We’re back to our menopause series! So far, I’ve been sharing lots of information about what we can do to age healthfully, protect our bones, build muscle, and navigate the changes that come with menopause—all with the goal of leveling up with strength, vitality, and confidence so we can continue to thrive in the years ahead.

But today, I want to focus on how to find the care and support we need to do all of these things.

Thankfully, there are more resources and options available than ever before, but how do we know where to turn, whom to trust, and what questions to ask?

In this episode, I’ll share some of those resources and recommendations, along with my own experiences and those of women I’ve worked with, to help you navigate your options, advocate for yourself, and find the support that’s right for you.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why menopause-specific training and experience matter when seeking healthcare

• The role of primary care providers and gynecologists in menopause care

• How the Women’s Health Initiative influenced attitudes toward menopausal hormone therapy

• How to find qualified menopause practitioners and specialists

• The benefits and potential pitfalls of telehealth menopause services

• The role of menopause coaches and wellness educators

• What questions to ask, what to look for, and how to advocate for yourself

• Why finding professionals who respect your needs, priorities, and values matters

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

Need more guidance or inspiration? Let’s connect one-on-one!

Whether you’re building healthier habits, navigating menopause or another life transition, strengthening your vegan journey, improving relationships, or seeking more confidence, clarity, and joy, my personalized sessions offer an opportunity to explore what’s important to you, ask questions, and receive guidance and support.

Book Your Session

If you make a purchase using the link below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the code provided.

• Complement Supplements
  Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.
  🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

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What I’m reading, watching, baking, visiting, and recommending this week.

Hello, fellow compassionistas!

Here is this week’s note where I share a few things I’m loving right now—books, movies, food, music, podcasts, and whatever else is making life better—and invite you to share yours with me as well.

Lots to share this week, so let’s get to it!

What I’m Reading: My Dickens Project Continues!

One of my goals for 2026 was to read all of the Charles Dickens’ novels I hadn’t already read in the past, and I’m thrilled to say I’m well on my way to achieving that goal—though I may need some of 2027, as his novels are so bloody long!

I’ve just finished Bleak House, which was apparently Dickens’ own favorite, though I can’t say it’s mine. I’ve certainly learned a lot about the concept of Chancery (and Lord Chancellors!), which has coincidentally come up in various ways since I started reading the book. But there just wasn’t one character I could really grab onto—someone I loved and wanted to follow. I still liked it. Just didn’t love it.

So far for my Dickens project, I’ve read Hard Times, Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield. David Copperfield and Oliver Twist are my favorites so far. I guess I have a soft spot for unfortunate orphans. :)

Still, I have more to go, including:

• The Pickwick Papers

• The Old Curiosity Shop

• Barnaby Rudge

• Martin Chuzzlewit

• Dombey and Son

• Little Dorrit

• Our Mutual Friend

• The Mystery of Edwin Drood

My goal this year was also to read 4 books per month, but the size of Dickens’ novels is slowing me down! Still, I aspire, and I’m also reading Wild Signs and Star Paths by Tristan Gooley (loving it!) Gooley is a natural navigator who teaches us how to read the clues around us—in the clouds, trees, plants, animals, stars, and landscape—to better understand the natural world.

Friend Me on Goodreads

I’m finding myself looking at everything a little differently when I’m outside, and I can’t wait to read more of his work.

What I’m Exploring: Cambodia

As you may or may not know, Cambodia in February 2027 is the only trip I’m hosting with World Vegan Travel next year. No other trip is on the books for me (other than a visit to England and Wales with my husband! More on that another time)! There are just two rooms left if you still fancy traveling with me. It’s going to be a fabulous trip!

In honor of that upcoming adventure, I surprised David with a visit to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The museum has a special exhibition called Vishnu’s Cosmic Ocean, featuring an amazing more-than-1,000-year-old bronze sculpture of the Hindu god Vishnu reclining on the cosmic ocean. The sculpture is on loan from the National Museum of Cambodia and is an extraordinary example of ancient Khmer artistry.

We attended the opening celebration, where we were blessed by Cambodian monks and enjoyed traditional Cambodian dancers. We also spent time exploring some of the museum’s modern and contemporary exhibitions.

What a beautiful way to get even more excited about Cambodia!

What We’re Watching: Everything Northern Ireland

David and I have a habit of choosing a subject and going deep. And I mean deep. Over the last couple of months, we’ve been immersing ourselves in the history of Northern Ireland and the Troubles—listening to podcast series, watching documentaries, and following those up with feature films and television dramas.

The two podcasts we listen to most are The Rest Is History and Empire, both of which have some excellent episodes exploring Irish history and the complicated political, religious, and social forces that shaped the conflict.

As for what we’ve been watching, here are some recommendations:

DOCUMENTARIES

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (2023)
An extraordinary documentary series that tells the story of the Troubles through the personal experiences of people who lived through them. Really powerful, heartbreaking, and illuminating.

Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History (2019)
An investigative documentary series that explores the hidden history of the conflict, including intelligence operations, informants, and the complicated relationships between paramilitary organizations and British security forces.

FEATURE FILMS & DRAMAS

Omagh (2004)
A moving drama about the aftermath of the 1998 Omagh bombing and the families seeking answers and justice.

‘71 (2014)
An enthralling thriller about a young British soldier who becomes separated from his unit during a riot in Belfast in 1971. This one was really good. We gave it a 9 out of 10.

Say Nothing (2024)
A drama series based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s book of the same name, exploring the Troubles through the lives of people involved in the IRA and the disappearance of Jean McConville. It’s definitely worth watching, though we felt it was more highly rated than it deserved. Good, yes. Amazing? Not quite, at least for us.

Have you watched any of these? Or do you have others to recommend?

What I’m Baking: Autumn Is Here, and the Oven Gloves Are Out!

I LOVE baking this time of year, and the oven gloves have officially come out! Is it inspired by the return of The Great British Bake Off? Or is it the sumptuous autumn air Probably both. But you will find me in the kitchen more this time of year (and into the winter) than any other.

🎂 David’s Birthday Cake

I don’t know why I have no people photos from David’s birthday celebration at our home, but I do have photos of some of the food! I do not fancy myself a cake decorator at all, but I’m pretty proud of this year’s birthday cake—chocolate, of course—and the edible flowers. I bought the flowers and then stuck them on. That’s the extent of my decorating expertise. LOL. But I’m pretty happy with the result! (Just don’t look too closely at the uneven frosting.)

Focaccia and Mushroom-Pecan Burgers

I also can’t stop baking focaccia. And this time, I used it to make the “mini buns” for my—dare I say so myself—DEEEELICIOUS Mushroom-Pecan Burgers. (The burger recipe is available in The Vegan Table and in my Burgers and Buns on-demand cooking class.) It’s so annoying that most commercially available mini buns are brioche and thus made with animal products. So I decided to bake a focaccia, split it down the middle, and use that as my bun. Couldn’t have been more delicious!

Homemade Pretzels for Oktoberfest

I also couldn’t resist baking a batch of homemade pretzels from The Joy of Vegan Baking for our neighborhood Oktoberfest hangout. They went fast!

What I’m Loving: A Hairball Remedy That Actually Works!

Our beautiful baby girl Michiko (the most perfect cat in the world) has always tended toward hairballs. Some remedies have worked. Some have not. But I don’t give up!

And thank goodness, because after much trial and error and persistence, I’ve finally found something that’s working for now. She loves it, and so do we! (Well, not to eat, obviously, but we love seeing the results!)

The difference with this one is that it’s not just a lubricant. It also contains fiber, which helps move swallowed fur through the digestive tract so it can come out the end it’s supposed to come out. So I wanted to share this with my fellow cat people in case you’re dealing with the same thing. And anything that makes Michiko happier makes us happier. ❤️

That’s it for this week! As always, I’d love to hear what you’re reading, watching, cooking, baking, or discovering these days. Leave a comment and share!

And thank you for being here. ❤️

My Favorite Supplements

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With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals—both human and non-human.

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Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 — Get personalized guidance on whatever you’re working toward. (One one-on-one session is also a perk of the Founding Member/VIP level here on Substack.)

👉 Read A Year of Compassion — Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Explore My Recipe E-Books and On-Demand Cooking Classes — Find inspiration for your next delicious plant-based meal.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I’m personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking to mention that you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

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There’s no shortage of advice about how to live a healthier life. From protein targets and strength training to sleep tracking, supplements, and the latest wellness “hacks,” we’re constantly being told what we should be doing, what we should be avoiding, and what we should be optimizing.

But with so much information at our fingertips, is all of it actually helping us? Or is the constant stream of recommendations making it harder to know where to begin—or what really matters?

In this episode, we’re exploring the growing pressure to do everything right when it comes to our health, the appeal of tracking and optimizing our lives, and the challenges of turning information into meaningful, sustainable change.

Along the way, I’ll share some of my own experiences, the lessons I’ve learned from decades of helping people make compassionate lifestyle changes, and a different way to think about progress, consistency, and what it means to live well.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why having more health information doesn’t always lead to healthier habits

• The appeal—and potential pitfalls—of wellness hacks

• When tracking our health is helpful and when it becomes counterproductive

• How consuming endless health and wellness content can leave us feeling overwhelmed

• Why trying to do everything can sometimes lead to doing nothing

• The difference between consistency and perfection

• Why taking care of ourselves should enhance our lives, not consume them

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

🎥 Need more guidance, clarity, or inspiration? Let’s connect one-on-one!

Whether you’re building healthier habits, navigating menopause or another life transition, strengthening your vegan journey, improving relationships, or seeking more confidence, clarity, and joy, my personalized sessions offer an opportunity to explore what’s important to you, ask questions, and receive guidance and support.

Book Your Session

If you make a purchase using the link below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the code provided.

• Complement Supplements
  Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.
  🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

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Why are black cats associated with witches, bad luck, and Halloween? And how did these beautiful, mysterious animals become symbols of darkness in the first place?

With Halloween just around the corner, I’m bringing back an episode that explores the fascinating—and sometimes disturbing—history behind the superstitions surrounding black cats and other animals associated with this holiday.

From ancient civilizations that revered cats to medieval Europe, where they became associated with witchcraft and the devil, we’ll trace how cultural beliefs, religious fears, and attitudes toward women helped shape the reputation of cats—and how some of those beliefs persist today.

We’ll also look at the other animals we associate with Halloween, including bats, owls, spiders, crows, and ravens, and consider how we can replace fear and superstition with understanding and compassion.

In this episode, we explore:

• The origins of Halloween and its connections to ancient Celtic and Christian traditions

• Why black cats became associated with witches, the devil, and bad luck

• How cats were revered in ancient Egypt and other civilizations

• The historical connection between cats, women, independence, and witchcraft

• The truth behind the claim that Pope Gregory IX ordered the mass killing of cats in medieval Europe

• How centuries of superstition affected the treatment of cats

• Why bats, owls, spiders, crows, and other animals became symbols of Halloween

• What these much-maligned animals contribute to our ecosystems

• How we can challenge harmful stereotypes and help protect these animals—not just at Halloween, but all year long

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!

• Complement Supplements
  Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.
  🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!

• Plaine Products
  Refillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.
  🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!

• Nama Juicer
  My favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.
  🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

Leave a comment

As Halloween approaches, I am exploring why black cats have become so synonymous with this holiday. What’s the history behind this association, and how can we challenge the myths and stereotypes that continue to shape how we see these animals? This article is one of many in my Halloween series, which also includes:

• The Plant-Based Roots of Halloween

• Vegan Treats and Zero-Waste Tricks for Halloween

• Homemade Halloween Treats (For Trick-or-Treaters or to Enjoy at Home)

• Animal-Themed Halloween Movies (That Don’t Promote Violent Against Animals)

Halloween: A Brief History

First and foremost, let’s take a quick look at Halloween and what it’s all about.

Halloween’s roots can be traced back over 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in”). Samhain was celebrated in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France and marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year.

It was seen as a liminal time — when the boundary between the living and the dead was blurred, when the “spirits” or “fairies” could more easily come into this world and were particularly active. The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality, and places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures.

In Christianity from the 4th century, feasts commemorating Christian saints and martyrs were held in various places by various churches on various dates, mostly in springtime; but in 837 Pope Gregory IV ordered the official observance of All Saints Day every November 1 and extended its celebration to the entire Church.

There are different theories as to why this date was chosen, but it certainly makes sense that honoring the dead at this time of year — in the winter when it was the time when things died, when nature went to sleep — was something that resonated with Christians, just as it had with the Celtic-speaking peoples who commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter.

For this observance, it was a common custom for Christians to begin their liturgical celebrations the night before All Saints Day, which came to be known as All Hallows Eve (from hallow, which means “holy,” and een, which is an abbreviation of “evening”).

