VIDEO: the secret life of beef

Short video from INFORM that tries to make people eat less beef by knowing how it is made.

 

 

link to video

What do you think?

 

Nutrition for vegan athletes

Vegan diet is good. Good for you, for me and for everybody. But it is crucial that vegans eat right, not all vegan diet are healthy. For athletes is even more important.

 

 

Iron is quite important for building muscle and endurance. If you aren’t going to get this from beef, you’re going to have to make sure you’re eating the following on a regular basis:

whole grain cereals fortified with iron
legumes (beans, peas and peanuts)
dried fruit (especially raisins)
cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage)

In addition, you will want to combine these with foods high in vitamin C, such as citrus fruits and berries; this will aid your body in absorbing and utilizing iron.

In lieu of dairy products, instead load up on fortified soy products as well as leafy greens to keep bones strong with sufficient calcium: mustard, kale and chard are powerhouse foods in this regard, as well as dried figs. Sesame seeds are also a decent source of calcium; a unique form of nut butter made from sesame, called tahini, is available in many Middle Eastern specialty stores and combines well with sweet as well as savory foods.

Protein?

Rice and beans together make a complete protein – or almost any combination of grain and legumes. However, peanuts (which are actually legumes, not nuts) and soybeans provide complete proteins that are of the same quality as that derived from fish, poultry, dairy or eggs. Most tree nuts are also good sources of protein, and provide the additional benefit of healthy oils, such as omega-3 (also found in olive oil).

 

Read more in nice article about Vegan athlete's nutrition basics

 

What do you think?

Vegan cooking for carnivores

Great new vebsite for promoting veganism.

 

More videos on Vegan cooking for carnivores

 

What do you think?

Happy meal banned

Acording to this interesting article, San Francisco bans Happy Meals.

Of course, the Happy Meal isn’t what’s being banned, just the current form of the thing, which is a toy to bribe kids into eating crap.  Apparently McDonald’s food is so terrible that you have to convince a 4 year old to eat it.  Uh huh.  Under the new rules, toy distribution will be linked to fruits and vegetables, and if you have too many calories, sugars, or fats in the meal, then you can’t have a toy, because apparently the grease is the toy.

 

IMHO that is really nice. I wonder when this ban will spread and eventually come to Europe...

 

What do you think?

Vegan risotto with mushrooms

Delicious looking recipe for vegan risotto.

 

What do you think?

Less meat for healtier life

Acording to this article, less meat could spare Britain 45 000 lives each year.

 

Friends of the Earth funded a new study by Oxford University researchers that finds that if people in the UK cut their meat consumption to 70 grams a day, the change of diet would eliminate more than 32,000 deaths a year.

 

Another question is how would this affect british economy...

Boneless bananas

WTF? Yeah, that's right. Not a single bone in these bananas :)

Read more about boneless bananas 

 

 

What do you think?

Vegan books

Here is a short list of vegan books:

 

The World Peace Diet is one of the more important books on veganism. Will Tuttle describes our human connection to the world and how it’s impossible to eat something without that thing becoming part of us. He uncovers the growing truth about disease related to eating animals, as well as the world’s move toward a more compassionate, kind, loving, and therefore, meat-free lifestyle.

 

 

 

Though MAD COWBOY: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat was written ten years ago, Howard Lyman’s book is so fundamental to providing a case for veganism. As an ex-rancher, he knows the ins and outs of the cattle ranching industry and for him to have decided to stop eating meat underlines the core problems with the food industry. It’s also a great read for that manly man in your life who loves his meat and refuses to give it up.

 

 

More info in article:  books on veganism

Vegan diet and proteins - not a problem at all

We need proteins but not as much as some try to convince us.

