Mayim Bialik Announces Vegan Cookbook

Actress Mayim Bialik has just announced her next big project: a vegan cookbook for the masses!

The “Big Bang Theory” star, who for many years has been outspoken about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle and animal rights, made the official reveal this morning on her website.

“My next book will be a plant-based (vegan!) family cookbook,” she writes. “Yay! It’s meant for vegan and non-vegan alike! I intend to include all of the Jewish recipes I’ve veganized as well as all of our family’s standard beloved recipes.

Pediatrician and pediatric nutritionist Dr. Jay Gordon is writing the nutrition chapters with me. I have a food stylist, recipes to test, and so much fun ahead!”

According to the publisher, the book – slated for a fall 2013 release – will feature “easy-to-make recipes for all stages of a child’s life.”

Bialik gives readers a sneak peek at some of the meals she will feature by linking to recipes for Mini Potato Kugels and Chocolate Truggle Pie.

In a November 2011 interview with Ecorazzi, Mayim explained why she decided to embrace a vegan lifestyle.

“I was vegetarian from age 19 until I got pregnant with my first son in 2005,” she said. “He was allergic to dairy in my breast milk so I cut it out. After Fred was born, I read “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer and it convinced me that it was worth it to go ‘all the way,’ and so I eliminated eggs and all trace dairy (like in baked goods and my beloved candy bars I indulged in from time to time). My love for animals since childhood feels complete now that I am vegan, and it feels really right for every reason: health, ethical, environmental…It is an amazing lifestyle and I find it easy and inexpensive. Our boys eat a variety of foods that many kids have never heard of, and they also get sweets and fun foods in their lives, too. We make it work because it matters to us to do it, even if it’s sometimes challenging.”

Look for more details on Mayim’s new book – including pre-orders – soon!

Billy Simmonds

V for ve­g­an

Bil­ly Sim­monds – win­n­er of the 2009 Mr. Uni­verse ti­tle, is an Aus­tralian Pro­fes­sio­n­al Na­t­u­ral Body­builder, Pow­er­lifter, Mar­tial Artist and Ve­g­an.

“Ve­g­an Body­build­ing is not on­ly pos­si­ble, its op­ti­mal,” he says, “within three years from first lift­ing weights prop­er­ly and walk­ing on a Body­build­ing stage as a novice, I had won Mr. Uni­verse and be­come a Pro Body­builder. Steroids? Meat? Not a chance.”

Q: Could you tell us a lit­tle bit about your path to be­com­ing ve­g­an?

Not a straight line – but nev­er a full cir­cle. I walked away from eat­ing meat in my late teens and in re­cent years I’ve gone 100% plant based, which has prompt­ed me to learn more about the foods I should eat to bal­ance my needs as a body­builder.

Q: What do you like best about be­ing ve­g­an?

Feel­ing clean, energized, hum­ble, and em­pa­thet­ic. I get to eat the very best foods on earth and know that if some­thing isn’t easy then it’s prob­a­b­ly worth it.

Q: The ques­tion ev­ery­one wants to know is what do you eat. Could you give us a quick run­down on one of your favorite healthy recipes?

Some peo­ple are sur­prised that I don’t eat as much as they would imagine! For an ex­am­ple – I love to com­bine a third of a cup of seeds like Pepi­tas or Hemp Seeds with a cup of Len­tils or Chick­peas, mixed with spi­nach, beet­root, and cu­cum­ber and some ap­ple cider vine­gar. It’s a sim­ple way of eat­ing – and meets my pro­tein needs and keeps the carbs ‘clean’. Other than that I love fruit, ve­gies and whole foods.

Q: What style of train­ing do you cur­rent­ly do to stay in shape?

I lift large, heavy things re­peat­ed­ly and go and sprint out­doors twice per week.

Q: Be­sides win­n­ing the Na­t­u­ral Mr Uni­verse in 2009 what have been some of your notable ath­let­ic achieve­ments to date?

In the spir­it of break­ing stereo­types I have gone on to win Pow­er­-lift­ing com­pe­ti­tions, and break two strength world re­cords on na­tio­n­al TV in front of 30 mil­lion home view­ers!

2012 will be a body­build­ing com­pe­ti­tion year for me as I com­pete in the most presti­gious pro­fes­sio­n­al na­t­u­ral body­build­ing    organization in the world – the IF­PA. I’m the first Aussie to ev­er com­pete in it.

Q: Did you en­coun­ter any dis­cour­ag­ing com­ments from others when be­com­ing ve­g­an and if so how did you deal with this?

It’s pret­ty hard to argue with me now and that’s the vi­sion I had back when peo­ple may have doubt­ed its le­gi­t­i­ma­cy. I was mo­ti­vat­ed to prove it could be done so I used that ‘neg­a­tive’ en­er­gy to my ad­van­tage.

Q: Why were you in­spired to start body­build­ing and what are the key fac­tors that mo­ti­vat­ed you to re­main in peak con­di­tion?

Part­ly be­cause I was told I couldn’t be one (as a vegan), part­ly be­cause you peak lat­er in life (the best drug free body­builders are in their late 30’s ear­ly 40’s) and part­ly be­cause it gives me some­thing com­pet­i­tive to fo­cus on in an ac­tiv­i­ty I re­al­ly en­joy. They call weight train­ing West­ern Yo­ga you know!

Q: What can we ex­pect from your new 100% ve­g­an sup­ple­ment brand V-XS?

I want to com­bine my love of plant-based food su­pe­ri­or­i­ty with my knowl­edge of sports nu­tri­tion and sci­ence in a range of prod­ucts that will be in my opinion the most su­pe­ri­or in the mar­ket.

Our pa­tent­ed Pro­tein for­mu­la has been picked up by an ex­ist­ing ma­jor com­pany here in Aus­tralia – in­stead of them us­ing a dairy based pro­tein! Win!

Q: Do you have any ad­vice for any­one con­sid­er­ing mak­ing the switch to a ve­g­an di­et?

Base it around your favorite healthy ve­g­an foods, that way you en­joy the pro­cess. Learn what to re­place foods with that you’re no longer eat­ing (tem­peh in­stead of meat, beans and legumes in­stead of eg­gs) so your body doesn’t crave cer­tain nu­tri­ents like pro­tein.

Don’t just think be­cause a food is ve­g­an it’s ne­ces­sar­i­ly healthy ei­ther – fo­cus on whole foods other­wise you’ll not get the full ap­pre­ci­a­tion of how ben­e­fi­cial the lifestyle can re­al­ly be.

