Year 2013, Year of CHANGE

So we will soon leave year 2012. Year 2012 has been the year that change the world, so many things happens to us in this life. I don’t know how many people turn to be vegetarian during year 2012. I, myself, keep doing my best to bring the information about vegetarianism/veganism to everyone everyday with the hope more people turn to be vegetarian/vegan.

Nobody is perfect, as I believe. Sometimes, when I try to bring some information about veganism, I know that it may be a rather rude for some vegetarians. I don’t mean to say that vegans are any better than vegetarian. I am very sorry about this. I have been a vegan since year 2012, and naturally I post more about veganism on my simple blog, though the blog is about vegetarianism. I believe vegans are vegetarian too. We are all one family. I love you all my readers.

Year 2013 is coming now. Let’s hope year 2013 will be the year of CHANGE. I believe more people will decide to be vegetarian on year 2013. People will have to think about their HEALTH, about their LIFE, and about the Planet. Let’s start eating healthy, start living healthy. By becoming a vegetarian will change the world to be better.

Life is about doing more, not about having more. Let’s do more and hope more people will turn to become a vegetarian on year 2013. And let’s hope a better tomorrow for our planet, for our life.

Finally, I wish you the happiest New Year you ever had. May all the best come to your life, and may all dreams come true! Wish you success in life. May happiness come to all!

Regards,
Xiao Kang.

Vegetarian? Vegan? Raw Diet! What’s the difference?

By Julia Driggers RD LDN

Plant-based diets are gaining momentum and becoming more mainstream. Pop your head into any grocery store and you’ll be able to find numerous products marked “Vegetarian” or “Certified Vegan.” It can be difficult to know what’s what! Below are brief definitions to help guide you.

Vegetarians do not consume any fish, meat, or poultry. A lacto-vegetarian consumes dairy products and an ovo-vegetarian consumes eggs. A lacto-ovo vegetarian consumes both dairy products and eggs, but no meat. Products labeled “vegetarian” typically do not contain any meat or meat-derived products; however, there are no regulations in the U.S. governing the use of “vegetarian” on a label.  To be certain that a product is vegetarian, contact the manufacturer. An example of a meat-derived product is gelatin, which is prepared from animal bones.

Vegans are vegetarians who do not consume any animal/insect=derived products including dairy products, eggs, and honey. This group avoids animal/insect-based food dyes, binders, and additives. 

Individuals following a Raw Diet consume products that are uncooked and unprocessed.   The percentage of raw foods can vary from 50-100% raw.  Their diet may or may not be vegan.  Consumers of the raw diet do not cook foods at temperatures greater than 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Examples of raw foods are typically vegan include fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, beans, and dried fruit. Depending on the individual’s preference raw meat like Carpaccio or raw fish like sushi may be eaten as well as raw milk products.

The American Dietetic Association recognizes that appropriately planned vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful for all age groups.   Completely raw diets are not recommended for infants and children due to concerns with nutrient adequacy.

Julia Driggers RD, LDN is a Pediatric Dietitian at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. She is very interested in Vegetarian and Vegan nutrition and regularly contributes to the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) Magazine/Website.

Breaking the Fast

By Debbie King MS RD LD

The word breakfast literally comes from the Breaking of the Fast. Before we had electric lights everywhere, when the sun went to bed, so did we. There was no midnight snack because we were up before the dawn and sacked out through the night after a hard day in our agrarian lifestyle. The biggest meal was at lunch when we had the most light with which to cook it. The evening supper consisted of a simpler fare and was the last food eaten before a long slumber.  Generally, there was about 10 to 12 hours between the last meal and breakfast. However, in the 24-7 fast paced 2009, it is a different story.

Many people I counsel eat later and later. They eat dessert while watching TV after work. Many tell me they just aren’t hungry in the morning. Here are some interesting facts I read from Dr. Caroline J. Cederquist.

