Today, The Reluctant Eater speaks with JVonD (yes, that is the preferred way to address him). A vegan for the last 7 years, he hosts and produces local TV shows and vidcasts in Boulder. In addition to striking a healthy life balance between the online and offline worlds, his primary role is as a Trance/Ambient recording artist. Or in his own words, a "Caring Compassionate Environmental Proactive Beer Drinking Weirdo Vegan Bar Fly Recording Artist"!
TRE: What is your current relationship with food?
JVonD: I like it! I used to eat everything but now I only eat plant based foods meaning that I don't eat parts or any type of expulsion involved animal matter.
TRE: Why did you make the switch?
JVonD: Mainly from adopting my cat Fatso who passed away and having such a close relationship with her that reached well beyond communication boundaries. Having to care for her during the second half of her life was tough and it made me think about how great animals are and how selfish and just plain evil humans are to the Earth especially toward animals in general. So I started a compassionate lifestyle for my planet Earth.
TRE: Did you just go cold-turkey one day, or was it a gradual process?
JVonD: Well, I became a vegetarian cold turkey, then one day, about 3 months later while thinking about the dairy industry, I was like "What the F am I thinking". I should have quit that right away but I was to stupid to realize that one is just as bad as the other and in certain situations even worse. I feel really bad every time I think of my total disregard for those animals. To have compassion for one and not the other is a big personal issue with me.
Like recently when a person burned her dog Bobo and was arrested for animal cruelty, I kept thinking about all these people who felt so bad for that dog but probably go to McDonald's after they donate money and contribute to even worse cruelty themselves.
TRE: Do you miss the things you used to eat? How much of an adjustment was it for you?
JVonD: I miss a lot of foods I used to eat. I was a hard adjustment. Much harder than anything else like quitting smoking cigarettes. My family fed me everything and being from Buffalo NY with its "consume everything" lifestyles and things like Buffalo Wings its been tough. I understand how easy it is for people to fail at a vegetarian lifestyle. My reasoning is strong though.
TRE: How has your body responded? Do you feel different? Are there nutrition supplement considerations?
JVonD: Well its been about 7 years now and is seems like my body has responded just fine. My doctor has always says my blood work is great. I can eat as much as I want and not get fat. I don't take supplements for any health or energy concerns. I very rarely throw some Spiru-tein Banana supplement powder into my smoothy but I don't take it on a daily basis. I just like the taste of it mostly.
When it comes to feeling different, I don't notice anything different. For example, I can rock climb just as hard as when I was training and stuffing my face with a high protein meat diet.
TRE: You've attended a few Vegan meetups recently, how did you find that group and what has it been like?
JVonD: They are very nice people and are pretty interesting to talk to. There are usually a few non-vegans there who are interested in the lifestyle. Each meetup is mainly a big potluck but every once and a while there will be a special event. I feel kind of weird sometimes when I'm there because I don't necessarily enjoy talking about my veganism.
I mainly just wanted to meet people with like mind. Unfortunately for me there's not a lot of single ladies.
Haha. I'm new to the group but so far no one has made a
vegan tofu dish that even came close to yours Ryan. =) Thanks again..
TRE: You heard it here first ladies - JVonD is available! It's funny, most of the people I have interviewed don't often get involved in food related conversations, even though it's a subject everyone can relate to! But I understand where you are coming from, I don't usually have those conversations either. Maybe there is a way we can make it happen without being preachy?
You seem to be pretty involved in the local scene, what other stuff do you do (besides eat!)?
JVonD: Yes, as much as I disagree with most people I still enjoy good company. I host & produce a couple local TV shows and also volunteer on a few others to help get the communities word out there. The one I'm most know for is the
Boulder Vidcast which I consider "Boulder's Community
Vidcast". I cover live events, people, and business and always encourage call ins on the live streaming shows or voicemail comments so that anybody can participate and get heard.
But I mainly consider myself a
Trance/Ambient recording artist and enjoy performing around town with my one of a kind workstation called the
BEATOMATIC III Turbo. I don't know what it is but I really enjoy being a "bar fly". Talking to friendly folks over beers is probably my favorite thing to do. I stay busy trying to get my "
JVonD Productions" business off the ground which is a combination of a couple
startups I've been messing with. Streaming & hosting media relay servers, video production, audio productions stuff. Hoping to redesign my sites soon to offer more participation from the community.
Mainly though I really enjoy being a "real" person. All though I have a strong internet presence, I strongly encourage others to "stop hiding behind your internet avatars" and get involved. For example, go tell your city council what you think instead of ranting on a blog about it kinda thing.
TRE: Interesting...it's easy to assume that "bar-fly" and "people who care about what they eat" are two mutually exclusive categories! Do you see veganism growing at the same pace as the organic movement, or are they separate?
