ISSUE 1 / AUGUST 2012
The McDougall Diet For
Pregnancy
How To Avoid:
6 Stumbling Blocks Towards Vegetarian Nutrition
10 Great Reasons to
Become a Vegetarian Exclusive Interview:
New York Times Bestselling Author,
Rory Freedman
Why Is Vegan Becoming
MAINSTREAM?
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contents THE FUN SIDE OF VEGETARIAN LIVING
10 GREAT REASONSTO BECOME A 07 VEGETARIAN by Jim Tilberry
FAMILY AND LIFESTYLE
THE MCDOUGALL DIET FOR PREGNANCY
11
by Dr. John McDougall, MD
CREATIVE AND FUN LIFESTYLE TIPS 17 FOR A HEALTHY FAMILY by Karen Ranzi
RECIPES FOR FOODIES
GET JUICED WITH JAY KORDICH THE 23 FATHER OF JUICING by Jay Kordich
RAW VEGAN CRACKERS AND CHEESE 26
46
THE STEPS TO BECOMING A VEGANIST
by Kathy Freston
SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH
52
OUR FUTURE IS VEGAN
by Dr. Will Tuttle, Ph.D
ORDINARY PEOPLE/ EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS
57
RORY FREEDMAN INTERVIEW
Bestselling Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series
FEATURE
64
MAINSTREAM VEGAN
Why Is Vegan Becoming Mainstream?
Markus Rothkranz
BROWNIE BALLS (OR BARS) 28
by Raw Vegan Chef, Rod Rotondi
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
REGULARS
04
EDITOR’S NOTE
A Message from the Editor of VegWorld Magazine, Steve Prussack
NEAL BARNARD, MD INTERVIEW
31
05
CREDITS
VEGETARIAN NUTRITION MADE EASY
42
69
REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
by Daniel Redwood, DC by Brenda Davis, RD
VegWorld Staff & Contributing Writers Vegworld’s Pick of the month - Vegucated
VegWorld Editor’s Note
Editor's Note
A Message from the Editor of VegWorld Magazine, Steve Prussack
W
elcome to the first edition of VegWorld Magazine. I have been working for many years in the vegetarian world as the host of Raw Vegan Radio and producer of many online conferences, world summits, and special programs. I have been lucky enough to work with the leading minds in the vegetarian, vegan, and living foods lifestyle. For this reason, I’ve been able to combine the movers and shakers, inspirations, and luminaries to create a magazine unlike anything you have seen before. This issue is dedicated to understanding why veganism has gained so much
popularity in the mainstream. We feel the time is right to educate the world on the benefits of a plant-based diet. The science clearly shows that this diet is optimal for our health, but there are many more reasons to embrace a vegan lifestyle. We will explore these reasons and so much more in our upcoming issues. You can expect a new edition of VegWorld magazine each month. I look forward to bringing this information to you, and would love to hear your story. Feel free to contact us as info@ vegworldmag.com to let us know what you think.
VegWorld Credits
Credits VegWorld Staff Editor-In-Chief: Steven Prussack Associate Editor: Julie Varon Design: Veronique Zayas
Contributing Writers Brenda Davis Rory Freedman Kathy Freston Beryl Greensea Jay Kordich Linda Kordich Dr. John McDougall Karen Ranzi Daniel Redwood Markus Rothkranz Rod Rotondi Dr. Jameth Sheridan Jim Tilberry Dr. Will Tuttle Melisa Miller Wolfson
The Fun Side
Of Vegetarian Living 10 Great Reasons To Become a Vegetarian
10 Great Reasons To Become a Vegetarian by Jim Tilberry
10 Great Reasons To Become a
Vegetarian by JIM TILBERRY
There are a lot of wonderful benefits to being on a vegetarian diet. Of course, there are the obvious things such as improving your health, helping the environment, and getting fewer gravy stains. However, there are also many less heralded benefits to giving up meat.
Here are 10 great often-overlooked reasons to become a vegetarian.
1
You can make people feel uncomfortable anytime you want. This is a handy technique, especially if you ever find yourself stuck talking with a real bore at a party. Just mention that you’re a vegetarian and that you think all meat eaters are scum. Then watch him quickly excuse himself to go talk to someone else.
You get to choose the restaurant where you eat when out with friends. If someone picks a restaurant you don’t like, in your whiniest voice say “But it’s not vegetarian-friendly! There’s nothing I can eat there.” The others in your group will relent and go with your choice. Caveat: You may find that you’re never invited out to dinner again by these same friends.
3
2
You always have a convenient excuse to explain your flatulence. Just say something like “Sorry. It was that bean burrito I had for lunch. As you may know, I’m a vegetarian now.” Everyone will sympathize and understand completely.
10 Great Reasons To Become a Vegetarian by Jim Tilberry Show off your vocabulary. When discussing your diet, use veggie words like “vegan,” “tempeh” and “seitan.” Meat eaters will see you as unique and exotic. Then if you really want to impress them with how smart you are, throw around bigger words like “monounsaturated,” “phytochemicals,” and “isoflavones.” Don’t worry about learning their meanings. Just being able to pronounce them is impressive enough. Besides, no will ask their meanings for fear of looking stupid.
5
Food fights are less greasy. Generally speaking, vegetables aren’t as slimy as meat. So your toss is more accurate when throwing Brussels sprouts and bananas over hurling meatballs or sausages. It’s also less gross when you get hit.
If you have no religion tell people you’re a vegetarian. Being a vegetarian can save you the embarrassment of not of having a practicing religion. If someone asks what you are just mumble the “veg” part of the word, so all they hear is “etarian.” Nine times out of ten they won’t be paying any attention and will just nod.
7
4 6
It’s easier to pick up women. When you’re at a bar or party, tell the woman you just met that you’re a vegetarian because you care about animals.
Worry less about farm animals judging you. Animals are very intuitive. Cows, pigs and chickens can be very judgmental in what they think about humans, especially meat eaters. However, because you’re a vegetarian, next time you encounter a cow or a pig, or hold a chicken, there’s less likelihood they will think you’re a dirtbag.
8
10 Great Reasons To Become a Vegetarian by Jim Tilberry
9
Make your new tattoo a conversation starter. Instead of the usual skulland-cross-bones tattoo, get a cauliflower-and-broccoli tattoo. Or get the popular tofu-in-a-heart tattoo. Granted it’s not as intimidating if you find yourself at a biker bar, but it will be a great conversation piece at parties.
10
Avoid a serious injury on Thanksgiving. Every Thanksgiving all across America there are dozens of frozenturkey accidents caused by people losing their grip and dropping the slippery bird. Carrying the humungous turkey from the car can be downright hazardous. Even removing it from the refrigerator is risky. A slight slip can result in a bruised foot, broken toe or even death. As a vegetarian you can safely excuse yourself from ever handling the big bird.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jim Tilberry is a thin vegetarian living in Chicago, the city of big shoulders and even bigger waistlines. He has lived a meatless life since 1998 when he was visited by a pig in a dream asking him to give up bacon, ham and all other meat. Knowing that pigs are very intelligent he never questioned the request. His hilarious book “Revenge of the Vegetarian” can be found by visiting this website.
Family
and Lifestyle The McDougall Diet For Pregnancy Creative and Fun Lifestyle Tips for a Healthy Family
The McDougall Diet for Pregnancy By Dr. John McDougall, MD
The McDougall Diet for Pregnancy by Dr. John McDougall, MD
A
s a medical doctor, the father of three grown children, and the grandfather of four growing grandsons (ages 1, 3, 5, and 8), I have spent decades studying the science behind the nutritional advice given to couples beginning their family. There are fatal gaps between the truth about the right diet for making a healthy baby and what prospective parents are told. The result is parents’ dreams for the perfect child are unnecessarily destroyed by infertility, miscarriages, stillbirths, birth defects, difficult deliveries, Cesarean sections, failure to thrive, larger-than-normal growth, and retarded physical, mental, and emotional development. Thirty-eight years ago, as a general practitioner working on a sugar plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii, I had the opportunity to catch over 100 babies (without dropping one). The nutritional advice I was taught to give pregnant women back then was to eat a “well-balanced diet” from the four major food groups, with an emphasis on four servings of dairy products and three servings of “protein” (meat, poultry, fish and eggs) daily. Few of my patients followed my counsel because they were from recently immigrated, low-income Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino families still eating traditional rice-based diets. This basic food resulted in pregnancies and deliveries that were largely uneventful. Over the past four decades doctors and dietitians have successfully persuaded expectant mothers to eat “a well-balanced diet,”
The McDougall Diet for Pregnancy By Dr. John McDougall, MD and as a result, pregnancy has become synonymous with sickness. Women spend nine months in misery: fat and fatigued with chronic indigestion and constipation. At least one in ten becomes very ill with a condition known as “preeclampsia” and one in twenty develops “gestational diabetes.” Too often all of this suffering ends with major surgery and an imperfect child.
The facts speak for themselves: • Obesity in the general population, as well as in pregnant women, has doubled over the past three decades. Now two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and 34 percent are obese. The rise in incidence of gestational diabetes has paralleled that of type-2 diabetes. • The national United States Cesarean section rate was 4.5 percent, near an optimal range of 5 to 10 percent, in 1965, when it was first measured. Now 31.8 percent of births in the United States are through the mother’s abdominal wall (Cesarean births in 1997). Worse yet, in a few other developed countries more than half of all women deliver their babies in an operating room. For example, in Brazil the Cesarean rate is 77.2 percent for women who attend private clinics. • Rates of birth defects, preterm births, and low birth-weight babies have been rising steadily since the mid-1980s. Birth defects occur in 1 in 33 births (3 percent); however, when developmental disabilities, which become fully apparent in older children, are included, the rates have been estimated to exceed 10 percent of births. • The number of women who die each year from causes directly related to childbirth had more than doubled in California since 1996, according to California Watch.
Pregnancy Does Not Change the Human Diet The heightened nutritional demands of pregnancy cause a woman to consume an additional 80,000 calories and two pounds of protein to grow her baby. Importantly, the proper source of these nutrients remains the same whether a woman is pregnant or not. All populations of trim, healthy people throughout verifiable human history have obtained the bulk of their calories from starch. Examples of once thriving populations include Japanese, Chinese, and other Asians eating sweet potatoes, buckwheat and/or rice; Incas in South America eating potatoes; Mayas and Aztecs in Central America eating corn; and Egyptians in the Middle East eating wheat. Meat provided very few, if any, nutrients, and dairy foods were nonexistent. Therefore, scientific documentation of what most people have eaten over at least the past 13,000 years
The McDougall Diet for Pregnancy By Dr. John McDougall, MD convincingly supports my claim that the ideal diet for pregnant women is based on starches (rice, corn, potatoes, beans, etc.) with the addition of green and yellow vegetables and fruits.
