Quality Living: Vegan Living – Health, Ethics, and Spirituality

In this episode of Quality Living With Peaceful Support, host Amanda Whittemore talks with Charlie, a lifelong vegan, end-of-life doula, and holistic health guide, about the health, ethical, and spiritual benefits of veganism. Charlie shares how a whole-food, plant-based diet has improved her well-being and emphasizes the importance of mindful food choices. They discuss the […]

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
We're here on the KCIW
radio station with Quality Living
with Peaceful Support here in Brookings,
Oregon, right at the Southern
Coast Of Oregon.
We're so thankful for all of our listeners
and our sponsors and our volunteers
and the donations and all the magical parts

(00:35):
and pieces that have come together
to make this radio station. Even the coolest
new update that I just got to experience
was the Bluetooth activity
for our call in guest. This is, like,
really gonna bring us to a whole new
level of bringing in more
different diverse,
unique guests
here to the Quality Living with Peaceful Support

(00:57):
show inside the KCIW
radio station of Curry County.
We are super grateful. And anyone who's out
there and is ready to participate,
actually listeners, guess what? I've got a couple
of people who are ready to have their
own
brand new radio show
on KCIW
with us. And if you want your own
radio show, you give me a call. (541)

(01:21):
661-4098.
If you want to talk about something, you've
got a question, you've got an answer, we
we love answers.
Yeah. Anything at all that comes to mind,
you just go ahead and give the station
a call, and it's interactive. You know?
Communication and conversation usually is with multiple people.

(01:42):
So the more call in guests we have
calling, the better it feels here when we
talk into our microphones.
So that number again, (541)
661-4098.
And I'm Amanda Whittemore,
one of your newest realtors here in Brookings,
Oregon, and it is just such a treat.

(02:02):
I actually have my license activated, and I'm
able
to operate anywhere in the state of Oregon.
And, actually, globally, we can do referrals. So
everybody out there in Thailand and Costa Rica,
get ready.
Oregon's coming your way.
And so back back to the topic here
here on the quality living with peaceful support

(02:24):
program.
We take just a couple of minutes to
bring a little bit of peace and a
little bit of quality to some subjects that
may or may not get so much attention.
What we do have is our super special
friend.
She is
a known advocate here in this area. She's

(02:45):
a special, special lady. She's done end of
life she's an end of life doula
and she also has been working in the
holistic world
and very, very artistic and creative with tons
of different mediums.
And my best friend, miss Charlie,
Charlotte,
Charlie. I call her Charlie.

(03:06):
Hi.
Hi.
Yeah. And I'm glad to be with everybody
here. Hi. Yeah. You know, we're showing some
cooking.
I'm I'm sweating in Arizona.
Yeah. Well, yeah, it's like a little bit
trickling of, this, you know, sky here today.
It's a little bit wet and chilly. My
toes are cold.

(03:29):
Gotta crochet in some of those slippers.
Right. So Charlie actually crocheted me an entire,
like,
what is it? A coat? Like, it's A
fairy jacket. A fairy jacket. It is
insanely beautiful. It goes all the way to
the floor. It ties up in the front.
It has a little corset action in the

(03:50):
back that's glow in the dark and bell
sleeves.
Yeah. And with a hood.
Yeah. There you go. And then next one
will make a dress. That'll be fun. Yeah.
She's literally already got if anybody who's into
knitting, crocheting, arts, creative activity, this woman is
devoted and on fire. She literally has made

(04:10):
over probably a thousand
different flowers, shapes and colors,
bumblebees,
ladybugs,
all the things
that the I it's just stunning, the amount,
her fingers can do.
All the things.
Yeah. I've been, crocheting and doing that kind
of thing for a very long time.

(04:33):
So I, I like it. It keeps me
busy. It keeps me out of trouble.
Right. Yeah. I mean, the the it's so
technical. And then I've watched you rip things
apart after you made it, and then you
just undo it. You just pull the string.
It just goes undone. I know.
That that that freaks people out a little
bit.

