The Mindful Vegan shows the way to transforming your relationship with food

Lani Muelrath Shows You How to Fuel Change From the Inside Out

Do you struggle with your weight, compliance with endless diets, and guilt with every slip up? In her insightful, beautifully written book The Mindful Vegan, author Lani Muelrath shares how she got past these inner battles. Like her, you can develop a peaceful, enjoyable relationship with healthy food.

In The Mindful Vegan, Lani shows you step-by-step, day-by-day, how to cultivate mindfulness and use it to quiet your own inner clashes. It’s not so much that you win the battles, as that the battles lose their hold on you as you incorporate mindfulness into your daily life. You don’t need to build will power (or “won’t power,” for cravings and binges) because the entire basis of your relationship with eating is shifted.

Lani lays out a 30 day plan to build mindfulness skills, with the result being significant internal and external changes within a month as you continue your busy life. You start out with one minute of meditation a day, building to thirty minutes a day after a month.

With a chapter for each of the thirty days, Lani gives patient guidance on a wide range of topics relating to mindfulness meditation, being vegan, and developing a comfortable relationship with food. The Mindful Vegan is crammed with practical advice and information that will be useful for both beginners and those who have been

Author Lani Muelrath has much experience with both mindfulness practice and vegan living

meditating a while. Just as important, the book inspires you with stories, quotes, and a joyful vision of life.

Lani doesn’t hesitate to take on the tough issues of cravings and out-of-control eating. These are rooted in deeper problems, which you must get to the root of to break free. You won’t be successful for long in just white-knuckling your way through resisting that urge for a bag of cookies or chips. As Lani writes in relating her own struggles, “I wanted to live more freely and joyfully around food, not spend my time strategizing how to hide from chocolate. Mindfulness delivered this in a way no other “program” had approached before. It is what allowed me to give up dieting for good and mindfully turn to my natural hunger and fullness signals instead. It is what made it possible for me to open to the pure enjoyment of eating, shed a fair amount of poundage and the inner discomfort surrounding it, and sustain these changes for decades.”

For Lani, mindfulness is a tool to achieve your goals in life, and, just as important, an end in itself, leading to moments of pure joy and appreciation for life. Discover this power with her in The Mindful Vegan.

You don’t need to go on a silent retreat or get up at 3 am to meditate. Lani shows you how to fit meditation into your own home and busy life

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read my review of Lani’s prior book, The Plant-Based Journey.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based diet that fits right into mindful food choices.

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Veggie Planet will make you an informed and confident vegan traveler, whether at home or thousands of miles away

Veggie Planet, by world traveler Wendy Werneth, shows you how to enjoy tasty plant-based food from 11 cuisines. Wendy includes easy-to-find foods you probably never knew existed from countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as Mexico. This highly readable, upbeat, and fun book is excellent for anyone who enjoys trying new and flavorful options, at home or while traveling, regardless of their current diet.

Wendy has traveled to 100 countries, and has been vegan for several years. She shows you that vegan travel is a treasure hunt crammed with numerous rewards, from snacks at street vendors, to meals at restaurants, to authentic home-cooked traditional dishes that the locals regularly eat.  Her many food descriptions will allow you to enjoy food in abundance, even at places that are only “accidentally vegan.”

Not a world traveler? Wendy tells you how to find flavors you might never have known about in restaurants you can choose while touring around the US, or even near your own home.

WENDY, YOUR VEGAN TRAVEL TOUR GUIDE

I had met Wendy through her information-packed site, thenomadicvegan.com, and connected with her to ask her more about Veggie Planet. I was interested in why she is such an avid traveler. She let me know “What I like best about traveling is exploring new places, cultures, and cuisines, and learning to look at the world through a different lens. Travel really is the world’s best teacher. And actually, veganism offers the same thing. Becoming vegan completely changed my worldview and enabled me to connect with nature and with my fellow earthlings in a way I never had before. By combining travel with veganism, I’m able to view the world through a whole new window and experience places in a way that most other tourists don’t.”

Veggie Planet is full of useful words and phrases for vegan travelers, as well as links for pronunciation. I asked

Wendy Werneth is an enthusiastic vegan traveler who has journeyed in 100 countries. This photo was taken in Thailand

Wendy about her love of languages.  She responded, “I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I’ve mastered any foreign language, but I can order food and hold a conversation in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese.  I also know some basic Russian.

I’ve been fascinated by languages ever since high school. My love for languages and my love for travel really go hand in hand and feed off of each other. There’s no better way to learn a language than by immersing yourself in a culture where it’s spoken, and there’s no better way to immerse yourself in a culture than by learning to speak the local language.”

As she travels, Wendy has found many people around the world are curious about her vegan choices. “When interacting with people, I’m always aware that I might be the first vegan this person has ever met. So I try to be a good ambassador for the movement and show that I am grateful for whatever they are able to serve me, even if it’s just some boiled vegetables.”

Wendy will be leading on-the-ground vegan tours soon, as she shared with me. “I’m excited to announce that, in 2018, I will be leading two vegan tours in collaboration with Veg Jaunts and Journeys. The first tour is to Lisbon and surrounding sights in Portugal, and that will be in June 2018. The second tour is to Italy, which is my favorite country in the world. In addition to Rome, we will also be visiting the historic walled city of Lucca and the many

Wendy’s love for animals is a major force in her choice to be vegan

medieval, Renaissance, and baroque sights of Bologna. Our visit to Bologna will be timed to coincide with VeganFest, which is the largest vegan event in the world!”

LOTS OF RESOURCES

One of the most useful aspects of  Veggie Planet is the abundant resources to hone your vegan traveling and cooking skills.  For each chapter, Wendy lists plentiful resources relating to the cuisine she just described. These include cultural and historical tidbits, cookbooks, restaurants, and local veg groups (often on Facebook) that you can contact to get more local resources.

