Giveaway: VegNews Gift Pack May Just Take The Vegan Cake
Filed under: contests, magazines — Michael d'Estries @ 2:14 pm
September 5th 2008
We’ve yet another delicious gift pack for you today, this time from the fine folks over at VegNews. Since 2000, this magazine has been making waves in the vegetarian/vegan community as the primo source for the latest in living a compassionate and healthy lifestyle. You don’t even have to be a member of the veg crowd to enjoy everything their publication has to offer — though we’re pretty sure you’ll be inspired after one read to give it a go!
Today, we’ve got two VegNews “Oh My, I Want One!” gift packs to give away. Each one includes their signature over-sized tote bag, a one-year subscription, six jumbo vegan cookies, a cotton tee, and the current edition.
You like? Tell us why you love being a vegetarian/vegan — or if you’ve not yet fully transitioned yet to the other side, what you’re doing in your own life to eat healthy and cut meat from your diet. Two comments will be selected to win! Complete rules and giveaway details are available here.
Also, don’t forget! The giveaway for the Clif Bar gift packs is still happening! Enter to win here!
I have been a vegetarian since i was 5. I became one at first because i didn’t want to eat the cows that i loved to look at in the fields ( i live in iowa), and then my mom became a vegetarian with me; 15 years later my whole family are vegetarians and even some of my extended family. I love being a vegetarian because i could never eat anything with a face and it is good for the environment. i would love to win a subsription to VegNews. My sister got a year subscription as a present two years ago, and didn’t renew it last year… i have missed all the amazing issues they make.
Oooh! This is a fun contest. I love VegNews, and Ecorazzi of course!
I became a vegetarian when I was 12, and a vegan in early 2007. It’s been an incredible life change for me– I feel healthier, more energetic, more in tune with my body’s needs, and closer to the environment (as cheesy as that sounds!) It’s great to eat and live based on a set of beliefs, rather than just eating because it’s food and it’s in front of me. I don’t mind having to pick and choose what I eat, and I think when I do, it forces other people to think about being more selective.
I have come to welcome the inevitable questions from the curious and have been honing my answers for some time now. What’s great is that on occasion, just sometimes, I help someone make a change themselves. That feeling is incredible!
I’m a newbie! I have been a vegetarian for the past 9 nine months and I have never felt better! Since my conversion I have more energy than ever, am more mindful of my dietary intake, and I even shed a couple of pounds! It has been a win-win move if you ask me. My herbivorous transition came about one night when I was looking at the “meat” in my beef burrito and it was then that I contemplated the sad fact that my beef was once alive and moving not too long ago. I am an animal lover and a friend of the environment and I couldn’t think of a better way to lead a healthier and sustainable way of life than eating a vegetarian diet!
I’m a newbie that is just in the beginning stages. I’m only doing my research, but hope to start on the path by October 1st. I am also becoming more aware of environmental issues and the process of educating myself with all of this is eye-opening.
I’m still working towards being vegetarian. (Living in the NW, I just can’t give up the fish) I enjoy eating less meat because I know I am getting most of my nutrition from the sources that an American diet usually doesn’t allow. The thought of eating a living creature doesn’t comfort me as well as how they are treated to “make” the meat.
VegNews is great. I love being a vegetarian! It’s good for the earth and good for my body.
I am a vegetarian for 1 1/2 years now and have never felt better about myself. I find it very empowering and feel very enlightened. I will never turn back. I feel strongly that we have no right to use animals for food or shoes when there are such viable options!
As Ecorazzi’s resident vegan I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hearing all this veg pride! And I think everyone knows how I feel about VegNews…WE’RE IN LOVE!
On a personal note: I’ve been vegan for 7 1/2 years and it’s by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. For those of you still learning about vegetarianism I recommend “Becoming Vegetarian” by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina. It’s packed full of nutritional information that will make the transition so much easier and healthier! If you’re ready to go full force, the pair also published a book entitled “Becoming Vegan”, which is equally as marvelous. Good luck with the prize pack and keep eating those veggies!
I recently went back to my vegetarian diet earlier this year after a news story showed a downed cow being forced into the truck going off to the slaughter house by a pallet truck. I can’t imagine eating an animal after becoming more aware of the treatments of livestock in America.
