Don’t miss Part 1: Why Go Vegetarian and Part 2: How to Become Vegetarian

So far in this series that is meant to help people transition to a plant-based diet, I’ve talked about the many reasons why it’s a good idea to become vegetarian for your health, the planet, and animals. I’ve also explained how to take those first steps to become vegetarian with easy meat and dairy substitutes. Now it’s time to talk about how to be a healthy vegetarian.

About Vegetarian Nutrition

Let me preface by saying that I am not a doctor, nor am I a nutritionist or any other type of health care professional. What I am is an avid-reading vegan that wants to be healthy. People ask me all the time what I do for protein or calcium. That’s the reason why I’m sharing this information with you. If you have specific concerns or questions, go see your doctor … and if they tell you to eat meat … find another one! That said, let’s get started.

There are some things – essential vitamins and nutrients – that all people need to be concerned with in their diets. However most people (albeit wrongly) assume they are getting all their essential vitamins and nutrients in an animal-based diet. By choosing a plant-based diet, I think it’s important to understand what foods actually fuel your body and which are total crap. Americans like to eat a lot of crap. Don’t let yourself be one of them! I know it’s kind of shocking but you don’t need to consume mass quantities of high-fructose corn syrup or carb up on pasta every night. There are other options.

A few months ago a good friend of mine, Mireille, decided to go vegetarian. She watched Earthlings and that was enough for her. She didn’t want to touch meat again. But she’s a busy woman with a career and kids who relied on fast food prior to becoming vegetarian. She was not an avid cook. She turned to pasta and baked potatoes to fill her meat void. But she gained weight in no time so I had to have a little nutritional intervention with her. There are other foods out there. Pasta is not the only vegetarian food on this planet! For some easy substitutes, see the post on How to Become Vegetarian. What Mireille, myself and many others didn’t realize is that we need certain vitamins and nutrients to feel good.

According to Dr. Michael Greger, the following is a guide for optimum vegan nutrition. Each of these micronutrients are of utmost importance:

Vitamin B-12

Vitamin B-12 is needed for cell division and blood formation. Plants do not contain vitamin B-12.¹ We only need 2,000mcg each week. This is a very small amount but a lack of B-12 can lead to anemia and irreversible nerve damage. So it is important to look for vitamin B-12 fortified foods like soy milk or cereal or to take a B-12 supplement. Vitamin B-12 deficiency isn’t just a vegan problem. There are a whole lot of meat-eating American suffering from this condition which is a growing area of concern for the health community.² So get your B-12! It’s easy and painless. I take a couple drops of UltraPlan mega B-12 once a week.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are important in preventing heart disease, depression and other health conditions.³ They are also thought to be an important brain nutrient for concentration and clarity. To not go all scientific on you … basically we need Omega-3s and our body can’t produce enough of them so we should make sure to eat some. Dr. Greger recommends 250-500mg daily of algae-derived DHA. Non vegans get Omega-3s from seafood, dairy and eggs. For an explanation why its a bad idea to get your Omega-3s from fish, see the post on Rethinking Fish Consumption. For a better way to get Omega-3s, you can find them in flaxseed, canola oil, soy products, hemp products, and walnuts as well as some leafy green vegetables. I eat at least a tablespoon of flaxseed every morning in a shake and take one Spectrum Vegetarian DHA capsule each day.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps the body store the right amount of calcium and phosphorus in your blood—these are the 2 nutrients that work together to make your bones strong.⁴ If you don’t get enough vitamin D, you are more susceptible to osteoporosis and rickets. There are also side effects to having too much Vitamin D. The great thing about Vitamin D, is that your very own body can produce it with a little help from the sun. If you get 10-15 minutes of sunshine three times a week, that’s sufficient. For those of us in Arizona, this is not a problem! For those of you in Alaska, listen up. Make sure you get 5-15 mcg/day in a vitamin supplement.⁵

Calcium

Calcium is a mineral and it’s important. Here’s why. It keeps our bones strong, nerves and muscles functioning, and blood clotting.⁶ I would say it’s pretty important. You should eat 600mg per day. Most people think that calcium comes from cows’ milk and cheese. Yea but it also comes with blood and puss! Some better sources of calcium include calcium-fortified soy milk, tofu, soybeans, broccoli, collard greens, kale, and other green veggies. For a more specific list see the post Vegetarian Calcium Sources.

