Gone cold turkey

I have been trying hard to keep my vegetarian diet and lately I have fallen off the wagon so many times I am walking with a sore butt almost everyday.

To help myself to stick this vegetarian resolution, I have signed up the pledge with Peta, to go absolutely cold turkey for a month as of NOW.

Everytime I succumb to the temptation of meat I always felt bad after the meal.  It is like, I guess, commiting adultery.  You know it is bad & it is hurting but I can’t help it.  And I’d trying to find excuses to justify that meal “well I was mindful when I ate that steak/fish/pork chop” or “I was feeling weak & so I needed the ‘protein’.” Yeah, right. Shame on me.

Let’s hope with this pledge will kick off to a long term humane diet.

Excuse me, are you “vegansexual”?

 

Vegansexuals have sex with vegans or vegetarians only

I first came across this term in 8 Days.  Googled it & found that a New Zealand researcher conducted a study from a poll of 157 vegans (mostly female).  The study showed that vegans don’t like sex with carnivores because “… because of the smells and tastes of their (meat eaters’) body fluids.”

So guys, the next time vegan lady rejects you, its nothing personal, really.  Personally I think a study of 157 participants is  hardly an accurate representative of vegans & vegetarians.

Freeganism, America’s newest food diet

This new movement gives new meaning to the term “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

The term freegan is derived from the words “free” & “vegan”.  Freegans are not just vegans but they are against the corruption of capitalism of the economy. 

They prefer scavenge for food in dumpsters than to dine in a restaurant.

Read the article here.

Fast Food Nation

Gives a good insight into the fast food industry and meat packing industries as well.

After this, you probably will think twice before sinking your teeth into that Big Mac or cut into a beef steak or chicken chop.

So if you are a die-hard meat eater, this book is probably not for you.

Vegetarian Evolution: A Case of West Meets East B…

By Anna Mundow for Boston Globe
January 14, 2007

Tristram Stuart, a graduate of Cambridge University, has written for Indian newspapers, edited a book on Himalayan nomads, and been a project manager in Kosovo. “The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism From 1600 to Modern Times” (Norton, $29.95), his first book, is an astonishing examination of mankind’s changing perception of its place in the natural world and of what it means to be human.

Stuart spoke from his home in London.

Q What was “the bloodless revolution”?

A It became a perennial battle as envisaged by vegetarians, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, for justice to both humans and animals. This was particularly imagined by late-18th-century revolutionary vegetarians in the French Revolution who saw their fight as reaching back to the 17th-century radicalism of the Cromwellian revolution.

Q And Eastern philosophy influenced those early radicals?

A That was a revelation . I knew about the enthusiasm for Indian culture at the end of the 18th century, but what surprised me was the influence 100 years earlier, when Europeans first traveled to India in significant numbers and wrote travel books that became bestsellers . These travelers were fascinated by vegetarians they encountered, particularly in western India. As a result of those texts, vegetarianism as witnessed in India became a major subject of debate for philosophers and scientists, who discussed the moral and nutritional implications.

Q In that sense, is the history of vegetarianism also the history of philosophy?

A Absolutely. Of course the term “vegetarianism” was only coined in 1842, but the ideas that composed it — the objection to killing animals or the belief that meat was bad for the human body — go back through history. From the nutritionists who said that meat “furs the vessels,” to the philosophers who said it’s wrong to kill animals, to the religious believers who said that God made Adam and Eve to live in harmony with all the creatures in paradise. You can’t separate any of those strands; they’re all linked.

Q What was the heyday of vegetarianism?

A There were three heydays. The mid 17th century during the Cromwellian revolution, when dissenters protested against the elite, which was represented by the conspicuous consumption of meat. The second was during the Enlightenment, when nutritionists and anatomists began really to examine the human body and to argue that we were herbivorous by nature. Then at the beginning of the 19th century, radical thought, scientific inquiry, and the interest in India fused into one movement.

Q When did the idea of “the natural” as the fixed essence of our being arise?

A It was an Enlightenment idea that harked back to ancient Greece and probably beyond. Certainly it became a fixation that took many different forms. In the 17th century, biblical philosophy regarded paradise and the original state of the earth as nature. By the 18th century, that idea became more secularized as people strove to revive a utopian “state of nature” cleansed of the corruptions of society and civilization.

Q Tell me about Tyson’s chimpanzee.

A Well, that was an absolute watershed in Western science, when the first ape was dissected by Edward Tyson in 1699. His drawings were extremely accurate and were still being consulted in Darwin’s time. The experiment triggered a debate about whether this animal was herbivorous and, if so, were humans, who were almost identical, also herbivorous.

Q Do you have a favorite vegetarian?

A Yes, Thomas Tryon . He grew up in the Cromwellian revolution and in 1680 began reading about India, where millions of people were following what he regarded as the original law of God: Do not kill your fellow creatures. He extended that in so many ways that we can recognize now: lamenting deforestation in America; becoming antislavery well before his time; worrying about the pollution of rivers affecting fish and poisoning humans, about soil erosion and cash-cropping in Barbados, where he lived for a while. He is an astonishing character, yet there’s no biography of him and virtually no research. I discovered a number of books which had been lost or not identified as his just sitting in library archives.

Q If Tryon’s your favorite, I suppose Hitler is everyone’s least favorite?

