I have learned a lot about my body and I keep finding little things out.

I have learned that my body reacts to processed food adversly and that I NEED to have my veggies everyday.

I have learned that I need some cranberry juice and lots of water everyday.

I have learned that I probably have trouble with gluten but I don’t feel poorly enough to do anything about it right now.

I have learned that I shouldn’t have citrus fruits but I like them the best.

These aren’t the same for everyone, this is just my little list of food quirks. We all need different things to keep our bodies running at its optimum.

Maybe this could be an invite for you to get to know your body a little better.

It is in my list of purchases to be to get a soymilk maker. I do have a birthday coming up too.

I have been reading about how easy it is to make your own soymilk, and how cheap it can be. Ergo, I am willing to give it a try.  

I also read that you make tofu from the “leftover” beans yourself. Now that would be very cool.

Plus my husband, the soy king, is enthusiastic about the idea. Especially about the “using-agave-nectar-to-sweeten-the-milk” idea. He likes it plain just fine but a little sweetness is good too.

Now I just need to find a good brand at a decent price. Any suggestions?

I am also thinking fairly seriously about a home sized grain mill. Does anyone have experience with these?

Yes, yes. The price of vegetables are much lower that the price of meat. Beans are especially cheap. On a heavy bean meal I can spend up to 3$ on beans (that is for a heavy bean dish like bean soup or chili). That is also factoring the fact that I buy the organic canned ones.

Dried beans are super cheap if you don’t mind pre-soaking them and taking the time to cook them.

I can’t believe that I used to pine about the price of fruits and vegetables when I used to spend so much on meat. But the truth is that I can buy groceries for a week as cheap at $80. If I throw in treats like soy milk it adds up much faster but the truth is that we have never eaten healthier for cheaper than we are right now.

It is more expensive eating whole foods than processed foods but we don’t mind the extra expense since we save so much not eating meat. Plus, it makes us light and energetic, ready to play sports or do whatever.

A diet full of whole foods will contain all you need to thrive. For example, my sister eats meat and she is deficient in iron. I don’t eat meat and I have good iron levels. There are always other sources of iron, calcium etc. There is no need to fret about not getting enough of something that you used to get in meat. As I said in my last couple of posts, meat is pretty nutritionally void.

So when you get tight on funds consider incorporating less meat in your diet. You won’t compromise your health any and you’ll save a pile of dough!

This post should actually be called “The Politics of Nutrients.”

The reason for that is that food isn’t considered food anymore, so far as the media or governments or nutritionists are considered. At least that is what In Defense of Food states. Food has been deconstructed down to the point that oranges aren’t oranges anymore. Rather they are a source of Vitamin C. And tomatoes are a source of lycopene.

This technical terminology is used for a very important reason. The reason being that food, especially meat, can never been accused of hurting someone.

For example, cookies and crackers don’t cause cancer and heart disease. Oh no, it’s the trans fat in them. It’s a way of diffusing the blame.  Like, “that murderous thief isn’t bad, they just have a hard heart.”

In Defense of Foodstates that this all started in 1977 when a Senate Select Committe on Nutrition put out a report on health and diet. The research team had recommended that meat consumption be reduced since they had found that meat was the cause (at least a significant cause) of heart disease and other chronic diseases and cancers.

Senator George McGovern decided that this recommendation could not be released (he was, of course, highly influenced by the many meat farmers in his constituency) and formed his own reviewing committee that consisted of lawyers and journalists.

The report was retooled and released with the recommendation to reduce meat intake replaced with a recommendation to limit Saturated Fats.

Frankly, as well read as I am, I can never keep the fats straight. Polyunsaturated, trans, mono saturated, hydrogenated… it’s enough to make the head spin. So now consumers hear that saturated fats are bad for you but where do you find those? How do you keep them straight?

Wouldn’t it be easier to just say ‘meat causes heart disease” or “tomatoes help iron absorption”?

But that’s what those invested in meat or margarine, or Kraft Diner or whatever want you to think. If you are confused then you keep buying what you used to buy. Plus they use that ploy in another way. Have you ever seen eggs enriched with omega fatty acids? Or cheese with probiotics? Enrich something and the public will think it’s good for them. You could enrich cola and see “health conscious” people start drinking cola.

The benefit is never the same from eating an enriched product than from eating the real deal. If you want real vitamins etc. then eat your damn veggies. And, remember that there is nothing that our bodies need in meat. It is a nutritionally void food that raises the pH of your body and makes you more likely to get cancers or diseases. If you think that protein is an important enough reason to keep eating meat than keep eating yourself into a coronary! Cultures and countries that do not eat meat are much healthier and do not not suffer from heart disease and other diseases of affluence.

Another interesting factoid from the book was that in the last world war there was a ration on meat. When that happened the rate of heart disease and stroke etc. went down. Then when the war was over and meat consumption returned to normal the rates went back to their usual trend.

Food for thought…and only that! I certainly wouldn’t consider meat to be food for the body!

Oh my good god!

