Sarah Taylor's Blog

A New Culprit for Heart Disease

2013-04-30T20:51:13Z

A recent article in the NY Times shocked many of us who follow health research: Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic now believe that saturated fat and cholesterol only play a minor role in heart disease. They believe that a little-known chemical called TMAO is actually the major player in heart disease … in fact, it may even be causing heart disease.

It turns out that carnitine, which is found in high levels in red meat (and eggs, and to a lesser extent, poultry, fish and dairy) may start a chain reaction leading to heart disease by a newly discovered mechanism: Meat eaters have a certain type of bacteria in their guts that get their fuel from carnitine, and when they eat meat, this bacteria burps out a little-known chemical that is converted by the liver into TMAO. It is now thought by these researchers that TMAO is the major culprit in heart disease because it allows cholesterol to penetrate vessel walls, and also prevents the body from getting rid of excess cholesterol.

In a ground-breaking study, five meat eaters and one long-time vegan (who shouldn’t theoretically have the carnitine-eating bacteria in his gut) ate a full steak. Afterward, their blood was checked for TMAO, and all the meat eaters had very high levels of TMAO in their blood, but the vegan had virtually none. Since vegans don’t ingest carnitine, they don’t have the bacteria in their guts that lead to TMAO. Further studies have proven a strong correlation between TMAO and heart disease.

Interestingly, since TMAO is created in a chain reaction started by bacteria, it’s thought that antibiotics that target the bacteria can lower heart disease risk. In fact, these researchers found that when meat-eaters ate a steak but took an antibiotic beforehand, TMAO did not show up in their blood.

But I say, no need to be on antibiotics for the rest of your life … just go vegan!

To learn more, you can read the article in the NY Times here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/health/study-points-to-new-culprit-in-heart-disease.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130408&_r=0

The Four Agreements, Vegan Style!

2013-04-16T04:20:27Z

Many of you have read Don Miguel Ruiz’s famous book, The Four Agreements. In his book, he outlines in detail, four “agreements” that we should make with ourselves to have a truly happy life and avoid all the drama that so many people live with on a daily basis. I have recently been applying this to the vegan diet, and have started to live my life as a vegan a little bit differently.

Be Impeccable with Your Word

This first agreement is not just about being truthful – certainly, as the name implies, it does mean to speak the truth at all times – but it also means to speak positively and lovingly … especially to yourself. It’s easy, as a vegan, to get caught up in eating the “perfect” vegan diet – if you follow a raw vegan diet you can’t eat cooked foods, or if you follow Dr. Esselstyn’s diet you can’t eat oil. It’s easy to “agree” with these diets and then use that knowledge to beat yourself up if you don’t follow them perfectly. If you’re not careful, you can find that you feel emotionally worse after being vegan for a while, because you’re beating yourself up all the time! (This is a common occurrence with any type of diet, not just the vegan diet.)

I have broken all agreements with dieting, and instead try to do what is best for myself because I love myself. Sometimes, what is best for myself on a particular day might be to enjoy that gorgeous piece of vegan chocolate cake! But, not every day, and never the whole cake. J Ironically, I’ve dropped a few pounds.

Don’t Take Things Personally

The second agreement is to not take anything personally. For example, if a friend asks you repeatedly about the vegan diet, and you spend hours outlining all the reasons to go vegan, yet she still doesn’t change … don’t take it personally. If you get chided from friends, family and colleagues about being vegan … don’t take it personally. If people on Facebook or TV slam vegans or try to make veganism look ridiculous … don’t take it personally. You get the idea.

Here’s why you should never take anything personally: Everyone has a different background, with a different set of experiences and thus, a different perspective. There are no two people (not even identical twins) who have the exact same perspective on everything. Therefore, when someone speaks negatively about the vegan diet or gives you a hard time for being vegan, there are countless reasons for their feelings … maybe they once knew a militant vegan who was a jerk, or they only know two vegans and they happen to be as thin as twigs, or they are fearful you’re going to try to make them change, etc... But whatever their reason, it has nothing to do with you. Even if they know you well, and look you in the face and say “You’re an idiot for believing all that stupid vegan rhetoric! I thought you were smarter than that!” it still has nothing to do with you. They simply have some perspective (or some defensiveness or some fear or something) about veganism that is making them react violently about it, and guess what? It has nothing to do with you.

