Healthy Fats the Healthy Way

Fats are always a hot topic in diet and health, but they are not all bad. Your body needs fats for many essential functions. However, the amount of fats you consume, which fats you choose, and the balance of one type of fat to another determine whether your fat intake aids your health or causes damage. 

Too much of a good thing can quickly become bad. When it comes to fat, this is a motto you should adopt. Although you want to add healthy fats to your diet because they boost your health and are better for you than saturated fats, you should aim for no more than 20% to 35% of fat in your daily calories.

What are Healthy Fats?

Omega-3s and Omega-6s are the two healthy fats that make the news a lot because of their health benefits. Otherwise known as polyunsaturated fats, these offer various benefits to your body and have to be consumed through diet as the body can’t produce them on its own.  

Omega-3s

Omega-3s fight inflammation in the body, while lowering blood pressure. This makes them heart-healthy, too. In fact, studies(1) have found that when 1-gram capsules of omega-3 were given to heart attack survivors every day for three years, their risk of sudden cardiac death decreased by approximately 50 percent. They also were found less likely to suffer another heart attack than people who took placebos.

There are two types of omega-3s you need to know about:

  • Icosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA): these are mostly found in fatty fish. You should aim to eat two servings of fatty fish every week to reap the health benefits.
  • Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA): these are found in nuts, such as macadamia (which also has a good balance between omega 3 and omega 6); flaxseed; leafy vegetables; and vegetable oils. ALA is required in the body for energy. It is not easily transformed into EPA and DHA, so you need to ensure you get enough fatty fish in your diet to give you enough of them. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, opt for fish oil supplements.

Omega-6s

These fatty acids are also needed by the body and they have various functions, such as improving brain function, hair growth, and bone health as well as aiding your metabolism. You can find most omega-6 fatty acids in vegetable oils. These fatty acids are known as linoleic acid (LA).

One type of omega-6, known as gamma linolenic acid (GLA), fights various health conditions. These include skin issues such as dermatitis and eczema; arthritis; diabetes; and obesity. Unlike other omega-6s, GLA reduces inflammation. Although inflammation is sometimes required by the body, such as the body’s response to an injury, you want to keep it in check when you are healthy. You can find GLA in sources such as black currant seed oil and spirulina.

The Risk of Inflammation

Many illnesses are caused by inflammation in the body, such as asthma, arthritis, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, kidney failure and more. If you’re wondering why such illnesses seem to have become more common, it’s because people tend to eat too many omega-6 fatty acids that contribute to inflammation. There needs to be a balance between omega-6 and omega-3 so the body isn’t getting too much omega-6 and it can benefit from the anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3. 

Shockingly, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 (2) in the Western diet is between 10:1 and 25:1! You want to reach a ratio of between 2:1 and 4:1 to ensure that your body is receiving a healthy balance of fatty acids.

Get the Right Omega Balance

It’s fine and well to hear that you have to have a balance between omega-3 and omega-6 but how should you do this?

  • For starters, it’s a good thing to try to eat more omega-3. Try adding fish to your regular diet or supplement with oils rich in omega 3s.  
  • Then, try to decrease your omega-6 consumption. You can start by getting rid of spreads, such as margarine, and replacing them with olive oil. Stay away from vegetable oils like canola, corn, and soybean.
  • Interestingly, you can also find omega-6 in whole-grains and animal products, so you want to decrease how much of these foods you consume.
  • Follow the Mediterranean diet as it is high in fruits and vegetables, while including fish and healthy olive oil.

If you’re still worried about your ratio, it’s a good idea to get your omega fatty acids tested. This will enable you to see exactly what you’re dealing with and how to make adequate changes to your diet to reach a healthier ratio.

When you hear that healthy fats are good for you, you might want to add lots of them to your diet but make sure you take a balanced approach. This will help you stay healthy while enjoying delicious meals.

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Genetically Modified Salmon Is On Its Way To Your Store

If you enjoy salmon, eat your fill now. The Food and Drug Administration has announced approval for the first genetically modified animal for consumption, and it’s the Atlantic salmon…and the Pacific-Chinook salmon…and the ocean pout, a creature also known for inspiring a synthetic contribution to less-fattening ice cream, all rolled up into one sentient creation.

