vegetarian food

Want to go Vegetarian?

2010-05-09T07:19:00.001-07:00

Here’s how to do it and stay healthy.

by: Michelle Alejandra Booth

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If your New Year's resolution incorporated adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet, you are probably not alone. Each year, more and more people are switching to a meatless diet and more restaurants and grocery stores are offering more meal options for the growing population of strictly herbivores. Burger King offers a Veggie Burger, Johnny Rockets has a Boca Burger and at P.F. Chang’s you can make any entrée vegetarian friendly.
But what is popular is not necessarily as easy as simulating what everyone else does. Being vegetarian takes a lot of research and learning — otherwise your good intentions could become unhealthy for you, says Don Carrier, a long-time vegan and creator of lvvegan.com.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to go vegetarian is not having enough knowledge. You need to do a lot of reading and research,” he said. Carrier has also helped guide people who want to change their diets to be more vegetarian and vegan friendly.
For Carrier, giving up meat was easy — he’d been a vegetarian all of his life and it was more out of a necessity than a choice.
“I was born with an allergy to the enzyme in animals and so it was pretty easy to be a vegetarian,” said Carrier.
But most people have not been vegetarians all their lives. Most are, unlike Carrier, vegetarians by choice.
Definitions of the word “vegetarian” vary. Most vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, poultry or any other animal product such as gelatin but will consume free-range eggs, milk and cheese. Those who do not consume any animal products whatsoever, including honey and dairy, are known as vegans.
Some do it for ethical and moral reasons and some do it for health reasons or both.
And for the most part, a vegetarian is healthier, says Dr. Neal Barnard, a clinical researcher, physician and author of “Eat Right, Live Longer.” Vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, nine times less likely than meat-eaters to become obese and also live six to 10 years longer than meat eaters. Renowned physician Benjamin Spock wrote that children who grow up eating vegetarian typically grow taller and have higher IQ’s.
The American Diabetic Association reports that vegetarians have a lower rate of ischemic heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, and blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes, as well as prostate and colon cancer.
But with all those great ambitions, there can also be a lot of problems. Vegetarians who don’t do a good job of balancing their diets well tend to have low rates of iron, zinc and have been known to be vitamin B-12 deficient.
“There really are a lot of vegans who I call them junk food vegans and they can drink Pepsi and eat potato chips and you are a vegan but you aren’t eating anything healthy,” said Carrier.
According to information from the Mayo Clinic, it is not that difficult finding the nutritional supplements often left out by an animal-free diet. For example, people who don’t drink milk can have soy milk or rice milk instead; soy cheese is a good alternative to eating cheeses and you can use potato starch in place of eggs in recipes. All these are good options for vegans.
Although it is probably easier to be a vegetarian than a vegan, vegetarians still have to make an extra effort to eat a balanced meal. Soy products, legumes, lentils, nuts and seeds for protein and iron; tofu, fruit juices and green vegetables such as spinach are good sources of calcium; and whole grains, nuts and wheat germ provide zinc. One of the essential vitamins that is difficult to replace is B-12. This vitamin is necessary for the body to produce red blood cells and prevent anemia and is found almost exclusively in animal products, as well as in milk, eggs and cheese, according to the Mayo Clinic. This makes it particularly difficult for vegans but there are enriched cereals and fortified soy products that cater to a vegan diet and have the supplement or there are also vitamins supplements that can be taken for this purpose.
Maria Juarez, who has been a vegetarian for two years, found out she was B-12 deficient after her annual visit to her physician.
“I was always feeling very tired, I knew something was abnormal because I was sleeping a lot and didn’t have energy, but it never occurred to me that it was my diet,” Juarez said.
After finding out that she was a vegetarian, her doctor started asking her questions about having enough energy and her diet, which is when he realized that she was B-12 deficient. Now Juarez takes B-12 supplements and takes extra precautions to make sure that a lot of the food she buys has B-12.
“I realized that even some of the soy milk I was drinking didn’t have B-12, so now I make sure that I make it part of my daily intake,” she said.
