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

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

by Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, researchers said on Thursday.

They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association.

Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared to eight on the standard diet.

"I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes first, rather than prescription drugs," Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped conduct the study, told a news conference.

An estimated 18 million Americans have type-2 diabetes, which results from a combination of genetics and poor eating and exercise habits. They run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and limb loss.

Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina tested 99 people with type-2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low-fat, low-sugar vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes Association diet.

After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or lowered the doses.

The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds (6.5 kg) on average while the diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg).

An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet.

DROPPING DRUGS

A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over the preceding three months.

In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they were on during the study, LDL or "bad" cholesterol fell by 21 percent in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group.

The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish and dairy. It was also low in added fat and in sugar.

The American Diabetes Association diet is more tailored, taking into account the patient's weight and cholesterol. Most patients on this diet cut calories significantly, and were told to eat sugary and starchy foods in moderation.

All 99 participants met weekly with advisers, who advised them on recipes, gave them tips for sticking to their respective diets, and offered encouragement.

"We have got a combination here that works successfully," said Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, who worked on the study. "The message that we so often get with diet is that it is no good because nobody follows it for very long."

Dr. Joshua Cohen, George Washington University associate professor of medicine, said everyone diagnosed with diabetes is told to start eating more carefully.

"That may be among the hardest things that any of us can do," Cohen told the news conference.

The vegan diet "is at least as good, if not better than traditional approaches," Cohen said.

Vance Warren, a 36-year-old retired police officer living in Washington, said he lowered his a1c from 10.4, considered uncontrolled diabetes, to 5.1, considered a healthy level, over 18 months. "My life is much better being 74 pounds (34 kg) lighter," Warren told the news conference.

(Mark's Note: You'll notice that the vegan diet had almost double the success over the American Diabetes Association Diet recommendations. Also a new movie about how changing your diet to overcome diabetes is coming out... check it out at http://www.rawfor30days.com ... very exciting for your health!)

You may know that I've been vegan for over 12 years. I had success with losing weight... in fact, in addition to the obvious health benefits, it's one of the reasons I decided to transition to a vegan lifestyle.

When I decided to transition further to a raw diet, something interesting happened... I lost more weight! 12 pounds in 2 weeks to be exact. This was interesting because I actually ate more food than when I was vegan. There is a reason for this and I'll it share with you in a future post.

Here are some interesting and very rewarding benefits about transitioning to a vegan/raw food lifestyle:

• You can eat as much as you desire and not gain weight
• Your body will find it's optimal weight naturally
• You can choose from a wide variety of delicious foods and never get bored
• You'll have abundant energy
• Your taste buds will come alive
• You'll lose as much weight as you need naturally
• You will become more aware of what your body wants (and needs)
• Your thoughts will be sharp and clear
• Most if not all your aches, pains and irritations will go away
• You'll lose taste for unhealthy foods and crave fresh, living foods

These are just some of the benefits I've experienced recently. I feel blessed for this experience and will share more in future posts.

If I can help or answer any questions, feel free to email to: vegancoach(AT)gmail.com (replace the AT with @).

Blessings,

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

Looking for convenient, organic and raw whole foods? I highly recommend Whole Food Farmacy!

One of the ways I've found to save on your grocery bill (next to shopping at your local farmers market) is to grow your own garden. As I show in this video, you don't need a lot of space to grow just about anything you enjoy. You can dig up a small garden, or use the square foot garden method to grow just about anywhere around your house. You can also use containers as I do if you're short on gardening space. All it takes is getting some compost locally (I found some at my local Whole Foods) and seeds. Here's an update on our home garden:

Read more...

The raw vegan diet was recently featured on E! Entertainment television interviewing raw food chefs and speakers including David Wolfe, Juliano and Gabrielle Brick among others. This video gives a good explanation of the different versions of the raw lifestyle,
Read more...

More evidence that vegetable protein is the healthier choice and actually protects against developing heart disease. Good long term study (15 years) that suggests by avoiding red meat and dairy in your diet, your reduce your chances of developing heart disease by 30 percent.

Yahoo! News - Too Much Red Meat Bad for Long-Term Health:
"After following nearly 30,000 women for 15 years, investigators found that women were more likely to die from heart disease if they often substituted red meat for carbohydrates. In contrast, swapping vegetable sources of protein for carbs appeared to protect women from heart disease.

'Our main finding was that animal compared to vegetable sources of protein seem to have a different effect on dying from heart disease,' study author Dr. Linda E. Kelemen from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota told Reuters Health.

For this reason, she recommended that people who want to follow high protein diets should stick with vegetable proteins such as tofu, nuts and peanut butter, or healthier meats like chicken or fish."