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Animal-based High Protein Diets Increase Mortality Rate September 8th, 2010

A CNN report on the dangers of low-carb, high-protein diets says that “you may live longer if that protein is vegetable-based rather than animal-based.”

Now, if I can be brutally honest here (and since it’s my blog, I’m going to be), I find it extremely irritating and even a bit infuriating that people honestly believe that they can eat all the beef, pork, cheese, and eggs they want and remain healthy! And the fact that it’s reported as “breaking news” that chowing down on steaks & eggs for every meal can give you cancer and heart disease is just silly. I guess the silver lining is that this IS being reported. Hopefully people will start to realize that they need to cut back!

[Video]

From CNN.com:

Not all proteins are equal when it comes to the health of dieters eating low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets. Animal-based proteins and fats are associated with increased mortality rates, including increased cardiovascular mortality and increased cancer mortality, a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concludes. But low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets composed mostly of plant-based proteins and fats were associated with lower mortality rates overall and lower cardiovascular mortality rates.

The study followed more than 85,000 women and 44,500 men for a period of 20 to 26 years. Results of the study confirmed a “direct association” between animal-based low-carbohydrate food intake in men and increased cancer deaths, particularly from colorectal and lung cancer. That association aligns with previous studies that have confirmed a link between red meat, processed meat, and those two types of cancers.

“The protein you get from combining rice and beans is the same quality as what you get from eggs and steak. You just don’t get all the other stuff that’s bad for you, ” says Dr. Dean Ornish, founder and president, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, who is not affiliated with this study. “This is the diet that I’ve been advocating for for 30 years.”

Dieters interested in eating more plant and vegetable-based proteins should consider adding tofu, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds in to their diet. Sunflower oil, olive oil, canola oil, soy oil, and peanut oil are also great sources of plant-based fats.

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Breakfast: Smoothie with peach, pear, frozen pineapple and water
Lunch: This weekend our friends invited us over for a Labor Day BBQ and they made an amazing vegan meal of stuffed peppers (with rice, beans, okra, and seasoning), vinegar-based potato salad (no mayo here!), and a cabbage salad. I ate some of the leftovers for lunch. I love leftovers!
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Dinner: I headed down to San Antonio last night and cooked my family an easy vegan meal: Pasta with spinach, tomato, garlic, and artichoke hearts. It was a hit!
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Official FDA Inspection Reports Released August 31st, 2010

Just a quick update on the salmonella outbreak in eggs.  Here’s some excerpts from a New York Times article:

Inspection reports released by the Food and Drug Administration described — often in nose-pinching detail — possible ways that salmonella could have been spread undetected through the vast complexes of two companies. Barns infested with flies, maggots and scurrying rodents, and overflowing manure pits were among the widespread food safety problems that federal inspectors found at a group of Iowa egg farms at the heart of a nationwide recall and salmonella outbreak.

The recall, which began Aug. 13, involves more than half a billion eggs from the Iowa operations of two leading egg producers, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. About 1,500 reported cases of Salmonella enteritidis have been linked to tainted eggs since the spring — the largest known outbreak associated with that strain of salmonella.

It was difficult to gauge from the report how extensive the problems were. Both companies operate vast facilities housing seven million hens.

The report on Wright County Egg also described pits beneath laying houses where chicken manure was piled four to eight feet high. It also described hens that had escaped from laying cages tracking through the manure.

Officials last week said that they were taking a close look at a feed mill operated by Wright County Egg, after tests found salmonella in bone meal, a feed ingredient, and in feed given to young birds, known as pullets. On Monday, officials said for the first time that they had also found salmonella at a Hillandale facility. The bacteria was found in water that had been used to wash eggs.

Wright County Egg is owned by Jack DeCoster, who has a long history of environmental, labor and immigration violations at egg operations in Maine, Iowa and elsewhere.

Both companies have stopped selling shell eggs to consumers from their Iowa facilities and instead are sending all their eggs to breaking plants where they are pasteurized, which kills the bacteria. The eggs would then most likely be sold in liquid form, possibly to food manufacturers.

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The website Animal Visuals has created a graphic regarding the salmonella outbreak. Here is a small section of it:

salmonella-risk

You can see the full image here.

