Five Reasons (of many) to Skip Milk

PLEASE READ:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/skip-milk-5-reasons-why.html

Quotes from doctors about diet

The superior doctor prevents sickness;
The mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness;
The inferior doctor treats actual sickness.

—Chinese Proverb

"An important fact to remember is that all natural diets—including purely vegetarian diets without a hint of dairy—contain amounts of calcium that are above the threshold for meeting your nutritional needs."
—John McDougall, M.D.

"I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open."
—Dean Ornish, M.D.

"I will no longer drink milk from cows or consume products made from that milk. Cow's milk is a superbly engineered fluid that will turn a 65-pound calf into a 500-pound cow in a year. That is what cow's milk is for"
—Michael Klaper, M.D.

"When you step back and look at the data, the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero."
—Walter Willet, M.D.

"Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of coronary disease of any group in the country….Some people scoff at vegetarians, but they have a fraction of our heart attack rate and they only have 40 percent of our cancer rate. They outlive other men by about six years now."
—William Castelli, M.D.

"The standard four food groups are based on American agricultural lobbies. Why do we have a milk group? Because we have a National Dairy Council. Why do we have a meat group? Because we have an extremely powerful meat lobby."
—Marion Nestle

"An African woman can have ten babies, nurse each of them for ten months, and still be expected to have good solid bones when she reaches the age of 70, bones which are comparable to those of a 20-year-old woman in America. Eskimos, who daily consume 250 to 400 grams of proteins in fish, walrus, or whale meats and 2,200 milligrams of calcium from fish bones, have the highest incidence of osteoporosis of any population in the world."
—John McDougall, M.D.

"In essence, the fat taste is just a habit, created by conditioning. All too often, high-fat foods, or ‘sweets,' are held out as rewards to children for ‘good' behavior. Dr. Leann Birch at the University of Illinois Child Development Laboratory has found that in Western countries, young children are conditioned or taught to like animal-based foods. For example, how many times have you heard parents say, ‘You can have your ice cream, if you eat your spinach?' They quickly assume that if ice cream is the reward, then spinach must be the punishment. By contrast, most children in rural China and Japan, who haven't been offered such a deal, are repulsed by the thought of eating animals or foods made from them."
—The late Charles Attwood, M.D., author of Dr. Attwood's Low-Fat Prescription for Kids

"When you see the golden arches, you are probably on your way to the pearly gates."
—William Castelli, M.D.

"There is strong medical evidence that complete freedom from eating animal flesh or cow's milk products is a gateway to optimal nutritional health."
—Michael Klaper, M.D.

"Whether industrialized societies…can cure themselves of their meat addictions may ultimately be a greater factor in world health than all the doctors, health insurance policies, and drugs put together."
—The China-Oxford-Cornell Project on Nutrition

"Less than 70 years ago, more than 40 percent of the protein in the American diet came from grains, bread, and cereal. Currently, only 17 percent comes from these sources, along with another 15 percent from legumes, fruits, and vegetables, while two-thirds is from animal products. This trend, also noted in other industrialized Western countries, has been accompanied by a steady increase in heart-disease and cancer deaths."
—Charles Attwood, M.D.

"I found out that doctors typically aren't given much training in nutrition and that some so-called nutrition experts are not well qualified in that field. A large sample of physicians were asked how much training they got in nutrition in medical school. The average was less than three hours, with many having only one hour or less. That's out of nearly 3,500 hours of medical training. The truth is that doctors may get their nutrition information from the same newspapers and TV programs we do, and unless they have taken extra training in nutrition, they may not know much more about nutrition than the rest of us."
—Neal Pinckney, M.D.

"I will be 63 in February. I make no attempt to hide my age because I believe that as a vegan, a female, a 'senior citizen,' and a competitive athlete, I serve as a role model for a large constituency who need to identify with someone who is 'like them.'"
—Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D., vegan triathlete

"A fat rampage has existed since the late 1980s. This has been encouraged by fast-food restaurants and the snack food industry. Serving sizes are increasing. Example: McDonald's created larger burgers with more beef, and the relatively lower-fat McLean burger was discontinued in 1996."
—Charles Attwood, M.D.