In the conclusion of Veggie Planet, Wendy shares even more tips for plant-based traveling and information on why you would want to thrive on veg food choices. She suggests books, films, podcasts, websites, apps, and more.

With so many ideas for new foods in an array of cuisines, you might have trouble deciding what to try first. I suggest

Veggie Planet’s list of cuisines includes Ethiopian. You will learn how to get amazing meals such as this one

choosing one of the countries in the book that is convenient for you, whether through traveling, nearby restaurants, or recipes you’d like to try. Then experience a couple of Wendy’s suggestions, and move on from there to more and more yummy choices. Enjoy!

If you are excited about vegan travel, you may want to read my earlier interview with Wendy Werneth.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based diet that you can feast on at home or traveling.

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Both men and women may suffer from imbalances in estrogen and testosterone. Lifestyle changes may make a big difference.

How Can You Keep Your Hormones At the Best Levels?

Modern lifestyles contribute to unbalanced, excessive, or deficient levels of estrogen, testosterone, and other sex hormones in men and women. This may result in unpleasant outcomes – such as low sex drive or infertility – as well as to dangerous diseases – including cancer and heart disease. Here’s key information you need to make choices to help keep your sex hormones balanced.

You might not be aware that women produce and use testosterone, and men produce and use estrogen. The bodies of both sexes can convert testosterone into estrogen. So all sex hormones are important to you, whether you are male or female.

Balancing Strategy One: Carefully Consider Before Taking Supplementary Hormones

Some people have diagnosed medical conditions which may be treated with supplementary estrogen or testosterone. Before deciding whether to use hormones if you have one of these conditions, be sure you thoroughly understand potential benefits and risks, and weigh these carefully. Consider if there are alternative evidence-based treatments. If you use oral contraceptives, be sure to understand possible side-effects.

Millions of people seek supplementary hormones for vague purposes, such as weight loss, low energy, or a quest to

Hormone supplements should be taken only after a careful analysis of benefits and risks. The risks are likely to outweigh the benefits if you are taking hormones for “recreational” reasons such as building muscle or losing weight

regain lost youthfulness. In this case, the risks are likely to outweigh potential benefits. This is true regardless of whether you use FDA-approved or compounded “bioidentical” hormones.

The National Toxicology Program of the Department of Health and Human Services classifies estrogen as a know human carcinogen, associated with both uterine and breast cancer. Supplementary or excessive estrogen has also been linked to ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, dementia, and stroke.

The dangers of testosterone supplements are not as well understood, with studies finding different outcomes.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires labeling of prescription testosterone products for safety risks affecting the heart and mental health, as well as the potential for abuse. If you take these supplements, benefits, if any, may be small and fleeting. A recent medical journal editorial titled “Testosterone and Male Aging: Faltering Hope for Rejuvenation” states “the sole unequivocal indication for testosterone treatment is as replacement therapy for men with …organic disorders of the reproductive system.”

Balancing Strategy Two: Avoid Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are capable of altering the production and/or function of many hormones.

Many kinds of human activities can produce estrogen disrupting chemicals

Interference with estrogen is the most-studied impact. EDCs are everywhere in modern environments, including pesticides, plastics, flame retardants, food, clothes, fragrances, pharmaceuticals, cooking and eating items, and personal care and cleaning products. Adverse effects of EDCs can be developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune-related. Even tiny amounts can be harmful.

Common sense strategies to minimize endocrine disruptors in your life include consuming organic food, avoiding pesticides, using stainless steel, glass, or ceramic cookware and storage containers, staying away from air pollution whenever possible, washing new clothes before you wear them, and avoiding personal care, cosmetics, and cleaning products with added fragrance (other than plant oils) and chemicals with long names you can’t pronounce.

One of the most important ways to keep endocrine disruptors out of your body is to avoid animal foods. This is because most endocrine disruptors are fat soluble and accumulate in magnified amounts in animal fat. For example, the Institute of Medicine states that, for the EDCs dioxins, “consumption of animal fats is thought to be the primary pathway for human exposure. In humans, dioxins are metabolized slowly and accumulate in body fat over a lifetime.” This brings me to strategy three.

Balancing Strategy Three: Avoid Eating Animal Foods

All animal foods contain sex hormones, which are often identical to the human versions. This is true even for animals raised without added hormones. All animals – including mammals, birds, and fish – need hormones for their own functioning. The hormones they produce become part of their tissues and secretions, which you consume if you eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs, or dairy.

All animal foods contain hormones, whether the animal was fed additional hormones or not. You might already be aware of this for meat, dairy, and eggs, but it holds for fish as well.

Typically, the sex hormones you consume in highest quantities vary with the type of animal food.  Dairy and eggs contain the largest amounts of estrogen. For dairy, the soaring estrogen levels are tied to the fact that modern dairy cows are pregnant most of the year, and during pregnancy females become major estrogen producers. Testosterone exposure is strongly related to eating both meat and eggs (and remember your body may convert the testosterone to estrogen).

Hormones in animal foods are absorbed into your body. One study had adult men and children who had not yet reached puberty drink about 20 ounces of cow’s milk. Both the men and the children had elevated levels of estrogen and progesterone (another female hormone) in both their blood and their urine after consuming the milk. Testosterone secretion was suppressed in the men.

A series of studies considered the changes in diet in Japan after World War II. In the fifty years from 1947 to 1997, intake of milk, meat, and eggs increased 20-, 10-, and 7-fold respectively. During that time, the death rate from breast cancer roughly doubled, and from ovarian cancer increased by a factor of four. The death rate from prostate cancer increased 25-fold. The researchers consider the estrogen in dairy may have been responsible for these dramatic increases in reproductive cancer death.