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Breakfast: Toast with cashew butter. I didn’t especially like the cashew butter – it’s too sticky and doesn’t have as much flavor as peanut butter.
Lunch: Vegetarian chili and a salad from The Garden Spot
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Dinner: Taco salad

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8 Reasons to Beware of Eggs August 24th, 2010

Half a Billion Eggs Recalled, And Counting…

eggs

Over 500 million eggs have been recalled due to an outbreak of Salmonella that sickened thousands of people across the country (and many cases go unreported because Salmonella infections, which cause diarrhea and stomach cramps, often go undiagnosed). This is one of the country’s worst food safety recalls, stemming from only two farms in Iowa. These two gigantic producers distribute their eggs under brand names such as Lucerne, Albertson’s, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp (this list might not be comprehensive as the recall seems to expand daily).

The American egg industry was already battling a movement to outlaw its methods as cruel and unsafe, and was adapting to the Obama administration’s drive to bolster health rules and inspections. According to the FDA, the cause of the infections has not been pinpointed, but it is likely that lax safety procedures and animal overcrowding are to blame. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) wrote in a letter to the Iowa Egg Council, “Confining birds in cages means increased salmonella infection in the birds, their eggs and the consumers of caged eggs.”  A single barn may house more than 150,000 birds in tight proximity, allowing infections to spread quickly and widely.

This month, the HSUS released a new white paper addressing the threat that cage confinement of laying hens can pose to food safety, as well as assessing the probabilities of Salmonella contamination among different housing systems:

salmonella_egg

Egg producers have watched in dismay as the political winds seemed to turn, largely because of growing concern about animal rights. The European Union will bar small cages for egg hens as of 2012. By public referendum, California will ban small cages in 2015, and the state will not allow the sale of eggs produced in other states in small cages. Michigan, Ohio and other states have also placed limits on future caging of hens.

But even with new legislation, there are still plenty of reasons to be concerned about eggs. Here are eight:

1. Petri Dishes for Disease

Joel Salatin, a farmer whose farm Polyface is featured in The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food, Inc., tells why conditions in factory farms are ideal for the spread of infection: “The propensity for a problem is magnified under the fecal particulate air in these industrial egg farms. What it does is it breaks down the immune system and creates openings for pathogens. If you were trying to design a pathogen-friendly system, you would go to a single species, crowd that species together, deny it fresh air, exercise, and sunshine, never give it a rest time—have it there 365 days a year, and feed it a diet that maximizes a minimal standard of performance, rather than maximizes nutrition or feed that is nutritionally superior. What I’ve just described is Egg Factory Farming 101. This is just symptomatic of the pathogen-friendly nature of industrial agriculture.”

2. Massive Farms Magnify Any Disease

Further compounding the risk is the tremendous centralization of the factory farm system. As Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat, points out, “these large industrial producers where if there’s a problem, it’s going to get magnified over many states and many people.” Salatin agrees, saying that “Whereas a problem in the local food system only affects a few people, a problem in a factory farm can infect, for instance, hundreds of millions of eggs and tens of thousands of people.”

3. Infection Is More Common Than We Think

When you have such massive farms, each distributing its eggs to dozens of grocery chains, any problem gets compounded. In the case of the current outbreak, William Marler, a prominent foodborne-illness litigator, points out that the CDC’s rule of thumb is that 38 people are sickened by salmonella for every case that’s reported, so the number of people infected by the current outbreak could potentially number in the tens of thousands.

4. Free-Range Eggs Are No Healthier

Many people think that free-range eggs are healthier, and they provide more peace of mind, than factory-farmed eggs. But, the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn’t even have a definition of “free-range” for laying hens. Factory-farmed chickens are often labeled as free-range. In the end, no one knows exactly what they’re eating. As Jonathan Safran Foer writes in Eating Animals, “I could keep a flock of hens under my sink and call them free-range.”