"Documented benefits of a pure vegetarian (vegan) lifestyle include permanent reduction in weight, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, and blood sugar, as well as risk reduction for cardiovascular disease and half a dozen common forms of cancer. Allergies, arthritis, and asthma also respond to vegan nutrition, which means no meat, fish, chicken, dairy, eggs, or even honey."
—William Harris, M.D.

"Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them."
—Linus Pauling, Ph.D., two-time Nobel Prize winner

"Economics and politics simply intertwine in shaping conventional medicine's approach to cancer. Very simply put, treating disease is enormously profitable, preventing disease is not."
—The British Cancer Control Society

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Some Vital Statistics from Diet for a New America

Photo: sadhu (hindu holy man) with cow - orchha (india) by Tristan Savatier
(please see or buy his beautiful prints)

Some Facts From Diet for a New America
t by John Robbins, © 1989.

# of humans who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by US livestock: 1.3 billion

% of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90

Lbs of grain and soybeans needed to produce 1 lb of feedlot beef: 16

# of children who starve to death every day: 40,000

# of vegetarians who can be fed on land needed to feed 1 meat-eating person: 20

# of people who will starve to death this year: 60 million

# of people who could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their grain intake by 10 %: 60 million

User of more than 1/2 of all water used in the US: Livestock production

Water needed to produce 1 pound of wheat: 25 gallons

Water needed to produce 1 pound of meat: 2,500 gallons

Cost of hamburger if water used by meat industry was not subsidized by US taxpayers: $35 per pound

# of US medical schools: 125

# of US medical schools with a required course in nutrition: 30

Training in nutrition received by average US physician during 4 years of medical school: 2.5 hours

How frequently a heart attack strikes in US: every 25 seconds

How frequently a heart attack kills in US: every 45 seconds

Most common cause of death in US: heart attack

Risk of death from heart attack by average American man: 50 %

Risk of death from heart attack by average American pure vegetarian man: 4 %

Amount you reduce heart attack risk by reducing consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs by 50%: 45 %

Amount you reduce heart attack risk by eliminating consumption of meat, dairy products, and eggs: 90 %

Rise in blood cholesterol from consuming 1 egg per day: 12 %

Rise in heart attack risk from 12 percent rise in blood cholesterol: 24 %

Hollywood celebrity paid by Meat Board to tout beef as "Real food for real people": James Garner

Medical event experienced by James Garner in April 1988: Quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery

Pesticide residues in the US diet supplied by meat: 55 %

Pesticide residues in US diet supplied by vegetables, fruits, and grains: 11 %

% of US mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99 %

% of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues in American diet contributable to meats, dairy products, fish, and eggs: 94 %

Original actor to play Ronald McDonald: Jeff Juliano

Diet now followed by Jeff Juliano: Vegetarian

% of total antibiotics used in US fed routinely to livestock: 55 %

% of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13 %

% of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1988: 91 %

Response by European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: BAN

Response to American meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: Full and complete support

The Mega Dairy Farms Cause Rivers of Poisonous Manure - & Abuse Animals

A front-page Washington Post article reveals an industry run amuck:

“You have to cover your face just to go from the house to the car,” said Lynn Henning, 52, a farmer in rural Clayton, Mich., who said she became an environmental activist after fumes from huge new dairies gave her family headaches and burning sinuses. The way that modern megafarms produce it, Henning said, “Manure is no longer manure. Manure is a toxic waste now.”

7 Diseases That Big, Juicy Steaks Could Give You

7 Diseases That Big, Juicy Steaks Could Give You
By Sara Novak, Planet Green
November 5, 2009 Link to full article below

More and more people are passing on meat for a wide variety of reasons. For starters, it reduces your impact on the planet. Some simply can't bare the despicable factory farming industry in this country. And the third weighing issue on the minds of the more than 2.8 percent of the U.S. population that considers themselves vegetarian, are health issues. And studies show that there are plenty of them.

Sicknesses Associated With Eating Meat

1. Prostate Cancer

According to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology, researchers examined the dietary habits of 175,313 middle-aged men and followed them for nine years. They discovered that men who ate a diet heavy in red meat and processed meats were diagnosed with prostate cancer more often than men who ate little meat. "HCAs, a family of mutagenic compounds, are produced during the cooking process of many animal products, including chicken, beef, pork, and fish," the article said. And this is not reserved for a well done steak. The mutagens form when meat is cooked at a normal level and it is present in grilling, frying, or broiling. It appears to grow worse as the meat is cooked longer. In the end, the consumption of meat increased the risk of prostate cancer by 12 percent.