Obesity Leads to Cesarean Births In modern societies following the Western diet, one-third or more of all women give birth unnaturally. Something major must be wrong. Many explanations have been proposed for the high rates of Cesarean sections seen these days. However, one answer is obvious: In addition to the expanding epidemic of obesity among adults caused by the rich Western diet, this same food causes babies to grow too large to fit through their mothers’ birth canals. Full-term infants weighing eight to twelve pounds cannot easily fit through their mothers’ birth canals, which are designed for five- to seven-pound babies. The larger the mother, the larger the baby, and the higher the risk of emergency Cesarean birth and injury to mother and infant. In anticipation of larger babies, elective Cesarean sections are also on the rise and have resulted in many infants being delivered before term. The average time a fetus spends in the womb has fallen by seven days in the United States since 1992. Early birth adversely affects lung and brain development and increases the risk of infections and death of newborns.
Preeclampsia Is Serious Sickness of Pregnancy Preeclampsia is a set of conditions that include hypertension with generalized damage to the blood vessels, kidneys, and liver. It occurs in as many as 10 percent of pregnancies, usually in the second or third trimester. This condition results from the rich Western diet and is less common in women following a diet higher in fiber and potassium. Both of these nutrients are abundant in a plant food-based diet. “The Farm” is a community of young people in Summertown, Tennessee. Members follow a vegan diet (no animal-derived foods) and the outcomes of pregnancy have been reported to be excellent. The maternity care records of 775 vegan mothers found no symptoms of preeclampsia, and only one case that met the clinical criteria. In 1987 a research article about the Farm experience proposed that preeclampsia is due to the unrestrained consumption of “fast foods” (foods having high levels of saturated fat) and rapid weight gain of the mothers-to-be. A vegan diet was proposed as the solution.
Morning Sickness Protects Babies from Meat Approximately two-thirds of women experience nausea or vomiting during early pregnancy. This “morning sickness” actually serves an important function: to cause
The McDougall Diet for Pregnancy By Dr. John McDougall, MD pregnant women to physically expel and subsequently avoid foods that cause harm to mother and infant. Women who develop morning sickness have less risk of miscarriages and a better chance for survival of their infants. Research shows that aversions in pregnant women (and those that cause morning sickness) are greatest to meats, fish, poultry, and eggs. Not surprisingly, these same foods have the highest levels of chemical contamination. Why? Because an animal’s fatty tissues attract and concentrate chemicals—a process known as “bioaccumulation.” This is why, in an analysis of 27 traditional societies, no morning sickness was observed in those societies that have plants (primarily corn), rather than meat, as the dietary staple. Consuming organic foods is another critical step to having a cleaner body.
Plant Foods Repair Genetic Damage The human body has detoxification systems that have evolved over 300 million years to protect animals from natural toxins. These same systems will also rid the body of synthetic pollutants. Much attention has been given to the ability of plant-derived folate (a water-soluble B vitamin) to synthesize and repair our genetic materials (DNA), especially during times of rapid cell division and growth, such as occurs during pregnancy. Accordingly, in the 1960s, research linked folate deficiency in a woman’s diet to severe birth defects, especially those of the nervous system (for example, spina bifida). Decreased folate metabolism in mothers has also been associated with increased risk of having an infant with Down syndrome. It is now well-known that a diet high in plant-based folate will significantly lower the risk of these and other birth defects. Eating a diet high in plant foods is also essential for making good male sperm. Men with high folate intake have been found to have lower overall frequencies of several types of “aneuploid sperm.” Aneuploidy is a condition where one or a few chromosomes are above or below the normal chromosome number, and is associated with birth defects, such as Down syndrome. The bottom line is that a plateful of meat and dairy—devoid of starches, vegetables
The McDougall Diet for Pregnancy By Dr. John McDougall, MD and fruits—is a set-up for genetic damage leading to a less than perfect baby.
Prenatal Vitamins Do Not Compensate for a Bad Diet To compensate for the growing lack of folate and other key nutrients in the diets of mom’s-to-be, doctors commonly prescribe comprehensive prenatal multi-vitamins. Unfortunately, taking isolated concentrated nutrients in the form of vitamin pills or fortified foods creates nutritional imbalances that can place mother and baby at different, but just as serious, increased risks. Folic acid supplements may increase the risk of autism and asthma in the child. In adults, folic acid supplementation at levels recommended to reduce birth defects definitely increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, and death. The taking of other prenatal vitamins has been linked to illness in mothers and birth defects in babies as well. For example, among the babies born to women who took more than 10,000 IU of preformed vitamin A per day, estimates are that about 1 infant in 57 had a malformation attributable to the supplement. Prenatal vitamins have also been associated with low birth weights and congenital heart defects. (Vitamins as naturally found in plants are never toxic.) Fixing the problem with recommendations for a healthy diet of plant foods for men and women throughout life is the right approach. The only supplement I recommend during pregnancy is vitamin B12 (at least 5 micrograms daily).
Fish and Omega-3 Fats Adversely Effect Pregnancy Stories of brain damage from a lack of omega-3 fatty acids (like DHA and EPA from fish) easily stroke people’s emotions. There is no evidence, however, that increasing intakes of DHA in pregnant and lactating women have any physiologically significant benefit to the infant. In fact, there is substantial evidence that higher intakes of fish fat can have an adverse effect on pregnancy for both mother and child. Fish eating prolongs gestation and increases birth weight, which results in an increase in birth injuries and Cesarean section births. There is also an increase in infant mortality in fish-eating populations. Taking fish oils during pregnancy can cause hypertension in mothers. In one study, feeding fish oil supplements to lactating mothers resulted in offspring (seven-year-old boys) with higher blood pressure and body weight and lower physical activity. On top of this, fish are the primary source of highly toxic methymercury found in pregnant women’s bodies. Mercury poisoning of the brain results in motor dysfunction, memory loss, and learning disabilities, as well as depression-like behaviour. Even very low doses may cause damage to the developing brain of the fetus. The January 28, 2008 issue of the New York Times reported that six pieces of sushi from most of the restaurants and stores would contain more than 49 micrograms of mercury. This level is of concern to the FDA and EPA.
The McDougall Diet for Pregnancy By Dr. John McDougall, MD
Calcium and Protein Are Merchandizing Messages Even after learning the hazards of eating meat and dairy products rather than starches, parents are perplexed because of the misinformation taught about the necessity of these food groups in order to get adequate protein and calcium, especially for the unborn. These are messages from industry solely designed to sell their products and are completely false. Plants supply sufficient amounts of protein and calcium to grow the muscles and skeletons of the largest animals that walk the earth, including the elephant, hippopotamus, giraffe, horse, and cow. You can safely assume that there are sufficient quantities of both of these nutrients in vegetable foods to grow relatively small human beings, including their developing babies.
Fighting for a Successful Pregnancy Having a normal baby and a healthy mother are not simply a matter of luck. Ideally, plans for a family should be started long before conception. When possible, lose excess body fat long before conception. In this way stored pollutants will be eliminated as body fat is dissolved. This is especially true when your diet is free of pollutants and full of detoxifying substances, such as a diet of starches, fruits, and vegetables. Even better, your diet should be focused on organic plant produce. Tobacco, alcohol, coffee, medications, and illicit drugs are known to harm mother and baby, so these should be avoided. Sunshine (for vitamin D and more) and moderate exercise round out the McDougall Program for Pregnancy. With the foundation of an organic, starch-based diet, full of fresh fruits and vegetables, chances are excellent for every parent’s dream for the perfect baby to come true.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR John A. McDougall , MD, has authored many bestselling books and is featured in the documentary and book Fork over Knives. He serves as associate professor at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, CA, and teaches medical students at his clinic in Santa Rosa. Find out more and subscribe to Dr. McDougall’s mailing list at www.drmcdougall.com
Creative & Fun Lifestyle Tips by Karen Ranzi
Creative and Fun Lifestyle Tips for a Healthy Family by KAREN RANZI
Author of Creating Healthy Children: Through Attachment Parenting and Raw Foods
W
e all know that fresh fruits and vegetables are good for us—especially for our growing kids. Children who eat lots of unprocessed fruits and vegetables can experience an absence of eye, ear, nose, throat or sinus infections; increased energy and attention spans; less hyperactivity; strengthened immune systems; and enhanced athletic capability and brainpower, just to name a few. But—in an age of fast food and aggressive junk food marketing— how in the world can you get your kids to eat their veggies? Here are some of the many creative tips I have learned along the way that make it fun for kids to eat right. (They won’t even know that they are also learning to understand the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables at the same time.)
Creative & Fun Lifestyle Tips by Karen Ranzi
General Tips to Remember 1. Try different textures . For example, a child may not like green leafy vegetables in a salad but may enjoy them in green smoothies, juices, soups or dips.
2. Keep fruits and vegetables around the kitchen in pretty baskets and brightly colored bowls. Children will find the varied colors of the foods in their everyday environment attractive.
3. Name the foods you make with lively or catchy titles! My kids created
their own recipes, even from the time they were very little, and then gave names to the recipes. For example: BAT (Banana, Apple and a scoop of Tahini) – a cereal which worked very well at replacing the processed packaged cereals. BAT became a family favorite.
4. Kids love using equipment —A saladacco for making veggie pasta; a snow
cone maker for making ices from fresh fruit juice for a special birthday party treat; a small juicer (such as The Healthy Juicer); a mini food processor; the Champion Juicer for making all sorts of recipes, especially banana ice cream; and a dehydrator for making crackers, veggie burgers and chips heated at low temperatures to preserve the enzymes of the food.
5. Play “Health Food Restaurant” —Let your kids be the Chefs! If you set the
example, your children will love setting up counters, and preparing smoothies, juices, fruit or veggie platters, guacamole, coleslaw and beautiful salads. My children often used a doorway as their ideal place to set up their restaurant. The ironing board or a small table was the counter. Even when we traveled, we bought food for them to prepare meals for us in our hotel room, and my husband and I would be the customers, paying them for our meals.
6. Kids love dips! I observe so many children eating their green leaves (such as
kale, Romaine lettuce and spinach) and other veggies while delighting in fresh home-made dips made from fruits, vegetables and herbs such as basil, cilantro or dill, and nuts or seeds. Below are two of the many dips my children have enjoyed:
Creative & Fun Lifestyle Tips by Karen Ranzi
Creamy Cucumber Dill Dip 1 cup chopped cucumber 3 T soaked pine nuts (soaked a few hours) Juice of ½ lemon 2 soaked pitted dates ¼ cup fresh chopped dill 1 to 2 stalks celery Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Add more dill if desired.
No Bean Hummos 2 cups peeled chopped zucchini ½ cup hulled sesame seeds Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp. paprika ¼ teaspoon sea salt (optional) Blend sesame seeds until ground using a high power blender such as the Vita-Mix or a food processor. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
Creative & Fun Lifestyle Tips by Karen Ranzi
7. Kids adore attractive food designs that display a picture . For example,
slicing a half inch thick pineapple circle can be used to make the “sun” and a bowl of orange sections makes the sun’s rays. I have used a heart-shaped stainless steel cake pan to prepare special raw treats for Valentine’s Day. I purchased different ridge-shaped cutters to make decorative trims on cucumbers, cantaloupes, peppers and carrots. Children like interesting and fun designs in food, so why not use these tools for making fun shapes with fruits and veggies? It is also easy to find many different cookie cutter shapes and holiday designs for making cookies, cakes and other treats.
