In Defense of Animals held our fourth Carnivores Anonymous meeting on Monday, October 30 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. Carnivores Anonymous is a 12-Step program that empowers the local community to save animals, maintain optimum health, lose weight, reverse chronic illness and tackle food addiction through plant-based eating.

Our guest speaker this month was Harry Sherwood. Harry believes we have incredible potential and that through holistic health including fitness, plant-based nutrition, and meditation, we can reach that potential. As a CrossFit coach, Harry enjoys the physical exertion and strength of the body. A strong body can only go so far without nourishment. Living a nutritious lifestyle, not only helped him to increase his abilities as an athlete but has made him a healthier person in all areas of his life. Harry found the incredible depth of meditation during his travels around the world.  Since then, Harry has found his meditation practice deepened when maintaining a healthy body. He embraces the interconnection of our physical, mental, and spiritual selves and is living in his purpose by sharing that knowledge and encouraging others on their path to self-discovery. Harry and his partner Melanie started their company Consciously, through which they are dedicated to bringing the best health education to their clients in body, mind, and soul. 

 We invite you to listen to his story here.

After listening to Harry’s journey, everyone was invited to discuss the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  Many expressed how frustrating it is to want to spend the time with their family but not want to be complicit in the sight, smell, and conversation of cooked corpses. Turkeys are wonderful, intelligent creatures who don’t deserve a life of fear and suffering, just like cows, chickens, pigs, and in some places, dogs, and horses. We developed Carnivores Anonymous specifically to support people new to a plant-based lifestyle, who commonly have family members that are not accepting or understanding of their ideals. If you’re in LA, we invite you to the big Vegan Potluck Picnic on Thanksgiving day. If not, we invite you to find a Vegan Mentor through Vegan Outreach. Mentors are there for their fellow members, from helping them choose a delicious plant-based alternative when they’re having cravings for animal products to learning strategies to navigate family events, to taking part in activism.

Whether you are an omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, or somewhere in-between, we invite you to join us as we move through our plant-based eating journeys together. If you’re in Los Angeles, we invite you to join our next meeting on November 27. You can view the event page here. If not, please sign up at www.carnivoresanonymous.org to join or start a Carnivores Anonymous group near you. We hope to see you soon!