By Brenda Sanders, VO Community Engagement Coordinator

A few weekends ago, I ventured out into the 90+ degree weather to attend Artscape—Baltimore, Maryland’s largest free arts festival—to engage with other attendees about the benefits of veganism.

Artscape brings out more that 350,000 people over the course of three days, and I’m pretty sure I talked to at least half of those people. Okay, I didn’t talk to nearly that many people, the unrelenting heat just made it feel like I did.

I actually spoke with a couple hundred people over the course of the day, and with very few exceptions I got extremely positive responses from folks!

I was pleasantly surprised by the interactions I had during the festival. First off, every single person I spoke to had heard of veganism. That was certainly not the case just a few years ago. I can remember a time when I had to give a long introduction about what veganism meant before I could even talk to people about the benefits of the lifestyle.

This time, however, when I asked the question, “Have you ever heard of veganism?” people were genuinely happy to talk about what they thought it was —“That’s the one where you don’t eat anything, right?” For the most part folks were pretty well-informed.

A few people seemed concerned that I was about to take them on a guilt trip, but once they realized I just wanted to discuss how awesome veganism is, they relaxed and enjoyed the conversation.

I was also encouraged to find that about one third of the people I spoke to were already seriously considering going vegan. This is such a huge thing! The fact that I met so many people in one day who had learned enough about veganism to be considering making such an important life change was just amazing.

Even the folks who hadn’t considered going vegan were very open to receiving information about how veganism can benefit their health, the earth, and the animals with which we share the planet.

After only a brief conversation, the majority of the people I talked to expressed a definite interest in learning how they could start making kinder, healthier choices in their everyday lives.

The Compassionate Athlete booklet was a huge hit—shout-out to David Carter, Seba Johnson, and all the other amazing athletes who were featured—and a lot of the people I met expressed a desire to connect with the growing vegan community in Baltimore.

Overall, I would say that, despite the irrationally hot temperatures, my day of outreach at Artscape was a roaring success!

I’m especially thankful to Vegan Outreach for being so supportive of community-based projects that are aimed at engaging people in marginalized communities. Baltimore has a strong base of local groups and activists. If it weren’t for this kind of support from groups like VO, we wouldn’t be able to reach so many people with such vital, life-saving information.

By Melissa Li, MD, VO Board of Directors Vice-Chair

Kathy Freston does it again! Vegan Outreach is thrilled to have received an advance copy of her new book, The Book of Veganish. Freston is the author of numerous books on health and wellness, including most recently Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World. Her latest work, co-authored with Rachel Cohn, is aimed at teens and college students, people who might just be beginning to learn about the vegan lifestyle.

Even though I’m decades beyond my adolescent years, I found this book very enjoyable. Kathy Freston writes in an easygoing, conversational style, and she appropriately cites statistics and data in a way that won’t discourage the casual reader. She provides just enough nutritional facts to persuade readers to abandon a standard American diet in favor of a vegan one, without hitting hard on the studies themselves.

It’s great to have a book that targets a young audience because this is a crucial period of time when young adults are becoming invested in social media and finding the peers with whom they want to associate. They may be learning independence and finding out how animals are raised for consumption and what impact they as individuals have on the environment.

It’s a time when self-esteem is also an issue, and it may be scary to stand alone in pursuing an unconventional lifestyle. In each chapter, Freston includes comments from other young adults from all over: small towns such as Mukilteo, Washington; established vegan-friendly cities such as Portland, Oregon; and venturing beyond the U.S., less-established outposts of veganism such as Scotland.

These young people form the community that can become peers, and they offer suggestions, tips, and stories about their processes of becoming vegan. Freston coins the term “veganish” to emphasize that turning away from animal products is a process, and that it’s all about doing the best one can, without judgment.

The book has a lot of frequently asked questions and great answers to help young adults navigate their way, and also to provide them answers to the questions that will be commonly asked of them. The recipes provided towards the end of the book are easy and delicious, and just right for college students’ tight budgets. Freston also offers helpful suggestions for grocery shopping, veganizing dishes, and meal plans.

Lastly, the book includes interviews with some young people about their diet and activism for animals, and it’s a pleasure to learn about the new generation of animal rights activists. I believe more people, at younger ages, are learning about the way animals are treated on factory farms and want to do something about it.

By Jamila Alfred, VO Maryland/DC Events and Outreach Coordinator

As you might have heard, the Vegan Outreach Super Team attended the 2016 Animal Rights National Conference in Los Angeles the second weekend of July, and what a culinary adventure that was!