Obviously, this later became the word Halloween.

Later on, Christian missionaries introduced All Souls’ Day on November 2, which perpetuated the idea of the living coming into contact with the dead around the same time of year.

And so these three days (All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day) are collectively called Allhallowtide — a time when Western Christians honor all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven.

Halloween was eventually brought to North America by European immigrants, particularly the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. During the 20th century, the observance largely became a secular one, which has continued to evolve.

The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources and has developed over the centuries, including symbols related to themes of death, witches, and their common cohorts — black cats.

Black Cats: From Reverence to Superstition

But how have black cats become associated with witches and Satan and Halloween? When did this start? How far back can we trace this association? What are the social and cultural implications and consequences of such an association?

For the record, while black cats have positive associations in Celtic-speaking nations and in Japanese folklore, in most Western cultures, black cats have typically been looked upon as a symbol of evil omens, specifically suspected of serving as witches’ familiars, or actually being shape-shifting witches themselves.

Most of Europe considers the black cat a symbol of bad luck, particularly if one walks across the path in front of a person, which is believed to be an omen of misfortune and death. And this goes back hundreds of years to the Middle Ages, when these dark felines were considered a symbol of the Devil himself.

It didn’t help that centuries later, accused witches were often found to have cats, particularly black ones. People began to believe that the cats were a witch’s “familiar” — supernatural entities that would assist in their practice of dark magic — and so black cats and nefarious behavior have been linked ever since.

But let’s go back a little bit. Have black cats been the only cats to historically be considered suspect? Were tabby cats also seen as the Devil’s minions? Grey cats? Orange cats?

The short answer is…cats of all colors have historically been regarded with suspicion. Regardless of their color (and eventually their breed), cats have long been both revered, misunderstood, and maligned.

Historical Connections Between Cats and Humans

The bonds between humans and cats can be traced to some of the world’s earliest civilizations, with ancient Egypt standing out as the most known even among those of us not versed in ancient Egyptian history.

Ancient Egypt: Cats as Sacred Animals

In ancient Egypt, cats held a sacred status, with the goddess Bastet frequently portrayed in feline form, occasionally embodying the qualities of a powerful lioness. The act of harming a cat was strictly prohibited, and according to the Greek historian Herodotus, when a domestic cat passed away, it would lead to a household-wide period of mourning, including the shaving of eyebrows.

Deceased cats were brought by families to the revered city of Bubastis for mummification and burial in consecrated repositories.

Ancient Rome: Cats as Symbols of Freedom

When it came to the ancient Romans’ opinion of the cat, on one hand, the domestic cat lacked the qualities of duty, obedience, and loyalty that the Romans highly valued. On the other hand, the cat inherently embodied traits of freedom, independence, and autonomy, which were qualities that the Romans unmistakably admired.

In that vein, the Romans regarded the cat as a symbol of freedom, representing the goddess Libertas (Latin for “liberty” or “freedom”), who was a minor but widely worshiped Roman deity.

Ancient Greece: A More Complicated Relationship

Cats are infrequently mentioned in ancient Greek literature, although Aristotle observed in his History of Animals that female cats possess a naturally “lecherous” disposition. The Greek essayist Plutarch associated cats with cleanliness; Pliny connected them with lust, while Aesop linked them with cunning and deviousness.

Subsequently, the Greeks blended their own goddess Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, eventually transferring Bastet’s cat-related attributes to Artemis.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, during the gods’ flight to Egypt and their transformation into animal forms, the goddess Diana (the Roman counterpart of Artemis) takes on the form of a cat.

However, the cat’s symbolism took on a darker meaning in Greek mythology due to its connection with Galinthias, who was transformed into a cat by the goddess Hera and who subsequently served Hecate, the Greek goddess of the underworld.

So, a mixed bag in the ancient world, but it turns pretty dark as we get to the Middle Ages.

Cats, Women, and Witches

During the Middle Ages, cats were generally disapproved of — at best, tolerated because of their adeptness at controlling “vermin,” and, at worst, perceived as agents of darkness and devils.

One of the most enduring beliefs was that black cats were witches’ familiars, aiding them in their dark arts. But we need to unpack this more, because it wasn’t simply that cats had a poor reputation because they were associated with witches — it’s really that they were associated with women.

For thousands of years, cats have been seen as feminine creatures. In ancient Egypt, the cat goddess Bastet was associated not only with warfare but also with motherhood and fertility. The Norse goddess Freyja was believed to have a chariot pulled by large cats, and in general cats have been considered protectors and nurturers, just as human women are.

What’s more, being nocturnal animals, cats are associated with the moon, with the night — both of which are considered feminine. Cats are also perceived as independent and mysterious creatures endowed with intuition, enigmatic allure, and a connection to the unknown — traits traditionally attributed to the feminine. Even their bodies are seen as feminine — they’re sleek, they’re clean, they’re agile.

OK — that all sounds pretty good. Nothing about any of that is negative, you say, but it’s all negative given the poor light in which women and the feminine were perceived in the Middle Ages.

Prior to the popularization of the Cult of the Virgin Mary in the High Middle Ages (1000–1300), coupled with the French romantic tradition of courtly love, women were closely associated with Eve and the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Women were considered innately sinful, lusty, and responsible for man’s first fall as well as whatever struggles each individual man after Adam had to endure.

Couple that with the negative associations of the sexuality of cats — they’re nocturnal, they play with their prey, their screams during copulation — equate that to women, and to the patriarchal culture of the Middle Ages, the cat — and women — are not to be trusted.

And so it follows that you have this association of cats with suspicious women, with solitary women, with witchcraft, with the dark arts, and it’s not a huge leap to cats and women witches being in cahoots with the devil — the devil that the early Christians genuinely feared.

Cats, like the women accused of witchcraft, tend to exhibit a healthy disrespect of authority. They don’t fawn, like dogs, upon even the unworthy. In the church, neither independent women, nor independent animals, were to be tolerated.

At some point, the pairing of witches with cats narrowed to black cats. Some people even thought witches were reborn as black cats, or that Satan himself turned into a cat when socializing with witches. So a black cat crossing your path might very well be on a mission from a witch. Or, it could be the devil in disguise.

This superstition has persisted and explains why a black cat crossing your path is still considered a bad omen.

Black cats were also thought to be involved in satanic rituals, which only added to their sinister reputation. And this is when we get to the legend that Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull in the 1230s called Vox in Rama that declared cats as the instruments of Satan and ordered that all cats be killed — especially black cats, who were particularly Luciferian.

It’s a popular myth and a persistent myth and one that emerges from the church’s theological thinking around cats and around Satan and demons and such. After all, cats fly in the face of the Christian idea of God putting the natural world and its creatures here for humanity’s benefit. People can make all manner of animals do what we like, but you can’t really make a cat do anything.

And that — according to the medieval church — is because its body is invested with the spirit of the Morning Star himself. That is certainly how cats were often viewed, but is it true that the pope called for the culling of cats?

Did Pope Gregory IX Really Order the Killing of Cats?

One of the most persistent myths about cats in the Middle Ages is that Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull in 1233 called Vox in Rama that declared cats instruments of Satan and ordered that all cats be killed — especially black cats.

But is that what actually happened?

During the 13th century, the Church was increasingly concerned with heresy and dispatched inquisitors throughout Europe to identify those suspected of deviating from Catholic doctrine.

One of them was Konrad von Marburg, who got a little too much pleasure from his job.

Through torture, terror, and intimidation, Konrad claimed to have uncovered a satanic cult in Germany whose members worshiped the devil in the form of a demonic man and a sinister black cat.

In response to Konrad’s allegations, Gregory issued Vox in Rama, denouncing the alleged rituals and urging authorities to take action against the supposed cult. And this is the document that has been cited over the centuries as evidence that Pope Gregory IX called for a cat genocide.

But there’s a big difference between what the document actually says and what people have claimed it says. Gregory was responding to the sensational allegations of an overzealous inquisitor whose account of satanic rituals was highly questionable.

The bull was not a call to kill all cats in Europe. It was a letter warning authorities about an alleged satanic cult in which a black cat featured prominently.

From Superstition to Companionship

While there appears to be no evidence that Pope Gregory IX ever called for a cat cull in Europe, that doesn’t mean cats were cuddled and revered. During the Middle Ages, cats were sometimes tortured and killed because of their association with “evil,” even as they were valued for controlling rats and mice in households, on ships, and in places where food was stored.

The negative perceptions surrounding black cats and their association with witchcraft persisted and made their way across the Atlantic, courtesy of Puritan colonists. Over time, these superstitions became intertwined with Halloween.

By the 18th and 19th centuries, however, attitudes toward cats were changing. Writers such as Samuel Johnson and Mark Twain celebrated cats as beloved companions, helping to popularize a view of cats that would have been familiar to the ancient Egyptians — and is certainly familiar to cat lovers today.

But while cats have become treasured family members, the old associations between black cats, witchcraft, and evil have never entirely disappeared. We still see them in Halloween decorations, scary stories, and the persistent belief that a black cat crossing your path brings bad luck.

And although black cats are among the many wonderful animals waiting for homes in shelters, they can still face disadvantages in adoption, particularly when shelters have large numbers of them.

Which brings us to what we can do to change the story.

How We Can Help Black Cats at Halloween — and Always

Promote awareness. Share information about black cats’ unjust stereotypes and challenge the idea that they’re sinister, unlucky, or associated with evil.

Support black cat adoption. Black cats — including black-and-white tuxedo cats — can face stereotypes and biases that affect how people perceive them. Encourage adopting these beautiful cats from shelters, especially around Halloween. You can be part of changing the stigma, even if you're not able to adopt cats yourself!

Take Halloween precautions. Encourage pet guardians to keep their cats safely indoors during Halloween to protect them from potential harm or pranks.

And just as importantly, let’s be mindful of how we portray black cats. Personally, I don’t include them in my Halloween decorations because I don’t want to perpetuate their association with darkness and evil.

Perhaps that’s one of the most meaningful things we can do: change how we talk about these animals, how we perceive them, and how we depict them. The stories we tell about animals have consequences for the animals themselves.

And we have the power to tell different stories.

In the next article, I’ll explore the history and superstitions behind other animals associated with Halloween, including crows, ravens, owls, bats, and spiders. Why did these animals become symbols of darkness, mystery, and fear?

Before You Go…

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for, including a special discount when you purchase a 3-session package.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to add JOYFULVEGAN as the coupon code. 😊

Please share with a friend.

Share

If you’re enjoying my articles and want to help this publication grow so we can reach more people, please take a moment to comment, heart, or share this post. For the animals, thank you! ❤️

After my father’s death at age 94, I had the honor of writing and delivering his eulogy. What began as an effort to capture his life in just a few pages became an unexpected reflection on the stories we tell about ourselves and one another, how we remember the people we love, and what it means to live a meaningful life.

I also return to an unfinished podcast episode from years ago about writing your own eulogy, and I share the eulogy I delivered at my father’s funeral.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!

• Complement Supplements
  Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.
  🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!

• Plaine Products
  Refillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.
  🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!

• Nama Juicer
  My favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.
  🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

Years ago, I started writing an episode of my Food for Thought podcast called “Write Your Own Eulogy.” I never finished it, but the idea has stayed with me, and recently, for reasons I couldn’t have anticipated, I’ve been thinking about it again.

In some contemplative traditions and courses on mindful death and dying, participants are invited to write their own eulogy. It’s an exercise in reflecting on your life while you’re still living it, not to dwell morbidly on death but to think more intentionally about life.

What would you want people to say about you when you’re gone? What would you want them to remember? What would you hope your life stood for?

And perhaps more importantly, what would the answers to those questions tell you about how you’re living right now?

Of course, the point isn’t to come up with the perfect answers. It’s to recognize that we still have some say in what those answers might be.

I’ve been thinking about returning to that unfinished podcast episode and exploring these questions more deeply. But in the meantime, I found myself writing a different eulogy.

My father’s.

The Impossible Task of Summarizing a Life

My father, John Patrick, died on July 27, 2026, at the age of 94. I recently returned from his funeral, where I had the honor of writing and delivering his eulogy. I had already written his obituary, which was its own meaningful exercise, but writing his eulogy was something else entirely.

An obituary is, in many ways, a public record of a life. It tells people who someone was, where they came from, what they did, whom they loved, and whom they left behind.

A eulogy is different. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the person behind those facts, to capture something of who they were and what they meant to the people who knew and loved them.

As I sat down to write my father’s eulogy, I was struck by the impossibility of capturing 94 years of his life in just a few pages, a few minutes, a few stories.

I began to realize that I couldn’t possibly capture every aspect of who he was.

Nor did I have to.