Iodine

Iodine is thought to prevent breast cancer and fibrocystic breast disease and to remove toxic chemicals from our bodies. And just like with the other nutrients, Americans are coming up short. Our iodine intake is way low and this lack of iodine has been found to cause goiter, hypothyroidism, mental retardation, and physical deformities.⁷ Don’t worry! You can get iodine very easily by adding a little iodized salt to your foods. Grocery stores sell a lot of salt that does not have iodine in it so make sure your salt is iodized. Dr. Greger and Dr. Miller recommend eating 150mcg per day. You can also eat too much iodine so go easy with that salt shaker and stick to the recommended amount.

Iron

Iron is important because it carries oxygen to all parts of the body. What would you do without oxygen? Um, you wouldn’t be around for very long. Lack of iron has been shown to reduce work capacity, endurance, intellectual performance, and infection resistance.⁸ Never fear, all you have to do is eat plenty of beans and dark green vegetables.  According to Dr. Mangels, “Dried beans and dark green leafy vegetables are especially good sources of iron, even better on a per calorie basis than meat.”⁹ For vegetarians that eat crap, getting enough iron is likely a problem. So trade that diet soda for soy milk and those potato chips for broccoli and lentils. You’ll be much better off, I promise.

Protein

People quite frequently ask me about protein. First of all I think Americans are way to obsessed with protein. I guess we can thank Dr. Atkins for that … ahem … yet do I need to mention that he died of obesity and heart disease? So many people ask me about protein that I became quite concerned myself and since have read several sources that say roughly the same thing. Adult men need about 56 grams a day. Adult women need about 46 grams a day. This is a guide for people that are normal like me. Not for extreme athletes or pregnant women.

If you don’t get enough protein, it could mean danger for your muscles, bones, and cells. Now of course most people think protein comes from dead animals. But there are so many other great sources like: quinoa, beans, soy, and nuts. The Cornell China study suggests that plant-based proteins are healthier than those from animals.¹⁰ Here’s what I do to start my day off right. I make a big shake with a couple scoops of GenSoy protein powder. Combined with fruit, flaxseed, and one cup of soy milk, I have over 20 grams of protein just at breakfast. Then I make sure after lunch I have a handful (just one handful … don’t get carried away) of nuts. That’s another 10 grams of protein. Then I assume that my other meals more than cover the remaining 16 grams of protein needed. Pretty much all meals have some protein in them. If you’re curious about just how much protein foods have, see the resources section below.

Multi-Vitamins for Vegetarian Nutrition

While I have suggested some specific vitamins and food sources to optimum nutrition, you may also want to consider taking a multi-vitamin. As a former weight watcher’s participant, I will re-iterate their recommendation which is to take a multi-vitamin that limits the serving amount of each item to 100%. Some multi-vitamins say silly thing like 1,000% of your daily intake for a certain item. This is just ridiculous. All you need is 100% so try to find a multi-vitamin that sticks to the recommended amounts at 100%. Personally I like the Whole Foods 365 Adult Multi which I take once a day.

Resources for Vegetarian Nutrition

Now that you are armed with all of this powerful information about how to live a healthy vegan life, you may be wondering, how to find out exactly how much iron is in a piece of broccoli. Dr. Reed Mangels, whom I cited many times in this post, has a very comprehensive site with information about vegan health: www.vrg.org. He lists several foods and how they can add up to meet your daily essential nutrient intake. I also love the site: www.nutritiondata.com. If you want to get into the nitty gritty of each food’s nutritional content, Nutrition Data can help you do that. They have a calculator where you enter the foods and it gives you a plethora of details.

Wrapping Up Vegetarian Nutrition

This was such a long post I feel like I need to say goodbye to you dear reader I hope this has been really helpful for you. Remember …. eat a well balanced diet of beans, grains, vegetables, and fruits. Lay off the pasta and high-fructose corn syrup. Just because they’re vegan doesn’t mean they’re good for you.  As always if you have questions, please post a comment and I’ll get back to you or give you a resource that is more knowledgeable. Now go eat your veggies!

