Non-animal tested makeup

So I bought new makeup yesterday. I was really conscious that I needed cruelty free products, and I found them! I went to The Body Shop, a company that is very anti-animal testing. So I bought my foundation and mascara there. I was a little apprehensive as to what the quality would be like, having never shopped for cosmetics there. However, I needn't have worried, as, like their other products, their makeup is excellent. It's probably the best makeup I've ever found. I'm naturally very pale, and I have never once found a foundation that matches my skin tone. Until now :)

I'm back

So I was just thinking that I haven't posted anything for a while...

It is a lifestyle, a choice to take action against the suffering caused by humans.

Jenna Marbles

I'm a big Jenna Marbles fan. She's awesome. Anyway, I recently watched her video on her diet and exercise regime. It turns out that 6 days out of 7 she follows a vegan diet! She wants to stretch it out, but occasionally cracks, so gives herself one day a week to let go. But it's pretty cool that she is vegan 6 days a week, and that, as a public figure and popular YouTuber ( plus being super skinny and fit ), she is spreading the word on how great a vegan diet is! 

Tonight's smoothie

Tonight's smoothie is extra yummy. 

1 banana

1 Granny Smith apple 

1 Apricot

A couple of handfuls of spinach

Some red and orange capsicum

Some broccoli

Some freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 teaspoons of linseeds

4 teaspoons of pumpkins seeds

2 teaspoons of sesame seeds

2 teaspoons of slivered almonds

I had to add extra water to enable it to blend because there were so many ingredients. I put about half of it in this glass:

Also, yesterday's smoothie tasted terrible.

Today's smoothie

I haven't tasted today's smoothie yet, because I'm a little afraid of what it will taste like. We didn't have much in the house, so it's a mixture if stuff that I wouldn't usually put together in a smoothie with no fruit to help the flavour.

400ml water

A couple of handfuls of spinach

Some coleslaw

Some red and orange capsicum

4 teaspoons linseeds

2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

3 teaspoons lentils

Hoping it tastes alright :)

Human Arrogance

Humans do have a fantastic amount of arrogance. A certain relative of mine got in a debate over meat consumption etc with me recently, and I pointed out that if humans disappeared, all forms of life would flourish within 50 years. To this she responded "But without humans there would be no purpose." WTF?! That was the most pigheaded thing I've heard in a very long time, and to have it come from someone you're related to is absolutely shocking. I'm glad that I didn't inherit that kind of attitude towards my fellow creatures. 

Humour

Some vegan humour with a serious message :)

Smoothie of dreams

Tonight's smoothie is the stuff of nutritious dreams.

1 banana

1 mandarin

A handful of spinach

3/4 cup raw broccoli

Both red and orange capsicum

Some cucumber

4 teaspoons linseeds

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

3 teaspoons pumpkin seeds

3 teaspoons lentils

2 teaspoons slivered almonds

A teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Blend! I made mine extra thick :) 

Source: http://www.peta.org/issues/wildlife/default2.aspx

Perhaps the greatest challenge that we face in fighting cruelty is changing the way that humans view animals. Each year, millions of animals are killed because they are considered pests. Beavers, bats, geese, deer, pigeons, mice, raccoons, snakes, and squirrels are among those animals who most often suffer horrific deaths because some consider them a nuisance, but the list also includes bears, coyotes, ducks, foxes, mountain lions, prairie dogs, rabbits, and even wolves. Because of rapid urban and rural development and agricultural land use in the U.S., wild animals are forced to live in closer proximity to humans. Although they prefer natural, undisturbed areas, evicted and homeless wild animals have no choice but to seek food and shelter in buildings, parks, and even downtown areas. When they do, homeowners, communities, municipalities, and state agencies often hire nuisance-wildlife control operators (e.g., trappers, exterminators, pest-removal companies) or the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services to use cruel, archaic methods that rely on inhumane tools such as steel-jaw traps and poisons to resolve perceived conflicts with these animals. Ducks and geese are shot, gassed, and even bludgeoned to death with baseball bats. Beavers are caught and drowned in body-gripping traps or are sealed up alive in their own homes. Squirrels, birds, mice, rats, and other small animals are ensnared by sticky traps and suffer when skin, fur, and feathers are ripped from their bodies as they struggle to free themselves from the powerful adhesive. Animals of all kinds are often discarded with the traps and left to die from stress, injuries, self-mutilation, dehydration, or starvation. Not only are these methods cruel, they are also largely ineffective because, without modifying areas to exclude newcomers, more animals simply move in to replace those who were killed, resulting in a perpetual, vicious kill cycle.

