Monthly Archives: July 2013

This Roasted Eggplant Salad is a summer hit for #Meatless Monday! Thanks WineAndGlue!

http://www.wineandglue.com/2013/05/roasted-eggplant-salad.html

What is a vegan?

A vegan is someone who tries to live without exploiting animals, for the benefit of animals, people and the planet. Vegans eat a plant-based diet, with nothing coming from animals - no meat, milk, eggs or honey, for example. A vegan lifestyle also avoids leather, wool, silk and other animal products for clothing or any other purpose.

Some of the main reasons for choosing a vegan lifestyle

It’s a healthy choice

A balanced vegan diet (also referred to as a ‘plant-based diet’) meets many current healthy eating recommendations such as eating more fruit, vegetables and whole grains and consuming less cholesterol and saturated fat. Balanced vegan diets are often rich in vitamins, antioxidants and fibre and can decrease the chances of suffering from diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers. Well-planned plant-based diets are suitable for all age groups and stages of life.

It’s compassionate

Many people become vegan through concern at the way farmed animals are treated. Some object to the unnecessary ‘use’ and killing of animals – unnecessary as we do not need animal products in order to feed or clothe ourselves.

Public awareness of the conditions of factory-farmed animals is gradually increasing and it is becoming more and more difficult to claim not to have at least some knowledge of the treatment they endure. Sentient, intelligent animals are often kept in cramped and filthy conditions where they cannot move around or perform their natural behaviors. At the same time, many suffer serious health problems and even death because they are selectively bred to grow or produce milk or eggs at a far greater rate than their bodies are capable of coping with.

Regardless of how they were raised, all animals farmed for food meet the same fate at the slaughterhouse. This includes the millions of calves and male chicks who are killed every year as ‘waste products’ of milk and egg production and the animals farmed for their milk and eggs who are killed at a fraction of their natural lifespan. Choosing a vegan diet is a daily demonstration of compassion for all these creatures.

Switching to a plant-based diet is an effective way for an individual to reduce their eco-footprint. Vegan diets can produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than meat-based diets. A University of Chicago study found that the ‘typical’ US diet generates the equivalent of nearly 1.5 tonnes more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan diet. The livestock industry is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transport sector (which produces 13.5%), including aviation.

Plant-based diets only require around one third of the land and water needed to produce a typical Western diet. Farmed animals consume much more protein, water and calories than they produce, so far greater quantities of crops and water are needed to produce animal ‘products’ to feed humans than are needed to feed people direct on a plant-based diet. With water and land becoming scarcer globally, world hunger increasing and the planet’s population rising, it is much more sustainable to eat plant foods direct than use up precious resources feeding farmed animals.

Farming animals and growing their feed also contributes to other environmental problems such as deforestation, water pollution and land degradation.

It’s delicious

There are mouth-watering plant-based dishes from around the world: from India, vegetable curries and dhals; from the Far East, tofu stir fries; from Italy pastas and salads; from Turkey, hummus and babaghanoush; and from Mexico beans and tortillas… the list goes on!

Many familiar foods have vegan versions - vegans can enjoy pizza, vegan sausage and mash, casseroles and even chocolate cake. The variety of vegan food available in shops and restaurants is growing all the time – eating a vegan diet has never been easier.

Why not?

Choosing to live a life free from animal products means choosing a path that is kinder to people, animals and the environment. In fact, there are so many good reasons to reject meat, eggs and dairy products and so many delicious animal free alternatives that the real question is not ‘why vegan?’ but ‘why not?’.

You feel pretty smug being the only babe on the block saying "no" to Botox.

But artificial crap you're not injecting into your face? You're probably eating it.

As someone who created and manufactures a natural product, I can tell you firsthand how frustrating it is that the vast majority of dietary supplements contain artificial fillers, which are nonessential ingredients used to increase product weight and speed up manufacturing.

It’s not that there isn’t sufficient demand by consumers for natural products—there is. But making artificial products is cheaper, faster and easier. Translation? Higher profits and lower quality.