Al­so re­mem­ber why it’s im­por­tant to you and why you de­cid­ed to do it in the first place. Your jour­ney is yours alone, and at many times you’ll need th­ese rea­sons as an an­chor to help you through.

Bil­ly Sim­monds pro­vides spe­cif­ic nu­tri­tion and train­ing ad­vice for peo­ple and can be con­tact­ed viabil­ly@­billysim­monds.com. For up to date in­for­ma­tion al­so go to
www.face­book.com/smart­su­per­food

http://www.treehugger.uproar.org.au

Dr. Neal Barnard:Eating Right for Cancer Survival (part 8)

We are now pleased to show Dr. Barnard’s presentation “Foods and Breast Cancer Survival,” a chapter from the “Eating Right for Cancer Survival” DVD.

Welcome, thanks for joining us. Breast cancer is a serious epidemic, and we’re fighting it on every possible front. There are better methods than ever for detecting cancer, and we have better treatments than ever. But I have to say as a doctor, what I like best is the new method for preventing cancer, because if you prevent it, you never have to treat it, you never have to live with this, and the fear that’s involved with it.

Now we’ve known for a long period of time, that diet does make a big difference. Some of the first clues came from Japan. A woman in Japan, compared to a woman in the United States, she’s less likely to develop cancer, and if she’s got cancer, she’s less likely to die from it. She’s more likely to do well, more likely to survive. Why would that be?

Well, the first clue was, well, women in Japan are thinner, and that’s important. Body fat it’s not just there to store calories, body fat actually is a living organ, it makes things, it makes hormones, it makes estrogens. And estrogens make things grow. At puberty, estrogens are responsible for breast development, and during all of a woman’s cycle, it’s responsible for the thickening of the lining of the uterus every single month.

So if you think of estrogens as making things grow, what does that mean for a cancer cell? What it means is, it may make the cancer cell grow too. If I take a test-tube, put breast cancer cells in it, and add estrogen, the cancer cells grow like crazy, it’s like fertilizer on weeds. So, let’s say a woman has more body fat, she has more estrogen in her blood, that’s asking for the cells to start multiplying and to spread.

So well, does it work? If a woman is thinner, will she actually have less risk of getting cancer or will she, if she has it, will she tend to survive? The answer is yes. There was a big study in Shanghai (China) that looked, not just at women who were quite overweight, but women who had different variations, within what we would think of as normal weight.

Do you know the Body Mass Index, BMI? This is a way of talking about body weight, but adjusting it for your height. So your ideal weight is different if you’re six foot four versus, say five foot three okay? So the way we define it is, a BMI, a Body Mass Index under 25, is what we’re going to call, normal, healthy weight.

So in the study in Shanghai, they had a group of women, everybody already had breast cancer, and the question was, “If they are heavier or thinner, would that affect how they do?” Here’s what they found. The women who had a BMI under 23, thin women, their five-year survival was about 87%.

They then compared them with the women who were between 23 and 25, a little heavier, bit really, but still within normal weight. And their five-year survival was a little bit less, about 84%. And then they looked at the women who were over 25. Not seriously overweight, but just a little bit into overweight. Their five-year survival was down to 80%. So the heavier you go, the more likely you are to be vulnerable to this condition, okay?

Well that’s the first thing, but there’s more to it. It’s not just the fat on your body, it’s the fat on your plate. And researchers found that it doesn’t just affect whether a woman develops cancer, it also affects, whether she does well or not so well.

At the State University of New York in Buffalo (USA), researchers did an important study. They brought in about 900 women, everybody already had breast cancer, and all they did was this: They looked at their diet, and then they looked at who did well, and who didn’t do so well. And what they found was stunning. The risk of dying at any point in time was increased by 40%, for every thousand grams of fat the women ate per month.

Now, let me make this practical for you. If I take a typical American diet, I throw in all the fat from the hamburgers that we might eat, and the French fries and the salad oils and you take all that fat and you add it up.

You compare that to a plant based diet, a vegetarian diet, so there’s no animal fat in it, and a diet where we keep the oils pretty low, those two diets differ, by anywhere from 1000 to 1500 grams of fat every single month. That’s good for a 40 to 60% difference in whether you are dead or alive at any single time point in the future. So it makes a big difference.

We’ve put this to work, sometimes in rather unusual ways. I was sitting at my desk one day and the phone rang. And a young woman said, “Dr. Barnard.” I said, “Yes?” “I can’t get out of bed.” I said, “What’s the problem?” She said, “This happens to me every month. For one day my cramps are so bad, I just can’t function, I can’t get through the day without taking enormous amounts of ibuprofen, and I’m scared about the side effects, and I don’t know what to do. And can you give me a more powerful pain medicine so that I can function.”

I said, “Yes I can. Let me give you some painkillers for a couple of days.” But it suddenly struck me, what are menstrual cramps? Every single month, the amount estrogen in the body rises and then it falls, about two weeks in, that’s when a woman is ovulating. And then the next two weeks the amount of estrogen rises, thickening the lining of the uterus.

What’s it doing that for? Because the uterus is the most optimistic organ in the body. Every single month it’s convinced we’re going to get pregnant for sure, so it gets ready. But then about two weeks before the end of the month, it says “Ah, it didn’t happen.” So at that point, the inner lining of the uterus breaks up, it’s lost in menstrual flow, and very maladjusted chemicals called prostaglandins are released. They cause cramping and they cause headaches and they make you feel crummy.

And so as she’s talking on the phone, I’m thinking, “Wait a minute. From breast cancer research we know that if I cut the fat out of my diet, if I bring in the fiber, I can reduce the amount of estrogen. Less estrogen, (means) less thickening, and less cramps. Let’s try it.”

So I suggested this to her. I said, “Let me give you some painkillers for a couple of days, but we want to do an experiment for about four weeks. How about this, no animal products in your diet. If there are no animal products, there’s no animal fat.” And I said, “And keep the oils low. Throw away your bottles of cooking oil and all that stuff. Don’t eat the greasy potato chips and things. Keep it very basic, very low in fat.” She said, “Well I’ll try anything.”