8. Use of puppetry with young children
is an excellent way to introduce them to fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables and to encourage discussion of healthful living topics in a non-threatening play situation.
9. Traveling with your children provides a great learning experience and cre-
ates family bonding time. We were always able to find fruits and vegetables during our travels to Central and South America and Europe. It was exciting to look up and identify specific fruits or vegetables in the book Fruits and Vegetables of the World by Michel Viard and then locate them in the market at each new destination.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Karen Ranzi is the author of Creating Healthy Children: Through Attachment Parenting and Raw Foods, available at: www.superhealthychildren.com, Barnes & Noble & Whole Foods Markets. Get a discount copy of the Creating Healthy Children DVD for VegWorld readers here.
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Recipes
For Foodies Get Juiced With Jay Kordich The Father Of Juicing Raw Vegan Crackers and Cheese Brownie Balls or Bars
Get Juiced with Jay Kordich, The Father of Juicing by Jay Kordich
Get Juiced with
Jay Kordich
The Father Of Juicing by JAY KORDICH
F
or as long as I can remember, I have known that fruits and vegetables have distinct properties that can help ease many of our physical ailments. Fruits and vegetables are the cleansers, energizers, builders, and regenerators of the human system. Specifically, fruits are our cleansers and energizers and vegetables are our builders and regenerators.
Fresh veggies and fruits also supply living enzymes, which aid in our bodies’ digestion and other functions. If you cook these living foods above 118 degrees, they lose these vital enzymes. All fruits and vegetables play a role in our good health, but I have found the most powerful in healing the body are the greens.
Get Juiced with Jay Kordich, The Father of Juicing by Jay Kordich
The top 10 healthiest greens, in no particular order, are: 1. Wheatgrass
6. Parsley
2. Kale
7. Swiss Chard
3. Chlorella
8. Brussel Sprouts
4. Alfalfa
9. Broccoli
5. Spinach
10. Dandelion
These super greens are superior in building rich blood. They can literally transform the quality of your blood within just a week. But the best way to consume these and other vegetables and fruits is through fresh, uncooked juices. In juice form, healing becomes accelerated, mostly due to the fact you don’t have to chew, swallow and then wait for the digestive tract to assimilate fruits and vegetables. Also, you can consume significantly greater amounts of these foods by juicing them than you ever could if you just sat down for a meal. As a result, freshly extracted fruit or vegetable juices will supply all the enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and protein you need to achieve increased vitality! Adding live juices to one’s diet as a daily routine brings a rejuvenating effect and helps eliminate disorders such as obesity, cancer, leukemia, arthritis, high blood pressure, kidney disorders, skin infections, liver disorders, and alcoholism. Daily juicing supplies the body with easily absorbable nutrients. This is because, when you make fresh juices, they are 100% pre-digested and highly concentrated with only the plant’s vital nutrients. So, anybody, even those with compromised immune systems or assimilation challenges, can receive a mega-dose of the full nutritional value of these foods. For the elderly, fresh vegetable and fruit juicing is essential. As we age, our assimilation factors decrease due to digestive weaknesses and illnesses. Some say that, as we reach the age of 70, most of us can only absorb 20% of the nutrients we consume through eating. Not so with juicing. No matter the age, juicing is 100% absorbable. Juicing literally nourishes every cell of our body and
Get Juiced with Jay Kordich, The Father of Juicing by Jay Kordich floods the body with nutrients that energize the body’s natural regenerative abilities. Just keep in mind, however, that as we age, we are also more susceptible to detoxification symptoms. Combining certain vegetables helps ease some of these symptoms; so does adding neutral fruits to the mix such as apples. Here is one of my favorite juice combinations that effectively help our immune system and our overall health ~ at any age! (for 2) ~ (Organic Only Please!):
100 10 medium sized carrots
%O
RGA
NIC
4 leaves swiss chard
1 lime with the skin
1 large cucumber (unwaxed)
1 beet with its green tops
1 large, yellow, red or green apple
This tonic contains a powerhouse of cleansing properties that anyone can drink on a daily basis, except for children under three years old. Here’s to Power Juicing! Jay Kordich
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jay Kordich overcame cancer at the age of 25 through the power of juicer. He is now a healthy and vibrant 88 years old. He looks and acts like a man half that age. He is out to teach everyone the “secrets” to his long and vital life. Jay says, “My mission is to motivate, teach and inspire people on a global level to live a healthy life by consuming more fresh juices on a daily basis. These live foods have transformed and helped heal my life on so many levels for the past sixty years.” Join Jay Kordich’s School of Juicing Here.
Raw Vegan Crackers and Cheese By Markus Rothkranz
Raw Vegan
Crackers and Cheese by MARKUS ROTHKRANZ
CRACKERS 1 cup Chia Seeds 2 cups Water pinch Sea Salt Mix chia seeds, water, and sea salt Dehydrate 2 hours
Raw Vegan Crackers and Cheese By Markus Rothkranz
RAW CHEESE 1 cup Pine Nuts 1 cup Cashews 3 cloves Garlic One Red Pell Pepper 1/2 Lemon (squeezed) pinch Sea Salt 1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar 1/2 Cup Nutritional Yeast 1/4 Cup Water Blend on High until smooth (Tip: Add more Cashews for a thicker cheese) Serve and Enjoy!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Markus Rothkranz is one of the world’s foremost experts on raw food and natural healing. His passionate motion picture DVDs, lectures and books inspire people the world over to a new way of living, where stress and aging are a thing of the past. Find our more about Markus Rothkranz here.
Brownie Balls By Raw Vegan Chef, Rod Rotondi
Brownie Balls (or Bars)
by Raw Vegan Chef, Rod Rotondi
Makes 24 balls or bars Caution! Seriously addictive! These are sort of a cross between a Tootsie Roll and a traditional brownie.
Brownie Balls By Raw Vegan Chef, Rod Rotondi
BROWNIE BALLS (OR BARS) 2 cups chopped dates 1/2 cup carob powder 1/2 cup cacao powder 2 cups ground Brazil nuts 1/2 cup raw almond butter 1/2 cup grated fresh coconut for garnishing (may substitute dried) Cacao nibs for garnishing (optional)
ABOUT CHEF ROD ROTONDI World traveler and culinary eclectic Rod Rotondi uses his unique perspective to translate world cuisine into delicious, simple, and affordable raw and vegan offerings. Rod serves delicious raw and vegan food at his Los Angeles restaurant Leaf Organics and through catering and packaged products. He teaches courses through his restaurant, workshops, and a DVD series. A leader in the raw-food, vegan, and green movements, find out more about Rod at Leaf Organics website.
Health
and Wellness Interview With Neal Barnard Vegetarian Nutrition Made Easy The Steps to Becoming a Veganist
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood
Health Benefits
Of Plant-Based Diets
Interview with Neal Barnard, MD by DANIEL REDWOOD, DC
N
eal D. Barnard, MD, is a leader in preventive medicine, nutrition, and research. As an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University and a researcher funded by the National Institutes of Health, he has led key research studies to improve the health of people with diabetes, obesity, lipid disorders, and other serious health problems, and to improve nutrition in schools and in the workplace.
He is the editor-in-chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians and the author of more than 15 books on nutrition and health for lay readers, including Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes, Foods That Fight Pain, The Food Seduction, and the newly released 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health. His research has been cited by the American Diabetes Association and the Amer-
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood ican Dietetic Association in official policy statements on healthful diets. Dr. Barnard’s articles have appeared in Diabetes Care, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the American Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics, the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Scientific American, the American Journal of Cardiology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Lancet Oncology, Preventive Medicine, and many other scientific and medical journals. He is a frequent lecturer at scientific societies and a peer-reviewer for many medical journals. He received his M.D. degree at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He founded the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in 1985. PCRM is a nationwide group of physicians and lay supporters that promotes preventive medicine and addresses controversies in modern medicine. He later initiated the Cancer Project, providing nutrition information for cancer prevention and survival, and the Washington Center for Clinical Research, a center for nutritionrelated studies. The PCRM website is www.pcrm.org. It includes a wide range of evidencebased nutritional information supporting a plant-based diet, along with the online Kickstart program, which has already had 150,000 participants.
Your NIH-funded diabetes research (Diabetes Care, 2006) demonstrated that a low-fat, plant-based diet achieved better health outcomes for reversing diabetes than the diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association. Aside from that take-home message, what should people know about this research? Perhaps the most surprising thing was not simply that a plant-based diet is effective; we were also struck by the fact that it was quite easy. Many people approach a diet change with a certain amount of trepidation, but very rapidly the diet fit like a new pair of gloves and people did very well with it. In fact, when we looked at the data on dropout rates with other kinds of diets, and how people react to them, it appears that a plant-based diet is as acceptable or more acceptable than other therapeutic diets. That was delightful to see. In this study, did people prepare their own food or did you provide food for them? Was it a controlled, closed setting or were people living their normal lives while following this diet? In prior studies, we provided food. But in the NIH trial, everybody made their own food, or they ate at restaurants or fast food places, wherever they wanted
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood to eat. We did not provide meals for them. That was intentional because we wanted to see how it works in the real world.
foods are low in fat.
Were there limits on calories or portion sizes in those following your diet? No. That’s in many ways the beauty of it. People with diabetes are used to being given a calorie limit, typically 500 calories less per day than what they would eat normally. So if a person is normally eating 2000 calories a day, a weight loss diet would cut them to 1500. And they are asked to maintain that level of intake for as long as it takes them to lose their excess weight, which for most people means for the rest of their lives. That becomes punishing after a while.
Sure. We focus on four food groups: vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes. The legumes are beans, seeds and lentils. We also encourage people to have any reliable source of vitamin B12, which might be a multiple vitamin or it could be fortified foods. That’s it. However much you want to eat is up to you. If you want to follow, say, an Italian pattern, it might be lentil soup or minestrone soup, followed by spaghetti with a chunky tomato sauce. If you want to do a Latin American pattern, it might be beans and tortillas. An Asian pattern might be tofu, rice and vegetables. How you interpret it is entirely up to you.
Do people on those diets find it too difficult and eventually give up?
Without getting too technical, could you give some of the measures by which it was determined that the Barnard diet outperformed the American Diabetes Association (ADA) diet in this study?
Many people do, or they compromise with it. And if they then ratchet back up their calorie intake, all of the unhealthy foods that they were eating in “moderation” increase as well, and they’re right back where they started. So with a plant-based diet, we don’t use calorie limits at all. Having said that, calorie intake does fall, largely because because the
Could you explain what this diet consists of?