The time cruising between meals tends to shorten as the day continues. So, breakfast at 7:30 or 8am is followed by a 5 hour break until 12pm. Perhaps we drink some liquids during the morning hours. Then, we tend to want a snack in the afternoon, usually 3-4 hours later. Next, comes dinner at 2-3 hours after that. The day rounds out with a late night snack 1-2 hours after dinner. Do you get the idea of where extra calories can pack in and hunger may not be so prevalent?

Why is breakfast important? Well, a number of reasons. Let’s start with weight management. Shifting calories to the beginning and middle of your day and lightening up on the end of the day uses the most amount of calories during your busiest time. Unless you go for an evening constitutional stroll, most people are fairly sedentary with some electronic device in the twilight hours.

Also, many studies show that people who eat breakfast tend to eat less throughout the day. This is reiterated in the National Weight Control Registry. In this group, subjects lost at least 30 pounds and kept off the weight for at least 1 year. One of the most common factors of these successful folks was that they ate breakfast.[ii]

If you think about it, going without breakfast just doesn’t make sense, especially if you exercise in the morning. You have very little fuel in your body, you have your whole day ahead of you, and you are facing all the day’s challenges with nothing to keep you going. If you tax your body with a run or an hour of strength training, you are really depleting your energy stores. What does your body do when it has to work hard with no assurance of steady fuel? It goes into reserve mode. Your body feels it has to hang on to every calorie that comes in. Your metabolism slows down to cling to those calories you do eat. A increased weight disaster in the making.

Other facts about breakfast eaters is that they have better concentration, improved brain function for morning tasks and better hand-eye coordination. It also keeps you from being grumpy or irritable. My first job was a deli-bakery counter next to a metropolitan train station. People got their first coffee and donut from me. There were a lot of nasty folks grabbing coffee that were as nice as you please when they came for lunch.

I know there are those of you, who are like me and not hungry first thing in the morning. Not a problem. I have water before my run and I eat right afterward. My body is used to this routine. If I am going to do a long workout- more than 60 minutes- I have something very small, such as a dab of nut butter on a cracker or apple slice before the workout or have it ready during the workout.

Okay, so now you will think about breakfast. But, what is the best breakfast? Purdue University researcher Wayne Campbell, PhD, was quoted on WebMD, as saying that protein blunts your hunger the most and is the most satisfying. Also, fiber has been shown to extend satiety. Satiety means feeling satiated or not hungry. Unfortunately, lean protein at breakfast isn’t a part of trendy marketing.

According to Nutrition Health Letter – Dessert for breakfast is the new trend, and it hasn’t left out any of the population, even vegans. We may think we are eating healthier, but we are still subject to the issues of folks on the go. Cereal and cereal bars can be nutritionally as different as a fruit bar and a martini bar. Cereals such as shredded wheat, rye flakes, quinoa or other low sugar, high fiber products are great for breakfast. Add a couple of ounces of soy milk and you have a low calorie, high protein breakfast that is satisfying for the whole morning.

On the other hand, toaster pastries and breakfast bars can have a protein content that is lean to almost none. The fiber content is also may not be substantial. The sugars in many of them rival their more conventional and mass marketed counterparts. Whereas, vegan breakfast foods such as pancakes and waffles tend to have less fat due to the shunning of eggs and butter, a plate full of tofu scramble can have a high fat and calorie content especially when you throw the soy cheese on top.

We all love to have a bagel every once in a while. For those of you who looked at that last sentence and were aghast at the words “once in a while”, realize that bagels are 4-5 servings of bread. So eating even half of one packs some calories. If you decide to put anything on top, you could move right into calorie overload. Also, most people add nut butters, vegan cream cheese, and some jam. Not bad for a weekend brunch, but a disaster when eaten as a daily fare.

Some experts go into explaining the need for carbohydrates at breakfast, but as vegans every food you will eat will have carbohydrates, so I wouldn’t concern yourself with this unless you are a competitive athlete. Again, we are looking for good fiber with lean protein. What are some good lean vegan proteins?

Beans and grains are great sources. Beans pack the biggest wallop, and should become part of your breakfast line up. Here are additional suggestions:

• Cereal with soy milk and fruit
• Breakfast bean burrito with corn or whole wheat tortilla
• Nut butter on high fiber toast
• Tofu scramble made with NO OIL.