She calls me up four weeks later, “Dr. Barnard, I just have one question.” I said, “What’s that?” She said, “Why don’t doctors tell patients about this?” Her period just sneaked up on her, virtually no symptoms at all. And I thought that was intriguing. So I wrote a book that mentioned this and I started getting calls from women who said, “This is really true!” And she also found that if she deviated from her diet early in the month, a big bag of potato chips, something greasy, she would pay for it at the end of the month.

So I did a research study with some colleagues at Georgetown University (USA) and we found indeed it is true. We brought in a group of women who had serious menstrual cramps. We put them on a diet that was vegan and low in fat for two full menstrual cycles. It shortened the number of days of pain. It shortened the intensity of the pain. And PMS (premenstrual syndrome) symptoms, like water retention and bloating and irritability, all these things got better.

What I’m suggesting is just this. The reason I tell you this story is we imagine that our hormones are controlling us. That’s true, but we have a measure of control over them too. It’s just we never had the instruction manual. Well now we know how to do it.

Now there are some times when research brought us in sort of the wrong direction. Do you know the “Women’s Health Initiative?” The “Women’s Health Initiative” was a very large and I think, very well designed research study but it tested a rather modest diet. The idea was if we bring in a group of women, in this case, not quite 50 000 women and if we reduce the fat content of their diet, will that prevent breast cancer?

Well, they didn’t make anybody vegetarian or vegan. They didn’t really cut the fat out to a great degree. The numbers were like this. At the beginning of the study, the average woman going into it was eating about 38% of her calories from fat. That’s kind of high. The national average is closer to 30%. Then as time went on, they were able to reduce the fat content of their diet down to about 24%, which is in the right direction but it didn’t stay there.

As time went on, they were going back up and back up and back up and by the six year point, they were back up to about 29%, which is very much like the national average right now. Well, what happened? First of all, their breast cancer rates dropped just a little, about 9%. So that’s good, it’s in the right direction but it’s not strong enough. With one exception, progesterone receptor negative cancer, that’s one particular type, dropped 24%.

So that’s good, but here’s why the diet didn’t work. They allowed people to keep eating all the foods that make the American diet risky. They said, have the leaner cuts of beef; have chicken without the skin. The leanest beef is 29% fat. Chicken without the skin is 23%. Fish, some fish like salmon is over 50% fat in a typical cut of Chinook salmon.

Broccoli is 8%, beans are 4%, rice is 1% to 5%. Those are the foods, if you really want to test this in a serious way, have people eating the grains and the beans and the vegetables and fruits. So don’t get me wrong, I think the “Women’s Health Initiative” was a great study, but what it proved wasn’t that diet doesn’t work. What it proved is that small diet changes do very little.

Let me tell you about two other studies that really tackle this problem. One was called “The Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study.” And what they wanted to do was to see if diet makes a difference after a woman already has breast cancer.

They brought in not quite 2,500 women. Everybody had breast cancer and they put them on a diet that was pretty low in fat, about 15% of their calories came from fat. That’s about half the American average. And then they tracked how they did as time went on. What they were specifically looking for, was whether a woman was likely to have a cancer recurrence or a new cancer.

Did you know this, that if a woman has already had breast cancer, she’s at higher risk of getting a new cancer? So what they found was the diet worked. The likelihood of getting cancer recurrence or a new cancer was cut by about 24% and when they looked at those that were estrogen receptor negative, that’s a particular type of cancer, they were cut by about 42%. So diet, it’s not perfect but it’s darn good and we’ll take it.

Now there was another study called “The Women’s Healthy Eating & Living Study” or “The WHEL Study.” And they went a step further. It was low in fat but they also made a point of emphasizing vegetables and fruits and juices in particular, like carrot juice and that sort of thing. And it wasn’t quite vegetarian, but it was going a little further in that direction. The study as we’re recording this now is not yet finished, but I want to share with you some early results because they’re exciting.

I’ve been suggesting that if a woman loses weight, brings in the fiber, cuts the fat out of her diet, she’s going to be able to control her hormones. Does it work? They took a sample of 291 of the women in the study and they actually measured their hormones at the beginning and the end. I’m talking about estradiol and estrone, these are the estrogens in a woman’s blood and indeed they dropped quite significantly just from the diet change alone, no medicines, no exercise, nothing, just the diet change.

But then they went further and they looked at the control group that was not asked to make any diet changes. It was a large group of women, about 1,500 women and they varied. Some of them ate more vegetables, some of them ate less and they did a blood test for carotenoids, Beta-carotene and its cousins. You can measure that in a person’s blood. So if somebody said, “I eat a lot of vegetables,” you know, you can actually tell if it’s true or not.

So they measured them, and what they found was that those women who had the most carotenoids in their bloodstream, meaning they had been doing it, they had been eating the vegetables and fruits, they had about a 45% reduction in their likelihood of having cancer come back.

So bottom line is this: We still have good methods for detecting cancer, we have pretty good methods of treating it, but you know what, I never want to use them. I want to see what we can do to keep cancer beyond arm’s length, and to do that we need to just change what’s on our plate. Thank you very much.

Our heartfelt gratitude Dr. Neal Barnard for allowing us to share your excellent and highly informative presentations from the “Eating Right for Cancer Survival” series with our viewers. By encouraging the adoption of the vegan lifestyle, you and members of The Cancer Project are on the forefront of improving public health in the United States and beyond. We wish you the very best in your future endeavors.

For more details on The Cancer Project, please visit http://www.CancerProject.org

May the entire world soon adopt the compassionate plant-based diet and enjoy the peak of health.

Did you know that each and everyone of us is fueling one of the world’s biggest ecological disasters and acts of primate genocide in history?

Borneo and Sumatra are two of the most bio-diverse regions of the world, yet they have the longest list of endangered species. This list includes the magnificent orangutan. These two South-East Asian islands are extremely rich in life, containing around 20,000 flowering plant species, 3,000 tree species, 300,000 animal species and thousands more being discovered each year. Despite this amazing biodiversity and delicate web of species, an area the size of 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared each hour in Indonesia and Malaysia to make way for the production of one vegetable oil. That’s 6 football fields destroyed each minute. This vegetable oil is called palm oil, and is found in hundreds of the everyday products, from baked goods and confectionery, to cosmetics and cleaning agents.

Due to the massive international demand for palm oil, palm oil plantations are rapidly replacing the rainforest habitat of the critically endangered orangutan; with over 90% of their habitat already destroyed in the last 20 years.