The main index of blood sugar control is called hemoglobin A1C. It should be below 7 in a person who has diabetes. Our people weren’t near 7, they were around 8 at the beginning. As time went on, the people who began
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood the vegan diet had a drop of about 1.2 absolute percentage points, compared to a drop of 0.4 for the ADA group. By the way, a drop of 1.2 is huge. That’s bigger than you would see with typical oral medications. We also tracked body weight. Both groups lost weight and they kept the weight off. We tracked people for a full year and a half and they never put all the weight back on. The vegans lost more weight but the difference between the two groups was rather small on weight loss. What’s surprising is that the vegans lost more weight than the people who were intentionally counting calories and trying to lose weight. On the vegan diet, they were free to eat as much as they wanted, yet they still lost more weight than the people on the calorie restriction. With regard to cholesterol, we tracked total cholesterol, LDL or bad cholesterol, and HDL or good cholesterol. We found improvement in lipids in our study, just like pretty much every other study. We also tracked kidney function. Those are the main things.
New Diabetes Guidelines Note Value of Plant-Based Diets Given these results, to achieve true informed consent, should all physicians advising patients with diabetes mention this as an option for their patients? Let me give you an emphatic yes, because not only has our research shown this to be the case, but the American Diabetes Association has been discussing our research in its clinical practice
guidelines, the recommendations that clinicians are supposed to be following with their patients. In 2009, they said it was “safe” to follow a plant-based diet. In 2010, they said that it’s not only safe but that it’s good for you, that it has metabolic advantages. They don’t go as far in detailing what these advantages are as we would like to see, but we have to keep in mind that a person with diabetes is going to lose about a decade of life on average. It’s the leading cause of blindness, loss of kidney function, the leading cause of amputations. And 75 percent or thereabouts of people with diabetes ultimately die a cardiovascular death. We cannot prevent all of that, but we can prevent a great deal of that burden, if people are given a maximally healthy diet. And the old excuses, that patients won’t follow it or whatever, have been squarely addressed in our research and that of others. It’s time for people to put it to work. By the way, I might just mention that it’s not just our group calling for this. The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, in the June 2011 issue, describes the use of a vegetarian diet pattern as a great approach for weight management, based on repeated studies showing that vegetarians are thinner than other people, and that their nutrition is as good as, if not better than people who are not vegetarian. So bottom line, the diet has arrived and it’s time to put it to work.
New Perspective on Dairy Products There is now a broad consensus in the health care establishment—from
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood the NIH to the Surgeon General, from the American Diabetes Association to the American Heart Association and the American Dietetic Association—that a healthy diet should focus on vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans. There’s a more controversial part of the recommendations from these groups, though, which says that a healthy diet can, and perhaps should, include dairy, fish, and/or non-processed, non-red meats. One by one, please explain the research that fuels your concerns about dairy, fish, and meats. Let’s start with dairy. I think we can approach this from two directions. First of all, do dairy products help? And the answer is, if we are looking at bone integrity, dairy products don’t help. When you look at children who are not consuming dairy products, they have every bit as good bone integrity as kids who do. Later in life, when you look at groups that are at high risk for osteoporosis— postmenopausal women, for example—Harvard’s Nurses Health Study showed very clearly after 18 years of study that milk-drinking women have no protection whatsoever against hip fractures compared to women who don’t consume dairy products. This runs directly contrary to what
all of us in this society have been told for many, many years. And it is important that when those marketing messages, like “dairy is good for bone,” they must be put to the test. They have been, and they don’t hold up. And they should be viewed for what they are, which is nothing but a marketing message. Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t need calcium. You do need calcium. But once you’re getting about 600 or 700 milligrams of calcium per day, it’s very hard to make a case for getting more. And it’s impossible to make a case that dairy is the best source. The absorption is only about 32 percent, whereas for green leafy vegetables it’s for the most part higher than that. There are many foods that contain calcium. The risks of dairy are also worth mentioning. Dairy products are the biggest contributor of saturated fat in the diet. The exception, of course, is the nonfat milk products. But cheese, ice cream, so many of these foods are loaded with saturated fat. And the links with prostate cancer have been very troubling. There have been a number of studies that have shown that milk-drinking men are at higher risk for prostate cancer. So it’s time to give dairy a rest.
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood
Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids How about fish? There has been a great deal of publicity in recent years about claims the omega-3 fatty acids in fish or fish oil are heart-protective and that, therefore, people should eat fish a couple of times a week. When we look at the data, fish consumption really has not held up as being beneficial, nor has use of omega-3 supplementation been particularly helpful. Fish do contain omega-3 fatty acids and that’s a good thing. But about 70 percent of the fat in fish is not omega-3; it’s a mixture of saturated fat and various kinds of unsaturated fats that are really not necessary and not helpful in the diet. So yes, small amounts of omega-3 fats are essential, but there are plenty of sources of omega-3, and fish and other fatty foods contribute so many competing fats that it’s not really helpful to us. When we look at fish eaters generally, and their degree of health, they are much more like people who eat other kinds of meat compared to, say, a vegetarian. There was a study called Adventist Health Study II, which took advantage of the fact that Seventh Day Adventists are supposed to avoid meat. Not all of them do, and that has set up a very large population of people who are largely health conscious, but who differ in their diet. It sets up a natural experiment that allows us to compare different diets. And in 2009, a study of almost 61,000 Adventists was published. The people who were completely non-vegetarian—eating meat, poultry and fish—
had the highest body mass index and the highest rate of diabetes. The vegans had far and away the lowest. The people who ate no meat other than fish were somewhere between the two. They were a little bit closer to the meat eaters with regard to their weight. It basically suggests that getting away from beef is a good idea and getting away from poultry is a good idea. If all that’s left is fish, you’re better off than the people who are eating everything, but if you get away from fish, you’ll be better off still. Let me give some specific numbers. At that time, 7.6 percent of the meat eaters had diabetes, while only 2.9 percent of the vegans had diabetes. The fish eaters were in between, at not quite 5 percent.
Is Poultry Preferable? Regarding poultry—chicken and turkey—there’s a general impression in our society that those are healthier options than red meat. What’s your sense of the entire spectrum of these foods? Low tar cigarettes are in some ways healthier than regular cigarettes, but the difference is so minuscule that it’s not worth talking about. And I think that when we’re talking about various other forms of meat, it’s much the same story. So that skinless chicken breast is somewhat lower in fat than some leaner meats. The leanest beef is maybe 28 or 29 percent fat, skinless chicken breast is around 23 percent, wiith some variability depending on the breed and the brand. But all in all, it’s nothing like
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood a bean, which is 4 percent fat. And chicken doesn’t give you any fiber, or any vitamin C or complex carbohydrate. It’s still a mixture of animal protein and animal fat, for the most part.
it’s time to go back to a plant-based diet.
What do you say in reply to the argument that fat and animal fat are not a major health concern?
We certainly know that there are certain things that are protective, such as fiber and certain antioxidants such as beta-carotene and lycopene. These are abundant in plant foods. There are other things that are problematic, certain carcinogens. Some of these occur just from eating meat, while others are developed in the cooking process. When meat is grilled, for example, a carcinogen called PhIP, which is a heterocyclic amine, forms quite reliably. Bottom line, plants tend to have anticancer effects and animal products tend to have procarcinogenic effects.
If the research that has gone on for the past 60 or 70 years means anything, it is exceedingly clear that people who base their diets on animal products tend to do worse, significantly worse, than people who follow plant-based diets. That’s been found over and over and over again. And unfortunately, we’re seeing this same experiment play out again in real life. In Japan, where the diets have historically been plant-based, McDonald’s and other fast food chains have come in and pushed meat and cheese on people that used to eat rice. The waistlines are expanding, diabetes rates are exploding, heart disease is increasing, cancer rates are going up, and
What do we know about the nutritional causes of cancer?
In my clinical nutrition class, I cite statistics showing that grilling chicken produces far higher PhIP levels than even red meat. Yes, it does. Chicken is far and away the biggest contributor of heterocyclic amines to the diet. The tragedy, of course, is that people are going to fast food chains and getting the chicken sandwich, thinking that they’re doing their bodies a favor. And not realizing that they’re swallowing a big load of chemicals that the government reports, and other cancer monitoring reports, are clear cut carcinogens. What other illnesses can be helped by a plant-based diet? The range is really quite stunning, from being overweight to heart disease, hy-
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood pertension, diabetes, digestive concerns including gallstones and even appendicitis, which you would never think in a million years could relate to diet. But Denis Burkitt [winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine] wrote a number of years ago that a high fiber diet helps keep the appendix open and clear, whereas people on low fiber diets tend to get their appendix plugged. Also, anything that relates to blood flow, such as cardiovascular disease, stroke or even lower back pain. When I wrote a book called Foods that Fight Pain back in 1998, I was absolutely blown away that lower back pain usually relates to the loss of one or more lumbar arteries due to atherosclerosis. So that as the lumbar arteries are paved over by the atherosclerotic process, you lose blood flow to the lower back. That causes the disks to become fragile and they can no longer be repaired.
Opiates in Foods It’s not uncommon to hear people speak about feeling addicted to certain foods, but they’re usually speaking metaphorically. In your book, The Food Seduction, you describe actual addictive substances being present in many common foods, including cheese. Please explain. One of the most striking aspects of the studies that we have done, where we have asked people to follow a plantbased diet, was that they would get stuck on cheese. They would say, “You know, this diet makes a lot of sense, but I’m waking up in the morning and wishing I could have a slice of cheese.” And
you think, what’s this about? It smells like old socks, why are you hooked on it? But we noticed this so frequently that I decided to look into the literature, and I was surprised to discover that there’s a rather abundant literature on what happens when the dairy protein casein is digested. It breaks apart to release small fragments that are called casomorphins, which you can think of as casein-derived, morphine-like compounds. Which is to say that they are mild opiates. They apparently go from the digestive tract into the bloodstream and attach to the opiate receptors in the brain, which accounts for a little bit of “feel good” effect. This also accounts for why cheese can be constipating when it’s consumed in fairly large quantities. It’s just like any other opiate in its effect on the digestive tract. What’s your advice for people like some I’ve known who say that they would rather die than give up cheese? Unfortunately, some of them are going to get their wish. Our job as doctors is to prevent that from happening. If it’s the mouth-feel of cheese that a person is looking for, avocado or peanut butter or hummus will provide that. These may not be low-fat options but they are certainly better than cheese, which is 70% fat, most of which is saturated fat. Frankly, if it were any worse it would be Vaseline. If it’s the flavor that a person is looking for, the trick that I use is nutritional yeast. Many people have never tried it. It’s sold in health food stores in the supplement aisle, and it is not brewers’ yeast or baker’s yeast.
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood It’s specifically “nutritional yeast.” When mixed into a spaghetti sauce or sprinkled on top of a [nondairy] pizza, it adds a cheesy flavor without any fat at all, which for many people is very satisfying.