(04:55):
Yeah.
It's like you just be perfect. Yeah. Well,
that's that's the true, you know, that's a
true artist. It's like, well, that's that's okay
for most people, but not not my the
way I do things. You know? And it's
it's really a lot of commitment, and I
I really appreciate that about you, like, you
know, in a lot of different activities that
we've done together,

(05:16):
end of life.
Yeah. We've done that. Absolutely.
You know, good quality care for people.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's Yeah. A unique
No. And then I remember
bringing,
the vegan,
food to, Leonard.
Right?
Yep. Yep. Gotta bring the good food to

(05:36):
the people. Yeah. So The the vitality that's
in it. And so with your lifestyle, tell
all the listeners a little bit about you
and, like, your vegan
your lifestyle.
Well, I've,
pretty much been a vegan all my life.
My parents used to, you know, try to
force me to eat meat because they used
to tell us that it was important.

(05:58):
But then you you realize that when you
do love the animals and you care for
the animals,
that, you know, it's really not such a
good idea.
When I got a little older, then I
realized that it was a lot better
to eat
whole foods and healthier foods and instead of,
you know, the drive through at McDonald's.

(06:20):
They're saying
yeah. So, you know, you learn. And and
then also the the thing that does happen
is is then your health gets better. And
then when you go to the doctor and
they check your your vitals and and all
of your blood and everything, then everything's a
lot better.
The and it's all be you know, just
based on food that I eat. You know?

(06:40):
So I I definitely,
you know, am very grateful, you know, for,
you know, leading that kind of a lifestyle.
And, also, you know, you and I have,
you know, done yoga together and and,
exercise.
I've always, you know, been, you know, very
active in that type of thing. So,
and I believe that's very good for all,

(07:01):
you know, so that we can, you know,
not be all crumbled up in our rocking
chair.
Right. Yeah. Even if you're a per a
fan of crocheting, like, you gotta get up
and stretch the bones.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You just can't sit
in the rocking chair and and and crochet
all day long. You definitely have to get
up and, you know, run around the block
a few times. Absolutely.
And so even as a kid, when you

(07:23):
would choose to eat, you know, different options,
how did your parents respond?
Well, they didn't really force me too bad,
but I still had to take that one
or two bites to satisfy
the parents
even though I I I just I I
didn't like it, and it it used to
just make me feel very uncomfortable.

(07:46):
Mhmm. Mhmm.
And then now with all your experience, like,
you showed me. So, I mean, I knew
about vegan, and I knew you know, I
worked at the Natural Food Co op in
Grass Valley at the Briar Patch.
And I, you know, was a herbalist
and very conscious and
mostly ate vegan, but there just was some
things that I just didn't even know about
that. You really showed me, like, all the

(08:07):
cool parts of the vegan world.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I have some books coming
in.
One is,
Miyoko Skinner is a woman that makes,
these,
plant based, butters and and cheeses,
and she has a cookbook.
And I have that, coming, hopefully, you know,

(08:28):
in the next few days. So then I
will learn how to make my own vegan
cheese and ice cream. Of course, everybody needs
that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is one of our favorite that you introduced
me to. Like, if you have not tried
out there listeners, they usually carry it where

(08:50):
is it? Grocery Outlet or anywhere. Outlet. Almost
all well, yeah, they also have it at,
you know, Fred Meyer's. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. I do know that.
But
well, Freddy's. That's what we always called it.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
It it's that's out of this world delicious.

(09:13):
It it really is. It absolutely is. I
I and, she has some absolutely great, cream
cheese, which I've made cheesecake
with it, and it
it people that didn't realize that it was
not cows,
you know, dairy.
They didn't realize what it was. They they
just knew that it was really good. And

(09:34):
then when I told them, they were they
were they were shocked. And I said, well,
see, you don't need to, you know, you
know, torture the animals just so you can,
you know, just have a cheese page.
Yeah.
Yeah. There's, you know, just so many different,
studies
and
tests and and, like, just actual

(09:56):
frequencies of the vibration of, you know, the
way that we process our food and how
distant and how far away we've gotten from,
like, even the origin. You and I were
talking about that.
Yeah. The factory farming. You know? I mean,
you know, if people wanna, you know, eat
meat, you know, I can't really, you know,
judge
them for that. But, I mean, I I
always say, you know,

(10:17):
do you
love animals? And they they would say, yes.
And I well, then why would you wanna,
you know, torture an animal just so, you
know, you can have a cheeseburger on your
plate? You know? And it doesn't make any
sense, you know, to,
you know, eat that negativity.
Right. Right. Yeah. And and it's you know,

(10:38):
some some
recent study, they've shown that even plants,
like, if you harvest a certain part of
the garden and they had these meters
next to the plants,
and they said that the other plants in
the same row or something down the way
put off a frequency as if a human