Orangutans are some of our closest relatives, sharing approximately 97% of their DNA with humans. Orangutan means ‘Person of the jungle’ in the Indonesian language. It is estimated that 6 to 12 of these ‘jungle people’ are killed each day for palm oil. These gentle creatures are either killed in the deforestation process, when they wonder into a palm oil plantation looking for food, or in the illegal pet trade after they’ve been captured and kept as pets in extremely poor conditions and provided with extremely poor nutrition.

Orangutans are considered as pests by the palm oil industry. In the deforestation process, workers are told that if wildlife gets in the way, they are to do whatever is necessary in order to dispose them, no matter how inhumane. Often orangutans are run over by logging machinery, beat to death, buried alive or set on fire… all in the name of palm oil.

There is only a 1 chromosome difference between orangutans and humans. They are the largest tree-dwelling mammal on the planet, and also the most intelligent animal after humans. With their amazing intellect, they have the ability to reason and think; along with almost all other human feelings and emotions. They can undo bolts, screws, knots and even pick locks. An orangutan named Chentek, at Atlanta Zoo in the US, was taught American sign language as an infant and has a vocabulary of over 500 words! These bright, fellow-apes also have their own culture.

As the thirst for palm oil grows, wildlife is pushed into competition with people across Indonesia, resulting in the poisoning of elephants and the burning of orangutans.

Orangutans are also a vital part of the rainforest ecosystem in South-East Asia. They are a keystone species. For example, orangutans help spread many tree seeds; many of which can only germinate once they have passed through the gut of an orangutan. These beautiful apes are vital in order to preserve the delicate ecosystems of Borneo and Sumatra and maintain the rich bio-diversity of Fauna and Flora in these dense jungles.
Orangutans cannot live without the rainforest, and the rainforest cannot live without orangutans.

Palm oil is having a shocking impact on our planet. The production of this one vegetable oil is not only responsible for polluting rivers and causing land erosion, but when the plantation workers set fire to the remaining trees, shrubs and debris to make way for the oil palms, it produces immense amount of smoke pollution that is toxic to planet earth. This has been found to be the second biggest contributor to greenhouse gas in the world.

Please don’t buy palm oil.

to read the whole article go to http://www.saynotopalmoil.com

George Eisman: Growth Hormones in Animal Products Equals Cancer

George Eisman, a highly respected vegan registered dietitian in the United States, will explain how consuming animal products causes cancer as well as how the animal agriculture industry destroys public health.
Mr. Eisman served as a faculty member in dietetics and nutrition at several universities and colleges and has worked in a children’s hospital and a nursing home, as well as for public health agencies in four states. He founded The Association of Vegetarian Dietitians and Nutrition Educators, is the co-founder and first Chairman-Elect of the Vegetarian Nutrition Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association, is the director of the Coalition for Cancer Prevention Through Plant-Based Eating and is also an Advisory Board Member of EarthSave International. Mr. Eisman is the author of two books, “The Most Noble Diet” and “A Basic Course in Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition.”

I’ve been vegetarian for over 40 years now. And I’ve been vegan for about 28 years. And my life’s work is trying to make people aware of the connection between what they eat and their risk of diseases like cancer. And a vegan diet is by far the best way to lower your cancer risk.

There was a study done in Japan a few years ago that found when people in rural areas went from eating animal products just once a week to three times a week, the breast cancer rate went up by 70%. If you can find a drug that would lower people’s breast cancer rate by 70%, you could make a billion dollars. So all you have to do is get them to cut animal products out of their diet and it goes down by that much.

There were an estimated 12.7 million cancer cases diagnosed around the world in 2008, and this number is expected to rise to 21 million by 2030. Cancer is a term used for more than 100 diseases and is characterized by out-of-control cell reproduction.

To be healthy, the body needs a constant supply of new cells and their regulation is an orderly path of growth, division, and death. When this process is damaged, some cells do not end their lives as a normal part of the cell life cycle. These irregular ones grow uncontrollably and divide, forming a mass of abnormal cells. The complex mechanism of cell regulation is tightly controlled by growth hormones.

The best thing about a vegan diet, from a standpoint of cancer risk is that a vegan diet contains no growth hormones. Growth hormones are proteins that promote growth. And cancer is a disease of abnormal growth. So to put growth hormones in your body, when you’re trying to fight cancer or prevent cancer, is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. It’s just going to make it worse, because it’s going to promote growth.

And growth hormones are animal products, because all the animals that are slaughtered for us are killed when they’re still fairly young, so they’re still growing. And of course, dairy products are meant to grow a baby calf into a thousand pound cow in a year, so they’re full of growth hormones. And eggs are full of growth hormones. So in order to get these growth hormones out of our diet, we have to go to a plant-based diet, and use plant-based milks and egg-substitutes made from plant foods, and of course, things like veggie burgers and tofu and other plant products in place of meat and other animal products.

Organic meats and grass-fed, non-hormone enhanced meats, still are full of growth hormones, because of the age of the animals. We don’t let them get old before we slaughter them, we eat them when they’re still young. So these growth hormones are in their bodies, whether they’re enhanced, injected with them, or they’re just naturally there. Those growth hormones are in our animal products that we consume. These growth hormones are proteins; they’re not fats. So if you eat low-fat meat and low-fat dairy products, it’s actually worse because they have more protein than they do fats, so they have more growth hormone.

Mr. Eisman learned about how dietary growth hormones cause cancer from the work of Professor Jane Plant, a cancer victim herself whose tumor went into remission shortly after she adopted a vegan diet.

I came across this book in 1999 called “The No Dairy Breast Cancer Prevention Program” by a woman named Jane Plant, who was one of the top scientists in England. And this book opened up my eyes to the link between cancer and dairy products, and as well as all other animal products. So dairy products are the one food that people think is healthy for them, and it really isn’t. It’s just as unhealthy as meat and chicken and eggs, because it has these growth hormones that encourage abnormal growth.

And that’s why she features this. And that’s inspired me as a dietitian, because we dietitians are also brainwashed into thinking that dairy products are necessary foods. And they’re not only not necessary, but they are not even healthful. And they actually shorten our lives by raising our risk of this deadly disease of cancer.

Let me tell you the story of Jane Plant herself. Jane Plant was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. And after five operations, which she lost all of one breast and part of the other breast, she was told she had at most six months to live. Her breast cancer had spread to her neck. She traveled around the world to countries where breast cancer was not a common disease, and compared it to countries where breast cancer was a common disease.

