Me as a vegan?

I have decided to go vegan. For 21 days. Yes, not vegetarian, the whole hog (pun intended). I have decided to completely swing my normal eating habits on their head and cleanse the system. Why? Because I am tired of being tired, tired of being sick, tired of feeling like I am out of sync with my body. Is veganism the answer? I really don’t know, but I believe if I strip everything back and eat as natural as I can I will be able to see more clearly where my problems lie. I am a firm believer in we are what we eat, so I believe going back to the raw basics of fruit and vegetables will aid in finding balance and wellness in my diet.

So why vegan? Well, I eat hardly any meat as it is so vegetarianism wouldn’t be too hard and I know dairy is my killer – I FUCKING LOVE EGGS – I have been known to have a hardboiled egg in my hand bag for a snack. But to be frank, diary makes me feel like shit. Doctors tell me I am “lactose intolerant” – to that I say GIVE ME ICE CREAM! It’s a drug, one big juicy, creamy drug. But when you think about it, how disgusting* are we to eat another milk produced by a completely different species? We are the only known living beings to do this by choice, not by situation or lack of available resources but because hell we want to milk the shit out of cows!

The purpose of milk – from any animal – is to essentially fatten up a baby. However, eventually animals are weaned off it once they are strong enough to eat solids....except humans. Many scream “CALCIUM” but all animals once weaned off milk get their calcium from plants – yet we humans have become too lazy to eat some spinach, instead we gorge on chocolate milk. [On a side note, if you do rely on milk as your main source of calcium you must be eating enough magnesium otherwise your body cannot absorb the calcium in milk.] You’re body naturally absorbs calcium from plants with more ease than dairy and the World Health Organisation actually recommends reducing animal proteins and increasing fruits and veggies to promote healthy bones.

On a humanitarian note –milking cows just don’t live a very happy life. I like to think they chill

on the land and someone with a little wooden stool and a straw hat comes and fills up a bucket and goes on their merry way. NU-AHHH. Due to selective breeding and genetic manipulation,

cows in Australia produce 35 – 50 litres of milk per day, ten times more than what they would naturally produce for their young. So what is the point? All this milk puts strain on the animal causing painful stretching of udders, tearing of ligaments, infections etc. Which means some GROSS results in our milk – think blood, mucus and bacteria which isn’t all washed out when pasteurised. In Victoria there is NO limit on the amount of pus or “Somantic Cell Count” that appears in pasteurised milk. ICKY ICKY POO!

In Australia, a diary cow is impregnated to produce at least one calf a year to ensure they keep producing milk. These calves are taken away from their mother within 12-24 hours. Imagine the stress mother and calf must be in? In nature a calf suckles from its mom for up to a year! So what does this scene look like? A mother screaming for its offspring and separated calf frightened and in complete shock. Then – mum is schlep off to milking to keep pumping out those dollars. And the calf? Three quarters of a million unwanted diary calves’ are sent to slaughter so you can eat veal – they are generally five to six days old. A FIVE DAY OLD BABY IS SENT TO SLAUGHTER! The Australian industry additionally approved withholding food from five day old calves for up to 30 hours before slaughter. Calves usually eat five times a day. Yep – this is what our country deems as humane.

So it is pretty obvio I LOVE MY ANIMALS. Can I be hypocritical – yes, especially if you challenge me when I’m eating my McDonalds cheeseburger. But the whole point is to be AWARE of WHERE your food comes from. This is why I have decreased my meat intake and in learning more about the dairy industry, why I want to decrease my demand on this animal by-product. I want to walk the walk more. I want to feel that sense of wholeness. I want to connect with my food and not absentmindedly scoff down my chicken breast in front of ‘Two and a Half Men.’ I know people will for some reason get offended at this vegan pledge, the same way many challenge you when you let on you believe in Jesus – people have a need to deduce ones beliefs maybe because they realise they have none?

