The Casual Vegan » The Casual Vegan

15 minutes to change the world

Greg — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 06:40:52 +0000

I don’t know if it’s possible, but this is the best idea for a website I’ve seen in years:

Change your name for a job??

Change your name for a job??

Greg — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:17:55 +0000

Sudanese man sends out 1000 resumes
Only receives callbacks using Anglo name

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/business-smarts/little-white-lies-agnok-lueth-adopts-daniel-mcclean-on-his-cv-to-try-to-get-a-fair-go/story-e6frfm9r-1226097072346#ixzz1SinenMmD

Spring, Finally

kristen — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:57:52 +0000

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Vegan Cupcakes!

kristen — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:59:51 +0000

The writers of this blog have moved to Portland, OR! Where every restaurant knows what vegans are! Where people eat dark greens! Where urban gardens spill over residential pathways! Where cupcakes grow on trees…

Okay, but seriously. Kristen of The Casual Vegan has just promised Greg of The Casual Vegan that she will update this blog once a week to showcase all the awesome stuff that she goes out and eats with their baby, Dax, to prove to you that a.) Portland is a vegan mecca, and b.) Vegans have all the fun.

Today, on the way back from the food carts on Belmont where we found a delightful (and unphotographed) dish of vegan biscuits and gravy, I ducked into Saint Cupcake Deluxe and brought home this perfect cupcake. Not much to say about it other than it was delicious and when you have the choice between two delicious cupcakes, one made from the blood and sweat of animals, the other animal-free, why would you even hesitate to choose the vegan version?

Casual Vegan Baby

kristen — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:47:52 +0000

An update:

We’re spending some time petting the indelibly soft skin of baby Dax Gregory, appreciating all of his squeaky noises, his wiggles and flails from the unconscious realm of newborn sleep, his ridiculously cute feet, his razor sharp fingernails…

And we’re recovering too, from all the unknown trials of having a first child, learning as we go along, crying when we need to, resting when we can.

We achieved our natural drug-free birth in the hospital, and yes it hurt, but it was also amazing and the craziest thing I have ever done in my life, but somehow also the most sane.

In relation to food and this blog — our hospital actually had good mostly-vegan options for meals! I ate three very tasty veggie burgers on whole wheat buns during our stay, with fruits and veggies on the side. They had tofu scramble and vegan soups and soy milk, and it was nice!

Kale

kristen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:21:48 +0000

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37 weeks

kristen — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:56:36 +0000

It’s hard to believe that I am now “term” with Dax. We will get to meet him whenever he’s ready to meet us — which could be in a few days or several weeks from now. I’ll let him decide what’s best!

I just had a prenatal visit with one of the popular midwives at my clinic and I have to say that she is fantastic. All the doctors there are good, but she takes the extra effort to be very positive and encouraging. Rather than indifferently reviewing my vitals, she says that they look “wonderful,” and that makes me feel wonderful, probably making my vitals even better by reducing stress! Also, she explains what she’s doing rather than just doing it. Today she showed me how to gently feel Dax’s head near my pelvis and where to find his heart beat with a stethoscope when I said that I had had trouble at home with a friend’s stethoscope. She took the time to ask me what we wanted to happen at the birth and after, taking notes, and then lent her sincere personal confidence that I could have a natural, unmedicated birth. What a simple and invaluable thing to say!

support a midwife

If we had been able to financially, I know now that I would’ve opted to pay out-of-pocket for the exclusive care of midwives for a home birth. In a low-risk situation, pregnancy is not a “medical condition.” What I found myself wanting more than my blood tests and my blood pressure readings was the counsel and experience of a woman who knew what I was going through. Most midwifery practices visit your home and take a full hour for each prenatal visit — not for medical reasons, but to establish a good rapport, trust, and to talk about the pregnancy and birth of your baby. To read more about midwifery and childbirth, I strongly suggest reading Ina May Gaskin’s Spiritual Midwifery. Even if you aren’t interested in having a midwife or doing a home birth, the book is full of positive personal stories of birth and it’s a fascinating portrait of the community that Gaskin and others built in Southern Tennessee called The Farm.