5. Companies Avoid What Little Regulation Exists

According to Marion Nestle, legislation would help, but companies are determined to skirt regulation and the FDA lacks the clout to enforce what rules it has: “We’re dealing here with a company that’s not very interested in following rules, and they cut corners in lots and lots of ways. One of the ways they cut corners is safety. The other part is the FDA still doesn’t have the tools it needs to enforce the rules it has.” William Marler points out that legislation that might have prevented this outbreak languished for eight years during the Bush administration before being implemented on July 8, just as the outbreak began. Even then, Marler says, most of the “Egg Rule,” known officially as “Federal Register Final Rule: Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation,” is common-sense testing and should have been followed voluntarily.

6. Healthy Eggs Are Expensive & Cheap Eggs Sell Better

Marion Nestle, Joel Salatin, Michael Pollan, and other food activists agree that the consumers must start demanding healthier eggs, even if it means paying more. Says Nestle, “The rules that are in the FDA’s egg legislation will require producers to do things differently, with some hope that they’ll move into more sustainable, reasonable practices. But as long as this country insists on cheap food, as long as that pressure is there, it’s understood that we value food for how little it costs, as opposed to how it’s produced or how it tastes, and there isn’t going to be a lot of pressure on producers to change things.”

But for those of you hoping that voting with your dollar will encourage producers to be cleaner and more humane, the polls bode ill: According to recent data from Information Resources Inc, which tracks checkout scanner transactions from 34,000 grocery stores in the U.S., we’re still buying eggs from cage housing systems 92% of the time.

7. Farms Lack Transparency

According to Michael Pollan, industrial egg farms are the worst sort of factory farms. So bad, in fact, that journalists are rarely allowed inside them. When Carole Morison let a camera crew in for Food Inc., she lost her contract and went on to co-found the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance.

8. Cruel Farm Conditions

Jonathan Safran Foer, in his book Eating Animals, writes of an often-overlooked trend in factory farming: food and light deprivation. One farmer described it to Foer this way: “As soon as females mature—in the turkey industry at 23 to 26 weeks and with chickens 16 to 20—they’re put into barns and they lower the light; sometimes it’s total darkness 24/7. And then they put them on a very low-protein diet, almost a starvation diet.” The result: Birds lay up to three or four times as many eggs as in nature. “After that first year, they are killed because they won’t lay as many the second year,” the farmer said. “The industry figured out it’s cheaper to slaughter them and start over than it is feed and house birds that lay fewer eggs.” Foer’s conclusion: “After learning about it, I didn’t want to eat a conventional egg ever again.”

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Breakfast: Bagel with Tofutti vegan cream cheese
Lunch: Salad with cucumber, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, hearts of palm, avocado, and vinegar and oil
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Dinner: Black bean tacos from Taco Cabana (there’s no cheese on these)

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Be Careful What You Fish For July 14th, 2010

Anyone who made it through Biology 101 knows that fish have nerves and brains that sense pain, just like all other animals. Scientists tell us that fish nervous systems closely resemble our own, even including neurotransmitters like endorphins that relieve suffering – of course, the only reason for a nervous system to produce pain killers is to relieve pain.

Studies show that fish can learn to avoid pain as well. From one researcher, “Pain avoidance in fish doesn’t seem to be a reflex response, rather one that is learned, remembered and is changed according to different circumstances.” Scientists have even shown that fish feel emotional stress and “engage in a rocking motion strikingly similar to the kind of motion seen in stressed mammals.”

Whether they are farmed or fished from the ocean, what happens to fish before they end up on your plate is nothing short of animal cruelty.

Wild Fish

Overfishing

There is no doubt about it, we are overfishing our oceans and are dangerously close to eliminating many fish species.

Remember the cod, seemingly infinite in number and fished for centuries in North America? Well, the fishery collapsed in 1992 due to rapacious factory fishing and short-sightedness. The number of cod today is around one percent of what it was in the 1960s and in 2000, cod were placed on the endangered species list. Even with the North American cod fishing ban, the cod numbers are still struggling and it is unknown if the population will ever recover.

Similarly, the west-coast salmon fishery failed in 2008. The Atlantic bluefin tuna has been reduced to about 15% of pre-industrial numbers. In 2006, it was reported that 30% of the world’s fisheries had collapsed, with catches falling below 10% of the original yield. It is predicted that the remaining commercial fish species will be exhausted by mid-century, meaning no more wild fish, at all.