So time to jump into the deep end tomorrow. Hopefully at the end of this I will have more energy, clearer skin, s-shaped poos and in the name of vanity, a few less kilo’s.

*I am not an angry cow with sore tits....or paid by cows to protest

Got any vegan recipe ideas? Please share!

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High Brow

Everyone has one. That thing they notice almost instantly on a person’s face. For some it’s hair or lack there-of, others its the eyes but for me, you had me at “eye-brows.” Yes my beauty OBSESSION is eyebrows. Those incredible slug line hair that drape curiously above your peepers. They do it for me.

Being blessed (this word has changed from cursed in my later years) with thick, black eyebrows I have been able to hone my talent on this completely necessary yet practically useless strips of hair. Eyes may be the window to your soul but a window is not a window without a frame and the eyebrows are the all important frame.

While i go BANANAS for eyebrows so many girls do not and it gives me eyebrow grief. A girl can be transformed with a good shape and shadow of the brow. Don’t believe me? Check out these babes who all have a dirty little secret – they all once had ICKY ICKY poo thin, unshaped eyebrows.

Example A: Jennifer Hawkins

Before she was crowned Miss Myer and ohh Miss Universe she was just another GC Miss Indy contestant who was channeling Pamela Anderson in the brows department. Now she exudes high glamour with her perfectly shaped and shaded brows (tip: JH does not have naturally thick brows she thickens them with shadow, you can should do this now!)

Example B: Lauren Conrad

From the beach to the hills was all it took for LC to realise she look HORRIFIC with those brows and made them red carpet ready.

Example C: Megan Fox

Mega babe was once mega travesty with her too thin brows that removed her sex-pot status with each tweeze.

HOW CAN I LOOK AHH-MAZING YOU SAY!?

Be realistic about your brow shape. While you may lust after Brooke Shields circa Blue Lagoon that style may be aiming a little too high. Look at celebrities with similar eyebrows to you and check them out. Also while the yummy bushy look is very much in decide whether it will work for you. A groomed brow suits all but a fashion forward bush on the brow does not. You must have an extremely beautiful face to do so – hence why it is generally reserved for models. But props for trying! I suggest looking for inspiration from my brow-babe Camille Belle.

The easiest way to find your brow shape is to grab a pen, while I did a tutorial on my own face I decided Angelina Jolie is better eye candy for us all.

Step 1: Line pen up along the side of your nose, this will show you where your brows START.

Step 2: Holding pen still at the corner of your nose tilt on an angle until it crosses your iris (looking forward) this is the HIGHEST point of the brow

Step three: Tilt pen even further from the corner of your nose until it reaches the end of your eye, this is where your brow ENDS

NOW when you know the rules you can break them. For a dramatic look extending the brow line even further is EPIC GLAM and was used by dames such as Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pay attention to your brows - they will make your face SOOOO MUCH BETTER! The moment you do you will wonder how you went all those years not looking your best! Shaping your brow will make you look younger, more rested and HOTTER. It's the affordable face lift and the accessible make over.

Shape, shadow and love your brows today.

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IT'S...

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As you sleep he suffers

You urge your body to move but you are bound. You strain to break free but you are contained. You scream for help but you are ignored. You watch your friends murder and all you can do is wait. You shake with fear as the brutal end nears closer for you. You shake and you wait..you wait for the blade to take the pain away but it doesn't. You wait and you lie waiting to be set free. But it doesn't come.

The live export of Australian beef cattle is the dirty little secret of the Australian industry and who is to blame. LiveCorp. Meat & Livestock Australia. The Federal Government.

Australian beef - live cows - that are exported to Indonesia are destined for a horrifying exit to life. Over 6.5 million Australia cows have been shipped to Indonesia for brutal torture for the stake of a $300 million a year industry.

The Australian tax payer is helping fund this brutal industry. Are you ok with that? Can you live knowing that part of your money is going into the funding of a gruesome, slow death for our prized animals?

