Sunday, January 25, 2015

Dairy and Cancer

Without a doubt, sugar, the oil and fat in fried foods, artificial additives, human-made trans fatty acids found in junk food, and the excessive amount of refined carbohydrates found in white rice, white bread, and pasta cause health problems, while non-dietary factors harm us, too. Stress, a lack of sleep, smoking tobacco, chemical pollution, and a lack of exercise can wreak havoc on the body. However, since animal flesh and the things that come out of animals are always toxic, the main factors for disease development will always be animal protein, casein, cholesterol, the excessive amount of fat found in all animal products, and the 2-9 percent of naturally-occurring trans-fatty acids found in meat and dairy.

Concerning cancer: Even though we're all born with cancer cells, the cells won't "activate" and turn deadly unless they are "expressed". So, preemptively amputating one's breasts (mastectomy), or taking some other drastic action, will NOT prevent cancer development if the cell "activators" are still present. Since cancer thrives in the acidic environment that animal protein creates, it is essential to eat plant-based foods exclusively, and control the non-dietary factors to the best of your ability. Check out this 2014 University of Southern California study which clearly indicts animal protein as a deadly toxin.

A 2013 Loma Linda University study confirms that vegans have the lowest cancer rates, while the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) proves that dairy increases the risk of prostate cancer. (A UCSF study of 27,000 men also showed an 81-percent increased risk of prostate cancer from consuming 2.5 eggs per week.) Another AJCN study shows that children who consume high levels of dairy products have close to three times the risk of developing colorectal cancer in adulthood, while a study of 60,000 women reveals that those who had four servings of dairy daily had twice the risk of ovarian cancer. The Lancet also reports that dairy, especially yogurt, will increase the risk of ovarian cancer. In the documentary Forks Over Knives, Dr. John McDougall mocks the medical community for NOT recommending veganism as the best way to prevent, treat or cure cancer.

Dairy also contributes to many other health problems, from acne, asthma and allergies to Crohn's disease, ear infections and diabetes, just to name a few.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Why Do Vegetarians Live Longer?

Nearly a decade of extra life -- that's what you get when you move away from eating animal foods and toward a plant-based diet. This is really exciting science for anyone seeking healthy longevity (and who isn't?)!

According to a recent report on the largest study of vegetarians and vegans to date, those eating plant-based diets appear to have a significantly longer life expectancy. Vegetarians live on average almost eight years longer than the general population, which is similar to the gap between smokers and nonsmokers. This is not surprising, given the reasons most of us are dying. In an online video, "Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death," Michael Greger, M.D. explores the role a healthy diet can play in preventing, treating, and even reversing the top 15 killers in the United States. Let's take a closer look at what the good doctor has pulled together...

Heart disease is our leading cause of death. The 35-year follow-up of the Harvard Nurses Health Study was recently published, now the most definitive long-term study on older women's health. Dietary cholesterol intake -- only found in animal foods -- was associated with living a significantly shorter life and fiber intake -- only found in plant foods -- was associated with living a significantly longer life. Consuming the amount of cholesterol found in just a single egg a day may cut a woman's life short as much as smoking five cigarettes daily for 15 years, whereas eating a daily cup of oatmeal's worth of fiber appears to extend a woman's life as much as four hours of jogging a week. (But there's no reason we can't do both!)

What if your cholesterol's normal, though? I hear that a lot. But here's the thing: having a "normal" cholesterol in a society where it's "normal" to drop dead of a heart attack is not necessarily a good thing. According to the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology, "For the build-up of plaque in our arteries to cease, it appears that the serum total cholesterol needs to be lowered to the 150 area. In other words the serum total cholesterol must be lowered to that of the average pure vegetarian."

More than 20 years ago, Dr. Dean Ornish showed that heart disease could not just be stopped but actually reversed with a vegan diet, arteries opened up without drugs or surgery. Since this lifestyle cure was discovered, hundreds of thousands have died unnecessary deaths. What more does one have to know about a diet that reverses our deadliest disease?