Manufacturing natural products, on the other hand, ain't cheap. These products are made with real food (grown from the earth, not a lab), so they are subject to changing weather patterns. This makes packaging natural products a long process. Cheap diet pills and synthetic vitamins? Manufacturers can churn those out in millions per hour.

Fillers in Manufacturing

I know and work with several contract manufacturers who formulate, blend, package and distribute a wide variety of products on behalf of multiple brands. Why do they use fillers? Simply put: It saves them money. Whether it’s a powder, pill, cream or liquid, manufacturers have to reach a minimum weight for the product. If the product weighs even one gram less than what’s stated on the packaging, it is out of federal compliance. You can be over the gram count, but not under. It's nearly impossible for every unit to have the exact weight and amount of each ingredient as labeled due to natural factors like evaporation, spillage and humidity. So manufacturers overcompensate by adding gram weight in the form of nasty fillers.

When I tell contract manufacturers that the formula for my meal replacement product has no fillers, they think I’m crazy. They all tell me that I’m “wasting” thousands of dollars “giving away” ingredients to consumers unnecessarily. I must be nuts to forge ahead filler-free.

But companies always have a choice: The choice of using extra amounts of their expensive ingredients (and giving the excess to the consumer for “free”), or using fillers to increase the weight should the final gram count come up short. It’s a lot easier to throw in some cheap polyethylene glycol than to repackage a product that’s out of compliance, but it’s also misleading and potentially harmful to consumers. Fillers also help enhance color (ooh pretty!), act as a flowing agent (to avoid machine jams) and make pills easier to swallow (bottoms up!). But they’re not good for you. Period.

How to Spot ‘Em

So how do you know if a company uses fillers? It’ll be on the ingredient list. Even natural and organic products can contain fillers, sometimes with ingredients that seem harmless, like calcium and talc. When it comes to labels, what you see is what you get. If you recognize and can pronounce every ingredient on the list and none of them are fillers, you’re good to go.

Common fillers are polyvinyl alcohol, talc, polyethylene glycol, calcium, magnesium sterate, titanium dioxide, odium benzoate, sodium molybdate, hydrogenated palm oil, calcium stearate, potassium chloride and calcium carbonate. Overexposure to these metals and minerals can suppress the immune system and pump toxins into your system. Ironically, you’re probably using these products to feel better, but you could be making yourself worse.

There’s a Better Way

You’re no dummy. You know that opting for the cheapest route isn’t always the smartest. I often get asked why my product is more expensive than other liquid meal replacements, and I always say it’s because it’s more expensive to make. If you can buy SlimFast for $1/can, here's the bottom line: SlimFast is likely manufacturing that drink for about 10 cents a pop. What the hell are you ingesting? Do you seriously want to drink something for breakfast that can be made and delivered to you for a dime? Even a damn banana costs more. The only way that pricing model is possible is for the manufacturers to use cheap, widely available artificial ingredients (including several fillers) so they can deliver you a full 10-ounce serving of crap and still make a profit.

As a consumer, you have the choice: Hold brands accountable for their ingredients and choose the healthier, not necessarily cheaper, option. It’s just that simple, sweetie.

BY Dr. Dena Mendes

The common misconception is that you stop the consumption of wheat and gluten only if a medical professional has diagnosed you with celiac disease. Being gluten intolerant is not the only reason to stay away from this mucus/inflammatory causing substance.

What exactly is gluten? I like to keep the definition simple: It’s the glue that gunks up your gut, intestines, lymphatic system, sinus and joints. This, in turn, creates inflammation, which causes pain along with many of the health-related issues we are facing today including fibromyalgia, arthritis, asthma, ADD, autoimmune dysfunction, irritable bowel, all manner of gut issues, migraines and cancer. Oh, and did I mention that it makes you fat?

For those of you who would like to dig a bit deeper, here is the technical definition: Gluten (from the Latin word glue) is a protein composite that appears in foods processed from wheat and related species, including barley and rye. It gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and to keep its shape, and often giving the final product a chewy texture. Gluten is the composite of a prolamine and gluteline, conjoined with starch, in the endosperm of various grass-related grains. Worldwide, gluten is a source of protein, both in foods prepared directly from sources containing it, and as an additive to foods lacking sufficient protein.

