Ran across a very helpful web site for vegans and vegetarians looking to eat out and shop at veg-friendly restaurants and shops.

The site offers world-wide coverage, although most of the reviews are for locations in North America.

Nice site design makes it easy to use and you can review and suggest your favorite places. Many listings include pictures and links to a map – very handy! Looks like my local favorites are well represented

http://www.vegguide.org

Enjoy – go vegan!

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

Would you like to make a difference for our environment and save money on your transportation as well?

Consider this – fuel your car with vegetable oil!

Sound impossible? I was surprised to learn that you can convert almost any diesel car, truck, SUV or RV to run on used (or pure) vegetable oil (which you can most likely get for free from local restaurants since they have to pay to have it disposed) for under $1,000.

Very interesting concept. The benefits claimed are:

• reduced emissions
• lower driving costs
• no difference in auto performance/power
• lower dependence on foreign fuel
• better for the environment
• your exhaust smells like french fries (that’s what they say!)

Read more about Grease Cars.

All the best for your health (and driving)!

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

Over the last two years of being 100% raw, I’ve experimented with different varieties of the raw food diet.

You see, there are those that eat a high fat raw diet, a diet high in fruit, a junk food raw diet, lots of dehydrated raw foods as well as a mix.

I’ve noticed that many switching to a raw food diet first focus on the raw aspect, mainly making raw versions of the foods they now eat cooked. Raw pizzas, burritos, lasagna, spaghetti, crackers, breads, shakes, salads with lots of ingredients, milk… lots of nuts, seeds and more. This is a great first step, getting one used to raw foods. However, it’s normally very high in fat and nutritionally unsound for the long term.

Over time, I see that simple foods become more appealing. Mono eating becomes more common… eating just one fruit or vegetable at a time.

My journey was very similar to what I’ve described here and since the new year, I’ve made another distinction which I believe is the best choice for me and my health. The 80-10-10 diet conceptualized by Dr. Doug Graham has answered many lingering questions and refined my eating habits. Basically, the concept is to eat raw fruits and vegetables in the following proportions: 80% carbohydrates, 10% protein and 10% fat. And it’s the percentage of calories, not in volume or weight (for example, a pound of lettuce has volume, but very few calories). When I started, I analyzed how I’d eaten in the past, thinking it would be pretty close to 80-10-10. Was I surprised to find that I had been getting anywhere from 40-60% of my daily calories from fat! Ahhhh!

You get most of your calories from fruit and lots of greens, mainly at the dinner meal.

After revising my diet and following the suggestions made by Dr. Graham, I believe I’ve found the best raw food diet… the ultimate raw food diet. The diet that I believe we’re made for and can thrive on.

There were many improvements to my health after switching, especially digestion. Many of the true benefits of a natural diet started appearing and I know will continue. Meals are easy and fast to make, delicious and fulfilling.

I’ll continue to write on my experiences on 80-10-10 and would love to hear yours!

To your best health!

Mark

P.S. Have you read ‘The Garden Diet‘? – It’s a collection of 12 digital books, including the brand new eBook titled “Forever Young, The Anti-Aging Guide” by Storm and Jinjee Talifero.

Have you heard of the about documentary film Simply Raw or its companion, Raw For Life?

Simply Raw shows the dramatic effect that eating raw and living foods can have on our health. It highlights how by making simple healthy choices when it comes to our food that we can allow our bodies to heal.

Read more…

I’ve always recommended organic produce. Not only is organic produce grown without chemicals, it also has more nutrients, is good for our environment and just plain tastes better.

Well now, the “organic” foods standard is at risk of being lowered by a “sneak attack”, a combination of large corporations, agri-business interest groups (lobbyists) and our government. Below is the background of this threat directly from the Organic Consumers Association. Please take a moment and take action to help maintain the highest standards for organic farming as possible. If the standards are lowered organic integrity will be comprimised and consumers will lose faith in organic foods. Our health, the health of all Americans are at stake. Thank you!

