Marla Rose’s Vegan Feminist Agitator blog—which is part of the excellent Vegan Street website– is one of my favorites.
Marla is such a brilliant writer and thinker and I was honored to be interviewed last week as part of her Vegan Rockstar series. Please take a peek at the interview which includes my thoughts on activism, why I think all vegans should feed stray cats, and how I (try to) manage stress.
Hello-
That was indeed a great interview and highlighted what I respect most about you and this website.
I have two unrelated questions I hope you can answer.
First, I have osteoporosis and have read from very reliable sources that vegans absolutely have higher rates of osteoporosis. I don’t want to make my current osteoporosis worse, so I wonder if you have information about this subject.
Second, I was wondering what you feed the cats you help with. I feel very bad when I buy my dog and cat food that contains animal products, because I know those animals have to have been among the worst treated. Do you have thoughts and suggestions about that?
Thank you!
Amy, some studies have revealed concerns about vegan bone health, but I don’t think it’s been shown that vegans have more osteoporosis. But even if we did, it would simply mean that we have to work to maximize bone protective aspects of our diets/lifestyles. This means getting adequate calcium and vitamin D. And while vegans often do have calcium intakes that are too low, it doesn’t mean we can’t get enough. We just need to pay better attention to good sources.
Getting more protein might be important, too, and this can be done by increasing intake of legumes. And of course, exercise matters a lot. On the plus side, we tend to eat more vegetables which may be good for bone health. So, it’s a matter of continuing to do the good stuff we’re doing and working to correct any shortfalls. This can be done on any kind of diet–vegan or not.
As for cats, I struggle with this. I’ve recently been making my own cat food because it at least allows me to control where I’m getting the meat that I feed them–which is better than buying regular cat food but obviously not close to ideal. Unfortunately, my cats don’t like it! This is one reason why I’m really in favor of developing in vitro meat. If nothing else, it could serve as a good source of food for cats.