Plant Based Diet Arguments

Hi everyone,

This post is dedicated to a few arguments that help when meat eaters dig into us plant eaters which upsets me but it happens. I got these from an amazing website! http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/natural.html

-Our so-called "canine teeth" are "canine" in name only.  Other plant-eaters (like gorillas, horses, and hippos) have "canines", and chimps, who are almost exclusively vegan, have massive canines compared to ours.

-Our early ancestors from at least four million years ago were almost exclusively vegetarian.

-Our omnivorism means we're capable of eating meat (useful from a survival standpoint if that's all that's available), but our bodies aren't geared for it to be a normal, significant part of our diets.

-The animals most similar to us, the other primates, eat an almost exclusively vegan diet (and their main non-plant food often isn't meat, it's termites).

-Our teeth, saliva, stomach acid, and intestines are most similar to other plant-eaters, and dissimilar to carnivores and true omnivores.

-Among animals, plant-eaters have the longest lifespans, and humans are certainly in that category (and yes, this was true even before modern medicine).

-We sleep about the same amount of time as other herbivores, and less than carnivores and true omnivores.

-The most common cause of choking deaths is eating meat. (source) Real carnivores and omnivores don't have that problem.

Thursday

Hi everyone! It's Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday! YES. I've had a fine week, nothing too crazy. I've been reading Alicia Silverstone's book, The Kind Diet-it's amazing!! I love it just as much as Crazy, Sexy, Diet by Kris Carr. Truly enlightening! So not only am I reading this fantastic book but I've turned my best friend Stephanie on to CSD! And she ordered the Kind Diet! It's a true miracle because she has several small health problems and i'm just confident this will help! The other exciting part of this blog is that I finally signed up for the Institute of Integrative Nutrition! I'M SO EXCITED. I'm finally taking another to step to get myself off the ground as a personal health coach! I suppose that's all for today. Hoping tomorrow will be fabulous!

Veggie Chat

Good afternoon everyone! Hopefully we can combat the Monday blues! I have been trying to write this blog for over a week and I'm determined to get it in today (yeah definitely published this on Thursday...). As we know all vegetables are amazing but I wanted to let everyone know about some that are extra amazing, at least when fighting (cue scary horror music in background) cancer! Below is a list of cruciferous vegetables, known as such because their flowers have four equally spaced petals in the shape of a cross. But enough about their looks the exciting part is their insides! All vegetables contain micro nutrients and phytochemicals, but these guys also have sulfur containing compounds. (normally when I think of sulfur i think of those terrible smelling yellow nuggets in high school chem class!-but that doesn't apply to these vegetables!) When you blend or chop the vegetables the sulfur compounds to isothiocyanates (ITCs) which are compounds with proven anti-cancer activities. These compounds remove carcinogens, kill cancer cells, and some have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, or immunologic effects (helps your immune system function better). There is so much more information on these but I figure this will due for now. Let me know if you'd like more! Below is a list of the veggies that are in this category.


List of cruciferous vegetables:
•    Arugula
•    Bok choy
•    Broccoli
•    Broccoli rabe
•    Broccolini
•    Brussels sprouts
•    Cabbage
•    Cauliflower
•    Collards
•    Horseradish
•    Kale
•    Kohlrabi
•    Mache
•    Mustard greens
•    Radish
•    Red cabbage
•    Rutabaga
•    Turnips
•    Turnip greens
•    Watercress

Stop, listen, close your eyes and just breathe.

Well today is tough, I guess a lot of days here are tough. I mean tough is a relative word-compared to so many others I have it quite easy, I really do but it's still a daily struggle to keep myself above water, to not be depressed.  I'm trying to focus on the good but it's very hard since even that is slightly cloudy. I'm trying to figure out how to be a nutrition guru and support myself, should I be a yoga/pilates instructor? A personal trainer? Go for the next 7-10 years (literally) to get another bachelors and masters in Nutrition? Go to this amazing holistic cooking school (but what to do with that and how to pay for it)? Go for another one of these holistic nutrition schools? And if so, which one? How to pay for it? Is it accredited? Do I care? Should I get another job? What about my planned trip to Israel, how's that going to work? So that's where I'm at-not to mention I'm struggling with this economics class I have to take for the second bachelors-which I shouldn't have to, I already did my undergrad!