I was just two chapters into the book No More Bull! by Howard F. Lyman when I added it to my Amazon book list. If you thought that artery clogging and cancer causing were bad enough consequences of eating meat think again.

Lyman talks about the way that the US Government has lied and manipulated the public into thinking meat tainted with BSE is safe.

I had a friend who used to ask the waitresses if the burgers or whatever he ordered were BSE-free. I use to elbow him because really, do you think the waitress knows? But reading this book makes me wish I had been more concerned.

Lyman states that BSE is equivalent to Jakob-Creutzfeld Disease and that this disease (which can be caught from BSE) can be delayed in showing symptoms. So you could have ate one bad burger and get diagnose with JCD twenty years later!

He also states that all of that garbage about the muscle being safe because BSE is in the brain and spinal cord is just that, garbage. In the slaughtering of the animals this is all cross contaminated. Like he says, did all those Europeans that caught BSE really sit at home eating cow brains? Read the book. When you find out what meat is consistently tainted with it will turn your stomach. Ugh!

Plus, the BSE tests in the US are far from being state of the art. England and Japan test ever animal and do so with a much more sophisticated test. This is also at a lower cost overall. So why won’t the US and Canada follow suit? They likely don’t want to know that their animals are diseased.

Not to mention the effects it has on health. I just love this quote: “Thoughtlessly, we kill animals, cut them up, and consume them. It shouldn’t be surprising that there’s something equally violent and thoughtless about the way we cut ourselves up in the hopes of curing ourselves of the diseases caused by eating animals…The animals will have their revenge.”

When the meat that makes up so much of the Standard American Diet (SAD) is subsidized and protected by your Government even at the expense of health and security it really makes you wonder if this is really just a slow execution.

The meat and dairy industry must make a fortune in order for the governments to keep encouraging us all to eat meat even when our hospitals are filled with poeople suffering from diseases and cancers associated with meat and dairy products.

I won’t go into this a whole lot right now because I have beat this drum a hundred times already. Just look at some of my posts on The China study.

Anyway, some food for thought…and there’s lots to think about here.

I can see how confusing it is when you get thrown all sorts of gargle at you. Everyone has ideas about how to get this mineral or vitamins or how to combine foods to get the best phytonutrient absorption. For Pete’s sake, just relax!

Here are what I think are the most basic of health principles.

1. The closer the food is to it’s original form the more healthy it is for you. When you eat whole foods you give your body the maximum nourishment available. Even eating more raw food will help you reap the total benefits of the food you eat. Heat can often times kill or deactivate enzymes in our food.

The bottom line is: when you are adequately nourished you will consume less and maintain a healthier weight. So make your meals from scratch and stop eating out of a can or a box!

2. Artificial sweeteners etc. do not stop you from losing weight. Studies show that artificial sweeteners actually cause weight gain. When you eat garbage like diet pops you are assaulting your digestive system and that affects how your metabolism works. You will gain weight and could cause damage to your body. There have been studies that show that when rodents are exposed to artificial sweeteners they develop tumours and have babies with birth defects.

You can read the article and view the comments on my artificial sweeteners article for starters.

3. Try to eat less sugar (even natural sources of sugars (not including fruit)). Sugar suppresses your immune system and makes you more likely to get sick. It also affects your mood in a negative way. You’ll be happier without that box of chocolate chip cookies. Trust me.

Cut out all forms of sugar for a week or two and you’ll be able to eliminate the craving. If you choose to do that just be aware that there is sugar in all  sorts of items you wouldn’t automatically think of…like bread for instance.

4. Watch your portion sizes. Meat is one of the items that is often over eaten. I am quite serious when I say that meat will kill you. You would be better off switching to plant sources of protein. These help fight disease instead of encouraging it’s growth and will help keep your digestive system more regular and healthy. Try to incorporate more vegetables into your diet. These are your disease fighters! Plus they keep you regular and that is a major component to good health.

5. Make better choices by reading labels. Let’s say you really want a salty treat. Potato chips are out. See my post on MSG. You can substitute with some tortilla chips (I choose one that uses organic corn because I try to avoid GMO when I can) and some homemade or organic store bought salsa or guacamole. I really try to advocate for making your own food but certified organic can be almost as good since they can not use chemical preservative etc. When it’s organic it has to be food! You can’t have organic chemicals.

Just find a better alternative to your craving. An organic dark chocolate bar instead of a Snickers, a cup of fruit juice instead of pop.

6. Get some fresh air and sunshine. This will make you happier and therefore healthier.

7. Try to use less chemicals in your home.  I have been cleaning with lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar and cream of tartar for over a month now and it works just as well. If you clean with vinegar though, make sure you air out the room before you have company over. The smell does linger a bit. But it’s still better than that stinging Windex smell to me.

But most importantly, just enjoy your food. Don’t get frustrated that you don’t know which salad to eat. Just take it one day at a time.

First off I want to apologize. I have a pretty bad headache today so I can’t guarantee that my blog entry will make the most sense.

Earth Day is almost here and there are some of us who actually do care.

I wanted to talk about a couple of changes that someone can make to their lifestyle that will greatly reduce their carbon footprint.