After 35 years of hard work, the U.S. organic community has built up a multi-billion dollar alternative to industrial agriculture, based upon strict organic standards and organic community control over modification to these standards.

Now, large corporations, such as Kraft, Wal-Mart, & Dean Foods–aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and members of the Organic Trade Association, are moving to lower organic standards by allowing Bush appointees in the USDA National Organic Program to approve a broad list of synthetic ingredients and processing aids that would be allowed in organic production. Even worse these proposed regulatory changes will reduce future public discussion and input and take away the National Organic Standards Board’s (NOSB) traditional lead jurisdiction in setting standards. What this means, in blunt terms. is that USDA bureaucrats and industry lobbyists, not consumers, will have near total control over what can go into organic foods and products. (Send a quick letter to your Congresspersons online here)

During the next week, acting in haste and near-total secrecy, the U.S. Congress is being lobbied by industry to vote on a rider in the House/Senate Conference Committee to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that could take away control over organic standards from the National Standards Board and put this control in the hands of federal bureaucrats in the USDA (remember the USDA proposal in 1997-98 that said that genetic engineering, toxic sludge, and food irradiation would be OK on organic farms, or USDA suggestions in 2004 that heretofore banned pesticides, hormones, tainted feeds, and animal drugs would be OK?).

For the past week in Washington, OCA has been urging members of Congress not to reopen and subvert the federal statute that governs U.S. Organic standards (the Organic Food Production Act: OFPA), but rather to let the organic community and the National Organic Standards Board resolve our differences over issues like synthetics and animal feed internally, and then proceed to a open public comment period. Unfortunately most members of Congress seem to be listening to industry lobbyists more closely than to us. We need to raise our voices. (Send a quick letter to your Congresspersons online here)

In the past, grassroots mobilization and mass pressure by organic consumers have been able to stop the USDA and Congress from degrading organic standards. This time Washington insiders tell us that the “fix is already in.” So we must take decisive action now. We need you to call your Congressional Representatives and Senators today. We need you to sign the following petition and send it to everyone you know. We also desperately need funds to head off this attack in the weeks and months to come. Thank you for your support. Together we will take back citizen control over organic standards and preserve organic integrity.

Call the Capital Switchboard here: 202-224-3121, and tell your Congresspersons not to support any ammendments to the ag appropriations bill that would lower organic standards. You can send a quick letter to your Congresspersons online here: www.organicconsumers.org/rd-ofpa.htm

Read more about the status and what’s at stake at the Organic Consumers Association web site.

To your best health!

Mark
Vegan Raw – The Ultimate Diet For Weight Loss, Health and Life

Along with a diet rich in fresh, organically grown foods, consideration should be given to the clothes you wear as well. Not only for the fact that your skin is in constant contact with your clothing, but also for the way certain fabrics are made and their impact on our environment.
Read more…

Appetizers are great, especially when they’re delicious and raw! Here’s a wonderful dish inspired by Living Nutrition Magazine… “Poppers”.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1-1/2 cups of sun dried tomatoes (soaked)
1 cup of macadamia nuts
Basil (about 10 leaves)
2 zucchini
1 pint large cherry tomatoes

Here’s how you make them:

First, soak the sun-dried tomatoes for about an hour. Drain and save the soak water. Process the macadamia nuts in a blender or a food processor. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes. You’ll want a nice pate-like consistency. If it’s too thick, add the soak water slowly. Lastly add the basil and finish processing.

Slice zucchini with a madolin or peeler into long, thin strips. Add the pate and roll up the zucchini slices. Scoop out the middle of the cherry tomatoes and fill them with pate. Arrange on a plate and garnish to your preference.

These were a real hit over the holidays with my family and friends. Great for veggies and meat eaters alike (you might even inspire a few friends).

Enjoy!

Mark
“The Raw Guy!”
Vegan Raw Diet