2. Heart Disease

More than 864,480 Americans died of heart disease in 2005, according to the American Heart Association. And according to a study at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (a teaching hospital for Harvard), heart disease is directly related to meat consumption. The study involved 617,119 men and women who were 50 to 71 years old at the start of the study. At the beginning of the study, patients filled out diet information surveys and 10 years later deaths from cardiovascular disease were noted.

Results of the Study:

"Compared to people in the lowest levels of red meat consumption (average 0.32 ounces per 1000 calories), men with the highest levels of red meat consumption (average 2.39 ounces per 1000 calories) experienced a 27 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

For women with the highest levels of red meat consumption (average 2.32 ounces per 1000 calories) the results were even more dramatic. They experienced a 50 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease."

3. Osteoporosis

Please read the full article: http://www.alternet.org/story/143691/

Rare Good News for Red Meat–Eaters

Rare Good News for Red Meat–Eaters
New research implies moderate meat eating helps your health.
By Emily Main
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA Link to full article below (this is an excerpt)

If you choose to include red meat in your meal plans, enjoy it in moderation and opt for organic products.


In the past year, eating meat—especially red meat and processed meat—has been linked to lung cancer, vision loss, and even shorter lives. But a new study, published in the journal Gerontology finds that eating red meat during middle age may have protective benefits for your ability to perform normal daily activities as you age. And while it's not a game changer that will lead health experts to recommend a daily New York strip steak, the study does suggest that eating meat has an upside.

THE DETAILS: Researchers surveyed 3,227 Japanese adults who were between the ages of 47 to 59 in 1980. At that point, they took blood samples, which were measured for cholesterol levels, and asked the participants to fill out questionnaires based on what they eat, specifically asking about consumption of eggs, fish, and meat. Those people were followed for 19 years, at the end of which 2,514 were still living. They were interviewed again and asked about their abilities to perform various "activities of daily life"—feeding, dressing, bathing, toileting, and walking—and whether they could perform those without help, with partial help, or only with full help. The researchers found that a higher intake of meat (more than once every two days) led to a statistically significant decrease in the likelihood that those participants would need help with daily activities. They found no association between intake of fish or eggs and the ability to perform
activities of daily life.

WHAT IT MEANS: It appears there may be a few benefits of meat-eating related to your quality of life—if you're eating a sensible amount and not living on bacon double cheeseburgers. "Red meat has a relatively unique profile of nutrients, compared to other foods," says Jeannie Gazzaniga-Moloo, PhD, RD, a nutrition counselor in Roseville, CA, and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "It's a good source of zinc, B vitamins, protein, and iron," she says. And this study notes that red meat has high levels of menaquinone, a compound in animal products that one previous study suggests might be protective against cardiovascular disease.

To read the full article: http://www.rodale.com/benefits-meat-eating?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2009_10_01-_-Top5-_-NA

8 Reasons You Should Stop Drinking Milk Now

8 Reasons You Should Stop Drinking Milk Now
By Mickey Z., Planet Green
October 2, 2009
Link to full article below

[excerpt]
Environmental Reasons to Avoid Milk

1. Dairy cows produce waste.
Lots of waste. In fact, your average dairy cow produces 120 pounds of waste every day -- equal to that of more than two dozen people, but without toilets, sewers, or treatment plants.

2. Let me repeat: Dairy cows produce lots and lots of waste (and greenhouse gases).
California produces one-fifth of the country's total milk supply. According to MilkSucks.com, "in the Central Valley of California, the cows produce as much excrement as a city of 21 million people, and even a smallish farm of 200 cows will produce as much nitrogen as in the sewage from a community of 5,000 to 10,000 people, according to a U.S. Senate report on animal waste."