Cancer is killer number two. Ah, the dreaded "C" word -- but look at this hopeful science. According to the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer so far performed, "the incidence of all cancers combined is lower among vegetarians." The link between meat and cancer is such that even a paper published in the journal Meat Science recently asked, "Should we become vegetarians, or can we make meat safer?" There are a bunch of additives under investigation to suppress the toxic effects the blood-based "heme" iron, for example, which could provide what they called an "acceptable" way to prevent cancer. Why not just reduce meat consumption? The meat science researchers noted that if such public health guidance were adhered to, "Cancer incidence may be reduced, but farmers and [the] meat industry would suffer important economical problems..." Hmmm, so Big Ag chooses profit over health; what a surprise.

After Dr. Ornish's team showed that the bloodstreams of men eating vegan for a year had nearly eight times the cancer-stopping power, a series of elegant experiments showed that women could boost their defenses against breast cancer after just two weeks on a plant-based diet. See the before and after here. If you or anyone you know has ever had a cancer scare, this research will make your heart soar. Because there is real, true hope -- something you can do to stave off "the big C."

So, the top three leading causes of death used to be heart disease, cancer, then stroke, but the latest CDC stats place Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease third -- lung diseases such as emphysema. Surprisingly, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be prevented with the help of a plant-based diet, and can even be treated with plants. Of course, the tobacco industry viewed these landmark findings a little differently. Instead of adding plants to one's diet to prevent emphysema, wouldn't it be simpler to just add them to the cigarettes? Hence the study "Addition of Açaí [Berries] to Cigarettes Has a Protective Effect Against Emphysema in [Smoking] Mice." Seriously.

The meat industry tried the same tack. Putting fruit extracts in burgers was not without its glitches, though. The blackberries "literally dyed burger patties with a distinct purplish color," and though it was possible to improve the nutritional profile of frankfurters with powdered grape seeds, there were complaints that the grape seed "particles became visible" in the final product. And if there's one thing we know about hot dog eaters, it's that they're picky about what goes in their food!

Onward to strokes: The key to preventing strokes may be to eat potassium-rich foods. Though Chiquita may have had a good PR firm, bananas don't even make the top 50 sources. The leading whole food sources include dark green leafy vegetables, beans, and dates. We eat so few plants that 98 percent of Americans don't even reach the recommended minimum daily intake of potassium. And if you look at killer number five -- accidents -- bananas (and their peels) could be downright dangerous!

Alzheimer's disease is now our sixth leading killer. We've known for nearly 20 years now that those who eat meat -- including chicken and fish -- appear three times more likely to become demented compared to long-term vegetarians. Exciting new research suggests one can treat Alzheimer's using natural plant products such as the spice saffron, which beat out placebo and worked as well as a leading Alzheimer's drug.

Diabetes is next on the kick-the-bucket list. Plant-based diets help prevent, treat, and even reverse Type 2 diabetes. Since vegans are, on average, about 30 pounds skinnier than meat-eaters, this comes as no surprise; but researchers found that vegans appear to have just a fraction of the diabetes risk, even after controlling for their slimmer figures.

Kidney failure, our eighth leading cause of death, may also be prevented and treated with a plant-based diet. The three dietary risk factors Harvard researchers found for declining kidney function were animal protein, animal fat, and cholesterol, all of which are only found in animal products.

Leading killer number nine is respiratory infections. With flu shot season upon us, it's good to know that fruit and vegetable consumption can significantly boost one's protective immune response to vaccination. Check out the short video "Kale and the Immune System," and you'll see there's not much kale can't do.