Don’t Make Assumptions

The third agreement is to never make assumptions. For example, never assume someone doesn’t want to hear you talk about the vegan diet. And never assume they do! Never assume people won’t want to eat at your house because they’ll have to eat vegan. And never assume they do! The only way to know what someone else is thinking is to simply ask them. You can say, “I’d like to have you over for dinner, but I only cook vegan at my house. Would you like to come over and have a vegan meal, or would you prefer to go out?” No assumptions – you just ask.

Many people can take one assumption and spin out of control: “My new boyfriend won’t want to eat at my house. He’ll hate vegan food. He’ll be hungry and will stop at McDonald’s on the way home. If he stops at McDonald’s then I couldn’t date him anyway. But who could blame him? I don’t cook well. I’ve never been a good cook, even before I was vegan. Probably because my mom didn’t teach me how to cook…” blah blah blah! All of this awful negativity just from an assumption (that is quite likely to be faulty anyway) that “He won’t want to eat at my house if it means he has to eat vegan.” So don’t make assumptions – just ask.

Always Do Your Best

The nice thing about the fourth agreement, Always Do Your Best, is that if you know you’ve done your best, you can’t be upset with yourself if things don’t work out well. For example, let’s say that you give a lecture in your community on the vegan diet. You do your best by practicing many times, but instead, you bomb. It’s okay! You’ve done your best! Although you may wish you had nailed it perfectly, you can let it all go because you know you did your best to prepare ahead of time.

If you are an aspiring vegan, but not all the way there yet, this one is very important for you. Do your best to set yourself up with delicious vegan options, but if you unexpectedly find yourself eating something non-vegan, you can forgive yourself because you know you did your best.

But what if you get down on yourself because you ate a Snickers Bar and knew that you shouldn’t and don’t feel you did your best? It’s important to know that doing our best on one day may be very different from doing our best on another day. If your flight was delayed 4 hours, you’re starving, your boss just called and yelled at you, and a baby is crying loudly right next to you, your “best” at that moment may not be the same as your “best” when you are well-rested, relaxed, happy, and have no timelines for the day. It’s easy to see how an aspiring vegan may fall prey to cheese pizza in the former scenario, and be less likely to fall prey to it in the latter scenario. So, do your very best all the time, and be kind to yourself if your “best” in that moment isn’t your lifetime best.

My good friends know that I have been re-invigorated by re-reading The Four Agreements, not just with my veganism, but in life in general. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it! It is short, but a very powerful read.

With Love and Ahimsa,

Sarah

Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine

2013-03-25T23:05:30Z

There are many great organizations that are helping to advance veganism. I love them all, and I especially love the people behind these organizations. Even if I don’t always agree with their tactics, I have a very deep respect for their motives.

One organization that I feel every vegan needs to know about is PCRM – the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine. PCRM is run by 1. medical professionals and 2. people who work in politics. Here is why this mix of people is so impactful: The medical doctors and researchers understand scientifically why animals should not be used in research, and what good models can be used in in their place that are as good – or better – at getting research results that are truly applicable to humans and medical research. They also understand how a healthy vegan diet can reverse diabetes, heart disease, and even affect autoimmune disorders, and are studying these conditions (using sound research methodologies) with a vegan diet. The people who are working on the political side of this organization understand who is who on Capitol Hill, how to network in Washington DC, and how to get legislation passed. I think this last piece is crucial if we ever want to enact sweeping change. For example, we can try to convince our friends, one-by-one, the importance of feeding their children healthfully (and cringe when we see their kids popping chicken nuggets into their mouths just a few days later), or we can support organizations like PCRM who have the scientific data and the political know-how to march into DC and pass legislation to clean up the school lunch program. Or, instead of conducting “extreme activism” and breaking into research labs at medical schools and setting all the animals free, we can support organizations like PCRM who can march into DC and demand that medical schools quit testing on animals (which are nothing like humans) and start using human models of anatomy and disease instead, which are far more relevant and humane.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t advocate at a personal one-on-one level – that is still important, and there is nothing like one-on-one conversations with someone we trust to get us to see things differently. However, to make sweeping changes, we usually either need such a huge groundswell from the people that they eventually enact change from a grassroots effort, or we need the government to change their laws and enforce change.

