourdough bread
Pickles
Vegenaise
Mustard

Instructions

Slice up a whole onion and fry it with the seitan 
Lightly toast some sourdough bread
Put the bread in your hand and curl it like a hotdog bun
Pile the seitan mixture on the bread and top with a pickle some vegenaise and mustard

The final product is somewhere between a bratwurst sandwich and a Philly cheesesteak. THE DIRT DOG…maybe I will get a cart and make them outside of concerts…man that would be cool.

Check out this yum potato salad recipe!

I love the name! Have any of you kind lifers come up with a crazy-good concoction lately?

More Kind Eats:
kind holidays: nine kinder sodas for memorial day weekend
kind eats: thrive direct foods by brendan brazier
kind quickies: the true cost of a leak
kind eats: BBQ tempeh sandwiches topped with multicolor slaw

link love: mad cow crushed bugs and vegan avengers

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It’s time to recap the month in kind! Here are the stories that caught my attention in May:

Mad Cow Disease Found in US – yet another reason to embrace a kind diet!

Starbucks Stops Using Crushed Bugs – who knew this was even a thing? Probably better to avoid Starbucks altogether.

Calf Escapes Slaughter – Hooray! And thanks to Farm Sanctuary for taking in this brave little guy. He is soooo cute! Look at the pictures on Farm Sanctuary's site. 

Scarlett Johansson's Raw Vegan diet – the Avengers star went veg to get into shape for her role as Black Widow in this summer blockbuster. 

NFL player goes vegan –Seattle Seahawks guard Deuce Lutui is setting an example for football players and fans…listen up dudes! 

Massachusetts to ban food waste – what a great idea – this should be enacted everywhere! This makes me soooo happy. I'm so disturbed by our trash system. This is brilliant! What can we do to make this happen everywhere? 

What news stories caught your eye this month? 

More kind links:
Action Alert: Help Stop the Drugging of Racehorses at the Triple Crown
Kind Eats: Thrive Direct Foods by Brendan Brazier
Kind Quickies: The True Cost of a Leak
Kind Q&A: Changing How Kids Eat at School… One Meal at a Time

Photo credit: Organic Authority Ecorazzi Woodstock Sanctuary 

dog love: chinese dogs rescued from becoming dinner meat

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I recently came across an amazing story from China about a stand-off between a driver delivering a shipment of 500 dogs to be sold as meat to restaurants and 300 animal rights protesters who found out about the shipment of dogs for meat and decided to do something about it. 

Police were called but the truck driver wasn’t breaking any laws so what ensued was a 15 hour stand off at a toll booth ending in the animal activists purchasing the dogs for 18000 from the driver about 36 a dog.

The dogs were sent to recover at 20 animal hospitals and at an animal rescue compound. To read more about this issue check out my blog about the dog meat festival that was canceled in Eastern China last year. 

Do you think that the attitude in Eastern China of seeing dogs as meat is changing?

More kind animals... 
Have You Seen the Year of the Dog?
Watch This: Chimpanzee with Jane Goodall
My Thoughts On Fur
Action Alert: Help Put Captive Chimps on the Endangered Species List 

kind holidays: nine kinder sodas for memorial day weekend

If you’re attending or hosting a Memorial Day BBQ this weekend you’re likely going to have guests who want soda. I’m not a soda drinker myself but it’s good to have a go to list of naturally sweetened vegan alternatives in situations where soda is called for. Here are a few brands to try:

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Organic

R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence – organic and sweetened with fruit juice
Santa Cruz Organic Sparkling Beverages – organic sweetened with evaporated cane juice watch out for the sugar!
Steaz -  organic fair trade and sweetened with evaporated cane juice…sugar alert!

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Natural but not organic

Fizzy Lizzy – sweetened with fruit juice
Solixir – sweetened with fruit juice
Zevia – sweetened with stevia 
Izze Sparkling Juice – sweetened with fruit juice. This is my favorite especially the apple and clementine flavors. Yum!

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These three have sugar so beware:

Whole Earth – sweetened with agave
Maine Root – sweetened with evaporated cane juice
Oogave – sweetened with agave

What beverages will you be drinking this weekend?

