A TRUTH WHOSE TIME HAS COME: Meat is not brain food. Some vegan educators have heard comments from non-vegans such as ‘We evolved and grew large brains, and are the most intelligent because we have been eating animal flesh, therefore it must be right.’ I disagree. The first pertinent point is that glucose is the only fuel normally used by brain cells. This blood sugar is obtained from carbohydrates: the starches and sugars you eat in the form of grains and legumes, fruits and vegetables.
These are the foods that feed the brain. “Meat” is not brain food, quite literally. Animal “foods” are not good for the brain. The blockage of an artery in the BRAIN by a clot is the most common cause of a stroke. “Blood clots and poor circulation are caused by eating animal products. Let’s continue to disprove the ‘we developed big brains by eating meat - so it must be good for us’ theory.
Dr. McDougall: Type 1 Diabetes Caused by Milk (VIDEO) Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. The American Diabetic Association says that the causes of Type 1 diabetes are not known. Baloney. There may be different causes but one cause has been identified: exposure to cow's milk. Watch the video to understand the mechanism.
Type 1 diabetes strikes people at any age. To stay alive, people with type 1 diabetes must take multiple insulin injections daily or continually infuse insulin through a pump. As many as three million Americans may have type 1 diabetes, and each year more than 15,000 children and 15,000 adults are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. But there's a pretty straightforward way to avoid it altogether: don't consume dairy products or consume animal proteins -- but especially milk, cheese and other milk products. The same is true for myriad other autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis, colitis, lupus and many more. The Vegan Diet: Backed by Science. We are fortunate to live in one of the most well-informed societies ever, yet the majority of us have no idea how to analyze and understand the cornerstone of information in our modern age: science.
It seems that there is a scientific study to prove anything, and a corresponding sucker who will believe it. I know a young man who is adamant that all grains (refined or whole) are destructive to your health and insists you must have meat in your diet. His arguments are cogent, and he is knowledgeable on the subject citing a variety of authors and scientific studies. How can we argue with that? We can and we must because the vegan community actually has the weight of scientific truth on our side.
Decoding Scientific Studies If one study, or even ten studies imply that something is so, does that make it a scientific fact? It is important to consider who sponsored or funded the study as well. Who Can You Trust? The Tide is Turning. I Was Vegan for a While. Spanish Let's start with the good news: Vegans have a much lower risk of type-2 diabetes than do meat-eaters – in fact, it's not even close. Research has also shown that vegans have a slightly lower risk of cancer by virtue of our diets. Unfortunately, this isn't the end of the story.
While many people thrive on a vegan diet, others have a hard time. When someone is committed to reducing animal suffering, there are often solutions to these dilemmas, and finding answers has been a major focus of my nutrition writing. While bringing attention to these issues might not initially attract as many people as claiming that a vegan diet is a health panacea, getting people to stay vegan long-term is the more important task because every vegan who fails to thrive provides reasons for many people not to try veganism.
Macronutrients: The Bigger Picture Something as simple as not eating enough calories might be a problem for an uninformed person who decides to eat vegan for a few days. References 1. 2. Reducing Diabetes Risk with a Plant-based Diet. Type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes, affects more than 26 million people in the United States; that’s more than 10% of adults. Estimates are that by 2050, more than a third of the U.S. adult population could develop diabetes if current trends continue. With an approximate current cost of $174 BILLION dollars per year, diabetes is a major player in health care costs.
These costs are expected to triple over the next 20-25 years, unless something changes to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes. In addition, to costing a lot, diabetes is a serious medical problem. It is the leading cause of kidney failure and blindness in the United States and is a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Factors that increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes include being overweight, being sedentary, and having a family history of diabetes. While you can’t change your family history, there are changes that you can make that will reduce your risk of developing diabetes. One in 10 Adults Could Have Diabetes by 2030. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) predicts that one in 10 adults could have diabetes by 2030, according to their latest statistics. The advocacy group estimated the number of people living with diabetes is expected to rise from 366 million in 2011 to 552 million by 2030, if no urgent action is taken.