3. Milk production ultimately leads to climate change.
The dairy industry is an extension of the beef industry (used-up dairy cows are sent to the slaughterhouse after an average of four years, one-fifth their normal life expectancy) which means it plays a major role in creating climate change. Here's the equation: The dairy industry uses cows before passing them on to be slaughtered by the beef industry which is now recognized as an environmental nightmare. "According to a UN report," writes Brian Merchant, "cows are leading contributors to climate change ... Accounting for putting out 18% of the world's carbon dioxide, cows emit more greenhouse gases than cars, planes, and all other forms of transportation combined." That means the industry of exploiting all cows -- including dairy cows -- involves destructive practices like deforestation and polluting offshoots like runoff.

4. Milk often contains unwanted ingredients.
Under current industrial methods, cow's milk is often a toxic bovine brew of man-made ingredients like bio-engineered hormones, antibiotics (55% of U.S. antibiotics are fed to livestock), and pesticides -- all of which are bad for us and the environment. For example, unintentional pesticide poisonings kill an estimated 355,000 people globally each year. In addition the drugs pumped into livestock often re-visit us in our water supply.

Which brings us to...

Health Reasons to Avoid Milk

5. Cow's milk is for cows.
The biochemical make-up of cow's milk is perfectly suited to turn a 65-pound newborn calf into a 400-pound cow in one year. It contains, for example, three times more protein and seven times more mineral content while human milk has 10 times as much essential fatty acids, three times as much selenium, and half the calcium. Some may like cow's milk but drinking it is both unnecessary and potentially harmful.

6. Milk is actually a poor source for dietary calcium.
Humans, like cows, get all the calcium they need from a plant-based diet.

7. Contrary to popular belief, milk may increase the likelihood of osteoporosis.

To read more reasons and the full article: http://www.alternet.org/story/143022/

National Hotdog Day celebrates global warming, animal cruelty and chronic disease

National Hotdog Day celebrates global warming, animal cruelty and chronic disease
by Virginia Messina, MPH, RD
July 22, 2009 Link to full article below

There is some confusion about the exact date of National Hotdog Day. Some say July 19, others celebrate on July 21, 22, or 23. But no matter; there is never a good day to eat hotdogs. Here are three reasons why hotdogs should be off the menu today and every day.

Hotdogs promote cancer. When a food is linked to cancer risk, it’s usually high intakes that are dangerous. But the American Institute for Cancer Research—a nonprofit group that closely evaluates links between diet and cancer—found no safe level for consumption of processed meats like hotdogs. That means that any intake may increase risk for cancer.

Hotdogs equal animal cruelty.

To read the full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-5670-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m7d22-National-Hotdog-Day-celebrates-global-warming-animal-cruelty-and-chronic-disease?cid=exrss-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner

Nathan's Famous and Other Hot Dog Companies Sued by Vegan Advocacy Group

Nathan's Famous and Other Hot Dog Companies Sued by Vegan Advocacy Group
Would you eat a hot dog with a warning label?
By Gloria Dawson 7.23.2009 Link to full article below


The Cancer Project, an offshoot of a pro-vegan group, is filing a class-action consumer fraud lawsuit in Essex County, New Jersey, on behalf of three of the state's residents. The suit is against Nathan’s Famous, Kraft Foods/Oscar Mayer, Sara Lee, Con Agra Foods and Marathon Enterprises, for failing to warn consumers that hot dogs increase the danger of colorectal cancer.

The Cancer Project would like to see hot dog packages to be labeled: "Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer."

To read the full article: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/hot-dog-warning-label-50072609


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Brazilian beef industry blamed for Amazon deforestation

Brazilian beef industry blamed for Amazon deforestation
Boots and training shoes are not the first things that spring to mind when you think about the causes of rainforest destruction and climate change, but just because the connection isn’t obvious doesn’t mean it isn’t realm, says Greenpeace in a new report, “Slaughtering the Amazon”.
Monday, June 1st 2009
(link to full article below)

Illegal deforestation and in some cases slavery, via giant processing facilities to the supply chains of some of the best known global brands. Shoe companies like Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Timberland and even Clarks are sourcing a significant proportion of their leather from the Amazon - and its big business.

But it's not only shoes. Products as diverse as handbags and ready meals, and companies as big as Tesco, BMW, IKEA and Kraft also rely on Amazon leather. Practically all Western world consumers have some by-product of Amazon destruction in our homes somewhere, whether we like it or not. Effectively, these brands are driving this destruction by buying beef and leather products from unscrupulous suppliers in Brazil points out the Greenpeace report.