And she said this pattern was very clear to her that the more dairy products, and actually other animal products as well in a diet, the higher the country’s rate of breast cancer. And so she gave up eating all animal products. And within a few weeks, the tumor on her neck started to itch, and it started to shrink. And when she went back to her doctor six months later, instead of being dead, she was cancer-free. And 15 years later she’s still writing books.

Why is it that not enough nutritionists and medical doctors know about this?

Well, first of all medical doctors are doctors of medicine. They’re not doctors of health, they’re not doctors of nutrition, they’re not doctors of food. They are doctors of medicine. My brother is a medical doctor, and he says, “We never learn anything about food. I learn about what each vitamin might do in your body, but I don’t learn about what foods they’re in. If someone, wants to get that vitamin, I prescribe a pill.”

And if you think about it, if people are healthy from what they eat, there’s not a lot of sickness and there is not a lot of business for the hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. It’s not the doctors themselves, but the doctors are pushed by the pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare industry to treat disease and not to prevent disease.

Dietitians are not trained to prescribe diets. They’re trained to teach people how to follow diets that are prescribed by doctors. But the ideal diet is not something that is really pushed, because it’s not economically beneficial for anybody except the individual.

With much of the medical community not informed as to the innumerable benefits of a plant-based diet, it is no wonder the misconception exists that this diet lacks sufficient protein. However nothing could be further from the truth.

Most people think you need to have a lot of protein in your diet, and you really don’t need to have very much. Just a couple of ounces of a day is all you need. And it’s easily gotten from plant foods. And you don’t have to even eat things like soybeans, which are very high in protein. You can eat other beans, things like kidney beans, garbanzo beans, black beans, but also vegetables and grains and nuts and seeds. They all have adequate amounts of protein to meet our needs.

In the US, one can purchase a hamburger at a fast-food outlet for 99 cents. A study by the Center for Science and Environment estimated that the true cost of a hamburger in the US, including government subsidies to the livestock industry, the harm to public health from consuming beef and environmental damage caused by producing it is US$200.

What we really should stop doing is stop subsidizing the meat and dairy industry. We have these farm bills that pass every year, and meat and dairy get most of the money, that’s our tax money subsidizing those foods. They’re the unhealthiest foods. And those are the foods that should be the most expensive. Instead they’re the cheapest because of the subsidies.

Every farm animal is bred intentionally so if we stop consuming them, we can stop breeding them tomorrow and there won’t be millions of them to be producing all these pollutants that are destroying the atmosphere and polluting the water, as well as creating all this unhealthy food. We can stop the breeding of farm animals tomorrow.

On top of all the wonderful things that a vegan lifestyle brings to us in terms of health and well-being, it has many other beneficial effects as well.

But if we really care about our health and the health of the environment and the health of other people, and the health of the animals that we’re trying to spare unnecessary suffering, then a whole foods plant-based diet is a win-win-win situation for everybody concerned. We don’t get hurt, the animals don’t get hurt, the beautiful dog on your lap, and the cows, and the pigs, and the chickens, and the sheep, they have the same feelings that that dog does. And if somebody were to snatch that dog off your lap and try to eat it, people would be so upset. And yet we do that everyday with these other animals who have the same feeling of wanting to survive, of wanting to not be harmed.

Our sincere gratitude, George Eisman, for providing such essential information about the plant strong diet that ensures cancer-free, fulfilling lives. May you always enjoy utmost success on your noble path.

For more information on the Coalition for Cancer Prevention Through Plant-Based Eating, please visit http://www.CoalitionForCancerPrevention.org
Mr. Eisman’s books, “The Most Noble Diet” and “A Basic Course in Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition,” are available at the same website and http://www.Amazon.com

Interview with Mike Mahler: Kettlebell Extraordinaire and Vegan

 

I had a chance to catch up with Mike Mahler one of the leading experts on effective kettlebell training for size, strength, fat loss and conditioning in the country.  He has been published in everything from T-Muscle to Men’s Fitness to CBS News. He is a badass in every aspect of the word.  You would think someone of this caliber eats tons of beef, chicken, hardboiled eggs…right?

Wrong. Not a drop of lamb’s blood on this fellow’s shirt. He’s vegan…and he could crush you. Let’s read on and get to know Mike a little better.  I think you are going to get along…

Most people choose to become vegans. They aren’t born one. Was that the case with you? How did it all start?

I have been a vegetarian for almost twenty-one years and a vegan for close to fifteen years. My path to the vegan diet started many years ago. First when I was fifteen I was really into a NYC Hardcore band called The Cro-mags. One day I was reading an interview with the founder Harley Flanagan in which he discussed the reasons why he adopted a vegetarian diet. He stated that you couldn’t talk about peace while eating a steak as the animal you’re eating died in agonizing pain.

My parents once took me to a game park in Kenya. When I saw a variety of incredible animals in their natural habitats, I realized that this is how animals should be living their lives. Not on some miserable factory farm being treated inhumanely. After the trip to Kenya I felt the power of believing in something strongly and wanted to do something to alleviate animal suffering.

How difficult was it for you to transition to a vegetarian diet?

The transition from an omnivore diet to a vegetarian diet was not too difficult as I had my mother, a life long vegetarian, as a role model. Unlike becoming a vegetarian, which was relatively easy, becoming a vegan was difficult. I had to do a lot of research on vegan nutrition to come up with viable options. I did a lot of experimenting with a variety of combinations to ascertain what works best for me. It took a while to get it locked in.

 How can you do this on nuts and seeds…or what some ignoramuses may refer to as “bird food”? (Everyone reading this owes me two dollars for using ignoramuses in a sentence.)

Thanks and what it really comes down to is giving your body what it needs to function optimally. We all need high quality sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to function with health and vitality.

Getting everything I need to fuel my workouts and life is really not that hard at all on a strict vegan diet if you know what you’re doing. For example one cup of lentils has around 26 grams of protein. Add two tablespoons of hempseeds, which has around 11 grams of protein and now you have a meal loaded with 37 grams of high quality protein.

I cook a good amount of legumes with a variety of vegetables every night for a high antioxidant meal loaded with quality nutrition. Add some nuts or seeds when the meal is cooked and you have a winner.