The possibility of a genetically engineered salmon is not an unfamiliar one, as biotech company AquaBounty has been attempting to bring the Frankenfish to the public for twenty years. The fish is said to be advantageous because it grows at twice the rate of a regular salmon and requires 75% less food. The company is not planning on letting consumers know that the fish is genetically modified, claiming that as “…the first and only, labeling is a dangerous decision. We’d like to label it as a premium product, but we’ll probably introduce it as Atlantic salmon.” It’s ironic that they use the word dangers in conjunction with actual labeling, as the health and environmental dangers of this fish don;t seem to concern  AquaBounty or the FDA.

Safety Concerns Over the Next Step in GMOs

The debate over the GM salmon from AquaBounty (officially referred to as the AquaAdvantage) has been going on for quite some time, although the approval from the FDA has shifted abstract concepts into something very real and potentially scary. Food and Water Watch and the Consumer’s Union have both expressed concerns about the fish and its impact on health and the environmental threat of a possible escape. Like all GMOs, the salmon has been labeled safe to eat by the FDA. That alone is suspect when you consider the amount of countries worldwide who are banning GMOs, but there are also concerns regarding allergies and how the mix of different fish genetics combined into one fish will affect people. Consumer’s Union has been claiming that the research used to make the decision to approve the salmon suffers from inadequate analysis and a sample size that is too small.

But What if Gets Loose?

Meanwhile, Food and Water Watch is viewing the AquaAvantage from a different angle, and seeing a different problem – escape. The salmon are grown in land-based, contained tanks in Canada and Panama that are sealed completely off and all fish grown for food, as opposed to breeding, are sterile. Or at least they are sterile by FDA standards, which require 95% sterility. Setting aside the questions of what and where exactly the fish for breeding are kept (or if there is even a need for breeding fish when they’re potentially raised in a lab), the FDA maintains that even if the fish were to escape, they would be unable to thrive and establish themselves. Even if the fish aren’t able to sustain a population out in the natural environment, isn’t it naive to assume there won’t be other consequences? Wild salmon that come in contact with farmed salmon have registered a population drop of more than half due to parasites and disease. At what point does the desire for cheap salmon outweigh the increasing delicate needs of the actual wild salmon providing the genes for the Frankenfish? Despite claims that the potential of escape is highly unlikely, Food and Water Watch remains committed to making sure that GMO salmon does not reach the marketplace.

More Care is Needed in Introducing GM Meats

The marketplace at the moment has a slightly different view from the FDA. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have been critical of the AquaAdvantage and have publicly pledged not to sell the salmon. Other retailers like Safeway and Kroger also have no plans to stock the product. The criticism from consumer and environmental groups, as well as the lack of support from stores, have the potential to stop the forward march (swim, really) of the GMO salmon. Anything can happen within the two-year period from approval to market. If you oppose GM salmon, now is the time for your voice to be heard.

Extensive research occurs when new varieties of conventional foods like fruits and vegetables are introduced. A newly developed type of apple, for instance, takes an average of 15 years. A salmon spliced together from three different fish and altered at the base genetic level is a huge step in the food system and should not have any room for groups to claim inadequate analysis. The consequences of unleashing the Frankenfish could permanently damage the oceanic ecosystem or even play out like a science fiction movie. Do we want to be the at the mercy of our own ill-advised creation because the population is looking for cheaper salmon? At the very least we should be able to know what we’re being sold.

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Five Foods that Feed Cancer

Some foods can speed you to your grave. Rather than promote health and healing, some foods are known to feed cancer more than they feed you.

Soda

Sodas are known to be bad for you, but did you know they can cause cancer? Sodas are loaded with sugar, artificial flavors, artificial colors, and preservatives as well as other chemicals. Caramel coloring agents are added to the drinks to give it that brown color. This process can produce a possible carcinogen called 4-methylimidazole. Surprisingly enough, the FDA has yet to limit the amount of this chemical byproduct allowed in sodas. Researchers have found that just drinking one can of soda a day raises the risk of cancer and this affects between 44% and 58% of all Americans.