Mis-labeling (intentionally)

Given the dwindling supplies, consumers are now being fed a ‘bait & switch.’ Many packaged, frozen, and fast food fish are mis-labeled, substituting fish that were once considered garbage fish (like hoki), which are more abundant in numbers (for now),  for the species you think you’re getting. The FDA recently determined that 37% of fish and 13% of other seafood was mislabeled! As much as 77% of so-called red snapper is anything but.

The FDA has established guidelines for fish labeling, but thanks to industry lobbying, there are plenty of exemptions. This has led to some surreal mislabeling: Importers started selling Vietnamese catfish under the brand name Cajun Delight. The rock crab, once a garbage catch, was reborn as the peekytoe crab. The channel catfish has become the southern trout, dolphinfish is now mahi mahi, the Patagonian toothfish is now the Chilean sea bass, the Malabar blood snapper is now the scarlet snapper, and the fish known now as orange roughy used to be called the slimehead.

These less desirable fish now even finding their way into fancy restaurants because increasingly, that’s all that’s left.  So, why not switch to farmed fish, where the population is bred and sustained?  Unfortunately, farmed fish is even worse!

Farmed Fish

Health Effects

Just as with land animals, disease and parasites run rampant in densely packed fish feedlots. To combat these ailments, fish are vaccinated when young, then are continuously given antibiotics or pesticides to ward off infections. Sea lice, in particular, are a major problem. At the first sign of a sea-lice outbreak, pesticide is added to the feed.

Studies have found that farm-raised salmon contain more cancer-causing PCBs and dioxins than wild ones, typically originating in their feed. In some cases, the levels of contaminants are so high that by EPA guidelines, you shouldn’t even have one serving a month! (It’s more like one serving every 5 months in the case of some farmed salmon.) Researchers estimate that the risk of cancer from contaminants is about 3 times higher for farmed salmon compared to wild.

The Salmofan

The Salmofan

In the wild, salmon absorb carotenoids from eating pink krill. On an aquafarm, their rich pink hue is supplied by canthaxanthin, a synthetic, manufactured pigment. Fish farmers can even choose what shade of pink their fish will display from the manufacturer’s trademarked SalmoFan, a color swatch similar to those you’d find at a paint store. Without this synthetic coloring, the flesh of farmed salmon would be a pale halibut gray. Canthaxanthin is linked to retinal damage in people who use it as a sunless tanning pill, leading Britain to ban its use, but of course it’s still available in the US.

Even the good stuff in farmed salmon comes with problems. Yes, farmed salmon contain more oil, including heart-friendly omega-3, but that also includes a much higher percentage of the not-so-healthy omega-6 (up to twice as much in some farmed fish).  Farm raised fish are also fattier, not surprisingly since they circle lazily in crowded pens and fatten up on fish chow. Cultivated catfish contain nearly 5 times the amount of fat as their wild counterparts.

Environmental Effects

Fish farming is extremely rough on the environment, too. Fish farmed in open pen nets are now about 50% of the world’s source of fish (hatchery fish are about 30% and wild fish are the remaining 20%).

Open-net fish farm

Open-net fish farm

Fish hatchery

Fish hatchery

Aquafarms (often called “floating pig farms”) put a terrific strain on their surrounding environments. Uneaten feed and and waste blankets the sea floor beneath these farms, creating a breeding ground for bacteria that consume oxygen vital to shellfish and other bottom-dwelling creatures. A good sized fish farm produces the same amount of excrement as a city of 10,000 people.

The additives to the food pellets (pesticides, antibiotics, artificial coloring) drift into the ocean and pollute the natural food chain. Toxic copper sulfate, used to keep the nets algae free also drifts into the surrounding water. This pesticide and antibiotic buildup in the water has resulted in the development of resistant strains of bacteria and infections that can effect not only the farm-raised fish, but now the wild fish as well. Research shows that sea lice from fish farms kills up to 95% of juvenile wild salmon that migrate past an aquafarm.

