Vegans have a higher rate of bone formation than meat eaters reports the Agriculture Research Service, a branch of the USDA.

In this study, although the calcium intake was higher for meat eaters, vegans still showed higher rates of bone formation. The reason behind the difference is that meat protein turns into sulfur when consumed and is acidic. This causes a temporary state of acidosis, a high state of acid. Our bodies compensate to reach a balance by pulling calcium phosphate, an alkaline buffer, from our bones. As you can imagine, the more meat you eat, the more calcium is pulled from your bones.

Vegetable protein, on the other hand, is not acidic and doesn’t require the “borrowing” of calcium from the bones where this natural mineral is most abundant in the body.

Bone formation is critical and lack of bone density can lead to osteoporosis and being more vulnerable to bone fractures.

Read more at the USDA web site.

To your best health,

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

I’m often asked for low fat or no fat raw vegan recipes. Here’s one we came up with today and it was delicious. It’s satisfying, tastes great and takes just a few minutes to make. Most importantly, it has no overt fat!

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Something most Americans overlook in today’s increasingly active and busy world is one of the simplest and most effective ways to avoid getting sick and dis-ease…

Sleep.

Our bodies are designed to heal themselves of anything, given the right environment and opportunity. Popular wisdom tells us to take this or that… although it normally only masks the symptoms and doesn’t ‘heal’. Only your body can heal itself of anything if you let it – nothing else. And that’s the key… letting it.

If you’re feeling under the weather or not yourself, the most effective and natural way to return to a state of good health is to take it easy! Rest, sleep… do nothing and let your body heal itself. Of course popular wisdom tells us that we need to get over that cold, flu or other illness fast (or even faster!) and get back to whatever you were doing (work, school, work .

This idea of resting has been presented to me several times in the past few weeks and I’m certain it’s for a reason. We can easily get caught up with too much on our plates and not take the time to sleep properly and rest. Sleep deprivation and insomnia are at epidemic rates in the US and the decline in health and increase in obesity are equally staggering. A coincidence?

I believe it’s time to get back to basics, simplify our lives and take time to rest and get adequate sleep to allow us to live fully with health and happiness always.

What do you think?

To your best health!

Mark

www.VeganRawDiet.com

A followup study on eating habits confirmed the relationship between higher fruit and vegetable consumption and lower cardiovascular disease and death.

Specifically, consuming fruits and vegetables 3 or more times a day versus less than 1 time a day resulted in:

• 27% lower stroke incidence
• 42% lower stroke mortality
• 24% lower ischemic heart disease mortality
• 27% lower cardiovascular disease mortality
• 15% lower all-cause mortality

With studies like this, evidence in support of a vegan and vegetarian diet for better health is growing daily. Keep them coming!

Read the study summary at PubMed.

Go Vegan!

To your best health,

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

As you may recall, a directive from the Almond Board of California and backed by the USDA was put into effect in September of 2007 requiring all almonds to be pasteurized.

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Recently, the only co-op in the Phoenix area, Gentle Strength, and a leader in locally grown, organic produce, went out of business.

Why?

Bottom line… not enough shoppers.

Sure there were probably a few other reasons, but the main one was lack of business.

It’s funny, though, everyone I talk to in the area is disappointed and saddened by the closing (as I was). However, I believe there was too much talk and not enough action.

If we want to have better, fresher, organic and locally grown choices, we have to support those organizations. Support them with our shopping dollars and with our help in letting others know about the organizations.

Personally, I’ll miss the co-op and the friends I’ve made there. They were the -only- central place to get fresh, locally grown greens and other produce. All the produce sold was organic and as much as possible was sourced locally. The only choices now are the national chains including Whole Foods and Wild Oats (now owned by Whole Foods), a few smaller chains and some traditional grocery chains that now carry some organic produce. I’m happy that they’re all carrying more organic foods, although little, if any, is locally grown. Whole Foods advertises ‘local’ although a quick walk through shows just a few locally grown out of over 200 produce items.

Alternative sources include farmers markets and visiting farms directly. I’ve found a few farms and frequent farmers markets on weekends and can find some of the same items. Although not as convenient, it’s a solution for now.

Find the local co-ops in your area and support them. It’s a fact, traditional companies will continue to market non-organic products and source all over the world unless we ‘vote’ with our dollars. Using as much locally grown organic produce not only supports your community and the environment, the food is also more nutritious and benefits your health.

We can make a difference.. just do it!

To your best health!

Mark

The reasons for avoiding meat in your diet are quite straightforward… most have to do with better health, easy weight maintenance, lower occurance of disease, better nutrition, more energy and feeling better. Some of the lesser know reasons are even more surprising… and interesting, especially the amount of resources necessary to feed and care for animals. More reasons to consider a vegan diet.

Source: Urban75 and Viva

• Antioxidants protect against more than 60 diseases. Found mostly in fruit and vegetables. They destroy ‘free radicals’.
• A vegetarian diet can reduce cholesterol levels. (Cholesterol is linked to heart disease – fruit and vegetables contain none.) BMA
• Vegetarians and vegans have higher intakes of folic acid than omnivores. BMA
• A vegetarian diet meets all the nutritional needs of infants and adolescents. ADA/BMA
• Vegetarians are no more likely to suffer anaemia than meat eaters. ADA/BMA
• On irrigated land, 1lb of vegetables uses 25 gallons. 1lb of beef uses 5,214 gallons. University of California
• More than 90 per cent of all agricultural land in Britain is used to feed animals
• If Britain went vegetarian, less than half the farm land would be needed – vegan, less than a quarter! Reading University
• Vegetarians often live longer and suffer less from several chronic diseases. ADA
• Vegetarians have a much lower incidence of caesarean section. PCRM
• Vegetarians are less likely to suffer strokes caused by coronary artery disease. BMA
• Vegetarian diets have been successful in arresting and reversing severe coronary artery disease. ADA
• Vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders, cancers and gallstones. BMA
• Vegetarian diets offer disease protection because of lower saturated fat, cholesterol and animal protein and higher folates, antioxidant vitamins and plant nutrients. ADA
• 95 per cent of all food poisoning comes from meat and animal products.
• Cancer rates among vegetarians are 25-50 per cent less than non-vegetarians. PCRM
• Vegetarians have half to three-quarters the risk of dying of heart disease compared to non-vegetarians. PCRM
• Nearly all 650 million UK chickens are fed antibiotics daily. 72 million die from disease.
• The world’s 17 major fisheries are on the point of environmental collapse because of over-fishing.
• It takes about 10kg of good quality plant protein – such as wheat and soya – to produce 1kg of meat protein.
• 35 per cent of the world’s people can be fed on a meat-based diet. A plant diet could feed everyone – then plus some. Sir Crispin Tickell

The medical sources quoted are from some of the most prestigious in the world: BMA (British Medical Association); ADA (American Dietetic Association); WHO (World Health Organisation); PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).