Sarah Taylor's Blog

Kale, White Bean & Rosemary Soup!

2012-04-10T05:35:01Z

I went to Whole Foods and was blown away by one of their delicious “Health Starts Here” soups, whose main ingredients were kale and white beans. If you’re not familiar with the “Health Starts Here” program, it marks foods around the store – mainly in the deli – with a logo that says “Health Starts Here.” The logo means identifies foods in the store that meet the strict standards of health book authors Joel Fuhrman, MD, Rip Esselstyn, and/or John McDougall, MD. I find this program is especially useful for people who are traveling and don’t want to just eat vegan – they want to eat ultra-healthy vegan.

Since these health book authors generally advocate a vegan, very low-fat, very low-salt, very low-sugar diet, I used to worry that the “Health Starts Here” items wouldn’t be very tasty. On occasion, that’s true, but mostly they are delicious! My favorite out of all of the recipes is the White Bean and Kale Soup. I don’t have their exact recipe, but tried to make something close at home, and this definitely does the trick. Try this recipe for sure! It makes a big pot of soup, so you’ll have leftovers for a few days – and you’ll be glad that you do!

Kale, White Bean and Rosemary Soup

Ingredients:

2 Small-Medium Yellow Onions, Diced

5 Cans No-Salt White Beans (Cannellini Beans)

2 Boxes Low-Sodium Veggie Broth

1-2 T Dried Rosemary

1 Large bunch Kale (I use ¾ bag of Trader Joe’s pre-cut Kale)

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

Sauté diced onions in a few tablespoons of water for about 5 minutes. Add 3 cans of beans, 1½ boxes of veggie broth (about 6 cups) and Rosemary. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, but the remaining 2 cans of beans and ½ box (2 cups) of broth in a blender and blend until smooth. Add to the soup pot, along with the kale, and heat until warm. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sugar IS Addictive!

2012-04-02T21:01:57Z

The verdict is in – many of us have long suspected that sugar is addictive. If you struggle with cutting back or cutting out sweets (like I do), then you must watch this 15 minute segment of 60 minutes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403942n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

Could You Do It Yourself?

2012-03-28T22:06:15Z

At a recent lecture in a spiritual bookstore, I covered some of the spiritual aspects of going vegan. Yet even if you’re not spiritual or religious, many of the same principles apply, simply because many spiritual traditions come down to everyday values and ethics.

So I began wondering about an ethical question: If you couldn’t go to a store or a restaurant to buy your meat, and instead had to go out and slaughter a cow yourself for that hamburger, could you do it? I don’t mean to be grotesque, but could you shoot a bolt through a cow’s head and watch it instantly fall to the ground? Could you slit a pig’s throat while it is squealing for its life so that you could have bacon for breakfast? Could you cut off a chicken’s head or drag it through an electrocution “bath” to feed your child chicken nuggets? What about catch a fish and watch it take its last breath as it flops around on your boat deck so you could enjoy some sushi?

I don’t ask these questions to be dramatic, but I think that they will shed light on your values, and here is why that is so important: We humans have an intense psychological need to feel that we are staying true to our values; however, we often create stories about our behavior that allow us to believe we are staying true to our values when we are not. For example, if we hold a value of being kind to animals, but we like to eat hamburgers and don’t want to give them up, we might create a story for ourselves that the government is making sure that the slaughterhouses are humane, and that makes us feel like we are staying true to our value of being kind to animals. Even if we hear that the slaughterhouses are extremely cruel, we will continue to believe our story that the government is protecting the animals so that we can go on eating hamburgers. We won’t even be willing to watch a video posted on Facebook in case it challenges the story we are upholding to stay aligned with our values.

If you want to challenge your values and you still eat meat, I highly recommend you watch the documentary Earthlings, or go to PETA’s website and watch some of their many short video clips on the factory farms. See if you still feel comfortable choosing meat products after seeing these videos. If you really don’t want to watch the graphic videos of slaughterhouses, dairy farm and egg factories, here is a question for you to ponder instead:

If you could not kill a cow (pig, chicken, etc) yourself, is it ethical to pay someone else to do it? Is it ethical to divert your money to support the behavior you will not do yourself?

The answer will depend on your own values – not mine – but I think that if you still eat meat, dairy and eggs, it is important to ask yourself this question. It truly is a matter of life and death.

Organic Labeling - What Does it REALLY Mean?

2012-03-20T21:25:26Z

A common question I receive is about organic foods. Are they really healthier? Are they easier on the environment? Doesn’t “organic” imply a more natural and cruelty-free environment for the animals? What about organic seafood?

There are loads of myths surrounding the “organic” label, and producers love to perpetuate these myths, as we are more willing to buy things that we think are healthier, better for the environment, and show how much we love to protect animals. But buyer beware: It’s not always as it seems! Having said that, there are some very good reasons to buy organic. Here is what you need to know.