For convenience I also like to use high quality protein powders such as Sunwarrior Rice Protein and Pure Advantage Pea Protein powder. Protein shakes loaded with frozen fruits and coconut milk is a great way to start the day. The coconut milk is loaded with Medium–chain triglycerides (MCTs) which are a great source of energy. Having an optimal hormone environment is very important for well being, building muscle and losing fat. I also like to add a lot of spices to all of my meals.

The common mistakes that many vegans make is consuming way to many carbohydrates, in particular grains, and not enough protein and fat. Moreover, relying on processed garbage food such as fake meat products, soy protein isolate, veggie burgers is not the way to go.  Focus on real food and learn how to make meals taste good.

I understand that beans, lentil, quinoa, etc. all contain a pretty complete amino acid profile, but up against a piece of grilled chicken can it really compare?

Yes, when you combine legumes with nuts and seeds you’re creating a perfect protein meal and also a nice balance of protein, fat, and carbs. Meat is loaded with a lot of toxins especially if the meat is not 100% organic. The animals are fed garbage and then you eat the animals. Eating unhealthy animals and thinking that it is healthy is asinine.

Protein is essentially a source of amino acids. Your body does not care what the source is whether a vegan source or meat source.  You can certainly give your body what it needs on a vegan diet and make it work as I have.

I want to gain five pounds of muscle , am I going to have to double my serving sizes, considering a lot of the food on a vegan diet isn’t calorie dense? Or is it?

The most important thing is to have a balance of protein, fat, and carbs at each meal. You need ample amount of all three to put on muscle. You can make vegan meals high calorie meals by focusing on this balance. Protein shakes with coconut milk also come in handy for packing on size.

Muscle building is all about creating an optimal hormone environment. You need the right amount of testosterone and growth hormone in particular to build muscle.  Thus, in addition to eating the right amount of food, you need to make sure you get eight hours of deep sleep every night. A proper strength-training program with a focus on compound exercises is a must. Barbell squats; deadlifts, presses, rows, and pull-ups provide the most bang for your buck.

How many meals do you supplement/replace with rice protein powder or other vegan supplements?

On training days I have two protein shakes per day. I eat light during the day and then have my main meal at night. This is an eating style that I picked up from my friend Ori Hofmekler, author of The Warrior Diet. A typical day for me is a protein super shake in the morning after my morning cardio workout. This may consist of two scoops of sun warrior rice protein, 1 cup of frozen fruit, 4oz of light coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of Udo’s oil, ¼ teaspoon of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and 8oz of water. This super shake gets me through most of the day. I like protein shakes for breakfast, as they are easy to assimilate. I do not want to waste a lot of energy on digestion when I am busy and active.  I have another protein shake thirty minutes after my evening strength training workouts. This shake is similar to the one I have in the morning.

Veganism is becoming more popular than ever; it seems more supplement companies are trying to make a name for themselves.  What supplements do you recommend? Is there a brand you are more loyal to?

My favorite protein powder is Sunwarrior’s Rice Protein. It is by far the best rice protein on the market and a great protein powder that does not cause an allergic response like many dairy based protein powders. This, again, is optimal hormone production.

Recently, NFL star Tony Gonzalez also came out with a vegan protein powder. My friend Jon Hinds, who is one of the best trainers around, helped Tony transition to a diet which is around 80% vegan. Jon sent me some of Tony’s protein powder recently and it is very good. It is a combination of rice protein, pea protein, and hemp protein.

What are the negatives of a vegan diet? I know there has got to be at least one…explain.

The biggest negative is with regards to eating out. Most restaurants do not have many vegan options if any. I often have to create my own meals at many restaurants. Fortunately, Indian and Thai restaurants have quite a few vegan options that taste great. Some of my favorites include: Chana Masala, spicy eggplant, and Dal.

I think more people could adopt a vegan diet if they learned how to make it tasty and satisfying.

I am allergic to nuts.  If I eat them my tongue swells up like a balloon and I sound like Darius Ruckerfrom Hootie and the Blowfish (who, FYI, recently told the “Blowfish” to scram and went solo). Nutsare a staple in a vegan diet…now what am I going to do?  I mean I like sunflower seeds and pinto beans, but shit…any suggestions?

You can still make it work by combining legumes with quinoa, amaranth, barley, or wild rice. Just add some healthy fat and you are all set. Olive oil, avocado’s, flaxseed oil, hempseed oil are all good options. Pumpkin seeds and hempseeds are also great sources of protein.

Supplement your diet with some rice protein or pea protein shakes and you’re all set.

Someone reading this may say, “I love meat and will eat it until my eyes bleed; therefore I can no way benefit from anything vegan.” Is it possible to be a “hybrid” vegan? How so?

Eat meat as a condiment rather than the main course.  Instead of eating 8oz of meat, reduce to 4oz and load up on legumes, nuts, and seeds. Load up on lots of veggies every time you eat meat.

Ok, so I want to start going vegan tomorrow.  What is a good starter plan that I can follow to wean me off the beef (and other meats/fish…oh, and eggs).

It is going to vary with each person. Some easy steps include:

• Replace dairy and egg protein powders with rice protein and pea protein powder
• Eat only vegan food during the day and then have meat at night for dinner
• Eat meat every other day instead of every day.
• Cut out all meat but continue to eat eggs and dairy for several months.
• Start experimenting with more vegan food. Add more legumes and nuts and seeds to your diet.
• Add vegetables to every meal

Last, but not least…you put a heavy emphasis on living life aggressively. One person’s idea of living aggressively may have another person drowning in their own piss and vomit while attempting to base jump off small buildings. What does living life aggressive mean to YOU?

Living life aggressively is a philosophy on taking charge of your life. It is about taking self-responsibility for your health and well being on several fronts.

I look at real strength as much more than how much weight you can lift or how fast you can run. Being in great physical shape is no doubt important and a critical component of being strong and fit. However, I like to encourage people to take what they learn from training and carry it over to other aspects of life. Be a better person. Be more assertive and pursue the life you want, rather than settling and just coasting through life. Being strong in the gym but weak everywhere else is not real strength.

Mike thanks for taking the time to give your insight.  The readers of Mike Arone Fitness are, to say the least, privileged to see your perspective on fitness and wellness.

Keep kickin’ ass and don’t hesitate to stop by the site once in a while and drop a line. My readers would love to hear from ya.

Thanks a lot Mike. Thanks for doing the interview and I would love to have your readers check out my website www.mikemahler.com I have a great deal of free information on my site.

source>mikearonefitness.com

Trade Your Milk and Butter for Plant-Based Versions

   by Kathy Freston
Bestselling Author, “Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World”

 

 

Today we’re going to switch up milk and butter for their nondairy counterparts. And I’m going to point you to the yummiest ones.