References:

1. Vitamin B12 in the Vegan Diet by Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D., http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm.

2. Vitamin B12 Deficiency, American Family Physician, http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030301/979.html.

3. Mangels, Reed, PhD, RD, Questions and Answers about Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Vegans. Vegetarian Journal. Issue One 2007: 22-23.

4. Why Is Vitamin D So Important for Your Health? Internal Medicine World Report, Aug. 2007. http://www.imwr.com/issues/articles/2007-08_47.asp.

5. MedlinePlus, A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002405.htm.

6. Mangels, Reed, PhD, RD, Calcium in the Vegan Diet, http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm.

7. Miller, Donald W. Jr., MD, Iodine for Health, http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller20.html.

8. Bersamin, Andrea, Hathaway, Cristy, Zidenberg-Cherr, Sheri, PhD. Nutrition and Health: Iron and Iron Deficiency Anemia. April 2004. http://nutrition.ucdavis.edu/content/infosheets/IronAndAnemiaFact.pdf

9. Mangels, Reed, PhD, RD, Iron in the Vegan Diet, http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm.

10. Protein: Are You Getting Enough? WebMD. http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/nutrition-labels-9/protein?ecd=wnl_din_081009

Don’t miss Part 1: Why Go Vegetarian

Last week I talked about the many reasons why it’s good to become vegetarian. This week I’ll explain exactly how to make that transition. So many people have said, “I really want to go vegetarian. I just don’t know how.” Hopefully this post will answer many of those questions. All of this is based on my experience so use it as a guide but do what makes you feel most comfortable.

First Step: Decide Why You’re Becoming Vegetarian

It may seem obvious to decide why you want to become vegetarian but it’s important. At times it can be tempting to eat a piece of chicken or Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. When you find yourself in that situation, it’s important to instantly remind yourself why you’ve made this commitment. Is it for your health so you can live to see the future? Is it for the planet so we all can live to see the future? Or is it because you want to limit the amount of suffering and torture imposed upon animals raised for food? It may be a combination of all three but most likely one reasons stands out from the rest. Take some time to write it down so you can remind yourself later.

Second Step: Learn What Vegetarians Eat

Many people think that by becoming vegetarian you are depriving yourself of “good” food. People tend to think this lifestyle is “limiting” or “difficult”. This can not be farther from the truth. Anybody that has been vegan for more than a few weeks will tell you that eliminating animal products from their diet has opened the door for so many new and interesting foods.

Before we get into foods you most likely have never heard of, let’s talk about some simple alternatives you can eat instead of the animal products you are used to. Sometimes these alternatives are called “mock meat” or “mock cheese”. I prefer to call them what they are. All of the following recommendations are tested and approved by me. However not all of them are vegan so I no longer eat some of them but I can guarantee that they are vegetarian and we must all start somewhere. We’ll talk about how to spot non-vegan ingredients a bit later.

Chicken & Turkey Alternatives: Boca Chik’n Patties, Field Roast, Gardenburger Breaded Chik’n, Morningstar Farms Chik’n Strips, Tofurkey

Hamburger Alternatives: Amy’s Kitchen burgers (many varieties), Boca Burgers (vegan option), Gardenburger (vegan option), Morningstar Farms (vegan option), Yves Meatless Beef Burgers (vegan)

Sandwich Meat Alternatives: Tofurkey Deli Slices (vegan), Yves Meatless Deli Slices (bologna, ham, turkey, salami, pepperoni, roast beef, smoked chicken all vegan)

Ground Beef Alternatives: Boca Meatless Ground Crumbles, Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Grillers Recipe Crumbles

Eggs: Ener-G Egg Replacer (for baking), Tofu (for scrambling)

Milk: soy milk (high in protein), hemp milk (high in protein), rice milk, almond milk

Butter: Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread (vegan, seriously it’s better than butter!)