In addition to all their medical research and political work, PCRM also has a great outreach program to the public. They have a 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program in several languages around the world, where they teach people how to live healthier through a low-fat vegan diet. They also have cooking classes called “Food for Life” where people like you and me are trained to teach vegan cooking classes in our communities! If this interests you, you can sign up to get trained and become a Food for Life instructor for your area – in fact, the next instructor’s class is in late June.

There is much, much more to PCRM than I am writing here in this short blog, but they really are worth checking out. I do not let anyone pay me or “encourage” me to blog about their products or organizations, so anything you see me write about here, you know I am writing about because I am a true believer. To learn more, go to www.PCRM.org. If you have an organization that you feel should be recognized as well, make a comment below!

With Love and Ahimsa,

Sarah

Paris Goes Vegan!

2013-03-13T14:56:32Z

The last time I was in Paris in 2004, I literally ate a salad or a baguette for every single meal. A week later, I came home a size smaller. It was likelier that Napoleon would rise from the dead than to get a vegan meal in Paris that wasn’t a salad.

So you can imagine my extreme delight when I arrived in Paris last week to find that, not only are there a few vegan restaurants that have sprung up, but that the French also now have a word for vegan – vegetalien! Having said that, trying to get a vegan meal in a regular restaurant is like throwing yourself back ten years in the United States – if you say “Je suis vegetalien” the waiter says “Wi! Wi!” as if he completely understands what that means, and then suggests the fish. In a better restaurant, I was given a plate of vegetables, but when I got to the mashed cauliflower, there were strings of cheese hanging from my fork. So, the result is that if you eat in a regular restaurant, you’ll still end up with a salad.

However! Don’t let that keep you from going to Paris! Just mark the GPS on your phone for The Gentle Gourmet (24 Rue de la Bastille – www.GentleGourmetCafe.com) and you’ll agree with food connoisseurs around the world that Paris is the best city in the world for food. The owner, Deborah Brown Pivain, creates some of the most delicious vegan food I have ever tasted. My favorite was the lasagna, which took me back to my childhood. Even the mixed greens salad had a light vinaigrette that was unique and delightful – even memorable! Not many mixed green salads are memorable.

But the dessert is what I will remember the most. As a vegan, I passed dozens of gorgeous patisseries every day as I walked through the city, knowing that there was nothing I could have in the windows. The Gentle Gourmet has a pastry chef that made me feel sorry for all those non-vegans eating at the patisseries! I was given the Chocolate Bavarian, which was not on the menu that day, but the wonderful host, Caroline Pivain (Deborah’s daughter), treated me thanks to my having a mutual friend, Mark Reinfeld.

The people two tables over were audibly commenting about it for so long that after I was done taking photos, I walked it over to them and gave them the first bite. The Chocolate Bavarian is a light chocolate mousse, with a chocolate crust and a center of peanut butter. Peanuts roasted in agave and sugar topped off the dish, and caramel, I think, was drizzled on top. In fact, it was also completely gluten-free, if you worry about your gluten intake. Each bite was a little piece of heaven.

If you are looking for a reason to travel to Europe – or an opportunity to get in the Guinness book of world records – mark your calendars for October 12, 2013. Paris will be hosting Europe’s largest vegan festival, and with 50 cooking demonstrations, will make the world’s record for largest vegan cooking session in the world. (www.parisveganday.fr) Bon apetit!

Stagnation

2013-02-21T05:27:52Z

It’s always fun when you come across something new that you’re passionate about – a new hobby, and new intellectual topic … the vegan diet! For several months or years, you can be engrossed in this topic, reading books, googling it, watching YouTube videos about it and having hundreds of conversations with whoever will engage with you.

But eventually, your new favorite topic is not so new anymore, and your interest might start to wane. For those of us who have been vegan so long that it’s not new anymore, we can get a little stagnant. Personally, this has never made me want to revert back to my old ways of eating – since I am vegan for ethical reasons, it’s hard to imagine I will ever go back. But I do get in a rut from time to time, and just get bored of reading vegan literature and getting into deep conversations about it.