I’m new to this as well, as I made the switch from Standard American Diet to raw vegan only 8 months ago. After 40 years of eating without thinking about what was going into my body or what the consequences of my actions were, I now feel genuinely healthy and good about myself. I have so much more energy and compassion – I’m getting more done, I’m happier, and I care more deeply about others and the world. One of my favorite things about being vegan is being more attuned to what’s going on around me, and I love watching the shifts that are being made towards more responsible living. Thanks for highlighting some of them here, Ecorazzi! You guys rock!
I love VegNews and as a vegan I would love to win this contest! You are what you eat!
I love being vegan because I love myself and I am vegan therefore I love being vegan. I am therefore I love.
Wow! This looks great! And it would totally compliment my new vegan lifestyle.
I wasn’t even really much of a vegetarian before i jumped into veganism about 3 months ago. Once I started reading about it, it seemed silly to not just go whole hog (pardon the expression). I love the new foods I get to try and avoiding things that are bad for me anyway. I feel fab and people are so interested about it that I get to have great discussions all the time. We veg*ns are the future so people better get used to hearing from us! 
I don’t eat anything with a face. Or a butt.
Go Veg!
I am working towards becoming a vegetarian and possibly a vegan and am finding it somewhat hard. This prize pack would really help!
My mother says I never would really eat meat, but it’s only been deliberate since I was 14. 17 years ago now! I was vegan, but now I eat vegan about 70% of the time.
I love vegan cookies! Send them my way.
This is an amazing giveaway! Reading VegNews while eating ABC cookies, what more could a girl want?
I’ve been a vegetarian for nearly my entire life and have been a vegan for the last five years. My two-year-old is also a vegan —and we love it because it keeps us healthy, gives us lots of energy, and is a delicious way to take care of the environment. We just took a batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies out the oven before we logged on—would love to try some of these cookies listed too! AND we LOVE VegNews!!!!
I have been a vegetarian since I was a kid- 19 years now. Pretty amazing. I absolutely love VegNews. I work in the eco industry and could proudly wear their shirts and bring them more readers… I’m a good poster child
I would love to be awarded these gifts!
VegNews is awesome as far as mags go, i especially love the “Annual Veggie Awards” issue. Great fodder for my equally awesome vegetarian blog.
Neat giveaway. Good luck to everyone.
Missy.
P.S. I’ve been a veghead since March 2007, and my favorite part of being veggie is not supporting the horrid practice of eating animals. Peace.
I’ve been a vegetarian for 15 months now. I thought it would be harder than it has been. Frankly with the help of VegNews and other veg-friendly sites, I haven’t thought twice about the decision. I religiously buy every new issue and save them for reference. I’m surprised at how often I go back to re-read something. Vegan cookies would be a new try for me — I’m always happy to find new products that are “safe”!
I may as well clarify that I have been vegan for about 10 months (since all other contestants are stating how long they’ve been veg), so I don’t have all that much experience.
Yet my favorite part about being vegan (besides saving countless lives and resources) is the look people get on their face when I inform them that eggs are, in fact, chicken periods, and that in every glass of milk there’s a few drops of pus. They are instantly disgusted and say they’ll always think twice before consuming those products ever again.
It feels awesome to know that I’ve got them thinking about what goes into their food, even if they don’t stop eating animal products instantly. Vegan is the only way to go; for the animals, the people, and the environment, and I am proud to be a part of the movement in getting the word out.
i LOVE being vegan. vegnews is a fantastic magazine!!