We indulged in delicious vegan fare from a number of wonderful restaurants—mostly from ethnic restaurants with unique dishes and colorful atmospheres.

After our cozy flights and road trips from all parts of the world, we congregated at the sassy Equelecuá Cuban Cafe where we enjoyed vegan wings, garlic “shrimp,” and tasty Cuban sandwiches that are a rarity to find in vegan form. Then a few of us ended the night with cupcakes and rice pudding!

For our productive team meeting the next morning, we were treated with donuts for breakfast and pizza for lunch. Needless to say, we were very pleased!

We then went to Rahel Ethiopian Vegan Cuisine after a lengthy day of becoming acquainted with each other and discussing the future of the organization. The scenery was magical and so was the food. The servers recommended that we order trays of food meant for big groups to share. No surprise, we were met with a smorgasbord of yummy veggie stews on one giant plate with injera bread on the side! We shared as much as we could.

There were a couple of days the VO crew couldn’t resist ducking out of the conference for an hour or two to enjoy the many options of Veggie Grill, a West Coast-based vegan fast food restaurant. This place had everything from grilled chickin’ and crab cake sandwiches to buffalo wing and banh mi salads.

The restaurant’s laid-back, comfortable feel made it a great place for light-hearted conversation and for talking business. If it weren’t for the sake of exploring other vegan restaurants, I’m sure we would eat here every day!

Last, but certainly not least, was our lovely experience at LA Vegan—an Asian fusion restaurant we chose for our final meeting and dining place. We filled up the whole restaurant—literally—excited to try their diverse menu made up of pancake platters, burritos, curry and noodle dishes, and vegetable soups. They were as delicious as expected!

It was an intimate place perfect for wrapping up a wonderful weekend with awesome people.

We will miss you Los Angeles—not only for your palm trees and beautiful weather—but also for your incredibly fantastic vegan eats scene!

Do you know a vegan activist who puts in hours of work to help raise awareness about animal cruelty, but doesn’t receive a great deal of recognition for their tireless efforts?

The Pollination Project’s Lisa Shapiro Awards for Unsung Vegan Heroes is your chance to bring that activist to the forefront.

For all of the details about this award—including nomination and prize information—check out this page.

Act quickly! Nominations are open through Friday, August 12, 2016. Our Hen House will announce the winners publicly on Saturday, October 1, 2016.

Are you interested in taking part in a health survey about hormones, sex, and aging?

When the drug sildenafil citrate (trade name Viagra®) was introduced in 1998, it was an immediate huge seller, underscoring how prevalent and important erectile dysfunction (ED) had become. Although Viagra and other similarly acting medications remain widely prescribed, there are side effects and the potential for adverse interactions with other medications. Consequently, some men may not be able to take these medications while others may prefer not to or may be unable to afford them. For these individuals, effective lifestyle modifications would be an attractive option for addressing ED.

As men age, changes occur that affect both circulation and testosterone levels, which, in turn, affect male sexual functioning. Atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaques in blood vessels, which can impede circulation throughout the body, is the most common cause of erectile dysfunction. Diet and lifestyle factors are undoubtedly linked to circulation, which may explain why some men can maintain healthy sexual functioning well into old age. At the same time, testosterone is known to decrease with age, such that on average the mean levels in men over 60 are on the low end of normal. Just as they affect the circulatory system, diet, lifestyle factors, and overall health have been correlated with testosterone levels and sexual functioning. For example, obesity is linked to low testosterone.

Similarly, many women report symptoms of menopause that are highly problematic, such as hot flashes, decreased sex drive, vaginal dryness, and weight gain. In these cases, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is considered the treatment of choice; however, a large number of women forego this option as taking these medications puts them at increased risk for breast cancer, blood clots, heart disease, and stroke, as well as side effects such as headaches, bloating, nausea, vaginal bleeding, and mood changes. Both diet and lifestyle factors may affect how women experience menopausal symptoms. For example, sources of phytoestrogens (e.g., soy), which are thought to substitute for declining estrogen levels, have been investigated as a dietary intervention for menopause with mixed results.

Although there is evidence that diet and lifestyle factors are associated with hormonal and sexual health as people age, there are still many open questions, especially regarding how people following diverse diets age, and how lifestyle factors and overall health interact with diet.

We are currently recruiting a diverse sample of participants, representing a variety of lifestyle and diet choices, for two survey studies, which we hope will be the largest to date investigating these questions. If you would like to be a part of these studies and are between the ages of 45 and 80, please enter one of the following links:

For women: surveymonkey.com/r/healthywoman2

For men: surveymonkey.com/r/Healthyman2

Cynthia Radnitz, Ph.D.
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Teaneck, NJ

Bonnie Beezhold, Ph.D.
Benedictine University
Lisle, Illinois

By Victor Sjodin, Director of Outreach

On January 14, I set out on a journey to India, where I’ll be touring for the next ten weeks. I’ll be leafleting all over the country, training local activists, and speaking to groups about effective animal activism.