While many of us look to place the blame on these countries that commit the act - Indonesia slaughterhouses are trained by the Australian industry and use Australian equipment. We did this. All of it. We might not take the blade to the neck but we steal their final horrific breathe.

Lyn White from Animals Australia conducted an investigation into the live export to Indonesia, witnessing kills and the sinking ship of Australia's humanity.

"It slid off the concrete slab onto the ground, got onto its knees, regained its feet with its throat gaping and blood pouring from its throat. And then it ended up charging towards me with its throat cut. It was just appalling."

Animals are in such distress they purposely bash there heads against the ground in an attempt to knock themselves out...to escape the immense pain and fear.

"I remember at the time so clearly saying each time oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. These animals were just about knocking themselves out. And to think that we had designed, that Australian industry had designed that. It couldn't have placed the animals at greater risk," said White.

Blunt knives are used to kill the animal - a death that should take just one cut takes on average 10 to 33 cuts. Many cows are still conscience while their head hangs on by flicks of flesh.

Animals are not just killed, they are beaten, tortured, placed under immense stress and disgusting conditions.

"I remember thinking so clearly at the time that this animal just didn't understand why he was being beaten, and it was almost like he was calling out why? And there were no answers to that question."

Below is a transcript extract from Four Corners describing a condition for one Australian cow, one that will sadden you and make your heart howl, but this is not a one off story.

"SARAH FERGUSON: This white steer has been roped. He slips on the wet faeces-covered floor and breaks his leg. He slumps over a stone pylon.

Over 25 minutes the handler goads him to move despite the broken leg.

LYN WHITE: At that point he was in a state of collapse and he should've been slaughtered on the spot. Instead, the worker decided that he would do everything to try and get him to his feet, to drag him in for slaughter.

SARAH FERGUSON: He breaks his tail, gouges deep into his nose and eye socket.

LYN WHITE: He would try and get his head away when his eyes were being gouged. He just couldn't get to his feet because his leg was broken.

SARAH FERGUSON: The stricken animal is kicked - altogether nine times.

LYN WHITE: When all else failed they tried to put water up his nostrils until they finally realised that he wasn't going to get to his feet and then he suffered the most horrendous death."

Animals involved in Live Export are at many times sliced and diced before they are even given a chance to die - simply because time is money.

While these facts trouble us, spare a thought for the fellow cows awaiting their own fate. Cows and most animals feel fear, they sense what we sense, as White learnt at one abboiture where one cow was left trembling in fear as he awaited his imminent death and watched his friends scream in pain as they were sliced and skinned.

"The animals were tied up and forced to watch as others were killed and cut up.

TEMPLE GRANDIN: Fear circuits in the brains of mammals have been completely mapped. Animals definitely experience fear.

SARAH FERGUSON: Until there was only one left.

LYN WHITE: It was heartbreaking. A steer stand there trembling violently as it watched its mates cut up around it. They were clearly cognisant of what was going on and it was causing them extreme fear"

This has been happening - The Australian Government has know and allowed this to happen - for the past decade. As the industry scrambles to execute some kind of crisis control Animals Austral and the RSPCA are asking for you to help.

People power can create changes. Thanks to the voices of Australians, live export was banned to Egypt in 2006.

The change of one creates the change of many. Stand up for the voiceless.

Stand up for the poor cow who trembled in fear as he watched his friends suffer at the hands of a quick dollar and a beef burger.

What you can do:

Click here to watch the 4 Corners episode.

Click here to visit the Ban Live Export campaign website.

Email Agriculture Minister: Joe.Ludwig@maff.gov.au

On Twitter, tweet @JuliaGillard demanding the ban to live export and hash tag #banliveexport

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Cutie Pie Clip of the Day

I L.O.V.E animals - could spend the rest of my life with just animals....so I have decided to post some of the OWWWW worthy clips I drool over.

This one: dreaming kitten + mumma cat + cuddles = TOO MUCH CUTENESS!