When I feel I’m in a rut, I might read a blog or watch a video to get re-engaged. Often, I just choose to quit focusing my attention on the vegan diet for a while, and follow some other passion – read about Buddhism, learn Taiko drumming, or improve my tennis game. But one thing I have found that always gets me excited about the vegan diet again is finding new recipes.

I tend to be a bit lazy in the kitchen, and often resort to making fast meals that I know I like and are easy. Dal (lentils) over rice, salad and soup are usual stand-bys. But for Valentine’s Day I made one of Mark Reinfeld’s recipes (see the photo of Pistachio Crusted Tofu, below) and viola! I am excited to jump into vegan cooking again!

If you are feeling in a rut, try jumping on to VegWeb.com or one of the many other veggie websites, and see if the photos alone don’t reinvigorate you. For me, there is nothing like spending time creating something and seeing the smiles and sighs of appreciation for a delicious meal! A small handful of my favorite vegan recipe sites are below:

VegWeb: http://www.vegweb.com
Fat Free Vegan: http://fatfreevegan.com*
Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine: http://www.pcrm.org (Look for their healthy 21 Day Vegan Challenge Recipes – they have a free App!)*
VegSource: http://www.vegsource.com

* Sites marked with an asterisk have tasty healthy vegan options – little to no oil, and focus on whole foods.

And if you don’t feel like cooking, find a great vegan restaurant close by at …

Happy Cow: http://www.happycow.net

With Ahimsa,

Sarah

Vegans with High Cholesterol

2013-02-01T16:17:40Z

My cholesterol has always been high - around 233 – even after 12 years on a vegan diet. How can a 12-year vegan have such high cholesterol? Genetics, of course.

We love to use genetics as an excuse. We blame so many things on genetics, yet most of us have never actually had a genetic test done to solidify our excuse! So I did. I flew to Denver, and went to Dr. Ian Levenson who tested me for the Apolipoprotein E (often called “Apo-E”) genotype. Sure enough, I tested positive for the ApoE 4 allele. The ApoE 4 genotype, which 14% of the population has, puts me at a high risk of heart disease and early dementia, and I certainly don’t want to be getting coloring books for Christmas when I’m 50.

Having this genotype makes the body hyper-respond to fat. Thus, my cholesterol is sky-high, even though I don’t eat any; my body takes the fat I have eaten and over-produces cholesterol. While having this genotype puts me at a higher risk for heart disease and dementias, the good news is that I should respond very well to a very, very low-fat diet.

Although I know fatty diets are bad – and in a vegan diet, most fat comes from oil – I have procrastinated going completely low-fat, only because it is soooo hard when I’m traveling!! Being on the road every week makes it very hard to eat vegan with no oil. But I certainly have no intention of taking cholesterol-lowering medications for the rest of my life, so I decided to suck it up and do it. I’m only 3 weeks in, so I can’t claim long-term success yet, but today was a motivating day: My company offered a free health screening today, and (drum roll) the results after just three weeks of vegan-no-oil?

Decrease in Total Cholesterol: -67

Decrease in LDL (bad) Cholesterol: -67

Decrease in Triglycerides: -79

So, the moral of the story is that sometimes we have to make a commitment, and do what’s best for our health, even if it’s hard. The payoff, although hard to imagine, could be life or death!

Book Review: Diet for a New America, 25th Anniversary Edition

2013-01-15T07:21:04Z

The next time you meet someone who has been vegan for a long time, ask what made them go vegan. There is a high likelihood that their answer will start with, “I read this amazing book by John Robbins…”

Before Carl Lewis made vegan intriguing, Alicia Silverstone made vegan sexy and Bill Clinton made vegan “normal,” John Robbins was paving the way for millions of people to go vegan, and his journey started with his first book, Diet for a New America. Expertly weaving true stories with compelling statistics from peer-reviewed research, Robbins outlined the detrimental health effects, animal cruelty aspects and environmental effects of a meat and dairy based diet. He painted such a compelling story for why we humans shouldn’t eat meat or dairy products that he started a revolution: In the seven years following Diet for a New America’s release, beef consumption fell by 20% in the US, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association blamed the entire decline on John Robbin’s book.