The Mosaic of a Life

One of the most meaningful realizations I had while writing my father’s eulogy was that I wasn’t writing the story of his life. I was writing my story of his life, informed by what I knew of him and by what others (and he) had shared with me.

My father was a father to me and my sister, a grandfather to his grandchildren, a husband, a son, a friend, a soldier, a colleague, a neighbor. He was a familiar face to people who knew him through his work, a character in stories told by old friends, and a presence in the lives of people I may never meet.

Each of those people knew a different version of him.

Not necessarily a contradictory version, although sometimes that, too. But a different version, shaped by the circumstances in which they knew him, the years they shared with him, the experiences they had together, and the particular relationship that existed between them.

Some knew his generosity. Some knew his humor. Some knew his stubbornness. Some knew his vulnerability. Some knew the younger man he had been, while others knew only the older man he became.

And none of those people, including me, knew all of him.

I knew him as my father. Others knew him as a friend, a fellow soldier, an uncle, a cousin, a neighbor. Each of us had our own memories and experiences, our own understanding of who he was.

I began to think of these different perspectives as pieces of a mosaic. Each of us held a piece of a much larger picture, and together, our memories and experiences revealed more of who he was than any one of us could have known alone.

I found that realization comforting. I didn’t have to capture every aspect of who my father was. I could honor him by sharing what I knew, knowing that others carried memories, experiences, and stories that were equally part of his life.

But what I didn’t expect was how much this realization would affect the way I thought about my own life.

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We Are More Than Someone Else’s Story of Us

I began thinking about all the people I’ve known throughout my life and how differently each of them might describe me.

Some might remember my generosity, loyalty, and compassion; others might recall moments when I was frustrated, impatient, hurt, or simply not at my best.

And I’ve realized that sometimes I’ve allowed those more negative perceptions to carry more weight than all the others. I can find myself dwelling on someone’s criticism, questioning my own character because of how one person has experienced me.

But writing my father’s eulogy has helped me see this differently.

There may be things about me that someone finds challenging, or times when I haven’t shown up as the person I aspire to be. I can acknowledge that, reflect on it, and take responsibility for my part in a relationship without allowing those experiences to define the entirety of who I am.

That person’s experience of me may be entirely valid, but it’s still only one experience.

One perspective.

One piece of the mosaic.

Just as I couldn’t possibly tell the whole story of my father’s life, no one person can tell the whole story of mine. Nor can I tell the whole story of anyone else’s.

There’s something both comforting and humbling about that realization. Comforting because it reminds me that no one person’s perception of me defines who I am. And humbling because the same is true of my perceptions of others.

It allows me to give a little more grace to myself and to others, recognizing that each of us sees only part of the whole picture.

Writing Our Own Eulogies

Which brings me back to that unfinished podcast episode and the exercise of writing your own eulogy.

I still think there’s tremendous value in asking ourselves how we want to be remembered, what we want our lives to stand for, and what kind of impact we want to have on the people around us. But writing my father’s eulogy has added another dimension to those questions.

Ultimately, we don’t get to decide how everyone will remember us. We can influence those memories through the way we live, the choices we make, the kindness we extend, and the love we give. But the stories people tell about us will always be shaped by their own experiences and perspectives, emphasizing some aspects of who we are while overlooking others.

Writing my father’s eulogy taught me that a life isn’t one story, told by one person. Each of us contains more stories than any one person could ever tell.

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A Eulogy for My Father, John L. Patrick
(1932–2026)

What follows is the eulogy I had the honor of delivering at my father's funeral. It is, of course, only one piece of his story, but it's the piece I wanted to share.

Trying to summarize 94 years in just a few minutes feels like an impossible task.

John Patrick was many different things to many different people. He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle; he was an athlete, a soldier, an author, a TV host, a friend, and a devout Catholic. To those who watched his show or read his books, he was simply ‘The Gambler.’

To those close to him, he went by many names: he was ‘Pa’ to me, ‘Pappy’ to his grandchildren, ‘Dat’ to my sister, ‘Uncle John’ to his nieces and nephews, ‘Bum’ to his father, ‘Eagle’ to his schoolmates and Army buddies, and ‘Sergeant’ to his platoon.

Each and every one of those roles meant the world to him, and he took each one deeply to heart.

And then, of course, there were the titles he gave himself. Apparently, he won a singing contest back in grammar school and was crowned ‘The Brownie King’—something he clearly never forgot and didn’t let any of us forget either.

It seems like that early accolade went to his head, because when my sister and I were little, he insisted we call him not the Brownie King but “King.” Just “King.” Luckily that didn’t stick, much to his disappointment I’m sure, but while he didn’t get the royal subjects he had hoped for, he did love to hold court, he commanded a room, and he had a natural gift for drawing people in—and drawing them out.

As much as he loved the spotlight, he had an equal passion for learning other people’s stories, whether they were a stranger he met on the street, a cashier at the checkout, or a server at a restaurant. He was genuinely curious about everyone he met. He wanted to know who people were, where they came from, and what made them tick.

Beneath all his bravado and underneath his larger-than-life persona, he had a huge heart, especially when it came to the most vulnerable. Throughout his life, he was always helping others, even when he had little to spare himself. And he extended that same compassion to animals, whether it was the dogs he lived with over the years, the shelter animals he donated to support, or my cats, who he insisted he wasn’t going to like, until he met them, fell in love, and talked about them with affection long after they passed.

That same devotion went double for the people in his life. He always had time, made time, and would drop whatever he was doing for family and friends.

When you called, when you visited, when you needed him—he was always there, always in your corner, as he was fond of saying. My brother-in-law said it best when he said, “I will always remember him as the man who made you feel that just seeing you made his day.” He really did make you feel like you were the most important person in the room—second only to himself, of course.

Whether he was asking about your friends, your family, your job, your health, your struggles, or your successes, he had a way of making everyone around him feel special.

And so, when I think about how to summarize my father and his 94 years...of course it’s impossible. He was indeed so many things to so many people, which means each one of us holds our own summary of him. We each had our own distinct relationship with him. We each have our own memories, our own stories, our own understandings and moments that are uniquely ours. And in sharing them with each other, we assemble the full tapestry of who he was.

So we’ll keep telling those stories today and always, and goodness knows he loved nothing more than a good story. But we can also honor him by taking a page out of his playbook...by taking an interest in the people around us, listening to their troubles and triumphs, making time, showing up, asking questions, being curious, lighting up when they enter the room, and making them feel like just seeing them has made your day.

That’s the spirit of John Patrick that I want to carry forward. And may it be so.

Speaking of Celebrating Life…

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for, including a special discount when you purchase a 3-session package.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

Please share with a friend.

Share

If you’re enjoying my articles and want to help this publication grow so we can reach more people, please take a moment to comment, heart, or share this post. For the animals, thank you! ❤️

We’ve talked about the nutrients our bones need and the importance of strength training, movement, and physical stimulus. But there’s another factor influencing the health of our bones, muscles, and joints—and understanding it changed the way I thought about menopause and hormone therapy.

Along the way, I’ll share some of my own experiences, what prompted me to investigate hormone therapy more seriously, and what the research tells us about protecting our bones as we age.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why menopause affects more than hot flashes and night sweats

• The connection between estrogen, inflammation, and joint health

• Why women over 50 are more susceptible to certain joint problems

• How declining estrogen affects bone density

• What decades of research reveal about hormone therapy and fracture prevention

• Why preventing osteoporosis matters even when you feel perfectly healthy

• What happens to bone protection when hormone therapy stops

• How education changed my own perspective on hormone therapy

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!

• Complement Supplements
  Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.
  🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!

• Plaine Products
  Refillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.
  🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!

• Nama Juicer
  My favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.
  🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

We all know how vital minerals such as calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, and protein are for building strong bones, and I discuss this in detail in my podcast episode called Bone Health at Every Age: Part One. But nutrients are just half the story. Just as we need to give our muscles a reason to thrive by putting stress on them, so too do we need to give our bones, joints, and cartilage a physical signal to adapt, rebuild, and stay resilient.

You can take all the calcium, protein, and vitamin D in the world, but if you don’t give your skeleton a physical reason to use those materials, your body simply won’t deposit them where they’re needed most.

Movement, impact, stress, stimulus, pushing, pulling—those are the signals our bodies actually need to put those nutrients to work.

So while you can listen to my podcast episode called Bone Health at Every Age (Part 2: Movement, Muscle, and Mechanical Stress) for the fuller explanation of things, I wanted to also include this vital information for you right here in an article.

Hormones and Bone Loss

Before we dive into movement mechanics, let’s revisit why this matters so urgently, no matter what age you are right now.

• One in two women over fifty will break a bone because of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis literally means “porous bone”—it’s a condition where the body loses too much bone, makes too little bone, or both, making the bones weak, brittle, and far more likely to break.

• Peak bone mass happens in our late 20s to early 30s, and from that point on, our bodies naturally begin to lose bone density year after year. Whether you’re in your 20s or 30s right now, or you have people in your life who are, this is a conversation we have to start having early.

• During perimenopause, hormone fluctuations start throwing off bone remodeling. But when you hit menopause and the ovaries stop producing estradiol, that’s when bone loss hits its most aggressive, rapid pace. Women can lose up to 10% to 20% of their total bone density in those years surrounding menopause.

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That sounds alarming, but there is hope! Let’s start with understanding what bone is made of so we can learn how to give our body the exact physical signals it needs to rebuild.

The Structure of Bone

Bone is living, dynamic tissue made of protein, minerals, and specialized living cells that continuously break down, rebuild, and respond to physical stress on our skeleton.

Over 90% of those cells are osteocytes—embedded deep inside your skeleton like little biological project managers. While the other 10% are busy tearing down old tissue or building new bone, osteocytes sit inside the tissue sensing every ounce of mechanical force you apply. When you lift, push, pull, or impact your body, these sensors feel that stress and order fresh reinforcement.

And that reinforcement isn’t just calcium—it’s collagen. Collagen is the master structural protein of the human body. It acts as the flexible steel rebar holding together your skin, tendons, joint cartilage, and the internal frame of your bones.

Think of collagen as the high-strength steel cables in a suspension bridge, and calcium as the hard concrete pillars. The concrete gives our bones their rigidity and strength, but the flexible steel cables give them pliancy—so they can absorb impact without snapping.

This brings up a massive misconception trending right now: the idea that you have to consume collagen to make collagen.

Are Vegans Missing Out on Collagen?

When people buy collagen powders, supplements, or bone broth, they are consuming the collagen extracted from animal connective tissue—specifically cow hides, pig skin, hooves, fish scales, and boiled carcass bones, because that’s where collagen resides. In other words, there is no such thing as vegan collagen: plants simply don’t make it. Collagen only exists in the connective tissue of animals.

So, are vegans missing out? Do we need to eat someone else’s collagen to make collagen in our own bodies?

The answer is absolutely no.

Our bodies make their own collagen. We don’t need to consume animal skin or bones to build and repair our frame. Instead, we just need to provide our bodies with the building blocks and the right physical signals to increase the production of our own native collagen. How?

1. Eat adequate plant protein: Protein provides the basic building blocks—those amino acids—that our bodies use to synthesize collagen. (Aim well above the bare minimum RDA baseline, as I discuss in Are You Eating Enough Protein? Part One and Are You Eating Enough Protein? Part Two)

2. Prioritize Vitamin C: Vitamin C is the essential helper required to link those amino acids together into stable collagen strands. Leafy greens, bell peppers, citrus, and berries give us what we need.

3. Provide physical stimulus: Collagen in our tendons, ligaments, and bones responds to stress and physical tension. Lifting weights and loading our joints signals our cells to synthesize and lay down fresh collagen. See below.

When you see products labeled “Vegan Collagen,” what you’re really buying are plant-derived amino acids and Vitamin C blended together as “collagen boosters;” i.e. to boost our body’s production of collagen.

But you need neither expensive supplements nor slaughterhouse waste. With plant protein, Vitamin C, and physical movement, your body has everything it needs to build strong collagen and resilient bones naturally.

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Weight Lifting & Progressive Overload

Mechanically, bone is attached to muscle through our tendons. When we put load on the muscle, we also put load on the bone, tugging on the bone tissue and flexing it just enough to stimulate those osteocytes, the cells that build new bone.

To fire up those osteocytes through lifting, focus on compound movements that load your whole frame—such as squats and lunges, which drive force straight through your hips, femurs, and lower spine; deadlifts, which pull hard on your entire posterior chain and hip sockets; and overhead presses and push-ups, which load your arms, wrists, shoulders, and upper spine.

This means lifting heavy enough for that stimulus to take place—though you certainly don’t start at a weight that’s going to hurt you! Hearing “you have to lift heavy” can sound intimidating, but “heavy” is relative to YOU. It simply means a weight that feels challenging to your current baseline by the end of a set.