Source : Vegetarian Nutrition

Happiness Begins with Veggies!

By Diana Cullum-Dugan, RD, LDN, RYT

If there was an eating style that made you happy, would you do it?

What if that same eating style helped keep your weight in the healthy range?  And reduced your risk of breast, bladder, and other cancers?  Would you then?

I’m even charged thinking that my risk of other diseases, like heart disease and diabetes that runs in my family, is lower with this eating style.

What if this eating style was really quite simple to follow, with no deprivation aspect, and fills you to satisfaction every single meal?  And is environmentally friendly?  Would you then?

So what is it?

Vegetarians have been studied extensively and recently, studies reveal that a vegetarian lifestyle is healthier overall.  In Nutrition Journal, vegetarians had less depression, anxiety and stress and overall, better moods than meat-eaters in the U.S.  The reason?  Vegetarians eat less animal-based essential fatty acids and more omega-3 from plants.  Sign me up!

People with diabetes have a higher incidence of colon, liver, pancreatic, and endometrial cancers.  The American Diabetes Association and American Cancer Society suggest more whole grains, fruits and vegetables and less red and processed meats which reduces the risk.

In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers say postmenopausal women can lower their risk of breast cancer with a diet of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and flax and sesame seeds (great sources for lignans).

And, red meat and processed meat, because of their processing with nitrates and nitrites, and grilled meats because of the high temperature required in grilling, increase bladder cancer between nearly 20-30% (Cancer).

And another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, meat consumption contributed ONE POUND per year weight gain.  That doesn’t sound like a lot but multiply that times 10 years and you’ve got the beginnings of a chunky monkey.

Want to just see what a vegetarian diet could be like?  If you’re in the Boston area Oct 30-31, head over to the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center on Tremont Street for all-day-both-days Vegetarian Food Festival.  Vendors give away tastes of their product, many speakers entice you with veggie talks, and you can purchase veggie meals.  Take your reusable grocery bags – you’ll end up taking lots of samples with you.  It’s the BEST Veg Fest I’ve ever seen!

Source : Vegetarian Nutrition

Vegan Teen Athlete

By Julia Driggers RD LDN

Being a vegan teen athlete is not complicated. It is easy for teens to receive proper nutrition for sporting events by eating a variety of foods. In general, teen athletes should receive the majority of their calories from complex carbohydrates, a moderate amount from protein, and a moderate to low amount from fat.  The bulk of these calories should be nutritionally dense, meaning they provide substantial amounts of vitamins and minerals. For example, nutritionally dense carbohydrates include whole grain breads and pastas, brown rice, quinoa, and whole grain flour. Most fruits and vegetables are nutritionally dense as are vegetarian proteins.

Protein is a key macro- nutrient that many athletes focus on.  Athletes should receive 0.5 to 0.8 grams of protein per pound. It is easy to meet these requirements on a vegan diet. A good tip is to include a protein food with every meal. This can be as simple as putting peanut butter on your morning bagel, adding nuts to your salad, cooking with beans, and drinking a high-protein milk alternative, like soymilk. Vegetable proteins like tofu, tempeh, seitan, and meat analogs are protein packed. Read labels to find the meat analogs also fortified with vitamins and minerals. Vitamin B12 and iron are two nutrients that vegans need to monitor. Vitamin B12 can be found in fortified foods, including soymilk, cereals, and nutritional yeast. Check the label to verify that the choice you make contains B12.  Foods high in iron include dark green leafy vegetables, soybeans, tofu, lentils and other dried beans, quinoa, fortified cereal, and raisins. To maximize absorption include a food high in vitamin C—such as orange juice, tomato sauce, or broccoli—when consuming foods high in iron.

Increased exercise means increased calorie needs to maintain body weight. Because a lot of vegan foods are low in calories, it may be important to increase calorie intake especially if you are participating in a strenuous sport. One way to add calories is to eat extra snacks throughout the day and increase the calories in your meals.  The table below provides a list of quick and easy 200-400 calorie snacks to add to your diet.