All three strategies to balance your sex hormones are important. Avoiding animal foods may be the most powerful – and the most overlooked.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to understand why whole plant foods are also such a potent “anti-aging” tool.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based diet and tells you why it works. A version of this article (also authored by Janice Stanger) was published on the Forks Over Knives site under a different title.

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When, if ever, is it a good idea to “spring clean” your body? How could this be harmful?

Is “Spring Cleaning” Your Body Ever a Good Idea?

The idea of detoxifying your body may be appealing, and heaps of commercial products crowd the market to tap into this desire. A google search for “detox diet products” brought up 2,220,000 results in less than a second.

“Detox diet” is a loose term, which may include everything from water fasting to juice fasting to eating restricted amounts of specified foods. These diets may last anywhere from a day to weeks, or even longer. Some involve prescribing profitable supplements and other products, while others rely on home remedies.

One thing pretty much all these diets have in common is their vague claims. For example, you may be promised you’ll “get rid of toxins” (which toxins?) or  “cleanse your body” (of what, and has rigorous science shows this is true?).  The hope is you won’t ask too many critical questions.

There are three main reasons why you might be interested in a detox diet. One is valid, one is iffy, and one is potentially downright dangerous. I’ve called these reasons:

• Kickstart change;
• Draw a line; and
• Obliterate the past

KICKSTART CHANGE

There is nothing inherently dangerous about temporarily improving your food choices. If you are doing this to try on a whole foods, plant-based diet and see how you feel, I encourage it. The best-known program which provides a platform for this approach is the Kickstart Program sponsored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible

When you are clearly headed for a change, but deciding to try before you buy, a temporary change to a healthier diet may be appropriate

Medicine (PCRM).

This online program provides recipes, information, encouragement, and other tools for you to commit to a whole foods, plant-based diet for 21 days. You will be eating a wide range of delicious plant foods and not restricting calories or amount that you eat.

You don’t need to sign up for the PCRM program to go with this strategy. What makes this approach to temporary improved diet change valid is your intention. You simply want to try on a whole foods, plant-based diet for a few weeks before deciding what degree of permanent change you decide to make.

DRAW A LINE

You are looking for a radical, short-term cleanse approach (often a juice fast or another method that greatly restricts calories) so you can draw a line between past unhealthy food choices and what you fully intend to be a healthier diet going forward. You might be trying to reset your taste buds or jumpstart weight loss. You are erecting a psychological barrier between the past and the present to build motivation.  This approach is similar to making a New Year’s resolution, when the calendar change acts as the line in the sand.

Will this approach work? Many people start healthier diets with the best of intentions, but maintaining change is not easy. You need to build and sustain new daily habits, stock your pantry with different foods, learn new recipes and restaurant choices, and find support for better eating habits. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, it is iffy in terms of expected effectiveness.

If your aim in detoxing is to make up for past mistakes, so that you can make them again without feeling critical of your choices, a detox diet can be dangerous

OBLITERATE THE PAST

If this is your reason for wanting to detox, you know you have been eating lots of unhealthy foods. You don’t clearly understand the effect of this on your body, but hope that you can stave off the consequences by getting rid of nameless “toxins” through some short-term fix that is unpleasant enough to make you feel like you’ve done something. Then you will feel less guilty jumping back to your old diet when the cleanse is over.

You might even gratefully resume your old habits with an especially unhealthy meal. In this way, the detox attempt actually enables future poor nutrition and is dangerous.

 SUMMARY OF DETOX DANGERS

Your body has natural means to get rid of toxins. The organs involved include your liver, kidneys, digestive system, lungs, and skin. There is no valid scientific information to support that the majority of detox diets and products do anything to enhance these built-in processes. A detailed 2014 review in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics concluded “there is no compelling evidence to support the use of detox diets for weight management or toxin elimination…sustained healthy habits are of greater long-term value than the quick fixes offered by commercial detox diets.”

A long-term switch to a whole foods, plant-based diet can prevent and even reverse many chronic health problems. Once you examine the facts, it’s clear that short-term detox diets are more likely to permanently eliminate dollars from your pocket than they are to eliminate toxins from your body.

But wasted money is not the only danger of many detox diets. Here are some other hazards to be aware of.

Commercial pills to detox from nameless toxins are not the way to health

Short-term dangers:

• Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are among the most dangerous substances you consume in food, are soluble only in fat and so are stored in your fat cells. When you lose weight quickly, POPs can move into your blood in significant amounts, challenging your liver and greatly increasing in concentration in your brain. The effect of this is not well-understood, but is likely to be hazardous.
• The bacteria in your gut, which are fundamental to good health, may be impacted in unknown, possibly unhealthy, ways by detox diets.
• The diet and its side effects may increase stress and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
• If you are using commercial products, it’s important to understand that the health claims of these products do not need to be scientifically verified, and unsupervised manufacturing processes mean that you really don’t know what you are consuming.

Longer-term dangers:

• A series of prolonged, unwise “detoxes” may damage some of your organs permanently.
• The “detox” mindset may encourage eating disorders.
• Most commonly, you will feel a series of detox attempts have “cleansed” you from past errors, so you can keep eating all the animal and processed foods you want, as long as you periodically “detox.” You never change to a
  

  Rigorous science show a delicious, varied whole foods, plant-based diet can prevent, and even reverse, many chronic diseases

  whole foods, plant-based diet.

Now you understand the dangers you know how to avoid them – simply focus on moving, gradually or quickly, to a whole foods, plant-based diet instead.

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to try these tasty whole foods recipes.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based diet that can help you greatly reduce the amount of toxins you routinely consume – prevention is a way better strategy than detoxification is.