The new 25th Anniversary edition has just been published, and even if you’re already vegan – even if you’ve read the first edition – it’s still a must-read. Diet for a New America is widely considered the most comprehensive, well-researched and compelling of all the vegan books available. If you have a tender heart, the animal welfare section will turn you vegan instantly. If you are logical, the health section will convince that the vegan diet is the only way to eat. If you are pragmatic, the environmental section will convince you that we simply have no other choice for the long-term survival of our planet and species than to quit raising meat and dairy for human consumption. If you’re already vegan, the book will undoubtedly teach you many new things you didn’t know about meat and dairy product’s effects on our health, the animals and the environment.

Unfortunately, the new version does not have many updated references, except in the epilogue. There is a wealth of new research – especially in the health arena – that Robbins does not draw upon, and most references are from the 1970’s and 1980’s. However, the statistics are still very relevant and extremely persuasive, so this is a minor complaint. His epilogue, to be fair, does discuss the major pieces of information that have come out in the past 25 years. In outlining the horrors of chickens, pigs and cows raised for meat, I wish that he had used this new edition to also include the horrors of the fishing industry – a topic largely undiscussed in the vegan world, except in short articles on animal welfare websites.

Given these two criticisms, Diet for a New America is still the most powerful book I have ever read on any topic, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly. Since the first edition was published in 1987, John Robbins has received over 60,000 letters from people who have read the book or heard him speak, describing how the book’s message has changed their life. Imagine how many millions more people were similarly influenced by the book and never took the time to write a letter! This speaks volumes to Robbin’s ability to not just write an interesting book, but to write a life-changing book.

It’s rare that we have an experience or come across information that can literally change who we are, deep down to our core. For many of us – including myself – Diet for a New America has done just that – leading us not only to a vegan diet, but to a more compassionate way of living our daily lives, with a deep sense of responsibility for our lives, other creatures, and our planet.

Book Review: Diet for a New America, 25th Anniversary Edition

2013-01-15T07:21:04Z

It's Inevitable...

2013-01-01T23:26:08Z

I saw a post on Facebook today. It went like this:

“I'm in CVS. Guy in line ahead of me knows cashier, but they haven't seen each other in while. He invites her over. "I don't eat meat anymore," she says. "That's OK, I make a mean veggie burger," he replies. "But I do eat chicken and turkey. And fish," she adds, sadly.”

For those of us who have been veggie or vegan for a long time, we all let out a collective groan. UUUUGGGGHHHHH!!! Vegetarians and vegans, by definition, do not eat meat of any kind – no animal meat, no poultry and no fish or shellfish.

But perhaps instead of letting out a collective groan, we should let out a collective cheer! How many of us gave up red meat at some point (I did at age 16), and gave up poultry years later (age 27), eventually giving up fish, and finally dairy and eggs (age 30.) Some have even given up cooked food and become totally raw! I expect for most people, they didn’t go from complete omnivore – eating everything – to complete vegan overnight. There are certainly many who have, but I think many people end up taking baby steps as they come across more and more information, and garner the courage to cut things out.

Today there is so much information on vegetarian, vegan and plant-based diets circulating in the press and on the web. It seems that every day another celebrity or athlete goes vegan, and with their decision, more attention is given in the media on the reasons for such a change. I think that someone who starts on the path to better health and compassion – and begins by giving up red meat, for example – will eventually give up poultry, fish, and possibly dairy and eggs as well, as they come across more and more compelling information. It’s like getting on a roller coaster, then riding to the top, then taking one step over the peak - it’s practically inevitable that they will ride the wave to the end – it just may take a little while to get in the coaster and get it going.

So, when your friends or family come to you and say, “I’ve given up meat, but I’m still going to eat poultry and fish,” don’t feel compelled to lecture them on why they aren’t going far enough. Congratulate them on the change, let them know you are available if they want to take the next step, and then give yourself a little knowing smile – they’ll most likely give up poultry next. It’s inevitable.

