This is not going to be some Vegan or Carnist bashing article, so if you are looking for some type of holy war, you are going to be disappointed.

I'm also not here to get into a moral argument on the subject. Those arguments have been repeated ad naseum for months now if you have been on social media and witnessed a lot of the drama and infighting. This is mainly about understanding individual variance, context, and making changes in your daily routine in order to understand the lifestyle choices from someone else's point of view.

I want to start off by saying the conference was fantastic from my perspective. A couple of people have shared their experience as not so favorable. None of the issues brought up impacted me directly, so I would say that my experience was nothing short of outstanding. I was thankful for the chance to speak about my passion for training and freeing the body on the health and wellness stage. Everyone was so receptive and the feedback was incredible. The venue was

great, the speakers were awesome, and the beaches were absolutely breathtaking. Moreover, the most exhilirating part of all this was the being around 2,000 freedom-loving anarchists. THAT'S A LOT OF ANARCHIST!!! It became so overwhelming at times, that I had to escape from it on occasion and process all this positive and loving energy.

There were moments of frustration as there are anyway with travel. Mostly having to deal with the TSA and US customs at all the US airports. I was certain about this and expected this to be the lowlight of the trip. I also cannot stand air travel and wish that I had the days available to take other means of transportation. I spent close to 40 hours traveling and got sick from all the trapped airborne germs in these planes. I felt like I was almost completely

healed from my cold until I had to hop back on the flights home. I was relieved to finally be in Mexico once I got there and a feeling of bliss washed over me as soon as I saw the huge conference billboard right outside the airport.

My only concern before departing was the obvious and expected breaking of the routine from training, sleep, eating and recovery. When I arrived I scoped out many of the area restaurants around the Princess and close to where I was staying. The only places to eat close by were two restaurants that did not open until noon and a Mexico version of 7-11 which had nothing but junk food. I knew ahead of time I was going to be hanging out with my friends who didn't eat

meat, so Verde Vegan at the hotel became the go-to spot everyday. I wanted to make a conscious effort to not inconvenience anyone and try eating this way to have a new perspective. What better way to spend time in paradise than to completely reset your entire system and drastically change your way of eating..... in a foreign country

no less. If it sounds gutsy, it's more than a pun. My gut certainly was not in paradise.

Let me also mention that I generally like to be my own guinea pig when it comes to confirming or retracting my previous biases. I am always intent on proving my position on some aspect of living by experiencing it directly, otherwise I am simply taking someone else's situation as a guide. I don't generally like to take that

approach with my health and I'm sure most people wouldn't either. Nutritionally speaking, I was also on a calorie deficit because I knew I wasn't going to be doing any maximal load training at the conference and that alone wouldn't require as much energy consumption. All in all, by body spent most of the 6 days adjusting to the change. Again, my stomach was not feeling great, but my energy was amazing all day and I didn't feel much fatigue. I gave up caffeine during this trip, but did not have any issues like the headaches that are usually associated with the caffeine withdrawals.

I would be, for all intents and purposes, described by most Vegan Anarchists as a "Meat Minarchist". As one of my friends joked later, "dude, you couldn't even walk on eggshells at the conference because the militant Vegans wouldn't even let you do THAT." The truth is, I admire the passion that Vegans share for their principles and I've

always been of the mindset since I became an anarchist, that my beliefs are an ongoing evolutionary process. It took me years to come around to other lifestyle choices that anarchist espouse than I myself don't practice. Does this mean that I think my lifestyle won't evolve? No. It simply means I am open to others living the life they want to live as long as they don't murder, hit, rape or steal from me.

My stance on all the mud slinging is..leave each other alone for once and let people come to their own conclusions.

And laugh for god sake.

In a nutritional sense, we have to understand that everybody processes nutrients differently. This doesn't mean that a changeover in lifestyle is easy or can be done overnight. I certainly was living proof it can't. An individual's ability to digest and absorb certain nutrients can vary tremendously. As I evolve, I'm certain that the process of eliminating certain foods out of my diet can be a potential risk just as much as it can be a potential benefit. Is it worth it

in order to cause less harm? Yes. But is it worth risking your health just to prove a point? No.

You have to make the choices that are best for your health. Research all avenues before you make drastic changes to your way of eating.

And don't make drastic changes while on vacation.

Love and Lifting