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Why do national health organizations fail to warn consumers, in strong language, about the demonstrated health dangers of processed meat?

Three Reasons To See This Documentary (Review)

What The Health  is a must-see documentary if you care about your health or the fate of our planet. This film is from the creators of the influential Cowspiracy, which shows the devastating effect that raising animals for food has on speeding climate change.

Now the filmmakers take on the issue of the disastrous impact of animal foods on health, a huge topic which most Americans know dangerously little about. Yet this movie is satisfying drama on plant-based nutrition, not a boring lecture.  Here are three reasons why What The Health is so compelling.

YOU WILL SEE EXPERTS WHO AREN’T AFRAID OF THE TRUTH

The film features many of the most influential physicians, athletes, and other experts who are knowledgeable on plant-based nutrition. Drs. Neal Barnard and Milton Mills each appears several times with critical information. In addition, you will hear many other articulate and influential experts – including Drs. Caldwell Esselstyn, Garth Davis, Michael Greger, Michael Klaper, Michelle McMacken, Kim Williams, John McDougall, and more. This is not just a parade of experts – their remarks fit together to tell a story and shred dangerous myths.

In addition, you will see (or sometimes just hear) other representatives of major “health” organizations, such as the American Cancer Society and American Diabetes Association, who are afraid of the truth about the intimate link

Cheese is another animal food with many health dangers

between animal foods and deadly disease.

 THE FILM IS ENTERTAINING, HEART WARMING, AND ENGROSSING

 What The Health delivers knowledge with a dramatic twist. Much of the action centers on national health organizations that are considered authorities on dread diseases. Why are these organizations so afraid of a polite interview weighing the evidence on diet and illness? Gradually, the chilling reasons become apparent and undeniable.

Patients with bags full of prescription drugs to treat painful and disabling conditions draw you into their lives. Their sad eyes and hopeless words are dispiriting, and you really start to care about them. In the end, their courage in seizing control of their own lives, openness to change, and inspiring recoveries will stay with you long after the film ends.

One of the features I like best about this film is the wide range of hazards it describes in animal foods. Some experts will stress just the usual suspects, such as saturated fat and cholesterol. Scientists friendly to animal foods industries have come up with deeply flawed studies to make these usual suspects seem benign, if not healthy.

As a result, many people now seek out harmful “foods” like butter – and even tallow or lard – thinking these are life-extending. To counter this, What The Health presents several other health-destroying substances, such as dioxin, mercury, heterocyclic amines, heme iron, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, that are abundant in animal

If saturated fat does not keep you from eating these kinds of health bombs, perhaps some of the other serious dangers outlined in the film will

foods. Too many perils for even the most industry-friendly researcher to refute.

 YOU WILL BE INSPIRED TO ACT

No matter which diet you are eating now , you will realize that you can help move yourself, other people, and the planet toward health. Our future depends on it. You may be motivated by the stark collusion of government, industry, and respected nonprofits. Or you may be moved by the courage of the recovering patients who gather up their former prescriptions for disposal as they light up the screen with new joy. Either way, What The Health will inspire you to work for health on every level. Education and action are key. Our collective survival is completely bound up with the message of this  film.

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read more about why plants are the base of the food chain.  Plants are nutrient producers, while animals are nutrient consumers.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative,

Now here is food to celebrate and thrive on!

fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based diet that will get you on the path to preventing – and even reversing – chronic illness, not to mention slowing climate change and helping other people.

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Dr. Campbell shares the truth in straightforward language, without hesitation.

The Science of Plant-Based Diets – And Why Most People Know Nothing About It

The China Study, first published in 2004, is a landmark book that established whole foods, plant-based diets as the healthiest way to eat. Authors Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II, ignited a fierce debate with their work. On one side are the scientists, doctors, and other nutrition experts who understand the overwhelming evidence that whole foods, plant-based diets can prevent, and often reverse, most chronic diseases. The other side is diverse, including critics whose livelihood would  be threatened by a massive shift in preferred diets, their friends in government, and many who are well-intentioned but see no compelling reason to question the status quo.

The book tells two compelling stories, which are inseparable. First, The China Study masterfully explains nutrition science in understandable terms. These facts demonstrate the stunning health impact of a whole foods, plant-based diet. Many lines of evidence come together to make the conclusion beyond reasonable doubt. Dr. Campbell clearly explains his own research, both in a lab setting and in 65 counties in China. Indeed, the massive China Study, which titles the book, is the greatest

The China Study is the most important book about nutrition and health that you can read

on-the-ground study of human nutrition ever done. The authors also guide you through hundreds of other studies done by scientists all over the world. This research, reinforcing the China Study’s findings, further strengthens the evidence for whole foods, plant-based diets.

The science alone, however, is not the only compelling part of the book. Interwoven with this fascinating information is Dr. Campbell’s own story. He journeyed from boyhood on a farm to a researcher intent on increasing animal protein in human diets. But something got in the way, transforming the course of his life and our understanding of nutrition. That something is Dr. Campbell’s open, questioning mind. He is relentless in his pursuit both of facts and an overarching theory to explain those facts. He is not intimidated by the personal consequences of showing the dominant theories of nutrition – backed by industry, government, schools, and the medical field – are both wrong and harmful.

Dr. Campbell is courageous, honest, and far-seeing in his conclusions. At the same time, he is deeply humble. The tone of the book is restrained, as Dr. Campbell shows you, in a matter-of-fact way, how huge corporate and academic interests are united to suppress the truth about plant-based diets so they can continue to tout imaginary health benefits of animal and processed foods. No matter the personal attacks on him or the effect on his career, he never stoops to the tactics of those defending the status quo in nutrition. While most of his critics can’t even begin to match his intellectual abilities, he does not insult them. He simply tells his story and leaves

Dr. Thomas M Campbell II, Dr. Campbell’s son, coauthored both editions of The China Study

you, the reader, to draw your own conclusions.