Myths around the “organic” label:

Myth #1: Organic means cruelty free. There are absolutely NO laws or guidelines that say that organic foods must come from humane operations. For example, there is nothing that states that organic eggs must come from hens who are happily roaming about a large, idyllic farm, getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air. In most cases, organic eggs come from hens in factory farming situations, who may be denied antibiotics when they are ill, because the antibiotics will render their eggs unsellable. Ditto for organic meat and dairy. Organic does not mean cruelty free.
Myth #2: Organic foods are healthy. Unfortunately, I can make you a fully organic cheeseburger with fries that will clog your arteries and set you up for heart attack just like any McDonald’s burger could. Unhealthy foods are bad for you, no matter whether they come from an organic source or not.
Myth #3: Organic foods are lower in calories. Again, unhealthy food raised without chemicals is still unhealthy food no matter how you cut it. A study from the University of Michigan found that people ate more organic cookies than non-organic cookies, thinking they had fewer calories. This is not the case, so don’t make the same mistake!
Myth #4: Organic seafood is a good choice. There are currently no rules governing organic seafood, so using the organic label on seafood is not endorsed by the USDA at this time. Ironically, when and if it is endorsed, wild fish will not be allowed to be called organic because their environment cannot be controlled! Knowing that farmed fish live in a veritable cesspool of excrement and disease, it is hard to imagine that “organic” fish from farmed fishing conditions will be a better choice than line-caught fish from northern Alaska, for example … or no fish at all.
Myth #5: Organic foods are less likely to have salmonella, E. coli and other harmful bacteria. Organic foods can still have these same bugs, and Consumer Reports said that 57% of organic store-bought chicken tested positive for Campylobacter. Much food poisoning happens through food handling, so you need to make sure you handle organic food just as carefully as you would conventional food by keeping a clean kitchen, washing your hands and produce carefully, not letting meat juice run into other foods, etc.
Myth #6: Organic foods have more nutrients. Nutrient levels in our produce depend on many things, such as soil content, how the food is stored, cooked, etc. But whether we put pesticides on it or not does not affect its nutrient content. Having said that, many organic farmers are careful to use high-quality soil and aim to use other practices that might affect nutrient quality, but studies results disagree on whether organic foods have a higher nutrient content than non-organic foods.

Despite these myths, there are some very good reasons to choose organic anyway. Here are the four reasons why I buy organic when I can get it, and believe it’s worth the extra price:

Reason #1: I don’t want to eat foods covered in chemicals. Studies differ about whether these chemicals really are harmful in small quantities. However, I am a big proponent of relying on common sense, and common sense tells me that shortly after we started using loads of chemicals in and on our food, rates of Alzheimer’s, asthma, autoimmune disorders and autism, among other diseases, started soaring. This could be due to pollution, vaccinations, mercury in our fillings or god knows what else, but chemicals seem the most obvious culprit to me. The FDA keeps saying that the approved chemicals used in our food are fine in the tiny amounts that show up in a serving of grapes or lettuce, but all day long we are eating serving after serving of tiny amounts of chemicals, and I’m convinced they add up to unhealthy effects. It would be nearly impossible to prove this, simply because there are thousands of things that pass through our lips, but that doesn’t mean that chemicals aren’t the culprit – just that it’s hard to prove. So again, I rely on common sense, and it makes perfect sense to me to ingest as few chemicals as possible.
Reason #2: I want to help sustainable agriculture methods. Many or most organic farmers emphasize sustainable agriculture methods, such as rotating their crops, changing their plantings each season, and bringing in beneficial bugs and insects to help with the natural ecosystem. This is all good for our environment.
3. Reason #3: I want to reduce my carbon footprint. Buying local organic helps to reduce your carbon footprint, as you will be getting your fruit and veggies locally rather than from South America or someplace miles away. So when you buy organic, try to make a point to get it from your local farmer’s market. An added bonus is that you’ll probably pay far less than you would have at the grocery store!
4. Reason #4: I want to support people who are trying to do the right thing. Most local, organic farmers are really trying hard to compete against corporate giants for our benefit, and I really want to see them succeed. If you do too, you must support them as much as you can by buying their products. Even if you buy organic food from corporate giants, you’re sending a signal with every dollar you spend that you want them to start caring more about your health.

So the bottom line, in my opinion, is this: Buy organic, but understand what you are and are not getting with organic foods. While I believe they are worth the extra money, I also understand their limitations. If you can, try to buy both organic and local, for the biggest impact to your health and our environment.

** Much of my information for today’s blog came from the March 2012 Berkeley Wellness Letter.

Where do Vegans EAT?

2012-03-13T06:49:08Z

A very good friend brought up a great question to me today, after hearing that my husband and I got voracious food poisoning after eating salads at the Cheesecake Factory. What he wanted to know was (in a polite way), what the heck was a vegan doing eating in a place like the Cheesecake Factory???

His points were many – the name supports the dairy industry, the chain preys on Americans’ health with gluttonous platters of disease-causing food, vegans should support vegan restaurants, etc etc. I actually agreed with all of his points. But my husband and I had found ourselves in a conundrum: We were in Palm Springs area for a tennis tournament this weekend, the only fully vegan restaurant (Native Foods) closed down and the only natural foods store (Luscious Lorraine’s) was closed on Sundays. So, Mark and I were forced to go to the dark side where the “others” eat.

Given my travel schedule (every week), I actually eat on the dark side pretty regularly – I have never seen a fully vegan or vegetarian restaurant in any airport I’ve ever been in, and often have to go to client dinners where I do not get to pick the restaurant. Rest assured, I always find a way to eat vegan, but I cannot always eat in a vegan restaurant or natural foods store. When I can, I do, but when I can’t, I try to support a place that has something vegan on the menu. If I can’t do that, I have the chef make me something vegan, and then crow about how good it was and insist they put it on their menu so everyone else can enjoy it too.