Juarez said she did a lot of reading and research about getting the proper nutrients through her diet, but in practice didn’t pay enough attention to some important things.
“I was so concerned with making sure that I get the iron and the protein that I was overlooking some of the other essentials and I didn’t want to become anemic. It never occurred to me that I could be missing some other vitamins,” she said.
For that reason, Juarez recommends always talking to a physician before starting a vegetarian diet — or any diet for that matter.
“My doctor was vey good. He knew what questions to ask me and he was aware of what some of his vegetarian patients often have problems with. They are more informed than us about what our body needs and they can give us the guidance to take on a new diet in a healthy way,” Juarez said.
Many worry that a vegetarian or vegan diet will not offer enough protein.
“Yes, I hear that every day, that people are afraid of not getting enough protein,” Barnard said. “Many people have high cholesterol as a result of a meaty diet. There is plenty of protein in a vegan diet … if you look at a bull or a stallion, those are vegans and they have lots of muscles.”
While it is true that adopting a vegetarian diet can lead to weight loss, some of the substitutes can be more fattening than a meat-eating diet. Physicians at the Mayo Clinic caution against eating peanut butter and cheeses because they are high in fat; and they also recommend against traditional preparation of foods such as frying in favor of steaming, boiling and grilling as healthier options.
Foods such as peanut butter, cheese, sour cream, salad dressing and mayonnaise can all be found in lower-fat versions and are recommended against the “original” product.
Even Carrier, who had been a vegetarian all of his life, had heart disease and was scheduled for a triple-bypass surgery, which is why he converted his vegetarian diet to a vegan one.
“Mostly for me as a vegetarian, I ate a lot of cheese and dairy was my big downfall, and being Italian I loved olive oil and it was no help either,” he said.
A big problem that vegetarians and vegans can have is that if they are not properly informed on how to eat they can fill up on carbs and cheeses and other foods that are not necessarily healthy, said Carrier.
But probably the biggest problem for both Juarez and Carrier is finding vegetarian- and vegan-friendly restaurants in Las Vegas.
That need is what prompted Carrier to start his Web site lvvegan.com, which provides a list of restaurants in Las Vegas that offer vegan friendly foods.
“I kept on having friends ask me where they could eat and I would have this manual list of places I would carry with me, and so I really saw a need to putting this information out there,” he said.
One such restaurant that caters to a vegan, vegetarian and healthier diets is the Red Velvet Café.
Chef Aneesha who is a graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school also saw the demand and embarked on the opportunity.
“We have always offered vegetarian options but we saw more people who are vegan and so we decided to offer every dish with a vegan option,” she said.
At Red Velvet Café they offer all kinds of vegan options from soy cheese, which Chef Aneesha makes herself, to burgers, veggie pizzas and their signature red velvet cake, which is vegan friendly and packs in only 200 calories.
“Most of our cakes are vegan and we do that not just because of our vegan clientele but because it keeps our clients healthy it has no fat, no eggs and no dairy and you drop calories by taking out those things,” she said.
According to Chef Aneesha, the key is making the plates taste like “the real thing”; she uses tofu and soy protein which a consistency and texture parallel to chicken and many herbs and spices.
“It’s just a matter of converting our food and giving it the same quality and taste by using herbs and spices to give it the same flavors,” she said.
Red Velvet Café is also a good option for people wanting to try meat substitutes and for those people, Chef Aneesha recommends jumping in gently and trying something like a taco salad first, which is more similar than what the taste buds are already used to.
“I wouldn’t jump into a vegan fish plate or you might not like it. Also if you didn’t like chicken to begin with, for example, you’re not going to like soy chicken any better,” she said.
Chef Aneesha said she has seen her clientele grow but she said it is a lifestyle and not just a fad.
“There are a lot of people who want to be organic and be healthy and it is genuine people want to take care of their bodies,” she said.
As far as eating more organic and changing to a vegetarian or vegan-based diet, it is hard to argue with the fact that it can be more expensive, but to Juarez it is all worth it.
“It’s part of you and your body. If some people have no problem buying a $15 cocktail, which is not even good for you, then they should also be willing to make the sacrifice to eat healthier,” she said.