How much protein do we need? The RDA recommends that we take in 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram that we weigh (or about 0.36 grams of protein per pound that we weigh)  This recommendation includes a generous safety factor for most people. When we make a few adjustments to account for some plant proteins being digested somewhat differently from animal proteins and for the amino acid mix in some plant proteins, we arrive at a level of 1 gram of protein per kilogram body weight (0.45 grams of protein per pound that we weigh). Since vegans eat a variety of plant protein sources, somewhere between 0.8 and 1 gram of protein per kilogram would be a protein recommendation for vegans. If we do a few calculations we see that the protein recommendation for vegans amounts to close to 10% of calories coming from protein. [For example, a 79 kg vegan male aged 25 to 50 years could have an estimated calorie requirement of 2900 calories per day. His protein needs might be as high as 79 kg x 1 gram/kg = 79 grams of protein. 79 grams of protein x 4 calories/gram of protein = 316 calories from protein per day. 316 calories from protein divided by 2900 calories = 10.1% of calories from protein.] If we look at what vegans are eating, we find that between 10-12% of calories come from protein. This contrasts with the protein intake of non-vegetarians, which is close to 14-18% of calories.

 

What about aminoacids in vegan diet? Is it really a problem?

It is very easy for a vegan diet to meet the recommendations for protein. Nearly all vegetables, beans, grains, nuts, and seeds contain some, and often much, protein. Fruits, sugars, fats, and alcohol do not provide much protein, so a diet based only on these foods would have a good chance of being too low in protein. However, not many vegans we know live on only bananas, hard candy, margarine, and beer. Vegans eating varied diets containing vegetables, beans, grains, nuts, and seeds rarely have any difficulty getting enough protein as long as their diet contains enough energy (calories) to maintain weight.

 

Entire article is availabe here: Protein in the vegan diet

High quality web directories

Below are listed some really good web directories for sumbitting your site.

All sites must be in english. If you want you can also include backinks to most of them:

Alma Public Directory
rdirectory.net
Raui Web Directory
YeKey
Cultu UR Technologie Directory
BoardSE
Nuoret.org

I highly recomend all of them becouse they are really the best ones. Do not bother with low quality directories...

What do you think?

Is milk good for infants?

The short answer is: NO!

Milk is not good. Milk is bad. Maybe good quality raw milk is not all that bad, but no way for cooked milk or pasterized.

 

When you think about it, it makes sense... cow's milk is designed by nature to grow infant cows into toddler cows, gaining hundreds of pounds in the process. It's not made for humans. The only reason we use cow's milk is because it was a huge source of milk that we could easily exploit and make the process of feeding our babies easier. That doesn't mean it was healthy for those babies. It just would be far too expensive to sell breast milk, and then human females would have to be exploited for their milk, rather than just helpless animals.

 

Read more of this in  Infants and Cow Milk

 

What do you think?

American foods banned in Europe

Acorting to this post, there are quite a few American foods that are banned in Europe

 

Dairy products made with growth hormones. This was a big deal back when they first got approved in the USA, and I think it might have been stopped outright if the internet had been big enough at the time. It’s also the most boring recap I have to offer. Always lead with your weakest stuff, I say!

Genetically modified soy, corn and wheat. To be fair, to the best of my knowledge GMO wheat isn’t being grown anywhere in the world right now. You wanna know the real reason I’m against these things? They totally run counter to what all my comic book training has taught me. If you get genetically modified, you get a super power, and it’s going to be something you can use in a fight. Crop yield doesn’t qualify.

 

 

I am from Europe and didn't know about that, but i am glad they did.

 

What do you think?

Recipe: Pasta with beans

I found interesting recipe for beans and pasta - with vegeteble:

 

Ingredients

    1 medium onion, chopped
    1 small carrot, diced
    1 small stalk celery, diced
    2-3 cloves garlic, diced 
    olive oil 
    salt and pepper, to taste
    2 vegetable bouillon cubes + 4 cups water
    oregano, to taste
    basil, to taste
    2 splashes hot sauce, optional
    1 (14 ounce) can whole tomatoes, quarter the tomatoes, with juice
    1/2 cup salad macaroni 
    1 (14 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
    
Directions:

1. In a pot, saute the garlic, onion, carrot, celery in olive oil with salt and pepper on medium heat. 

2. After about 4 minutes, add the water and bouillon cubes.  Also add oregano, basil, and hot sauce. 

3. Add the tomatoes and half the juice from the can. Add the macaroni to cook in the broth. 

4. When macaroni is halfway cooked, add the beans. Continue to cook at an almost boiling temperature until the macaroni is al dente.