But I have friends who literally will not eat in a restaurant that isn’t 100% vegetarian. I have friends who will ask if the tortilla chips were fried in the same oil as the meat. I have friends who simply won’t eat at restaurants unless forced to. And I have friends who slog down McVeggie burgers minus the mayo every week.

So my question this week is, where do you stand on the restaurant question? Will you only eat at vegan restaurants? Vegetarian restaurants? Does it matter to you at all, as long as you get a vegan meal? Let us know! And if you want to throw in your favorite restaurant or two, we’d all be glad! (I had a delicious meal tonight at San Francisco’s 100% vegan “Herbivore”!)

When Vegans Revert Back to Meat Eating

2012-02-29T17:42:43Z

Every once in a while I meet someone who used to be vegan, but for whatever reason, eats meat again. I am always surprised by this, but I don’t worry. I know the vegan diet is not a temporary fad.

I, like you, have met countless people who tried Atkins and now eat carbs, tried Weight Watchers and no longer count points, tried the Zone Diet and no longer eat their food in perfect ratios. In fact, when a friend tells us they are starting a new diet, we expect they will not stick with it. Studies show that only a tiny fraction of dieters ever succeed in keeping weight off in the long run.

But most people I know who have gone vegan never go back to eating meat and dairy products. In fact, only a tiny fraction of vegans I have ever met have not succeeded in sticking with the diet. It happens, but only so rarely that I am surprised when I do hear about it!

Why is it that the vegan diet, which is seemingly so strict, has so many life-long converts? I think the reason lies in the motives: People who want to lose weight so they look better simply don’t have enough motivation to stick with it; vanity clearly isn’t as important as we might think or people would have the motivation to stick with fad diets. So they try diet after diet, but continually fail. However, people who learn about the ethical reasons for going vegan (animal cruelty and environmental impact, for example) have plenty of motivation; they can envision the cruelty that went in to the meat sitting on the end of their fork, for example, and literally cannot get themselves to eat it anymore. I am not an overly dramatic person, but I cannot even walk through the meat section in the grocery store anymore. All I can see when I look at the meat cases are animals that have slaughtered, often while still alive. So, in an interesting twist of irony, people who end up caring about something other than themselves often find all the motivation they need to stick with the seemingly strict vegan diet, and never look back.

As the vegan diet gains popularity, I think we’ll see more people try and fail, but only because they are trying it to follow a fad, hoping it will get them looking like Kathy Freston. For those who actually read vegan literature or watch vegan documentaries that go beyond just the weight loss benefits of a vegan diet, I think they will stick with it, because they will finally have sufficient motivation. This is the exact reason why I started by book, Vegan in 30 Days, with a chapter on “What is Your Motivation?” You need a strong motivation to make any change. But what I have found over and over again is that if you have the right motivation, you will not need any willpower. Being vegan will become effortless with just a little bit of dedication up front.

To get all the motivation you need, try reading these books and watching these documentaries. This is not a complete list, so if I’ve left your favorite off the list, make sure you comment and tell everyone what it is!

Books:

Diet for a New America, John Robbins

The Food Revolution, John Robbins

The China Study, Colin Campbell, PhD

Eat to Live, Joel Fuhrman, MD

Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease, Caldwell Esselstyn, MD

Slaughterhouse, Gail Eisnitz

Eating Animals, Jonathon Safran Foer

Videos:

Earthlings

Forks Over Knives

Eating

Got the Facts on Milk?

Events:

Healthy Lifestyles Expo: www.healthylifestyleexpo.com

Warmly,

Sarah

Honey - Is it Vegan or Not?

2012-02-26T23:55:32Z

Honey. It has caused a big debate amongst vegans: Is it vegan, or is it not? The answer simply depends on how you define vegan. Those who define a vegan diet as devoid of animal products may claim that a honeybee is an insect, not an animal, and therefore honey is indeed a vegan product. However, those who believe that a vegan diet is devoid of products that exploit any creatures would argue that an insect should be respected just as much as any other being, and therefore, honey is not vegan. I fall into that latter camp because, although I don’t get the warm-fuzzies for insects, I don’t think I should respect their life any less. So, I don’t think honey is vegan, but it doesn’t mean I’m right.

I don’t want to try to decide here whether honey is vegan because I think you need to decide for yourself how you define “vegan.” However, I do want to shed some light on honeybees, as I knew nothing about them until recently, and expect many of you don’t either. It might help you make a decision about whether you want to eat honey.

First, why are honeybees so important? Bees are essential to humans because they pollinate the flowers of fruit trees. Without pollinated flowers, there is no fruit on most fruit trees. So, without bees, we have little or no fruit. About 1/3 of all U.S. crops depend on bees to pollinate them, and many plants on the endangered species list are endangered specifically because they are not getting pollinated.

Why are these plants not getting pollinated? Because the bee population has been dying off quickly and dramatically. Domestically managed bee colonies have dropped by half since 1945¹, and much of this has happened in the past 5 years or so. While the cause of these deaths was a mystery for many years (some theorized it was due to cell phone emissions, viruses, and other causes) it is now widely believed in the beekeeping industry that this massive decline is due to use of specific pesticides.