Suicide is number 10. Oh yes, vegan food even has something good to offer on this one! Cross-sectional studies have shown that the moods of those on plant-based diets tend to be superior, but taken in just a snapshot in time one can't tease out cause-and-effect. Maybe happier people end up eating healthier and not the other way around. But this year an interventional trial was published in which all meat, poultry, fish, and eggs were removed from people's diets and a significant improvement in mood scores was found after just two weeks. It can take drugs like Prozac a month or more to take effect. So you may be able to get happier faster by cutting out animal foods than by using drugs.
Drugs can help with the other conditions as well, but instead of taking one drug for cholesterol every day for the rest of your life, maybe a few for high blood pressure or diabetes, the same diet appears to work across the board without the risk of drug side-effects. One study found that prescription medications kill an estimated 106,000 Americans every year. That's not from errors or overdose, but from adverse drug reactions, arguably making doctors the sixth leading cause of death.

Based on a study of 15,000 American vegetarians, those that eat meat have about twice the odds of being on antacids, aspirin, blood pressure medications, insulin, laxatives, painkillers, sleeping pills, and tranquilizers. So plant-based diets are great for those that don't like taking drugs, paying for drugs, or risking adverse side effects.

Imagine if, like President Clinton, our nation embraced a plant-based diet. Imagine if we just significantly cut back on animal products. There is one country that tried. After World War II, Finland joined us in packing on the meat, eggs, and dairy. By the 1970s, the mortality rate from heart disease of Finnish men was the highest in the world, and so they initiated a country-wide program to decrease their saturated fat intake. Farmers were encouraged to switch from dairies to berries. Towns were pitted against each other in friendly cholesterol-lowering competitions. Their efforts resulted in an 80 percent drop in cardiac mortality across the entire country.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Can Any Oil Be Good for Your Health?

All hip and health conscious consumers know that a healthy body requires good healthy fats. And we know that the healthiest fats come in plant form, like nuts, seeds, avocados and olives. But what about oils? Certain oils can be a great way to get those good fats into your system, right? We should cook with them, dip bread in them, stir them into our morning coffee or smoothie, right? Never mind that it seems like the best ‘healthy’ oil is constantly changing: swap canola oil with sunflower with olive with flax with coconut to get the best health results…just ignore that fact the previous champion has become the newest bad guy. So what gives? Are oils good for us or what?

What Is Oil?

Most ‘healthy’ oils come from undeniably healthy sources. Olives, sunflowers, flax seeds, sesame seeds, avocados, and unsweetened coconut are all richly nutritious and healthy foods. However, in order to extract the oils from these foods, the majority of the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fiber must be removed by macerating, heating or with solvents. What remains is basically straight up calorie content, without the fiber and nutrients to slow down and time release the absorption of these calories into the digestive system. Essentially, that once nutrient-rich olive has become a processed version of itself. Some olive oils also aren’t cold-pressed as they may be advertised and many are often rancid by the time you end up using them after sitting on the shelf so long at the store.

What About Essential, Healthy Fat?

Yeah, yeah, so consuming oils is like injecting your body with nutritionally devoid calories. But what about those healthy fats? What about the anti-inflammatory benefits we hear so much about? Don’t we need those for proper brain and body function? Let’s talk about the healthy fats we need so badly first. There are two essential healthy fats that the human body is unable to produce on it’s own and therefore must get from other sources: Omega-3 and Omega-6 amino acids. Both of these amino acids are biologically active and it is necessary for humans to eat them in perfect balance. Research has shown that human evolution is due in part, to eating these amino acids in balance, and considering that processed oils weren’t around when our cavemen ancestors were, it’s pretty safe to assume they got these essential fatty acids from eating whole foods. However, when we consume these acids in the very concentrated form of processed oil which tends to be high in Omega-6, but low in anti-inflammatory Omega-3, without the fiber to filter and regulate the absorption, we throw that balance off, which can lead to a host of cardiovascular, inflammatory, cancers and other diseases.

What About Cooking?