Read more on Pasta e Fagioli Italiano!

Video: why vegan?

New, short but good video on why vegan

 

Video link

Vegans and hair loss

Acoording to this article vegan diet helps preventing male hair loss.

 

Also, from the brief research I’ve done on male pattern hair loss, I’ve read that calcium, iron, and silica are incredibly helpful for preventing hair loss. You can find those vitamins in leafy green vegetables (kale, spinach, chard, etc), oats, cherries, concord grapes, and sea vegetables.

And, actually, to give a totally opposite viewpoint, I have read that diets high in fat and specifically, animal fat, lead to increased testosterone and a higher chance of developing male pattern baldness. There was a study done on Japanese men (by Aderans Company Limited) that found that prior to WWII, male pattern baldness was rare, and then afterwards it became much more regular. The significant change was that their diet changed from one rich in rice and vegetables with occasional fish to one full of meat and dairy. 

Therefore, eating a low-fat, plant-based diet that is well-balanced and full of dark, leafy greens, sea vegetables, beans, whole grains, fruits, and nuts/seeds will actually help to prevent hair loss. 

Here are some foods that will help to keep your hair thick and full:

asparagus

black beans

broccoli

brown rice

Brussel’s sprouts

cauliflower

cherries

chickpeas

Concord grapes

kale

lentils

lima beans

oats

peas

soybeans

spinach

sunflower seeds

walnuts

 

I hope this is true :)

 

What do you think?

20 potatoes a day

I've came across article about a man that decided to eat nothing but potatoes, 20 a day. An for 60 days!! Crazy man.

 

Chris is on a mission.  For 60 days, which started a little while back, he’s eating nothing but potatoes.  And maybe some spices.  For his height and weight, that works out to about 20 potatoes a day to maintain his caloric needs.

According to Chris, this is actual more protein than the FDA says you need.  Other nutrients, not so much (from his nutrient chart he’s low on calcium, vitamins A and E, zinc and some other stuff,) but he’ll probably be fine since this is basically a stunt unless he goes completely insane midway through and eats nothing but potatoes for the rest of his life.

 

Interesting, we'll see what happens. What do you think?

Vegan food for travelers

What can you eat when travel for longer period of time? Is it difficult or easy if you are a vega?

 

Here are some useful tips for vegan food if you are traveling:

 

Firstly, when you leave town be sure to bring along foods which travel well such as dried soups (just add hot water), various healthy bars, individual serving sizes of nut butters. We bring an electric hot water maker that we stuff in our suitcase for soups, quick-cook breakfast oats, and teas. Can't tell you how many times it has saved us!

Next, please know that most chefs/cooks get pretty bored preparing the same menu items over and over and over again. And they usually welcome the opportunity to use their creativity to come up with something you can eat and, hopefully (!), love. 

 

Is honey vegan?

The more you think about it the more clear it is that honey probably is not vegan. The suffering of involved bees is maybe smaller than health benefits for your health, but it is exploiting of animals nevertheless.

 

It is up to you to decide if honey is vegan for you...

 

 

More interesting thoughts on honey and vegan

Geoing vegan is easy

Maybe not really easy, but not difficult also. If you know all the facts of eating non vegan food.

 

 

Once you learn a little about vegan substitutes for meat and dairy, and the stores that sell these products...going vegan is easy! It is too easy! I make dinner, and sometimes I make too much. This is because I have all these fresh, yummy foods on hand.

