In the wake of a publicity campaign by The Corn Refiners Association to try to de-vilify high-fructose corn syrup, Princeton University researchers released the results of their latest study: high-fructose corn syrup causes considerably more weight gain than sugar. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is found in nearly every processed food because it is cheaper than sugar, thanks to …
Mar
31
Mar
30
Food Revolution
British chef Jamie Oliver is on a mission to inform people about how our eating habits are killing us. He’s made quite an impression in England, including convincing the British government to add $1 billion to their school lunch program to transform it from processed foods to real foods. Now he’s taking on the US, …
Mar
29
Meatless Monday #27: Spinach and Black Bean Enchiladas
Ingredients: corn tortillas spinach can of black beans cheese or vegan cheese sour cream or vegan sour cream jar/can of green enchilada sauce (something like this, or whatever your grocery store has) Directions: 1) Flash-fry corn tortillas in olive oil by placing the tortilla in a pan of hot oil for about 3 seconds, then …
Mar
25
Free Range: Not As Free As You Think
Anyone that thinks the 285 million caged hens in America are experiencing anything less than torture is fooling themselves. After learning about the cruelty and destruction caused by the egg industry, many people think that free-range, cage-free, or organic are the solution to the problem, but free-range isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Each …
Mar
24
Eggs And The Environment
It’s not just pig farms that produce massive pools of waste. Olivera egg ranch in northern California has a 16.5 acre lagoon filled with waste sludge from its more than 700,000 caged hens. The stench and eye-burning fumes cause headaches and nausea for the neighbors. Waste lagoons like this (which are on all factory farms) are …
Mar
23
Meet Your Meat: Eggs
Yes, I realize that eggs aren’t technically meat, but the over 285 million hens that are raised for eggs each year are arguably the most abused of all livestock animals. These birds spend the entirety of their lives packed 7 or 8 hens to each battery cage. This gives each animal the space of slightly smaller …
Mar
22
Meatless Monday #26: Vegetarian Soul Food
For Ed’s birthday last week, I cooked him a big southern breakfast and a soul food dinner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the next day that I realized I’d taken pictures of both meals without having the memory card in the camera, so I can’t show off the amazing fruits of my labor! I did snap …
Mar
19
Expensive Excrement (yet another poop post)
Two weeks ago, a Kansas City, MO court awarded $11 million to 15 people in a case about pig poop. The plaintiffs sued Premium Standard Farms (a pig CAFO – Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) over the cesspits of pig manure causing nauseating odors and swarms of flies. In their testimony, the 15 plaintiffs said that the odors …
Mar
18
Eating Animals
Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the book Eating Animals, talks with Ellen DeGeneres about vegetarianism. I love the points that he makes. Watch for yourself: My favorite things about this interview: 1) Foer mentions a lady who, while reading the book, is constantly saying to her husband, “I can’t believe this! You have got to …
Mar
16
Post About Poop, Number 2 (pun intended)
This post isn’t actually related to the first Post About Poop, except that they both do happen to be about, well, poop. In the past 40 years, the US has effectively reduced the manmade pollutants that left our waterways dead, discolored, and occasionally flammable. But sadly, we’ve managed to smother the same waters with the most natural stuff in …