What you want to build into your routine as you progress is progressive overload—gradually increasing the demand on your muscles and bones over time. Because if you keep lifting the exact same weight forever, your body adapts to that load and simply stops being triggered to build new bone. When a weight starts feeling easy, you either add a little bit more weight or do a couple more reps until you are approaching fatigue.

And let me be the first to tell you not to fall into the trap of telling yourself, “I’ve never lifted weights before.” The truth is you have been lifting weights your entire life. You lift heavy bags of groceries, potting soil, toddlers, laundry baskets, and suitcases.

You are already lifting, and you are stronger than you think.

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Plyometrics and Jump Training

Plyometrics simply means jump training or fast, explosive movements that create impact, such as jumping jacks, box jumps, squat jumps, skipping, or simple high-impact stomping.

While lifting weights pulls on your bones through your tendons, high-impact movements hit your skeleton from the outside in. Every time your foot strikes the ground, a force wave travels straight up your ankles, knees, hips, and spine, flexing the bone tissue fast.

And don’t be overwhelmed thinking you need yet another training routine on top of what you’re already doing or planning for. Research shows that even just 10 to 20 jumps or stomps a day can significantly help preserve and build bone mineral density in your hips and femurs.

What About Walking, Running, or Tennis?

• Walking is fantastic for cardiovascular health, mental clarity, and blood sugar regulation, but walking alone is usually not enough to create the force needed to build new bone.

• Running is better than walking, but it is largely linear.

• Tennis, pickleball, and court sports involve lateral movements, sprinting, stopping, and explosive multidirectional loading, making them fantastic for bone building.

Keep walking—but just don’t rely on it as your sole bone-building plan.

Bones, Joints, and the Role of Hormones

Impact and heavy lifting give our bones the physical signal to rebuild, but they don’t work in a vacuum. Our hormones play a massive, behind-the-scenes role in how well your body actually builds and retains bone density and keeps your joints lubricated and pain-free.

I’ve experienced firsthand just how profound this hormonal shift can be—and how dramatically it impacts how your skeleton and joints feel day to day. (I go deep into my own personal experience and the exact story of what happened in this week’s podcast episode, so make sure to give that a listen if you haven’t already!)

In Part 3 of this series, we’re going to dive into hormone replacement therapy, and the benefits of putting back into our bodies what they are so sorely lacking in menopause. Stay tuned, and be sure to subscribe to get notified.

Please write your questions, comments, and experiences below. I’d love to know how I can help and what topics you’d like me to cover!

Leave a comment

Before You Go…

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for, including a special discount when you purchase a 3-session package.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

Please share with a friend.

Share

If you want to build strong, resilient bones, protect your joints, and stay vital through perimenopause, menopause, and life in general, it’s essential to create that physical stimulus.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why nutrition isn’t enough without the physical stimulus

• The truth about collagen supplements

• Those little osteocyte cells — what they are and how we wake them up

• How to use progressive overload (and why you’re already stronger than you think)

• Why “heavy” is relative to you, and how to start where you are

• The difference between weight-bearing exercises and plyometrics,

• If walking, running, and court sports create the impact our bones need

• Why the drop in estrogen impacts not just our bones, but our joints, cartilage, and tendons

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!

• Complement Supplements
  Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.
  🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!

• Plaine Products
  Refillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.
  🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!

• Nama Juicer
  My favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.
  🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

In this episode I share a few life updates, including:

• my father’s passing

• my husband’s personal challenge

• my sister’s visit

• my recent diagnosis

• my travel decisions

• my upcoming FREE webinar with Complement on Tuesday, September 22, 2026: Healthy Aging and the Menopause Transition

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

CAMBODIA 2027: Join me on an unforgettable journey from the breathtaking temples of Angkor to the vibrant streets of Phnom Penh. Join us for Culture, Cuisine & Conservation. Enter JOYFULVEGAN when booking to redeem the special offer of a one-on-one or private cooking class with me.

Redeem This Offer!

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

Leave a comment

Hello, fellow compassionistas! Here is this week’s note where I share a couple things I’m loving right now — books, movies, food, music, podcasts, etc. — and invite you to share yours with me as well.

I hope you’re doing well! It’s been a bit of a whirlwind lately—

• grieving the loss of my dad

• missing my husband while he was 10,000 miles away climbing Kilimanjaro

• and getting ready for my sister to visit with yet another one of her (adult) children Really looking forward to that.

Hopefully by the time Lori and Casey arrive, I won’t be in the immense pain I’m in now from the Cervical Facet Arthrosis I’ve just been diagnosed with (a fancy term for wear-and-tear arthritis in the neck joints, which is currently inflamed and causing lots o’ discomfort). Fingers crossed. (UPDATE: I was still in immense pain for half the time they were here, but with some interventions, I’ve now got some relief.)

NOTE: The Healthy Aging Webinar has come and gone, but you can always book one-on-one sessions with me.

Father’s Service

As I shared here, my father, John Patrick, peacefully passed away on July 27th, 2026. We now have the details for his service in New Jersey on October 2nd, and I wanted to share them for anyone who may want to join us or share this with relevant friends and family. You never know who might see this and want to attend. All are welcome.

Services & Celebration of Life: Friday, October 2, 2026

• 11:00 AM — Memorial Mass

  Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church

• 1:00 PM — Procession & Cemetery Interment

  Following the Mass, a procession will head to the cemetery where he will be laid to rest alongside his parents with full military honors.

  Immaculate Conception Cemetery

• 2:30 PM — Celebration of Life

  Following the cemetery, we will gather to share food, drinks, and favorite stories and memories of John.

  Springfield Elks Lodge

I’m in the process of writing his eulogy, which is a daunting, albeit deeply meaningful, task. Depending on how I feel about it, I may very well share it when I’m done. I’m also in the process of finalizing the grave marker for me and David (and my mom) that I wrote about here.

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What I’m Celebrating

On a happier note—though I definitely wasn’t happy while we were apart for so long—my husband David just got back from climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro! I’m so proud of him for accomplishing such a grueling feat (I had no interest), especially considering he struggled with the altitude the entire time. He’s had many stories to share, and he’s very happy to not be nauseous every day!

But even better than the achievement? He’s home!!!!!! And holy crap did we miss each other. We have zero intention of being apart like this ever again (especially now that this bucket-list item is officially checked off). Big thanks to World Vegan Travel for taking such wonderful care of him as a traveler this time rather than a host!

What I’m Reading

While I’m reading plenty of books not related to menopause, I am definitely deep into this topic right now. I’ll continue providing resources to support you (including during the upcoming webinar), but in the meantime, I highly recommend checking out these four books:

• Estrogen Matters by Avrum Bluming, MD and Carol Tavris, PhD

• The New Perimenopause by Mary Claire Haver, MD

• The New Menopause by Mary Claire Haver, MD

In addition, I want to recommend Gene Baur’s new book, Farm Sanctuary: The Story of a Movement coming out at the end of September, though you can pre-order it now. It is so nostalgic looking back through all the photos of this beautiful book. I spent over a dozen years going back and forth to the Orland sanctuary—volunteering, supporting them, taking people there and leading tours, and most importantly, connecting with the beautiful animal residents.

I was so touched when Gene asked if he could include my favorite photo—of me and Linus, and the story surrounding it—and I was thrilled to see it featured in the book alongside hundreds of other gorgeous photos and stories.

That’s it for now. I’ll share more about the arthrosis in my neck another time. For now, I hope you are well and can utilize these recommendations. Also, look forward to seeing you in the webinar!

Leave a comment

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for. (One one-on-one connection is also a perk of the Founding Member/VIP level here on Substack.)

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

My Favorite Supplements

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

Thank you for clicking the heart ❤️ at the top or bottom of this post, which helps others discover this publication! 🙏

If you’ve been listening to Food for Thought podcast or reading my Substack over the last few years, you know I’ve been talking a lot about protein.

If you’re new to my work, you might be shaking your head thinking I’ve just hopped on the high-protein bandwagon.

First of all, you’d be wrong to assume that. I don’t jump on bandwagons—never have, never will.

Second, this is not about following trends; it’s about listening to the research (some of which has been updated), honoring where our bodies are right now, and aligning our nutrition with that reality.

In previous articles and episodes (just search for “protein” on my Substack), I touched on

• how U.S. dietary guidelines shaped the way we think about protein—and why so many people still equate it with meat.

• the shift from “meat” as a food group to “protein” as a nutrient category

• how protein functions in the body

• why plant and animal amino acids are identical

• why the RDA is really just a baseline minimum

• and the fact that I’ve doubled—if not more than doubled—my protein intake compared to where I was just a few years ago

You can listen to the episode here and watch the video here (and below) for the fuller explanation of things, but what I want to do today is to share exactly which plant foods pack the most protein per calorie if you’re interested in increasing your protein in a healthy, compassionate way.

Having a written version of this has been enthusiastically requested by many of you, particularly my supporters, so enjoy!

As I discuss in detail in many recent protein- and menopause-related episodes and articles, I’m taking an intentional, science-backed approach tailored specifically to my age, life stage, and fitness goals. When calculating daily intake, many experts recommend aiming for roughly 1 gram of protein per pound of target body weight—or a clean, comfortable baseline target of around 100 grams daily. Ish.

If you’ve been relying on standard government dietary guidelines, that number might sound quite high to you, and I encourage you to check out the related episodes and articles linked below for a broader, deeper understanding of why I’m taking this approach—and why aiming above the bare minimum can be transformative.

But before we get to the list, I just want to make sure you know we can go even deeper on this, personalized to your needs.

🎥 Need more guidance, clarity, or inspiration? Let’s connect one-on-one!

Whether you’re building healthier habits, navigating menopause or another life transition, strengthening your vegan journey, improving relationships, or seeking more confidence, clarity, and joy, my personalized sessions offer an opportunity to explore what’s important to you, ask questions, and receive guidance and support.

Book Your Session

Ranking the Highest-Protein Plant Foods

So, after much research, I compiled and ranked the absolute best sources of plant-based protein—and I think some of this is going to surprise you! Before we jump straight into the countdown, here are two quick qualifiers for how I evaluated and ranked these foods:

1. The Protein-to-Calorie Ratio: Instead of simply listing grams per cup, I’m ranking foods by how much protein they deliver per 100 calories. This is particularly useful for body recomposition (losing fat while building or maintaining muscle), showing you which foods give you the biggest protein “bang” for your caloric budget.

2. Real-World Practicality: I am only highlighting foods that are realistic to eat in 100-calorie portions. (For instance, spirulina technically delivers 20g of protein per 100 calories, but you’d have to eat 5 full tablespoons! Leafy greens are also fantastic, but you’d need 8–10 cooked cups to hit 100 calories. Eat your greens for micronutrients, not as your primary protein anchor.

Now, let’s dive into our top plant-protein stars—ranked by their real-world protein density per 100 calories!

As we dive into these individual ingredients, remember that you don't have to figure out how to turn them into delicious meals on your own—I’ve already created an e-book, High-Protein Recipes Featuring Tofu, Tempeh, and Edamame, to give you 12 simple, savory staples (from Creamy Edamame Soup to Southwestern Tofu Burgers) packing anywhere from 10 to 20+ grams of protein per serving!

🌟 Superstars: 15–20 g Protein per 100 Calories

Let’s start at the top with our SUPERSTARS—the plant foods that deliver a massive 15 to 20+ grams of protein per 100 calories.

• Seitan (Wheat Gluten) (~18–20+ g protein per 100 calories): Made from vital wheat gluten, seitan is practically pure protein. It’s dense, chewy, insanely versatile, and has been a plant-based staple for over 1,500 years.

• Fava Bean Tofu (~15–18 g protein per 100 calories): A fantastic soy-free alternative to traditional tofu made entirely from fava beans. It’s naturally higher in protein per calorie, beautifully firm, and cooks up just like classic tofu.

• Clean Plant-Based Protein Powders (~15–20 g protein per 100 calories): Pure, minimal-ingredient protein powders (like pea, rice, or hemp blends) give you a concentrated, effortless protein boost in a single scoop. (Complement is my absolute go-to here for clean ingredients and third-party testing!)

⭐ Standouts: 10–14 g Protein per 100 Calories

These traditional staples and versatile modern alternatives form the reliable backbone of a high-protein plant-based kitchen.

• Edamame (~11–12 g protein per 100 calories): Whole, young soybeans that are delicious, packed with fiber, folate, and vitamin K, and serve as a complete protein right out of the pod.

• Tempeh (~11–12 g protein per 100 calories): Fermented whole soybeans pressed into a firm block—giving you maximum protein, gut-friendly probiotics, and a rich, nutty flavor.