 

Read more in article Going vegan is easy

 

 

What do you think?

Hot Dog - how is made

If you have been wandering, how do they make hot dogs, chicken nuggets and all processed meat fast food.

 

This excellent aticle shows how they make meat paste

How to Cook Beans and Grains

Beans are not htat easy to cook right. You have to soak in water overnight, pre cook them, throw some water away.

 

Here are nice tips for cooking beans and grains

 

 

If you struggle to remember how to cook beans and grains, this guide is perfect for you. Cooking beans and grains is now as easy as remembering to pull out this handy little guide.

 

No more McDonalds french fries

Is it just the amaunt of the salt? Or is there anithing else?

 

The decision in yours. No more Mc french fries for me :)

 

Vegan spaghetti bolognese recipe

Nice recipe. Nice video tutorial.

 

Vegan coconut cake - video

A nice video tutorial showing how to make delicius vegan cake - a coconut one

 

What do you think?

Vegan coconut cake

I've come across another vegan cake recipe

Coconut Cake

Ingredients:
   
    white cake:
    2 cups flour (I used white whole wheat)
    3/4 cup sugar
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    4 tablespoons vegan butter, melted or canola oil
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    2/3 cup coconut milk
    2/3 cup nondairy milk
    3/4 cup shredded coconut, toasted
    vegan butter and flour for pans
    coconut frosting:
    1 (14 ounce) can full fat coconut milk, chilled overnight in refrigerator 
    1-2 cups powdered sugar
    2 cups shredded coconut  

 

You can find complete recipe here

Will Hugh Jackman become vegan?

According to this article, Hugh Jackman is thinking about going on a vegan diet for preparing himself for new Wolverine sequel

 

“In the past he had eaten a lot of chicken for his role, but he took a lot of Vega, too,” says Brazier. “It turned out I was going to New York City so he said 'Well, why don’t you just come over?' so I went over to his place and we had a great chat and he told me how he was trying out veganism for environmental and health reasons and to set a good example for his kids. It’s not just for his own career anymore, which he wrote in the foreword. He was listing the reasons why he was interested in 'Thrive,' and he was concerned for the environment. That’s definitely something that he was aware of, and wanted to help instead of hurt.

 

I trully believe that once he starts vegan diet, he'll never go back.

 

Go Hugh!

Carl lewis on vegan diet

One of the best athletes shares some thoughts on his vegan diet:

 

Bill Clinton gone vegan

...almost. Occasionally he eats fish but otherwise follows a vegan diet.

 

He finally came to his senses. After Mike Tyson.

 

Anyways, nice to hear that.

 

 

“I’m trying to be one of those experimenters,” said Clinton. “Since 1986, several hundred people who have tried essentially a plant-based diet, not ingesting any cholesterol from any source, has seen their bodies start to heal themselves — break up the arterial blockage, break up the calcium deposits around the heart. 82 percent of the people who have done this have had this result, so I want to see if I can be one of them.”

Clinton decided to adopt the diet in the early part of May 2010. While he does occasionally eat fish, the former president otherwise follows a strict vegan diet.

 

 

Growing number of fat people in US

Soon there will be more than 75% people overweight.

 

This are some predictions from a new study.

 

 

In 10 years, a full 75 percent of Americans will be overweight, making it "the fattest country in the OECD," the report said.

 

 

 

The lifespan of an obese person is up to 8-10 years shorter than that of a normal-weight person, the OECD said, the same loss of lifespan incurred by smoking.

 

read full article

It's about time to start eating healthy. Eat vegan.

 

 

Vegan cooking - How to make seitan

Interesting video that shows how to make seitan at home.

 

Baked tofu

Tofu comes in houndreds of different styles. And i love most of them.

 

i'v come upon this article, baked tofu, and must try it soon

 

 

Entire recipe available here:

Mojo Baked Tofu From Viva Vegan!