USDA Policy: Plate Replaces Pyramid, But Federal Subsidies Favor Unhealthy Foods What are your feelings about the USDA’s switch from the Food Pyramid to the Food Plate? And what changes in policy would you like to see at the U.S. Department of Agriculture? When the Plate came out, we had very mixed feelings. On the one hand, we were complimented because when one compares the plate that PCRM [Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine] unveiled two years earlier—which was a plate with four segments (a red one saying fruit, a tan one saying grains, a green one saying vegetables, and a blue on saying legumes)—to the 2011
USDA version, they are strikingly similar. Both have the red fruits, the tan grains, the green vegetables, and instead of “beans” they called the fourth one “protein,” presumably because they wanted to say that you could have some meat in there. This is for entirely political reasons, not from the science. And then they added a “dairy” group, as well, off to the side. On one hand, I was complimented that they seemed to be following our lead. On the other hand, I do think that when it comes to nutrition guidance, we cannot allow politics to be part of it. It’s simply too dangerous for the public to be told to consume things that are bad for them. So it’s time for the USDA to stop that. They may need some help doing that, because right now they have a legislative mandate saying that they must promote American agricultural products, they must promote dairy and meat, even though they’re bad for Americans. So that needs to change.
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood Looking at the amount of subsidies provided in the federal budget to encourage the growing and marketing of various kind of foods, how consistent is the distribution of these subsidies with the nutritional recommendations of not only the scientific literature, but of the USDA Food Plate? They bear almost no resemblance. The USDA guidelines for health are not as good as they should be, but they do recommend eating fruits, eating vegetables and eating whole grains. But if you look at where the money actually goes, fruits and vegetables get less than 1 percent of federal subsidy dollars. Meat and dairy products get almost two thirds. When I say meat, it’s not so much that beef is subsidized directly. For the most part, it’s not. It’s a subsidy for the feed grain that goes into the cow. How much of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals? Oh, the vast, vast majority. When you look out at the corn fields, whether you’re in Kansas or Nebraska, or North Dakota where I grew up, that corn is not going to end up on anyone’s table. It’s going end up in a feed trough in front of a pig or a cow or perhaps a chicken. That’s where it’s going. There are also a number of programs that support dairy production and, for better or worse, that’s where the money is going. The government has programs to buy up surpluses, so that if the dairy produces too much milk, the government buys it. And there are warehouses full of nonfat milk powder. There are school pro-
grams, where cheese pizza is promoted day after day, not because kids need another pound of cheese, but because the government is doing this to help the farmer. It’s totally and completely counterproductive.
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine From time to time, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which you founded in the 1980s, has sued government agencies in an effort to get them to comply with laws or regulations. What were some of the issues behind those lawsuits? Speaking currently, last year we were troubled that the USDA was not adopting our Power Plate, the plate diagram I was speaking about earlier. We had petitioned the U.S. government and they were unresponsive, so we sued them. After we filed suit, the government released its plate, which is similar in many ways to the plate we recommended. That lawsuit is still ongoing, though, because there are so many ways in which they have weakened the nutritional guidance that it has become counterproductive in certain ways. We also have attacked the U.S. government for its working with the dairy industry. The dairy industry has, every now and then, launched into campaigns saying that, for example, milk makes you slimmer. Which is completely a myth. We were able to show that it’s a myth and we were able to succeed in getting the dairy industry to stop it. But
Interview With Neal Barnard, MD by Daniel Redwood some of these dairy programs were, in fact, federal government programs designed to promote the dairy industry. PCRM has also been the leader in efforts to reduce the use of live animals in medical training and research. What was the situation when you started and what is it now? I’m happy to say that there has been enormous progress. When we began, virtually every medical student in the country would, at some point in his or her medical training, kill a live animal. It might be a dog taped down to a lab bench and injected with a number of drugs, and before the end of the afternoon that dog was in a trash bag. It was sort of a rite of passage. We felt that we had to change that in order to have an ethical foundation for medical training and medical practice, but also because we wanted to stop this messaging that somehow killing animals is essential to medical progress. Currently, somewhere along the order of 6 or 7 medical schools out of 127 have any sort of animal lab at all. So that’s a tremendous change. A huge change. But we didn’t stop there. We also went to graduate studies, these advanced trauma life support
laboratories, pediatric intubation labs, nursing training. We have said that basically, there is no reason to try to gain expertise in human medicine by intubating ferrets or doing trauma on pigs. It’s the wrong anatomy and it’s very bad for the animals. We’ve been really successful in bringing in simulators and other superior training methods and solving this ethical problem that has persisted. We haven’t entirely won, but we’re at about third and goal. Is there anything else you want to tell our readers? Maybe just one other thing, which is that we are continuing to make tools available for people to use. I don’t want our findings to simply be proposed at scientific conferences and to gather dust in medical libraries, so I wrote books, like my diabetes book and my new book, which is the 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart. We have programs like our online Kickstart program, which has had over 150,000 people join it. We are doing a Kickstart India and Kickstart China later this year, which we’re really excited about. I’m hoping that people will take advantage of these resources and especially that clinicians will use them and get the word out as broadly and assertively as we possibly can.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Daniel Redwood, DC, the interviewer, is a Professor at Cleveland Chiropractic College–Kansas City. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Health Insights Today (www.cleveland.edu/hit). A collection of his writing can be found at www.redwoodhealthspeak.com. © Cleveland Chiropractic College. Used with permission.
Vegetarian Nutrition Made Easy By Brenda Davis, RD
Vegetarian Nutrition
Made Easy…
Six Stumbling Blocks and How to Avoid Them by BRENDA DAVIS, RD
V
egetarians enjoy some impressive health advantages, including reduced risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. They are less overweight, have fewer cataracts and gallstones, and enjoy greater longevity. However, becoming vegetarian does not guarantee a healthful diet. After all, potato chips and cola are generally 100% vegetarian, as are many other fatty, salt and sugar-laden junk foods. This column will review six of the most common stumbling blocks for vegetarians, and how we can be sure to avoid them.
1. Switching from meat and potatoes to pasta and bagels.
The most common blunder made by new vegetarians is switching from meat and potatoes to pasta and bagels. While it is true that pasta and bagels are familiar, tasty foods, they are no nutritional bargain. Pasta, bagels and other white flour products are refined carbohydrates. Whenever refined carbohydrates become dietary staples, they contribute
to being overweight, and having heart disease, type 2 diabetes and gastrointestinal disorders. Carbohydrates, per say, are not the problem. In fact, the lowest rates of chronic disease in the world are in areas with high carbohydrate intakes. However, in these protective high carbohydrate diets, the carbohydrates come from whole plant foods, such as vegetables, legumes, grains, fruits, nuts and seeds. These foods come packaged with protectors such as fiber, phytochemicals, phytosterols, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. To avoid this common stumbling block, simply replace meat and potatoes with beans and greens. Rely on whole plant foods for carbohydrates, and minimize your use of refined flour products.
Vegetarian Nutrition Made Easy By Brenda Davis, RD
2. Replacing meat with dairy and eggs.
Often new vegetarians trade in meat, chicken and fish for dairy products (mainly cheese) and eggs. Typical entrees include pizza, lasagna, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese omelets and quince. The nutrition challenge that arises is getting a sufficient supply of iron. Iron comes in two different forms in food: heme, and non-heme. Heme iron comes from blood and is generally found only in meat, poultry and fish (about 40% of the iron in animal flesh is heme iron). This type of iron has high bioavailability. Nonheme iron is found in meat as well as all other iron-containing foods. Dairy products are poor sources of iron, and they inhibit iron absorption. The iron in eggs has poor bioavailability. Thus, when vegetarians replace meat which contains significant amounts of bioavailable iron with dairy and eggs, the consequence may be reduced iron status. To avoid this problem, vegetarians are well advised to replace meat with good plant sources of iron such as legumes. Other good iron sources include nuts and seeds (especially pine nuts and pumpkin seeds), dried fruits, blackstrap molasses, some vegetables (greens, mushrooms and peas) and grains (especially quinoa, amaranth and iron-fortified grains). Eat vitamin C-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables with iron rich foods to enhance iron absorp-
tion. Avoid sprinkling wheat bran on foods as it is concentrated in phytates which significantly reduce iron absorption.
3. Consuming trans fatty acids.
Trans fatty acids are unsaturated fats that have been turned from liquid oils to solid fats, primarily by the process of hydrogenation. From a health perspective, trans fatty acids are a disaster, significantly increasing risk of coronary artery disease, sudden cardiac death and type 2 diabetes. These fats become incorporated into cell membranes, changing their shape, flexibility and permeability. They effectively dumb cells down, impairing their function. About 90% of trans fats come from partially-hydrogenated fats in processed and fried foods. Our most concentrated sources are margarine, shortening, crackers, cookies, granola bars, baked goods, chips, snack foods and deep-fried foods. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that less than 1% of calories come from trans fatty acids. For a person consuming 2000 kcal per day, that’s about 2 grams, or about half of what you would get in a single donut or medium order of fries. Trans fatty acid intake depends almost completely on the amount of processed and fried foods consumed, so vegetarians can easily consume as much as non-vegetarians. To avoid trans fatty acids, read labels, and avoid any-
Vegetarian Nutrition Made Easy By Brenda Davis, RD thing with partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils or shortening – even if the labels says “trans-fat free”. Current law in the United States allows manufacturers to claim that an item is trans-fat free if it contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. That means that if a product contains 0.49 grams of trans per serving, it can be labeled trans-fat free. To squeak in under the cut-off, many manufacturers have simply reduced portion sizes.
4. Assuming that all nutrients will be provided by nature.
While this is true in theory, it is not true in practice. All nutrients are available in nature, however, due to our manner of living, several nutrients have become difficult to acquire in certain situations. For vegetarians, vitamin B12 is a good example of a nutrient that is plentiful in nature, but not so plentiful in the foods we eat. Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that is produced mainly by bacteria. It is present in anything contaminated with B12-producing bacteria. While animal products are reliable sources of B12, plant foods are not. This is because we remove B12 producing bacteria in an effort to minimize pathogenic bacteria. Vegetarians have reduced B12 status relative to omnivores, and vegans have the lowest levels of all groups. Lack of vitamin B12 in the diet causes megaloblastic anemia, nerve damage, gastrointestinal disturbances, and elevated homocysteine. The elevated homocysteine can potentially eliminate any cardioprotective effects of a vegetarian diet. Reliable sources of vitamin B12 for vegetarians include fortified foods (Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula nutritional yeast, cereals, non-dairy bever-
ages, meat analogs, etc.), supplements, and animal products (dairy and eggs) for lacto-ovo vegetarians less than 50 years of age. Animal products are not considered a reliable source of vitamin B12 for those over 50 years of age as the ability to cleave B12 from the protein it is bound to can be significantly impaired. To get sufficient vitamin B12 from foods or supplements, we need at least 3 mcg in fortified foods in two or more meals, 10 mcg of supplemental B12 daily or 1000-2000 mcg B12 weekly. Seaweed, fermented foods and organic vegetables are not reliable sources of vitamin B12.