• Powdered Peanut Butter (11–12 g protein per 100 calories | ~3 Tbsp powder): Pressing out the oils concentrated in regular peanut butter turns a fat-dense food into a protein standout for smoothies and oats.

• Super-Firm Tofu (~12–14 g protein per 100 calories): Because it’s pressed with less water, super-firm tofu delivers even more protein density per bite, making it fantastic for crisping up in a skillet or air fryer.

• Lupini Beans (~13–15 g protein per 100 calories): An ancient Mediterranean legume that is super low in calories, packed with fiber, and delivers a massive protein hit with almost no prep required.

• Beyond Burger (~8.7 g per 100 calories / 20 g per patty): Strictly by the 100-calorie math, it sits right at the top of our 5–9g tier. But just like yogurt, nobody eats a third of a burger! When you eat the full patty (~230 calories), it delivers a solid 20 grams of protein without the cholesterol or saturated animal fat of beef—making it a real-world standout.

• High-Protein Plant Yogurts Avoid low-protein varieties, and choose higher protein yogurt brands, such as

  • Kite Hill Greek-Style Almond & Soy Milk (15 g protein per 120 calories),

  • Icelandic Provisions Oatmilk (8 g protein per 100 calories)

  • Siggi’s Plant-Based (5.5 g protein per 100 calories)

A quick note on yogurts: While a couple of these sit just under 10 grams per 100 calories, nobody eats two-thirds of a cup/container! When you eat the full single-serve container (~150 calories), you’re getting an easy 10 to 15 grams of protein in one sitting—which is why I include them here.

💪 Solid Performers: 5–9 g Protein per 100 Calories

Next, let’s move onto our last category of high-protein plant foods, which is the category of SOLID PERFORMERS – those with 5–9 grams of protein per 100 calories.

• Green Peas (~7 g protein per 100 calories): Peas are often overlooked, but they’re packed with protein, fiber, vitamins A, C, and K, and iron.

• Lentils (~8–9 g protein per 100 calories): Fiber-rich, versatile, iron-dense, affordable, and quick-cooking.

• Beans (black, kidney, pinto, chickpeas) (~6–8 g protein per 100 calories): Excellent staples packed with protein, complex carbs, and slow-burning energy.

• Tofu (Firm / Extra Firm) (~8–10 g protein per 100 calories): While super-firm and fava bean tofu hit higher numbers, classic firm tofu is a steady, reliable anchor packed with protein, calcium, and iron.

• Soy Milk (~7–8 g protein per 100 calories): The original plant milk and the only one that naturally matches cow’s milk in protein, with none of the cholesterol or lactose.

• Nutritional Yeast (~8–9 g protein per 100 calories): Savory, cheesy, B-vitamin-packed goodness you can shake on everything.

• Hemp Seeds (~5–6 g protein per 100 calories): Tiny powerhouses loaded with healthy omega-3 fats, iron, and magnesium.

• Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas) (~5 g protein per 100 calories): Crunchy, delicious, and rich in zinc, magnesium, and iron.

🌱 Sustainers: 3–5 g Protein per 100 Calories

Nutrient-rich, delicious everyday foods that contribute meaningfully to your overall daily total, even if they aren’t primary protein sources per calorie.

• Quinoa (3–4 g protein per 100 calories | ~½ cup cooked): Excellent amino acid balance (especially lysine) compared to standard grains, making larger meal-sized portions a solid contributor.

• Traditional Peanut Butter (3.7 g protein per 100 calories | ~1 Tbsp): Rich in healthy fats and flavor; best enjoyed for taste and satiety rather than concentrated protein.

• Nuts & Seeds (Almonds, Cashews, Walnuts, Chia, Flax, Sunflower) (2–4 g protein per 100 calories | small handful / 1–2 Tbsp): Exceptional sources of micronutrients, fiber, and healthy fats that add incremental protein when used as toppings.

• Whole Grains & Vegetables (Oats, Barley, Broccoli, Potatoes): Everyday whole foods whose protein accumulates naturally throughout the day alongside crucial antioxidants and fiber.

🏃 Convenience Options for Travel & Busy Days

Before we wrap up, I want to mention a few high-protein convenience foods.

Commercial protein shakes – Aside from making your own protein-rich smoothies and shakes at home (which of course you can transport with you if you’re on the run; my favorite is Complement chocolate of course), there are some commercial plant-based protein smoothies that can be a lifesaver when you’re on the go — traveling, rushing to the airport, or just needing something quick after a workout. There are many plant-based options now, and most deliver 15–20 g of protein per serving. A few popular choices include:

• Ripple (pea protein) – ~20 g per bottle, creamy and mild.

• Orgain – ~20 g, widely available, a little sweeter.

• Evolve – ~20 g, another pea protein option with a clean ingredient list.

They’re not meant to replace whole food meals, but they can fill the gap when necessary.

Same with … protein bars

Protein bars – These are also not meal replacements or the foundation of a healthy diet, but they can be incredibly handy when you need something quick. Think of them as convenience, not your primary protein source. And if you already eat granola bars (and frankly, a lot of people do), I’d recommend switching them out for protein bars instead — they’ll give you more staying power and help meet your protein needs. A few of the better plant-based options:

• No Cow Bar – The densest of the bunch: ~10–11 g protein per 100 calories, low sugar, high fiber.

• Good! Snacks – ~7 g per 100 calories, vegan, and candy-bar-like in taste.

• Aloha Organic – ~6.5 g per 100 calories, organic and made with pumpkin seed and brown rice protein.

• GoMacro – ~5–6 g per 100 calories, softer and cookie-like, great for those with allergies.

How I Support My Plant-Based Routine…

Speaking of Complement, even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Visit for More

You might also like…

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for. (One one-on-one connection is also a perk of the Founding Member/VIP level here on Substack.)

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

Leave a comment

Thank you for clicking the heart ❤️ at the top or bottom of this post, which helps others discover this publication! 🙏

While losing my father has naturally brought death to the forefront of my mind, the truth is that reflecting on mortality is something I practice daily to stay grounded in the present. So, while this topic certainly feels timely, it’s not new for me—I actually recorded a podcast episode on this years ago. It simply felt like the right moment to revisit, update, and adapt those thoughts into an article for you here.

Philosophers, artists, and musicians from ancient times to today have been reminding us that we will die—not to depress us, but to inspire us to live the most fulfilling life possible and to feel the most alive while we’re here. One way to appreciate life more is to remember that we will die: memento mori, so goes the Latin phrase.

Remember that you will die.

Because this truth is always with me, I have made sure that we have concrete plans in place for the inevitable. When I say "plans," I mean the foundational legal documents—a will, living will, trust, durable power of attorney, and healthcare directive—as well as explicit arrangements for our beloved cat in an emergency or upon our deaths.

(I’m even currently working on the design of our gravestone.)

Today, we’re going to focus not just on planning for our own mortality in general, but specifically on the practical, compassionate steps to guarantee the companion animals in our care are protected if we should die before them.

Why Estate Planning is an Act of Love

I know a lot of people are generally reluctant to talk about end-of-life planning. Not only do many find the topic morbid, but it’s also easy to fall into the mindset of, "Well, I’ll be dead, so what difference does it make?"

But when it comes to any assets we might possess—a house, a car, a bank account, or cherished family heirlooms—it matters deeply. Having a plan allows us to allocate our hard-earned assets according to our values, whether that means gifting them to loved ones or supporting charitable organizations. More than that, leaving clear instructions is an incredible gift of clarity and relief for our survivors during an already emotional time.

The number of friends I talk to who don’t have a will, a trust, a living will, or a health directive in place astonishes me. If you don’t have one either, perhaps you’re thinking, “Well, I’m not Rockefeller. I don’t have much to give, so what’s the point in spending money now to divide up money I may or may not have once I’m dead?”

My response to that is simple:

• Would you want complete strangers deciding how your money is spent while you’re alive? Of course not. So why allow that to happen after you’re gone? You don’t have to be Rockefeller to care about where your hard-earned money goes, and ensuring your assets are allocated according to your values is simply smart planning—regardless of the size of your bank account.

• More than that, leaving clear instructions is an absolute gift to your surviving family members or whomever is tasked with managing your estate. Having clarity about your wishes provides immense relief during an already painful and emotional time. Anyone who has ever had to settle a loved one’s estate knows just how overwhelming that burden can be without a roadmap.

• Finally, if your assets aren’t protected in a trust, everything you worked for goes straight into probate. That means court officials and strangers end up making decisions about your property, your money, and even your animals. It’s the last outcome any of us would choose, yet so few of us take the necessary steps to put our plans in writing before it’s too late.

I cannot stress this strongly enough: having a will, a trust, a health directive, a durable power of attorney, and clear end-of-life wishes in writing is essential for everyone. But today, I want to zero in on one critical piece of that puzzle—making sure plans are in place for our furry, finned, and feathered companion animals if we pass away before they do.

The Legal Status of Companion Animals

If you are reading this, my guess is that you consider your dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, or iguanas to be a part of your family, and you want to make sure they’re taken care of after you’re gone. If you really want to make sure that happens, you need to make a plan and put it in writing.

Why? Because in the eyes of the law, animals or pets (to use the legal vernacular) are considered property, and you cannot use your will to leave property directly to another piece of property.

For instance, I can’t write in a will that I want Michiko to get my house after I die so that the sale of the house will pay for her care. Nope. She’s considered property under the law, so it’s like saying I want to leave my house to my car. It will have no standing in court once I die, and my cat would be seized by probate court and most likely sent to a shelter unless I have plans in place for her.

While you can’t leave property or money directly to an animal, you can name a guardian or guardians for them and their care, leave money to that person (or organization), or set up a Pet Trust with a trustee to oversee the distribution of funds.

Step 1: Decide Who Will Care for Your Animals

Start by talking to loved ones who already know and care for your animals. My husband David and I have good friends, Amanda and Devin, who have agreed to care for Michiko if we both die—and we’ve agreed to do the same for their cats. Whenever we travel, I check in with them to make sure we’re still on the same page.

While it seems obvious that a surviving spouse would care for a widowed animal, working in rescue has taught me that even this can go awry. I’ve seen surviving spouses surrender animals simply because they viewed them as “their partner’s pet.” Don’t assume—have an explicit conversation with your partner.

From there, expand your circle:

• Secure a Plan B: Always name a secondary guardian in case your primary choice’s life circumstances change.

• Communicate the Plan: Let other friends and family members know who the designated guardians are to avoid confusion, panic, or conflict during a crisis.

• Consider Individual Needs: If you have multiple companion animals, decide whether they should stay together or if separate homes better suit their unique bonds and needs.

Organizational Safety Nets: Rescue Commitments & Legacy Programs

If you don’t have an individual in your personal life who can step in as a guardian, or if you want an extra layer of protection, you can turn to rescue organizations in two key ways:

1. Check Your Original Adoption Agreements

If you adopted your companion animal from a rescue group or shelter, go back and review your adoption contract. Many reputable rescues include a clause requiring—or warmly offering—that the animal be returned to their care if you pass away or are no longer able to look after them. Knowing this policy ahead of time gives you an immediate, reliable safety net, and you can document this contract in your estate paperwork so your executor knows exactly who to contact.

However, your family or executor won't know this clause exists unless you tell them. Be sure to keep a copy of your adoption contract in your legal planning binder alongside a simple cover sheet outlining these instructions. It is also vital to keep your companion animal’s microchip contact information up to date with both your current details and those of your designated alternate guardian or rescue safety net. That way, if a crisis occurs, everyone—from your executor to a local shelter—knows exactly who to contact.

2. Enroll in a Rescue Legacy Program

If returning to an original rescue isn’t an option and you have no individual guardian, look into local rescue organizations that offer formal legacy programs. For example, organizations like Cat Town in Oakland, CA have legacy programs (such as their Legacy of Love program) where you can arrange in advance for the organization to step in upon your passing. They will take custody of your animals, place them in foster care, and dedicate their resources to finding them a loving, permanent home. You can name these organizations in your estate plan and leave a bequest or donation in your will to cover the ongoing costs of your animals’ care.

Step 2: Create a Detailed Care Sheet

You probably already have instructions written out if you ever use sitters—what type of food they eat, favorite toys, allergies, vet information, pet insurance logins, and medical records.

We keep a Google Doc that I update all the time. It was created for our cat-sitters when we travel, but it is also shared with Amanda and Devin (our guardians) and David’s sister (our trustee and executor).

I’ve joked in the past about how detailed my information sheet is—my cat sitters have 10 pages of instructions! But details about what toys Michiko loves, how she prefers to play, and nuances about her personality, preferences, likes, and dislikes are incredibly helpful to give to the people who will take care of your companion animals if you die.

Keep it updated.