Anti McDonalds Ad

Totally agree with the campaign

 

PCRM's provocative new fast-food commercial draws attention to the link between heart disease deaths and fast food. Studies show that people who consume fast food are at a higher risk for obesity, a factor contributing to heart disease. High-fat, high-sodium offerings at fast-food restaurants include products such as KFC's Double Down Combo Meal, which has 45 grams of fat and 2,120 milligrams of sodium, and McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese Extra Value Meal, which has 61 grams of fat and 1,650 milligrams of sodium.

 

 

Vegan porn and the manliest salad

I've just come across vegan site with interesting name:

http://www.veganporn.com

 

Nice site name, nice content :)

 

Here is a brief content of one of the posts:

The manliest salad ever

by JASON on AUGUST 24, 2010

Angela sent this to me, and it’s like they made a movie about my life without me knowing it.  I’m not the greatest at recognizing faces, so I’m glad this guy has less hair than I do, and the woman’s blonde, because otherwise I’d have to search the kitchen for hidden cameras:

(Originally found at College Humor)

A brief warning to those of you who, like I did, watched this first thing in the morning: no, you haven’t had a stroke, they just aren’t speaking English, is all. At least I hope they’re not speaking English, because I eat a lot of manly salads exactly so I won’t have a stroke, so that would really suck if I had one anyway. Not that I regret eating my manly salads though.

Livestock a major threat to environment

Is it really a surprise? Not to all of us...

 

29 November 2006, Rome - Which causes more greenhouse gas emissions, rearing cattle or driving cars? 

Surprise! 

According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation. 

Says Henning Steinfeld, Chief of FAO’s Livestock Information and Policy Branch and senior author of the report: “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.” 

With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year. Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999/2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043 million tonnes. 

Long shadow

The global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector. It provides livelihoods to about 1.3 billion people and contributes about 40 percent to global agricultural output. For many poor farmers in developing countries livestock are also a source of renewable energy for draft and an essential source of organic fertilizer for their crops. 

But such rapid growth exacts a steep environmental price, according to the FAO report, Livestock’s Long Shadow –Environmental Issues and Options. “The environmental costs per unit of livestock production must be cut by one half, just to avoid the level of damage worsening beyond its present level,” it warns. 

When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of this comes from manure. 

And it accounts for respectively 37 percent of all human-induced methane (23 times as warming as CO2), which is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.

Livestock now use 30 percent of the earth’s entire land surface, mostly permanent pasture but also including 33 percent of the global arable land used to producing feed for livestock, the report notes. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 percent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing. 

all article is available here

http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html

 

 

What do you think? Are you prepared to stop eating meat? Or will you just find another excuse?

 

UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet

There are no excuses more. It's time to act. Now!

 

A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today.

As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.

It says: "Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products."

Professor Edgar Hertwich, the lead author of the report, said: "Animal products cause more damage than [producing] construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Biomass and crops for animals are as damaging as [burning] fossil fuels."

The recommendation follows advice last year that a vegetarian diet was better for the planet from Lord Nicholas Stern, former adviser to the Labour government on the economics of climate change. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has also urged people to observe one meat-free day a week to curb carbon emissions.

The panel of experts ranked products, resources, economic activities and transport according to their environmental impacts. Agriculture was on a par with fossil fuel consumption because both rise rapidly with increased economic growth, they said.

Ernst von Weizsaecker, an environmental scientist who co-chaired the panel, said: "Rising affluence is triggering a shift in diets towards meat and dairy products - livestock now consumes much of the world's crops and by inference a great deal of freshwater, fertilisers and pesticides."

Both energy and agriculture need to be "decoupled" from economic growth because environmental impacts rise roughly 80% with a doubling of income, the report found.

Achim Steiner, the UN under-secretary general and executive director of the UNEP, said: "Decoupling growth from environmental degradation is the number one challenge facing governments in a world of rising numbers of people, rising incomes, rising consumption demands and the persistent challenge of poverty alleviation."