Why be a vegetarian?

2010-05-09T07:18:00.001-07:00

Dr. JALAJA RAMASWAMY

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Vegetarian diets are balanced, complete and healthy…lots of reasons why you should opt for it..Dr. JALAJA RAMASWAMY

What is one of the growing trends now? Vegetarianism. It is true that more people are opting for a diet that is devoid of meat, fish, poultry and eggs. Why be a vegetarian? Many adopt this mode of diet for religious, ethical, health and economic reasons.

However, the term vegetarian is misleading because there are many types of vegetarians. Meat based diets do have a string of benefits. But arguments in favour of a vegetarian diet certainly appear compelling.

The safest way to eat is to follow a vegetarian diet: no hormones or additives in your foods. Meat carry bacteria and the potential diseases associated with them more often than beans, grains or vegetables. But one cannot negate the fact that fruits and vegetables can also be associated with pesticides and other residues.

Rich in nutrients

Vegetarian diets lower the burden of chronic diseases. Lacto-vegetarians are often impressively healthier – sometimes a lot healthier – than meat eaters. It is uncertain whether this advantage extends to vegans.

Plant-based diets containing whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables are low in saturated fats and cholesterol and higher in fibre, vitamin C, folate, potassium, magnesium, and phytochemicals implicated in the protection against many diseases. Such diets also lower the risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diets low in fibre and in which chicken and meat are the principal ingredients can dramatically increase the incidence of colorectal cancers.

Plant foods are also high in phytochemicals called polyphenols and contain higher proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids. These substances have recently been shown to have beneficial effects on maintaining the integrity of brain function during the ageing process.

Vegetarian diets may help in weight loss and long-term weight control and are associated with longevity. Diets containing animal products are generally higher in fat and calorific value while plant foods are low in energy and are nutrient dense.

It has also been reported that vegetarians have a more desirable body odour!

Plan carefully

However, the more limiting a diet is, the more difficult it is to get all the nutrients required by your body. Can vegetarian diets, therefore, be balanced, complete and healthy? The answer is yes. According to the American Dietetic Association “appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are suitable for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and for athletes.” Only the most restrictive vegan diets can perhaps cause nutritional concerns and compromise on calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and sometimes even protein.

Vegetarian meals need not be boring or limiting. Whip up a variety of recipes from plant foods and feast on them. If you can't be a vegetarian, a healthy option would be to limit intake of animal foods and increase intake of fruits and vegetables.

Remember what Einstein said: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

Plan your diet

So how does one go about planning a vegetarian diet? Getting the right balance of nutrients from the vegetarian meals is easy and not mind-boggling. The key is a careful selection of foods.

l Ensure a variety of foods from the different food groups: cereals, pulses, dals and nuts, fruits and vegetables and dairy products. Then you don't have to be concerned about the nutritional inadequacies.

l Make sure that your principal sources of carbohydrates are whole grains. Reduce intake of refined cereals and sugars. If rice is a must, go for brown rice.

l Plant proteins are incomplete proteins but their quality improves when eaten with cereal proteins. Include pulses, dals, beans and nuts in every meal. If you like soya or soya products, add them for protein adequacy.

l At least five servings of fruits and vegetables is a great way to ensure your minerals, vitamins, fibre andphytochemicals. Green leafy vegetables will provide the iron. Add a citrus fruit to improve the absorption of iron.

l Include some dairy products as a source of calcium and vitamin B12. Fermented foods can also provide some B12. Emphasise on including calcium-rich plant foods such pulses and greens.

l The greatest benefit would come from the use of oils containing high percentage of mono unsaturated fatty acids, Olive, til, rice bran or even soya oil.

l Fish is the best source of Omega 3 fatty acids (with a cardio protective effect) for the meat eaters. In plant-based diets the sources of omega 3 fatty acids would be leafy vegetables, walnuts and flax seeds.

