I’ve had a busy Saturday, but I managed to fit this in for lunch:
1 pita bread
2 tablespoons of hummus
16 oz water
I’ll be posting different meals I put together in the hopes that other people might try them. I will attempt to keep this up for a week. At that point, I will review my menu choices and make any changes to improve the diet. Feedback, as always, is welcome.
Breakfast:
1.5 cups bran flakes
1.0 cups fat free soy milk
8 oz apple cider
16 oz water
This was eaten after I did 60 minutes of fast walking, and a half hour of mowing the lawn.
Just in time for Earth Day, an interesting article from ABC News - Meat-Eaters Aiding Global Warming?: New Research Suggests What You Eat as Important as What You Drive. Copied below is a summary from a recent DawnWatch alert.
Go, read, and then veg out. Hey, it’s easier than giving up your Hummer, right?
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch
Date: Apr 19, 2006 5:19 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: ABC News site article, “Meat-Eaters Aiding Global Warming?” 4/19/06
The ABC News website has an interesting piece, posted April 19, headed, “Meat-Eaters Aiding Global Warming?” and sub-headed, “New Research Suggests What You Eat as Important as What You Drive. Your personal impact on global warming may be influenced as much by what you eat as by what you drive.
It continues:
“That surprising conclusion comes from a couple of scientists who have taken an unusual look at the production of greenhouse gases from an angle that not many folks have even thought about. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, assistant professors of geophysics at the University of Chicago, have found that our consumption of red meat may be as bad for the planet as it is for our bodies.
“If you want to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, they conclude in a report to be published in the journal Earth Interactions, become a vegetarian.
“In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that both researchers are vegetarians, although they admit to cheating a little with an occasional sardine. They say their conclusions are backed up by hard data.
“Eshel and Martin collected that data from a wide range of sources, and they examined the amount of fossil-fuel energy — and thus the level of production of greenhouse gases — required for five different diets. The vegetarian diet turned out to be the most energy efficient, followed by poultry, and what they call the ‘mean American diet,’ which consists of a little bit of everything.
“There was a surprising tie for last place. In terms of energy required for harvesting and processing, fish and red meat ended up in a ‘virtual tie,’ but that’s just in terms of energy consumed. When you toss in all those other factors, such as bovine flatulence and gas released by manure, red meat comes in dead last. Fish remains in fourth place, some distance behind poultry and the mean American diet, chiefly because the type of fish preferred by Americans requires a lot of energy to catch.”
On the impact of changing your diet, Eshel says, “It is comparable to the difference between driving an SUV and driving a reasonable sedan.”
You can read the full article on line at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1856817&page=1
On that page, at the end of the article, you’ll find, “What Do You Think? Chat About the Issue.” That gives vegetarians a great opportunity to chat about the many reasons for choosing a plant based diet besides the environmental issues. For example the consumption chicken, which rates higher than beef for environmental protection, involves some of the most gratuitous cruelty as birds are exempt from humane slaughter laws.
You can learn more about the impact of meat-based diets on animals, and see photos of their living conditions at www.FactoryFarming.com
Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)
In a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2006 edition, researchers found that a diet of increased, soy, fiber, almonds, and plant sterols was as effective as popular statin drugs in lowering cholesterol. The only noted side effect was weight loss. “We’re hoping to make cholesterol control within the grasp of the average person more than it has been,” he added. “The advice that’s been offered so far has left many people with no option other than to take a statin.” The study was also interesting because some participants had previously participated in studies of statins, so direct comparisons were possible.
If you recall, eighteen months ago, research was published that indicated eating fruits like blueberries also lowered LDL cholesterol as well or better than statins. Statins are popular because doctors are either not up to date on the latest studies concerning statins versus diet changes, or unable to convince patients to effect enough of a lifestyle change to incorporate certain foods into their diets. I myself was able to lower my cholesterol from over 250 to under 170 by simply cutting out all meat and dairy, and increasing my intake of soy, fruits, and fiber. I also experienced the side effect of losing weight.
Increasing fiber is relatively easy. There are a number of very high fiber cereals out there that do not contain lots of wasteful sugar. Replacing cows milk with soy milk will increase your soy intake, and is probably much healthier anyway. Almonds are common enough to get any any supermarket, and there are plenty of legitimate plant sterol supplements at the market.
When I was 18 I had a cholesterol number of 270, which was rediculous. What is even more rediculous, is that I took years to change my habits. I was prescribed a statin, but it was horrible. It left me dizzy and sick to my stomach all the time. I took it for two weeks and never went back. All it took was diet. I’m glad to see the science is backing me up.
References:
Readers of Hell Food might be interested in this DawnWatch alert (copied below). Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, will be on NPR’s “Fresh Air” today. The segment will be available online later today; see the alert for details.
Given that the book was just released today, I haven’t heard much about it, but it looks interesting. Here’s an excerpt of the book’s description from its Amazon listing:
“What should we have for dinner?” To one degree or another this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore’s dilemma. Choosing from among the countless potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn’t-which mushrooms should be avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore’s dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance. The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we’re realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore’s Dilemma is bestselling author Michael Pollan’s brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch
Date: Apr 11, 2006 10:45 AM
Subject: DawnWatch tip: Pollan on NPR today discussing “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” 4/11/06
Coming up on “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross on NPR, Tuesday April 11.
“Michael Pollan
April 11 ยท Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, offers his examination of industrial food, the organic food industry and the organic food movement.”
From the Fresh Air home page, at http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13 you can click “Broadcast Schedule” to find your local station and air time. And after 3pm Eastern you will be able to listen on line, from that page, to today’s show. If you are looking for it after today, click on “Past Shows.”
If you listen, please send a comment. It is important that the station knows that shows about these issues are of interest to the audience. Go to http://www.npr.org/contact/, click on “NPR Program” and then choose “Fresh Air with Terry Gross” from the pull-down menu.
Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)
It should come as no great shock to any reader of Hellfood, that the rates of child obesity have risen to dangerous levels. If left unabated, childhood obesity will make diabetes as common as chicken pox for our youth. In a surprise move (to me), Congress is trying to enact legislation that will ban junk food from public schools.
Normally, I am opposed to government intervention at the expense of personal freedom. However, in this case, I have to agree with Congress. It’s a health crisis. We’re too fat, parents aren’t getting the job done and it’s time for the government to step in. I hate the “Nanny-state” as much as anyone, but forcing government-run schools to only provide nutritious food, just makes sense to me. Parents will still be free to send their kids to school with awful food, but as long as the money is coming from taxpayers, it will no longer pay for crap. Hellfood supports this initiative, and we hope you do too.
References:
This week the FDA announced that, contrary to its previous position, their own scientists had found higher levels of benzene in soft drinks than is allowed by current tap water standards. Benzene is considered a carcinogen, and some groups, like the World Health Organization, believe no level of benzene is safe for consumption.
The current standard for tap water is 5 parts per billion. Some soft drinks were found contain as many as 19 parts per billion. Despite the about face, the FDA says there is no health threat and no one should be alarmed. While high exposure to benzene has been correlated to a wide variety of healh ailments, it is unclear what level of benzene is unsafe. Bananas contain 132 parts per billion, coleslaw can contain 102 parts per billion and neither have been linked to health problems.
However, if the thought of benzene in your coke is unsettling, Hellfood recommends simple water, filtered if you don’t like the taste of your tap water.
References:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/PublicHealth/tb1/3014