This revised, expanded version of The China Study has the same general structure as the first edition, and includes the original material. The authors point out where they are updated information, such as the incidence and cost of various diseases, and books on “low carb” diets.

The most extensive and valuable revision is the addition of a chapter on academia, Dr. Campbell’s professional home. He relates the erosion of academic freedom, the  shameful suppression of information, and the major consequences of the complicity between  a few key university researchers, administrators, and their industry funders. Dr. Campbell has been reluctant to take this step, and states why he decided to do it: “I really dislike sharing with the public this “dirty laundry” of a university for which I have so much respect…But it is important to me to share enough of this information to demonstrate how academia has the power to modify science to its liking and

Dr. Campbell spent much of his career at Cornell University. Only very reluctantly is he willing to share how a few researchers and administrators there were more focused on protecting their funding than on sharing life-saving nutrition information

discredit scientific information not to their liking.”

If you have read The China Study before, it’s well worth getting this updated version and reading it again. If you have not read this book, I strongly recommend you delve into it right away. It can save your life.

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read this post about the equally overwhelming evidence of  the devastation grass fed beef brings to the planet’s climate and ecosystems.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based way of eating that Dr. Campbell has endorsed.

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Energy from the sun warms the inside of cars, which you have experienced if you’ve ever gotten into a hot car that was parked in the sun. The process that causes this is basically the same as the process of global warming – and just as undeniable

Global Warming Is As Undeniable As Gravity – Here’s Why

If you’ve ever gotten into a car on a sunny day, you know that global warming is real. The inside of the car will be much hotter than the air outside. This is because light energy from the sun gets into the car, and the interior car surfaces absorb this energy, which heats the car’s seat, dashboard, floor, etc. The car’s roof and windows then trap the heat, and the whole inside of the car gets hotter.

A greenhouse (with walls of glass) or hoop house (with walls of plastic) works on the same principle. Sunlight penetrates the walls, is absorbed by and heats interior

This image from NASA Climate Kids shows how the sun warms a greenhouse even in the middle of winter

surfaces, and the heat radiated by those surfaces is trapped inside. Even in winter, the greenhouse will warm in the sun and can be used to grow food and flowers.

The earth is warm for the same reason a car interior or greenhouse is. The difference is that the heat-trapping planetary “walls” are made of gases in the earth’s atmosphere. The gases that are best at trapping heat are called “greenhouse gases.”

Without this atmospheric blanket, our planet would be too cold to support life as we know it. Most of the sunlight that hits the earth would just be radiated back into space. So some greenhouse gases are needed to keep earth green and thriving. These are produced by natural forces, and over time fluctuate within limits that have

This image from the National Park Service shows how global warming occurs. You can see the thickened blanket of greenhouse gases from human activity.

been compatible with life as we know it.

The problem with human-caused warming is that greenhouse gases are produced by human activities in amounts hugely in excess of historical natural ranges. Thus, the heat-trapping atmospheric blanket lets less heat energy escape back into space, and the planet continues to warm. This results in climate change – an alteration in the patterns of temperature, wind, rainfall, and major weather-related events over the planet.

While humans can deny the existence of this process, this doubt does not impact the real world situation. It’s like denying gravity, another basic law of physics. No matter how much you say it’s not so, pass laws against it, or try to ignore gravity, if you are standing on the earth’s surface and toss a ball into the air, it will come back down. Similarly, if heat radiates up into a thickened layer of greenhouse gases, it will be trapped by the atmosphere and contribute to overheating the planet.

Greenhouse Gases – The Link to What You Eat

 Carbon dioxide, the best known and most abundant greenhouse gas, is produced in large part by fossil fuel combustion and deforestation. Both these are related to raising animal for food. Deforestation is frequently motivated by clearing land to

Much energy is needed to power all the farm equipment used to grow food that is fed to livestock. This is a major contributor to global warming.

graze livestock on.

Huge amounts of fossil fuels are needed to power farm equipment used to raise the plant food that is fed to farmed animals, and to power the ships that decimate the ocean’s fish for human consumption.

However, particle for particle, two other greenhouse gases generated in massive amounts by animal agriculture are more powerful. Methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in holding in heat and raising the earth’s temperature. While there are many sources of methane, the one that is increasing the fastest is agriculture – especially gas that forms in the stomachs of cows and sheep.

This Environmental Protection Energy chart shows that the amount of powerful greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is climbing relentlessly. Unbiased scientists agree this is caused by human activities, such as energy generation, agriculture, and deforestation.

Nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas also produced by activities directly linked to animal agriculture, is an even warmer blanket than methane is. Nitrous oxide, particle for particle, is 298 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Most emissions are agricultural, resulting from soil fertilization. A large percentage of crops grown with fertilizer are fed to animals raised for food. In addition, nitrous oxide comes out at the other end; that is, the manure from farmed animals is the origin of significantly more nitrous oxide.

Taking these processes into account, researchers estimate that between 18% and 51% of total global warming results from raising animals for food. More thorough studies tend to find the higher numbers.

 The Weather Can Get Colder While the Climate Gets Hotter

Some people are skeptical about climate change because winter can still be very cold. However, this is to be expected. You can better understand this if you think of climate change as climate destabilization. Here’s an example of how the numbers work.

Imagine you live in a place where the high temperature every day is a steady 60 degrees. So 60 degrees is the average high in this location. Now the climate becomes destabilized. Half the days have a high of 65 degrees, and half the days have a high of 55 degrees. The average high (averaging the 65 and the 55) is still 60 degrees, so the location has still not warmed, but some days are colder than they used to be.