And perhaps the most serious concern is the problem fish farms were meant to alleviate: the depletion of marine life from over-fishing. Salmon farming actually increases the depletion of marine life because, unlike vegetarian catfish which thrive on grains, captive salmon are carnivores and must be fed fish during the 2-3 year period when they are raised. To produce 1 lb of farmed salmon, 2.4 – 5 lbs of wild sardines, anchovies, mackerel, herring, and other fish must be ground up and rendered into pellets of salmon chow.  Farming fish creates a problematic redistribution of protein in the food system. Removing such immense amounts of small prey fish from an ecosystem can significantly upset its balance. This simply can not be sustained.

Other reported environmental impacts include seabirds ensnared in netting, sea lions shot for preying on penned fish, and escaped farmed fish (about 1 million salmon have escaped through holes in nets from storm-wrecked farms) competing with wild ones for food, mating, and spawning grounds. The interbreeding of wild and farm stocks poses the threat of diluting the wild gene pool. Biologists fear that Atlantic salmon invaders will out-compete Pacific salmon and trout for food and territory. An Atlantic salmon takeover could knock nature’s balance out of whack and turn a healthy, diverse marine habitat into one dominated by a single invasive species. (Not to mention the repercussions of the genetically modified “frankenfish” escaping into the wild!)

What To Do

Obviously, the best option for everyone involved is to refrain from consuming fish. This will not only help to preserve our precious aquatic ecosystem, but will also keep you free from the carcinogens found in farmed fish.

However, if you simply must eat fish (and I do not in any way advocate this, but I feel it is better to provide the information than to allow you to continue blindly consuming unhealthy and environmentally detrimental fish), then choose line-caught Alaskan fish. The healthiest populations and habitats exist in Alaska. In fact, due to the successful efforts of conserving and protecting wild salmon habitats, the Alaskan Salmon Fishery recently received the Marine Stewardship Council’s label for sustainability. The Marine Stewardship Council’s labels are intended to guide customers to species that are not being over-harvested. (But remember, those fish did, without a doubt, feel pain.)

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Breakfast: Smoothie with banana and pear
Lunch: Indonesian peanut noodles from Noodles & Co.
Dinner: Taco salad

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The Great Eight: 8 Foods Every Vegetarian Should Eat July 8th, 2010

**Don’t forget about the book giveaway! Enter to win by Tues, July 13th**

This list of 8 foods every vegetarian should eat was compiled by Vegetarian Times.

It is easy to maintain a balanced, nutritious vegetarian diet if you eat the right foods. All of the foods on this list are loaded with one or more of the hardest nutrients for vegetarians to get: protein, iron, calcium, zinc, vitamin B12, and vitamin D. Work in daily servings of The Great Eight and worry no more about getting your vital nutrients!

(Keep in mind that if you don’t eat eggs or dairy, you’ll want to take a B12 supplement, or a multi-vitamin containing B12, to make sure you’re getting enough.)

PS – I donated blood yesterday. When I was a meat-eater I sometimes couldn’t pass the iron test to qualify to donate. Yesterday was my first donation as a vegetarian and I passed with flying colors!  The nurse asked me, “Do you eat a healthy diet?” I told her, “I think so… I’m a vegetarian.”  Then she said, “Well, you’re eating the right vegetables because you’ve got plenty of iron.”  Sweet.

1. Tofu

tofu-in-bowlWhy it’s great: Plain tofu has a lot going for it. It’s a terrific source of protein, zinc, iron, and it even contains some cholesterol-lowering omega-3 fatty acids. It also gives you more than 100 milligrams (mg) of calcium in a half cup. But the same amount of calcium-enriched tofu gives you up to 350 mg (about one-third of your daily needs) plus roughly 30 percent of your daily vitamin D, which helps your body absorb the calcium—an extra bone-building punch that many people need. Look for enriched soymilk, too, which is also fortified with calcium and vitamin D.

Tip: “Tofu can be substituted for the same amount of meat, poultry or fish in almost any recipe,” says Sass. Firm tofu works best because it holds its shape when you sauté it or grill it.

2. Lentils

lentilsWhy they’re great: Lentils, like beans, are part of the legume family, and like beans, they’re an excellent source of protein and soluble fiber. But lentils have an edge over most beans: They contain about twice as much iron. They’re also higher in most B vitamins and folate, which is especially important for women of childbearing age as folate reduces the risk for some birth defects. For new vegetarians, lentils are also the perfect way to start eating more legumes because they tend to be less gassy.