200-Calorie Snacks*	400-Calorie Snacks*
1 crunchy granola bar	½ cup guacamole dip with 1 cup corn chips
1 banana with 1 TB peanut butter	8 whole wheat crackers with ¼ cup hummus
6 ounces soy yogurt with fruit	1 bagel and 2 TB peanut butter
¼ cup mixed nuts	½ cup trail mix
1 ounce hard pretzels with ½ cup fruit juice	2 cups calcium-fortified orange juice and a granola bar

Add calories to your meals using these easy ideas!

• Use oils or margarine on vegetables, rice, and pasta, add vegan cheese.
• Add a commercial vegan sandwich spread like Veganaise® to your sandwiches.
• Put slices of avocado on your salad.
• Bulk up your breakfast-cereal with fruit, nuts, and raisins.

Adding calories is fun – be creative! However, if it is becoming difficult to maintain body weight, consider talking to a registered dietitian.

In conclusion, receiving proper nutrition for the vegan athlete is easy. Eating a variety of foods and taking in more calories during times of increased exercise are important.  Teen athletes are able to receive everything they need from a vegan diet to perform at their maximum potential.

For additional information check out our Sports Nutrition for Vegetarians resource.

*Used by permission from the Vegetarian Resource Group.

Julia Driggers RD, LDN is a Pediatric Dietitian at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. She is very interested in Vegetarian and Vegan nutrition and regularly contributes to the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) Magazine/Website.

Source : Vegetarian Nutrition

It's Never Too Late To Live Longer

Eat Healthy After 70 & You'll Boost Chances of Reaching 80 by 24%

Say you've made it to the ripe old age of 70 after a lifetime of not-so-great eating habits -- why change now?

Because you may live longer, new research suggests.  
While the link between diet and longevity is well studied, many seniors think that after a certain age, what they eat doesn't really matter. Not true, according to a study just published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Scientists from the University of Maryland looked at the diets of 2,582 seniors (ages 70 to 79), categorizing them as mostly healthy foods (fruit, veggies, fish, poultry, whole grains, etc.), high-fat dairy (ice cream, cheese, less produce), sweets/desserts (doughnuts, cakes, cookies, etc.) and other dietary patterns. During the 10-year study, 739 people died.

Compared to the healthy foods group, the high-fat dairy eaters were 40% more likely to die, while the sweets group was 37% more likely to die during that decade. The healthy foods group also enjoyed significantly higher intakes of folate (+17%), vitamin B12 (+22%), and beta-carotene (vitamin A, +36%).
Such findings have important implications for our aging population, as the worldwide number of people over age 65 is expected to more than double to nearly 1 billion by 2030.

The effects of an unhealthy diet and lifestyle are cumulative -- yet also highly responsive to change. Previous research suggests that 75% of your longevity potential comes from choices which affect not just the length of life, but its quality as well. For example, one study found that seniors who ate over 2 cups of veggies daily enjoyed a 38% decrease in the rate of cognitive decline.

Exercise plays a key role too: Dr. David Nieman found that active older women had immune cells that functioned 67% higher than those of less active women.

Source : VegSource.com

The Dark Side of Recent Egg Headlines

By John Robbins

Egg lovers are rejoicing this week because the USDA, usually the last to notice anything resembling a genuine nutritional advance, has announced that eggs are much higher in vitamin D than previously thought, and also 14 percent lower in cholesterol than previously believed.

Leaving aside for the moment the question of how it is that scientific authorities could have been so wrong for so long about something as basic as the levels of vitamin D and cholesterol in eggs, the new numbers are happy news indeed for egg lovers. The egg industry is delighted to report that you can now eat up to 10 eggs a week and still stay under the recommended limit of 300 mg of cholesterol per day for healthy adults (provided, of course, that you consume no other cholesterol at all from any other source).

This is putting a sunny-side-up grin on the face of those who enjoy eating eggs and don't fancy eating their way to a heart attack. But if it's making egg-lovers smile, it's like mainlining Prozac for the egg industry, which as you might expect is wasting no time trumpeting the news that their products have been exonerated.