Beekeepers do not make most of their money from honey. Because bee populations are now so rare, and because huge industrial-sized farms have thousands of acres of crops that desperately need to be pollinated, beekeepers literally truck their bees across the country and “rent” their bees out for a few months at a time to farmers. This is where they make the majority of their money. A beekeeper in Florida might truck his hives to California to pollinate an avocado farm, then a few months later drive to Washington to pollinate an apple orchard, and then a few months later drive to Maine to pollinate a cranberry farm.

This practice of moving bees from state to state, climate to climate, is not natural for them. It also involves a lot of energy to raise bees and truck them all over the country … not a very good carbon footprint. Additionally, the bees’ honey, which in nature is made by bees for bees, is taken from them to be sold to humans, and they are given a form of sugar-water to eat instead. I don’t know if this is bad for them, but I can only imagine that their own honey is the absolute best thing for their health … just like mother’s milk is better for a baby than formula.

On the flip side, I will say that my friend Steve Blake, Doctor of Holistic Health in Nutritional Biochemistry and author of 29 health books, says that honey is actually healthy in small quantities – something rare for a non-vegan food. He says, “Honey is unusual in that it is a healthful non-vegan food. Raw, unfiltered honey contains propolis, which is a powerful antimicrobial. The pollen in unfiltered honey is also very nutritious and energizing.” However, Steve does not eat honey as a vegan, because he says, “flower pollen is available directly, without bothering any bees.”

I don’t want to get bogged down in ethics of insects. If you think about it, you probably kill a good number of insects on your windshield while driving to the store to get your honey. And it’s been pointed out by many people that if a vegan staunchly says we cannot kill insects, then does that mean that vegans cannot eat conventional (non-organic) produce? Conventional produce is covered in pesticides, whose main purpose is, of course … to kill insects. So a vegan who is staunch about killing insects had better make sure that 100% of their produce comes from organic sources.

But I will say this about vegan ethics: think it through, and decide what is right for you. For me, being vegan is about doing my best to respect the lives of other creatures. Therefore, I do my absolute best (even though it may not be perfect) to avoid doing things that put another creature in harm’s way for my own benefit, whether that means death or suffering or being forced into unnatural conditions. Therefore, do I eat honey? No – there are other alternatives I can use to sweeten my foods that don’t involve harming other creatures. But I do believe in supporting bees and I never kill them when they are on my property. I also believe that it is a good idea for people with fruit trees on their property to either bring in a hive or help current hives flourish on their property. The bees definitely need our support – I just personally don’t think that needs to be through eating their honey.

For more information, I highly recommend the documentary, Vanishing of the Bees (http://www.vanishingbees.com/).

¹http://www.compassionatespirit.com/is-honey-vegan.htm

Vegetarian to Vegan: Why Give Up Dairy and Eggs?

2012-02-15T03:26:41Z

My new book coming out will be called Vegetarian to Vegan. I wrote this book for all the vegetarians who have asked me questions about why or how to give up dairy and eggs. Among the most common questions are:

How do you survive without cheese/ice cream/butter/eggs/etc?
What’s wrong with eating non-fat dairy products – they’re healthy, aren’t they?
What’s ethically wrong with eating dairy and eggs? No animals were killed in the making of them!
What’s wrong with eating cage-free, free-range or organic eggs?

If you’ve had these or similar questions, your answers can be found here, by watching my recent lecture, Vegetarian to Vegan, given at the Vegetarian Society of Hawai’i.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyjOPzKc4vA

A big thank you to the amazing Bill Harris, MD, who kindly edited my video and added in all the video and many of the extra shots.

Enjoy!

Sarah

Vegan Valentine's Chocolate

2012-02-12T21:01:56Z

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and what do we vegans like to receive on Valentine’s Day more than anything else? Chocolate, of course! But not all chocolate is vegan, so how do you find out what the best chocolate is for your vegan sweetheart? Keep reading!

White chocolate and milk chocolate are not vegan, but dark chocolate often is, so it’s easy to find vegan chocolate without going to a specialty store. Just look for dark chocolate and read the ingredient list to make sure there is no milk, butter, eggs or other dairy products. Keep in mind that cocoa butter does not come from a cow, so it is absolutely vegan! The higher the cacao percentage (usually around 75% and higher) the more likely the chocolate is to be vegan. Lower percentages often mix a little bit of milk in them, so check to make sure.

I’ll start with my personal favorite – Brook Le’amohala at Mama Earth Café on Maui makes the hands-down, best-I’ve-ever-tasted, chocolate. Notice I didn’t say best “vegan chocolate” … I said best “chocolate!” Her Cardamom Chocolate Aphrodesia will stun you. Filled with unique ingredients like cardamom, cashews, ginger and cayenne, this chocolate is sweet, nutty, gingery and spicy all at the same time – the flavors will burst in your mouth! Contact Brook at www.MamaEarthCafe.com to find out how to order it. It’s made on Maui and must be refrigerated, so expect a higher-than-normal shipping fee if you want to order it. Or just plan your next vacation for Maui!

My husband is a major fan of Theo’s brand chocolates, many of which are vegan. His two favorite flavors are the Madagascar chocolate and the Spicy Chili Chocolate. Theo’s is located in Seattle, WA, and is the first and only organic and Fair Trade chocolatier in the U.S. You can find it at many grocery stores, or go to www.TheoChocolate.com for more information. Their factory tours are a must when you go to Seattle!