Processed Meat

Processed meats that include artificial preservatives, flavorings, and colors include bacon, sausage, hot dogs, salami, beef jerky, ham, canned meats, and meat-based sauces. The WHO found that daily consumption of 50g of processed meat results in an 18% increase in the risk of colorectal cancer. This is roughly equal to eating about 2 pieces of bacon a day. While this is not much, and eating processed meats does not directly translate into getting cancer, frequently eating large amounts of it does increase your risk. In order to lower your risk, it is better to avoid this type of meat. If you choose to eat lunchmeat, choose the brands that do not include nitrates, nitrites, and other chemicals.

Sugar

Sugar is highly processed and stripped of minerals. As a result, it is very acidic. An acidic pH benefits cancer growth. But sugar does more. It impairs the immune system and directly feeds cancer cells and tumors.

GMO’s

There are now many animal studies that show long-term consumption of GMOs to be harmful. A variety of deleterious effects have been documented: kidney damage, liver damage, infertility, reduced birth weight, birth defects, and cancer. GMOs also damage gut health, feed cancer, and lead to other illnesses.

Artificial Flavors, Colors, Sweeteners, Preservatives, and MSG

If you’re thinking of trading in the sugar laden soda for the zero calorie stuff, you may want to reconsider. Food-like products, that aren’t really food at all do more damage to the body and even promote more cancer growth than sugar and other junk food. Anything artificial is bad news for the body’s overall function, and this can be disastrous when battling cancer. For instance, MSG is a neurotoxin; it kills brain cells. In addition, all of these food-like products dramatically disrupt the function of the beneficial bacteria in our gut. If we eat processed foods filled with artificial ingredients, we are giving cancerous cells a chance to prosper.

Many chemicals are known to cause cancer, so it should not surprise us to find chemical laden food causes cancer – in more ways than one. Cancer doesn’t just happen due to some bodily malfunction. In order for cancer to progress to the point that it poses a threat, something is horribly wrong. More often than not, environmental toxins, usually from one’s diet, have caused imbalances in the body that have enabled cancer to grow. If you’re facing cancer or any other serious disease choose food wisely. If it’s not real food, don’t eat it.

For anyone who’s sick, whether it be cancer or almost any other disease, the first steps to eliminating disease are to fix the diet and heal the gut. Check out 80% Raw Food Diet and Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases.

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Wild Caught? Maybe Not – Salmon Sold to You May Have Been Farm-Raised

The wild caught salmon sold to you in restaurants and grocery stores may have been farm-raised. Unfortunately, the results of a new study suggest that unless you catch it yourself, you can’t be sure it wasn’t farm raised.

Using DNA testing techniques, the non-profit ocean conservation group Oceana examined numerous samples of fish being sold as wild caught salmon both from restaurant menus and grocery stores. Of the restaurant samples, 2/3 of the “wild-caught” salmon was farm raised. Retail salmon fared better, with one out of five incorrectly labeled. The study also revealed instances of chum salmon being sold as king salmon and rainbow trout sold as wild salmon.

A startling 43% of the salmon tested, collected in New York, Washington, Chicago and Virginia from upscale and takeout restaurants and from various neighborhood and chain groceries, was mislabeled. The most common deception was Atlantic salmon being sold as wild salmon.

These Scientists Say We Need to do Something About It

The researchers authoring the study recommend that new policies be implemented to protect both the public and fishermen from mislabeling.

“Our results are consistent and wide enough to know that this is a problem that can occur anyplace, anytime, with any type of seafood,” said Kimberly Warner, a senior scientist at Oceana.

Oceana definitely knows what they are talking about. From 2010 to 2012 they conducted an extensive seafood fraud investigation, collecting more than 1,200 seafood samples from 674 retail outlets in 21 states. The objective was to determine if the seafood was honestly labeled. DNA testing found that a full one 1/3 of the 1,215 samples analyzed were mislabeled.