5. Getting insufficient omega-3 fatty acids.
While vegetarian diets are generally lower in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol than are nonvegetarian diets, they generally offer no advantages over nonvegetarian eating patterns where omega-3 fatty acids are concerned. This is partly because vegetarians do not eat fish, the most concentrated omega-3 source in the omnivorous diet. Total omega-3 requirements may be higher for vegetarians than for nonvegetarians, as vegetarians must convert plant omega-3 fatty acids to the more physiologically active long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. Thus vegetarians are well advised to include at least 1.25% of calories as omega-3 fatty acids, or approximately 3-5 grams per day. The best sources of omega-3 fatty acids in the plant kingdom include flaxseed and flaxseed oil, hempseed and hempseed oil, chia seed and chia seed oil, canola oil, walnuts, dark greens and wheat germ. One tablespoon of ground flaxseed provides about 2.6 grams of omega-3 fatty acids and or 1 teaspoon of flaxseed oil
Vegetarian Nutrition Made Easy By Brenda Davis, RD provides about 2.7 grams. Lacto-ovo vegetarians can get some long-chain omega-3 fatty acids from omega-3 rich eggs, and both vegetarians and vegans can get long-chain omega-3 fatty acids from cultured microalgae (available in veggie caps). Pregnant and lactating women may be well advised to consider a direct source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
6. Overeating!
Many people assume that becoming vegetarian will protect them from overweight and obesity. While it is true that vegetarians and especially vegans tend to be leaner than their omnivorous counterparts, a vegetarian diet does not guarantee a lean body. A healthful diet and lifestyle results in a healthy body weight, and many people who shift to a vegetarian diet do improve their diet and lifestyle choices, but not always. For some people the switch to vegetarian means a double order of fries instead of a burger and fries. Overeating
and underactivity leads to overweight and obesity, and vegetarians, like most Americans, have plenty of opportunity to overeat. Of course, the concern is that overweight and obesity could effectively cancel out many of the health benefits that commonly result from a vegetarian diet. Being overweight increases risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, osteoarthritis, gallbladder disease, gout and sleep apnea. Obesity has been found to add about 20 years to a person’s age in terms of health risk. Portion control is of the utmost importance. While it is easier to overeat when deep-fried foods, salty snacks, white flour products and soda are at the core of the diet, it is also possible to overeat healthful foods such as fruit smoothies and homemade wholegrain bread. To avoid overeating, limit processed foods and added fats. Limit calorie-laden beverages. Focus on high fiber, whole plant foods. Be mindful of what you consume. Eat slowly. Include at least 30-60 minutes of physical activity each day.
This article was first published in the Vegetarian Voice magazine (North American Vegetarian Society). ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brenda Davis, registered dietitian and nutritionist, is a leader in her field and an internationally acclaimed speaker. She has worked as a public health nutritionist, clinical nutrition specialist, nutrition consultant and academic nutrition instructor. A co-author of seven books - best-sellers, Becoming Vegan, Becoming Vegetarian, The New Becoming Vegetarian and Defeating Diabetes, Dairy-free and Delicious and the newly released, Becoming Raw and Raw-food Revolution Diet. www.brendadavisrd.com
The Steps to Becoming a Veganist By Kathy Freston
The Steps to
Becoming a Veganist by Kathy Freston
I
’ve been humbled in recent months by the very kind attention given to my new book, “Veganist.” As a result of the attention, I’ve been getting a lot of emails and inquiries, and perhaps the most popular question is some variant of “How did you do it?” Obviously I didn’t pop out of the womb a veganist. In fact, I was born in the South and grew up on chicken-fried steak and cheesy grits. I loved nothing more than milk shakes and barbecue ribs. I had an appetite for meat like anyone else, and I didn’t think twice about it. I wasn’t a thoughtless person; I was just enjoying my life and eating what tasted good and what I was told was good for me. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I started considering where my food came from.
When I made the shift to being vegetarian, it was gradual. I gave up eating one animal at a time. I’d come home and tell my husband, “I’m not cooking any more steak.” He’d roll his eyes and say, “Whatever.” And some months later, I’d be standing in the kitchen saying, “I can’t put chicken on the table anymore” -- he was a little more perturbed about that. Later still, when I said I couldn’t bring myself to buy cheese anymore, he thought I’d lost my mind. Luckily, by then, I began hitting my stride with this lean toward a plantbased diet. I found so many delicious foods that were actually the same as our favorite meals, but without the meat. Sometimes I brought home meat alternatives (vegetarian versions of chicken or ribs, etc.) and sometimes I focused more on beans, legumes, and whole grains (like black bean burritos with guacamole or lentil soup with wild rice salad).
The Steps to Becoming a Veganist By Kathy Freston I began to love vegan food, and so did my husband, who said one day, “If I thought I could have eaten this well as a vegetarian, I would have gone that way a long time ago.” There was no loss. No stringent diet or “bird food.” We simply lightened up on the animal-based foods and replaced them with plant-based fare. It took a few years, but eventually, we had a vegan home and were entertaining friends and family with unbelievably delicious (and nutritious) food. Hence, I became a veganist! A veganist is someone who looks closely at all of the implications of their food choices -- to his or her own body, to the animals, and to the environment -and then chooses to lean in to a plantbased diet. The suffix “ist” means “one who does” or “one who studies,” so a veganist takes what he or she learns and puts it into action by eating things that grow on trees or in the ground. All of this said, the word is intended as a soft word, a forgiving word. It’s all about progress, not perfection. My husband coined the word veganist one day when I was going on with one of my usual schpiels about the virtues of a plant-based diet and he said, “Honey, you are a veganist!” (I told you it’s a gentle word). Vegan used to seem odd, but today things are different (so much so that top chefs rated veganism as the hip new trend of 2010); being a veganist is about being passionate, aware, and solution-oriented. Think of it this way: just like a violinist is devoted to learning more and practicing the violin, so does a veganist take an intense interest in all things vegan.
The Steps to Becoming a Veganist By Kathy Freston As I coach people on their way to giving up meat, dairy, fish, and eggs, I always recommend “leaning into it” so they don’t get too overwhelmed by the changes. If you shift your eating patterns gradually, just by giving up eating one animal at a time (start by giving up chickens) or subbing out a favorite meal by veganizing the protein (opting for a black bean burrito instead of a beef burrito for instance), you have more breathing room to discover new food choices and menus. When I decided that vegan made sense, I was suddenly overwhelmed with what I didn’t know, what I could and couldn’t eat. So I just set my intention to be vegan, and then made the incremental changes little by little until I was entirely comfortable with the new fare. And then you start reaping the benefits: weight loss, prevention, and reversal of disease, increased longevity, the pride of knowing that you are radically reducing your carbon footprint, money saved, and the sense that you are evolving as a conscious and compassionate human being. Eating vegan is a substantial pillar to our health and wellbeing; it’s good for us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Food is so foundational, so much a part of our daily routine. It reflects who we are and what we value. So eating a vegan diet is the perfect opportunity to put into action -- regularly -- what’s important to us.
First: Transition
If you’re not ready to give up meat completely, start by eating meatless meals one or two days a week. The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health,
Columbia University’s School of Public Health, and other public health schools have designed a “Meatless Monday” campaign to help Americans avoid our four top killers--heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer--by eating meatfree at least every Monday. The “Meatless Monday” program provides recipes, meal plans, nutritional guidelines, cooking tips, and more. My only problem with the campaign is that some of the recipes feature fish, and fish are definitely not vegetables. If you’re eating fish, you’re eating meat, and the recent studies on fish are even scarier than the studies on beef or any other food. The three-part front page series in the Chicago Tribune about brain damage and other health problems caused by mercury, PCBs, and the other toxins found in fish and the front page piece in the Wall Street Journal about the teen whose fish consumption put him in remedial classes should be enough to turn anyone off fish consumption. For omega-3 fatty acids, go with flax seeds, walnuts, and leafy greens.
Second: Give Up the Little Animals First
Although many people tend to stop eating red meat before they give up chicken, turkey, or fish, from a humane standpoint, this is backwards. Birds are arguably the most abused animals on the planet, and birds and fish yield less flesh than cows or pigs, so farmers and fishers kill more of them to satisfy America’s meat habit. If you choose to give up meat in stages, stop eating chickens and turkeys first, then fish, and then pigs and cows. Some will suggest that cattle are the worst for the environment, but that seems like hair-splitting to me.
The Steps to Becoming a Veganist By Kathy Freston The Amazon rain forest is being cut down to grow soybeans to feed chickens; it’s chicken and pig farms that are poisoning the Atlantic Ocean, and vastly more energy is required if we eat the chickens who are fed grain rather than eating that grain directly.
Third: If You Can’t Give Up One Particular Animal Product, Give Up All the Other Ones
One friend told me that he just loves burgers too much to give them up; I suggested that he give up all animal products except burgers. Some of my friends can’t give up ice cream or cream in their coffee or whatever, so give up everything but that. That’s a huge step forward, and I suspect that after eating mostly vegetarian for a while, you’ll decide that those burgers or that ice cream aren’t so tasty anymore. And you’ll probably find that you enjoy the faux meats and dairyfree options just as much.
Fourth: Examine Your Diet, and Substitute
Take a look at the meals that you and your family already enjoy, and you’ll probably notice that many of them can be made without any meat or with mock meats (which are great transition foods) instead of animal flesh. For example,
instead of spaghetti and meat sauce, make spaghetti and marinara sauce, or instead of beef burritos, try tasty bean burritos. Replace ground beef with the vegetarian variety made by Boca or Morningstar Farms, which can be found in just about any grocery store. Or try Morningstar Farms’ faux chicken strips and steak strips and Boca’s Chik’n Patties. If you need help putting together a shopping list, check out the product reviews at VegCooking.com before you head out to the store. Mock meats, nondairy cheeses and milks, and other vegetarian foods are sold in most major supermarkets these days, and health food stores offer even more. Silk soy milk is probably one of the most recognizable vegan products on the market--you can even order it in your latte at Starbucks. And if you like to bake, look for egg replacer, a powdered mix that can be used instead of eggs in cakes and other baked goods, at the local health food store (or just use applesauce). But don’t forget to eat your vegetables-as well as plenty of whole grains, fresh fruits, and legumes--before filling up on cake and coffee! After a few meatless meals, you’ll likely realize that you don’t miss meat and are ready to go meatless for good. But
The Steps to Becoming a Veganist By Kathy Freston don’t beat yourself up if you slip up every now and again. Before long, eating vegetarian will come as naturally as breathing. I know that some readers who are already vegetarian may take issue with the idea of relying on faux meats (I can predict all the raw food comments, the macrobiotic comments, and so on), but mock meats and soy milk are superb transition foods. Certainly going with real foods, as Michael Pollan calls them-things that your grandmother would recognize--is a great idea, but don’t worry about it if you find that mock meats make the switch easier for you. Animals are going to be happier either way.
Fifth: Eating Out
If you’re eating out, there are countless restaurants that cater to vegetarians and vegans. VegCooking.com features regional vegetarian restaurants, restaurant chains that offer vegetarian options, and links to other Web sites that list vegetarian-friendly eateries. Ethnic restaurants, especially Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, Chinese, and Mexican restaurants, are always a good choice, as
they offer a variety of vegetarian and vegan options. If you’re still looking for a burger and fries, many restaurants, including Johnny Rockets, Denny’s, and Ruby Tuesday’s, serve veggie burgers. Just don’t drive yourself--and your dining companions--crazy worrying that your veggie burger was prepared on the same surface as the hamburgers. It might be a bit aesthetically troublesome, but it won’t harm animals (or the planet) if your food is cooked on the same grill as meat. Unless you absolutely can’t stomach it, let it pass.