(10:59):
was screaming.
I believe that. I totally believe that. Yeah.
I was vibing. I mean, we're we're all
running on a vibration.
You know? So, you know, that that's makes
sense,
you know,
that that that would happen. I that you
know? And if you have, you know, negative
people, you know, pulling, you know, your your

(11:20):
plants and taking care of it, that that
probably wouldn't be so good either.
No. Yeah. We definitely learned that through the
cannabis experience,
you know Yeah. Farming a lot of
cannabis. It it made a huge difference on
who was participating
in the harvest
Mhmm. On their energy and their level as
as opposed to the batches. Even though it's

(11:42):
the same plant, we were like, why is
this batch so different?
Yeah. Definitely frequencies.
Yep. That is true.
So
And there's some vegan schools that,
tell me about those schools that you're talking
about. Oh, the, is,
August Escoffier,

(12:05):
school. They're they're online.
They are also in,
Denver, Colorado,
and Austin, Texas.
Those two places,
are on
campus, and then the one is online.
And, it's a fifteen month
program, and you could become a a certified,
chef,

(12:26):
with a degree.
And then, you know, I'll get a nice
job,
you know, you know, handing out some good
lovable vegan food.
Right. Vegan culinary school. That Oh, yeah. Well,
they and the pastries, they it it that
would definitely be a good thing for me.
I I tried to make my mother's,
cinnamon rolls

(12:47):
back in the day when I did use
dairy, but it didn't work either.
It it turned out like
it turned out like tack.
So then I tried it, you know, the
vegan way, and, actually,
it turned out pretty good. So, you know,
that was probably a good indication that I
should've just made it vegan from the beginning.

(13:08):
Oh,
yeah.
Yeah.
And, you know, you're pretty you're super healthy,
and you're, you know, really fit, and you're
well and sound mind, and, like, you got
all your, you know, ducks in a row
and all your wits about you. And, you
know, a lot of people say for you
know, if you go vegan for so many
years, this and that, and all these health

(13:28):
conditions happen. But I don't know. I'm a
fan of believing that each person's different.
Well, yes. I I believe that they are
different. You know? I mean, somebody
might believe
that they need
the animal
protein
to be strong,
but that has been proven

(13:49):
completely wrong.
There are a lot of,
vegan athletes out there.
Just heard about a 75 year old man
that is a a cyclist,
and he's been a vegan for quite a
few years,
And,
he,
still does
his marathons,

(14:11):
you know, and and he's 75.
You know? So, I mean
and he feels like he's 30. So I
I there's gotta be, you know but excuse
my birds. You know? They they they think
they need the the spotlight. Let me go
in the other room. Is that Chaz?
That's Chaz. Hi, Chaz. Are you
yeah. Oh, Chaz. He he's like, my girlfriend's
on the phone.

(14:32):
She's like, hi. And and Stuart. Hi, Stuart.
Yeah. Stuart. Stuart. Okay.
Cockati cockatiels. Right? Vegan. They're vegan. They they
were letting you know they're vegan also. And
they have the best meals. Like, they like,
when I went to Charlie's place and she
showed me what she feeds her birds, I
was like, that's what I eat.

(14:56):
Yes.
Absolutely.
Gotta make them some good old fresh food,
you know, and they they get their little
beaks all the way down in there and,
you know, yeah, they're like, yeah. We're vegan
too.
Yeah. They have millet.
You know, I used to have millet for
breakfast, and they have wheatgrass.
Oak roats.
They're addicted to oak roats. We we recently

(15:16):
got some, some grass,
grown by autistics and special needs adults,
and it's, and it's barley and wheat oats
and and
alfalfa.
Yeah.
Oh. Yeah. Yeah. That's good stuff here.
Yeah. Absolutely, Chaz. What else is going on,

(15:37):
Chazers?
He seems to be talking he seems to
be talking more than I am.
Hi, Stuart.
Yeah. Cute. So
yeah. We're
we're, very, grateful for, you know,

(15:57):
being able to,
you know, still be able to have good
food to eat.
Yeah.
I'm, you know, a little bit nervous about
the whole next generation. Like, if they have
no idea
how to grow food and they just talk
to their telephone and they say,
Siri, grow me a tomato.

(16:19):
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, that's another thing that I do
is I have a little hydroponic, you know,
aerogarden that I grow my own lettuce and
and,
you know, and I got jalapenos
and bell peppers growing.
Oh, and cherry tomatoes, of course.
So that's always good to have around, you
know. And it doesn't take up much room.