In that earlier investigation, seafood sold as snapper and tuna had the highest chance of being mislabeled. The majority of the samples identified by DNA analysis were not consistent with the labeling. In fact, only seven of the 120 samples of red snapper purchased nationwide were actually red snapper. The other 113 samples were another fish.

Accuracy in Labeling Also Depends on the Time of Year

The current study revealed that the time of year was a big factor in whether or not a restaurant would sell mislabeled salmon. During the winter months, fresh wild salmon is less available, creating a motive to substitute readily available, farmed salmon. The researchers found that large chain groceries were less likely than small grocers to offer mislabeled salmon to the public.

The authors of the study have a few suggestions for consumers looking to protect themselves from purchasing the wrong types of salmon. They suggest consumers ask their sellers about their seafood’s exact point of origin, its species, and whether or not the merchandise was fresh or previously frozen.

Salmon can travel halfway across the world and back before we get a chance to eat it. For instance in 2013, U.S. fisheries exported roughly 85,000 metric tons of salmon to China while importing 37,000 metric tons of salmon from China. Much of this import was the same fish that was shipped to China for processing.

To cut down on salmon mislabeling, the report’s authors are calling for comprehensive tracking of all seafood sold in this country from catch to point of sale.

What’s Wrong With Farm Raised Fish?

The first and obvious difference between farm raised and wild caught salmon is the cost. You are being overcharged if you are paying the price for wild caught salmon and not getting what you paid for. But there are other issues at stake. First there is taste, and secondly there are health concerns associated with farm raised fish and shrimp. Pathogens, contamination, and GMO feed are serious quality issues with fish and shrimp being raised in an unnatural and crowded environment. The virulent diseases spread through the salmon farms are suspected to have spread to the wild, severely impacting the wild salmon population. Factory farming raises unhealthy animals, and fish farms are nothing more than factory farms for fish. Stick to wild caught fish – if you can find a trusted source.

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Five Vegan Drinks To Try This Winter

We’re a world of coffee lovers aren’t we? The coffee culture is strong and for many of us our day hasn’t started unless we’ve grabbed our favourite hot beverage from our local Starbucks. The caffeine kick is one that can’t always be denied and a morning coffee is a solid addition to many a morning routine.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget about the calorie content of a drink. We think of it as a liquid and therefore don’t always associate it with its devilish side effects. A hot chocolate from a coffee chain can have as many as 400 calories in it. Pretty shocking right? You might as well just chomp into a bar of chocolate.

And then there’s the extra cost.  In the long run, you could save yourself around £500 (about 750 American dollars) per year just by cutting your coffee shop habits. So how can you save calories, save cash, and still enjoy a delicious hot drink to start your day?

There are plenty of healthier alternatives that will not only cost you less but also save on calories, increase your health, and battle against the dreaded winter cold. So without further ado, here are the best vegan friendly drinks to give a try this winter:

Simple Ginger Tea

There are some amazing benefits from consuming ginger, including anti-inflammatory properties, nausea reduction, and increased circulation.

Add 2-3cm of fresh root ginger to a mug of warm water for added warmth, and be sure to drop in a stick of cinnamon for an extra kick! It’s a quick and easy festive drink that is low in calories.

Honey Lemon Warmer

This one is especially handy if you’re trying to recover from a sore throat or head off a winter cold. Honey has many amazing health-enhancing benefits. It’s great for soothing a sore throat while giving your immune system a boost. This is particularly handy at this time of the year when colds are spreading like wildfire.

