You ever really get ‘into’ something and you start learning everything you can about it? These are some of the books I read along my vegetarian, vegan, raw foods, pescatarian journey. Oddly, the first one I read, which is my favorite book, The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone isn’t pictured here. 
Food, like religion, politics, and money, is one of those topics that people feel very strongly about. I think it’s because they attach what they believe to who they are. But, whatever the reason, they get very defensive when you have an opposing opinion, or if they are challenged, or if they perceive that someone is trying to take something from them that they deeply care about.
Have you ever been the person who swears they’d never watch, wear, listen to, something and a few years later you’re doing exactly the thing you said you wouldn’t. When I stopped eating meat and started educating myself on whole, natural foods, chemicals, and personal products, I did so quietly. I didn’t impose on anyone else’s life, I didn’t start knocking people who didn’t do what I did, and I never tried to change anyone. But, you know what else I didn’t and I still don’t? I don’t shun people or make fun of or belittle something they do.
People don’t usually say slick stuff to me, but every now and then, in a joking manner they’ll try and get their feelings known and say something like, “Oh, is that organic water you’re drinking?” Or, they’ll take my action as an opportunity to inform me why in their lives they do the opposite although I didn’t ask and don’t care.
People make fun of things they don’t understand, and they do so out of fear.
When I’m interested in something, I consume everything I can about it first, then I double back and read and listen to what all the people who are opposed to it or who hate that thing have to say. Naysayers sometimes have valid reasons to dislike something and I want to make sure that my new obsession with something doesn’t cloud my judgment or cause me to only see things from one perspective. I don’t want to be that person who dislikes something just because she doesn’t understand it.
I want the same for you. If there’s something you don’t understand, seek additional information. And if you don’t have a desire to understand, then at least keep quiet.