My friend, Suezy Proctor, likes Whole Foods brands of chocolate, and when she wants a little chocolate fix, she simply has a handful of their chocolate chips. But if you don’t want to buy your Valentine chocolate chips, she recommends their Whole Foods Dark Chocolate candy bar with Almonds. She says the almonds intensify the chocolate flavor.

For other ideas, the internet is full of chocolatiers selling vegan chocolate. Simply google “vegan chocolate” and you’ll find dozens of sellers. However, let me tell you about my favorite. www.RescueChocolate.com sells 100% vegan chocolate, and 100% of the proceeds go to helping Animal Rescues. Buy the “Peanut Butter Pit Bull” and your money goes to Pitbull Rescues. Buy the “Bow-Wow Bon Bons” and your money goes to help shelter dogs find a home. Perfect for Valentine’s Day, buy the heart-shaped, raspberry ganache-filled “Wild at Heart” chocolates and your money goes to helping wild animals, such as those in circuses or research labs.

So, vegan readers, what is your favorite vegan chocolate? Comment here and let us know!

Almost Vegan

2012-02-02T16:20:17Z

It feels like I’ve become a vegan therapist lately. There have been a rash of people who have come to me with concerns that they are not 100% vegan … people who used to be 100% vegan but now slip up with some regularity, people who are married to vegans but only want to be vegetarian, people who have written vegan cookbooks but don’t always eat vegan, people who love animals but haven’t yet been able to give up real creamer in their coffee, etc, etc…

These people, in general, seem to feel very guilty and suffer a lot of angst because they aren’t eating a perfect vegan diet. It always makes me sad because it seems they are only able to focus on the very small percentage of what isn’t right with their diet, and are unable to see the huge percentage that is right.

Instead of focusing on the 5% (or 0.5%!) of your diet that isn’t vegan, why not focus on the 95% (or 99.5%!) that is vegan? With all the choices you do make that are vegan, you are saving countless animals from suffering, cruelty and death; you are helping to reduce our world’s massive carbon footprint, you are doing great things for your health, and perhaps most importantly, you are setting a great example for everyone you know and meet. Just by saying, “I really strive to eat a vegan diet and am about 95% of the way there,” you show people that you care to do your very best and are making a big difference.

So, today I’d just like to give a tribute those of you who aren’t 100% vegan. Whether you’d like to be vegan, but haven’t yet made the final leap, whether you used to be vegan but have recently fallen to temptation, whether you are getting pressured to be vegan but really prefer to be vegetarian … you are still saving hundreds of animals from suffering and death. Could you save a few more? Perhaps. Is it worth feeling like a failure over? Absolutely not. If and when the time is right for you, you will go vegan. In the meantime, honor all the good that you are doing, and know that – even if you aren’t 100% vegan – you are still making a big difference and setting a great example.

Some of the Best Advice I Can Give

2012-01-23T22:00:52Z

Buying a home in Haiku has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. Not for the home itself, nor the beautiful weather of Maui … but for the genuine, authentic, loving people that I now consider my friends. These are people who love and support each other, challenge each other and bring out the best in each other.

I bring this up because it may be one of the best pieces of advice I can give those of you struggling with a vegan diet:

Be very conscientious about who you spend your time with, and do everything you can to surround yourself with people who will support you and encourage you in your journey.

Be very wary of those who try to hold you back, try to talk you out of your goals or dreams, or constantly play devil’s advocate while rarely seeing possibilities. When you hear people close to you say things like, “You’ll never stick with that!” or “Why bother – we’re all going to die of something anyway,” or “God, Joe, it’s just a freaking chicken! When did you become such a sensitive little wuss?” big, bright red flags should be waving frantically in front of you. These are not people who really want what’s best for you. As hard as it may seem, it will behoove you to either rid them from your life or minimize their presence in it.

People who don’t support your decision to go vegan are also the same people who will try to tear you down in other parts of your life. If you want to move to a new city, quit drinking, start a new business, write a book, explore spirituality or take on a new hobby, they’re often the ones that will say it can’t be done, it’s a silly idea, or just flat out laugh at you.

Instead, seek out people who really do support and care for you; people who see your goodness and bring it out of you. Seek out people who are strong enough with themselves that they are not threatened by you; people who support your dreams and goals, but will also lovingly challenge you if they believe you may be doing something harmful or not in your best interest.

You don’t have to move to Maui to find such people – go to places where like-minded people meet. If you’re a budding vegan, go to a vegan meetup where you’ll find others who care about health and have compassion for animals and our environment. If you’ve been reading Buddhist books and went vegan for reasons of compassion and loving-kindness, seek out a meditation group or other spiritual group in your area. If you love animals or feel strongly about the need to save our environment, meet incredible people who have similar values at volunteer organizations.

Plant people in your life who sprout seeds of goodness within you, people who inspire greatness, people who make you light up with joy just seeing their face. These are the people who will lift you up on their wings, set great examples for you and teach you new lessons so that you can really soar.

The UNITED NATIONS Advocates a Vegan Diet!

2011-12-29T08:01:31Z

While the US leads the world in many things, we seem to be sadly behind in the area of food. Huge corporate interests lobby hard to keep the public from seeing just how gruesome the slaughterhouses are (if you knew, you wouldn’t eat their meat,) just how filthy and cruel the dairy farms are (if you knew, you wouldn’t eat their cheese,) just how dangerous genetically modified foods are (if you knew, you wouldn’t eat their products) and just how damaging factory farms are to our environment (if you knew, you’d go vegan.)