The report says the cattle industry is the single biggest cause of deforestation in the world as trees are cleared to make way for ranches. And the Brazilian government is also fuelling the process by offering billions of dollars in loans to support the expansion of the cattle industry. President Lula de Silva has pledged to double his country's share of the global beef market by 2018. The report contrasts these investments with Lula da Silva's recent promise to cut deforestation by 72% by the same date and to set up an international fund for protecting the Amazon.

“This is a disaster for the fight against climate change and it's got to stop. We're asking President Lula da Silva to announce an immediate end to the felling of Amazon trees to create large cattle ranches and commit to zero deforestation in the rainforest by 2015”, says Greenpeace.

The Amazon has lost about a fifth of its forest in the past three decades and the rate of deforestation rose 69% in the 12 months to August 2008 as 8,147 sq km were cut down.

To read the full article:
http://en.mercopress.com/2009/06/01/brazilian-beef-industry-blamed-for-amazon-deforestation

Animal Rights Prof Says No Way to Consume Meat in Humane Way

Animal Rights Prof Says No Way to Consume Meat in Humane Way
By Gary L. Francione , Rutgers University School of Law
(from opposingviews.com, link below)

I never fail to be amazed when I hear people—including well-known promoters of animal welfare—claim quite remarkably that animals do not have an interest in continued life; they just have an interest in not suffering. They do not care that we use them; they care only about how we use them.

As long as they have a reasonably painless life and a relatively painless death, they do not care if we consume them or products made from them. I have discussed this issue in a number of essays on this site (see, e.g., 1; 2; 3) and in my books and articles. It will be a central topic in my forthcoming book, The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation?, which I have co-authored with Professor Robert Garner and that will be published by Columbia University Press this fall.

On our video page, we have two videos from slaughterhouses. A significant number of visitors have viewed these videos and have written to us about them, particularly the video that does not show any slaughter. That video has obviously made an impact on many people and so I wanted to highlight it in a blog post.

The video shows two cows waiting in a chute to be led into the abattoir. An employee comes out and uses an electric prod to get the first cow to enter the abattoir. The second cow remains behind the door that has closed. She is clearly terrified. She knows that she is in trouble and this is not simply a matter of “instinct” (I do not even know what that means.) She is desperately looking for a way to get out of the chute. She may not have the same sorts of thoughts that beings who, like us, use symbolic communication, but it is clear that she has some equivalent sort of cognition. To say that she does not have a sense of having a life is beyond absurdity.

I find this video to be profoundly tragic on many levels. Watch it and then ask yourself whether animal organizations should be investing their time and your resources in trying to design “better” slaughterhouses or promoting “happy” meat, or whether we should all commit ourselves to veganism and to clear, unequivocal, nonviolent vegan education.

The video is apparently from a French slaughterhouse. But it does not really matter. All slaughterhouses are places of hell and unspeakable violence against the vulnerable. Never believe that such a place can ever be described as “humane” except by someone who is very deeply confused about fundamental issues of morality.

Someone who saw this video wrote to me and said the following:

I am a vegetarian but have found it difficult to transition to veganism. My two weaknesses: ice cream and good Cheshire cheese. I watched this video. I looked into her eyes and I answered the question that you asked on your video page: “Is there anything that you want to eat that badly?” The answer was clear to me in a way it never was before. I am now a vegan.

To read the full article:
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-animal-rights-prof-says-no-way-to-consume-meat-in-humane-way-r-1246232469

Dairy alternatives for a more humane diet Today's dairy cows may never see a pasture

Dairy alternatives for a more humane diet
Today's dairy cows may never see a pasture
by Virginia Messina, MPH, RD
June 5, 2009

June is National Dairy Month, a tradition that began in 1937 to celebrate the dairy industry. But given the state of modern dairy farming, it has become a great time to explore some dairy alternatives. Foods that replace milk and cheese in the diet are often better for you and they are always a more ethical, humane, and environmentally-responsible choice.

Many people think of dairy farms as cheerful, sunny pastures filled with happy cows and their calves. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dairy cows have one purpose—to produce milk, and lots of it. Their calves are removed immediately after birth and either slaughtered or shipped off to veal crates. The cows themselves are loaded onto trucks and sent to slaughter as soon as their milk production declines. Many spend their entire lives indoors where they are milked by machines—and that’s true on organic farms, too.