Cheese: Vegan Gourmet (good for melting), Lisanatti Almond Cheese (good for sandwiches), Veggie Slices (good for sandwiches)

Mayonnaise: Follow Your Heart Vegenaise

Sour Cream: Tofutti Sour Supreme

Cream Cheese: Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese

Ice Cream: Turtle Mountain Purely Decadent (yum, yum, yum), So Delicious

Yogurt: Silk Live! Soy Yogurt, Turtle Mountain SO Delicious Dairy-Free Yogurt

Now let’s hope that answers the question people like to ask; “What DO you eat?”. Shazzam. We vegans eat a lot! And we get to eat more than meat eaters because most vegan food is lower in fat. Many of these same companies also offer meatless hot dogs, bacon, and sausage.

Here is an important tip. Now this is key so listen up. Don’t expect these foods to taste like the meat or animal products you are trying to replace. Instead open your mind to the idea that you are trying a totally new food. Be curious about the flavors and textures and treat it as a new food experience. Most of them do not taste like their animal-derived predecessors and that is ok. You are on a new adventure so appreciate the new experiences ahead of you! As Isa Chandra-Moskowitz says, “Your taste buds will catch up with your ethics.” Trust me it’s true.

You might be wondering, “what do I do with the non-vegan/vegetarian food in my house?” Some people are so disgusted with animal products once they make the decision to become vegetarian, they throw everything away and start fresh with non-animal foods. Others, myself included, decided to eat the remaining animal products and never buy them again. I remember being forlorn over my last Cheeze-It. It seems lame now but at the time I was sad about it. Now I can tell you about a zillion other foods I love more than Cheeze-Its. Either way, the most important thing is to become educated about what you’re eating and you get some brownie points for reading this because you’re already there.

In future posts I will get more into detail about how to make fantastic vegan food from scratch but I don’t want to overwhelm those of you that are just starting out. Begin with these alternatives and over time you’ll be ready to graduate to more cooking in the kitchen. Who knows you might even find it fun! I know that sounds ridiculous but I can say that because I was the most anti-cooking woman ever but after being vegan nearly 2 years, I am finding that I love the creativity of cooking.

Third Step: Finding Vegetarian Items in the Grocery Store

Are you looking at these animal-product alternatives with a big question mark over your head? Perhaps you’ve never heard of them and you wouldn’t have a clue about where to find them in your grocery store. Don’t worry. Grocery stores are incorporating more and more vegetarian-friendly products all the time. I have been known to find Veggie Slices and Tofurkey in even the small towns of Nebraska.

In most grocery stores, milk alternatives can be found next to the regular milk. Frozen meat alternatives like veggie burgers and veggie crumbles are usually in a separate area of the frozen foods section. Pretty much everything else is usually in the “healthy” foods section.

My local Basha’s is amazing. They carry about 90% of the products I like to use on a regular basis. Sprouts Farmer’s Market is another local store that carries many “alternatives”. Sadly Trader Joe’s doesn’t carry most of these foods but they do have great nut mixes and vegan chocolate chips. My all time favorite grocery store is Whole Foods Market. What person doesn’t love that store? I mean you can get pretty much any strange thing you can imagine there including matcha green tea powder, rosewater, vegan Omega-3 – all of which I buy there.

At any grocery store, you can ask the people working there to help you find what you want. And you know how they always ask at the end of your transaction, “did you find everything you were looking for?” Take that as an opportunity to request the products you’re looking for. If enough people do, they will start carrying them.

Fourth Step: Spotting Non-Vegan Ingredients

For those of you looking to transition from vegetarianism to veganism or those of you that just want to take the leap from eating animal products to getting rid of any trace of them in your diet, here are some important sneaky, sneaks to look out for.

Whey: Whey, or milk plasma, is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It’s usually found in cheese alternatives that don’t specifically say they are vegan but it can be found in pretty much any product.

Casein: Casein is a protein that is found in milk and used independently in many foods as a binding agent. It’s usually found in cheese alternatives that don’t specifically say they are vegan.

Gelatin: Gelatin is a solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals’ skin and bones, that is used as a binding agent. It is most often found in Jell-O, candy or like products.