Many European countries do not subscribe to some of our common food production practices; for example, they are so concerned about the risks of eating genetically modified foods that they have completely banned them. Yet our government keeps telling us that genetically modified foods are completely healthy. If that’s true, then why have so many countries banned them? I don’t have a degree in agriculture but I do have a good deal of common sense, and common sense is telling me that something smells fishy.

There are many reasons to support a vegan diet, but I’m just one vegan from Gig Harbor, Washington. You may not be swayed by me, but you might be swayed by the United Nations.

The UN is now publicly urging the world’s citizens to move to a vegan diet. A recent UN report claims that “a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to saving the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change.” The report also points out that as the world’s population approaches over 9 billion people by 2050, it will not be possible to sustain the per capita consumption of meat and dairy products that we are currently eating. We will deplete our resources if we attempt to do so, noting that “agriculture, particularly meat and dairy products, accounts for 70% of global freshwater consumption, 38% of the total land use and 19% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions,”

For a political organization like the UN to strongly advocate the vegan diet is enormously predictive and important. They put legs behind the vegan diet, when many are trying to convince you that the vegan diet is just something that those California hippies are still trying to push. Perhaps those California hippies were decades ahead of their time.

To read an important article about this UN report from England’s Guardian newspaper, click the following link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet

Heroin and Chocolate

2011-12-23T00:51:56Z

We are often told that “all things are okay in moderation.” A little bit of chocolate, a couple of glasses of wine, a small piece of cake… As long as we eat and drink in moderation, all is well. But is it really?

Heroin comes from a plant – hey, it’s vegan! – yet would we argue that heroin, in moderation, is okay? Of course not. Heroin is addictive, and people who get addicted to heroin have a heck of a time getting off it. Many never do, and die from their heroin addiction.

What does this have to do with chocolate? Chocolate, indeed many other foods as well, like cheese, sugar and meat, is also addictive. I don’t mean that in a trite way. I mean they are totally addictive, like heroin is. Studies show that when we eat these foods, receptors in our brains start firing off, giving us strong feelings of pleasure, just like heroin. We start craving these foods, eat them when we aren’t even hungry, and go to great lengths to get them. As Neal Barnard, MD, points out in his new book, 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart, “No one ever went to a convenience store at 9:00 at night to buy cauliflower.” (page 37) Why? Because cauliflower is not addictive. Broccoli, lentils, carrots, spinach, chickpeas … they are not addictive. We don’t have unnatural cravings for them and we don’t overeat them when they are in their natural, wholesome states.

But let’s get back to chocolate and heroin. Heroin snatches people into its deathly grip by firing off pleasure receptors in the brain every time a person takes heroin. When you don’t take it, the brain starts having massive cravings, and the person will go crazy trying to get a hit so that they’re pleasure receptors will once again be satiated. The need is so strong that they will steal from their own mother, alienate themselves from family and friends, and put themselves in danger to get the money to buy more heroin.

And isn’t that true, to a lesser extent admittedly, with chocolate and other addictive foods? I have, and know many who have also, snuck away with chocolate, sugar or other treats and scarfed them down alone in a secret place where they couldn’t get caught. I know people who have passed up an opportunity to go out with friends so they could stay at home with a gallon of ice cream. A good friend ate her husband’s birthday pie – the entire pie – before he got home from work to have any himself. Another person I know sat alone in her car in the driveway and ate a large bag of Doritos before her husband came out, knocked on the window, and said, “What the F*%& are you doing???” Hmmm. Sounds vaguely familiar. In fact, sounds just like the behaviors of an addict.

Still not convinced that food can be truly addictive? Then let me hit you over the head with this study: Researchers at the University of Michigan did a study in chocolate bingers using the drug Naloxone[1]. Naloxone is a drug used to treat heroin addicts, and it works by blocking the receptors in the brain that heroin stimulates. If the person is on Naloxone and takes heroin, they won’t get the high they are used to getting because the receptors in the brain won’t get stimulated. The researchers gave the chocolate lovers Naloxone, and then put out a tray of chocolates. Guess what? Although this group was made up of self-proclaimed chocolate lovers, not many chocolates were eaten. The chocolate still looked and tasted the same as it usually did to the study participants, but they didn’t get the same euphoric feeling that they usually got from chocolate, and so they quit eating them after one or two. While it sounds like Naloxen might be your miracle drug, like most drugs, it has side effects and isn’t appropriate for the average person.

I know I’ve been blogging about food addictions a lot lately, but I have uncovered a serious truth in my life that I am convinced could help millions of people if they would take it seriously: Certain foods are very addictive – just like heroin, even if not to the same degree. We simply can’t keep telling each other that eating them in moderation is okay. It’s not. Trying to moderate addictive foods is like trying to moderate your intake of heroin, and inevitably leads to binging of these foods. And while food addicts don’t usually die from a food overdose like heroin addicts die from a drug overdose, their continual overeating of these toxic foods leads to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other maladies … and people die of these food related diseases more than anything else in the world. Experts believe that 70-80% of all deaths are due to food related diseases, like type II diabetes.

