Thursday, March 29, 2012

Kickstart Your Health this April 2nd!

Sign up here!
Based on research by Neal Barnard, M.D., one of America’s leading health advocates, this program is designed for anyone who wants to explore and experience the health benefits of a vegan diet. Low-fat vegan—plant-based—diets are the easiest way to trim excess weight, prevent diabetes, cut cholesterol, lower blood pressure, prevent and reverse heart disease, and reduce cancer risk. They even trim our carbon footprint.

 Check it out at  http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Bogus Health Claims!

This is an alert!!!  Do not believe everything you read on the internet!!!
 
Anyone, yes, ANYONE, can make a bogus health claim and send it out on the internet under the name of a prestigious university or well known expert in the field of health and nutrition. A newsletter has just come to my attention claiming to be from Johns Hopkins. Although it makes many claims about healthful eating that sound good, some of them are just plain bogus!!!  You have very reliable, credible sources in Esselstyn and Campbell, McDougall and Novick and many others! Do not rely on anyone, even your best friend, for health and nutrition information that is not thoroughly checked out by YOU!  Always check your sources, always be suspicious of any health claims floating around out there that do not come from a registered site. Read, study and ask questions to educate and protect yourself from bogus health claims!
 
Be smart! Be alert! Be well!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Plant-Based Eating on the Move


Enjoy a Plant-Based meal wherever you find yourself:  spicy split pea soup, whole grain bread, lemon luscious baby beets & greens steamed (no dairy, no added oil, no problem).  Let's give a toast to that!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

KICK THE MEAT HABIT

Join thousands of people in all 50 U.S. states and two dozen other countries in a move to "kick the meat habit” and explore a wholesome, diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. /Check out
http://www.meatout.org/index.htm

Why Meatout?

Kicking the meat habit holds lasting benefits for consumer health, world hunger, resource conservation, environmental quality, and animal protection.
Kicking the meat habit reduces our risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other chronic diseases that cripple and kill nearly 1.4 million Americans annually.
Kicking the meat habit decreases our exposure to infectious pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter, which kill several thousand Americans annually and sicken millions more.
Kicking the meat habit raises our energy level, lowers our food budget, and simplifies food preparation and cleanup.
Kicking the meat habit frees up grains and other foods that can be used to feed the world's hungry. Animals are extremely inefficient "protein converters;" it can take up to 16 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of beef.
Kicking the meat habit preserves our topsoil, water, and other food production resources vital to the survival of our children and their children.
Kicking the meat habit protects our forests, grasslands, and other wildlife habitats from encroachment by cattle ranchers while reducing the polluting effects of methane, soil particles, manure, and pesticides on our air and water.
Kicking the meat habit saves animals from caging, crowding, deprivation, drugging, mutilation, manhandling, and agonizing slaughter. Each person who adopts a plant-based diet saves over 80 innocent, sentient animals each year. Over a lifetime, an individual can save more than 6,000 animals just by going vegan.
It's time to begin your journey to healthy, compassionate eating.
Order your FREE Veg Starter Kit to find out how!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Get BPA out of our food!

This month the FDA plans to decide whether or not to continue allowing food packaging that leaches BPA. If you're like me, you want to make sure that your food is free of toxic chemicals. We have an unprecedented opportunity to make sure our food is free of bisphenol A. But there is no time to lose, tell the FDA to get BPA out of our food!

I joined with Environmental Working Group and sent my email to the FDA. Please join me today: http://tinyurl.com/7mubxby

Monday, March 12, 2012

MAKE YOUR OWN NON-DAIRY "MILK"!

KICK THE DAIRY HABIT. MAKE YOUR OWN QUICK, EASY AND INEXPENSIVE OAT MILK!

In a blender add 1 part uncooked rolled oats to 2 parts water.  Blend well.  Pour oat liquid through sieve.  Reserve remaining oat solids for soups, bean/veggie patties, or cook as cereal. You don’t even have to blend the oats.  Just let them soak overnight in water and sieve. Your oat milk will thicken as it cooks, just like milk or use it uncooked on cereal.

Drink uncooked oat milk as is or add your favorite seasonings: vanilla, cocoa powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, maple syrup, be inventive!

Use OAT MILK in recipes as a milk/dairy substitute.  We made these delicious crunchy mini muffins in our Plant-Based Cooking Class based on a recipe called Dr. Anderson’s Cholesterol-Lowering Oat-Bran* Raisin Muffins from Jean Carper’s THE FOOD PHARMACY (1988). We substituted oat milk for the skim milk, 2 Tbls freshly mashed flax seed whipped with 6 Tbls water in place of the egg substitute, and 1 Tbls apple butter for the veg. oil.

2 ½ cups oat-bran (I could only find Hodgson Mill Oat Bran at Harris Teeter)
2 tsps brown sugar
½ cup raisins
1 Tbls baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup OAT MILK
2 Tbls mashed flax seed whipped with 6 Tbls water (egg substitute)
1 Tbls apple butter (oil substitute)

Combine dry ingredients and raisins.  Add liquid ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Bake at 425 for @20 minutes in ungreased mini muffin tins. Makes @ 2 doz mini muffins.

*Oat Bran contains a high level of Soluble Fiber, demonstrated to help reduce cholesterol and contribute to heart health as well as having a beneficial effect on blood sugar. 

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Watch this video and change your life!

http://vimeo.com/30166333

Where can one buy Plant-Based food?

Plant-Based food is available at any grocery store that carries fresh produce, canned goods, frozen foods, and bagged/boxed whole grains.  Most of us have easy access to such grocery stores, but some folks do not.  Areas where residents do not have access to fresh, affordable, healthful food are called FOOD DESERTS. We are surrounded by them in urban as well as rural areas.

Marc Steiner addresses the issue of food deserts in a conversation with Joyce Smith of southwest Baltimore
in this segment from his March 1 show on NPR.
http://steinershow.org/radio/the-marc-steiner-show/march-1-2012-segment-3

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Say BYE-BYE to dairy...

Dr. John McDougall is one of my most reliable sources for nutrition and health information.  Here's what he says about dairy consmumption: 
 
***If cow’s milk meant better bone health, then you would not find non-milk-drinking people from Asia, Africa, and people from the Middle East having stronger bones and less osteoporosis.  The daily calcium intake of these mostly vegetarian people is 300 to 500 mg – far less than the propaganda from the dairy industry telling us to consume 1500 to 2000 mg daily.***  

 http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/march/050300pufavoritefive.htm

Say BYE-BYE to milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese and ice cream! (I feel your pain...I've been a dairy-holic all my life until my heart attack!) Sad, but true, all dairy products are as damaging to human health as meat, if not more so.  Instead, get your calcium from greens, beans, seeds and nuts. (Read THE CHINA STUDY by T. Colin Campbell) Extra-ordinary health and optimum weight are the results!

Join me for a delicious Plant-Based Breakfast

No dairy and no cooking needed for my favorite breakfast bowl:  1 cup uncooked old-fashioned oats, 1 tbls mashed flax seeds, a sprinkle of grapenuts, 1 or 2 shakes of cinnamon, 1 orange, chopped bananas and raspberries on a bed of greens including fresh mint.  Squeeze a little orange juice on top and you'll be ready to take on any lion or lamb you meet this glorious March 1!