Keywords: DIet, vegetarianism, nutrition

v8 based broth makes a vegetarian friendly minestrone

2010-05-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

V8 based broth makes a vegetarian-friendly minestrone

04:33 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Even vegetable soups aren't always safe for vegetarians. Although minestrone doesn't usually have any actual meat in it, it is classically made with beef and chicken broth.
The answer? V8, the ultimate vegetable juice. A classic minestrone recipe tastes delicious made with V8 juice.

TRULY VEGETARIAN MINESTRONE

1	tablespoon olive oil

8	ounces already sliced fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1	cup thinly sliced carrots

2	cloves minced garlic or 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

2	cups low-sodium V8 juice

4 ½	cups water

½	cup uncooked ditalini or orzo pasta

1	(15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1	(15-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1	(21/4-ounce) can sliced black olives, drained

2	(14-ounce) cans fire-roasted tomatoes

1	teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1	teaspoon sugar

½	teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

1	cup frozen green peas

10	teaspoons grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Alicia Ross/United Feature Syndicate

Maintain your vegetarian cred by supping on minestrone made with V8.

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Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a soup pot. Add mushrooms and carrots. Cook, stirring frequently, until the carrots are crisp-tender and the mushrooms begin to lose their liquid, about two to three more minutes.
Add the garlic, vegetable juice, water and pasta to the pot, and raise heat to high. Cover the pot and bring the broth to a boil. While the soup is heating, lift the lid to stir from time to time because the pasta will begin to stick to the pot bottom.
Rinse and drain the chickpeas, kidney beans and olives, and set aside.
When the soup boils, reduce heat to medium-high. Uncover the pot, and add the tomatoes with their juices, chickpeas, kidney beans, olives, Italian seasoning, sugar and black pepper. Stir frequently, adjusting heat if necessary, to make sure that the soup maintains a vigorous boil. Cook until the pasta is just tender, about five more minutes. In the last two minutes of cooking, stir in the still-frozen green peas. Serve at once, garnishing each bowl with 1 teaspoon grated parmesan cheese or more to taste. Serves 10.
PER SERVING: Calories 180 Fat 3 g (1 g sat)
Cholesterol 1 mg Sodium 444 mg
Fiber 7 g Carbohydrates 31 g Protein 8 g

Veggie attytood, kid-style: A 13-year-old is part of the vegetarian vanguard

2010-05-09T07:13:00.001-07:00

By BETH D'ADDONO
Philadelphia Daily News

For the Daily News

KELSEY O'CALLAGHAN wants to be a chef when she grows up - but not just any chef. Instead of having her sights set on attending the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, this 13-year-old from Bensalem is intent on making her mark at the Natural Gourmet School in Manhattan, an all-vegetarian academy.

Miffed that "there isn't even a vegetarian chef on the Food Network," O'Callaghan figured she'd get a jump on her career, and The Veggie Chef (www.theveggiechef.net) was born.

"I sort of made my own show," said the eighth-grader at Calvary Christian Academy. What started as a blog and Web site for healthy veggie eaters and cooks became a cooking "show" on YouTube, recipe demos starring, produced and edited by O'Callaghan, a two-day process she does in her room at home.

Typically, she'll take a recipe she finds online or in a cookbook and tweak it to substitute plant-based ingredients for animal-based.

"Like, if it says you need one large egg, you can mix two tablespoons of arrowroot and one tablespoon of water to substitute. And I use Earth Balance nondairy spread for butter," she said, adding, "My family lets me experiment on them."

The Veggie Chef hasn't always eschewed meat.

"I tried hamburger when I was 7 and completely hated it. But I did eat fish and chicken up until about nine months ago."

After viewing some disturbing PETA videos, O'Callaghan found herself thinking, really thinking, about where meat comes from. While not completely vegan, O'Callaghan has fully embraced vegetarianism. The difference between the two is that vegetarians don't eat meat, fish or fowl, while a vegan is a vegetarian who does not use other animal products, such as dairy and eggs.

"I just didn't feel comfortable eating food that was killed for meat," said the Veggie Chef, whose stance and subsequent spots online earned her PETA's "Compassionate Kid Award."