(16:41):
And that's all the kids need to learn
is, you know, you only need just a
little tiny space to
produce quite a bit of food.
Right.
Yeah.
And and it's
it's,
just a light. Like, you plug it in.
It's a machine with a tell me about
it. Tell the listeners about it. Oh, oh,
and it's totally computerized, and you can even

(17:01):
hit hook it up the Wi Fi and,
you know, the you know, I mean, the
kids can relate to all of I don't
I don't have it hooked up on Wi
Fi, but, you know, I have the other
parts going. Right? I know I know the
kids would, you know, love it because they
would be able to, you know, have their
phone tell them, you know, what you know,
to put the,
plant food in there and when it needs

(17:23):
to be watered. It has a little pump
here. It's it's a hydroponic,
setup. Okay.
Yeah. And, you know, and then I just
think there's, like, nine
nine plants or, that you could put. You
can get them bigger also, you know, after
your little space with
yeah. Little pods.
You know? And, and I have actually got,

(17:44):
you know, quite a bit of food out
of it.
So
Yeah. But
and they have them on Amazon. They're they're
about a $100,
I think. They're as small as you got.
Worth it, dude. Yours is the perfect size.
It just sits right there. Right? I mean,
it's the per I had no idea that
was that affordable.
Yeah. Yeah.

(18:05):
You know? And
and really and it's not that much to
run it. And then, you know, you set
the timer for, you know,
it has different settings on it,
for, you know, different,
herb gardens or vegetable gardens,
or you can even grow flowers in it.
But, you know,
I definitely, you know, use it for, you

(18:26):
know, the edible foods. And then, also,
I know what has gone into
that fruit the vegetables.
You can also grow little fruit in there,
which, you know, that's my next project I
wanna do is grow a fruit.
Yeah. That'll be exciting.
You gotta send me a video.

(18:47):
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, you gotta come and visit.
I know. I do. I really, really, really
do.
Because I know you like the weather here.
You know?
I'm I love it warm. It's my favorite.
Like, you know, being from
Las Vegas, Nevada and being from Central America,
it's
and even, like, you know, near Nevada City,

(19:10):
California, it's normally a 100 degrees about eight
months. Yep.
Five five to six months out of the
year.
And, you know, I'm not sure how I'm
surviving
here. I'm thriving. I'm actually thriving in Brookings.
I maybe the cold weather is what I
needed to keep my act in gear. I
don't know. Well, that's why you needed to

(19:30):
keep me on hand so I can, you
know, you know, crochet all those warm things
for you. That's true. Honestly, the hats. Am
I wearing one right now? All the fun
things.
Yeah.
Yeah. Listeners, we are talking to Charlie, one
of my best friends, a dear end of
life doula, and a holistic
health guide
and a majorly

(19:52):
phenomenal vegan chef like Charlie is. If you
have any questions about veganism,
call (541)
661-4098.
And Charlie and I are
doing a bit of a couple of segments
here on the KCIW
show, and we've
are introducing
you know, even her birds are vegan. Like,

(20:13):
you know, some some birds eat crickets or
worms or I don't know what they eat,
but
there's, you know, those powder things that you
feed the animals. But, you know, her birds
are true vegans. But so, yeah, we're having
a couple of shows that we're doing all
about veganism.
And,
yeah, thanks, Charlie, for being here with us.
We have a couple more minutes, and I

(20:34):
wanted to kinda, like, open up
the story
that you and I were talking about the
other night about how
I mean, you know, it's might be,
what's the word? Not taboo, but,
how do you call it? Controversial?
Where,
we were talk and I've I brought it

(20:54):
up in church, a couple different churches,
and we had extensive conversations about it in
Bible study
about,
the Hare Krishna
and,
the origin, like, the books that
come
five, ten thousand years before
the Bible was introduced to Earth.