Source: http://www.peta.org/issues/Animals-In-Entertainment/default2.aspx

Chimpanzees, bears, tigers, elephants, and other animals aren't actors, spectacles to imprison and gawk at, or circus clowns. Yet thousands of these animals are forced to perform silly, confusing tricks under the threat of physical punishment; are carted around the country in cramped and stuffy boxcars or semi-truck trailers; are kept chained or caged in barren, boring, and filthy enclosures; and are separated from their families and friends—all for the sake of human "entertainment." Many of these animals even pay with their lives. Animals are used extensively in the entertainment industry, including in circuses; zoos and pseudo-sanctuaries; marine parks; the exotic "pet" trade; advertisements, television shows, and movies; cruel "sports" such as bullfighting, rodeo events, and horse racing; and more. Businesses that exploit animals exist to make money, so the animals' needs are usually put last. Bears, elephants, tigers, and other animals used in circuses do not voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads, balance on balls, or jump through rings of fire. To force them to perform these confusing and physically demanding tricks, trainers use bullhooks, whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, and other painful tools of the trade. When they're not performing, elephants are often kept shackled by two legs, and lions, tigers, bears, primates, and other animals are forced to eat, sleep, and relieve themselves in tiny cages. Zoos, which sentence intelligent, social animals to lives in cages for our fleeting distraction and amusement, aren't much better. Extremely bored, depressed, and deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, many animals in zoos literally lose their minds—a condition called "zoochosis." Animals with zoochosis engage in neurotic behaviors such as pacing, spinning, and bobbing their heads. They also mutilate themselves, become overly aggressive, throw feces, and engage in other abnormal behaviors that are not seen in the wild. Animals used in rodeos, horse racing, dog-sled racing, and other cruel "sports" are forced to run for their lives. When they aren't being used in competitions, they are usually kept chained or in cages or stalls. Those who don't "make the cut" are often casually discarded by being sent to slaughter or are destroyed.

Source: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/default2.aspx

Right now, millions of mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are locked inside cold, barren cages in laboratories across the country. They languish in pain, ache with loneliness and long to roam free and use their minds. Instead, all they can do is sit and wait in fear of the next terrifying and painful procedure that will be performed on them. The stress, sterility and boredom causes some animals to develop neurotic behaviors such incessantly spinning in circles, rocking back and forth and even pulling out their own hair and biting their own skin. They shake and cower in fear whenever someone walks past their cages and their blood pressure spikes drastically. After enduring lives of pain, loneliness and terror, almost all of them will be killed. More than 100 million animals every year suffer and die in cruel chemical, drug, food and cosmetic tests, biology lessons, medical training exercises, and curiosity-driven medical experiments. Exact numbers aren't available because mice, rats, birds and cold-blooded animals—who make up more than 95 percent of animals used in experiments—are not covered by even the minimal protections of the Animal Welfare Act and therefore go uncounted. To test cosmetics, household cleaners, and other consumer products, hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded, and killed every year by cruel corporations. Mice and rats are forced to inhale toxic fumes, dogs are force-fed pesticides, and rabbits have corrosive chemicals rubbed onto their skin and eyes. Many of these tests are not even required by law, and they often produce inaccurate or misleading results; even if a product harms animals, it can still be marketed to you. Cruel and deadly toxicity tests are also conducted as part of massive regulatory testing programs that are often funded by U.S. taxpayers' money. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Toxicology Program, and the Department of Agriculture are just a few of the government agencies that subject animals to painful and crude tests. The federal government and many health charities waste precious dollars from taxpayers and generous donors on cruel and misleading animal experiments at universities and private laboratories instead of spending them on promising clinical, in vitro and epidemiological studies that are actually relevant to humans. Millions of animals also suffer and die for classroom biology experiments and dissections, even though modern alternatives have repeatedly been shown to teach students better, save teachers time and save schools money. Each of us can help save animals from suffering and death in experiments by demanding that our alma maters stop experimenting on animals, by buying cruelty-free products, by donating only to charities that don't experiment on animals, by requesting alternatives to animal dissection and by demanding the immediate implementation of humane, effective non-animal tests by government agencies and corporations.