Anyway those are my rants for the day, that actually helped, to get out all of the negative energy, I'm going to focus on the positive, on the exciting, on the amazing possibilities, NOT on the present (meaning sitting here at a desk, not working where I want to be-helping people), not on how much I dislike certain things in my life, I'm going to focus on the amazing opportunities that are ahead of me! I'm going to push hard to keep it positive today! I'm going to an amazing restaurant with my friend from work Erin who feels the same way about food that I do-so that's fantastic. I am going to be productive at work today; I am going to read some of my economics, tomorrow I'm going to try to come up with questions for the T.A. so he can help me. Everything is going to be great! I haven't figured it all out yet but again only focusing on the positive!-it's just too slippery a slope right now to not do it! Everything will turn out wonderfully I’m confident, and I believe that because I have a good heart, a smart mind and I want to do good in the world. If I project positive energy and light and optimistic thoughts, I will enjoy my journey and what I need to be doing will gravitate towards me. Shine your bright dazzling light and the universe will shine brilliant positive light right back at you.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

"Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable."

-Wendy Wasserstein

"If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price."

-Author Unknown

"We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies."

-Roderick Thorp

Day #2 of Vegan eating

Good morning everyone! Day two of my own personal Vegan journey. I have to say, anyone who wants to go Vegan the BEST way to do it is to have Anita cook for you for four days and Kalima help you to truly LOVE YOUR BODY just the way it is! So I'm still on the high from the most amazing, eye opening weekend! I didn't have time to meditate this morning but I'm not overly concerned, I did get to shower (normally I shower at night) and that is a meditation in itself! So it will be a struggle today to not get depressed as I have a long day and it involves sitting at this job for 8 hours but I can do it! Last night I made one of Anita's dressings, a fantastic Vegan Blue Cheese-my boyfriend's brother LOVED it so hopefully I'll enjoy it as I didn't really taste it last night. Recipe is below:


Anita’s Raw Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing

1 avocado

1/4 cup raw cashews

3 tbp lemon juice

1 tsp horseradish

1/2 tsp each salt and pepper, or to taste

1/3 cup to 1/2 cup water, depending on desired consistency

optional: 1 tbp nutritional yeast

Blend all ingredients on high speed until smooth. Adjust seasoning, if necessary, or add a splash of water to get a thinner consistency, and re-blend. Pour onto your favorite salad and toss, or serve alongside crudites.

How tasty does that sound?! And indeed it is! What a great resource!

Day#1 of Vegan Eating!

Well today is the first day (on my own at least) that I'll be living a Vegan lifestyle! I just returned from the most amazing Love Your Body retreat run by two amazing women, Kalima Harvey and Anita Shepard. They each have their own amazing skills that brought all five of us participants that were there immense joy and peace. I have learned so much about food and how to really 'love your body'! I thought I was pretty up on most things nutrition and most things related to exercise-but NOPE I have learned so much and really how to let go of any of the 'bullshit' that I carry around, the rigid pole along my spine has finally been broken! I'm so ready to do everything and try new things and just be a new and inspired person! I'm sure I'll have more tomorrow or at least Thursday-since I'm going to a book signing for a fantastic Vegan chef in Brooklyn! Now those of you that know me, Brooklyn is normally NOT my hang out-I'm normally SUPER anti Brooklyn actually, but in all reality, that's silly-2370's 'incident' happened 5 years ago and since Brooklyn has really become an amazing place! lol. On that positive note I'm going to sign off to meet a friend with a code red :( Enjoy food everyone!
L

Food!

Good morning! I started this blog on Feb 15th and am finishing it today-going to try for another one throughout the day :) I decided today is the day to start my wonderful blog! I might overuse my allotted amount of exclamation points for the day in this blog because I'm thrilled to be writing about fitness and/or nutrition! So I'm not always sure I'll have something interesting to say but it's sure worth a try!

So for today's breakfast I had what is pictured above, Agave nectar, steel cut oats, soy protein, flax seeds and cinnamon. This is a fantastic breakfast as it is very filling, tasty and healthy! There are several healthy components of this breakfast but for this blog I'm just going to highlight Flax seeds-the rest of the amazing things the rest of the ingredients can do will be highlighted at a later date:

Flax Seeds: These can be healthy because they contain the following:*

 

Omega-3 essential fatty acids, "good" fats that have been shown to have heart-healthy effects. Each tablespoon of ground flax seed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s.

Lignans, which have both plant estrogen and antioxidant qualities. Flax seed contains 75- 800 times more lignans than other plant foods

Fiber. Flax seed contains both the soluble and insoluble types

Not only do they contain all of these things but there has been some research to show that flax could possible reduce the risks of certain cancers as well as cardiovascular disease and lung disease.

*Source: WebMD