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Step 3: Allocate Funds for Their Care

Once you know who will care for your animals, you need to decide how to support them financially. There are two main legal mechanisms for this:

Option 1: Direct Allocation in Your Main Trust/Will

As you set up your will and trust, you decide on an amount of money from your estate to be given directly to the guardians upon your death.

When deciding how much to leave, consider the animal’s life expectancy, routine expenses, and likelihood of developing health issues. We crunched some numbers based on our senior cat and overestimated a bit just to be safe. We want to make it as easy as possible for our friends to care for our kitty without feeling financially burdened.

In this scenario, you are trusting that the caregivers will use the money provided to care for your animals. It acts essentially as a direct gift tied to a mutual agreement.

Option 2: A Formal Pet Trust

A Pet Trust is a formal arrangement where set-aside money has a legally binding obligation to be used only for your animals’ benefit.

In this case, you designate a “trust protector” or trustee (someone other than the caregiver) to oversee the trust. The trustee makes regular payments to the caregiver for the animal’s expenses on the condition that the animal is being properly cared for. Any money remaining in the trust after the last animal passes away can then be distributed to your chosen charities or left to the caregivers.

While a Pet Trust offers strict legal oversight, it is more complex, carries administrative costs, and requires finding a reliable trustee or third-party management organization. If you want to create a simple pet bequest on your own, tools like Nolo’s Quicken WillMaker & Trust make it easy to include pet care clauses.

Alternatively, if you need a referral for an estate attorney, feel free to send me a private message here on Substack. While he is in Oakland, CA, I believe he also works with clients remotely.

The Risk of Doing Nothing

If you have a will but it doesn’t mention your companion animals, your animals may automatically go to your residuary beneficiary—the person named to receive whatever is left of your estate. If you haven’t talked to that person and they suddenly inherit five cats, a parrot, or a dog, they may be unable or unwilling to care for them due to allergies, housing restrictions, or finances. This is one of the most common ways beloved animals end up in crowded shelters.

If you die without any will at all, local probate courts will appoint an executor to handle your estate, and your animals will be treated strictly as physical assets to be disposed of—frequently resulting in shelter surrender.

While city, county, and private shelters perform vital, life-saving work for our communities, none of us want our companion animals to suffer that shock and trauma after losing us.

Making these plans today is a gift to your human loved ones and a deep act of love and commitment to the animals who share your life.

Leave a comment

Speaking of Being Prepared…

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

You might also like…

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for. (One one-on-one connection is also a perk of the Founding Member/VIP level here on Substack.)

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

Leave a comment

It’s strange, but I don’t actually have many photos of just me and my dad—or 'Pa,' as I used to call him. Looking back through old pictures, I have tons of us from when I was growing up, but they’re almost always group shots with the whole family or photos of him, my sister, and me together.

It’s strange, because for someone who spent so much of his life in the public eye, he didn’t really love having his photo taken, especially as he got older. Don’t, however, tell him he got older. He had this funny idea that as long as no one saw him out and about with his walker, nobody would suspect he was in his 90s.

Pride and aging have a funny way of shaping our logic—or illogic.

But that’s what mattered to him in the end, so he became house-bound and eventually bed-bound.

I do have the photo above from 2002, taken when we gathered at my in-laws’ house while David and I were back home in New Jersey for a friend’s wedding. I love this photo and even used it for my father’s obituary (cropping myself out, of course). It captures his smile — our smile — and the connection between us.

He was 70 at the time. I was 32.

I also have the photo above that—showing the two of us walking side-by-side—taken just before COVID prevented me from seeing him for a couple years. My father was still mobile at the time and didn’t need a caregiver yet, though he was declining in ways that would become clear soon after.

There is so, so much to say, and I’ve been writing a lot this past week, grieving, reflecting, and trying to reconcile the very complicated (and yet very simple) man my father was.

For now, I’d like to just share the obituary I wrote to honor his life.

I love you, Pa.

I love you, Col.

JOHN PATRICK 1932-2027

John L. Patrick, 94, passed away peacefully in Florida, surrounded by loved ones, on July 27, 2026. Born in West Orange, New Jersey in 1932, he proudly served as a Sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division during the Korean War and was awarded several military decorations in recognition of his service. As he carried that pride with him throughout his life, he would have appreciated the serendipity of passing on what is officially Korean War Veterans Armistice Day.

A larger-than-life personality, natural storyteller, and gifted athlete, John lived by a philosophy he held close to his heart: “He danced every dance.” Known as “Eagle” to his lifelong buddies and Army comrades, and affectionately called “Pappy” by his cherished grandchildren, he was a trophy-winning bowler and softball pitcher.

He built a nationally recognized career as a professional gaming expert, authored nearly two dozen books, and created and hosted the television show So You Wanna Be a Gambler? He became a familiar face in the gaming world, making guest appearances on the soap opera One Life to Live and in the film Honeymoon in Vegas. He was even spoofed by Kevin Nealon on an episode of Saturday Night Live.

John was deeply devoted to his Catholic faith and loved his family dearly. He is survived by his loving daughters, Lori McCarthy and Colleen Patrick-Goudreau; his son-in-law, David Goudreau; and his five cherished grandchildren: Liam, Sam, Casey, Elena, and Ania. He will also be fondly remembered by his nieces, nephews, cousins, dear friends, and the many readers, viewers, and fans whose lives he touched throughout his remarkable journey.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Florence and John; his brother, Neil; his sister, Mary; and the mother of his children and former wife, Arlene Patrick.

The family extends heartfelt gratitude to his devoted caregiver, Jody, whose compassionate care, steadfast companionship, and countless hands of poker brought comfort, laughter, and friendship to John’s final four years.

John had a huge heart, especially when it came to the most vulnerable, often helping others even when he had little to spare himself. At various stages of his life, he shared his home with four beloved dogs—Chubby, Charmaine, Willie, and Rosie—whose companionship brought him immeasurable joy.

As he wished, John’s ashes will be interred alongside his parents at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, with military honors.

Funeral Service Details

All are welcome.

Services & Celebration of Life: Friday, October 2, 2026

• 11:00 AM — Memorial Mass

  Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church

• 1:00 PM — Procession & Cemetery Interment

  Following the Mass, a procession will head to the cemetery where he will be laid to rest alongside his parents with full military honors.

  Immaculate Conception Cemetery

• 2:30 PM — Celebration of Life

  Following the cemetery, we will gather to share food, drinks, and favorite stories and memories of John.

  Springfield Elks Lodge

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay or St. Joseph’s School for the Blind, honoring John’s lifelong compassion for both people and animals.

Thank you for reading.

We just hosted our second plant-based wine and food pairing, and it was a huge success. As I discussed in my last article on our inaugural tasting, my husband David and I started hosting these gatherings with our friends—calling our group the Little Montali Wine Collective (Little Montali being the name we affectionately gave our house).

We wanted to explore something that is almost entirely unheard-of in both the wine world—and frankly, in the vegan world, too: creating sophisticated, truly intentional plant-based wine pairings.

And it’s somewhat understandable why this is so uncommon.

Traditional wine pairing advice was written for an (animal-based) meat-and-cheese world—Cabernet with steak, Sauvignon Blanc with oysters, or bold reds with charcuterie. Blah, blah, blah.

But as I shared last time, these recommendations miss the bigger picture: when you deconstruct it, it’s never actually about the animal products—it’s really about the qualities of fat, salt, smoke, acid, umami, texture, and so on.

David and I are testing these ideas in our home and sharing with you what we learn so you can create memorable, elevated plant-based pairings in your own home (or make confident recommendations to restaurants and wineries)!

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Wines of Spain

Whereas our first Wine Collective featured the wines of Northern Italy (in anticipation of our visit to that region on our 5th vegan-hosted trip), our second tasting revolved entirely around the wines of Spain—a region we knew very little about prior to the tasting, which is part of the point.

Starting with Sparkling

Even though we’ve only hosted two of these events, we’ve thrown enough dinners and parties to to know the value of starting things off with a little effervescence. A refreshing glass of bubbles (or burbujas, as they say in Spanish!) is the best way to welcome guests as they arrive.

For our Northern Italy tasting, we kicked things off with Prosecco. For our tasting featuring Spanish wines, we started with Cava.

Cava is simply Spain’s answer to Champagne. It’s a dry, refreshing sparkling wine made using the exact same traditional method as French Champagne, but usually at a fraction of the price. I didn't include a food pairing for this one—we just used it as a way to introduce everyone to Spain’s bubbles and get guests settled in as they arrived.

Mission accomplished. It was a hit with everyone.

While there are countless ways to pair food and wine, I focused on three distinct strategies for this tasting—one for each of our wine blocks:

• cutting through rich flavors

• complementing similar profiles

• and balancing contrasting elements.

For the whites, the goal was to cut through.

Cutting Through with Whites

And for the whites that followed the bubbles, David chose Albariño and Verdejo.

Albariño is super crisp and citrusy (and a new favorite of mine!), while the Verdejo was aged on the lees—meaning it rested on the spent yeast cells after fermentation. As a result, it was a bit on the yeasty, brioche-y side. Some people loved it, but it’s not my taste.

We chose a single food pairing for both the Albariño and the Verdejo: two artisan selections from Rebel Cheese—their creamy Brie and their Honee-Pistachio Chèvre—paired with (Italian) Castelvetrano and (Spanish) Queen olives.

While the two whites were distinctly different from one another, both had the acidity required for the pairing. That acid cuts straight through the dense fats of the cheeses and the salty brine of the olives, scrubbing your palate clean between every bite.

It was kind of perfect.

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Complementing the Reds

For our second block, we poured two different expressions of Tempranillo—one a traditional Rioja Reserva, the other a dense Ribera del Duero Crianza.

They couldn’t have been more different.

• The Rioja, aged in American oak, was silky and smooth with distinct notes of coconut, vanilla, and sweet spice.

• The Ribera del Duero—aged primarily in French oak—was a completely different beast: big, dark, and intensely tannic.

Seeing how regional climate and French versus American barrels transform the exact same grape was a great side-by-side study. (We plan to do more of these types of tastings in our Wine Collective.)

As for the food, the strategy here was to complement—matching the savory earthiness of the wines with a similar flavor profile in the food.

We paired both bottles with two different Field Roast plant-based sausages: Smoked Apple Sage and Italian Garlic and Fennel. The pairing worked beautifully with both wines.

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Balancing the Big Red

For our final red block, we poured a Priorat—a Spanish blend of Garnacha (Grenache) and Carignan.

Normally, Garnacha (Grenache) is lighter than Tempranillo and would come earlier in a tasting order. But Priorat is a different story. It’s an intensely full-bodied, dark, and powerful red marked by concentrated dark fruit, licorice, and deep minerality. Because of its weight and size, we saved it for last.

As for the food pairing, we weren’t cutting through or complementing but balancing. When a wine has massive fruit, high alcohol, and savory-smoky notes, you need a food partner with equal weight, sweetness, and texture so neither overpowers the other.

So, for our Priorat, I prepared Muhammara—a dip made of roasted red peppers, walnuts, pomegranates, and a touch of sweetness. The natural smokiness of the roasted peppers and the rich, earthy fat of the walnuts balanced the wine’s heavy minerality, while the natural sweetness in the agave (and in the peppers) matched the dark fruit in the wine.

The pairing was fantastic, and the Priorat also instantly became a favorite — but not for the reasons it would have been in the past.

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Putting It All Together

In the past, we judged wines strictly as “happy hour” drinks—drunk solo with maybe a random snack or two. If a bottle was too tannic, too big, or too intense, we just wrote it off as a wine we didn’t like, never to be touched or thought about again.

But our Wine Collective is completely shifting how we drink, as well as how we choose wines for dinners. We’re moving away from asking, “Do I like this wine?” and more toward, “How is this wine best enjoyed?”

The original intention was simple: try wines from different regions, try different grapes, go deep on them, and see how they taste depending on where they’re grown. We added the food pairings to start understanding how the food and wine could complement each other.

And it’s actually working. It’s changing how we drink wine, and it’s changing how we serve it.

As people who host a lot of dinners and parties, we used to just default to California Zinfandels because that’s what we drink most and love—we never really thought about what we were pairing or made decisions based on how well they worked together.

Why?

Because there’s almost zero real guidance out there for plant-based food and wine—so we’re taking up the mantle and filling in the gap. And let me tell you, it’s a lot of work to make fabulous food, drink fabulous wine, and enjoy it with fabulous people.

So, you’re welcome.

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Travel the Vegan World with Me!