Going dairy-free can seem like a big step, but it’s an important one for anyone who is working toward the most humane lifestyle possible. Fortunately, it’s become much easier as great new products have appeared on the market.

Most cheese alternatives contain small amounts of milk protein (casein) but there are some wonderful new completely vegan choices. The Follow Your Heart Company, a leader in the production of delicious vegan foods makes Vegan Gourmet cheese in a variety of flavors. Order it from their website if your local store doesn’t carry it.

Crafted in a variety of styles like Gouda, Edam and Smoked Cheddar, Sheese is made in Scotland by these four guys. Another relative newcomer is Teese is made by the Chicago Soydairy. You can buy both online at Vegan Essentials.

Here are some other ideas for replacing dairy foods in your diet.

• Use milks made from soy, rice, hemp, oats, or almonds on cereal, in baking, to make chocolate pudding, or to wash down a cookie. If you don’t like one, try another. With the vast array of products, you’ll find something that suits your needs perfectly.

To read the full article:
http://www.examiner.com/x-5670-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m6d5-Dairy-alternatives-for-a-more-humane-diet?cid=exrss-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner

National Dairy and Dairy Alternative Month: The gap between vegetarian and vegan

National Dairy and Dairy Alternative Month: The gap between vegetarian and vegan
by Sara Jelley
June 4, 2009

June is National Dairy Month, but to a vegan, dairy as a food is not always something to celebrate.

Some people say that milk is a completely natural food for humans, and that it is a natural by-product that comes from cows. Some people even think that cows need to be milked for their own health. Something about “milk poisoning”, among other silly reasons I’ve heard. However, cow’s milk is not natural for humans to drink, nor for any other animal aside from its own offspring, and it is usually not a natural process when the cows produce it for us.

The fact is that the dairy industry is a business, as is any other farm. In order to supply the milk, farmers impregnate cows so they lactate. Just like humans, cows need to be pregnant to produce milk. With billions of ‘farmed’ cows in the world, there is no way those cows can be impregnated naturally by a bull at the same time and ready to produce milk. From this you can surmise for yourself that farmers must artificially inseminate cows so they can secrete that creamy fluid you use for your coffee and cereal. The thing that got me was when someone called it “pus” and I could never envision myself drinking it again. Even organic and family farmed milk has this downside.

These facts are necessary to know for those vegetarians who say they “could not live without cheese”, or people like me, who used to have a long-term relationship with ice cream. There are so many options available, it is hard to remember what my life was like when I was eating dairy. Soy milk, rice milk and almond milk satisfy my cookies and milk cravings and go great in cereal. There are many soy cheeses, rice cheeses and almond cheese options that melt and taste just like cow’s milk cheese. There is even margarine, cream cheese and ice cream that is non-dairy!

My favorite non-dairy milks:

Kikkoman Pearl (even available in green tea flavor!)

Westsoy (creamy like real milk)

My favorite non-dairy cheeses:

nutritional yeast (tastes like cheese, strangely enough)

Tofutti for cream cheese

Rice slices

My favorite non-dairy yogurt:

Whole Soy & Co.

My favorite non-dairy ice cream:

Soy delicious- fruit-sweetened and a lot less calories than regular ice cream.

As for the calcium, amino acids and vitamins A and D found in milk, you can get all of them from plant sources. Fact.

To read the full, excellent article:
http://www.examiner.com/x-6041-Denver-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m6d4-National-Dairy-and-Dairy-Alternative-Month-The-gap-between-vegetarian-and-vegan?cid=exrss-Denver-Vegan-Examiner

Meat: the slavery of our time

Meat: the slavery of our time
How the coming vegetarian revolution will arrive by force.
By Jim Motavalli
Wed, 06/03/2009

I have a prediction: Sooner than you might think, this will be a vegetarian world. Future generations will find the idea of eating meat both morally absurd and logistically impossible. Of course, one need only look at the booming meat industry, the climbing rates of meat consumption in the developing world, and the menu of just about any restaurant to call me crazy. But already, most people know that eating red meat is bad for their health and harmful for the planet. It's getting them to actually change their diet that's the hard part -- and that's exactly why it won't happen by choice.