You might be concerned about the sugar levels of honey, but don’t be too worried. These natural sugars won’t harm you in small doses. Add 1-2 teaspoons of organic honey (depending on your sweet tooth) to a mug of warm water, and add a few slices of fresh lemon for an added zing

A Nutty Treat

One of my personal favourites is a gorgeous nutty winter warmer! Simply heat a mug of almond milk and add a drizzle of date syrup for a gorgeous toffee-like taste. This drink comes closest to rivaling drinks from the coffee chains, and it’s low in fat too! If you do want to add a naughty twist (we all deserve a treat now and again after all) grate your favourite vegan chocolate to finish it off. Yum!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Okay. So Halloween may be over, but who can resist a pumpkin spice latte over winter time? It’s a definite favourite amongst the coffee lovers of the world. Why should vegans have to miss out? Simply add two tablespoons of pumpkin puree to your morning cup of coffee along with two tablespoons of almond (or coconut) milk, a drizzle of vanilla extract, and any fancy toppings you wish to include! My favourite is cinnamon, but you could also add vegan whipped cream or maple syrup.

Cranberry Cider

Combine cranberry juice (the proper stuff) with apple cider in a saucepan and heat, stir in 1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar and add flavourings of your choice. Popular flavours include cinnamon or ginger for additional warmth and a slight kick, adjust the amount of flavouring to your taste. To make it even more festive, add some sliced orange and a Christmas themed mug!

Will you be cutting down on the coffee chain purchases this winter in favour of your own, healthier homemade recipes? I’d love to hear about more vegan drink recipes to try!

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Foods that Fight Cancer

Everyone has heard the phrase, “You are what you eat,” but did you know that you can combat and prevent cancer through healthy food choices? The number one thing to focus on when trying to create a cancer-fighting diet is to follow a diet that includes at least 80% raw, fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. Many pesticides are known carcinogens. The best way to lower your exposure to pesticides in your food is to buy organic. Raw produce is key in any cancer-fighting diet. Eating a variety of raw organic produce is the optimal way to access all the key nutrients your body needs to stay healthy, heal, and if need be to fight cancer. Here’s a short list of some of the top foods that are known to help fight cancer in the body.

Dark Green, Leafy Vegetables

Leafy greens are the basis for every great salad. They also contain high levels of important vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. While iceberg lettuce may be the most widely used salad vegetable, it is almost completely empty of nutrition and it tastes very bland. Better choices that not only taste better but also are nutrient dense include spinach, collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, arugula, Swiss chard, and kale. These powerhouse vegetables are high in carotenoids, fiber, folate, vitamin K, and vitamin C. Carotenoids have been shown to slow the growth of certain types of cancer including breast, lung, stomach, and skin cancer. There are many other nutrients in leafy greens, and many of them act as antioxidants and help to remove free radicals from the body before they can do much harm. Leafy greens are vital to a healthy diet.

Berries

Berries are a versatile powerhouse source of nutrition. While popular varieties include blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, cherries, and blackberries, less well-known varieties such as acai, bilberry, and elderberry are also great sources of cancer-fighting nutrients. These deeply colored fruits have high levels of antioxidants including anthocyanins and other flavonoids. These antioxidants work to remove free radicals from the body, making them important in fighting cancer. Berries also have anti-inflammatory properties, which can help the body heal itself.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are probably one of the better-known types of food that fight cancer, but many people do not understand why. Tomatoes are high in lycopene, which helps protect the body’s DNA from cancer-causing damage. Cooking tomatoes makes the lycopene more readily available to the body. Tomatoes are also high in alpha-tomatine, a phytonutrient that has been shown to hinder growth of cancer cells as well as kill fully formed cancer cells. Everyone should eat tomatoes, raw and cooked.

Cruciferous Vegetables

Some popular cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. These vegetables are high in sulfur-containing compounds called glucosinolates. These phytonutrients help the body remove carcinogenic compounds before they damage the body’s DNA and they help repair damaged cells. The benefits of these compounds are accessed when the vegetables are chopped up and the glucosinolates are broken down by enzymes called myrosinase. These vegetables are also high in fiber.

Watermelon

Watermelons are a powerhouse source of important cancer-fighting nutrients. Higher than tomatoes in lycopene by 40%, they also have high levels of beta-carotene, fiber, vitamin C, and citrulline. The lycopene in watermelon is readily bio-available. Watermelon’s antioxidants remove free radicals from the body and protect DNA from damage. It helps hydrate the body and is very alkaline, which can help detoxify the body and prevent cancer. Many nutritionists believe watermelon to be both a fruit and a vegetable.

