Bill Clinton, Vegan... Who Knew!

For the past three years, since his emergency heart surgery, Bill Clinton has eaten a vegan diet, the strictest kind of vegetarian diet, excluding eggs and dairy products. As to "who knew," evidently not the beef industry, or else perhaps Bill is not as famous as Oprah Winfrey, because as far as I know, they haven't threatened to sue Bill for his non-carnivorous habits.

In the summer of approximately 1981 (?), about a month before my 33^rd birthday, I turned lacto-ovo-vegetarian. My choices were to go veggie or to eat out for three continuous weeks: the house in which I lived for the duration of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute had a lot of sprout-eaters in it, and we decided as a community that all of us would go veggie for those three weeks. It was easy, and I liked it so well that I brought the habit home with me.

Today I turn 65 years old. Yes, I'm still lacto-ovo-veggie. No, I don't miss meat at all, though I do eat things like veggie bacon, veggie burgers, etc. But given the typical short lifespan of my mother's side of the family, I believe I've already lengthened my life by switching over.

If you are interested for health reasons, be aware that vegetarianism is like horseshoes... close counts. Cut your meat-eating to a couple of times a week, and you probably will lengthen your life and improve your day-to-day health.

Bill's looking mighty good these days!

(Meanwhile, GeeDubya Bush had a stent put in... my best wishes to him for his continued good health, even if he is a sorry a$$h*le...)