Yet because food is socially acceptable, we minimize how bad it can be, and make it “okay” to eat it. In fact, we make it not just socially acceptable, but we make it practically a requirement – you must have cake on your birthday, and you must eat turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. This is completely unhealthy. Should you choose to try (and try and try again) to eat these foods in “moderation,” you will fight the same losing battle you’ve been fighting most of your life.

To break free, you simply must quit eating these foods altogether. Do not try to moderate them, and do not splurge every now and then unless you’re willing to accept the consequences – spiraling back into addiction, spending your days starting yet another new diet and wondering why you can’t seem to control your eating.

Not everyone is addicted to food. I know people who can have a few bites of a hot fudge sundae and be fine pushing the rest away. But if there are certain foods, be it cookies, doughnuts, chips, pizza, or something else, that you have strong cravings for and can never seem to eat in moderation, you are almost certainly addicted.

The good news is that you can break free. You can break free from living in a constant state of dieting and depression – if you can stick to eating a healthy vegan diet for just 30 days. You will probably crave certain foods for a few days or maybe even a few weeks, but if you can just stick to it for 30 days, I can just about guarantee you that all cravings will go away, and by then, you’ll also have lost some noticeable weight and will be feeling much better.

I truly believe that 20 years from now, food addiction will be recognized by the medical establishment as a serious condition. People are starting to speak up about it, and a few cutting edge doctors are starting to prove it (Neal Barnard, MD, Joel Fuhrman, MD and others). But if you need more proof, quit reading and just do it – for 30 days, eat nothing but fruits, veggies, whole grains and beans in their natural forms without covering them with oil, fats, salt or sugar. Then you can prove it to yourself.

Happy Eating,

Sarah

[1] Drewnoski A, Krahn DD, Demitrack MA, Nairn K, Gosnell BA. Taste responses and preferences for sweet high-fat foods: evidence for opioid involvement. Physiol Behav 1992; 51:371-9.

Why I'm So Mad ...

2011-12-15T22:40:14Z

I’m really, really mad. Most people can tell you how many days Kim Kardashian was married, yet hardly anyone I ask has heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Google it. It will freak you out.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean where all the currents converge, a massive garbage dump has collected. I mean a garbage dump that’s estimated to be the size of France. And that’s just the surface area – no one really knows just how deep it goes, but it could be miles deep. Where is all this garbage coming from? It’s mainly coming from plastic products that somehow find their way into the water. Plastic does not break down very easily, which is common knowledge, yet what really happens when we throw plastic products away? If they end up in our waterways they are likely to find themselves swept out to sea with the current, eventually stopping in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. A quick Google search will instantly reveal pictures of plastic dishes, plastic Barbie dolls, and most commonly, plastic bottles, all floating around in a huge mess in the middle of the ocean, creating a massive garbage dump, the size of France, in the middle of the Pacific. Fish, dolphins and other sea critters can get caught in this mess and die. It’s devastating, yet very few people even know about it!

So I find myself, a concerned citizen, in that place of not really knowing what to do about it, but being very upset about it nevertheless. I started noticing on a recent vacation to Bali that plastic bottles were strewn all along the side of the roads, on the beaches, and in people’s yards. I went to a burrito restaurant last week and cringed as the young man donned a pair of fresh new gloves, made my burrito, then took them off and threw them away before ringing up my order. I wondered how many gloves fast food restaurants go through in a day doing this. I see people in the grocery check-out line putting every type of produce into those little plastic baggies – I understand putting a hundred green beans in a plastic bag (preferably a paper bag, if your grocery store offers them) but why on earth put bananas in a plastic bag? Why put apples or broccoli in a plastic bag? Just get them home in your canvas tote where you’ll rinse them off anyway. Speaking of canvas totes, what about all the people still using plastic shopping bags at every trip? At the airport a few weeks ago, I noticed an entire 4’ garbage can overflowing by 8:00 am with large plastic bottles and spray cans that people forgot they cannot carry on to the plane … and that was just one security checkpoint at one airport. The amount of waste we are creating is horrific.

I’m no expert on the environment, but I don’t think we need to be experts to understand that a garbage dump the size of France in the middle of the ocean is not a good thing. We vegans have all heard about how our diet benefits the environment, and we can feel good about that, but what else can we do to make a difference? How about…

Commit to using canvas totes at every grocery outing. If you forget, you must go back to your car and get them, rather than use the grocery store’s plastic bags.
Bring your canvas grocery totes to non-grocery stores, like Target or the book store.
Never allow checkers to put individual items like tooth paste or washing machine soap into individual plastic bags “for your safety.” These products are already sealed like a vault, and they are not going to leak in your tote bag.
Commit to only using produce bags for very small items, like green beans, that need to be contained. Look for paper bags instead, and request your grocer carry them if they don’t.
Buy a gorgeous water bottle and only allow yourself to drink from it or from a glass – no more paying for water in plastic bottles. This tip can also save you a lot of money.
Commit to drinking beverages you buy in convenience stores only from fountain-style dispensers – not from plastic bottles.
Just before you take your garbage out to the garbage can, clean out your cat’s litter box and just throw it in with the load going out to the garage – don’t use individual little plastic bags which then go into the garbage can anyway.
Instead of buying disposable plastic food storage containers (like the Ziploc or Glad brands) that you dispose of after a handful of uses, buy either non-plastic containers or more durable plastic containers (like Tupperware) that you can use years on end.