Glycerides (mono/di/tri): Glycerides come from animal fats. They can be found in many products.

These are the most common but there are others that you may notice from time to time. If you want more details, go to this complete list of foods which contain hidden animal products. If this all seems too much for you at the moment, don’t stress! Just work on cutting out the big things like hamburgers and chicken breasts. You can consider what you want to do about whey, casein, and gelatin later.

I hope this post has helped those of you that are considering this fulfilling and compassionate lifestyle. Stay tuned for Part 3: Vegetarian Nutrition to continue your transformation! If you have any questions or ideas, please leave me a comment. I’m here to help you in any way I can.

Dear readers,

I’m so very sorry that I had a little mess up on my very well intentioned blog post from yesterday, Why Go Vegetarian Part 1 of 5. I worked really hard crafting the argument and researching sources and then …. oops I accidentally published the wrong version.

For those of you that already viewed it in your reader or received it via e-mail please see the updated version at:

http://www.hungryherbivores.com/2009/09/06/why-go-vegetarian/

There is substantially more information under “For Your Health”.

As always … thanks for your readership!

-Josie

When I announced this new and improved blog, several people responded asking for an introduction to vegetarianism. I’m happy to oblige. Today starts the first in a five part series that will guide you through the journey of living a vegetarian life for your health, the animals, and the planet. The five parts will provide overviews on:

• part 1: why go vegetarian;
• part 2: how to go vegetarian;
• part 3: vegetarian nutrition;
• part 4: talking the vegetarian talk; and
• part 5: living a compassionate vegetarian life.

Just to preface, when I say vegetarian, I mean vegan as well. To me, you can not truly be supporting animal welfare -which is the main reason I’m vegan – unless you remove all animal products from your diet and lifestyle. However doing something is better than doing noting. If all you can do is cut out chicken in your diet, that’s better than continuing to eat chicken in addition to drinking milk, etc. It also appears that the word “vegetarian” is less difficult for people to accept. For some “veganism” seems too difficult to achieve. Regardless, it’s not about the labels or whatever you decide to call yourself, it’s about the intention you use to make your food choices every day.

Why Become Vegetarian?

There are so many reasons to become vegetarian! The main three are: for your health, for the animals, and for our planet.

For Your Health

Healthy vegetarian and musician, John Darnielle, with Zoop at Farm Sanctuary.

America is experiencing an obesity epidemic. More than one-third of U.S. adults were obese in 2005–2006.  This includes 33.3% of men and 35.3% of women¹. For the first time in history this generation of children is predicted to have a shorter life span than their parents due to obesity and obesity-related diseases. Vegetarianism, if managed well, is one way to combat obesity. You see the plants and grains do not contain the saturated fats and cholesterol found in animal products. So by choosing vegetarianism, you are virtually eliminating the unnecessary saturated fat and cholesterol from your diet. Dr. Michael Greger, an expert in nutrition, has done extensive research and found that several medical studies link meat consumption with breast cancer, bladder cancer and pancreatic cancer². He has also shown that eating just one egg a day can lead to cardiovascular disease³. On average vegetarians have lower body weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure, and lower rates of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, prostate cancer, and colon cancer⁴.  Furthermore, the animals raised for food are pumped full of antibiotics, hormones and toxins that eventually reach their human consumers. Dairy is notorious for containing an excess of sex steroids which some claim to cause early onset puberty and breast cancer in women. The National Institute of Health has reported alarming levels of arsenic in chicken breast, six times the amount allowed in drinking water⁵. Once we understand that eating animal products is a packaged deal, meaning that while they may offer benefits to human health the bad effects far outweigh the good, it seems clear that we should rely on plants, beans, and grains to meet our nutritional needs. These food sources do not have such drastic consequences to human health or animal welfare. After all, the animals get their nutrients from the plants they eat. Then we expect them to pass those nutrients on to us. But we can do something better. We can start from the beginning and shorten the food chain by deriving nutrition from plant-based sources. It’s better for our health.

For The Animals

Male "dairy" cows are used for veal because they can not produce milk.

