Guest Post: Madeleine Starkey

Happy Friday everyone!  Anyone traveling to DC this weekend?  Anyone live there?  Here are some little tid bits from my friend Maddy on a city that's changing so rapidly since I left!

Recently, I returned to Adams Morgan, a neighborhood in Washington D.C. rife with the kind of folks you can just tell are aware of the affect their actions have on the environment around them.  I don't want to make sweeping generalizations about my neighbors, but when I see an abundance of folks strolling with yoga mats slung across their backs and reusable shopping totes, I know I'm in good, like minded company here.

There's an indie coffee house right in the heart of Adams Morgan called Tryst, where I'm posted up as I write this.  It's the kind of place you can go with your computer, book, newspaper or a friend and just hang.  While the staff of course appreciates your business, the goal here is not to turn over as many tables as possible.  The vibe is relaxed and totally conducive to ensuring your day is as calm as can be.  And I don't think its a coincidence that an establishment that gets all its energy from Clean Currents, an independent, alternative energy company, a is able to make eco-conscious freaks such as myself feel right at home.

My friend Libby, who's here with me working away at her super website BrightestYoungThings.com, and I decided last night that we're committing to a dairy free month.  Noshing on a great vegan pizza from Pete's a Pizza (topped with caramelized onions, broccoli rabe, and sautéed 'shrooms) made us realize something we've always known but sometimes forget: dairy sucks.  Not only are there so many dairy substitutes out there, but we know instinctively that it makes us feel less than stellar upon consumption.  When enjoying our amazing vegan pizza, we couldn't help but wonder: why do we ever eat dairy?  We knew we had to make a change.

I have a few things to say about changes in dietary patterns. While I am a conscious pescetarian (by which I mean I abstain from meat other than fish, and the fish I do eat is fish that is wild caught or sustainably "grown."  And I probably only eat fish once a week), Libby is an omnivore.  And yet it was she who proposed the month of dairy abstinence!  I love that she's willing to make a dietary concession, even if only briefly, in the interest of her health and general well being.

And her dairy-free proposition got me thinking about the points at which we decide to commit to alternative tracks of eating habits.

I've not yet gotten to a place where I've fully committed to abstaining from all animal products, however I aspire to do so in the near future.  I congratulate myself when I make it through a day without any animal products, however do not always make it a point to ensure this happens.  Like Libby, I try to do what I can to get to a place where I know I'm conscious of the things I put into my body.  Even if we're not paragons of health yet, we have to start somewhere, and taking that first step is, forgive the pun, a big step.

This dairy free month initiative will be the perfect opportunity for me to (finally) crack open Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet," that Eve continually recommends to me but which I have admittedly yet to read, and start training myself to forever forego dairy.