Tip: Lentil soup is just the beginning. Add lentils to vegetable stews, chilis or casseroles. Toss them with red onions and vinaigrette. Stir them into curries; cook them with carrots. Experiment with different varieties—red lentils cook up very fast and can be turned into bright purées.

3. Beans

beansjpg-700668Why they’re great: A cup a day gives you about one-third of your iron and protein and roughly half your fiber. Even better, most of that is soluble fiber, which helps lower cholesterol. One cup also provides a good amount of potassium, zinc and many B vitamins, and some calcium too. Just one alert: Rinse canned beans well—they can be soaked in salt.

Tip: It was once thought that to get a complete protein, you needed to combine beans with grains (rice, pasta, bread) at the same meal. “Now we know you just have to eat them during the same day,” Sass says. Toss beans and vegetables with whole wheat pasta; make soups and chilis with several varieties; add a sprinkling to grain salads. And for a different taste treat, look for canned heirloom varieties.

4. Nuts

nuts1240705690Why they’re great: They’re a nifty source of quick, totally palatable protein. In addition, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, macadamias and Brazil nuts are rich in zinc, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids. Some, like almonds, even provide a decent amount of calcium (about 175 mg in a half cup).

There’s also some great nut news: “Recent studies show that even though nuts are high in calories, eating them does not lead to weight gain,” says Sass. In fact, people who eat nut-rich diets tend to weigh less than those who don’t, say researchers at Loma Linda University and Purdue University. Peanuts may even help weight loss. Why nuts don’t make you fat—and may even help you lose weight—isn’t clear. “It’s possible that nuts make you feel so full that you’re less likely to overeat other foods,” says Sass. Other experts suspect that the labor-intense job of digesting nuts burns off calories. There are also hints that nuts increase the amount of fat that passes through the digestive tract, which might explain nut-linked weight loss. More research is obviously needed!

Tip:  Different nuts give you different nutrients. For example, a half cup of almonds provides about four times as much fiber as the same amount of cashews. Cashews, however, contain about twice as much iron and zinc as almost any other nut. Pecans and walnuts tend to land right in the middle for most nut nutrients—potassium, magnesium, zinc and calcium. Sprinkle them in salads, or keep a bag of mixed nuts in your desk or backpack. Garnish smooth soups with crunchy whole nuts, stir chopped nuts into muffins and add crushed nuts to pie crust.

5. Grains

whole-grainsWhy they’re great: Some enriched whole-grain cereals are fortified with hard-to-get vitamin B12—some even offer 100 percent of a day’s requirement in one serving—as well as iron, calcium and many other nutrients. Keep in mind that if you don’t eat eggs or dairy, you’ll have to take a B12 supplement to make sure you’re getting enough. As a group, cereals and other whole-grain foods (whole wheat breads and pastas, brown rice,  etc.) are also high in other B vitamins, zinc and, of course, insoluble fiber, which not only helps whisk cholesterol out of your system but may reduce your risk of colon cancer and
other digestive disorders.

Tip: Because different grains provide different nutrients, vary the types you eat. “It’s easy to get into a rut of, say, just making brown rice all the time. It’s better to mix up the grains you eat, including oatmeal, bulgur, wild rice, whole rye and pumpernickel breads,” says Sass. Also try some of the ancient grains—spelt, farro, kamut—which are now sold at most whole foods markets.

6. Leafy GreensGreens

Why they’re great: Unlike most vegetables, dark leafy greens such as spinach, broccoli, kale, Swiss chard and collards contain healthful amounts of iron—especially spinach, which has about 6 grams or about one-third of a day’s supply. They’re also a great source of cancer-fighting antioxidants; are high in folic acid and vitamin A; and they even contain calcium, but in a form that’s not easily absorbed. Cooking greens and/or sprinkling them with a little lemon juice or vinegar makes the calcium more available to your body, says Sass.

Tip: Always try to eat iron-rich foods with foods that are high in vitamin C because the C helps your body absorb the iron. With dark leafy greens, this comes naturally—just toss them into salads with yellow and red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, mandarin oranges or any citrus. Or if you prefer your veggies cooked, sauté a couple of cups of greens in some seasoned olive oil with sweet peppers, garlic and onion.