Here’s where oils can be particularly dangerous. Not only are oils high in caloric content, and off balance with essential fatty acids, but exposing them to heat changes the chemical composition of the oil! And many oil extraction processes actually use heat. Raw fats are absorbed in the body with the help of the lipase enzyme, which makes for easy assimilation. However, when fats are cooked, the lipase enzyme disappears, making the fats in oils unassimilable, clogging up arteries, and accumulating in our body’s cells. Additionally, while some oils have different burn points, all of them, regardless of their burn point, create carcinogens and free radicals when exposed to oxygen and heat. Yikes!

What About All The Studies?

Here’s the sad truth. Most of the studies done on the health benefits of various oils are marketing hype. Even the Mediterranean diet, so named for it’s focus on the heart healthy diets of people from that region, is a myth, because the health benefits are from the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed, according to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study focused on meals, each of which emphasized one component of the Mediterranean Diet. ”After the meal rich in olive oil, dilation in the arteries was impaired. The meal caused severe constrictions, which can injure the endothelium, the inner lining of arteries, contributing to heart disease. No such problems occurred with the other meals.” According to Dr. Vogel of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet appear to be antioxidant rich foods, which “appear to provide some protection against the direct impairment in endothelial function produced by high-fat foods, including olive oil.” Healthy oils are essentially snake oil hype.

So What To Do Instead?

When it comes to  fats, carbs, or protein, remember that whole foods are always best. Though some oils out there may be better than others, their whole food counterpart will provide you with the exact same benefits, but more, and less of a dense source of fat that you could obtain from the food itself. For example, olives have phytochemicals and fiber you won’t find in their oil, no matter how healthy a version it may be. Coconuts are rich in antioxidants, protein, and fiber that the oil simply can’t contain, no matter how many other benefits it is said to have.The same goes for any oil, no matter what food it’s derived from. It’s the equivalent of choosing a wheat flour over whole wheat kernels. You get the picture.
Take advantage of a whole-food based Mediterranean-style (oil-free) diet, if you’re up to it. It’s been shown to decrease disease and improve body weight, cholesterol, and even diabetes. Here are many of our favorite recipes if you need ideas. Incorporate a variety of healthy, fresh, nutrient rich foods into your diet, with as minimal processing, as close to their garden state as possible. Instead of tossing that glub of flaxseed oil into your smoothie, why not toss a few whole seeds in the blender or sprinkle them on top? Your digestive system and heart will thank you due to their healthy fibers!
Try mashing a little avocado with lemon juice, mustard and a little water to create a delicious, creamy, oil-free salad dressing, or try some of these tasty oil free salad dressing ideas as well. Instead of sautéing onions and garlic in oil, use water, lemon juice or vegetable broth, or some of these creative oil-free ideas for a rich flavor that often tastes better than the oil version. And always be sure to have a diet rich in variety, antioxidants and fresh, whole plant based foods for optimal health!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Make 2015 the year of eating genuinely healthy

MANILA, Philippines–This will be the year of the sheep, and with it are the resolutions to stay sound in body by eating this or that. But many of the so-called “healthy” diets are really “wolves in sheep’s clothing” fads that can either do nothing to alleviate or prevent the alarming increase of killer lifestyle diseases, or even hasten their onset.

For many health experts, scientists and nutritionists, there is only one diet guaranteed to keep you as far from suffering lifestyle diseases as possible all year round.

Creating plant-based dishes paves the way for all the beneficial nutrients of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and beans to work their wonders in our immune systems. Being creative in the kitchen using only plant-based ingredients also makes us not miss meat products—pork, beef, chicken, eggs, dairy, cheese, milk and fish—that, as shown in various studies, have been linked to dreaded lifestyle diseases such as stroke, heart attack and cancer.
The British Journal of Urology in 1970 (Robertson WG, Peackock M, et al.) showed that high animal protein consumption increased calcium in the urine and the risk of calcium stone formation; the Lancet in 1976 (Cunningham AS) showed that countries with more animal protein consumption among their populations showed more cases of lymphoma. The International Journal of Cancer in 1975 (Armstrong B., Doll R.) showed that increased animal protein consumption increased the risk of cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, kidney and womb (endometrium).

