Vegan Group Cooks Up Healthly Living

More than 40 people attended the monthly Vamos Vegan event at the Palisades home of founder Alicia Albek on Tuesday, Jan. 20 to nibble on vegan goodies, learn about the health and environmental benefits of a vegan diet and engage in a dialogue with nutritionist/author/teacher/retired chiropractor Dr. Shawn Miller.

Vamos Vegan is a local support group, the mission of which is to empower, support and inspire others to follow a healthy vegan lifestyle.

Albek and co-founder Renee Welch of Topanga started the group last summer. Vamos Vegan meets every month and attracts both vegans and meat-eaters alike, including teenagers as well as people in their 70s, Albek said.

“I started this group because some of my friends wanted me to help them go vegetarian,” Albek, a long-time vegan, told the Palisadian-Post.

This marked the first time, however, that the group hosted a guest speaker.

“I met Dr. Shawn Miller at an expo retreat about a year ago and I told him then that I wanted to start a vegan educational meet-up support group,” Albek said.

“Dr. Miller identified and explained how humans are meant to be vegetarian,” Albek continued. “If we were thrown in a jungle, God did not intend for us to be killing animals with our bare hands…We’re not set up physically that way. Cats have the fangs and the nails and speed to go and catch a mouse or a rat. And we’re not going to do that.”

Surprisingly, Albek said that most people who show up to Vamos Vegan events are meat-eaters who are curious to learn more about veganism.

“You don’t have to be vegan to come. Every meal counts,” Albek said. “My personal view is that it’s time for civilization to evolve. And through history people have evolved through their diet.”

The Vamos Vegan event was promoted by KISS, Kehillat Israel Society of Sisters.

For more information on Vamos Vegan events and to learn more about veganism, check out Vamos Vegan on Facebook, email vamosvegan@gmail.com or call Alicia at 310-459-0750.