JVonD: No, I don't see it the same at all. That's a great question. Thanks for bring that up Ryan. It really bugs me sometimes. Mainly the organic movement is about "self". People doing things for their own personal reword. Organics will bring them better health. Vegans are usually trying to better others, willing to give up health for overall bettering their environment. But in return vegans better their own consciousness. I guess it's a karma thing.
The worst is when you meet an individual who considers themselves a vegetarian just to realize that they are only concerned with their own well being and not actually trying to help the planet in general. Although a good vegan diet can be amazingly beneficial, its really hard to do it right. I've been a vegan since about 2001 and I will be the first to admit my diet is horrible but the human body seems to have the ability to conform to extremes. I ate processed veg. foods for over 6 years and now my diet is non-processed and no-MSG and I'm still alive in this "cruelty free" lifestyle.
But seriously, "I'M WILLING TO DIE" before I participate in my old habits growing up in this new "somewhat evil" uninformed civilization. It's unfortunate that people are blind to the practices of the world around them.
TRE: Interesting. I'd never thought of organic vs vegan being a matter of being interested in self vs others. Do be careful about generalizing to everyone though...before I started eating locally & organic, I had cut out probably 80% of the meat in my diet mostly for "be good to the planet" reasons.
I'd heard that people often GAIN a lot of weight when they become vegans, and you mentioned that your diet is horrible. How specifically is it horrible? And is that the way it has to be for vegans?
JVonD: Thanks for cutting 80% of your meat intake. That's really cool! I'm sure many of our fellow earthlings thank you too.
Gaining weight from a Vegan diet? I haven't heard about that. My personal vegan diet being horrible meaning eating lots of processed food and stuff containing MSG. I'm getting better though. Considering the majority of people I know are concerned with some sort of balance in their intake whether it being vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc.. often taking pills and now almost every talk radio station has some sort of fish oil supplement commercial. I don't really keep track of things. I just eat what my body tells me to eat.
There are so many vegans that can cook amazing nutritional foods. I have trouble coming up with good recipes and often would rather save my time for other things than to have to prepare a big meal. My new food processor is helping me get a bigger variety foods by making purees all at once.
Sorry if I come off as a jerk sometimes. I don't mean to piss anybody off. If you don't mind, why do you have a 20% meat intake?
TRE: Hm, good question. I haven't stopped eating meat because 1) There are plenty of places you can buy meat raised responsibly (with no cruelty and little environmental impact). The ethics of eating another animal doesn't bother me...everything we eat is a living thing. 2) My wife isn't interested in being a vegetarian. We used to eat separately, but we ate crap. Cutting back on all that processed food (which has huge negative health and environmental impacts) seems to me like a better compromise. Reason #2 is weak, but basically it explains why we occasionally have meat in the house. Regardless of that, I would probably still eat some meat if that was what was served at a party or friends house.
I realize that we could do the same without any meat, and maybe that will happen someday, but idea that everything has to be so black and white is too big of a roadblock. If we "allow" people to start changing their consumption habits little by little in the right direction, it will have a greater net impact than criticizing them for not "going all the way" (not to imply you are criticizing).
In the end, the short answer is that, while I am against the systematic animal cruelty of the industrial food machine, I am not against eating animals that have been raised responsibly. Again, maybe that will change someday, but right now my convictions are not strong enough to make me eat zero meat.
I'm curious, what's your reaction to my explanation?
JVonD: I really appreciate your reply Ryan. It's really hard for me to discuss my vegan lifestyle with people, and some other vegans I met at the meetup agree, because it always ends in some sort of negative argument that darkens the vibe. It doesn't bother to much to hear about people eating meat, but mentally I envision horrible abuse and suffering. Especially when someone drinks milk, I gag. I used to not be that bad. As long as it makes you happy, then success!
About "no cruelty or environmental effects", I'm curious to how that's possible but I'm just satisfied that somehow you make it happen and I'm happy to leave it at that. Again, I really try to discourage arguments. I really think your low animal intake is such a positive thing I just hope more people out there can find at least a day out of there week to find a way around it and eat plant based foods. For me its all mental, it really makes feel good about myself.
Unfortunately I have a problem when someone has to eat meat/dairy around me as if they couldn't live without it for a meal. I just want to say "Hey! I've done it for over 7 years straight, do you mind?" but I obviously wouldn't say it...
TRE: Thanks for sharing so openly, I really appreciate it. It's definitely made me think even more about the food choices I'm making. Do you have any last bits of advice or wisdom for our readers?
JVonD: Well thanks a lot Ryan. It was really nice chatting with you. Before the interview when we talked, I realized that you are someone who openly listens, making our conversations positively constructive and I really appreciate that. I just hope that people will listen, giving their veg. friends a chance because they really care and are compassionate for all, looking out for the planet in general.
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