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The Barbie Girl World

What is your number one concern right now? In 2010, Mission Australia conducted a survey on 50,000 young people (11 - 24 years) and found the number one concern - the NUMBER ONE - was body image! Out of everything else in life, body image trumped stress, family conflict and relationships.

Why? Well didn't you get the memo? You can't be successful in life unless you're beautiful. Look around you - that message is everywhere. In the media all we see is the perfect body and this puts not just pressure on everyday people but the people in the photographs.

Cindy Crawford once said; "I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford."

Even the models, the celebrities and the actors can't reach the image of beauty that advertisers desire to choke us with.

So how do they get what they want - well we know that one, Photoshop! How photoshop has changed the landscape in the past 10 years. Every single image - EVERY ONE - you see in magazines has been altered.

Photoshop is the godsend to magazines who want the fast turnaround from celebrities. When celebrities get knocked up they generally sign a deal to a magazine saying they will get the first baby shot and of course the first "look at me in my bikini, how you can lose the baby weight in three seconds like me!"

Except there is one teeny tiny problem - new mothers can't lose weight in one second...oh but photoshop can!

Seven days after Kourtney Kardashian gave birth to Mason US OK placed this altered image on the cover with the title, "My diet Secrets: How to lose 10lbs in 10 days!"

One problem - Kourtney didn't lose ANY of her baby weight because it had only been SEVEN days since she pushed a bowling ball out of her vagina!

"They doctored and photoshopped my body to make it look like I have already lost all the weight which I have not...they did not have an exclusive!" said Kourtney.

Now hold the phone - are you saying they make it all up!!!! Hell to the YES!

Now no wonder a 15 year old girl feels disgusted by her body when she sees an image of a celebrity able to lose weight and look better then her seven days after having a baby. In NSW, The Children's Hospital reported a 270% increase in the number of children being admitted for eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.

Britney Spears tried to fight back against the pressure the media puts on women to look perfect by releasing the untouched images of her Candies shoot.

Does Britney look bad? No she looks banging, especially for someone with two children, but most of all she looks like a normal human being. The alterations in these images are tame compared to the following hack job done by Ralph Lauren....the perfect body is now one with no room for internal organs.

Below is a great video about how the images in advertising are slowly killing us - not an extreme point when models who are walking the runway are literally dieing to remain thin.

For those that haven't seen the below video made by Dove it is wonderful - a must to watch OVER & OVER because even though we do know images are retouched we still have a compulsive sickness to think "why don't I look like that?"

I know images I see are fake yet I still compare. I look at a flawless - poreless image of Rhianna and think, if I am the same age as her, same height why don't I look like that? Why aren't I that thin?

This issue is hard for men and apparently advertisers to understand. To comprehend that every single second of a woman's life she is presented with images of women that are FAKE. With by-lines that say "You can look like this too!" while the interview reveals all she does is drink eight glasses of water a day and eats whatever she wants....yet at no point does it reveal that the image was altered for five hours and sliced 75% of her body away.

Now when that is ALL you see EVERYWHERE you start to think that this is the norm - not only that but boys who have grown up in the photoshop realm look at real girls and think that they.are.fat!

This brave young woman nominated herself for the Photoshop treatment and it is both scary and fascinating watching how they simply shed the kilograms away.

So - will this landscape change, no, it has only gotten worse and will most likely continue to....but if we can just all remember that no matter the size, no matter the look, we are beautiful and can still give love - which really is the most important thing.

Watch this, smile and love your lady lumps.

So at what point will decide to stop wasting time worrying about how you look and worry about how you feel?

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Harry Potter in one word

Harry Potter is coming to a close and it goes down as the BEST book series I have ever read. A book that is able to appeal to a six years old school girl and a 35 year old lawyer is to me - a classic. It is a story for the soul, taking the reader on a glorious adventure, and isn't that the whole point of a book?

This video was made by the cast, they were asked to sum up the WHOLE experience in one word.

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