This equates to approximately three new cases every ten seconds or almost ten million per year. IDF also estimates that as many as 183 million people are unaware that they have diabetes. Diabetes will gradually replace infectious diseases as the major public health problem over the next twenty years. Cases of diabetes in Africa will probably rise by 90% by 2030. Over three-quarters of people in Africa who have diabetes are unaware of their diabetes status. ‘It’s a credible figure,’ said Gojka Roglic, head of WHO’s diabetes unit. Image Source: Jill A. Foie Gras Ban in California: Human Health Implications. Last week, the New York Times ran a story on the upcoming foie gras ban in California.
July 1, 2012, the Golden State will join over a dozen nations that have prohibited the production of foie gras, the enlarged liver of a duck or goose produced through force-feeding. Arguments against the production practice have focused on animal welfare concerns, but have largely ignored the human health implications. As I detail in my International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health paper, microscopic infectious protein fibers in foie gras may trigger and accelerate a variety of serious human diseases in susceptible individuals via a “mad cow disease”-like mechanism. Amyloidosis is a group of potentially fatal diseases in which accumulated misshapen proteins (amyloid) damage body tissues and disrupt organ function.
What other meat may be contaminated? When laying hens are killed at the end of their productive lives, approximately half are slaughtered for human consumption. Dr. Top 5 Vegan Diet Myths Debunked! Iodine in a Vegan Diet. I is for … Name the nutrient: A deficiency of this nutrient is the most common cause of preventable mental retardation.Over 30% of people worldwide don’t get enough of this nutrient.Even a mild deficiency of this nutrient in children can have lifelong effects on IQ and learning ability.Vegans may be at higher risk of not getting enough of this nutrient.
The mystery nutrient is not iron, or vitamin B12, or even protein. Each of the points above describes iodine, an essential mineral. We don’t need a lot of iodine; recommendations are expressed in micrograms (a microgram is one-millionth of a gram). Most of the iodine on the earth is found in the ocean. Up until 1924, the year when iodine was added to salt in the United States, iodine deficiency was fairly common in the United States, especially in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions, the so-called Goiter Belt. In the United States, both iodized and non-iodized salt are sold. What can you do to make sure you’re getting the iodine you need? Plant-based Diets: Supplements for Optimal Health. Dietary supplements are big business, bringing in more than 25 billion dollars a year. If you’re eating a well-balanced plant-based diet, though, you can minimize your own contribution to that industry. With a couple of exceptions, it’s possible to get all the nutrients you need from plant foods.
But in a few areas, supplements (or fortified foods) can give some helpful insurance. Vitamin B12: An essential supplement for people on a plant-based (vegan) diet So much has been written about vitamin B12 that it often leaves vegans thinking there is some controversy over this nutrient. Vitamin D: An important supplement for all A few animal foods provide vitamin D, but most non-vegans depend on the same sources as vegans: fortified foods or sunshine.
Iodine: Vegetables, supplements or…cleaning solutions? While milk is not a natural source of iodine, it is often contaminated with it from iodine-containing solutions used to clean cows and milking machines. Image Source. 5 Plant-Based Power Foods For Your Healthiest Little Herbivore. Raising pint-sized plant-eaters is not always easy work, as we navigate between good nutrition and those notoriously picky palates. But lucky for us, there’s quite a few exceptional vegetal foods that boast a beautiful nutrient profile and also happen to taste great, too. If you can incorporate these flavors when your munchkins are still wee, you’ll aim their tastes towards a future of wholesome selections. But even older children can be coaxed into making healthy choices. I mean come on, what kid doesn’t want a “magic green monster elixir”?
The truth is that there’s plenty of delicious, nutrient dense plant-based powerhouses out there. Between dark leafy greens, fermented foods, sprouts, and sea vegetables, this list was pretty difficult to whittle down. Juicing can seem overwhelming at first, but don’t let it intimidate you. Smoothies are similar to juice but serve a very different purpose, and definitely deserve their own distinction.
In our house we get to eat dessert every day. Guide: Plant-Based (Vegan) Supplements For All Your Special Needs & Conditions. Building Strong Bones The Vegan Way. Our earliest ancestors didn’t drink milk and didn’t need to worry about calcium at all. Milk didn’t appear in human diets until around 10,000 years ago, and even then it was common only in certain population groups. But anthropologists speculate that the diets of early humans were rich in calcium—with intakes higher than today’s RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for this nutrient—because they dined on calcium-rich greens.