A That’s something that haunts the vegetarian movement. What I try to tackle when describing Hitler’s vegetarian ideology is the idea that because Hitler was vegetarian, vegetarianism has something inherently fascist about it: that argument is obviously false. So you get vegetarians who deny that Hitler had any vegetarian views, when the fact that he was vegetarian is no more relevant than the fact that Stalin ate meat. Gandhi, for example, had many of the same dietary ideas as Hitler, but his political views could hardly have been more different.

It’s fascinating, by the way, that Gandhi was brought up vegetarian but was not convinced of vegetarianism as a philosophy until he came to England. Before that he rebelled against it. He took back to India the arguments for [it] that had originally come from there to Europe.

Anna Mundow is a correspondent for the Irish Times. She can be reached via e-mail at ama1668@hotmail.com.

Vegetarianism During Pregnancy Pregnant women who…

Vegetarianism During Pregnancy

Pregnant women who are vegetarian can still enjoy a carefully planned vegetarian diet. There are many health benefits to vegetarian diets, but women who are pregnant need to take extra care to get enough protein, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12.

Protein is essential to promote normal fetal growth, so it is an important nutrient for a healthy pregnancy. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for women and men is 0.80 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. During pregnancy, most doctors suggest women increase their daily protein intake by 6 grams (about the amount in one 250 mL glass of partly-skimmed milk, one cup of broccoli, one egg, or one-third cup of dry-roasted almonds).

Vegetarian sources of protein include grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, and egg or milk products. Keep in mind that the protein in vegetables is less concentrated and less easily absorbed so you may need more or larger portions to get the required amount of protein.

The Vegetarian Food Guide published by the Dietitians of Canada suggests that pregnant women consume the following amount of these foods daily:

vitamin B12-rich foods: 4 servings
beans/nuts/seeds: 7 servings
calcium-rich foods: 8 servings

What about vegans? The Alberta Health and Wellness During Pregnancy Guide states that vegan diets can be low in calories, iron, zinc, vitamin B12, B6, calcium, and vitamin D. If you are vegan, talk to your doctor or a dietitian about ensuring you get enough essential nutrients during pregnancy.

Healthy Diet Healthy Teeth You may have something…

Healthy Diet Healthy Teeth

You may have something unique in common with numerous famous people including Paul McCartney, Hank Aaron, Mr Rogers and Candice Bergen. No, it’s not that you are all left-handed or snore or share a birthday. Actually, all of you chose a vegetarian lifestyle.

You might think that vegetarians are only a minority of people; however, studies show that there are over six million adults who consider themselves vegetarians.

Some might think that vegetarians are poorly nourished and unhealthy. That couldn’t be further from the truth. As with any diet, it is a matter of choosing foods that adequately nourish your body and which keep you healthy and strong. That being said, however, vegetarians need to be more cautious about the foods they eat. They need to make sure they eat foods high in iron, vitamins B12 and D, calcium, protein, iron and zinc.

For example, studies indicate that teens today drink twice as much soda—no calcium—than milk—good calcium source. Girls who consume large quantities of soda are getting maybe 800 mg calcium each day. The US Department of Agriculture recommends that teen girls get 1300 mg calcium each day. Boys who drink soda face the same health risks as girls. In fact, males 12-29 years old drink more soda than any other group according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Growing bones need a diet rich in calcium, otherwise osteoporosis, broken bones and tooth decay could be imminent.

According to the Center for Disease Control:

1-3 year olds need 550 mg calcium each day
9-18 year olds need 1300 mg calcium each day
31-50 year olds need 1 000 mg calcium each day
51-70 year olds need 1200 mg calcium each day.

The American Dietetic Association states that a vegetarian’s diet can provide adequate nutrients to have a healthy body and teeth. It is extremely important for vegetarian children to eat enough of the essential ingredients such as zinc, iron, vitamins D and B12, and calcium.

Good sources of calcium include broccoli, tofu, fortified soy milk, fortified orange juice, breads and cereals fortified with calcium yogurt, cheese & spinach.

One of the foremost victims of inadequate nourishment are your teeth. Teeth fall prey to the sugar in soda and other foods when the sugar converts to acid. The acid dissolves the calcium out of the tooth enamel; then bacteria can cause serious tooth decay.

Vegetarians can be particularly vulnerable to tooth decay if they are not including foods high in calcium in their diet. They need to carefully read food labels and count the percentage of calcium they eat each day.

To prevent periodontal disease, the Academy of General Dentistry recommends that vegetarians monitor their intake of vitamin D and calcium and consult a dentist about their diets and oral health.

I remember the days when I counted each cereal box top to know when I had enough to send away for a Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring. Now I have to count nutrients! All these years later I wish I still had that ring to help me understand exactly what I am buying at the grocery store. If you are like me, you ponder over each nutrition label to determine whether a product is healthy for you based on your dietary needs. How much is a serving of fruit? A slice of bread? One potato? It boggles the mind.

Consider how much more complex this head scratching gets if you have decided to embrace a vegetarian lifestyle. Not only do you need to monitor the animal products that may be lurking in that food, but you also have to be more careful to eat foods that are higher in certain nutrients such as calcium.

Source: The Nassau Guardian

Want to lose weight? Go on a vegetarian diet. Ru…

Want to lose weight? Go on a vegetarian diet.

Ruben Studdard, American Idol’s winner lost 100 pounds on a vegetarian diet. Now, he is participating in a public education campaign to help citizens of Alabama to lose weight.

Read the article here.