In our example, the destabilization continues. Half the days now have a high of 40 degrees, and half the days now have a high of 82 degrees. So some days are considerably colder than they were originally. Yet the average high is now 61 degrees, compared to the original 60 degree average. So this imaginary location is now warmer on average, yet also colder on half the days.

Manure from animals raised for food is a significant source of dangerous nitrous oxide

Of course climate destabilization over the surface of our planet is hugely more complex than this. Yet, as his example shows, even numerous chilly days are still compatible with overall warming of earth.

You Can Have a Measurable Impact

The fact that climate change has become a political issue is tragic. This is like making gravity a political issue. Denial only makes the situation more dangerous by reducing the time we have to respond and make a difference.

Here are actions you can take.

• Let politicians know that climate change is real and human caused, and finding a way to slow this process is fundamental to preserving life as we know it on our beautiful planet
• Shrink your own carbon footprint by reducing your consumption of energy and goods
• Most importantly, stop consuming animal foods! This will dramatically slash
  

  You don’t have to wait for slow and dysfunctional government processes. Now that you understand what is causing climate change, you can take powerful action yourself now. The quickest, most effective step is to stop eating animal foods.

  the amount of potent methane and nitrous oxide you contribute to the atmospheric heat blanket, and is the best way to have a major, rapid impact on global warming

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read about how Dr. Bill Ripple, distinguished professor at Oregon State University, demonstrates the harmful impact of grass fed beef on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based diet that will dramatically reduce your contribution to climate change.

The post Climate Change Simplified appeared first on Perfect Formula Diet.

Robert delights in rescuing animals. Here he holds one of the chickens who his now his buddy.

In Farm to Fable, Robert Grillo Uncovers Dangerous Marketing Fantasies

Farm to Fable is an eye-opening book that answers the question: Why do people in modern societies eat animals, when it is not necessary for (in fact is harmful to) our health and survival? Author Robert Grillo shows that a series of manipulative fictions keep animals on our collective plates. His insider’s perspective as a marketing consultant (including former work on Happy Meal boxes) is the ideal basis for his careful research and insightful analysis. His book continues the powerful work on his extensive site Free From Harm.

I was happy to talk with Robert, and my most pressing question was how people who

Farm to Fable is a powerful book that uncovers, then demolishes, the many fictions that keep people eating animal foods

choose to eat meat react when the animal food industry fictions are so starkly exposed. He has gotten these feelings from his readers. “They’re taken by how many deeply entrenched fictions there are. The facts are stunning, and make them think of other ways society gets us to accept things that are otherwise deplorable. They are ready to get involved, and take steps to change their diet. For the general public, my hope is that the book will prompt them to question what appears to be “normal” in their everyday lives. I hope that they might better see how we are being manipulated to make food choices that ultimately betray our core values of kindness, reciprocity, and decency.”

Robert shared that the book is rooted in knowing that choices are tied to beliefs, and beliefs can be transformed by powerful truths. “We must first identify and expose the fictions of animal consumption to then disempower them. The change we want to see requires that we disempower theses fictions through a massive grassroots, public education campaign which in turn will disempower the animal exploitation industries.”

SHATTERING THE FANTASIES

Farm to Fable is articulate, carrying you along with the power of its insights. This is

The fictions that Robert talks about show up all over. Here’s a sign of a restaurant being built at the Portland airport. Note it touts a healthy, happy looking chicken, as if it’s a wonderful act to consume this bird

powerful, memorable writing, with Robert in complete mastery of both his subject and his words. There is no need for hype or manipulation, because the bare facts are enough. The book flows through deeply entrenched animal foods fantasies with gathering momentum and force.

For example, one of the several foundational fictions of the animal foods industry is consent. As Robert writes: “All too often, farmed animals are portrayed as willing participants in whatever we want to do to them. By portraying the relationship between farmer and the animals he exploits as consensual, we, as consumers of his products, are misled into believing that other animals don’t mind being used against their will, thereby reducing the issue to one of how we treat them.”

The idea that some sort of human superiority to animals makes it okay to kill and eat them is another foundational fiction. As Robert powerfully observes in the book: “We act on this sense of superiority at every opportunity. The notion that human interests “trump” animal interests when we create an imaginary conflict of interest is particularly delusional when one considers that we wantonly kill sixty billion land animals and kill another trillion or so aquatic animals every year, not to protect any

Robert shows that this kind of reductionism is closely tied to humane-washing: an attempt to make consumers believe that all is okay because maybe one out of a thousand wrongs has been addressed to some tiny degree

important human interest but just to suit our pleasure in eating them.”

After demolishing a number of other foundational fictions, Farm to Fable covers other key issues in the animal foods industries. One of the most important of these is humane-washing, as Robert shows that feel-good labels such as “free-range” and “cage-free” have little meaning, and in no way make animal foods kind or justifiable.

Robert asserts that being vegan is not a state of purity. In fact, it’s so easy to be plant-based with the convenient options in stores, that a choice to be vegan consists of reaching for different products on store shelves. Not too difficult. As he observes toward the end of his book: “Veganism is far from perfection. Being vegan is a huge step in the right direction with very little effort proportionate to its immensely positive impact, but it’s actually not the most we can do for animals and the planet. It is the least we can do.”

Turning animals into things – mere commodities – is one of the pervasive fictions that industry uses to get you to buy what they are selling

If you care about animals and the truth about your food, Farm to Fable is a must-read book. Its countless insights into the indefensibility of the tactics that keep you eating meat will free you to make choices that are healthier for you, and will end suffering for billions of farmed animals. If you are already on a plant-based diet, Farm to Fable will strengthen your motivation and give you excellent insights to use in talking with others.