Many of the wild greens they ate are lost to us now, but we still have a variety of calcium-rich veggies plus wonderful plant-based foods that are fortified with this nutrient. Calcium is only part of the story, of course. Strong bones depend on a variety of diet and lifestyle factors. By following a few guidelines—which apply to anyone on any kind of diet—it’s easy to keep bones strong and healthy on a vegan diet. Aim for 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day—the recommended calcium intake for adults—from foods with well-absorbed calcium.
Eat enough protein. Home For The Free: Protein, Cuisine And A Cause. Anyone who purposefully avoids the products of animal agribusiness will hear the question: “Where do you get your protein?” Do you know plants offer all the protein we need? New York Times columnist Mark Bittman (who also authored How to Cook Everything Vegetarian) wrote a column that appeared in January 2008 under the title “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler.” Here’s a brief excerpt: We each consume something like 110 grams of protein a day, about twice the federal government’s recommended allowance; of that, about 75 grams come from animal protein. (The recommended level is itself considered by many dietary experts to be higher than it needs to be.) It’s likely that most of us would do just fine on around 30 grams of protein a day, virtually all of it from plant sources. John McDougall, a noted physician who promotes a low-fat, plant-based diet, agrees.
Dr. Myths abound about the nutrition value in the kind of protein one consumes, too. Grand total: About 54 grams of protein. The Plant-Based Diet And Protein (Part 2) In Part 1 of this series, we touched upon the basic myths associated with protein and plant-based food as well as good sources of plant protein. In this installment, we will touch upon how much protein humans really need, the dangers of animal protein and the nutritional benefits of plant protein.
How much protein do you need? Let’s start with we don’t need as much protein as the meat and dairy industry would have you believe. An individuals protein needs depends on their age, weight and the amount of exercise they get. According to the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, you need 0.36 grams of protein per pound of your weight. The FDA recommends a daily protein intake of 50 grams for adults, with varying values depending on the age of a person. People that consume animal protein in every meal can end up consuming up to 5 times more animal protein than their daily requirement. The Problem with Animal Protein Nutritional Benefits of Plant-based Protein. The Plant-Based Diet And Protein (Part 1) Veganism is a lifestyle choice that dates back to 1944, but is currently attracting a lot of mainstream media attention due to the detrimental impact of animal farming on the environment and scientific studies that point to the healing and anti-aging benefits of a plant-based diet.
These health boons are anything but anecdotal; millions of people the world over can present hard evidence on the miraculous benefits of eating a plant-based diet. They have done well by not believing vegetarian myths mostly created by the meat and dairy industries or the nutritionists and scientists supported by meat and dairy manufacturers. Let’s clear some basics first, because the mainstream press tends to confuse these issues when enthusiastically reporting about celebrities that have “Gone Vegan”.
“Where do you get your protein?” This is exactly what we are going to cover in detail in this two part series. ALL fruits and vegetable contain essential amino acids. Image Source: Image 1, Image 2. Your Plant-Based Food Guide to Natural Immunity (Part 2) In Part 1 of this series, we touched upon alkaline-forming fruits and vegetables and plant-based sources of key vitamins and minerals that can help you build immunity. While there is no denying that vitamins and minerals play a key role in disease prevention, here are some additional tips to help you achieve immunity during the cold season (or year long!)
: Green superfoods are some of the most complete and balanced, nutritionally-rich food you can find that are packed with vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids and phytonutrients. Superfoods such as spirulina, chlorella, and wheat grass can help in strengthening the body against disease and in healing from them as well. They can be taken in capsule or tablet form and are also available in powder form, making it easy to add to fresh fruit smoothies and juices. Coconut oil has antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties. Deep-fried foods are no help either. Image Source: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3. Your Plant-Based Food Guide to Natural Immunity (Part 1) Bittersweet — Secrets of Sugar. Want Milk? The Calcium Myth (Part 3) Want Milk? The Bacterial Cocktail (Part 2)
Want Milk? Is Cow’s Milk Meant For Human Consumption? (Part 1) Vegan Health Home Page. Vegan Nutrition. 7 Tips for Transitioning to a Healthier Diet. More Food Doesn’t Necessarily Mean More Nutrition. School Food Diaries: The Perils of Cupcake Friday. Chicken More of an Arsenic Risk than Apple Juice. A Vegan Diet is Unhealthy? Says Who? Protein-Packed Meals for Older Vegans. Fat Soluble Vitamins: Do They Stand Between Vegans and Health?