Most of our food in America comes from factory farms. Americans eat a lot of food which means 10 BILLION⁶ (yes billion, that’s not a typo) animals are killed for food each year. That equals 1,140,901 animals per hour. This number includes cows, pigs, chickens, turkey, and other animals raised for food. It does not include fish or game. These animals are treated horribly on factory farms. Female pigs used for breeding (called ‘breeding sows‘ by industry) are confined most of their lives in ‘gestation crates’ which are so small that they can not turn around. The same goes for veal calves (little boys that are a byproduct of the dairy industry) who are not only confined but also chained by their neck so they can not move. Female dairy cows are constantly impregnated so they can continue to produce milk and veal. They often suffer painful inflammation of their utters from producing extreme quantities of milk. Most beef cattle spend several months in congested feedlots where they are fed unnatural diets and exposed to freezing and extremely hot temperatures without shelter. Chicken – the majority of animals killed – are kept in cages so small they can not move, spread their wings or socialize like they would naturally. Male chicks, like male dairy cows, have no place in the egg industry. Over 30 million male chicks are ground up alive each year⁷. ALL of these animals (aside from the male chicks) are sent to slaughter which is not pretty. Death is never a beautiful thing when the animal you are killing desperately wants to live. Because so many animals die each year for food production, they are sent quickly through the slaughter lines meaning that sometimes they are alive and conscious when they reach the hide puller or tail ripper. There are many other atrocities committed against the animals humans eat. This is but an overview. So I ask you … if you would not treat animals this way, why would you pay someone else to so that meat can end up on your table?

For Our Planet

Manure waste from a confined animal feeding operation.

The production of animals is a major contributor to the destruction of our environment. Factory farming produce toxins, chemicals, gases, and uncontainable amounts of manure that pollute the soil, water, and air. This causes masses environmental degradation and can be dangerous to public health. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “The livestock sector is a major player responsible for 18 percent of green-house gas emissions measured in CO₂ equivalent. This is a higher share than transport.”⁸ Eating a meal with meat requires 16 times the amount of fossil fuels to produce than a vegetarian meal⁹.In addition, it takes an enormous amount of resources to raise animals for food and eat them. It is more efficient to raise grains and plants for humans to eat rather than to raise grains and plants for animals to consume and then for people to consume the animals. It takes 14 times more energy and 40 percent more cropland to produce the protein found in chicken meat as is does to produce the same amount of protein per unit of soybeans¹⁰. The Worldwatch Institute says, “As environmental science has advanced, it has become apparent that the human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future – deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilization of communities, and the spread of disease”¹¹. Even Al Gore and Glenn Beck say the single most important thing you can do to stop global warming is to stop eating meat.

Types of Vegetarians

There are different types of vegetarians. These are the most common.

Vegetarian: A vegetarian is a person who does not eat meat but eats animal byproducts such as milk, cheese and eggs.

Lacto-vegetarian: A lacto-vegetarian is a person that does not eat eggs but does eat dairy products.

Ovo-Vegetarian: An ovo-vegetarian is a person that do not eat meat or dairy products but does eat eggs.

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian: Lacto-ovo vegetarian is a person that does not eat meat but they do eat milk, cheese and eggs. They are the most common type of vegetarians in the Western world.

Vegan: A vegan is a person who does not eat meat or animal byproducts, A vegan also rejects the use of animal products such as leather, silk, wool in clothing and household goods.

Raw Vegan: A raw vegan is a person who eats only raw, vegan foods. “Raw” means that the food has not been heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Raw vegans believe that foods cooked above this temperature loses a significant amount of their nutritional value.

Think about what kind of vegetarian you would like to be. Our next step in part 2 will be discussing how to make the transition from a typical meat-eating diet to one of compassion and fulfillment that minimizes the suffering of both animals, the planet and people.