When you stop eating meat you reduce your contribution to global warming.

Think of all these wasted resources associated with meat:

1. Ten times the land is needed to grow food for cows than humans would consume. Without out all that land being used to feed animals we could easily have more than enough asparagus to go around. That is a great misappropriation of resources.

2. The by-products of feedlots and slaughterhouses pollute water supplies. I am pretty confident that with less meat farms there would be less e-coli contamination etc.

3. And as Al Gore was so brilliant in pointing out, cow farts yield greenhouse gases. Personally I think gas shouldn’t count but it’s a point regardless.

3. Then there is the transportation of cattle from fields to fields to slaughterhouses to grocery stores to your home. There is a pile of greenhouse gasses just in emissions from trucks.

Even Al Gore (Al Gore pff!) mentions it on his Inconvenient Truth website. Granted he slips it right in there along with using energy efficient light bulbs. But can you blame him? Cattle ops are in his family.

As a bit of an off topic, I really resent someone when they get paid thousands of dollars per engagement for sharing something that is supposed to be of critical importance. It detracts from the message if you ask me. If Saint Gore was truly worried about the earth you’d think he’d be more worried about getting the message out there and less worried about padding his wallet. But whatever…

There are other ways to reduce your carbon footprint. You can try to buy food locally grown (and it would be healthier too. Not just because the food is riper but because the U.S. and Mexico use more chemicals than we do and they use ones that are banned in Canada).

That leads me to point two, buy organic. You’ll be supporting farms that are sustainable and are gentler on the soil as well as food that is not covered with cancer causing chemicals.

And one more thing, eat whole foods. The more processed a food is, the less nutritious it is and the bigger the carbon footprint.

Anyways, this Earth Day, be green and make yourself a tasty, whole foods vegan dish!

I have certainly been neglecting this blog. I have been so busy with my kids and with maintaining my other blog that I have let this one kind of slide.

I have written about the importance of fresh air and sunshine so many times already but it really can’t be said enough. Getting some sunshine and fresh air makes us feel happier and healthier. I find it helps keep me motivated to do all of those boring tasks that we have neglected all winter long. Maybe that’s why spring cleaning is so universal. Maybe we just all want to get those windows cleaned, not just so that we can see outside properly but because we finally have the energy to do so.

I also wanted to talk about having fun. If you force yourself to do things that are “good for you” but that you really loathe you will counteract any benefit that that activity would bring.

Now, enjoying a greasy burger isn’t going to stop you from killing over from a heart attack but eating salads that you hate for lunch every day won’t help make you happy and therefore healthy.

So, yeah, make changes to your life but make changes that you can live with. Do activities you enjoy instead of slaving away on a treadmill.

I think the biggest secret to being healthy is being happy. When we are happy we take better care of our bodies and we get more exercise, socialize more and get more sunshine.

Do whatever keeps you motivated and enjoy your life. The rest should all fall into place.

We always hear people saying that they don’t eat healthy but at least they’ll die happy. Well, it does take a transition period to get used to healthier food but we haven’t looked back and neither will you if you take that plunge.

You’ll feel so much better that you’ll shudder at the thought of bacon!

Well, I have given up trying to eat gluten free. The baking with the alternative flours I have are barely edible.
I do limit my flour intake though. I eat very little flour a day but I won’t be bothering too much on trying to bake without wheat or spelt or whatever. I also found that I was getting headaches even on days I wasn’t eating flour. So there might be a different trigger anyways.

Plus I have been reading and there was a study that showed a link between strokes and having migraines during pregnancy. Well, I have always had migraines when pregnant. I am not putting too much stock on this one article but it did make me think about my diet. Since baby Anna came along we have been eating more convenience foods. She seems to get fussy when it is time for me make supper so I have little time for making wholesome meals. I have also been exercising and feeling like I am undoing any progress my exercising might be accomplishing simply because I am eating such bad food.
So I am going to try to eat more vegan, whole foods once again.
Here’s hoping for more time to do this.

UGH!

Since going gluten free I have been finding my diet rather cumbersome. I can absolutely see how it would be so much easier for omnis to be gluten-free. I have a hard time finding good pasta and PB & J on a rice cake is just not the same (even if it is pretty yummy).

Another example of how much more difficult it is to go gluten-free is this: I was just about to pay $3.50 for this teeny bag of rice flour when I found a bag three times that size for a dollar something in the ethnic food isle. I even found a blend of rice and millet in there too. And a bag of chickpea flour for dirt cheap. It’s awful for baking but will be adequate for making breaded cutlets etc.

I still can’t find any other kinds of flour (buckwheat etc.).

Anyways, on a gluten-free diet (plus regular exercise) I am losing weight pretty rapidly. When my hubby comes home with doughnuts or other goodies I can’t have any. And when I go looking for a goodie for myself I tend to end up with lower calorie and healthier treats like nuts or fruit. Plus I can’t have bread which I am sure was the biggest part of my caloric intake.

I still have lots to learn about the gluten free baking. I think I will try a batch of cookies or a cake or something today. I’d like to see how they hold up texture wise.