Conclusion

We all have cancer cells in our bodies, every day, all the time. The state of our health determines whether we “get cancer.” Beating cancer is something we can do every time we eat, depending on what we eat. Most of us have had friends or family who have died of cancer, and all of us can think of better ways of passing away than being slowly consumed by abnormal cells.

Almost all produce kills cancer in some way. Raw, fresh, organic (ideally home grown) produce creates the healthiest gut flora, provides enzymes to reduce aging and repair injuries, and heals the body from the inside out. The most important aspect of any natural health protocol is diet. The first step to reversing diseases like cancer is to repair the gut.

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The Vegan Diet: Why It Is a Big Deal

Recent studies show that more and more people in the U.S. are choosing to reduce or give up meat in their diet because of the growing body of evidence linking meat consumption to obesity, digestive problems, heart disease, some types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis, and early death.

What is the problem with meat? Most people eat conventional factory farmed meat, which may have risks due to the presence of chemicals or diseases.  On top of that, most people eat way too much of it. Americans consume 60 percent more meat that Europeans and 4 times more than other developed countries. One study found that meat-eaters are 27 percent more likely to die early and 20 percent more likely to die of cancer.

Out of an estimated 16 million vegetarians, (5 percent of the population) about 8 million people are vegan. So, when people give up meat, they either switch to a vegetarian diet (no meat but the diet includes eggs and dairy) or the new trend, which is vegan (no meat, or dairy, or animal-derived products).

Like the featured image? Check out the collard green wraps recipe here.

Why Do People Eat Vegan?

There are usually 3 reasons why people choose a vegan diet:

  • to protest the exploitation/cruelty of animals by the agricultural industry
  • to reduce the environmental costs of agriculture
  • to improve their overall health and live a healthier life

To Protect Animals

Many people choose a vegan lifestyle because they are against the exploitation of animals by the agriculture industry. Vegans believe animals should not be used against their will and made to suffer and die as resources for human needs.

Vegans believe animals are sentient beings with rights not unlike humans. Vegans are against animal testing, large animal breeding factories, and poultry, cattle, and dairy operations where animals are often kept in less than ideal conditions. There are reports of animal cruelty in many livestock operations. Ten billion animals are slaughtered every year for human consumption in the U.S.

Protect the Environment

Vegans are against the environmental costs of livestock agriculture, including the use of large amounts of land and water, use of chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers, topsoil erosion, and pollution. According to the EPA, chemical and animal waste runoff pollutes more than 173,000 miles of rivers and streams annually and is the nation’s leading cause of impaired water quality. Nearly 20% of worldwide pollution is attributed to the meat industry.

Resource use is a concern to vegans. It is estimated that it takes 40 calories of fossil-fuel energy to create every 1 calorie of feed-lot beef in the U.S., but it only takes 2.2 calories of energy to create plant proteins.

In addition, 70% of the grain produced in the U.S. is used to feed animals raised for slaughter. Livestock animals consume five times as much grain as is eaten by the population.  According to a Cornell University professor of ecology, David Pimentel, if that same amount were used to feed people directly, nearly 800 million people could be fed globally.

Researchers at Loma Linda University in California have concluded that consumption of meat and dairy should be drastically reduced in order to cut the environmental footprint (use of resources). They rated vegetarians and vegans as requiring 30 percent fewer resources.

To Improve Overall Health

Statistics show that most Americans eat an overabundance of foods that are high in fat, sugar, and the added chemicals contained in processed foods.  The vegan diet is designed to eliminate many of the health risks associated with meat consumption, (such as higher risk of disease) and increase consumption of healthy raw foods like vegetables, nuts, grains and fruits. Vegans (and vegetarians) are known to have lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, lower body/mass indexes (less fat), and lower rates for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. So, the vegan diet, when combined with a healthy exercise lifestyle, especially for those who actively work out or compete in athletic events,  produces healthier people.

Why is Vegan Better?

