Rep. Kucinich, Tsk, Tsk . . . .

I was disappointed to hear a story on the news this morning about Dennis Kucinich (D - OH) filing a lawsuit against the Capitol Hill Cafeteria system for an olive pit that he found in his wrap. Rep. Kucinich, who suffered a broken tooth from the pit back in 2008, is suing for physical damages and also "loss of enjoyment". Really? What kind of lawyer would suggest an elected public official should sue for such a thing? Indeed, what elected public official would agree? Why not let the representatives' special lifetime healthcare benefits take care of paying for the damages, Rep. Kucinich? Yes, I am disappointed in the frivolous litigation, but more than that I am disappointed that Rep. Kucinich is painting vegans in a bad light. Yes, that's right, it is being reported that the reason Kucinich had been eating olive tapenade is that he is vegan! Ugh!

A broken tooth -- of course I wouldn't wish something so uncomfortable on anyone, but I've gotta wonder with how much vigor the representative was chomping his veggie wrap. As vegans, we realize our food is much less processed than most and a little olive pit fragment in my tapenade wouldn't surprise me.

In fact, remember bunco last week with my olive tapenade crostini? Sorry for the repeat photo, but it is the best serendipitous illustration of this Kucinich story I've got. At bunco, while my neighborhood lady friends were enjoying my vegan snacks, my friend Carol pulled a little something from her teeth and held it up, saying, "Oh, got a little extra roughage here," referring to an olive pit fragment.

"Oh, sorry, are you okay? I bought the tapenade at Costco," I said.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine -- I've got that Costco tapenade too, love it! I don't know why anyone would make their own when they could buy such good tapenade so cheaply,"

Then everyone within earshot nodded in agreement and that was the end of the olive pit episode in my basement pub.

Rep. Kucinich, sorry you lost your enjoyment with the little olive pit. With your frivolous lawsuit you are illustrating what many constituents believe about their elected officials, that they are elitist and out of touch. I'm not sure you would fit in at bunco.

Portia de Rossi's Story in "People"

As a vegan, today when I read the article in "People" magazine about Portia de Rossi's health story I was very interested and excited. It's an upsetting story, albeit with a happy ending, but some of the things she said really resonated.

Body image issues in our society are all too prevalent and manifest, at their worst, in destructive behaviors such as eating disorders or self-harming. In Portia's case, who weighed 82 lbs. at one point, extreme calorie restriction, binging and purging were the culprits. The article excerpts Portia's newly published book, Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, where she explains her journey back to health.

"People" goes on to say, "Now a vegan, she eats three meals a day plus snacks ("I don't deny myself anything") and never steps on the scale". Recent photos of Portia show her to be slender but healthy and strong, and most notably, happy and at peace.

But the quote which resonated the most for me was Portia's, "I will never have a relapse because I will never, ever, ever, ever go on a diet. You can print all of those"

I love this because I have also never considered veganism to be a diet, though I know some non-vegans do. From comments about my 15 lb. weight loss over 9 months ("When are you going to stop this diet?") this is clearly the perception of some. But veganism is not a "diet". It is a paradigm shift -- a different way of looking at food and the world. Personally, once non-essential elements of my body were shed, the weight loss slowed and ceased and I am now at what I suppose is my ideal and healthy weight.

I've never been one for moderation or willpower, so I fortunately never fell prey to the issues Portia faced. I have always loved eating a lot of delicious food and I still do. Now, in my forties with a slower metabolism, it is so nice to be able to continue to eat as much as I want, whatever I want, with no ill effect!

Portia's story is a cautionary tale, and I'm so glad the happy ending involves something I know to  be a healthy, common sense choice -- being vegan!