For me, there are so many amazing things about being vegan, it’s hard to know where to start! First on the list, of course, is not being a willing participant in the harm/ enslavement/ torture/ slaughter of animals. Even when I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian, I thought that it was just better not to think about where cheese comes from. But, you know what? It turns out that I was wrong. It’s been a far better experience for me to educate myself about what’s really going on! It’s amazing how good you can feel about your choices when you know you’re making the ones that are right for you (and the animals!) based on the facts instead of trying to hide from reality. I’m finally living a life that’s in line with my values, not just turning a blind eye to the things I’d rather not think about. It’s tremendously empowering! I feel much better about myself than I ever did before, and I can walk out into a field and look a cow in the eye and not be ashamed. (BTW, the book that had the greatest impact on me was “The Food Revolution” by John Robbins. I also subscribe to the VegNews e-mail newsletter, which is an awesome source of updated info, as well, but I’ve never read the magazine.) Then there are the health and environmental benefits of being vegan, which I need not explain here. Everyone who’s ever read a book about it knows that this is clearly the way to go on those fronts! Some people think it’s weird or complicated to be vegan, and it’s totally not that way for me at all. It’s the most natural thing in the world, and I enjoy discussing it with interested people because it’s brought so much joy to my life. I bake vegan cookies and take them in to work or make dinners and have friends over- I love to share the experience with others and show people that vegan food is delicious! I think most people think of the transition to veganism from the standard american diet as cutting a bunch of foods out, but in reality it’s just making more room on your plate for amazing foods that you might otherwise never have tried!!! There’s so much variety in vegan ingredients- the options really are endless! The Standard American Diet is just plain BORING! Mix it up! Go vegan! =) Anyhow, I have gone on long enough. I have enjoyed this opportunity to share my experiences with you, and if anyone out there is still just thinking about becoming vegetarian or vegan, do it. Seriously. You’ll never want to look back, and the animals will thank you. =)
When I was in 4th grade, we had a “career day” and had to tell our classmates what we wanted to be when we grew up. I announced that I would be a lawyer or environmental activist. Even at that age, fellow students labeled me a hippie, as I was organizing trash pick-ups and refusing to eat “anything with a face.” But it was hard for me to be vegetarian then; I come from an Irish “meat and potatoes” family and faced my share of opposition. And my father, an evangelical minister, informed me that humans have dominion over God’s creatures. But I’ve always felt that we’re all God’s creatures, and don’t think it’s right for us humans to try to dominate one another; why do the same to animals?
So I continued my mostly-vegetarian lifestyle, only “falling off the wagon” because it was hard for me to be consistent as a child. I used to tell people I went vegetarian for health reasons (I’m asthmatic and found sources supporting a plant-based diet to improve allergies and diseases associated with dairy and red meat consumption), but over the past year I’ve been more convicted about animal rights, the same compassion I first felt as a kid. It’s just my belief that we share this planet with animals to help them, not hurt them.
And now that I’ve made the commitment, I couldn’t be happier as a vegetarian, and my body couldn’t thank me more. I’ve always had good metabolism and a slim frame, but I feel stronger and more energized. The more I cut out dairy (my diet is mostly vegan, but not perfect), the more I notice my skin becoming clearer and my breathing getting easier. All the “alternative” sources of protein I eat satisfy my appetite more than meat ever did. And eating vegetarian is easy on the wallet; I continually find good prices on fruit, nuts and grain, and grow my own, pesticide-free vegetables right in my backyard.
I encourage my family to eat less meat, too, and have influenced two of my best friends to go vegetarian. I adore VegNews and hope to share issues with my family and friends. Spread the love!
I’ve been vegan for over 5 years, and veggie before that. I can eat without guilt and sleep with a clear conscience. Being vegan is compassion in action!
I’ve been a vegetarian for the last 12 years and I love all things about it: healthier, better for the environment, prevents animal cruelty, etc.
It was difficult at first to find and prepare vegetarian food but now it’s like second nature. Plus all of the great resources for vegetarians and vegans have become so much more available over the last 10 years.
We are intending to raise our son as a vegetarian with limited dairy consumption so I am proud to be contributing to the next generation of vegetarians. I’d love to win the magazine, as it’s always nice to add some more recipes to my repertoire.
i made the conscious choice to become a vegetarian when i was 14, my folks thought it was a faze. That was 20 years ago, and i have never gone back to eating meat or questioned my decision to stop. i have two children that are being raised vegetarian. We are not vegan, but we raise our own free range organic eggs. Our chickens are very loved and spoiled. This is a wonderful gift pack, and i would be honored to win it.
I love my veggies and try to eat less meat every day. When I think about what meat is, it’s just disgusting. I love totes and tees
*Thanks* for the giveaway!
It’s not always easy being a vegetarian in a house of non-vegetarians… but the fun part is when slip in a meal that appears to have meat, but it’s soy- everyone is not only surprised they liked it, but also recognize immediately that they didn’t have that heavy, stuffed feeling.