Conclusion
When you consider your choices--heart disease, colon cancer, plus-size pants, melting ice caps, gale force storms, and animal suffering vs. good health, energy, a trim physique, a livable planet, compassion, and tasty, diverse foods--it’s clear that going vegetarian is an excellent choice as we move toward living a more conscious life. Thank you to all readers for your compassion, and I look forward to meeting you on the journey toward more conscious eating.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kathy Freston is a New York Times best-selling author with a concentration on healthy living and conscious eating. Her books include Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World, Quantum Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and Happiness, The Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21 Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Body, Mind, and Spirit, The One: Discovering the Secrets of Soul Mate Love and Expect a Miracle: 7 Spiritual Steps to Finding the Right Relationship. Her newest book is, THE LEAN: A Revolutionary (and Simple!) 30-Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight Loss (Weinstein Books).
Spirituality and Health
Our Future is Vegan
Our Future Is Vegan By Dr. Will Tuttle, Ph.D.
Our Future Is Vegan by DR. WILL TUTTLE, PH.D.
AUTHOR OF “THE WORLD PEACE DIET”
W
e live on the road. For seventeen years now Madeleine and I have been plying North America’s highways in our solar-paneled fifth wheel “rolling home” across this beautiful land. Although we only drive about fifteen to twenty thousand miles per year, following the geese in spring and fall, and presenting around 150 lectures, concerts, and workshops annually, we are able to get a pretty good glimpse into what’s happening here. For me, two things especially stand out. One—monoculture agribusiness. Huge fields of corn, soybeans, hay, alfalfa, and other grains and legumes grown primarily to feed our billions of hyperconfined cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and fish cover the landscape. Two—hospitals and medical facilities. They are springing up like mushrooms after the rain—mainly for the flood of people hyperconsuming the flesh, eggs, and milk of the aforementioned creatures. North and south, east and west, lie monocultures and hospitals; drugged and poisoned land with all its inevitable results. According to recent statistics from the Department of Agriculture, a whopping 86 percent of U.S. agricultural land is devoted to just four crops— corn, soy, hay, and wheat—the main crops used to feed and fatten confined animals. By contrast, growing all the vegetables in the U.S. requires only 1.5 percent of our agricultural land! And for all the orchards and vineyards that provide our nuts, berries, and fruits, it’s just 1.6 percent. Just three percent of our
Our Future Is Vegan By Dr. Will Tuttle, Ph.D. farmland produces all our fruits, veggies, and nuts. Talk about a small footprint! Last fall, for example, as we were driving through Iowa, and I was delivering lectures promoting veganism in cities and towns throughout Iowa (whew!!), we traveled through countless thousands of acres of soybean fields. We found out that only one small field in the entire state grew soybeans that were used for tofu and soymilk for humans; virtually the entire vast Iowa soy crop was squandered to fatten cows, pigs, and other enslaved animals who were hidden away in their stinking sheds and feedlots far from the major roads. In contrast to this, Russia has been encouraging small-scale family gardens (“dachas”), and these dachas have been an amazing success. They now supply 93 percent of Russia’s potatoes, and 80 percent of all vegetables and fruits! This could be our future as well, if we understand and act. By reducing vast expanses of our precious forests and prairies to toxic monocultures used to feed mistreated animals we are pressured into eating, we create the ongoing conditions of psychological, ethical, ecological, cultural, and spiritual disconnectedness. This prevents us, as a society, from understanding the roots of our unyielding dilemmas. The violence on our plates reverberates through our bodies, our minds, our culture, and throughout our world. How can we or our elected representatives act wisely while the blood that is running through our veins is polluted with hormones, drugs, pesticide residue, cholesterol, and the fear, panic, and psychotic depression of the animals we eat? It is way beyond time for all of us in our culture to look behind the curtain of institutional denial and bring the light of compassion and awareness to our meals. Everyone in our culture feels it, I think—the existential doubt, visceral and haunting, about the future of our earth and our way of living. We feel it, but it’s just too much.
Our Future Is Vegan By Dr. Will Tuttle, Ph.D. So, we turn away and focus on the familiar distractions, turning up the volume to drown out the inner knowing. Yet our sanity longs for truth. More than anything else, veganism is truth. It is the truth of awareness: of what it takes to get food on our plates; of the implications of our routine actions; of our interconnectedness with all beings; and of our radiant essential nature, free, awake, loving, merciful, and wise. Everywhere the truth is popping up! It’s increasingly difficult to avoid hearing and seeing the obvious. Eating animal foods destroys the Earth. It drives global climate breakdown. It drives species extinction, ocean depletion, forest devastation, disease, soil loss, water pollution, acidification, toxification, despair, and the mentality of exploitation and elitism and war. Like the rising sun, the truth is shining brighter every day, revealing the interconnections. Bringing healing, insight, and understanding. And we are awakening. Veganism is the stark and liberating solution to the omnivore’s dilemma, the cultural conundrum bearing down ever more relentlessly as our massive violence toward animals and the Earth and future generations ripens before our eyes. Happiness, peace, and freedom flow from nonviolence. We are all connected, and our joy is in blessing others. I don’t know how it will happen, but this I know in my bones: our future is veganism. Our future selves are vegans – delightedly and powerfully aware of the ancient truth of our magnificence. We are not shrinking, reducing, commodifying, cruel and numb people who heartlessly destroy the Earth and the sacred web of life—who have no future and have lost our purpose by stealing the purposes of others. We are consciousness, grace, kindness, creative inspiration, joy, and understanding. When light shines, darkness simply disappears without a trace. No fight is required. Letting the light shine through, breathing deeply and fully, we partake of the infinite, moment after moment.
Our Future Is Vegan By Dr. Will Tuttle, Ph.D. This, then, is the situation in a nutshell: We are all beings of light and awareness and love, born into a culture of violence, ignorance, and exclusion. We take on its darkness and fear, and the core ritual used by our culture to effect this is our daily meals. We are forced to participate in routine killing by eating the flesh of imprisoned, terrified animals. Our path to freedom lies in freeing these animals. Veganism is the feminine wisdom of interconnectedness, the spiritual and practical key to happiness and peace for all. She is our future. She is beckoning to us. We all live on the road—the road to vegan living and to the harmony, sustainability, freedom, and co-creative celebration shining within.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Will Tuttle, Ph.D., composer, pianist, and Zen priest, is author of The World Peace Diet and is cofounder of Karuna Music & Art and the Prayer Circle for Animals. Learn more about Dr. Will Tuttle’s World Peace Diet Mastery and Facilitator Training Programs here.
Ordinary People/
Extraordinary Results Interview with Rory Freedman
Interview With Rory Freedman Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series
VegWorld Interview with
Rory Freedman
Bestselling Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series
VegWorld (VW): This month we have an exclusive interview with Rory Freedman, co-author of the New York Times bestselling book, Skinny Bitch. Rory will talk about how she has educated millions all over the world about the vegan lifestyle. So, let’s talk about your background and how you found the path to veganism and spreading the word about animal rights. Rory Freedman (RF): Well, fifteen years ago, I read an article about factory farming and slaughter houses. Until that point, I had called myself an animal lover but never really considered how animals are mistreated and tortured. When I learned about this, I was horrified. I cried my eyes out at my kitchen table and thought how could I ever eat meat again? At that moment, I decided to become a vegetarian. I had never had any interest in health or nutrition before. However, after I made that first step into vegetarianism, it opened the door to my interest in nutrition. So, from that point on I began to read and study everything that I could on this topic. And, I have not looked back.
Interview With Rory Freedman Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series VW: Were you modeling at the time? RF: No, I was in college at the time. It was 15 years ago. I became a vegetarian overnight and became somewhat active in animal rights. Then, I graduated from college and remained a vegetarian but did not really spread the message about it. Then, about 10 years later, I went to this factory farming conference that was being sponsored by an animal rights group. And, I sat there watching the video footage and crying my eyes out. I thought how could this be? I also felt that I could no longer be a part of this. So, then I stopped eating dairy and became a vegan. However, I also felt that it was not enough for me just to become vegan or vegetarian. I knew that I had to do more. So, I began to get the word out about this lifestyle and to educate others. I wanted to do everything that I could to end the suffering of animals. Eventually I had the idea to write a book about factory farming. I figured that if people knew what happens on factory farms and in slaughterhouses that they would not ever want to eat meat again. But, the problem would be to get people to actually read such a book. I figured that by giving the book a really stupid title like, Skinny Bitch, that it would get the attention of main stream people. There are so many women out there who want to be thin, so this title could get their attention as well as other mainstream people. I did not want to preach to the choir with this book. VW: So, educating yourself and watching these videos, that was enough to make you want to act? RF: Yeah. I cannot imagine anyone watching a chicken having her beak torn off with a hot blade, nor a cow being branded and screaming in pain, nor chicks 1 or 2 days old being thrown away alive as trash if they are male. How could anyone know about this and not act? Before this, I had been working at Ford Modeling Agency in New York, but I quit this job to become a full time animal rights activist. However, I did not have anything lined up. I thought that the Universe would open up to me and that there would be a job for me as an animal rights activist since this is the path that I am supposed to be on. Nevertheless, I remained unemployed and could not understand why. VW: This is when you met your co-author? RF: Yes, it was about 12 years ago that I met Kim. We bonded over food. We both used to eat like pigs but then changed our diets to the vegan diet. I never imagined
Interview With Rory Freedman Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series that the two of us would ever work together on a project together. But, I called her and she agreed to do the research for the nutritional aspect of the book while I focused on the animal rights part of it. VW: She was a model too? RF: Yes, she was a model. We met at the modeling agency. I was her agent. VW: The idea of Skinny Bitch has really taken off. I have been approached a lot about that book. To what do you attribute to the success of Skinny Bitch? RF: First off, I think we were really lucky. Also, the title helped. We were able to write a book and place this very serious information inside of it but to give it a title that did not reveal what it was really about. Also, the artwork on the cover was great. And, these things drew people in. So, once they read the book, the information was so upsetting, compelling, and life-changing for them. I am not a doctor or scientist. I am just a regular girl who likes to eat and who likes to swear a lot. So, I wrote the book how I talk. As a result, it was easy for people to read. When the book first came out, we did not have any publicity, only word of mouth. And, the book was able to become an LA Times bestseller. We have been really lucky. We have been on the NY Times bestseller list for two years, and now we have 5 books out. So, our message is still circulating out there. VW: So, you have got Skinny Bitch: the No Nonsense guide for girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous? RF: Right, and then we have Skinny Bitch in the Kitch which is a recipe book, then we have Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven which is a guide for pregnant women, then we have Skinny Bitchin which is a fun motivational self help guide, and we also have Skinny Bastard. VW: It’s amazing that you have come out with so much in the past two years. RF: Yes, it’s really been exhausting. Our publisher has been great- really helpful, supportive, and enthusiastic. When I first had the idea for Skinny Bitch, I wrote out a list of all of the follow-up titles that I wanted to write once I had Skinny Bitch up and running. We are really happy to have those 5 titles out, and there is more that I would like to do. But, writing books is so taxing. Skinny Bitch was the biggest labor of love while the rest were really hard to come up with- though all of them were labors of love. Now, I really feel that I need to sit back and to become creative again, to let the universe guide me on what I should do next.