Resources

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Obesity Among Adults in the United States, http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html

2. Dr. Michael Greger, Latest in Clinical Nutrition DVD, volume 2, http://www.drgreger.org/DVDs/

3. Dr. Michael Greger, Latest in Clinical Nutrition DVD, volume 2, http://www.drgreger.org/DVDs/

4. American Dietetic Association, Vegetarian Diets, Volume 109, Issue 7, Pages 1266-1282 (July 2009), http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML.htm

5. Lasky T, Sun W, Kadry A, and Hoffman MK, “Mean Total Arsenic Concentrations in Chicken 1989-2000 and estimated Exposures for Consumers of Chicken,” Environmental Health Perspectives 112(1), Jan. 2004.

6. The Humane Society of the United States: Guide to Vegetarian Eating based on USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service.

7. Mercy for Animals, Hatchery Horrors: The Egg Industry’s Tiniest Victims, http://www.mercyforanimals.org/hatchery/

8. Livestock’s Long Shadow, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM

9. Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary, during a talk at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona on March 30, 2009.

10. The Humane Society of the United States: Guide to Vegetarian Eating based on USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, “Poultry Slaughter: 2006 Annual Summary”.

11. Is Meat Sustainable?, Worldwatch Institute, http://www.worldwatch.org/node/549

Yep, it’s true. The flu vaccine is cultivated in chicken eggs. Not just any chicken eggs, 11-day-old fertilized chicken eggs. “Companies inject the eggs with flu strains. The eggs become tiny incubators, brewing viruses that are then killed and bottled in vials.”1 Does this bother anybody else or just me?

Now the flu vaccine companies don’t like making flu vaccines this way … not because of the cruelty caused to the chicken embryos but because it takes time … several days for the vaccine to be ready. They have a bright idea of moving on to something else called cell culture vaccines. “Instead of injecting viruses in eggs, scientists infect cells — drawn from insects, African green monkeys, dogs, or human fetal retinas — with flu strains or their components.”2 Then they cultivate them in big vats. This would stop shortages of the flu vaccine in peak seasons but … ahem … cause more cruelty to animals! Why can’t they think of a solution that doesn’t use animal cells?

After all this suffering is caused, there are no reports (that I could find) detailing the effectiveness of the vaccine. Even the Center for Disease Control says “The ability of flu vaccine to protect a person depends on the age and health status of the person getting the vaccine, and the similarity or “match” between the virus strains in the vaccine and those in circulation.”3 So even people who get the flu vaccine can still come down with the flu and (gasp) perhaps even die. Then the chicken’s suffering would have been for not.

Everybody knows that it’s not fun to be sick. The flu can cause vomiting, fever, lethargy, and body aches that linger for days or weeks. So what’s a vegan to do? Now I am not a doctor nor am I giving medical advice but here’s what I decided. I’m a healthy 31 year old woman and the likelihood that I’ll survive even the worst flu is high. So I opt not to get a flu vaccine and suffer a few days or weeks of inconvenience during the winter if I get sick.

Elderly folks, pregnant women, or young kids are at higher risk of becoming gravely ill or worse, death, from the flu. But lets be rational, the flu kills 36,000 people in the US every year. It causes 200,000 people to be hospitalized. In the United States, there are 34,000 gun-related deaths each year. Even more people, 42,636, are killed in car accidents in the United States ever year.

If you like to play the odds as I do, you are more likely of dying in a car accident than you are of dying from the flu. Does that mean you’ll stop driving? Probably not. Does that mean you may consider not being vaccinated for the flu? That’s up to you. I’m just giving you vegan food for thought

1. Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, 11/27/2004, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15336-2004Nov26.html

2. Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, 11/27/2004, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15336-2004Nov26.html

3. CDC – Influenza, 12/10/08, http://www.cdc.gov/FLU/protect/keyfacts.htm

When illnesses caused by animal-based food products contaminate vegan diet sources of food, I get down right mad. I mean, come on. Even if we choose to eat a healthy, plant-based vegan diet, we can not escape the effects of the masses who eat animal-based foods.

Today the Minnesota Department of Health confirmed that a lot of King Nut creamy peanut butter tested positive for salmonella. To scare you even more, this has been going on since last fall and they are just now recalling 1,000 cases of the peanut butter. Over 400 people have fallen ill from this salmonella contamination in 42 states! To make it worse, 18% of the people complaining of sickness were hospitalized.