But wait a minute. There's something that's being overlooked in all the hoopla, something that might be even more important than the milligrams of cholesterol in an egg. Do we care how the hens are treated? About the kind of conditions in which they live, and the quality of the food they are fed? Do we care if the eggs are produced humanely and sustainably? If the new dietary information means we'll be eating more eggs that come from sick hens who live in abject misery, is this such a good thing?

As I wrote in "The Food Revolution", the sad fact of modern industrialized egg production is that layer hens are crammed together in filthy cages so small that the birds are not able to lift a single wing. The amount of space the birds are given is less than they would have if you stuffed several of them into a file drawer. One building will frequently house 30,000 hens packed together under these grotesquely crowded and seriously unhealthy conditions.

The birds are driven so insane by these miserable conditions that they would peck each other to death if they could. The industry, of course, doesn't want to see such a thing happen, because there's no profit to be made from dead hens who don't lay eggs. How, then, does the industry prevent it? Not by giving the hens more room, which would be the humane response, but by cutting off a sizable part of the hens' beaks, a process known euphemistically as "beak trimming."

What's a concerned consumer to do? Fortunately, the Cornucopia Institute has come out with an "Organic Egg Scorecard" that empowers consumers with accurate information. The scorecard rates companies that sell name-brand and private-label organic eggs, according to the criteria that are most important to the majority of conscientious consumers.

There are two things the Organic Egg Scorecard quickly makes apparent.

The first is that just because eggs are "organic" doesn't mean they are humanely raised. In fact, there are "organic" factory farm operations with more than 80,000 "organic" hens in a single building.

The second thing the Organic Egg Scorecard reveals is exactly which brands of eggs found in your local stores are produced using the best organic practices and with the most ethical regard for the hens. If you are interested in which eggs are sustainable and humane, and which are not, check it out.

The results may surprise you. For example, the private label brands sold by Trader Joe's, Safeway O Organics, Whole Foods 365 Organic, WalMart's Great Value and Costco's Kirkland Signature, get the lowest possible rating. This is because these companies were unable or unwilling to provide any meaningful information about how their chickens are housed, fed or treated. Unfortunately, reports the Cornucopia Institute, "the vast majority of organic eggs for private label brands are produced on industrial farms that house hundreds of thousands of birds and do not grant the birds meaningful outdoor access."

Many egg suppliers tout that their eggs are produced without hormones. That sounds great but is in fact meaningless, because unlike beef and dairy products, no eggs produced in the U.S. today are legally produced with hormones. Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in raising poultry.

Whole Foods, at least, has taken a step in the right direction by not selling any eggs that come from hens whose beaks have been "trimmed." Whole Foods shoppers can take a modicum of comfort in knowing that eggs bought there do not come from the worst of the nation's egg factories.

If you want the eggs from healthy and happy hens, you might want to take a step in the direction of food self-reliance and keep a few hens in your backyard. Or get your eggs from a neighbor or from a small-scale farm you can actually visit. Or purchase only those eggs which are highly rated by the Organic Egg Scorecard.

Personally, my favorite breakfast is guaranteed to be cruelty-free. It's oatmeal, with cinnamon, raisins and walnuts, which aren't added only for flavor. Oats are a comparatively low-glycemic index grain to begin with, but the addition of walnuts creates a nourishing breakfast with high protein content, high nutrient density, a healthy form of fat, and a very low glycemic index.

Here's my recipe for a tasty and hearty breakfast that will provide you with consistent blood sugar levels, and give you plenty of energy all morning. Serves three.

1 cup rolled oats
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup walnuts

1. Place oats, water, salt, cinnamon and raisins in a covered saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat, stir in walnuts and serve hot.

John Robbins is the author of many bestsellers including "The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World," the classic "Diet For A New America," and "The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less." He is the recipient of the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award, and Green America's Lifetime Achievement Award. To learn more about his work, visit here.

Source : The Huffington Post