Escape the Meatrix

I don’t usually write about books on this blog, but my friend, Stuart Waldner, has written a book that I can’t wait to tell you about, Escape the Meatrix: Eat Plants, Feel Great, and Save the Planet! In this book, he connects the scientific dots between the food on people’s plates, their health, and the health of the planet. Throughout Escape the Meatrix, he includes anecdotes from his own life, and draws comparisons between our world and The Matrix film franchise.

This book challenges the status quo of eating animal-based foods.

When Stuart replaced meat with plant-based foods, he realized that killing and consuming animals isn’t as natural, nutritious, and necessary as we have been led to believe. The term he uses, “The Meatrix,” refers to the movie The Matrix, in which the protagonist realizes that the world he lives in is fake. Paralleling the movie, the Meatrix teaches us to believe that animal-based foods provide nutrients that cannot be found elsewhere, leading to over-consumption and addiction.

After witnessing the benefits a plant-based lifestyle had on his own health, Stuart’s extensive scientific research clearly showed that the widely held belief that animal-based foods are a necessary part of our diet is a deeply conditioned, widespread misconception that benefits big business at the expense of individual and environmental health. Research identified in his book indicates that reducing the intake of meat and animal products may help prevent, stabilize or reverse many chronic health conditions, and avoid many types of cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, as well as the worst-case scenarios of climate change.

Author Stuart Waldner says, “After transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle, I discovered the statistical connections between our food choices and the worldwide crises we’re about to face, and felt called to help wake people up, for our health and for the health of the planet. I invite readers to discover how we’ve all fallen victim to the centuries-long monopoly and mythology surrounding consuming animal protein.”

This well-researched book is compelling for so many reasons–-for personal and planetary health, and for the well-being of it’s creatures! I highly recommend it!

Escape the Meatrix: Eat Plants, Feel Great, and Save the Planet! by Stuart Waldner is available on Amazon

For a limited time, Oct. 11-18, 2022, you can get the Kindle version of Escape the Meatrix for only .99!

Environmental, Health, and Wellness Nonfiction Book Exposes How Eating Animal-based Foods is Destroying the Planet, Wrecking Our Health, and Fueling Climate Change.

Paperback price: $15.99

ISBN: 978-1-5445-2875-5

stuartwaldner.com

Advertisement

Equity Statement

Over the past couple of years, I have come to see that I have privilege, a platform, and, with that, a spiritual obligation to not just be a loving, good, equitable, and well-intentioned person, but also a person who knows that just recognizing any unintentional white centering or bias within oneself or seeing systemic racism in the world isn’t enough. I realized that I must be actively anti-racist in all my communications, programs and work. To that end, it is an important part of my vision to mirror that in all that I do and hold that antiracist intention in all spaces created by my posts, services, and in my daily life.

If you see how I can do better in holding this antiracist intention through thought, word, and deed in my posts and services, I welcome your suggestions and will see them as gifts of awareness.

With love,

Mary Claire O’Neal

maryclaireoneal.com

Honoring the truth about Thanksgiving

Photo by Pricilla du Preez

November is Native American Heritage Month, and you may be aware that for Native Americans the Thanksgiving holiday represents something very different. Since 1970 Thanksgiving has been observed as the Day of Mourning for the United American Indian Tribes in New England and Indigenous people throughout the US. To Indigenous tribes, it’s a painful and sad celebration of a false narrative. It represents to tribal nations the celebration of colonization and genocide of their people. 

For the past couple of years in our household, instead of celebrating our vegan Thanksgiving, we made changes to that tradition. Instead, we have observed the day as a day of remembrance in solidarity with Native Americans as the Day of Mourning—fasting until the sun goes down. Some of our friends also observe that as well. I’ve let my family know about our observance as this is the first time we will have seen them in two years (since the Pandemic began). They understand that we will be visiting them but not be eating the food we’ve brought until evening. We’re bringing simple food—none of the traditional “special” vegan dishes we’ve had in the past. They know why and understand that as well. They’ve chosen not to take it personally or be offended, and their acceptance is to their credit and their love for us. I believe they may even be changing their time of eating to later than usual as well.

Instead of engaging in the frenzy of Black Friday, our household has chosen to have our Day of Thanks and Gratitude on the Friday after the third Thursday of November. We’ll have our special plant-based meal and dedicate the day to giving thanks and being grateful for the loving people and gifts in our lives.

I’m not writing about this because I expect anyone else to do the same. But I did want to write about how as my own awareness grows, my choices grow as well. Has it made my husband and I feel better to make that change over the past couple of years? No, but, for us, it feels right and through the acknowledgement of the truth, maybe reparations and healing can begin in our country. The truth has been covered over in our culture by a whitewashed revisionist story that I’ve celebrated most of my life, and we decided a couple of years ago that we’re not going to celebrate that false narrative again.

I had a conversation with a dear friend earlier today about how the truth of the violent and oppressive past in the US needs to be seen and the people who were and are harmed acknowledged and changes made. We both agreed that discomfort is part of the process of necessary acknowledgement of the truth. I deeply hope change will happen–reparations will happen, and justice.

Here is a powerful short video about the holiday by an independent film maker, Honor the Truth about Thanksgiving: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoxNyM9M1K4

© Copyright 2021, Mary Claire O’Neal