Source: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/default2.aspx

Every year, millions of animals are killed for the clothing industry. Whether they come from Chinese fur farms, Indian slaughterhouses, or the Australian outback, an immeasurable amount of suffering goes into every fur-trimmed jacket, leather belt, and wool sweater. Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages. Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruelest killing methods available, including suffocation, electrocution, gassing, and poisoning. More than half the fur in the U.S. comes from China, where millions of dogs and cats are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and sometimes even skinned alive for their fur. Chinese fur is often deliberately mislabeled, so if you wear any fur, there's no way of knowing whose skin you're in. Most leather comes from developing countries such as India and China, where animals routinely have their throats cut and their skin ripped off while they are still conscious. In India, a PETA investigation found that cows have their tails broken and chili peppers and tobacco rubbed into their eyes so that they will walk after they collapse while traveling long distances to slaughter. Most of the world's wool comes from Australia, where sheep undergo "mulesing," a gruesome mutilation in which large chunks of skin and flesh are cut from lambs' backsides without any painkillers. Each year, millions of sheep discarded by the Australian wool industry are crammed onto export ships to be sent to the Middle East. Sheep who survive the terrifying voyage are often dragged off trucks by their ears and legs, tied up, and beaten and have their throats cut while they are still conscious. The exotic skins trade is just as horrifying. Snakes and lizards are skinned alive because of the belief that live flaying makes leather more supple. Kid goats are boiled alive to make gloves, and the skins of unborn calves and lambs—some purposely aborted, others taken from slaughtered pregnant cows and ewes—are considered especially "luxurious." You can help stop this. Saving animals is as simple as choosing stylish cruelty-free clothing, which is available in every price range and at all kinds of retail outlets, from discount shoe stores to high-end boutiques. With so many fashionable, comfortable options available today, there is no excuse for wearing any animal skins.

Source: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/default2.aspx

From the meat industry's rampant abuse of animals and environmental devastation to the tremendous health benefits of a vegan diet to helping end world hunger and deplorable working conditions in slaughterhouses, there are countless reasons why more and more people are leaving meat off their plates for good and embracing a healthy and humane vegan diet. CRUELTY TO ANIMALS Farmed animals are every bit as intelligent and capable of feeling pain as the dogs and cats we cherish as our companions. They are inquisitive, interesting individuals who value their lives, solve problems, experience fear and pain, and are capable of using tools. Yet the more than 16 billion animals who are killed for food every year in the U.S. have little legal protection from cruelty that would be illegal if it were inflicted on companion dogs or cats. They are neglected, mutilated, genetically manipulated, put on drug regimens that cause chronic pain and crippling, transported through all weather extremes, and killed in gruesome and violent ways. Even so-called "free-range" animals are often mutilated without the benefit of painkillers; kept in filthy, disease-ridden sheds; forced to endure long trips to the slaughterhouse without food or water; and killed in the same ways as animals from factory farms. Going vegan is the best way to stop these atrocities. YOUR HEALTH Giving meat the boot is also the best way to ensure a lifetime of good health. Vegan foods provide us with all the nutrients that we need, minus the saturated fat, cholesterol, and contaminants that are found in meat, eggs, and dairy products. Plant-based diets help protect us from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, strokes, and several types of cancer. Vegans also tend to have stronger immune systems and, on average, live 10 years longer than meat-eaters do. THE ENVIRONMENT Going vegan helps keep the Earth healthy too. America's meat addiction is poisoning and depleting our drinking water, arable land, and clean air. More than half the water used in the U.S. goes to animal agriculture, and since farmed animals produce 130 times more excrement than the human population does, the runoff from their waste greatly pollutes our waterways. WORLD HUNGER Not only does raising animals for food gobble up precious resources and produce tons of waste, it also steals food from hungry people. Raising animals for food is extremely inefficient. For every pound of food that they eat, only a fraction of the calories are returned in the form of edible flesh. If we stopped intensively breeding farmed animals and grew crops to feed humans instead, we could easily feed every human on the planet with healthy and affordable vegetarian foods. WORKER RIGHTS Animals aren't the only ones who are abused by the meat industry. Human Rights Watch has said that slaughterhouse workers have "the most dangerous factory job in America." The industry has refused to do what's necessary to create safe working conditions for its employees, such as slowing down slaughter lines and supplying workers with appropriate safety gear, because these changes could cut into companies' bottom lines. Many workers endure crippling injuries and many have even lost their limbs—or their lives—from working with dangerous meat-processing machines. Refusing to buy or eat meat ensures that you aren't contributing to this exploitative industry. FACTORY FARMS: POISONING COMMUNITIES People who live near factory farms suffer too. Factory farms pollute the air and water for many miles in every direction, often spreading contamination and illness to the people who live and work nearby. Chronic sickness, brain damage, poisoned waterways, elevated cancer rates, and even death plague these communities, while the government does nothing to protect citizens or regulate the industry. It's up to us to help stop these farms from poisoning small-town America by refusing to buy their products. GOVERNMENT NEGLIGENCE Between 2000 and 2005, agribusinesses funneled more than $140 million to politicians, who helped to ensure that laws that might protect consumers, animals, and the environment did not pass. The federal government does little to protect human health, animal welfare, and our environment from the factory-farming industry's negligence and excess, but each of us can make a major difference by going vegan and encouraging our friends and family to do the same.