The New Vegan Health Issue: Omega 6 : Omega 3 Fatty Acid Ratio

2012-12-08T17:44:35Z

I’ve already blogged on the vagaries of oil. You’ll remember back in October of 2011 I made some salient points about the research on oil:

The Lyon Heart Study turned olive oil into a health food when they found that the Mediterranean Diet, high in olive oil, helped people who had had at least one previous heart attack reduce their chance of further cardiac events by 50-70%. HOWEVER, what you never heard was that a full 25% - one out of every four people on the Mediterranean diet – still had another heart event or died. (de Lorgeril, et al. Mediterranean Diet, Traditional Risk Factors, and the Rate of Cardiovascular Complications After Myocardial Infarction; Final Report of the Lyon diet Heart Study. Circulation, 1999 Feb 16;99(6):779-85.)
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, on the other hand, published his results of patients who had had an average of three previous cardiac events before he put them on a vegan diet with no added fat – including oil – and not one patient ever had another cardiac event in twelve years! (Esselstyn CB Jr. Updating a 12-year experience with arrest and reversal therapy for coronary heart disease (an overdue requiem for palliative cardiology). Am J Cardiology. 1999 Aug, 84(3):Pages 339-341)
In yet another study, students were assigned to a group who ate a fat free breakfast of 900 calories versus a fatty breakfast of 900 calories. The arteries of the group that had no fat in their breakfast bounced right back after being constricted for five minutes; but the arteries of the group that had the fatty breakfast took up to six hours to regain their ability to dilate and contract normally. All oil is 100% fat. Even olive oil. (Vogel RA. Brachial artery ultrasound: a noninvasive tool in the assessment of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Clin Cardiol. 1999 Jun;22(6 Suppl):II34-9.)
Researchers at the University of Maryland found that eating bread dipped in olive oil reduced the arteries’ ability to dilate by 31%. (Vogel RA, Corretti MC, Plotnick GD. The postprandial effect of components of the Meditterranean diet on endothelial function. J of Amer Col Card. 2000 Nov;36(5))

In addition to all this disconcerting research on oil’s affects on your heart and blood vessels, there is new evidence that vegans may be putting themselves at a health risk that meat and dairy eaters don’t face to the same extent: Their omega 6 versus omega 3 fatty acid ratio is dangerously high.

Omega 6 fatty acids have the potential to increase blood pressure, inflammation, platelet aggregation, thrombosis, vasospasm, allergic reactions and cell proliferation; omega 3 fatty acids have the opposite affects. We need both, but we don’t want to let omega 6 fatty acids get too high in our bodies compared to our omega 3s. A healthy omega 6:omega 3 ratio is approximately 4:1 - 6:1. However, now that the vegan diet has become so popular and physicians are getting more data about vegan health, they are finding that, while other measures like cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels are astoundingly good, the omega 6:omega 3 ratio is not: Many vegans’ ratio is shockingly high – even as high as 120:1.

If the vegan diet is so healthy, why are many vegans’ omega 6:omega 3 ratios so bad? Because many types of oil are high in omega 6 fatty acids, and most vegans eat diets high in oil.

Omega 6 and Omega 3 essential fatty acids compete for enzymes involved in their conversion, so eating high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids can compromise the omega 3’s ability to work, and this can harm your health and cause disease. If you use huge amounts of oily salad dressings, eat out at restaurants often, or cook with a lot of oil, you could actually be putting yourself at a high risk for future health problems.

Here are some tips from Brenda Davis, RD, for keeping your omega 6:omega 3 ratio healthy as a vegetarian or vegan:¹

Avoid the worst types of oil for their high omega 6 acids: corn, grapeseed, safflower, sesame and sunflower oil.
Include omega 3s in your diet by eating flaxseeds, hempseeds, walnuts, green leafy vegetables and soybeans.
If you are going to use oil, use flax oil, hempseed oil or canola oil.
Avoid saturated fats. Vegans can do this easily by avoiding coconut and tropical oils.

Be healthy! Don’t assume that as a vegan, you are immune to disease and poor health. There are still a few things that you need to be mindful of to have optimum health, and eating a diet with an appropriate omega 6:omega 3 ratio is one of them!

1. http://www.brendadavisrd.com/articles.php?id=26

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”!)