Why this switch? Well, for starters, a lot of milk has added hormones in it — and these additives are no good for our waistlines. In fact, they’re not good for the cows that produce the milk, let alone the humans who drink it! These hormones are injected into cows to make them produce more milk (which creates more profit). But even organic, grass-fed, and chemical-free milk is full of naturally-occurring cow hormones that aren’t necessarily good for people, whether the milk is whole, 2 percent, or skim.

Think of how milk happens: It’s created by a lactating cow in order to feed her little calf so it will get really big, really quickly. By nature’s brilliant design, this milk contains naturally-occurring growth hormones in order to make a little one grow.

But we don’t want to be fat, docile, and slow like cows. No sir. We want to be slim and quick on our feet. By the time we are in kindergarten, we’re not drinking our mama’s milk to make us bigger anymore, and we definitely don’t need it from a cow, whose milk is designed to put a hefty 1,000 pounds on her baby!

Cow’s milk is the perfect nutrition for building a calf into a cow, but definitely not for a human — especially a human who would like to be slim. And to go even further, casein — the main protein in milk — is serious trouble for the human body. Casein is good for a nursing calf, because it helps her grow fast, and it’s designed by nature to keep her bonded to mama. But when humans take in casein from the cow… oh, not good.

The casein in dairy is downright addictive. During the process of dairy digestion, the casein breaks apart into a host of opioids called casomorphins. Note the “morphin(e)” in there? Well, sure enough, when you ingest dairy, you get sort of addicted, as you might to morphine. Why so? Because nature designed cow’s milk to have a drug-like effect on the calf’s brain, to ensure that the little one stays bonded to the mom. It’s nature’s way of making sure the little one continues to get all the nutrients he or she needs. And by the way, just as opiates tend to be constipating, so can dairy products constipate you (especially cheese). So just know it’s not for nothing that people say they are addicted to dairy — there’s a reason! But that’s why we are switching you to something better in such a way that you’ll hardly miss a beat.

Let’s get back to the nutritional issues. Might I mention that most of the fat in milk is saturated butterfat, which clogs your arteries and is bad for your heart? And according to T. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University and author of the groundbreaking book The China Study, that casein we were just talking about actually promotes cancer. In fact, he says casein is one of the most significant cancer promoters ever discovered. In layperson’s terms: Milk protein can fertilize cancer cells. (You can read more on this in my bookVeganist.)

Trade your milk for nondairy versions and your stomach is likely to settle down real quickly. Not only that, the pounds will drop, too.

Putting the problem of casein aside for a moment, let’s talk about skim milk.

In a fascinating twist on expectation, a 2011 Harvard study of 12,829 children showed that skim milk may make you fatter than whole milk. That wouldn’t surprise farmers; when they want to fatten up a pig, they feed it skim milk.

The reason? Milk sugar.

When you remove the fat from milk, what’s left is lactose — milk sugar. The end product is an unbalanced, sugary-like drink that leads to weight gain.

So skip the nonfat and low-fat stuff and go for a yummy nondairy milk instead — preferably one that is unsweetened (although there are some nondairy milks that are sweetened with stevia; more on stevia in a couple of days).

I prefer the unsweetened nondairy milks so I can sweeten them, if I need to, to my own taste. Usually all it takes is a smidge of agave or stevia, but it’s always better to see how much sugary stuff you’re using and try to cool it wherever possible.

These days there are so many wonderful milk alternatives. You can find soy, almond, rice, hemp, or coconut milk just about anywhere, even at your favorite coffee place.

You’ll feel extra good about making this switch when I tell you that the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services just released their Dietary Guidelines for Americans in January 2011, in which they provide advice on how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases. The guidelines emphasize a plant-based diet! Most people think that plant-based foods are just fruits and vegetables, but they include whole grains, nuts, legumes, and soy foods like soy milk, almond milk, and coconut milk.

Plant-based foods are associated with lower rates of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes because they tend to be high in nutrients and low in calories and saturated fat. Research has also shown that plant-based foods can help reduce the risk of chronic disease. For example, most plant-based foods are much lower in saturated fat than animal foods, making them a better choice for maintaining heart health. Also, since plant-based foods contain no cholesterol, using them to replace animal foods can be an effective way to lower overall cholesterol intake.

One “nutrient of concern” noted by the new Dietary Guidelines is calcium. Since consumers do not get enough of this vital nutrient, many makers of soy, almond, and coconut milks have recently increased the calcium level in their products to equal that of conventional dairy milk, or they even surpass it by 50 percent! Fifty percent more calcium than milk — well, you can’t beat that!

Butter

Now to everyone’s favorite fat: butter. Butter makes everything taste better. Okay, agreed. But butter is nearly all fat — much of it saturated fat — and it’s calorie-dense. One tablespoon of butter has 102 calories. Compare that to hummus, which has only 25 calories for the same tablespoon. If you’re looking for a spread for your toast or cracker, try using hummus or some other bean spread. You can even smear a little avocado where you would have used butter. If you are sautéing something, try using a little spray olive oil, and when I say a little, I mean like a super-quick spritz.

And if you consider the taste of butter an absolute must-have every once in a while, try Earth Balance buttery spread. It’s delicious and substitutes perfectly anywhere you’d use butter.

If you’ve heard nasty things about margarine — and they’re likely true — don’t worry: Earth Balance is not margarine.

source>www.huffingtonpost.com

Nutritionist Jeff Novick on Eating Right

This is an insightful interview with award-winning vegan dietician and nutritionist Mr. Jeff Novick conducted during the October 2011 Healthy Lifestyle Expo held in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Mr. Novick is based in the US and currently serves as vice president for Executive Health Exams International and is the Director of Nutrition for the Meals for Health community project that helps “empower low-income families to achieve optimal health.”

He is also a lecturer for two programs which assist people in transitioning to a vegan diet: the McDougall Program run by famed vegan physician Dr. John McDougall as well as the Engine 2 Immersion program started by vegan fireman Rip Esselstyn, the bestselling author of “The Engine 2 Diet.” He has also produced a line of DVDs on wellness including “Jeff Novick’s Fast Food,” “Should I Eat That? How To Choose The Healthiest Foods,” and “Calorie Density: How To Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer!”