Source: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming.aspx

On today's factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds and confined to wire cages, gestation crates, barren dirt lots, and other cruel confinement systems. These animals will never raise their families, root around in the soil, build nests, or do anything that is natural and important to them. Most won't even feel the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter. The green pastures and idyllic barnyard scenes of years past are now distant memories. The factory farming industry strives to maximize output while minimizing costs—always at the animals' expense. The giant corporations that run most factory farms have found that they can make more money by cramming animals into tiny spaces, even though many of the animals get sick and some die. The industry journal National Hog Farmer explains, "Crowding pigs pays," and egg-industry expert Bernard Rollins writes that "chickens are cheap; cages are expensive." Cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and other animals live in extremely stressful conditions: Kept in small cages or jam-packed sheds or on filthy feedlots, often with so little space that they can't even turn around or lie down comfortably Deprived of exercise so that all their bodies' energy goes toward producing flesh, eggs, or milk for human consumption Fed drugs to fatten them faster and keep them alive in conditions that could otherwise kill them Genetically altered to grow faster or to produce much more milk or eggs than they naturally would (many animals become crippled under their own weight and die just inches away from water and food) When they have finally grown large enough, animals raised for food are crowded onto trucks and transported over many miles through all weather extremes, typically without food or water, to the slaughterhouse. Those who survive this nightmarish journey will have their throats slit, often while they are still conscious. Many remain conscious when they are plunged into the scalding-hot water of the defeathering or hair-removal tanks or while their bodies are being skinned or hacked apart.

Going Vegan

I don't know if anyone's found this, and I'm sure some of the tips don't exactly apply to every country (mine included), but here's a link: http://features.peta.org/how-to-go-vegan/

Dinner: Soft Tacos

So I was in charge of dinner tonight, and I made soft tacos. I thought I'd share the recipe here :)

 

 

Ingredients:

 

 

Canned lentils (quicker than cooking from scratch)

Canned tomatoes

Capsicum of any colour (I used red and yellow tonight)

Tomatoes (fresh)

Onion (I used red onion tonight)

Spinach

Your choice of spices/taco mix/curry powder etc

Olive oil/macadamia nut oil/avocado oil etc (I used olive oil tonight)

Avocado/guacamole

Tortilla

 

 

Method:

 

 

Get the stove heating and place pan on. Chop up the onion and place in pan with some oil (olive in my case) and start chopping the capsicum. Once this is done, tip into pan. Open can of tomatoes and add to pan, using spatula/spoon etc to break up the soft tomatoes into the sauce. Then cut up the fresh tomato and tip into pan. (All veges should be in little chunks, only a cm or so in each direction). Wash spinach under cold water, then hand tear and place into the pan. Open lentil can and tip into sieve. Wash under a tap to ensure that all traces of the brine is gone, as it tastes funny. Tip into pan and stir. Keep the ingredients moving  and mixed together so that they all absorb each other's flavour. (Add spices etc now if it takes your fancy, as they stay on the outside of all the ingredients, and the taste remains more pronounced).

 

Once it looks like a decent taco filling, take it off the heat, and turn the stove off.

 

Cover a strip down the middle of the tortilla with avocado or guacamole, then add a strip of the taco filling. Roll up the tortilla and eat!

Milk

As if the torture of the dairy industry wasn't enough, milk is also very BAD for you. When we consume animal products, the pH in our blood becomes more acidic, and our bones leak essential minerals and nutrients to bring it back to a more neutral state. As a result, the bones lose calcium. So when you think you're gaining calcium, you're actually losing it. As you think you're strengthening your bones, you're weakening them. 

Today's smoothie

Today's smoothie is extra simple. I made it really thick so that I can eat it with a spoon as though it's healthy ice cream :)

1 banana

1 Granny smith apple

A handful of spinach

4 teaspoons of linseeds

1 teaspoon of sesame seeds

And blend! I used very little water to get its thick consistency.