(21:16):
Yeah. And,
they were talking about how,
about the the introduction of the flesh of
the animal and about how,
normally, the humans were
intended to only eat the fruits of the
garden.
And that once they ate the flesh

(21:39):
of the forbidden,
that's when all the evil and all the
weird corruption came through and all the weird
stuff happened.
And Yep. A lot of translations
say that maybe possibly the English translation from
whatchamacallit?
That when they talk about the apple, it

(22:00):
was a wrong
translation that it's actually the animal.
Right.
Right. I mean, Jesus didn't go, you know,
to the temple, you know, you know, about
the money. You know? He he was, you
know, upset that they were killing and slaughtering
the animals
and then selling them back to the to

(22:21):
the peasants. You know? And and it was
it was just pure evil from the very
beginning, you know, to the killing, the, the
torture of the animals.
And and and, you know, God in, you
know, did not intend
for us to be that way. You know,
we we're supposed to be living, you know,
peace
on earth,
you know, you know, and and the only

(22:42):
way we're gonna get peace is not to
enslave, you know, the animals. I mean, we
don't we don't wanna enslave humans,
so why would we wanna enslave, you know,
the animals,
you know, just, you know, because they taste
good that, you know, there there's so many
things so many vegan things
that, you know, you can make it taste

(23:02):
like a cow if you need to, maybe.
You know?
And and there's no killing. You know?
You know, hopefully, it's all love that comes
from the plants.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like there's so
many different books in other countries and different,
teachings.
Mhmm. Like, you know and and I talked

(23:23):
forever with different, pastors of different religions
about what does this mean? Like, what is
this about? Like, how do you how do
we
even acknowledge
like,
how do we relate? You know? And and
I think, like you're saying, like, you know,
we finally broke through from enslaving humans
on a general, on a broad base. We

(23:45):
still probably do in a lot of different
forms
Yeah. But not like it was, you know.
Like, I think the eighties was the last
of it on the big scale.
But I I really do notice and I
really do see, like, on food menus in
majority of the restaurants, like, there's
I I used to have to ask what

(24:06):
was vegan on the menus.
Now, there's a little v
on literally every single restaurant I've ever been
to recently, last five, ten years. So I
think, you know, we're hitting a transition.
Yes. We are definitely, you know,
seeing the light that, you know, that animal
cruelty is not not

(24:27):
right and and murder and, you know, and,
you know, not and not eating that negative
that, you know, comes from, you know, from
the whole process.
You know?
It it it it really is, you know,
nice to,
you know you know, eat the the the
happy food.
It feels so good. It's just this upliftment.

(24:48):
And it's like, when when I first started
doing it, like,
all of a sudden, I had more energy.
I was naturally happier for no darn good
reason.
Yeah. And it just felt good. It was
the craziest thing. My digestion started working. My
skin cleared up.
Like, a thousand different really good things happened.

(25:11):
Yeah. That is true. That is true. That
it that the feeling,
you know, that you get, you know, when
when you eat,
you know, it it it you're not eating,
you know, all that negative and
you know? So Or the promise best. Feel
better. Yeah. All the processed food, you know,
I mean, you don't you or you know,
I mean, just because you're vegan doesn't mean

(25:32):
that you're healthy. Because, you know, if you
still eat all of the vegan processed
stuff Yeah. You know, and start looking at
yourself,
you know, of course, you know, you're still
going to have some problems.
You know, you definitely
have to eat the fresh
fruit and the fresh, you know, vegetables and
whole grains and, you know, things like that.

(25:53):
You definitely have to keep that incorporated in
in your in your menu.
Definitely. Yeah. And it's it just is a
lot it just feels more peaceful. It feels
more quality.
And, you know, I've had a lot of
doctors and will and these last two comments
about, you know, like, the whole beginning of
time of what we should and should not
eat, you know, says God.

(26:14):
You know, it's like, what came first, the
chicken or the egg? And listeners, please do
call in,
(541)
661-4098.
And there's a bunch of other things that
Charlie and I are gonna just open up
the can of worms and see
who starts pecking first.

(26:35):
Probably Chaz.
Right.
Yeah. You know? I mean, you know, it's
a good way to go fishing.
Yeah.
So those worms up, and we just reel
them right in. Well, Charlie, I wanna thank
you so much. I wanna thank the listeners
and all of our sponsors. And, especially, I
wanna thank Georgia Cockerham because she is just

(26:55):
one of our sponsors that participates,
not just
donates. She participates. So I wanna give a
moment to thank her. And, Charlie, we're gonna
hear more about the veganism,
with you on other segments. So thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Alright.
Alright. Thank you. It was great to talk
to you. You. Yeah. I'll talk to you
soon. You too. Okay. Bye bye. Love you
guys. Yeah. Love you, listeners. Bye bye.

(27:18):
Alright. Bye bye.