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read my 2012 interview with Robert Grillo on why he adopted a vegan diet and became a farmed animal rescuer and defender.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book outlines a whole foods, plant-based diet with every nutrient you need to be healthy without animal foods.

The post Eating Animals: Myths and Realities appeared first on Perfect Formula Diet.

This beautiful pronghorn, a native species, regained its home after cattle were removed from Hart Mountain

Dr. Bill Ripple’s Research Shows the Stark Destruction Caused by Grazing Cattle

Bill Ripple, PhD is Distinguished Professor of Ecology at Oregon State University. Over twenty years ago, he began researching the beneficial effects that wolves in Yellowstone have on that ecosystem. From there, he branched to investigating the key roles of large carnivores in ecological systems around the world. I explored his findings with him on this critical research, especially how it demolishes the fantasy that grass-fed beef is good for our planet.

Everywhere he looked scientifically, Dr. Ripple saw the same profoundly disturbing fact: wild carnivores were being persecuted to protect livestock. Humans, who eat

Dr. Bill Ripple shows how aspen have grown back thick and beautiful on Hart Mountain, now that cattle are gone

meat but are biologically designed to eat plants, are killing the predators whose role in a balanced ecosystem is precisely to eat meat. Why? So that humans can consume the prey of actual carnivores.

About the time Dr. Ripple came to this troubling insight, he saw the documentary Forks Over Knives and became vegan immediately, adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet based on foods like beans, rice, corn, quinoa, potatoes, salads, and fruit. I asked him why the film had such a strong impact.

“Like Dr. T Colin Campbell, I grew up in a farming and ranching family,” he shared. “The quality of the evidence that he and Dr. Esselstyn presented in Forks Over Knives moved me completely – I fell in love with the film. It changed the direction of my own research as I worked with scientists around the world on the ecological effects of human carnivory, which means humans eating other animals. Scientists who study predators typically use the term “carnivory,” and I simply extended it to the eating habits of people. About this time, I also became deeply concerned about  climate change and wanted to make a contribution to scientific understanding in this

Grass-fed cattle have the biggest impact in raising the level of greenhouse gases, accelerating climate change

area, especially the effects of animal agriculture.”

Grass-fed Beef and Climate

Dr. Ripple quickly began to focus on the impact of ruminants, especially cattle, on climate change. Ruminants are animals that ferment their plant-based food in a special stomach during digestion. Inseparable from this process, ruminants emit methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than is carbon dioxide. Dr. Ripple had a disturbing realization. “In our research, we found that even with dramatic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, we can’t meet our climate goals. We need to quickly and drastically reduce other greenhouse gases, especially methane.”

He added, “Research completed by other scientists, including a review of 52 studies of the climate impact of a number of animal and plant foods, shows the ruminants

When cattle were grass-fed at Hart Mountain

that humans raise for food are a concentrated source of methane and other greenhouse gases. Comparing greenhouse gas impacts per pound of product produced, grass-fed beef has the strongest food-related impact on climate change, followed by sheep (another ruminant), cattle that are grass-fed part of the year and on a feedlot in winter, and finally cattle that are kept on a feedlot all year. So the popular idea that grass-fed beef does less environmental damage than feedlot beef is actually the reverse of the facts.” See the

Same scene, after cattle were removed. Vegetation rebounded!

graph that Dr. Ripple constructed (above) to illustrate these impacts.

Transformation at Hart Mountain

Beyond methane, the profound effect that removing cattle from the range has on the wildlife and vegetation is strikingly visible in research that Dr. Ripple and colleagues have done at Hart Mountain, a national pronghorn antelope refuge in southeastern Oregon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service site on Hart Mountain proudly proclaims “The 278,000-acre refuge is one of the most expansive wildlife habitats in the arid West free of domestic livestock.”

This wonderful fact was not always so. Until 1990 “grass-fed cattle” dominated the reserve, until they were all removed to allow more resources for pronghorn antelope and other animals whose numbers in the wild were precarious. This created a natural

Another scene of devastation from cattle at Hart Mountain

experiment for Dr. Ripple and his colleagues to study what would happen to a severely degraded ecosystem when cattle were suddenly gone.

The results are astonishing and delightful. The shrubs and trees key to the ecosystem, such as willow and aspen, started growing back, and stream banks were restored when cows stopped trampling them and eating down the plants. Wildlife numbers could rebound as their habitat healed itself. This transformation is

The same scene is lovely and green when the trampling cattle are gone

documented by numerous before and after pictures that show a wounded environment at the time when cattle reigned, and green flourishing young trees and grass without livestock present. The destructiveness of so called “grass-fed beef” is undeniable in these before-and-after photo pairs with this article.

Like the ecosystem, research shows your own body’s healing powers are being activated when you remove food-borne causes of illness. Dr. Ripple is fascinated by the parallels between environmental and human health recovery. “When you stop eating animal products, studies show your arteries can reopen and health problems vanish with the blockages. Just as we saw at Hart Mountain – get rid

More cattle-caused devastation at Hart Mountain

of the cattle, and streams will be beautifully restored in the landscape.”

You can learn more about Dr. Ripple’s work and see a short, dramatic video on Hart Mountain at his youtube channel Bill Ripple Ecology.

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read more on the killing of wildlife to give their homes to cattle for the profit of ranchers. You can stop this practice by simply not buying beef.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun

The same scene as above, now free of cattle and ready for wildlife and green plants

postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book will outline a wonderful whole foods, plant-based diet free of the devastation of grass-fed beef.  Bring back wildlife and make the West beautiful again. A version of this article (also authored by Janice Stanger) was published on the Forks Over Knives site under a different title.

