Editor’s Note: This week’s post from Naturalpath is an interview with Rory Friedman and Kim Barnouin, the authors of NY Times Best Seller Skinny Bitch and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch: Kick-ass Solutions for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap (And Start Looking Hot!) (scheduled for release December 2007). Barnouin is a former model who holds a Masters of Science degree in Holistic Nutrition. Freedman, a former agent for Ford Models, has studied diet, health, traditional, and holistic nutrition for more than ten years.

1. What do you recommend to people who may not be able to fully commit to veganism, but want to get started?

Some people are totally gung-ho after reading Skinny Bitch and go vegan in one fell swoop. But taking baby steps is totally fine, too. Making gradual changes works well for a lot of people. For example, you can stop eating cows and pigs and start experimenting with soy substitutes. Then after a month, you’ll know you’ve got that change under your belt and you’ll feel ready to stop eating chicken and fish. When you do things gradually, you give your brain and body time to adjust to the changes. It’s amazing how after a few weeks, you don’t even want to eat the same foods you were previously obsessed with.

2. Do you need to be vegetarian first before going vegan?

You can go vegan overnight if you want. Lots of people do. They read about factory farming, see pictures of animals being mistreated and exploited, and learn how bad animal products are for their bodies. They’re totally grossed out and want nothing to do with meat or dairy ever again.
But for some people, it helps to get used to vegetarianism first. Giving up dairy can be really challenging for some people. Especially cheese! Cheese is loaded with casein, a milk protein, which breaks down into opiates in the body. (All mammals’ milk has casein. It’s Mother Nature’s way of ensuring that babies nurse.) So when you say, “I’m so addicted to cheese,” you’re not kidding!

3. What can people expect when adopting a vegan lifestyle?

At the beginning, it can be tough. There’s sort of a learning curve where your taste buds get re-trained and you figure out which new foods you like or dislike. And some people may even experience detox-like symptoms while their bodies clean out all the old, stored junk. But after the transition period, you can expect to feel healthier, happier, lighter, and more energized than you’ve ever felt in your entire life. All the aches, pains, misery, and lethargy will be gone. Really! And you’ll actually crave healthier foods and exercise!
When you eat the same junk day in and day out, it’s hard to see how it makes you feel. But when you give up something for two weeks or so, and then reintroduce it into your diet, it’s alarming how bad it makes you feel. This is especially the case with dairy. See for yourself. Don’t eat any dairy for two weeks and then have some. You’ll be blown away by how lousy you feel.

4. How do vegans get protein?

One of the biggest misconceptions is that vegetarians and vegans have trouble getting adequate protein. And nothing could be further from the truth. If you eat a well-balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes, you’ll get more than enough protein. You don’t need to be neurotic about it all.

5. So many vegans seem to be animal rights activists, is it a moral issue?

There are so many reasons to go vegan. Some people simply don’t have the palette for the flesh of dead animals.
Other people go vegan because of the health benefits: Vegans have reduced risk of high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, asthma, obesity, and multiple cancers.
Still, others choose veganism because they’re true environmentalists: The 400-page report recently published by the United Nations states that animal agriculture is the primary cause of global warming. (Factory farming emissions beat out transportation and industry emissions!) Every year in the United States alone, we raise and kill ten billion animals for food.

As strange as it may sound, the pee, poop, burps, and farts of these animals are contributing to global warming. In addition, the amount of land, water, energy, and fossil fuels required to raise “meat” is exponentially higher than what’s needed to raise crops. It’s been said that if we all went vegan, we could use all our resources to end world hunger.

And finally, many people do choose veganism to spare the lives of animals. My whole life, I called myself an animal lover. But I never thought about farm animals, and how they went from living, feeling beings to “meat.” One day, I got a magazine in the mail that showed pictures of the “how” and described it in detail:
Cows and pigs are kept in pens so small they can’t even turn around. Chickens have their beaks seared off their faces with a hot blade (so they won’t peck each other or workers). Egg-laying hens are packed into cages so tightly they can’t open their wings. Male baby chicks—useless to the egg industry—are thrown (alive) into garbage bags and piled into dumpsters. That, or they’re fed through a grinding machine (alive) and used for feed, fertilizer, or rendering.

Even free-range animals are subject to the most alarming and barbaric acts of cruelty. There are very few laws governing the transport of farm animals, and of the few in existence, almost none are enforced. Animals spend hours overcrowded into trucks without food, water, temperature regulation, or protection from the elements. It’s common for many animals to die before they even reach the slaughterhouse. And if the weather is extreme, it’s even more common. In the cold months, animals will literally freeze to the floor or sides of the truck (alive). Workers will simply rip the animals (alive) off the truck, often leaving behind a limb.
From a health standpoint, there is no reason we need to eat animal products. There are countless atrocities in farming practices. To turn a blind eye to them simply because we like the taste of meat or dairy… Yes, the decision to be a vegan or an omnivore is definitely a moral issue.

6. Why did you go vegan and why is it so important to you?

For us, the greatest joy in life is eating. So when we decided to go vegetarian and eventually vegan, it felt like a sacrifice at first. But every time we felt deprived or frustrated, we’d remember the inherent cruelty involved with eating animal products. While we fully appreciate the incredible health benefits veganism has brought to our lives, living cruelty-free has always been our biggest motivator.
Putting the greater good ahead of our own desires is immeasurably rewarding. It’s shaped who we are today more than anything else. We were both really selfish people for most of our lives. Becoming vegan made us want to be better people—to better the world and be of service to others.