In Defense of Animals held our seventh Carnivores Anonymous meeting on Monday, January 22 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. 

Our guest speaker was interventional cardiologist and avid athlete, Dr. Heather Shenkman. Dr. Shenkman has competed in over 100 endurance events, including two Ironman triathlons, and numerous marathons, ultra marathons and century cycling events. 

Dr. Shenkman first went vegetarian when she was 16, although she wasn’t exactly a healthy eater. It wasn’t until she read Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s book, “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” in med school that she decided to set a good example for her future patients and go vegan. After transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, she started to notice that she recovered faster on a vegan diet, allowing her to train up to 20 hours a week! When asked how one can avoid health problems that seem to run in the family, such as heart disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer and much more, Dr. Shenkman’s answer was simple: “Genetics load the gun, diet pulls the trigger,”meaning that you can improve your health and fight disease, even ones that run in your family, simply by eating plants instead of animals. You can watch Dr. Shenkman’s discussion here. 

After Dr. Shenkman’s presentation, we were invited to go around the room and speak about Step 1 in our 12-Step program, admitting our powerlessness. Some people spoke about occasionally eating animal flesh because they craved it, or eating out with friends and their desire to eat the animal products in front of them. Others spoke about feeling powerless when attending slaughterhouse vigils, wanted to save the animals but knowing they can do nothing to stop their murder. This discussion inspired Carnivores Anonymous founder and In Defense of Animals president, Dr. Kroplick, to delve deeper into the subject of powerlessness and why she feels it’s so important to accept that concept, in her recent piece. 

When you can admit your own forms of powerlessness, you are able to accept support and grow stronger. This is one of the cornerstones behind Carnivores Anonymous. We are all at different stages in life and in our vegan journey. Some have been vegan for over 20 years, while others are struggling immensely to get past their addiction to animal products, but we have all made that first step – walking through the door. We invite everyone to walk through that door with us, whether in-person or online and join Carnivores Anonymous.

We invite you to join us at our next meeting featuring a vegan gastroenterologist on February 26! To RSVP and get more information, check out the Facebook event here and the Meetup event here.