I feel very lucky that I have access to midwives at all through Medi-Cal in Northern California. While I have yet to have a truly negative experience with the OBs on staff, I still get a little giddy before an appointment with my favorite midwife, because I know that it’s going to be an educational and empowering experience. After my appointment today, I (carefully) hopped on my bike again (still bicycling!) and went swimming and the positive experience I had had gave me extra motivation. I didn’t push it any harder than I usually do — I do gentle laps for 10-25 minutes, whatever my body/Dax says works, followed by 15 minutes of stretches in the deep end, and a nice back float for a few minutes with my eyes closed, oh to float — but I just felt stronger and happier than normal. Blessed! Pregnancy can be so trying between emotions and cravings and peeing and odd discomforts and pains and sleepiness, but the positive moments are amazing. (Like when I talk Greg into a foot massage!)

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What have you given up to save money?

Greg — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:27:53 +0000

I once lived off free bagels, water, and a free lunch. I couldn’t eat bagels for years.
I haven’t been to the doctor in 8 years, because health insurance is broken.
I let Chicago tow my car, and keep it. Best choice ever. We bicycle everywhere!
I’ve stopped shaving to protest the culture of shaving and save money.
I don’t wash my hair, and it’s clean and soft without shampoo.
I’ve stopped paying the gym… training with my own body instead.
I’m dying to cancel our cell phone. We never use the thing. Contracts are evil.
We make my student loan payments even though they are 1/4th of my income. Student loans are bad debt. Don’t let your children get stuck with 25 years of debt.

More Important than How to Save Money?

How we spend money! We get most of our vegetables from a our local CSA. What we don’t get from the CSA, we select organic and try to aim local. Although I did buy my genmaicha (brown rice tea) from a Japanese tea farm. We’ve got a nice yard with room for our garden. We’ve got nice locks for our bikes, good helmets, and nice bike light sets. Money well spent. Thank God Kristen and our son have free health care, or we’d have to choose between paying the doctor and food.

Inclusiveness at Occupy Portland

Inspirational People with Cerebral Palsy

Greg — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:53:43 +0000

Running for an hour was hard work. But, recovering this week was exceptionally brutal. My running streak was broken, but not before I got in one last mile run hobble on Monday night. I expected my recovery to be harder than average, because my right leg is an inch and a half shorter than my left. I have Cerebral Palsy. I’ve had it all my life. In fact, doctors once told my parents that they shouldn’t let me run or play outside with friends because I might injure myself. I still want to punch that doctor in the face. Who tells a kid not to play? What that doctor should have told my parents was to sign me up for weight lifting and track and field.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a physical disability caused at birth that affects 800,000 people in the United States. Cerebral Palsy is a broad term applied to anyone with a wide swath of motor skill problems. Some people with CP have difficulty speaking, which makes communication difficult. Many mentally impaired people also have Cerebral Palsy, but most people with CP are not mentally impaired. Even in 2010, Wikipedia has difficulty keeping the two straight giving the impression that people with CP are intellectually challenged.

Defying Stereotypes

This post will serve as a “sneeze page” or table of contents for inspiring people with Cerebral Palsy. Those of us lucky enough to have a mild impairment often go unnoticed, and can accomplish some pretty amazing things. As I write more about each of these people I will fill out this list with stories that I hope will hope inspire the abled as well as the disabled.

John Quinn just retired from the Navy having kept his Cerebral Palsy a secret for more than 20 years. His biography is going to be an exciting read.
Chris Broyles runs a 6 minute mile on his high school team. Can you do that?
Connor Chadwick is an 18 year old cross country runner with an 8 minute mile
Marcus Boyer made news for picking up cross country running in the 7th grade
Nicole Lang competes well on her track team in the shot put event
Katy Fetters enjoys hiking, charity push up contests, and writes a wonderful blog called Teen Cerebral Palsy
Tina Matsunaga is an accomplished freelance writer with an English degree who keeps a blog on Living with Cerebral Palsy

Over the next week, I’ll be writing about each of these inspiring people as well as sharing exercise tips that took me from couch potato at 24 to athlete at 30.

My father always says there’s “no such thing as can’t.” So, why can’t you run a marathon? The next time you’re feeling too lazy to take advantage of the marvelous gift and ability you have, remember to cherish your gifts and look forward to the rewards provided by vigorous exercise. Don’t let your body go to waste.

Make a Difference

If you find this inspiring, and want to make a difference, take a minute to link to me or, share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. If someone had told me when I was 8 that I could be running in a marathon at 30, it would have changed my life.

Greg’s Onion

kristen — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:31:54 +0000

Once an onion sprouts, Greg has a hard time cutting into it (like, emotionally). This is our onion (one of many as we love onions around here) last spring. We put it in some dirt and let it grow for awhile, harvesting some of its shoots now and then. It grew very tall in our front window and produced an interesting flowertop!