More kind foods: 
Kind Eats: BBQ Season is Almost Here!
Garden Gourmet: My Edible Garden
Party in My Pantry
The Best Veggie Burger in LA 

Photo Credit: scojuice.com rwknudsenfamily.com steaz.com solixir.com fizzylizzy.com oogave.com wholeearthfoods.com maineroot.com zevia.com izze.com

chimp love: rescued lab chimps freed for the first time

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The United States is one of only two countries that still performs experiments on chimpanzees. Save The Chimps is working to stop that. They recently stepped in to save a few of these amazing animals who were being used at The Coulston Foundation’s research facility in New Mexico.

Watch this beautiful video of the chimps’ route to freedom.


Take the time to get involved; here’s how you can help the campaign for chimps’ rights.

What animal rights issue is on your mind most right now?

Related Stories:
Watch This: Chimpanzee with Jane Goodall
Chimps Are People Too
Help Chimps
Help Captive Chimps

Photo Credit: ecorazzi.com

kind eats: thrive direct foods by brendan brazier

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If you’re looking for help in the kitchen Thrive Foods Direct could be a good option. I recently tried this home delivery service created by Brendan Brazier and it’s pretty darn good!

Brendan is a professional triathlete and he knows his stuff when it comes to health food. Thrive Foods Direct  meals can be delivered fresh to any home office or hotel in the country.

My favorites were the lettuce cup romine salad and the  fried rice and veggie meal. Though it’s definitely not superhero the granola was delicious. Granola isn't a breakfast to me its' candy.  I couldn’t stop eating it! Overall the service is more for flirts and vegans but it would work for superheroes occasionally.

If you're looking to lose weight or gain weight and be an athlete like him you can tell Brendan your nutritional goals and he can build meals based on that. Of course it's always great to try to make as many superhero dishes as possible since cooking your own meals uses less packaging and is better for your health but Thrive Foods Direct is a good option for easy veg meals!

PS – special treat for kind lifers…if you want to try Thrive Foods Direct visit the website and enter the promo code BBI to receive 20 off of your order. 

What's your favorite delivery service for food?

More kind eats:
Kind Eats: BBQ Season is Almost Here!
Garden Gourmet: My Edible Garden
Party in My Pantry
The Best Veggie Burger in LA

Photo: ThriveDirectFoods

kind quickies: the true cost of a leak

You know that leaking faucet shower or running toilet that’s been bugging you? It’s doing more than making noise here’s the real cost.

Fix that drip!

What are some ways that we can all conserve water?

Related Stories:

Lil Kind Life: 10 Ways to Help Your Kids Go Green
Kind Classics: Easy Ways to Conserve Water
Kind Classics: Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
Kind Classics: Electronic Waste Recycling

Photo Credit: Pinterest

kind eats: BBQ tempeh sandwiches topped with multicolor slaw

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I got this BBQ sandwich recipe from PETA and though I haven't tried it yet it looks and sounds like a great BBQ dish for summer. 

Servings: 6

Ingredients

BBQ Tempeh:

1 lb. tempeh
1/2 cups of soy sauce
1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar
1/2 cups of maple syrup
1/2 cups of olive oil
2 tsp. chipotle powder
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. sweet paprika
1 tsp. cumin
6 kaiser rolls sliced in half

Multicolor Slaw:

1 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cups shredded red cabbage
1/4 cups finely diced onions
2 tbsp. vegan mayonnaise try Vegenaise
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. celery saltsea salt and pepper to taste

Steps

Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Cut the tempeh in half lengthwise then cut the 2 slabs in half widthwise as if you were slicing a roll creating 4 squares that are nearly identical in size. Next cut the tempeh into smaller strips about 1 by 3 inches. Arrange in a single layer in a 2- to 3-inch-deep baking dish and set aside.
Whisk together all the remaining ingredients. Pour over the tempeh coating evenly. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
In a medium-size bowl combine the cabbage onions vegan mayonnaise and vinegar. Mix until well combined. Add the celery salt salt and pepper. Keep in mind that the tempeh will be both spicy and slightly salty! Cover and store in the fridge until ready to assemble the sandwiches.
Lightly toast the rolls. Pile as much of the tempeh as you'd like onto one half of each roll. Top with some of the slaw add the other half of the roll and enjoy.

What's your favorite summer sandwich? 

Photo Credit: JustVeggingOut

More kind recipes... 
Moroccan Couscous with Saffron
Kind Chocolate Cake
My Warm Spicy Wine
Artichokes with Roast Capsicum and Sun-Dried Sauce