The first two-and-a-half days were rough. I was violently ill on the plane with some sort of acute food poisoning that struck me about four hours into my 19.5-hours of flying. I considered going to the hospital in Istanbul during my layover, but I forced myself onto the connecting flight. I was about as sick as I have ever been. I decommissioned an area on the first flight, and on the second flight the attendants spoke to the pilot and wanted to call to see if a doctor was on board! I feared the possibility of being quarantined upon arrival, so I asked them not to do that.

When Kimberly Moffatt (who is traveling with me to help with outreach) and I made it to Delhi, we breezed through customs. Shweta from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO) and her colleague Prashant met us at the airport at 5:00 am. They insisted on meeting us that early, and we were so glad they came. They whisked us off to a hotel, where we immediately fell asleep. I was now running a fever and still feeling bad, but thankfully I slept it off in a 19-hour slumber.

At 8:30 am we were picked up by FIAPO’s stellar volunteer Verhaen. I participated in a meet-and-greet event and then gave a talk to about 20 activists and a few more curious newbies. Although I wasn’t in peak form, the talk went well. During my talk, the excitement for starting more leafleting in India was palpable. I was profoundly inspired by the activists we met and rode their enthusiasm through the day. One listener, Amit, made the highlight of my trip so far by telling me, “You’ve got your first convert in India.” After the talk he decided to go vegan, and he also leafleted with us that day.

We leafleted for an hour and change at a nearby upscale shopping area and park. It went really well. We reached mostly affluent youth, an ideal demographic. There were tons of readers, and we saw discussions started, people engrossed in learning, and two people stopped in their tracks to read the booklets from cover to cover. We did see some people discard the booklets, but we retrieved and re-used most of them. Although still physically weak, I felt a surge of inner happiness to see an idea come to fruition, as I have wanted to bring Vegan Outreach to India for a long time.

Culturally the things that hit me in India so far are the incessant symphony of honking horns of the street traffic, the passion of the incipient AR activist community here, and the fact that, except for the cab driver, everyone we have met seems to speak perfect English which makes for easy communication with new friends and the public.

We were also greatly impressed by FIAPO’s professional and warm staff and MFA’s Communications Consultant, Subru, who lives in India and flew up to join us for the week. Subru also delighted Kim when I asked him if there was an ethical way to interact with elephants (he is also a health inspector of elephants), and he offered to take us to see his 46-year-old rescued elephant when in Bangalore.

Our trip so far has been off to a great start! I’m beyond thankful to be on the mend so fast, and I’m overpowered by the kindness of the local activists. I hope to write more about our work soon. View more pics on Facebook here.

Namaste.

By Katia Rodríguez, VO Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

Last month, Emmanuel Márquez, Vegan Outreach’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator, and I were invited to the Gira Expo Conciencia Animal (GECA), a tour of events that promotes respect for animals, namely dogs and cats. GECA travels to various areas throughout our Mexican state, Nuevo Léon, and includes conferences, adoption opportunities, and spaying and neutering services.

It was a great occasion to do outreach because the people attending the event were already interested in helping animals. We felt that these individuals would be open to expanding their circle of compassion to farmed animals, but that they needed to be informed about the abuses that take place on factory farms.

Emmanuel and I, along with Vegan Outreach volunteers Constanza Zuñiga, Luis Zepeda, Carlos Contreras, and Ángel Ramírez set up a table at the GECA event in Monterrey, Nuevo Léon with information and tablets for Pay Per View (PPV).

For those of you unfamiliar with PPV, it’s an effective form of outreach where people are typically paid a few dollars to view a short video that briefly describes the inhumane treatment of animals in the meat and dairy industries. Immediately following the video, viewers are prompted with a survey asking how likely they are to make changes to their diet.

Instead of paying people money at this event, we decided to give them a pack of vegan chocolate cookies instead. We wanted to debunk the myth that vegan food has no taste or is not good. Everybody loved them!

More than 150 people saw the video and over 300 received a leaflet. Most people who stopped to watch the video expressed interest in making changes to their eating habits! We engaged in some good conversations and invited everyone to visit the Spanish section of the Vegan Outreach website. We also told them about the Spanish Vegan Mentor Program, Programa Mentor Vegano.

Overall, this was a great and effective outreach event!