less leslie

Time was, people thought they could tell a vegetarian just by looking at her: thin, pale and other adjectives for malnourished. From what I’ve seen and heard the past 10 days, nothing could be further from the truth. Unless they’re wearing some sort of scarlet letter – or would that be green? – there’s no…

I’ve learned a couple of things the hard way about vegetarianism, further evidence I should do more reading up on this stuff, but hey – that would take some of the fun out it. Friday, I loaded up on gummy multivitamins, gummy vitamin D, then spent about a half-hour in the breakfast cereal aisle, trying…

My body is so sensitive to change of any kind; I refer to my intestines as my central nervous system. I suppose that’s where terms like “gut reaction” and “go with your gut” originate. Still, the changes were so pronounced, I had to look up correlations among vegetarian diets and those of omnivores. Here’s what…

I don’t want to sound preachy, and maybe this is attributable to a recent reduction in stressors, but I’m feeling pretty good inside. Giving up meat, fish and poultry hasn’t been at all difficult because there are so many alternatives. Often, it’s just a matter of not adding meat to a meal. Yesterday, for example,…

This is my second day of my Week of Vegetarianism, and I really enjoyed choosing foods with a higher level of consciousness than before. I thought I had certain things in the pantry and freezer, but turns out the black beans were M.I.A. So instead of a black bean burrito for lunch, I had fab…

Leslie J. Ansley is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who blogs daily for TheRoot. She lives in Raleigh, NC.

I’ve actually signed up because I am deathly curious. I opted for the pay-at-the-door option, because of the very good chance I won’t show up. Part of me wants to believe there’d be some benefit, but I am the most skeptical person I know, and there are many other uses for the $60 cost for…

My friend is a ball of stress and frayed nerves. She’s had trouble sleeping for three weeks, is unemployed and has applied for at least 20 positions in the past month. Highly qualified for many positions, she’s been passed over because younger, cheaper workers are plentiful, even if they lack the skills listed in the…

I am picking up four dozen cupcakes in about three hours. It’s August, which means it’s Birthday Season in the Ansley household. Today, Skyler turns 18. Since she coaches as well as cheers, she’ll be at the gym all afternoon and evening. It’s become somewhat of a tradition that if a cheerleader’s birthday falls on…