Not everybody is so thrilled with her choices.

"Especially when I'm with my friends going out to places or parties, everybody eats burgers and hot dogs," O'Callaghan said, admitting that it's also hard for her to stand by when others - including her stepdad, eat meat. "It's just so much more healthy not to."

While there isn't a glut of research and stats on vegetarian kids and their diet habits, a poll by independent market research firm Harris Interactive showed that 3 percent of Americans ages 8 to 18 are vegetarians. Within that group, about 1 percent are vegan, noted Megan Robinson, a certified diabetes educator and registered dietitian at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"I'll often have a parent come to me and say, 'My teenage daughter is a vegetarian or vegan. How can I be sure she's getting enough nutrition?' "

While there are some risks for deficiencies, especially with iron, calcium, B12 and omega-3 fatty acids, these can be overcome with supplements. "Studies show that kids who are strict vegans grow up just fine when it comes to height and weight," said Robinson.

"Compared to a decade ago, there are endless food and snack options for these kids. But the parents have to be nutritionally aware."

Being a vegetarian doesn't automatically mean eating healthy, she added. "There is plenty of junk food that could qualify as vegetarian. What a parent doesn't want to do is say, 'My kid's a vegan,' and just let them go. They have to be involved."

Parents take note

Lori Klein Brennan is about as involved as a parent can get with her daughter Madelyn's diet. Brennan, a vegetarian for ethical reasons for more than 21 years, decided to raise 20-month-old Maddie as a vegetarian, despite Brennan's husband, Ed, being a big meat eater.

"We talked about it - and we're still having that discussion," she said recently.

Gere backs vegetarian zone at site of enlightenment

2010-05-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

DELHI - Richard Gere the Hollywood actor who has spurned red meat for the past 30 years, has thrown his support behind a plan to transform the site of Buddha's enlightenment into a vegetarian zone to spread the message of peace.

The activist, who is taking part in a five-day training session with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader, in the Indian town of Bodhgaya, took part in a candlelit march this week highlighting the campaign. "Bodhgaya is a pious place and I want to come here again," the star of movies such as An Officer and a Gentleman and Pretty Woman told reporters, after joining around 500 monks and activists who took part in the march. "I am with the people who have launched this campaign."

According to Buddhist tradition, Bodhgaya, in the state of Bihar, is where Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment around 500BC. Starting in the 19th century, the area gradually become a site of pilgrimage and is now visited by Buddhists from all over the world, whose presence gives it a very different character from the rest of north India's impoverished "cow belt".

Since the Dalai Lama's flight into India from Tibet in 1959, Bodhgaya has become the winter pilgrimage destination for thousands of Tibetans who live in India, and is the site of a large Tibetan market. While not taking life is the first Buddhist precept, it is not essential to be vegetarian to be a Buddhist.

The Dalai Lama himself sometimes eats meat while he is away from his purely vegetarian kitchen in Dharamsala. Indeed, because of the climate and the difficulty of obtaining fresh vegetables and alternative sources of protein, many Buddhists in Tibet are not vegetarian. Neither is Gere.

The plan to turn Bodhgaya into a vegetarian zone is the project of a group called Tibetans for a Vegetarian Society that believes doing so would help spread a message of peace. Speaking last night from Bodhgaya, the group's founder, Tenzin Kunga Luding, said Gere's participation in the event had been a morale booster for the activists. "We have been calling for this since 2006 and slowly the campaign is building up," said Mr Luding. "He really was very supportive and very good to us. It has helped the cause a lot."

Mr Luding, born in India, was himself a meat-eater until the age of around 10, when he discovered how animals were raised and then slaughtered. He said that in Tibet the climate worked against a vegetarian diet but he said turning Bodhgaya into a meat-free zone would send a powerful message to the world. "In such a sacred place as this, people come to promote peace and non-violence and I think that if you kill an animal here and then sell it, then the sanctity will be spoiled," he explained. "This most sacred land will act as a model for other places to emulate and will impart more positive influence for the well-being of all humans, animals and the environment."