Preventive health expert Neil Nedley, MD, said in his book “Proof Positive” that animal protein does increase cancer risk.

Experts like the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, T. Colin Campbell, a Jacob Gould Schurman professor emeritus of Cornell University’s nutrition biochemistry, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD, author of “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Program,” Dean Ornish, MD, author of Program for Reversing Heart Disease, and John McDougall, MD, have recommended a plant-based diet and have urged the public to get rid of animal protein.

Benefits
Campbell said that the benefits of a healthy lifestyle are enormous: “I want you to know that you can: live longer, look and feel younger, have more energy, lose weight, lower your blood cholesterol, prevent and even reverse heart disease, lower your risk of prostate, breast and other cancers, preserve your eyesight in your later years, prevent and treat diabetes, avoid surgery in many instances, vastly decrease the need for pharmaceutical drugs, keep your bones strong, avoid impotence, stroke, kidney stones, and Alzheimer’s, keep your baby from getting type 1 diabetes, alleviate constipation, lower your blood pressure, beat arthritis, and more …”

Campbell extensively discussed in “The China Study” book that there are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants, and even showed the nutrient composition of plant- and animal-based foods (per 500 calories of energy).
Ornish, meanwhile, dedicated half of the book for “heart recipes” featuring mouth-watering dishes.

“One look at the recipes in this book (Program for Reversing Heart Diseases) and you will let go of any preconceived ideas you may have had about the incompatibility of healthy, meatless, low-fat eating and gastronomic pleasure. This is not a diet of deprivation; it is, on the contrary, a diet vibrant with colour and rich with the flavours and textures of many different foods—fresh vegetables, tangy herbs and pungent spices, chewy, wholesome grains, savoury beans, elegant pastas, and sweet enticing fruit dishes,” wrote Shirley Elizabeth Brown, MD, and Martha Rose Shulman who added that “vegetables, grains and dried beans are the backbone of the diet.”

Aside from googling such nutritious, yummy recipes, one can also check out vegan dishes and vegan communities in Facebook pages in your country or province. For Filipino readers, there are the Pinoyvegs and Manila Vegans Facebook pages. Online directory happycow.net can lead you to vegetarian-friendly stores and restaurants.

10 things you need to know

What is The China Study? It’s the largest comprehensive study of human nutrition ever conducted. It was launched via a partnership between Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine. The groundbreaking results from the study recommend a whole food plant-based diet as the best for long-term health.
1. American health statistics are scary. You may feel fit as a fiddle, but the country is unwell. Almost a third of adults over 20 are obese; one out of thirteen people have diabetes; and heart disease kills one out of every three Americans. We also pay more for our health care than any other country, and we don’t have better health to show for it.
2. Animal protein promotes the growth of cancer. The book author T. Colin Campbell, PhD., grew up on a dairy farm, so he regularly enjoyed a wholesome glass of milk. Not anymore. In multiple, peer-reviewed animal studies, researchers discovered that they could actually turn the growth of cancer cells on and off by raising and lowering doses of casein, the main protein found in cow’s milk.
3. Pesticides are gross, but none switch on cancer like poor nutrition. The food you eat affects the way your cells interact with carcinogens, making them more or less dangerous. “The results of these, and many other studies, showed nutrition to be far more important in controlling cancer promotion than the dose of the initiating carcinogen.”
4. The study findings are bulletproof. After years of controversial lab results on animals, the researchers had to see how they played out in humans. The study they created included 367 variables, 65 counties in China, and 6,500 adults (who completed questionnaires, blood tests, etc.). “When we were done, we had more than 8,000 statistically significant associations between lifestyle, diet, and disease variables.” In other words, there’s no arguing with the findings, Meat Council of America. Sorry.
5. The results are simple: Eat plants for health. “People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest.”
6. Heart disease can be reversed through nutrition. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., a physician and researcher at the best cardiac center in the country, The Cleveland Clinic, treated 18 patients with established coronary disease with a whole foods, plant-based diet. Not only did the intervention stop the progression of the disease, but 70 percent of the patients saw an opening of their clogged arteries. Dr. Dean Ornish, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, completed a similar study with consistent results.
7. Carbs are not the enemy. Highly-processed, refined carbohydrates are bad for you. But plant foods are full of healthy carbs. Research shows that diets like the Atkins or South Beach (or Paleo) can actually cause dangerous side effects. While they may result in short-term weight loss, you’ll be sacrificing long-term health.
8. Plants are powerful. It’s not just cancer and heart disease that respond to a whole foods, plant-based diet. It may also help protect you from diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases, bone, kidney, eye, and brain diseases.
9. You don’t have to tailor your diet for specific health benefits. Eating healthy can seem segmented—broccoli will prevent breast cancer, carrots are good for eyes, did you get enough vitamin C today? “Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board.”
10. Plants do it better. “There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants.” Protein (YES, PROTEIN!), fibre, vitamins, minerals—you name it, they’ve got it, and the health benefits.

