White, Republican, Conservative, Christian, Tulsa…Vegan?

Where do I start?

Probably with the fact that my wife, Aleta, has crippling arthritis and a thyroid condition. She, like many other women, take a daily medication to regulate her hypothyroid condition. If that isn’t enough, she also takes a weekly shot for her crippling arthritis. You’d never know it watching her chase around our 4 and 2 year old rough boys.

As for me (Darren), I was diagnosed with high cholesterol in the 7th grade. Yes, the 7th grade. My cholesterol was 240 and I had not even hit puberty. I remember standing in line for the original Transformers movie (starring Judd Nelson) reading the labels on the wrappers of cookies and candy bars for ingredients like “palm kernel oil” and butter. The other kids simply stuffed their faces.

At the age of 35 and cholesterol hovering between 220 and 320, I have come to the conclusion that I am way too young to take statins and also not really wanting to keel over dead at 42. The interesting part of all of this is that I have been a cross country runner since the seventh grade and have hit the gym an average of 3 times a week for the last 13 years. I carry around 10 lbs of spare energy (mainly in my belly, like most guys). For my wife (who would prefer I did not disclose her age), she simply wants to be able to be a mom for the next 15 years and raise our boys without the stiff wrists and hurting hips. She, like me, is active and goes to the gym. As with her age, I probably shouldn’t disclose her spare energy quantity either. Simply put, we are aware of our health and live a life of moderation.

So what gives with the vegan thing?

One simple reason: health. Aleta has been to multiple arthritis specialists, chiropractic clinics, and physical therapists. She has even explored Eastern doctors who specialize in NAET. So far, the only relief she has ever received has been through acupuncture in which has has a weekly appointment. I will spare the editorial comments about the US health system. Suffice to say that the impression we have been left with is that there is little to no incentive for a doctor to try to cure your disease. The prognosis again and again for Aleta has been “take medication for the inflamation and for pain management”. For me, I simply don’t want to take a regular prescription drug at 35 for the rest of my life. I also don’t want to be one of those people who dies at 40 from heart disease and make my wife the widow of 2 young boys.

Aleta and I were watching TV on one lazy Saturday afternoon. For whatever reason, we were watching that cheesy show “Extra!” which is usually nothing more than gossip and trash about celebrities. On this show, however, they were talking about health and they conducted and interview with T. Colin Campbell, author of “The China Study”. The basic premise of this book is that our American diets consist of excessive amounts of meat proteins. This overage of meat protein in our system actually accelerates diseases like heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. By switching to a plant based diet, a person can put disease into remission and in some cases, cure it. Dr. Campbell’s book is filled with 20+ years of scientific research on diet, nutrition, and metabolism. We were astonished by what we heard and immediately ordered the book.

My own perception of people who were vegan was very stereotypical: skinny, artsy,  hippie, and somewhat militant about animal rights. After all, we are bread and butter conservative churchgoers with two kids and a house in the suburbs of the American Bible belt. This place is the most anti-vegtable town outside of Antartica. Would I have to get horn rimmed glasses,  small T-shirts, go to local coffee shops, and study the works of Kant, Hegle, and Neitschzie? I don’t own any indie label albums anymore (the last was Perl Jam) and don’t have a single thing made of hemp.

In any case, Aleta read through it in a couple days and had a complete personal conviction about trying it. We discussed it, prayed about it, and both decided to take the leap. We’d figure the rest out along the way in terms of where to buy food, how to go out to eat,  what to tell our friends, and deal with the general wierdness our culture has towards veganism. These issues just did not seem to weigh that heavy on us. Aleta was convinced that this is the cure God has for her and an answer to her prayers. We both were at peace about it. So, we decided that we will make the jump tomorrow on July 5th, 2009.

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