These are just a few ideas that I came up with quickly. Yet there must be hundreds of ways we can cut back our plastic garbage. What ways can you think of to help reduce your corner of the garbage patch? I’d love to hear your ideas!

Peace,

Sarah

PS. If you haven’t done it yet, go to my Facebook site and “like” The Vegan Next Door! I always post when a new blog goes up.

PPS. A big thanks to my friend Eric Depperschmidt, who opened my eyes to this topic. J

Navigating Through the Holidays, Vegan-Style

2011-12-13T04:56:22Z

The holidays are stressful for most people, but there are added stresses for vegans: How do you ask your family to cook a vegan meal for you? If they are coming to your house, do you make two meals, or request that they eat vegan? What do you do when someone gets confrontational about your diet at the holiday table? No worries – here are all your answers!

The first thing you must decide is whether you will be eating vegan for the holiday meal. If you are vegan for health reasons only, you may choose to splurge at this time of year, but I don’t recommend it – one splurge usually leads to many more, which leads you straight back to your old bad habits. If you are vegan for ethical reasons, then there is no reason to treat this day differently than any other day – animals suffered and were killed for these holidays just like any other day, so you obviously won’t be eating turkey or ham.

The next set of decisions involves where you’ll be eating. Is a family member hosting dinner, or will it be held at your house? If you’ll be going to someone else’s house for dinner, it’s pertinent to call the host/ess. I always suggest offering to bring your own food; not only does this make life easier on your host/ess, it also ensures you that you will get a fully vegan meal. Many people, with great intentions, end up using dairy, eggs or honey inadvertently when trying to cook vegan. If you can bring a dish that is a meal all-in-one (such as a casserole,) this allows you to eat heartily and also offer some to others, so they will be able to see just how delicious vegan food can be.

If your host/ess insists on cooking for you, then make sure that he or she knows exactly what a vegan diet is. Gracefully stress that vegan is different from vegetarian, and explain those differences. Offer up vegan websites with holiday recipes, or offer up recipes yourself. Again, this makes life so much easier for your host/ess.

If you are hosting the holiday dinner, then you have another big decision to make: Will you be making one vegan and one non-vegan meal, or will you require that everyone eat vegan? At my house, I now cook the holiday meal every year, and everyone eats vegan. The first year I hosted, I made absolutely sure that my recipes were delicious – I didn’t try anything for the first time and risk it not tasting good. I offered all the traditional favorites – mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, and apple pie – made with vegan ingredients. They just happened to be the most delicious vegan versions you’ve ever had (Thanks, WholeFoods!) That first year, everyone crowed about how good the food was; I think they expected a dismal dinner! But that careful preparation set me up for all the years to come. People look forward to my dinner, and I always start dinner by giving gratitude for a warm house, great family and plenty of nourishing food.

Now the big question, and it doesn’t just apply to the holidays: How do you handle confrontational family members who attack your dietary choices at the dinner table? I hope your family is open-minded and supportive about your decision to be vegan, but I know that many are not. If you have concerns, remember these two steps: First, remember that their attack is not about you. Even if you have a long history of not getting along with this person, their issue with your diet is simply not about you. It’s their own stuff coming out under the guise of your diet.

Second, respond to their attack in one of two ways: First, if they ask “real” questions, such as “How do you get protein?” (Or, if they’re being cantankerous, “You can’t get enough protein on a vegan diet! I saw that on TV last week!”) just take a deep breath, keep your cool and answer the question. Try your hardest not to get defensive – there is no need to defend anything, as your diet is great for your health, the animals, and the planet – it will hold up on it’s own without you taking a defensive posture. There will likely be many questions, so have patience, and be solid in your heart that you’re doing the right thing for you. If they don’t really have questions, or are clearly just trying to press your buttons and get you riled up, simply use this phrase as many times as you need to: “If you’re truly interested in learning about the vegan diet, I suggest you read ______________ (such as Diet for a New America, by John Robbins.) Once you’ve read it, I’d be happy to answer any questions you still have.” This basically forces them to take action before the conversation can continue. I’ve stalled a specific relative for years now with this phrase. He quit badgering me because he has no intention of educating himself on the vegan diet, and I politely told him I have no interest in having an argument with him about it until he has educated himself on the topic. It’s worked like a charm.

If you have a really argumentative and downright nasty person at the table who just won’t let it go, then say, “I am not asking you to change your diet, so I’d appreciate it if you would quit giving me a hard time about mine. Can we change the subject now, please?” Everyone at the table will appreciate it.

One last note: Do not solicit arguments by preaching about the vegan diet at the dinner table. Many people will already feel threatened by your diet because they know they are not healthy, and don’t want to have to face it. If you start preaching about diet to them, they will likely feel badly about themselves, and may get defensive. Plus, the holidays are about enjoying each other and being grateful for each other – not about asserting personal opinions onto others. So, to avoid riling up your relatives, keep the topic off your diet unless someone brings it up proactively.

I certainly hope your holiday table is pleasant and happy and full of joyful people who respect each other. Remember, your decision to be vegan is doing so much good for your health, the suffering of animals and the environment, that the holidays should be extra joyful! What a blessing to be able to share your holiday table with people you love, eating nourishing food that supports your values.

Peace,

Sarah