The development of gluten (i.e., enhancing its elasticity) affects the texture of baked goods. Gluten's attainable elasticity is proportional to its content of glutenins with low molecular weights. More development leads to chewier products like pizza and bagels, while less development yields tender baked goods. In general, bread flour is high in gluten while cake flours are low. Kneading promotes the formation of gluten strands and cross-links, so a baked product is chewier in proportion to how much the dough is worked. Increased wetness of the dough also enhances gluten development. Shortening inhibits formation of cross-links, so it is used, along with diminished water and minimal working, when a tender and flaky product, such as piecrust, is desired.

Blah Blah Blah.

As I said, gluten is the glue that is used to preserve food for a longer shelf life. When our great, great grandmother baked homemade bread 100 years ago, it fell apart after a day. Now a day’s bread can sit on our counter for weeks and in the refrigerator for at least a month.

So, where do you find the most gluten? Read the ingredients on your packaged food! This sneaky sticky stuff is in all of our favorite foods—cookies, cakes, pastas, pretzels, crackers, pizza and most bread or baked goods.

Also, it is typically the first ingredient in faux meat products. So buyer beware! The imitation meat professing to be healthy is not only a health hindrance, but also very fattening.

Unfortunately there are some loopholes when labeling foods. "Gluten-free" standards do not apply to all foods. In the case of foods such as ice cream, ketchup, salad dressing, gluten may be listed as a stabilizing agent. The health-related consequences from this inflammatory culprit are running rampant. And they don’t just stop with us. Our precious dogs and cats are at risk as well.

Our pets do not fare well under the heavy burden of inflammatory causing foods that are loaded with glutinous and biochemically-engineered ingredients. More dogs than ever before are being diagnosed with all manifestations of disease including cancer. Most pet foods do not have clear labeling and can be misleading. The protein content in your dog’s food may be enhanced by adding gluten or other dangerous chemicals such as MSG.

4 Facts to Get Gluten-Free:

1. You need a certain amount of carbohydrates for brain development. These can be attained by eating greens and high quality animal protein/fat. You could live the rest of your life and never eat another packaged carbohydrate containing wheat and gluten. You wouldn’t miss it and you’d be a lot healthier.
2. Carbohydrates are more addicting than cocaine or heroine. The rush you get from a sticky, gooey cinnamon bun can create such a high, you might do whatever it takes to get another one in a few hours. The sad part is that you’ll never be satiated by this empty relationship. Carbs can have such catastrophic side effects including permanently slowing your metabolism, numbing your senses and preventing healthy brain development.
3. Every popular diet today is all about eliminating killer carbs and adding the fat back. You need good quality fats such as avocados and olive oil for your body and brain to work most efficiently. You will never need pasta or cereal (packaged carbohydrates).
4. Until the government began making recommendations for your daily diet requirements by telling you that your diet should be made up of 45-65% carbs, your ancestors lived healthy, happy lives as hunters and gatherers who ate meat, fish, veggies, and fruit.

When people say, “I am not allergic to wheat and gluten,” my response is: We all are.

Whether you have joint pain, cancer or are simply struggling to lose weight, look at what you eat and drink. Food is always your first line of defense.

Great affirmations for #FitnessFriday! What are you doing today?

I had never really completed a detox before. I tried a few times but they were always those crazy ones that expect you to only drink fluids and basically starve yourself. Kaeng raeng was completely different!! The shakes are actually very tasty and filling. And I loved that I was able to eat unlimited fruits and veggies. I lost 4lbs by day 3 and I was feeling extremely energized. I would 100% recommend this product!

-Melissa, 3-day Beginner

Everything is better with Yoga!

12 Mental Benefits of exercise, in case you need some motivation!

Get 15% off your next order of Kaeng Raeng with code SUMMER15!

Artichoke Ceviche

Need a cool dish for a hot day? Try this artichoke ceviche from SpaBettie!