👉 I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Cambodia is the only trip I’m currently scheduled to host in 2027, so check it out, and remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and enter JOYFULVEGAN as the promo code. 😊

My Favorite Supplements

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

Whether you’re a vegan navigating the inevitable grey areas, or a non-vegan who has ever been confused by why some vegans police each other, why some “vegans eat meat,” or what the word even means—this article is for you. Today, we look at what counts as vegan, what doesn’t, and who gets to decide. We explore how the simple intention to prevent animal cruelty can quickly turn into a rigid purity test—one that confuses the public, distracts from the core mission, and pushes people away from making compassionate choices.

The Origins and Evolution of “Vegan”

When most people hear the word “vegan,” they have a general idea of what it means: in short, someone who doesn’t eat or wear anything that comes out of or off of an animal. That’s usually where it ends for most people; either they don’t give it much more thought than that or they’re still confused by what it means because they’ve met some vegans who eat animals…occasionally.

When the term vegan was coined in 1944 by the founders of The Vegan Society in the UK, it was created to distinguish those who avoided dairy and eggs from general vegetarians. The word itself comes from vegetarian, taking the beginning — veg — and the end — an — to form a new term. At the time, the definition was much narrower and primarily dietary.

Early on, veganism was essentially defined as avoiding

• meat

• dairy

• eggs

While the original focus was on dietary exclusion, the definition expanded to include clothing (leather, wool, silk), testing on animals, entertainment, and other uses. The modern definition reflects that expansion.

Seems straightforward enough. Except it’s not.

Why? Because we’re complex beings living in a complex world — and not everything is as it seems. Or at least, not everything is black and white. Some things are grey, especially once you make the leap from eating and wearing animal products to not.

For instance,

• What about plant-based foods made on the same equipment as animal products? Is that vegan?

• What about a plant-based burger cooked on the same grill as meat? Is that vegan?

• What about almonds and avocados pollinated by bees who have been rented out to farmers? Is that vegan?

• What about needing to take medications or vaccines that would have been tested on animals? Is that vegan?

• What about eating white sugar that’s been processed using animal bones? Is that vegan?

• What about taking vitamin D3, which is often sourced from lanolin? Is that vegan?

• What about kissing someone who eats meat? Is that vegan?

• What about accidentally inhaling bacon fumes? Is that vegan?

See what I mean? Lots of grey.

There is No Vegan Scoutmaster

People “become vegan” for different reasons, but they usually fall into a few broad categories:

1. Protecting animals from cruelty or violence

2. Protecting the environment

3. Improving their health.

Depending on which category someone falls into, their definition of vegan may differ a bit.

Why? Because “becoming vegan” is not like joining a club, getting a handbook, and earning merit badges. This isn’t the boy scouts (or girl scouts). There’s no initiation. There’s no oath. There’s no pledge of allegiance.

And — to further our Boy Scout analogy — there’s no Scoutmaster. No one is in charge of enforcing standards, keeping score, or determining whether you’re doing veganism “correctly” — except, of course, the people who appoint themselves to that role to police other vegans.

Becoming vegan" isn’t about dogma or doctrine. Once you awaken to the horrific things humans do to animals for our pleasure and convenience, it is deeply unpleasant—and you simply don’t want to be a part of it. So you align your behavior with your values and become vegan.

But the goal is not to “be vegan.” The goal is simply to stop contributing to that harm.

And then, after living in the real world for a while, you start running into tricky situations and grey areas and wonder whether it’s even possible to be vegan at all.

You learn that red food coloring comes from crushed insects (cochineal), that animal bones are used to filter drinking water, and that slaughterhouse waste is used in commercial potting soil.

At that point, several things could happen:

1. You realize that being vegan isn’t about being perfect, that this is an imperfect world, and you simply go about your vegan life.

2. Or you stop being vegan altogether because you think you have to be perfect if you’re going to do anything at all.

3. Or you begin policing themselves, other vegans, and the world for not living up to the vegan purity standards you’ve set — and, not surprisingly, you become cranky, cynical, and anti-social. (Despite your dogmatism, you might even stop begin vegan.)

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Cruelty vs. Purity: The Coconut Milk Lesson

These grey areas usually come down to how far it’s reasonable—or even possible—to entirely avoid causing suffering. But they also come down to how we frame a product or a person as “vegan” or “not vegan.”

Take coconut milk, for example. It is a milk derived entirely from coconuts—100% plant-based. 100% plant-derived. Yet, investigations have revealed that some producers, particularly in Thailand, subject pig-tailed macaque monkeys to unendurable torment, capturing them from the wild and forcing them to chain-harvest coconuts.

Terrible, horrible, cruel. On that point, there is no argument.

But in response, many vegans declare that “coconut milk isn’t vegan.”

On that point, I completely disagree.

Capturing and chaining wild monkeys to harvest a commercial product is an animal cruelty issue that is incumbent upon all of us to solve—whether we are vegan or not. It is not a “vegan issue” for vegans to manage through consumer avoidance.

When we label an entire food category as “not vegan,” it reduces a systemic horror into a personal limitation. It makes it sound like yet another rigid, exclusionary rule vegans have to live by—and it leaves the general public completely confused about what “vegan” even means.

The truth is anyone can care about ending animal cruelty without being vegan. But the moment we label coconut milk itself as “not vegan,” we create unnecessary barriers and accidentally imply that the torture of these monkeys is an exclusive issue for a small subculture to worry about.

If instead we explicitly state that “some brands of coconut milk hurt animals,” people are far more likely to listen, learn, and boycott. Animal cruelty is a universal human concern.

(Anticipating some vegans’ reaction to that last sentence, yes, people can indeed care about animals and not be vegan. It’s called willful ignorance, and it is a very human strategy for reconciling the cognitive dissonance we experience when we eat animals while simultaneously caring about them. To dive deeper into how we navigate these psychological blocks, see my book, The Joyful Vegan or my article, Why We Eat Meat, Dairy, and Eggs.)

Drawing Personal Lines in a Non-Vegan World

Another grey area is so-called “cross-contamination.”

• Is a plant-based burger still suitable for vegans if it’s cooked on the same grill as an animal-meat burger?

• And what about buying plant-based food at fast-food restaurants like Burger King or KFC — is that “vegan,” given that these restaurants exist primarily to sell animal products?

For me, the question isn’t “is it vegan?” or whether someone is “still vegan” after doing either of the above. The better question is, “Is this suitable for me — for this vegan?” Every single vegan needs to decide what their own comfort level is.

Veganism isn’t a set of dietary laws like Kashrut in Judaism, the system that governs which foods Jews may eat and how those foods must be prepared. That’s not what veganism is about.

Definitions are tools for clarity, not control.

Definitions guide; they don’t govern.

A definition is a map, not a police force.

If we keep that in mind, we’re far more likely to move in the direction of progress.

Adhering rigidly to a definition that doesn’t account for nuance or real-world complexity veers into fundamentalism, and I think that’s a genuine danger among vegans, because it shifts the focus from reducing harm and living compassionately to enforcing purity, which ultimately pushes people away rather than bringing them closer.

The problem isn’t that vegans aren’t vegan if they eat peanut butter, drink water, or eat sugar that had some remote contact with animal products.

The problem is that because so many billions of animals are slaughtered every year, it’s super cheap to use slaughterhouse waste as filler and processing agents.

The focus should remain on the fact that billions of animals are brought into this world only to be killed. That’s a problem we need to address—not whether a vegan (or a product) passes the purity test.

The more animals killed, the more by-products there are, and the cheaper they can be sold for. The fewer animals killed, the fewer and more expensive the by-products—the higher the likelihood that companies will look for cheaper alternatives.

In other words, stop focusing on the inherent imperfection of this thing called “vegan” and focus instead on making more imperfect vegans. To borrow from whoever said something similar: we don’t need a few vegans doing it perfectly; we need a huge number of vegans doing it imperfectly.

The Reality of Living in an Imperfect World

While there are grey areas in terms of what is or isn’t vegan, there are also clear-cut lines, and I never grapple with them.

For instance, if I intentionally eat animal flesh and fluids, that’s not vegan. If, however, I eat a plant-based option at a fast-food restaurant, that does not undermine my being vegan. I am not eating animal flesh, fluids, or ferments.

Yes, vegan means something. It means doing our best to avoid contributing to violence or harm, to the extent that is possible and practicable. But it doesn’t require a strict rulebook to police every edge case.

And those grey areas? Those are personal boundaries everyone gets to draw. A choice like eating a plant-based meal at a fast-food restaurant may be unappealing to you, and that’s your prerogative—just as it’s another person’s choice to do otherwise.

Veganism is a means to an end (compassion and wellness), not an end in itself. The point is not to be vegan or to obtain a vegan badge. The goal is not to be as vegan as we can be. The goal is to live as compassionately and healthfully as we can, and veganism happens to be a pretty effective (and joyful) way to attain that goal.

The problem is not that we’re imperfect vegans. The problem is that we bring billions of animals into this world only to take them out of it—wreaking havoc on the animals, on our health, on our ecosystems, and on our hearts.

The Questions We Should Actually Be Asking

The questions I’d rather we be asking are:

• What will make it easier for people to eat fewer animal flesh and fluids?

• What persuades non-vegans to displace animal-based meat—at least sometimes— with plant-based options?

• What are ways I can provide support and guidance to people who want to eat fewer animal products, even if they’re not ready to go all the way yet?

And remember: Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do something. Anything.

Additional Resources

👉 Read The Joyful Vegan! My wish is that every vegan would read this book — to help explain the how’s and why’s of veganism (and avoidance of veganism). Buy signed copies here or regular copies here (or wherever books are sold).

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for. (One one-on-one connection is also a perk of the Founding Member/VIP level here on Substack.)

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and enter JOYFULVEGAN as the promo code. 😊

My Favorite Supplements

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

Hello, fellow compassionistas! Here is this week’s note where I share a couple things I’m loving right now — books, movies, food, music, podcasts, etc.

We are back from Italy, enjoying a much-deserved break from hosting two back-to-back trips to Tuscany and Northern Italy. Starting in Florence and ending in Venice, we are grateful for the time spent with fabulous people, including our partners and friends at World Vegan Travel. (Check out our upcoming trips!)

In Memoriam

Before I get into my recommendations, I’d like to take a moment to honor the legacy of Judith Larner Lowry. If you read the last Friday Musings, you might remember that I wholeheartedly recommended her book Gardening with a Wild Heart. Sadly, it was recently announced that she passed away in late May 2026 after a long illness.

A pioneering California native plant conservationist and the founder of Larner Seeds, Judith did immensely much to advance the love and cultivation of native flora. Though I only discovered her work recently, her beautifully poetic writing made an immediate impact on me. You can find her out-of-print book available on Kindle, or borrow it electronically through the Libby public library app.

What I’m Reading

Though I set a goal to read a book a week (or four books a month) in 2026, I had to give myself a little reprieve recently. It’s incredibly difficult to read for any length of time when I’m hosting trips, as I was just doing for over three weeks this month in Tuscany and Northern Italy.

Still, I managed to start and finish two, and with a few days left in the month, I may very well get to claim three for June!

The first is a book I’ve heard about for decades but finally decided to pick up after being reminded of it in The Marginalian (a gem of a publication / project if you never heard of it. I highly recommend subscribing).

Gift from the Sea was written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh in 1955, during a brief solo vacation by the ocean. It was her way of reflecting on the distinct stages of a woman’s life, the evolution of relationships, and the deep necessity of maintaining an inner core of peace in a chaotic world.

What is most remarkable about the book is not just her profound wisdom or her beautiful use of beach-combed shells as metaphors for life, but timelessness of her observations. It could easily have been written today about our current age of distraction and relentless busyness. Take this paragraph, for instance:

For life today in America is based on the premise of ever-widening circles of contact and communication. It involves not only family demands, but community demands, national demands, international demands on the good citizen, through social and cultural pressures, through newspapers, magazines, radio programs, political drives, charitable appeals and so on. My mind reels with it.

One needs only to insert "social media" and "smartphones" into that list to realize how intimately familiar that feeling is today.

It’s another beautiful reminder that we humans are the same today as we’ve always been—struggling, learning, teaching, and sharing how to be more present, less distracted, and more loving.

All that’s to say, I highly recommend this book for its inspiration, wisdom, and quotable quotes!

What I’m Loving

Recently, I was interviewed on Rip Esselstyn’s podcast (it hasn’t aired yet, but I’ll be sure to share it when it does). During our chat, he asked me if I wore any wearables to track my fitness, and I told him I didn’t.

The truth is, I used to wear a Fitbit many years ago. I eventually ditched it because I dislike wearing anything on my wrist, and quite frankly, I got tired of it breaking and having to replace it every single year. That's when I switched to just using the Health app on my phone to track baseline data like my daily steps.

Eventually, tracking steps with my phone became tiresome, because I genuinely don’t want to carry it on me at all times. I wanted a way to leave my phone behind while still tracking a few basic data points, like my steps.

