Not just health and nutrition, he sees veganism as the modern-day ahimsa, the core of all spiritual teachings; he validates it as a precursor to spiritual intuition, awakening, liberation and fulfilment, besides world peace and sustainability! Will Tuttle is also a concert pianist, educator, and celebrated author of the insightful best-seller The World Peace Diet , now available as a free read online. Tuttle has taken on one more role now, as advisor to the International Tamil Vegetarian Union (ITVU) headquartered at Chennai, which is about to publish the Tamil edition of his book.
Over the last two decades, along with his wife Madeleine, a Swiss artist and long-time vegan herself, Tuttle has been spearheading the vegan movement across North America and the globe, and his international webinars on veganism are catching the attention of many on a global level. He hasn’t visited a doctor or taken a pill in 35 years, says the 62-year-old.
So, what prompted Tuttle to turn vegan, from being a hearty meat-eater? The factors are many, but the turning point came in 1975, when a spiritual pilgrimage with his brother brought him to a vegetarian hippie commune in Tennessee, called The Farm. “This brought to my awareness the terrible cruelty dished out to animals killed for food, and the knowledge that meat-eating causes ecological damage and even human starvation. This inspired me to become a vegetarian. Later, studying for my Masters degree in Humanities, I learned of the routine cruelty meted out to cows for getting milk, and to hens for acquiring eggs, and I became a vegan,” he says. A few years later, in 1984, young Will shaved his head and headed to Korea to live as a monk in a monastery that had been practising vegan living for 650 years, and this deepened his understanding of veganism as ahimsa.
“The transition to vegetarianism was easy. Going vegan was more difficult,” shares Tuttle. He recommends the use of plant-based alternatives to dairy products, such as coconut milk, soy yogurt, and vegan cheeses made from cruelty-free sources like tapioca, rice and almonds. Tuttle says that dairy products invariably contain various hormones, proteins and other substances difficult for humans to assimilate. “Besides, there is always himsa involved in dairy production – in owning animals, stealing their milk and babies, and it is an impingement on their sovereignty,” he remarks.
“The main challenge to watch out for is resistance — of two types. There is the inner resistance, because most of us have strong food habits/preferences, and they can be difficult to break. And then, there is the outer resistance, with people questioning our choices. Our friends and families may like us to continue to eat meat/dairy products; our doctors may want us to go back to eating meat or dairy products.
So while going vegan, make sure that you are eating healthy food with plenty of vegetables and starches like rice and potatoes,” suggests Dr. Tuttle, who augurs that the reason we eat meat/dairy products is because we are following habits/orders forced upon us from infancy. He says “Instead of robotically eating what we’re told to eat, I encourage people to use their intuition and awaken their inner intelligence and compassion, and connect with the ancient spiritual truth that we are all interconnected.”
Tuttle is fond of traditional Indian cuisine. He says, “A lot of Indian cuisine is vegan or can easily be prepared vegan. I especially love vegetable curry, dal, rice, chapattis, chutney and many other traditional items.”
