Rhea Parsons, M.D.

Rhea Parsons, M.D. is in love with her second career as an Associate Professor of Psychology where she specializes in Child and Forensic Psychology. After changing to a vegan lifestyle, Rhea lost 116 lbs. and got off of a dozen medications for various illnesses. She runs the popular vegan blog, The “V” Word, is an avid animal rights advocate, and is working on her first cookbook which will feature (mostly) whole foods, (mostly) gluten-free (totally) vegan dishes. 
You can visit The “V” Word at http://theveeword.blogspot.com

7 Lessons I Have Learned About Veganism

This month marks my 4-year anniversary of becoming vegan. I could write and sing the praises about being vegan forever but I thought I would rather share a few lessons I have learned to help those who might be struggling in their own journeys. 

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It’s almost Hanukkah and that means eight days and nights of festivities and food. However, the traditional dishes eaten at Hanukkah are not the healthiest. The holiday celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian-Greeks. When the Maccabees rededicated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, they only had enough oil to burn for one day but a miracle occurred and the oil burned for 8 days. Fried foods such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) became the traditional fare for Hanukkah because they are cooked in oil and remind us of the great miracle that happened there.  Read more

Just when we got used to non-dairy butter, now we are hearing we shouldn't buy anything that contains palm oil. Why? Isn't it vegan? Here's the short story : "the increased demand for palm oil, which is grown only in tropical environments, is fuelling destruction of the rainforest habitat of Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, pushing those endangered species even closer to extinction.  Read more

My husband, Tom, (boyfriend at the time) and I started Weight Watchers together to lose weight. Several weeks into the program, I herniated a disk in my back and ended up immobile, on the couch and out of work for over a year. My chronic bronchitis transformed into recurrent bouts of pneumonia that required multiple rounds of high-dose antibiotics. In the span of a few months, I lost my 14 year old dog, Poochie, to cancer as well as what remained of my family. Depressed and in pain, I lay on the couch watching television. Deprived of my usual fattening, comfort foods, I started watching food and cooking shows on The Food Network, The Travel Channel and other local stations. I became a huge Rachael Ray fan, likening her personality to the potential of mine, when not plagued with personal loss. For hours a day, I would watch cooking shows and attempt to “Weight Watcherize” the recipes in order to stay on program. I started ordering cookbooks and cooking magazines. I was watching food, reading food and thinking food every waking hour.  Read more

Growing up illness was always a part of my life. Every time I was bottle-fed, I would cry. My mother thought it was colic but when my cries grew louder and stronger, she took me to the doctor. He fed me whole milk and my entire body became covered in giant, red hives. I was allergic to cow’s milk so I was switched to a soy-based infant formula. When I was 2 years old, I contracted a virus that put me in the hospital for weeks, hooked up to IVs in my arms and legs. Many of my childhood days were spent in bed under a sheet-made tent filled with vaporizer steam to help the croup I got repeatedly. My cough was so bad, my father said I sounded like “a dog barking.” Doctors made house calls back then and it felt like mine was always there with his black bag of medicines and syringes, visiting more often than friends or relatives did.   Read more