Interview With Rory Freedman Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series VW: Yes, well you have definitely received a lot of abundance. It’s incredible. So, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch is a recipe book right? RF: Yes VW: And, Skinny Bitch with Bun in the Oven, that’s a guide to pregnancy? RF: Yes, a guide for regular women while they are pregnant. An A to Z guide on how to eat and enjoy your food while you are pregnant; to eat such that your baby will develop properly.
VW: And it advocates the vegan diet? RF: Yes. VW: So, did you meet with any resistance on this book from the medical community or from the mainstream who say that you need meat to help a baby grow? RF: Yes, it is very frustrating at times, people who are interviewing you or who are reviewing the book and having these views. And, sometimes, they have not even read the book. So, I may get reviews like ‘A vegan diet? That’s crazy, what’s next?’ But, for the most part the reviews have been good –from people who have read the book. They can see that the information is all backed by scientific research and not by me just pulling stuff out of the sky. VW: Your publisher sent me all the books in advance. The only one that I did not get to read was Skinny Bastard. What was the intention behind Skinny Bastard? RF: The same intention as Skinny Bitch, but to get the word out to men about the vegan diet; that they can still be manly and muscular on a vegan diet. We have had the same positive response from Skinny Bastard as from Skinny Bitch. People open it up, read it and are just really motivated and inspired by the information to change their diet. VW: Yes, it’s amazing how many mainstream people have transitioned to a vegan diet by reading your book. You use such a straight forward language style. What do you find to be the best technique to educate those in our lives and those around us? RF: I think that you have to be a really good listener and tailor your message to whoever is around you. If I am talking to a big beefy guy who is into working out, I am not going to talk to him about methane emissions from animals on factory farms
Interview With Rory Freedman Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series and how that is ruining the environment more so than too many cars on the road. He doesn’t care. So, I am going to talk to him about the vegan athletes that I know. I will also talk to him about the ultra-marathoners- the hardest working athletes on the planet- that the ones who are the most successful are vegan. If I meet a woman who calls herself an animal lover, I will talk to her about what goes on in a slaughter house or on a factory farm and how she could not possibly be an animal lover if she is still eating meat. So, the best thing that people can do is to be very patient, kind, and gentle. Try not to be too antagonistic. I have made this mistake myself. I have to remind myself that it took time for me to get on the path to veganism. So, others have to do things in their time as well. We give them the information and shine like beacons of light, and then they will come to this path. VW: How has your family responded? Are they vegan? RF: I am very lucky. Both of my parents are vegan. VW: Wow! RF: It was not an easy, overnight process. I showed them the same information that I had been exposed to. It took them a while. They gave up beef first, but it took them a while to get off of fish and dairy. But, after I sent them the book The China Study, they became vegan. My parents have really embraced the vegan lifestyle. My sister is mostly vegetarian. And, for us, it has been a bumpy road. She does not want me trying to enforce my will upon her. She is on her own path. Occasionally she will have fish or dairy- but she knows the information. Hopefully one day she will get there. VW: It’s great that you have inspired your family. My family still eats meat. I have tried all of the tactics. RF: Well, I cannot take all of the credit. It’s the kind of people that they are. They were willing and open to the information. They love it. My parents are the biggest foodies. They send me emails and call me all the time to tell me about vegan restaurants. They are totally into it. VW: There was never a more comprehensive study done on nutrition than The China Study. That book is incredible. RF: It is mind blowing. It is such a great resource, especially for intellectuals. All of the citations in The China Study are peer reviewed. It is an invaluable resource for people like us.
Interview With Rory Freedman Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series VW: You also have the fitness boot camp DVD. You want to talk a bit about that? RF: We did three workout DVDs. We did “Skinny Bitch Boot Camp”, “Skinny Bitch Body”, and “Skinny Bitch Booty Bounce”. They were a lot of fun- just Kim and I working out, goofing off, trying to inspire and motivate people to work out. The vegan diet alone is not effective. We also have to move our bodies.
VW: What are your plans for the future? Have you received any more inspirations? RF: I have. After Skinny Bastard came out, we did some media publicity. Then, I felt that I needed to take some time off. So, I went to Europe for 2 months. I went backpacking and totally unplugged. During that time, I had an idea for a new book. It’s a fiction book, a total departure from the Skinny Bitch concept. I don’t have a publisher yet, and I haven’t pitched it yet. So, we will see how it goes. I am excited about it. My full purpose for being on this is planet is to get people to stop contributing to the torture and mistreatment of animals whether it is in food, fashion, entertainment, etc. I also want to publish a “PG” version of Skinny Bitch, to reach younger children with the message. VW: Did you have a background in writing? RF: No, I had never written anything before other than letters about animal rights to various entities. However, my mom did a lot of writing when I was growing up and would ask me to read it and edit it. So, I developed a part of my brain that is able to write. I would not say that I enjoy it. Writing is torture!
Interview With Rory Freedman Author of the “Skinny Bitch” Series VW: How much time do you allocate towards writing? For example, how much time would it take to write a fiction book? RF: A general rule of thumb is to give yourself about a year to write a book and the publisher another year to get it on the shelf. But, sometimes it is hard to motivate yourself to write. Nevertheless, I am excited to be getting back into writing again. VW: Can you give some advice to our readers on how to influence those around them to come to the vegan lifestyle? How do we get the word out about animal rights? RF: It is up to people like us to pave the way for others and to show people how rewarding this lifestyle is. There was no reason for me to think that I would have a successful series of books. But, if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. All that you have to do is to get quiet and to learn what you were put here to do on this earth. And, then do what you have to do to implement it. It is up to each one of us to make the world into the place that we want it to be. ABOUT RORY Rory Freedman is the author of #1 NY Times bestseller “Skinny Bitch”. With five books on the shelves, three million copies in print, translations in twenty-seven languages, two years on the NY Times Best Seller List, and numerous TV and radio appearances, she set out to bring veganism to the masses. You can find all of Rory’s books and DVDs here.
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WHY IS VEGAN BECOMING MAINSTREAM?
Why is Vegan becoming
Mainstream? Ten years ago, the word vegan might have evoked for you an image of a scrawny, palefaced youth who most likely smoked pot and ate nothing but pasta and lettuce.
T
oday however, this image has been transformed into that of someone with golden glowing skin and a chiseled body gleaming with health, youth, and vitality. Eating a vegan diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is associated with low incidences of nearly every type of disease. Cancer patients and people with heart disease are healing themselves with plant-based diets. Even chronic diseases like diabetes and Crohn’s disease are being stopped in their tracks with this switch to veganism.
Fortunately the medical community and our society at large are beginning to recognize the very real results people have when they make these diet changes. It simply can’t be ignored, especially when we have so many celebrities in the mainstream media helping veganism gain popularity and credence. Olympic gold medal winner Carl Lewis, famous boxer Mike Tyson, former president Bill Clinton, and countless stars like Samuel L. Jackson, Liv Tyler, Ellen Degeneres, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Scarlett Johanson, Ozzy Osbourne, and Alyssa Milano all know the benefits a vegan diet has
E R TU A FE on their health and their public support
of veganism is helping to change many lives. There are even several celebrities who have embraced a raw vegan diet! Robin Williams, Nathalie Portman, Uma Thurman, Jason Mraz and Woody Harrelson have all been heard talking about their raw diets and the amazing health they’ve since come to know as normal. The thing is—it is normal. There’s a good reason that most of us know someone who is vegan or who’s at least dabbled with vegetarianism. While the media has a lot to do with this sudden acceptance of veganism, the real-life results speak for themselves. Despite the debate over whether humans thrive on a diet without meat, the facts are overwhelmingly in support of a wellplanned vegan diet filled with fresh fruits, greens, and vegetables. These are the foods that are provided to us by the earth to meet our nutritional needs. What could be simpler or more intuitive than that? Dozens of films have been produced
WHY IS VEGAN BECOMING MAINSTREAM?
over the past few years to help usher in a growing awareness of the problems with the standard American diet, as well as the healing power of vegan and raw vegan diets. The most well known is “Supersize Me”, in which Morgan Spurlock decides to make himself the guinea pig in an experiment that clearly demonstrates the damage done by eating fast food. While being followed around by a team of doctors, Morgan commits to eating nothing but McDonalds food for an entire month. During this time he gains about 24 pounds, experiences dangerously elevated cholesterol levels, and watches his health go down the drain. His doctors urge him to stop, but he finishes out the whole month-long commitment. It took him another 14 months on a strict vegan diet to undo the damage done in that month. Then there’s “Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead”, which follows Joe Cross through his journey from obesity and depression to radiant health with the help of juice fasting and a raw vegan diet. We watch
E R TU A FE Joe lose weight and transform his health
WHY IS VEGAN BECOMING MAINSTREAM?
along with that of everyone around him. “Forks Over Knives” explores the perplexing dichotomy between our advances in medicine and the fact that more people than ever are suffering from chronic and degenerative diseases and terminal illnesses. It all points to a logical conclusion. Let’s see if you can guess what that conclusion is.
our graves, it’s the graves of the future.” It’s a heavy statement. But when three random people are challenged to go vegan for six weeks, their journey through fisheries, slaughterhouses, and the discovery of the toll meat eating takes on our environment and health takes these individuals passed the point of no return. After all, how can we go back after we’ve been shown the truth.
“Get Vegucated” (see story on pg. 69) begs us to consider the fact that “We are digging more graves with our forks than with anything else and it’s not just
Now I challenge you to ask yourself: Does my refrigerator look like a garden or a morgue? You are what you eat. Are you eating for life?
Reviews and
Recommendations Vegworld-Pick-Of-The-Month
VegWorld’s Pick Of The Month
VegWorld’s
Pick of the Month Get Vegucated!
VegWorld’s Pick Of The Month
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egucated is a feature-length documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks. There’s Brian, the bacon-loving bachelor who eats out all the time, Ellen, the single mom who prefers comedy to cooking, and Tesla, the college student who avoids vegetables and bans beans. They have no idea that so much more than steak is at stake and that the fate of the world may fall on their plates. Lured with true tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover hidden sides of animal agriculture and soon start to wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. Before long, they find themselves risking everything to expose an industry they supported just weeks before. But can their conviction carry them when times get tough? What about on family vacations fraught with skeptical step-dads, carnivorous cousins, and breakfast buffets? Part sociological experiment, part science class, and part adventure story, Vegucated showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who share one journey and ultimately discover their own paths in creating a kinder, cleaner, greener world, one bite at a time.
Take home your own copy of Vegucated here.