Mission

The mission of Health Memes is to encourage food choices that:

• Promote physical and mental health (the right foods cause a feeling of vibrance both physically and mentally)
• Reduce health care costs (it is far more expensive to be sick than healthy)
• Increase individual independence (improving health leads to a increase in options relative to mobility, daily tasks, work, hobbies, productivity in general, etc.)
• Protect fresh water (the wrong foods lead to annually putting billions of pounds of animal feces, so-called “nutrient load,” in our fresh water contaminating our drinking supplies)
• Promote compassion for all living creatures

Health Memes was written with the intention to communicate information to people who are somewhat new to plant-based living and those – like the couple I met on the airplane – who half-heartedly tried plant-based nutrition but one experienced a symptom, assigned causality, i.e., blamed it on the vegan diet, and then they both quit. Health Meme #1: When going vegan, get a vegan doctor (or at least read books written by vegan doctors).  Health Memes was written with others in mind too, like the mom I met at Whole Foods Market at the bar who explained that she has three daughters. One is vegetarian. One is vegan. One is a body builder who obsesses over eating more animal protein. The mom expressed worry over the vegan daughter.  Again, Health Meme #1 applies.  It’s so important, I will repeat it here.  When going vegan, or parenting a vegan, get a vegan doctor (or at least read books written by vegan doctors).  Best resource we know of is (PCRM) Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine.  A good place to begin.  And when choosing a family doctor, call around to different doctor’s offices and ask each receptionist if the doctor is “vegan-friendly.”  Hire one who is.  For more, go to hiring vegan or vegan-friendly doctors.