Mr. Novick received the Indiana State Public Health Excellence in Health Science Award from the governor of Indiana, and Indiana State University, USA awarded him the Graduate-of- the-Last-Decade Award. He’s been interviewed by national media outlets such as Fox News and appeared in the American documentary “Processed People.”

When I went on a really healthy plant-based diet I noticed a lot of different changes. I didn’t have heart disease, diabetes or any of those problems that drives a lot of people. I was just exploring ways to optimize my life and lifestyle. I had been plagued on and off with allergies over the years and those seemed to go away, most all of them, so now, it’s really an occasional thing that might happen. But the biggest change was my energy levels. I was always an active, energetic person, but it really changed when I cleaned up my diet and changed the way I live. And getting up was a joy now and I just felt so much better.

Animal products are the prime cause of many dangerous health conditions from diabetes and cancer to heart disease. Current research conducted by esteemed nutrition experts such as Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. John McDougall and Dr. Dean Ornish among others, has shown that not only are these diseases preventable but they are reversible too. Eating a whole foods plant-based diet, meaning a diet free from processed foods and any animal products conveys huge health benefits.

I’ve been fortunate to work with many, what we call “immersion-style programs” over the last two decades. And so, I get to see the power of a plant-based diet in a controlled setting where we really get to implement it in a person’s life for anywhere from three to five days to several weeks or more even in some of the places I’ve worked, where we’ve kept people in a residential setting for weeks and months at a time.

And, diabetes goes away, heart disease goes away; high blood pressure goes away; metabolic syndrome goes away; weight loss is, you don’t have to count calories. They get to eat whenever they are hungry till they’re comfortably full. So a lot of the struggles that people have with food and health, just seem to start going away the more they do that. Of course there is valid physical scientific reasons why that happens, but in the big picture, that’s what happens. And in addition, we see things, allergies go away or auto-immune conditions get better; lupus and arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis.

And currently I’m involved with Dr. McDougall, and we’re running a study, on the effects of a whole foods plant-based diet on multiple sclerosis. And so, we are doing that now, it’s been about two years we’re running a study.

Many people who have made the switch to a vegan diet have noticed improvements in their mental and emotional state.

Some of the mental benefits are, sometimes maybe not something that you can directly measure, but I know personally and from working with people over the years, a much clearer mind, ability to think and focus and attention really becomes much sharper. Also, in general, (you experience a) better mood, you feel better, (and experience) less depression and anxiety, especially when you couple it with an active lifestyle. Eating well and exercising and being active have shown to be very effective in reducing mild to moderate depression. So people having anxiety or mental issues, it can also really help.

There is an unfounded concern that by adopting a vegan diet one will not consume enough protein. However this is completely untrue as plant-based proteins are vastly superior to those derived from animals which are detrimental to health. Dr. Neal D. Barnard, founder and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine noted that “A healthy diet of beans, grains, vegetables, and fruits provides all the protein you need. In fact you are better off getting protein from plant sources. While animal protein can be hard on the delicate tissues of the kidneys, plant proteins appear to be free of this problem. They are also free of the risks of calcium loss and kidney stones associated with animal protein.”

Another one of the myths of a vegan or plant-based diet is not getting enough protein and to be honest, it’s amazing that this one has actually lasted the decades that it has, because it’s virtually impossible not to get in enough protein. If you consume enough calories from whole plant foods, you’re getting enough calories to maintain a healthy weight and you eat a variety of foods, then getting in enough protein it’d be impossible not to do it. So it really isn’t a problem. So again vegetables, you eat a lot of vegetables, you eat a lot of whole grains, and you eat a lot of beans.

Beans are probably one of the best sources of protein there is. What people don’t realize is when you use animal foods for protein, you’re also getting in saturated fat and cholesterol and you’re not getting in any fiber. Yet when you eat beans, not only are you getting in lots of good protein, you’re also getting in lots of fiber, you’re getting in virtually no saturated fat, you’re getting no cholesterol. So when you look at it as a total package, there’s no comparison.

With so much information available today on what foods we should eat as well as the various diets and fads, knowing what is good for us in terms of nutrition can be challenging. Thankfully Mr. Novick has the following useful advice.

And what we look at is the overriding body of evidence and we look at that, it really hasn’t changed that much in 50 years. Fruits and vegetables are still good for you and junk food is still bad for you. And a lot of these peripherals that they argue about aren’t really the health issue.

The basics are really simple, your diet should predominantly be based on fruits, vegetables, starchy vegetables, intact whole grains, legumes with a little bit of nuts and seeds. And those foods can make up all of your diet, all of your calories, and it would be the healthiest diet. It’d be the least processed, it would be nutrient adequate, more than nutrient adequate and that would be the best.

Apart from what we eat, our lifestyles and thoughts have a big effect on our lives. Exercise, clean air and fresh water, all enhance our well-being.

So physical fitness is part of it. In addition, getting in pure air and getting in pure water. A lot of the water is polluted, and the air, most Americans don’t smoke anymore. But for the 20% or so that still do, they put out second-hand smoke and what’s now called third-hand smoke. So, even though I’ve never smoked, I’m exposed to smoke. So it’s important for me to make sure I have fresh air and clean water. I also need to make sure I get adequate sleep, rest and relaxation, and an emotional poise so we’re not too stressed out. And that may be through meditation.

Mr. Jeff Novick also recommends “vitamin S” or sunshine to enjoy the best mental and physical health.

Sun and sunshine is important to us. And again, on an emotional level, we all know it, because we know how good we feel when we get out to the sunshine. And look where people go on vacation and everything. They don’t go to dark caves. They go to the sunny areas of the world and they spend their time out in the sunshine because it makes them feel so good. And we know there’s a Seasonal Affective Disorder where, when the sun isn’t around as much, people get depressed.

Clearly the way to optimize health, wellness and happiness is through the adoption of a whole foods organic vegan diet. This compassionate lifestyle choice not only benefits us and our loved ones but also holds the key to reversing climate change and many of the other urgent environmental problems we face. Our appreciation Jeff Novick, for taking time from your busy schedule to speak about wellness issues and your benevolent health promotion work over the years. Let many more people hear your wonderful message of vegan health in the future.

For more information on Jeff Novick, please visit http://www.JeffNovick.com
Mr. Novick’s DVDs are available at the same website

May all people soon adopt the organic vegan diet, for prime health and a kinder, more caring world.