Monday, January 12, 2015

How long do you want to live?









I always find people's responses to this question fascinating. Broadly speaking, they fall into one of two categories:

#1 "I'm here for a good time, not a long time," and

#2 "I have so much that I want to experience and accomplish, I want to make it to 100 - or beyond!"

When I dig a little deeper, I usually find that those in category #1 associate aging with an inexorable decline into physical and mental decrepitude. Often, they've endured the almost unbearable pain of having to watch helplessly as a parent or grandparent succumbed to an incurable, progressively debilitating condition such as dementia or emphysema. This shapes their concept of aging to such a great extent, that they simply can't imagine wanting to be alive past the age of say, 70.

People with this negative concept of aging aim to pack as much pleasure into their lives as possible in the here and now, assuming that all too soon, they'll be so sick, worn out or demented that they are no longer capable of experiencing any pleasure and just want to end it all.

The sad thing is, the pleasures that they usually seek - rich food, illicit and licit drugs including alcohol and cigarettes, sedentary entertainment - almost inevitably lead to them developing the conditions that they fear!

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: Heart disease, stroke, dementia and common types of cancer such as bowel, breast and prostate are 'age-related' only in the sense that if you consistently apply the causes of these diseases (the Western diet, too much booze, smoking and not enough exercise), your risk of developing them rises as you get older, in the same way that water running over a rock will eventually carve a channel in the rock. It's not time that creates the channel, or the illness; it's the application of cause over time.

Conversely, the consistent application of the 'causes' of health including a high-nutrient diet, regular exercise, nurturing relationships with others and a sense of purposeful engagement with life, results in physical vitality, mental sharpness and enthusiasm for life in one's latter years.

So if you're currently in category #1 - afraid that living longer just means enduring illness and incapacitation for longer - I highly encourage you to study and become inspired by individuals who are physically and mentally healthy in later life... like 100 year old Dr. Ellsworth Wareham, pictured above, who only retired at the age of 95 and still maintains his garden and home all by himself.

And if you're already in category #2 - keen to live a long and fulfilling life while maintaining your physical health and mental sharpness - then you'll want to pay close attention to the latest research on eating for longevity.