A vegan diet can be healthier than a conventional diet for many reasons.  Vegan foods include whole grains, a variety of vegetables, fruits, and beans, that are rich in essential vitamins, contain lots of needed fiber, are low in fat, and contain no cholesterol. Calcium is derived from eating vegetables like broccoli, kale, collard greens, tofu, fortified juices, and nut milks (soymilk, almond milk, etc.). Iron is obtained from eating things like chickpeas, spinach, pinto beans, and soy products.  Vitamin B12 (which does not occur naturally in plants) can be supplemented in pill form or in products that are fortified with it. Most fruits and vegetables contain essential ingredients like carbohydrates, vitamins, folate, minerals like magnesium and potassium, antioxidants, and phytochemicals (carotenoids, anthocyanins) which help prevent disease.

Some people believe they cannot eat vegan because they won’t get enough protein, but vegans get protein from many sources. For example, green vegetables like kale, broccoli, seaweed, peas, and spinach are good sources of protein and so are various kinds of beans like lima, black, pinto, edamame, and lentils. Grains are another way to get protein and these include brown rice, whole wheat bread, pasta, quinoa, and bulgar. Nuts such as peanuts, pistachios, almonds, cashews, and walnuts are protein rich. Vegans also eat lots of berries, (strawberries, blueberries, etc.) because they contain antioxidants and phytochemicals.

The Problems with Meat, Dairy, and Fish

Meat

The standard American diet is usually centered around red meat. But when red meat is  consumed in excess quantities, it can cause a person to have higher than normal levels of cholesterol and saturated fats. Diets rich in animal fats are associated with higher risks for obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, hypertension, and several types of cancer.  Red meat also contains carnitine, which causes hardening of the arteries, and studies show that increased carnitine is associated with increased  cardiovascular disease. A meat diet may cause an excess of iron, which studies show can increase your chances for Alzheimer’s disease and colorectal cancer. Most of the processed meat (lunchmeat) is unhealthy because it contains carcinogenic compounds.

The FDA reports that foods high in protein such as meat, poultry, and seafood can cause outbreaks of foodborne illnesses like E.coli and salmonella. Additives are used in the meat industry to enhance the color and appearance of meat, like pink slime and meat glue, which have questionable health benefits.

The EPA estimates that 95% of pesticide residue in the American diet comes from meat, fish, and dairy products.

People on a meat diet have shorter lives and more disability later in life, according to author Michael F. Roizen, M.D., author of “The Real Age Diet”. He says animal products clog your arteries, give you less energy, slow down your immune system, and increase the rates of cognitive and sexual dysfunction.

Dairy

Recent studies are showing that as many as 75 % of the world’s adult population may be lactose intolerant, which can cause a number of health problems. Milk products like cheese and yogurt have been heavily promoted as part of a healthy diet in the U.S. for many years, and only recently has evidence been coming out to the contrary. High intake of dairy products can raise an individual’s cholesterol levels which can lead to obesity, digestive problems, and heart disease. The problem comes from the combination of animal products derived from unhealthy animals and a diet high in refined sugar.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, M.D. of the Institute for Medical Functional Medicine, dairy consumption has not been proven to increase athletic performance. It does not protect bone strength and may even reduce it. And he says dairy products can increase a man’s risk of prostate cancer by 50%.

Dairy animals are often given supplemental steroids, growth hormones, and antibiotics, all of which may pose health hazards to humans. There has been concern over whether these additives can cause cancer in humans, but the scientific evidence is inconclusive.

Fish

Fish, although high in protein, can contain varying amounts of carcinogens like PCBs and DDT and also heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, lead, and cadmium. These contaminants are linked to cancer, reproductive problems, and neurological deficits.

Conclusion

With all the growing evidence pointing to the health hazards associated with a meat-centered diet, it is no wonder that more people are adopting a vegan (and vegetarian) diet. The benefits are obvious for anyone who wants to live a longer and healthier life. And, with the number of people eating vegan, it is not surprising that an increasing number of restaurants catering to vegetarians and vegans, and there are also numerous meat and dairy substitutes now available to consumers.

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