The post Grass-fed Beef Is Heating the Planet appeared first on Perfect Formula Diet.

This savory vegan dinner pie is a masterpiece of flavor. Angela cooked it for us during her visit, see recipe below

Enjoy No-oil Vegan Pesto, Spicy, Savory Peanut Sauce, and Savory Vegan Dinner Pie

When my daughter Angela came to visit me, we wanted to spend a lot of relaxed time together. We had not seen each other in over a year, and there are many beautiful places to hang out near my Oregon home.

To my delight, Angela has evolved into an accomplished chef who puts together splendid meals that are both quick to prepare and center on fresh ingredients. We took advantage of the local goodies from the farmers market, with most of the produce we used coming from within half an hour of my house, and harvested within a day or two of when we ate it.

Here are the three top dinners that Angela cooked for us, with recipes below so you can try them yourself. None contains extracted oils. Prepare for intense gourmet

Angela and I love the gorgeous vistas at Yaquina Head

flavors without all the work of gourmet cooking:

• No-oil Vegan Pesto
• Spicy, Savory Peanut Sauce
• Savory Vegan Dinner Pie

In between eating, we enjoyed a day at the coast at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, where we marveled at whales breaching every few minutes. One was so close to shore that we could see almost the whole length of his body when he surfaced.

Our other full day in nature was at Silver Falls State Park, best known for its many waterfalls and glorious forest trails. Before we started hiking, we fortified ourselves with a picnic centered on Savory Vegan Dinner Pie leftovers. It was just as tasty cold

Silver Falls State Park is best known for its stunning waterfalls

as it had been warm the previous night.

No-oil Vegan Pesto

Ingredients    

2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed

1/3 cup raw walnuts (pine nuts are also good)

1/2  cup unsweetened, plain soy milk (or other plant milk of your choice, choose a milk without an assertive flavor)

4 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 tsp black pepper

Pinch of salt (or to taste)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp ground flax seed

1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions   

1. 1. Put all above ingredients in a food processor, and process until smooth and
   

   This no-oil pasta is spectacular on whole grain pasta. Here you see it on brown rice pasta. Simply slice up some vegetables to have with it for an excellent meal

   creamy. There should still be some texture from the nuts.

2. Use the pesto on whole grain pasta, brown rice, quinoa, or any other grain of your choice. Also excellent on baked or steamed potatoes, as a sandwich spread or on a wrap, or any creative use you like for pesto.

Spicy, Savory Peanut Sauce

Ingredients    

4 tbsp peanut butter (use another nut butter, such as almond, for a different taste)

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, cut into about 10-12 pieces

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 or 2 tsp lime juice plus zest of half of a lime

Sriracha sauce to taste (we use 3 teaspoons)

1/4 tsp cayenne

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp sugar or natural vegan sweetener of your choice

1 cup reduced fat (light) coconut milk

Instructions   

1. 1. Put all above ingredients into a food processor, and process until smooth and
   

   We stir fried these fresh vegetables in water. Then we mixed them with brown rice and topped with the spicy, savory peanut sauce

   creamy.

2. Use the sauce over hot brown rice to heat it, or you can gently heat the sauce over a low heat on the stove. This meal is awesome when you also mix the rice with one to two cups of fresh vegetables of your choice, that have been stir-fried until gently cooked. Stir-fry vegetables in water or vegetable broth, not extracted oil.

Savory Vegan Dinner Pie

Ingredients    

Angela assembles her ingredients for the Savory Vegan Dinner Pie pictured at the beginning of this article

Pie crust – use your favorite vegan pie crust recipe, or buy a frozen vegan pie crust that is ready to bake

One package (13.5 to 14 ounces) firm tofu, drained of liquid in the package (but don’t press additional liquid out of the tofu)

1/4 cup unsweetened, plain soy milk (or other plant milk of your choice, choose a milk without an assertive flavor)

1 tbsp cornstarch

Liquid to stir-fry vegetables in: soy sauce, Bragg liquid aminos, or vegetable broth

1 small onion, thinly sliced

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 and a half cups spinach or other greens, cut in small pieces

1/2 cup arugula or basil leaves, cut in small pieces

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil) – soften by soaking in hot water for 15 minutes, then cut in small pieces

1/2 cup broccoli or other fresh vegetable, cut in small pieces

1/2 teaspoon diced jalapeno pepper

1 inch fresh ginger, cut in small pieces

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil (unless you are using fresh basil)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/4 tsp black pepper

Pinch of salt, or to taste

Instructions   

1. 1. Process the tofu, plant milk, and cornstarch in a food processor or blender until very smooth
2. Stir-fry the onion for a few minutes in the liquid of your choice, as noted above. Use two tablespoons of the liquid, and add a bit more as needed as liquid evaporates so the vegetables don’t stick or burn. Add remaining ingredients listed above, and continue stir frying until the greens have wilted and the vegetables are tender but not mushy.
3. Pour the stir-fried vegetables and spices (step two) into the tofu mixture noted in step one. Mix together thoroughly by hand.
4. Pour the mixture from step three into your pie crust
5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes. Watch it toward the end – the pie filling should become golden on top and firm when you touch it.
6. Let the pie cool 10 to 15 minutes before slicing it. Leftovers eaten cold are excellent the next day.

If you enjoyed this article, definitely check out all of Angela’s recipes above, or any of these other tasty plant-based recipes.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Post written by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods.  This book let’s you know all the health advantages of a whole foods, plant-based diet – and this includes the delicious experience of flavorful foods you might not have tried before.

The post Angela’s Fast, Fresh, and Wildly Delicious Recipes appeared first on Perfect Formula Diet.