Researchers tracked over 70 000 Swedish men and women who were aged between 45 and 83 at the time of enrolment, for 13 years. They found that compared to those who ate 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, those who never consumed fruit and vegetables had a 53% higher mortality rate, which translated to lopping a full 3 years off their lifespan. Vegetable consumption accounted for the lion's share of extra lifespan.
Imagine how much extra healthy life-span you could enjoy, if you ate more than 5 servings per day! Personally, I eat 5 or more servings of vegetables just at lunchtime, and even more for dinner!
Previous research found that regular consumption of legumes (dried peas, beans and lentils) also provides a longevity leg-up. The "Food Habits in Later Life" (FHILL) study examined dietary patterns in 5 cohorts of elderly people (aged 70 +) in Japan, Sweden, Greece and Australia, and found that for every 20g increase in daily intake of legumes, the risk of dying dropped by 7-8%. Now that's worth more than a hill of beans!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Some statistics

  1. In 1985, the Adventist Mortality Study analyzed the risk of diabetes in 25,000 vegetarians and meat eaters and found that women who ate red meat increased their risk of developing diabetes by 40%, and men who ate red meat increased their risk by 80%.
  2. In 2008, the Adventist Health Study-2 evaluated 8,401 people and found that long-term (17-year) weekly meat eaters were 74% more likely to develop diabetes as those who ate totally plant-based.
  3. In an analysis of meat consumption and diabetes, scientists found that for every 3.5 ounces of red meat consumed per day, diabetes risk increased 10%. And for every 1.75 ounces of processed red meat consumed per day (about the equivalent of one packaged hot dog), the risk increased 51%.
  4. In the Nurses’ Health Study II, eating processed red meat more than five times a week increased the risk of diabetes by 91%; eating unprocessed red meat increased the risk by 59%.
  5. The recent EPIC-Interact study found that every 10 grams of animal protein consumed daily increased the risk of diabetes by 6%. (Keep in mind that 100 grams is 3.5 ounces, so this is a very small amount.)
  6. In a recent study of over 100,000 participants, diabetes risk doubled in daily fish eaters compared with those who never ate fish.
  7. Meat-based diets are associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers like hs-CRP, which are commonly found in patients developing diabetes.
  8. Meat-based diets can have excess amounts of the pro-oxidant iron and preservatives like nitrates, which damage tissues and result in insulin resistance.
  9. Substituting legumes for meat improves blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.

Monday, January 05, 2015

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Q. Why is the RSPCA in business with the largest battery egg producer in Australia?

The RSPCA says it’s against the cruel battery cage yet maintains a business arrangement and accepts sponsorship from Pace Farms, Australia’s largest battery egg producer.


The RSPCA say their Liberty Barnlaid Egg Endorsement Scheme with Pace will ensure some hens get out of their cages, yet the number of battery hens in cages has not decreased while the RSPCA gets paid (to date) over $182,560 in royalty payments. 

Meanwhile, Pace Farms has just built the largest battery hen factory in the southern hemisphere (West Wyalong).

We eat too much meat

Australians consume an average of 116 kilograms of meat a year, second only to Americans. Since the 1970s, there's been a dramatic shift away from beef and lamb to pork and, most notably, chicken - its consumption has quadrupled in 40 years, to make it our top choice at 43 kilograms.
Meeting this demand has consequences for production. ''Conventionally'' farmed broiler chickens, harvested in five-to-eight weeks, half the time it takes to raise organic birds, are routinely fed prophylactic antibiotics. Yes, they're hormone free, as advertised, but hormones in chickens have been banned for decades.
And ''chemical free'' doesn't refer to the farm, but to processing, where chlorine is otherwise routinely used to wash the carcasses.
Then there's stocking densities. In July, in response to action by the ACCC, the Federal Court of Australia found that Baiada, owners of the Steggles brand, and the Australian Chicken Meat Federation misled consumers by using ''free to roam'', because the chickens were stocked at up to 19 birds a square metre, up to 33 days of their 42-day lifecycle. Turi Foods, suppliers of La Ionica chickens, were fined $100,000 over the issue in 2012.
Australia doesn't even have national standards for something as basic as the definition of ''free range'' eggs, which now make up 40 per cent of sales and rising.
In June, the Queensland Government changed the definition from a stocking density of 1500 hens a hectare to 10,000. Coles now uses the same definition, while the Australian Egg Corporation was pushing for 20,000 a hectare.
Former High Court judge Michael Kirby summed up the issues around our love of meat in an opinion piece for the ABC in June: ''In truth, meat is not cheap. The sticker price is far from the real price. There are enormous costs to be paid, by the environment, by our health, and by the 500 million animals suffering on Australian factory farms.''