Going by the numbers, eating meat is pretty hard to justify for the even moderately health-conscious. A National Cancer Institute report released last March found that people who ate the most red meat were, as the New York Times put it, "most likely to die from cancer, heart disease and other causes." The biggest abstainers "were least likely to die." Those who eat five ounces of meat daily, (the equivalent of one and a half Quarter Pounders or Big Macs) increase their risk from cancer or heart disease by 30 percent compared to those who eat two-thirds of an ounce daily -- a stark difference.

To read the full article:
http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/03/meat_the_slavery_of_our_time

Film aims to expose dangers in U.S. food industry

Film aims to expose dangers in U.S. food industry
By Christine Kearney
Tue Jun 9, 2009



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bigger-breasted chickens fattened artificially. New strains of deadly E. coli bacteria. A food supply controlled by a handful of corporations.

The documentary "Food, Inc." opens in the United States on Friday and portrays these purported dangers and changes in the U.S. food industry, asserting harmful effects on public health, the environment, and worker and animal rights.

Big corporations such as biotech food producer Monsanto Co., U.S. meat companies Tyson Food Inc. and Smithfield Foods, and poultry producer Perdue Farms all declined to be interviewed for the film.

But the industry has not stood silent. Trade associations across the $142-billion-a-year U.S. meat industry have banded together to counter the claims. Led by the American Meat Institute, they have created a number of websites, including one called SafeFoodInc.com.

To read the full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSTRE5586OK20090609?sp=true

Carcinogen Found in KFC’s New Grilled Chicken

Carcinogen Found in KFC’s New Grilled Chicken

http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/jun09/carcinogen.html

KFC calls its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken “the better-for-you chicken for health-conscious customers.” But recent PCRM tests of the new grilled chicken revealed substantial amounts of a carcinogenic chemical in all samples tested.

grilling chickenA PCRM scientist visited six different KFC stores, obtained two samples from each location, and sent them to an independent testing laboratory. All 12 samples were found to contain PhIP, a chemical classified as a carcinogen by the federal government. PhIP, part of a chemical family known as heterocyclic amines (HCAs), has been linked to several forms of cancer, including breast cancer, in dozens of scientific studies. No safe level of ingestion has been identified. Every sample also tested positive for at least one additional type of HCA.

The new KFC grilled chicken products were the focus of a controversial promotion by Oprah Winfrey, who offered coupons for free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meals on her Web site. PCRM has alerted Ms. Winfrey to these findings.

“Just as the fat and cholesterol in fried chicken have prompted concerns about heart attacks and obesity, the carcinogenic chemicals found in Kentucky Grilled Chicken raise serious concerns about cancer risk,” said Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H., a PCRM toxicologist. “No parent would knowingly serve carcinogens to a child, and parents have no idea these chemicals are in KFC products. We are asking KFC to withdraw Kentucky Grilled Chicken.”

PhIP and other HCAs do not exist naturally in chicken; they form when animal muscle is cooked to high temperatures. The National Toxicology Program administered by the National Institutes of Health has identified PhIP as carcinogenic, as have the state of California and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

To read the full article: http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/jun09/carcinogen.html

Does Eating Meat Increase Your Risk of Dying?

Does Eating Meat Increase Your Risk of Dying?
What the Evidence Reveals
by www.SixWise.com

http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2009/April/29/Does-Eating-Meat-Increase-Your-Risk-of-Dying.htm?source=nl

Asking a meat lover to give up burgers and steaks is likely to evoke some powerful opposition, just as asking a vegetarian to sit down to a plate of meatballs would. Yet, increasing evidence appears to be confirming that eating a meat heavy diet may, indeed, be bad for your health.

This is certainly not what a largely meat-loving nation like the United States wants to hear. According to the Agriculture Department, Americans ate 119 pounds of red meat each in 2008, which amounts to just over two pounds a week, along with 106 pounds of poultry.

What does the evidence really say about meat and your health, and is there possibly more to the scenario than meets the eye?

The Research on Meat-Eating Doesn’t Look Good

The latest evidence, a federal study of more than half a million American men and women, found that eating meat does raise mortality risk.

