Saturday, December 28, 2013

Steps to Cancer Prevention




• Do not use tobacco in any form.

• Eat a varied menu (whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans, without added fats), which supplies generous amounts of fibre, vitamins, and minerals.

• Have a variety of colors within your daily menu.

• Consume at least 40 grams of fibre per day.

• Avoid animal products and minimize added vegetable oils.

• Minimize alcohol intake.

• Engage in regular physical activity.

• Maintain your weight at or near your ideal level.

• Avoid excessive sunlight and unnecessary X-rays.

• Be sure to take a daily multiple vitamin without added minerals, or other reliable source of vitamin B12. Adults need 2.4 micrograms per day.

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Health in Australia

Australia, like the US and other western countries, is becoming more and more obese. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2011-12, 70% of males and 56% of females in Australia aged 18 years and over were overweight or obese. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of suffering from a range of health conditions, including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, some cancers, knee and hip problems, and sleep apnoea. In 2008, the total annual cost of obesity to Australia, including health system costs, loss of productivity costs and carers' costs, was estimated at around $58 billion.

Each year around 55,000 Australians suffer a heart attack., this equates to around 150 heart attacks a day, or one heart attack every 10 minutes. More than 350,000 Australians have had a heart attack at some time in their lives (From the ABS National Health Survey)

To quote from a documentary I saw ... "What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure. Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to “battle” these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases."

Almost everyone I know is taking some sort of pill ... Cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure you name it.

However, it would seem to me that pills are the "band aid" solution. They mask the symptoms but do nothing to prevent the problem. Doctors in Australia don't have any interest in preventing any of the illnesses we face. They offer solutions once you already have the disease.

In contrast, even though I used to have very high cholesterol and a "fatty liver", even though my doctor recommended that I start taking Lipitor (an anti cholesterol drug), even though I was somewhat overweight ... since adopting a plant based diet I no longer have these issues and I'm drug free!

Again, to quote from the documentary I saw " Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive, but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?"

What you eat can greatly affect your health and well-being. Scientific studies have shown time and again that choosing healthy foods can reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.

There is compelling evidence that dietary patterns that include processed foods and animal products, even in moderation, are the leading cause of modern diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The evidence that plant based diets are health supporting is consistent across all types of research, particularly in regard to whole plant foods. The wholefoods plant based diet has a wide breadth of benefit, in that the same dietary approach that will prevent or even reverse one disease is beneficial to the management of others.
Some resources to back up these claims
Whole Foods Plant Based Health - an excellent Australian resource

Biggest US Insurer Kaiser Permanente Tells 17,000 Doctors to Recommend Plant-Based Diets! also includes links to studies to back up their claims

The Last Heart Attack -- CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta Documentary

Forks over Knives - examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.

Preventing disease and taking control of your own health is a topic I wish the Australian Government, Australian media and Australian people knew more about.

If Australians knew that a wholefoods plant based diet would extend their life and reduce (and reverse) many cancers ...would they?

If Australians knew that, by changing to a wholefoods plant based diet they could be in control of their own health ... would they?

If Australians knew that, by changing to a wholefoods plant based diet taking another pill was not the only way to deal with their health problems ... would they?

Shouldn't this be front page news?

Saturday, August 17, 2013

How to live a healthy long life

From the introduction to Forks over Knives

"What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure. Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to “battle” these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases. Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive, but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?"

Almost everyone I know is
  • overweight
  • taking some sort of medication, and
  • often tired
The following links have been inspirational to me to defeat these symptoms. 

1. 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program. It's free! I registered with them, they provided me with daily emails which included videos, recipes and support.

2. The Happy Herbivore (website & books)


I recently purchased a couple of books to help me.

They are

Forks Over Knives - The Cookbook: Over 300 Recipes for Plant-Based Eating All Through the Year
Available from Amazon

The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds
Available from Amazon

I have tried a few of the recipes so far and I'm keen to try more.

3. If you would like to watch inspiring information I'd recommend the following

101 Reasons to go Vegan 1 hour 10 minutes

Vegucated - trailer

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead - entire movie 1 hour 37 minutes

The Last Heart Attack -- CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta Documentary

Thursday, June 20, 2013

An open letter to Restaurant Owners

Dear Restaurant Owner,

I would love to see more vegan choices on your menu! 

I can assure you that my friends and I will frequent your establishment more often if these options were offered, and would be more than happy to spread the word! 

A vegan lifestyle is filled with variety and countless choices of delicious food. It only excludes the use of animal products. In terms of diet this means no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey or other animal derived ingredients. 

The many benefits of becoming vegan, include greater health, saving the lives of many animals and being much more environmentally friendly. It really is the lifestyle choice to make.

ANIMALS WILL BE SAVED
64 BILLION land animals and 1-3 TRILLION water animals are killed for human consumption each year. They live lives of misery. 

YOU'LL BE HEALTHIER
A well balanced plant based diet is the healthiest of all, is suitable for all ages and can significantly lower health risks, such as heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol.
"... vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases, and are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and athletes."
The American Dietetic Association, July 2009

THE EARTH WILL BE CLEANER
The best thing you can do to help the environment and save water is to adopt a plant based diet. Humans use of 'livestock' is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all transport put together and is a major source of water and land degradation.
The United Nations is calling for a global shift towards a vegan diet to maintain sustainability as the global population heads to 9.1 billion by 2050. 
United Nations Environment Program (2010)

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I think you will agree that increasing vegan choices would be good for your business.

Thanks so much!

Sunday, January 20, 2013


This turned up sometime in the early afternoon of the Monday in the last week of November:
 
 
 
 
 
image
 
image
A very curious development indeed.
 
 
 
 
 
And then all of a sudden it took off and disappeared into thin air ....
 
image
 
 
 
 
 
 
... leaving this:
 
image

I suppose that it was delivered by the one and only Doctor Loo.