Sunday, January 04, 2015

The Reason Red Meat is So Bad for Our Health

We’ve known red meat isn’t the healthiest choice for a long time now. It’s a leading cause in heart disease, inflammation, cancer, and even digestive problems. While its highly touted by meat-lovers as being a good source of iron, (though we know there are better sources), the truth is, red meat is not a healthy food. But what is it about red meat that’s so bad?

Scientists at the University of California Found The Secret

Researchers at the University of California found that meat triggers a toxic reaction within the body that weakens the immune system due to a natural sugar it contains our bodies can’t digest. Yes, you heard that right – meat actually has a natural sugar, as small as it may be. Known as Neu5Gc, this sugar is a foreign agent to our body that is seen as an invader.
The body launches an immune response as it tries to get rid of it and in the mean time, a host of health problems occur, such as cancer (which is largely a disease of a weak immune system). The unique findings are that other carnivores can eat red meat fine because their bodies actually contain the natural sugar that digests the meat. Our bodies don’t – clearly a sign that we’re not meant to eat it.

Meat and Tumor Production

The sugar, Neu5Gc, is already in the body of other carnivores that consume meat for food. Mice (who don’t contain the sugar as we don’t) were fed meat and actually developed tumors quickly.
“This is the first time we have directly shown that mimicking the exact situation in humans increases spontaneous cancers in mice,” said Dr Ajit Varki, Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California. ”The final proof in humans will be much harder to come by.”
We don’t think we need more proof to go meat-free, do you? Meat has led to a host of negative environmental and health factors for years. Harvard University found that a diet high in red meat raised the risk of breast cancer for women by 22 percent, and found those who regularly ate 5.6oz (160g) of red meat a day had one third higher risk of bowel cancer.
These studies provide more proof that meat really isn’t a healthy choice. If our bodies don’t see meat as a welcomed food, it’s time to stop eating it once and for all.

Thursday, January 01, 2015

Cheese...it is addictive

Cheese...it is addictive. Physiologically. The casein in the dairy promotes an opiate-like effect in the brain for the benefit of the baby calves who need to grow into a big cow rapidly. That drug-like, euphoric feeling helps ensure that the calves drink enough milk to develop appropriately. That same effect occurs in humans, which is what makes it so addictive. We want more. Because our body chemistry craves it.
Hence why it is so tough for so many people to give up. It was one of the last animal products I let go of on my journey towards vegan. This is very common. So much so, that from 1909-2007, cheese intake increased from 1.7 to 14.9 kg per person per year!!! To make matters worse, the food industry and the government work together to promote the consumption of cheese, making it out to seem like a health food!
One of the best things you can do for your health is to ditch dairy entirely and it takes little more than committing to cutting it out entirely and getting it out of your system for a good 3 weeks or so, to enable your taste buds to readjust. Almost everyone I have witnessed try this experienced dramatic improvements in their gastrointestinal health, skin quality, immune function, sinuses, allergies, asthma, and so much more. It is worth a try just to see how beneficial it may be.
*Resources:
--->Why and How to Ditch Dairy: http://bit.ly/1kqXw4t
--->Here are 10 Reasons to Ditch Dairy: http://bit.ly/15K2SUO
--->Neal Barnard, M.D.'s Trends in Food Availability: http://bit.ly/1qgXVx5
--->Eat Drink Politics on Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods: http://bit.ly/1l4J7AR
--->Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's Santa is Lactose Intolerant: http://bit.ly/1JU5wLB
--->UnCruel Eats on Cheese: http://bit.ly/1zn6CHi