To read the full article: http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2009/April/29/Does-Eating-Meat-Increase-Your-Risk-of-Dying.htm?source=nl

The Swine Flu Crisis Lays Bare the Meat Industry's Monstrous Power

The Swine Flu Crisis Lays Bare the Meat Industry's Monstrous Power
By Mike Davis, Comment Is Free
April 28, 2009

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/138798/the_swine_flu_crisis_lays_bare_the_meat_industry%27s_monstrous_power/
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/138798
http://www.alternet.org/story/138798/

The Mexican swine flu, a genetic chimera probably conceived in the faecal mire of an industrial pigsty, suddenly threatens to give the whole world a fever. The initial outbreaks across North America reveal an infection already travelling at higher velocity than did the last official pandemic strain, the 1968 Hong Kong flu.

Stealing the limelight from our officially appointed assassin, H5N1, this porcine virus is a threat of unknown magnitude. It seems less lethal than Sars in 2003, but as an influenza it may be more durable than Sars. Given that domesticated seasonal type-A influenzas kill as many one million people a year, even a modest increment of virulence, especially if combined with high incidence, could produce carnage equivalent to a major war.

Meanwhile, one of its first victims has been the consoling faith, long preached by the World Health Organisation, that pandemics can be contained by the rapid responses of medical bureaucracies, independent of the quality of local public health. Since the initial H5N1 deaths in Hong Kong in 1997, the WHO, with the support of most national health services, has promoted a strategy focused on the identification and isolation of a pandemic strain within its local radius of outbreak, followed by a thorough dousing of the population with antivirals and (if available) vaccine.

To read the full article: http://www.alternet.org/story/138798/

Putting meat in its place

Putting meat in its place
By DEVRA FIRST
The Boston Globe
Monday, April 27, 2009

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090428/ARTICLE/904279961/2059/LIVING?Title=Putting-meat-in-its-place

Meat has been the central object of worship among food religionists for some time. Their bible, Fergus Henderson’s “The Whole Beast,” got chefs hot for nose-to-tail eating. Anthony Bourdain consumed all manner of animal bits and bobs on TV, and dissed those who didn’t want to do the same.

“Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food,” he wrote in “Kitchen Confidential.” David Chang built temples to the pig with his Momofuku restaurants in New York, and the press and adherents flocked.

Head cheese, sweetbreads, marrow and cockscombs became foodie darlings, and a certain machismo prevailed: It was wussy to not eat these treats, the funkier, the richer, the more indulgent the better.

But lately the food world has seen a slight retreat from this meaty fervor — a step back, a measured gaze, and a thought bubbling up: Perhaps less is, after all, more.

This isn’t polar opposition to the carnivorous lifestyle. People still love their meat. They are simply moving toward balance. In his recent book “Food Matters,” Mark Bittman argues for eating a vegan diet during the day and whatever you want at night. Philadelphia magazine restaurant critic Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond have a new cookbook out called “Almost Meatless,” filled with recipes that use only a small amount of meat in each dish, a flavorful accent rather than the star of the show. “My husband ... likes his lentil burgers a lot better with bacon on them, and I admit: so do I,” writes Manning in the intro.

During a talk at Tufts recently, author Michael Pollan shared with the audience his complicated formula for a healthy diet: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (By “food,” he means the nonprocessed stuff, not what he calls “edible foodlike substances.”)

To read the full article: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090428/ARTICLE/904279961/2059/LIVING?Title=Putting-meat-in-its-place

Daily Red Meat Raises Chances Of Dying Early

Daily Red Meat Raises Chances Of Dying Early
Study Is First Large Analysis Of Link With Overall Health
The new study says, "If people want to be healthy and live longer, consume less red and processed meat," global nutrition professor Barry Popkin said.
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 24, 2009; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032301626.html?hpid=topnews

Eating red meat increases the chances of dying prematurely, according to the first large study to examine whether regularly eating beef or pork increases mortality.

The study of more than 500,000 middle-aged and elderly Americans found that those who consumed about four ounces of red meat a day (the equivalent of about a small hamburger) were more than 30 percent more likely to die during the 10 years they were followed, mostly from heart disease and cancer. Sausage, cold cuts and other processed meats also increased the risk.

Previous research had found a link between red meat and an increased risk of heart disease and cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, but the new study is the first large examination of the relationship between eating meat and overall risk of death, and is by far the most detailed.

To read the full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032301626.html?hpid=topnews