Woo!
I love being a vegan cuz I love life. Now gimme the goods!! LOL!
Quitting meat is harder than quitting smoking. I know, I did the latter last year and have been working on the former most of this year. I made the descision to start cutting back on meat and dairy after my son was born a) to lose the baby weight and b) to do whatever I can to make sure the world is still livable for his children and grandchildren. Eventually, my desire to cut back morphed into a desire to give it up entirely, but its pretty tough going. Especially since all of my extended family seems to think the food pyramid goes meat, then grains, then dairy, then fruit, then vegetable. I’m also in the military, and thats not exactly a vegetarian friendly organization. But I’m working on it, and I believe that I will some day be there.
VegNews has the best recipes. I probably shouldn’t be the one to win this, but I thought I’d comment jist to say thanks for all the inspiration and motivation Ecorazzi has given me this year to kick the meat habbit!
I love being a vegan because for about 2 years I was a vegetarian and thought that becoming a vegan would be too hard. Now, after becoming a vegan I realize that it’s not hard at all. At times it is a bit frustrating that it seems like society is SO dependent on animal products, but by checking food before I eat it I have become a much more conscious eater. I also used to be the biggest junk food addict around, eating taco bell’s nacho supreme and bacon cheeseburgers once a week. I let people know that I understand where they are coming from but that there are great alternatives. By being respectful with the information I have to share, many of my friends have asked me questions about animal products and found out that they don’t know much about where their food come from. I love being educated about what I put in my body, while being proud that my actions are making the least amount of impact in the world.
Animals have souls.
I don’t have a lot of money for clothes and am practically naked a lot of the time (i’m kind of a Buddhist Nudist) i would like some t shirts though so I can go out and not walk around in my birthday suit. Speaking of which it IS my birthday which is why i deserve this all the more..
September born
strict Vegan Liz
(Top that! Pun intended)
Since I don’t live in the USA, I’m not eligible for this gift. However I’d like to leave my testimony!
I have been a vegetarian for 11 years. Before that, I really, really, really loved meat (lucky me, I never got fat)! I could almost eat an entire barbecue chicken all by myself (sorry for the horrible picture…I know…looking back, uhhh…disgusting!
), and I loved shrimps… But from a very early age I was truly fond of animals and Nature in general…
The years went by and one day I met a vegetarian. She was very nice and I was a bit confused about that lifestyle. I asked her a few questions about it (I now find it very amusing, because people who meet me for the first time and realize I’m a vegetarian, get confused too)! A couple of years went by and my love for Nature, and animals in particular, grew bigger. I became an environmentalist…
One day I watched a documentary about the fishing of shrimps – they said that for every few shrimps that were captured, dozens of fish were thrown overboard already dead…Ok, that made me question a lot of things. Some time later I saw on the news how animals were dragged into small trucks (I can still remember the look in the eyes of that poor cow – submissive, helpless and resigned…). And that was it! Enough!
I said to myself: you have 2 options; you either stop being a hypocrite and assume that you really don’t love animals that much or you do really love and respect them and change your lifestyle! And so from that day forward, no more meat or fish!
Recently, about a year ago, I decided to take another step. No more eggs from stores – in our local markets there are still people who sell home-bred chicken eggs; the animals don’t live in tiny cages; on the contrary, most of the times they let them wander in the farm and so they eat natural food,- no more milk from cows (only soya milk) and just black chocolate (this was so hard ’cause I LOOOOOVE chocolate
). The only thing I still haven’t changed in my diet is cheese and this because where I live there’s no substitute for it. But as soon as I find one, cheese will be no more…
Right now I feel perfectly healthy and have no intention to go back…ever! Besides, the more people I know and the more I know people, the more I love and respect animals and Nature!
Oh… and if there are people out there who really want to know why we are all vegetarians and vegans, go to YouTube, write down ‘earthlings’ and watch (all the parts) the horrible truth about how animals are treated worldwide.
It’s damn intense and not many people are able to watch it, but it’s your choice.
You can either look the other way and pretend everything is super, like most of the ‘zombified’ humans, or you can face the truth (as hard as it may be), open your eyes and heart and take a step towards evolution!