Is the CDC asleep? Did they take too much time off over the holidays? Why does it take so long for them to recognize this threat to our health?

Steven Reinberg from HealthDay reports, “The strain of salmonella has been identified as Salmonella Typhimurium, the most common of the more than 2,500 types of salmonella bacteria in the United States. It’s often found in uncooked eggs and meats, said officials with the CDC, who have been investigating the outbreak for several weeks.”

The final straw that broke the camel’s back or rather infectiously caused havoc in elderly intestines, was King Nut peanut butter found in a Minnesota nursing home. Now that is sad.

For the full article, visit
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/health_news_detail.asp?health_day=623035

What can we do about it? Is vegan obesity going to be as bad as regular obesity? I highly doubt it. While vegan “meat” type foods still have fat, overall they are typically less fatty than true cow flesh or chicken flesh. However our dairy substitutes, I’m sad to say can be higher in fat than actual dairy products. Take yogurt for example. Most soy yogurt has 3-4 grams of fat while there are many dairy choices that have 0 grams of fat. I digress. Silk if you’re reading … please make a non-fat, non-dairy soy yogurt! Is that too much to ask? Thanks!

My point is that I thought as a vegan I could eat whatever I wanted. That worked for a while. It may be that I turned 30 just about a year ago and my body stopped producing muscle as everyone says or it may be that there are just too damn many great tasting food choices out there for vegans. In fact I never really loved food until I became a vegan. Dairy made me sick. Meat looked disgusting. I had major issues with food. However as a vegan, I love everything I eat … feel good about it and it makes me feel good. This love affair has caused me some trouble. I gained 7 pounds so far this year. YIKES! Now if I gained 7 pounds every year it would only take me a short decade to be 70 pound overweight.

After stepping on the scale last week, I decided it was time to do something about it. My good friend Jenn recently lost a bunch of weight using the Weight Watcher’s program. I tried it this summer and gave up after 3 days. I’m not a number crunching kind of person. I tend to think of myself as the creative type. You know what that means … I can’t remember or keep track of my keys much less the calories in everything I eat! Well finally that seventh pound really got to me and I humbly asked Jenn for help. She has been so inspiring and motivational! I feel very lucky to have such a good friend.

I’ve been holding strong for 4 days on Weight Watchers. I’ve lost 2 pounds. At this rate, I only have 3 weeks to go to reach my goal weight then I can go into maintenance which I think will be a little easier. I know some of you may think this is silly worrying about 7 pounds but I never, ever had a problem with my weight before. I took one look at the scale and saw myself a decade into the future with a 70 pound gut. You know how hard that would be to carry around? So I thought better to get it under control while it’s still a relatively easy number to deal with.

Now you can all look forward to not only great vegan recipes on this blog … but also recipes that are ideally low fat … well we all have to have a good cupcake now and again … but maybe just not every day

The article says, “The horses live in tiny stalls, unable to turn around or meaningfully lie down. They are deprived of water, repeatedly impregnated, and continuously connected to plumbing collecting that urine.” Doesn’t that sound familiar? That’s pretty much the same lifestyle for gestational pigs and dairy cows … although dairy cows are not often confined in this way. Ok, so what gives? One female’s night sweats are so uncomfortable that they justify torture and inhumane treatment of another female? I think if ladies knew this they would not take the drug. What if you had to be penned in a stall with a catheter stuck up your whohe all the time, continuously pregnant and giving birth never to receive any of the joys in motherhood? That doesn’t sound like a fair deal to me.

The article says that in 58 years of Premarin production, about a million horses have lived in cruelty and eventually been slaughtered as a result. That’s over 17,000 per year. So then I ask myself …. do I feel compassion for these horses? Absolutely. Who wouldn’t? But I think this Premarin deal has had just as much, if not more, media attention than the routine production, torture and slaughter of food animals. Let’s not forget that over 10 billion, yes BILLION, animals (not including fish) are slaughtered for human consumption every year in the US alone! Now I do feel sad for the horses but then again there are 580,000 times as many pigs, cows, and chickens enduring the same torture every year. How sad that we live in such a place that deems it legally appropriate to treat sentient beings in such a way.