That led me to look into smart rings, mostly because I felt they were more low-key than a wristband. However, I did not want to be tied to an annual subscription, so I started doing my homework (you know how I love my research).

Enter the RingConn.

I found it after a lot of digging, and I am absolutely loving it.

It tracks everything seamlessly with zero subscription fees and a long battery life. Here is what it monitors:

• Steps and Daily Activity

• Sleep Quality and Stages

• Stress Levels

And more.

The funniest part of this is enjoying looking at my sleep data. For years and years, I relentlessly made fun of my friend Brighde because she would always share her sleep stats with David, me, and Seb on our WhatsApp Group. Well, karma comes fast. I am now officially that annoying person, sharing my sleep data with the three of them (only sometimes, though!).

Anyway, I thought I’d pass this alone if you’re looking for a nice-looking, subscription-free way to track your steps and stats without tying yourself to a watch or a phone.

What I’m Wearing

Speaking of practical wearables, I wanted to recommend a skirt I recently purchased. You know me—I love my long skirts and long dresses.

After spending almost a month in Japan this past April, I came home incredibly inspired by the floofy, airy Japanese style of skirts. I’m not someone who really shops when I’m traveling, but once I got home, I lamented that I didn’t buy one while I was there.

So, I went online to look for something reminiscent of that style and was thrilled to find this gorgeous skirt by Ruti. I bought the grey one first (see photo at the start of this article), and I loved it so much that I immediately went back and bought the black one, too (and I was thrilled to find it on sale!).

I cannot recommend this skirt highly enough. Not only is it super comfortable—thanks to an elastic waist with a drawstring—but it is also an absolute dream to pack. It doesn’t get wrinkled, or at the very least, any lines shake right out once you give it a good fluff. I’ve received so many compliments on it both while I was away hosting my trips and since I’ve been back, so I just had to share it with you! ENJOY!

Those are my Weekly Musings. Tell me about yours, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Leave a comment

Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for. (One one-on-one connection is also a perk of the Founding Member/VIP level here on Substack.)

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

My Favorite Supplements

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

Complement your diet and and get 15% off everything you order—every time you order—using THIS LINK and the code: JOYFULVEGAN.

Get 15% off today!

Depending on where and how you grew up, you may or may not have eaten much soy at all. If you didn’t grow up in an East Asian household or in a culture where tofu, tempeh, miso, natto, edamame, and soy milk were everyday staples, soy may have felt (or still feel) unfamiliar. Many of us in the West simply didn’t grow up with these foods; we didn’t learn how to cook them, and we didn’t learn about their nutritional value.

What’s fascinating—and frustrating—is how soy has become one of the most misunderstood foods in the Western world. Over the past few decades, soy went from being praised as a protein-packed, heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory food (a reputation born during the health craze of the 1960s when it first gained traction in the West) to being actively vilified.

Claims that soy “causes breast cancer,” “disrupts hormones,” or “gives men ‘man-boobs’” have circulated widely, alongside fears that it negatively impacts thyroid function, drives environmental destruction in the Amazon, inhibits nutrient absorption, or is just plain bland and tasteless. All of these assertions have taken on a life of their own despite being completely unsupported—or directly contradicted—by actual scientific research and real-world data.

In this two-part series, we are going to unpack the science, the myths, and the culinary reality of this incredible food.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your health.

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More Than Just "Food for Vegans"

I wish I could remember the first time I tried tofu. I certainly didn’t grow up eating it—my childhood table in New Jersey was filled with traditional staples like meat, dairy, and eggs. For many of us in the West, soy foods simply weren’t part of our upbringing.

Instead, they carry a heavy association with vegetarianism and veganism. For me—and I’m sure for many others—it wasn’t until I became vegan that tofu even entered my life. But viewing soy strictly through this lens does it a huge disservice, because people dismiss it as a food “only for vegans or vegetarians.” In fact, people still say to me all the time, “Well, I could never be vegan because I don’t like tofu.”

And of course, I tell them, “You don’t have to eat tofu to be vegan! It’s not a prerequisite.” (Having said that, one of the unexpected joys of becoming vegan is that your culinary world expands, as I discuss in The Joyful Vegan, so you tend to try things you never tried before.)

This hyper-focus on tofu as a strict “vegan substitute” is a uniquely Western viewpoint. If you grow up in China, Korea, or Japan, soy is simply part of the everyday landscape—historically, culturally, and culinarily. In many East and Southeast Asian traditions, tofu is traditionally seen as a complement to animal meat rather than a replacement for it.

• In Chinese and Korean cooking, tofu frequently appears in meat-based broths, stir-fries, and stews.

• In Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese cuisines, it is often served alongside fish-based broths like dashi, alongside a strong tradition of tofu-centered vegetarian dishes rooted in Buddhist temple cuisine (shōjin ryōri).

But in the West, soy is seen as “a vegan food.” We need to change the framing.

Soy is food. It is a bean—an ancient, traditional, highly nutritious, and incredibly versatile bean. A bean that needs better PR.

Right now, soy’s reputation completely depends on who you ask. It has been a deeply polarizing food for decades, with a “debate” driven by marketing, social media influencers, and trends rather than sound science. When you look at how it gets misrepresented, the bad PR generally falls into three specific areas:

• its environmental impact

• its taste

• its effect on our health

Let's start with the most prevalent myth regarding its environmental footprint.

The Deforestation Myth

When we hear about soy driving deforestation in places like the Amazon, it’s not the soy in your tofu or edamame that’s the problem—it’s the soy grown to feed billions of farmed animals.

The reality is that the largest use of soy, both globally and in the U.S., is not for human food at all. It’s for animal feed. Roughly three-quarters of all soy grown worldwide is fed directly to chickens, pigs, and cows raised for meat, dairy, and eggs—not eaten directly by humans. In the U.S., that percentage is even higher.

Only about 7% of global soy is used for human food products like tofu, tempeh, and soy milk. The massive demand for animal products is the primary driver of soy-related deforestation in the Amazon and other ecosystems. It’s not because of a high demand for tofu.

Furthermore, soy used for human consumption in the U.S. and Europe is often grown domestically in North America or within Europe, under different land-clearing regulations than the Amazon basin. Soy sourced from Brazil or Argentina carries a higher risk of being linked to deforestation, unless it has specific sustainability certifications.

So, to be clear: soy grown for human consumption is most likely from the U.S. (you can check your labels) and is not responsible for clear-cutting forests. If you're looking at what actually drives that deforestation, it's beef—not tofu.

Now that we’ve cleared up the environmental misconceptions, let’s look at the second major area where soy gets completely misrepresented: its taste.

The “Bland and Boring” Myth

On the culinary side of its bad PR, soy—especially tofu—is often dismissed as bland, spongy, or tasteless. But soy is a blank canvas. It actually has a beautiful, subtle, nutty flavor all its own—a delicate nuance that you may simply be unfamiliar with because it isn’t what you grew up eating.

What’s more, if your palate is accustomed to being constantly coated with the heavy fat and intense salt that comes with eating meat and dairy, those subtle flavors can be hard to pick up on. Like any new food, it takes getting used to, but personally, I love tofu so much that I honestly eat it straight out of the package.

Beyond its flavor, the texture of tofu is a total shape-shifter. It is incredibly versatile because of how you can manipulate its texture: it can be cubed, fried, coated, pressed, frozen, or crumbled. It adapts entirely to how you prepare it, how you cook it, and what you pair it with.

Because it is such an incredible canvas, there are endless recipes out there to play with. Of course, doing the work I do, I have developed dozens of ways to prepare it, and while you can always find recipes in my cookbooks, I also have a variety of digital resources available in my online store, including several on-demand cooking classes and recipe bundles, including:

• Homemade Soy Milk and Tofu

• Cooking with Tofu

• Easy Vegan Ramen

• Air Fryer Snacks and Starters

And of course, my brand-new recipe ebook: High-Protein Recipes Featuring Tofu, Tempeh, and Edamame.

Now let’s get to the third area where soy gets misrepresented (which I’ll also continue in Part Two).

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The Nutritional Truth

Soy has been evaluated in thousands of studies—including epidemiological, human clinical, observational, and laboratory research—and the science is clear. Soy is a nutritional powerhouse for three big reasons: 1. it’s a plant food, 2. it’s a bean, and 3. it contains unique compounds you don’t find in most other foods, such as isoflavones and phytoestrogens.

1. First and foremost, soy is a whole plant food. That means it naturally contains zero cholesterol and is exceptionally low in saturated fat, instantly distinguishing it from animal-derived proteins. It also delivers a robust amount of dietary fiber, which is crucial for gut health, metabolic function, and satiety—a nutrient that is entirely missing from meat, dairy, and eggs.

2. As a member of the bean family, soy inherits all the classic benefits of legumes. It provides a slow release of complex carbohydrates alongside essential minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium, making it an inherently stabilizing, nutrient-dense food.

3. Where soy truly stands out from other beans is its protein quality. It is a complete protein, meaning it provides all nine essential amino acids (those we need from food) in optimal proportions on its own. Its amino acid profile directly rivals animal protein, but without the dietary baggage.

Furthermore, soy is rich in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), specifically leucine, which acts as the primary trigger for muscle protein synthesis and repair. Many plant proteins are low in leucine, but soy actually provides a meaningful amount:

• 1 cup Tempeh: ~3.0 grams of leucine (the optimal muscle-building target)

• 1 cup Tofu: ~2.0 grams of leucine

• 1 cup Edamame: ~1.5 grams of leucine

• 1 cup Soy Milk: ~0.8 grams of leucine

4. Finally, what truly sets soy apart from every other bean on the planet is its signature concentration of specific phytonutrients called isoflavones. Soybeans contain hundreds of times more isoflavones than other legumes, acting as powerful compounds that help reduce inflammation and protect cells from damage.

But these compounds have a unique property—one that has been wildly misunderstood and blown out of proportion, yet is the exact reason why soy is so uniquely protective.

Because there is so much confusion around this specific topic, we are going to give it the space it deserves. In Part 2, we will dive deep into the actual science behind these compounds and dismantle the most common health scares face-to-face.

We’ll look at exactly what the data says about thyroid health, nutrient absorption, and the ultimate hormone myths—including breast cancer risks and the ridiculous claims about “man-boobs.”

Stay tuned for the full breakdown in Part Two.

Before You Go…

Even with a nutrient-rich plant-based diet, we can thrive even more with thoughtful support. That’s where Complement comes in, I take Complement Essential as my daily multivitamin for B12, D3, iodine, zinc, and magnesium; Omega Complex for essential fats; and as part of my strength-training and muscle-building routine, I fuel up with their clean Organic Protein. With Complement and my nutrient-rich diet, I have everything I need to fuel my body, support my strength, and thrive so I can do my work in the world for animals — both human and non-human.

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Additional Resources

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for. (One one-on-one connection is also a perk of the Founding Member/VIP level here on Substack.)

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊

When we think about staying healthy, we naturally focus on daily habits like a balanced diet, exercise, and stress management. But there is a critical, often overlooked window into our body’s internal workings that tells us exactly how those efforts are paying off: regular blood work.

In this episode, I dive deep into the world of biomarkers and explore why tracking these numbers is the most powerful tool we have for detecting potential health issues before they ever show physical symptoms.

I break down what is actually being measured in standard lipid and metabolic panels, debunk common misconceptions about “optimal” cholesterol levels, and look at the real-life numbers from my own recent blood work for reference.

Whether you are curious about how a plant-based diet impacts your numbers or want to know which hidden tests you need to request at your next checkup, this episode serves as your comprehensive guide to owning your health.

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In this episode we cover:

• Why serious cardiovascular issues can develop silently without physical symptoms, and how early screening acts as a lifesaver

• A simple “garbage truck” analogy to easily understand the differing roles of LDL and HDL cholesterol in your bloodstream

• What clinical data reveals about the ideal total cholesterol threshold for eliminating heart attack risk

• The chemical difference between animal-based saturated fats and plant-based options like coconut oil

• The biological differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and how to prevent insulin resistance naturally

• How to meet your iron requirements effortlessly on a plant-based diet without unnecessary and dangerous supplementation

• Key vitamins, minerals, and inflammation markers that are omitted from standard panels but are vital to request

• A look at my own recent blood numbers and a personal story regarding hair thinning, perimenopause, zinc, and B12.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.

👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.

👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.

👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.

👉 Travel the World Vegan Style! I’ve partnered with World Vegan Travel to bring you the best in luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the globe. Whether I am personally hosting or not, every itinerary is curated for a high-quality, premium experience. Check out upcoming trips, and please remember when booking any trip to mention you heard about them from COLLEEN PATRICK-GOUDREAU. 😊