Sorry, I’ve already written too much…it’s just that I love to write…;)
Thank you and blessed be!
I love being “veeg” as we call it at home! I’ve been vegan for a year and a half and a vegetarian for 12 years before that. Simply put, I wake up feeling healthy and I go to bed feeling good.
I have been a veg for abut 10 years. People always ask me how someone can stay healthy if they don’t eat meat or drink milk. I wonder on the other hand, why a full grown human needs to suck on a cow’s teet for survival. I eat a variety of food, about every vegetable known to man, and I wish that restaurants would get more creative and offer more selections besides salad or an oil drenched portabello mushroom sandwich.
Pick me! Pick me! I love ABC cookies!
Yes, I want this!
After I turned 30, I started to have trouble digesting meat. Then in 2001, there was the chicken-head incident at McDonald’s, and I said to myself, that’s a strong argument for vegetarianism. I also read “Fast Food Nation,” and it really got me thinking. One day, in January 2002, I was so disgusting with some wings I was eating, I decided to go vegetarian.
A few months later, after reading more stuff and learning of the dairy-veal connection, I decided to go vegan. I’m 40 now, and it was the best decision of my life. Living in a major city like I do, I almost have a built-in social group; there are plenty of veg*ans in the DC area. I also have discovered a love for cooking and baking (sometimes) and have learned to like vegetables I never did before. But I still won’t eat broccoli. Sorry.
But as I’m a subscriber to VegNews already, I want to shout out to all the newbie and wannabe veg*ans out there and give them my support. I think giving up meat is harder than giving up smoking (although I never smoked) because most people get support when they want to kick smoking and all smoking advertisements are in print. But you can’t watch a half-hour of TV without being exposed to an ad for some dead-animal product or other crap that results from animal exploitation.
I am almost completely a vegetarian. I just haven’t declared myself to be one yet. I will and it’s coming soon. I guess I’m just slightly scared to make that statement and commitment. My daughter is a vegan and has been a huge influence on me this way. She looks great and feels great and I’m really proud of her dedication and desire to make a difference. I admire that about her so much.
I was a vegetarian for a long time, and am trying to transition back to veggie style after finding out about a ton of food allergies I had. Turns out I was allergic to a lot of the things I was using as veg staples: wheat, peanuts, and sesame being the big three.
Reading VegNews totally inspires me to keep making the changes to reduce my intake of meat. Yay!
I went vegetarian in 2001 and vegan in 2004. I work in politics and (somewhat surprisingly) I am the first vegan many of my colleagues have ever gotten to know. Needless to say — I field plenty of questions about my dietary habits and beliefs. Each inquiry is a new opportunity to explain the environmental drain of livestock production in our country’s industrialized food system. Over the years, my friends and coworkers have adjusted and accepted my food choices and I’d like to think I’ve influenced them to examine their own eating habits (though I make a deliberate effort to avoid preaching). I wish everyone would cut back on their meat consumption, but sometimes people, in their passionate attempts to convert others, come on too strong.
VegNews is a great magazine and I would love a subscription. Tasty vegan treats can help foster greater understanding of the vegetarian lifestyle so I would (do my best to) share the ABC cookies!
i haven’t become fully vegetarian, but i can go days just enjoying my veggies & not missing the meat. giveaways rock!!!
I have been slowly weaning myself off meat and other animal byproducts for the past year. And although it has been a slow and sometimes difficult road, I am glad that I have embarked on it. Beef, chicken, pork and the like have been cut out of my diet. But I do have to confess that I slip up once in a while and eat sushi…Hopefully by the end of the year I”ll be one hundred percent vege.
Also, as a Christian, I believe that we need to live in full respect and in harmony with all living animals and plant life. I have been trying to educate my fellow church members and friends to realize the impact the meat industry has on our environment.
I love VegNews. It’s one of the few magazine I read cover to cover. I don’t feel so alone after I read it.
what an awesome give away!
i am a magazine freak!
Been a pescatarian for 4 years and I love it, but I’m always learning more. I’d love this!
this would be awesome…i’ve been wanting to subscribe!
I am not a vegetarian but I have started incorporating meatless meals into our menu to eat a healthier diet. This prize pack would be very motivational to my family!