Quivers Robin - The vegucation of Robin: how real food saved my life

I m so thankful Robin asked me to write the introduction to Vegucation, because helping spread the word about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle is one of my great passions in life.

I made the decision to stop eating meat about fifteen years ago. Along with my yoga and meditation practices, Ive found that adopting a vegan diet has not only drastically improved my health, but also has improved my relationship with the world. These practices helped me eliminate the neediness that, in retrospect, was the cause of so much unnecessary suffering in my life. And there was nothing that I thought I needed more, back in the day, than a fresh piece of meat on my plate.

Man, I used to eat so much meat growing up. Beef ribs, pork loins, turkey wings, chicken thighs, and oxtails, you name it. I probably would have gobbled up an elephants ass if someone had deep-fried it and served it to me.

Thankfully, I woke up and became conscious of the harm that my diet was wracking on both myself and the world. Just like Robin woke up and hopefully youll wake up too if youre still eating meat after reading this book.

I use the term wake up because I believe that eating meat actually represents an unconscious behavior. We all know in our hearts that eating meat is wrongbad for what it does to our bodies and terrible for the suffering it creates for the animals that are killed on our behalf. Yet often until we get a wake-up call like Vegucation, we cant hear that truth in our hearts because were so distracted by the noise of those who would have us believe that eating meat is okay.

If you have already woken up and become conscious of the suffering associated with the production of meat, let me assure you that theres plenty in this book for you too, namely some fantastic recipes. I love that not only does Robin make such a strong case for becoming a vegan, but she also shows you how to make healthy dishes that will help ensure that giving up meat isnt just a phase you go through, but a decision that becomes a permanent part of your lifestyle.

Robins sense of urgency in helping people transform their lives is ultimately why this book resonates so strongly with me. Robin and I are both tired of watching our family members and people we grew up with suffer needlessly. We see strokes, high blood pressure, asthma, heart attacks, diabetes, and even cancer all being written off as part of getting old, rather than being called what they truly are: symptoms of poor diets.

Thats why no matter what background you come from or what sort of lifestyle youve been leading up until today, please accept that you CAN change. You dont have to wake up feeling tired anymore. You dont have to feel guilty about the suffering youre inflicting on animals anymore. You dont have to feel bad about how your body looks. Or even worry about how much longer youve got to live on this earth.

You have it within yourself to change. Ive done it. Robins done it. And you can do it too.

And in these pages, Robin is going to show you how.

Russell Simmons