With the encouragement of Gere's support, the campaigners have also launched a signature campaign near the Mahabodhi temple, the world heritage-listed building said to sit on the precise spot of the enlightenment. They will next submit a petition to Bihar's chief minister, Nitish Kumar, asking him to order the city be turned into a meat-free zone.

NZHerald(dot)co.nz

Vegetarian Meatless Cheese - What Are You Talking About?

2008-10-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

The process of making cheese is to have it curdled with an enzyme called rennet with occurs in animal stomachs naturally. Vegetarian cheese is made with vegetable rennet, fungi or bacteria. To be able to spot the difference between vegetarian cheese and animal rennet cheese is almost impossible unless its marked vegetarian cheese in the store, so watch your vegetarian foods.

The vegetarians that don't eat cheese with animal rennet do so because they believe it causes animals to suffer when being slaughtered to extract the enzyme. Without the properly labeled product a ethically opposed vegetarian has a very hard time in distinguishing it from cheeses that were curdled with plants.

The vegan will not eat cheese at all because cheese is a byproduct of an animal. Many vegans will eat a product called chreese which is a non-soy, natural cheese replacement. This chreese is just one replacement of many. Just go to your local health food store or a organic store and there will be other vegetarian food products to choose from.

If you have being eating cheese and you are a vegetarian you may wish to change your dietary habits. Cheese made with animal rennet may have caused some animal suffering. So you have like three choices, buy cheese alternatives at a health/organic store, purchase vegetarian cheese online and/or look for the label on the cheese that says vegetarian cheese or vegetarian recipe cheese.

James Johnson is an accomplished Webmaster and publisher of http://vegetariandiet.us where he provides additional information on vegetarian food, meals and types of vegetarains. Also info on how to become a vegetarin. For more advice, tips and hard to find information on Vegetarian Diet

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Johnson

Vegetarian Diet and its Advantages on Health

2008-10-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

We tend to scoff at vegetarians, call them nuts among the berries, but the fact is they’re doing better than we are,’ says Dr William Castelli, Director of the US government’s Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts.

Even lacto-ovo-vegetarians,people who eat milk and eggs, live longer (by about three years) than low-meat eaters. For instance, the coronary heart disease mortality among total vegetarians is only 14 per cent. Vegetarians can, of course, have heart attacks, but they occur approximately 20 years later than in the lives of meat eaters. This is a huge difference. And vegetarians live their lives feeling more fit and healthy and suffering from fewer bouts of sickness.

Even doctors, who have been slow to recognize the importance of nutrition to health, are beginning to concede to the scientific evidence that has been accumulating for about a hundred years. The ultra-conservative British Medical Association has released a report stating categorically that vegetarians live longer than meat eaters. Vegetarians, the report concludes, have a 28 per cent lower risk of dying from heart disease and a 39 per cent lower risk of dying of cancer.

Scientists only make idiots of themselves when they refuse to face the implications of their work. What they should be asking now is what it is about meat that kills: the human machine is not designed to deal with it, so it becomes a poison. According to Arthur Upton, director of the National Cancer Institute in the USA: ‘Upto 50 per cent of all forms of cancer are caused by diet. Colon cancer should be the most apparent indicator because that is where problems with digestion show up. There is not a single population group in the world with a high meat intake which does not have a high rate of colon cancer.’ Here are some statistics:

• World populations with high meat intakes which do not have correspondingly high rates of colon cancer: None.
• World populations with low meat intakes which do not have correspondingly low rates of colon cancer: None.
• Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to women who eat meat less than once a week: four times higher.
• Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat eggs daily compared to women who eat eggs less than once a week: three times higher.
• Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat butter and cheese three or more times a week compared to women who eat these foods less than once a week: three times higher.
• Risk of death from heart attack of average animal food eater: 50 per cent.
• Risk of death from heart attack of average vegetarian: 15 per cent.
• Risk of death from heart attack of average purely vegetarian: four per cent.
• Amount you reduce your risk of heart attack by reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs by 10 per cent: nine per cent.
• Amount you reduce your risk of heart attack by reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs by 50 per cent: 45 per cent.
• Amount you reduce your risk of heart attack by reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs by 100 per cent: 90 per cent.
• Rise in blood cholesterol from consuming one egg per day: 12 per cent.
• Rise of heart attack risk from 12 per cent rise in blood cholesterol: 24 per cent.
• Meat, dairy and egg industries claim there is no reason to be concerned about your blood cholesterol as long as it is ‘normal‘. Your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries if your blood cholesterol is ‘normal’: over 50 per cent. Your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries if you do not consume saturated fat and cholesterol: five per cent.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a group of 4000 of the top doctors in America recently put out their own Four Basic Foods chart, much to the chagrin of that powerful lobby, the meat and diary industry. The ‘basic’ foods are: whole grains; vegetables; legumes; and fruits. There is no mention of meat or dairy products as being essential food groups necessary for human nutrition and health. The PCRM’s position is that the less we eat of this stuff the better. Many of these physicians have themselves become vegetarian simply on the strength of the nutritional studies on human beings.

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Vegetarian Food Application…?

2008-10-03T02:36:00.000-07:00

Facebook is a great tool that has helped Internet Private Investigators such as myself find out vital information like whether the head cheerleader got fat, or if Danny ever outgrew the “awkward phase”.

It’s fun! You don’t have to wait for those uncomfortable high school reunions that you were probably going to blow off anyway to find out what happened to everyone.

Yes, he got fat. Wow, she found someone to marry her? Damn, is that even him? When did he get hot? I can’t believe she wore that at her wedding. He actually… graduated from college… and got a job?! So that’s what she looks like when she’s not strung out. Crazy.

It also helped me reconnect with a lot of old friends that I never thought I would get a second chance with; you know, the ones with whom we sadly lost touch. You forgot to call. They didn’t email. Etc.

Then came the advent of the Facebook Application.

On that day, my life as a happy Facebook-er ended. On that day 99.9% of Facebook notifications became meaningless. It’s become so bad that there are now FACEBOOK APPLICATIONS that tell other people that you ARE NOT INTERESTED IN FACEBOOK APPLICATIONS. They’re everywhere, and they cannot be escaped. I will not lie and say I don’t use any; I have the Washington Redskins Fan application and a few others. Nothing too substantial.

A majority of the applications, however, are ridiculous.

No, I don’t want an ugly plant baby as a gift to grow in my virtual garden. No, I don’t want to be your Vegan Partner in Crime. No, I don’t care how compatible our ethnic heritage is. No, you cannot OWN me. And I definitely don’t want to know what Britney Spears song I am, and I don’t care what song you are either!

What I don’t get is how people don’t realize how obnoxious these applications are. And don’t even get me started on “poking”. Seriously, it’s about as effective as winking at someone on Match.com.

I really wish I could yell at kids to get off my virtual Facebook lawn. And the next application they throw through my window, I’m keeping.

Damn, kids and their “Mob Wars”. I miss the good ol’ days.

http://whatlizsaid.com

Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair

2008-10-03T02:31:00.000-07:00

Every year the Toronto Vegetarian Association puts on a Food Fair at Harborfront Centre. Admission is free, and there are tons of vegetarian and vegan businesses there, so it’s worth checking out if you are interested in vegetarian or vegan lifestyles. They’ve got food vendors (some of which give out free samples), health and wellness booths, vegetarian clothing, cookbooks, reusable bags and bottles, cooking ingredients, and even pots and pans. There is also an entire tent dedicated to ‘political’ causes like PETA, Earthroots, and of course the Vegetarian Association itself.

The event advertises itself as ‘BYOR’: Bring your own reuseables (plates and cutlery). However, if you don’t have your own, don’t worry - a lot of the food is served on a stick kabob style, or on napkins.

Today is the last day of 2008’s fair. Unfortunately it looks like it’s going to rain most of the day, but most of the vendors are in tents, so you shouldn’t get too soggy if you want to check it out.

http://www.mmmtasty.ca/2008/09/07/toronto-vegetarian-food-fair/