7. Seaweeds

seaweedWhy they’re great: Besides being a terrific source of iron and phytochemicals, many seaweeds—such as alaria, dulse, kelp, nori, spirulina and agar—are good sources of minerals, including magnesium, calcium, iodine, iron and chromium, as well as vitamins A, C, E and many of the Bs. Talk about superfoods!

Tip: Add chopped dulse to salads or sandwiches, sauté it with other vegetables or use it in soups. Use nori sheets as the wrappers for vegetarian sushi. Toast kelp, and crumble it on pasta or rice, or add it to noodle soups. Browse through Japanese or Korean markets to find seaweeds to sample.

8. Dried Fruits

dried_fruit1240705656Why they’re great: They’re good, super-convenient sources of iron—and if you combine them with some mixed nuts, you’ve got a packet of iron and protein you can take anywhere easily. In addition, dried fruits—think apricots, raisins, prunes, mangoes, pineapple, figs, dates, cherries and cranberries—provide a wide array of minerals and vitamins as well as some fiber. And even kids love to snack on them.

Tip: Sprinkle them on salads, use in chutneys, stir into puréed squash and sweet potatoes, or blend with nuts and seeds to make your own favorite snack mix. Chopped up, dried fruits make healthful additions to puddings, fruit-based pie fillings, oat bars, cookies, hot and cold cereals—you name it.

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Breakfast: Bagel with jelly
Lunch: Amy’s black bean burrito and an orange
Dinner: Veggie tacos filled with mushrooms, zucchini, and squash at Rosa Mexicano

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Frankenfish June 30th, 2010

The FDA is eerily close to approving genetically modified salmon for human consumption.  These “AquAdvantage” fish, as the company that created them calls them, are Atlantic salmon that are genetically altered to contain a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon as well as a genetic “on-switch” from the ocean pout, a distant relative of the salmon. Normally, salmon do not make growth hormone in cold weather, but the pout’s “on-switch” keeps production of the hormone going year round. The result is salmon that can grow to market size in 16 to 18 months instead of three years. 

Two salmon of the same age, fed the same diet, one genetically modified, one not.

Two salmon of the same age, fed the same diet, one genetically modified, one not.

The company that created these mutants assures the FDA that they are the “identical in every measurable way” (no pun intended, one assumes) to traditional farmed Atlantic salmon, but this is one giant (pun intended)science experiment I’m NOT willing to be a participant in.

This growth-enhancing genetic modification is already approved in chickens and there are scientists working to develop other genetically engineered animals, like cattle resistant to mad cow disease, or pigs that could supply healthier bacon. Next in line behind the salmon for possible approval would probably be the “enviropig,” developed at a Canadian university, which has less phosphorus pollution in its manure.

 

Layer hen (front) and broiler [meat] hen (back), same age, one genetically modified, one not.

Layer hen (front) and broiler {meat} hen (back), same age, one genetically modified, one not.

Please tell me I’m not the only one that has issues with this! Why do we insist on trying to “fix” things (the environment, our health, billions and billions of years of evolution, giant corporations’ pocketbooks) by creating these difficult, dangerous, and quite frankly, creepy “solutions” instead of just reversing the thing we did in the first place to cause the problem?!

 We pump out millions of pigs per second; their massive amounts of crap are ruining our planet; so doesn’t the logical solution seem to be to stop pumping out so damn many pigs? No, apparently we think it’s better to genetically modify something that nature spent billions of years perfecting so that we can continue our gluttonous habits and possibly kill ourselves with the side effects in the future. (Or maybe we’ll just genetically modify ourselves to be resistant to the effects of digesting genetically modified pig. Because that’s the American way.)

There has not yet been a generation that’s eaten genetically modified (GM) foods for their entire life, so we have no research to show the long-term effects of this on our health (which is why 30 countries have already banned GM foods). American children are the guinea pigs.

It is likely that the GM salmon will not be labeled (no other GM foods are currently labeled), so you will have absolutely no way of avoiding the GM salmon, should you choose to eat salmon. One would assume that organic salmon guarantees no genetically modified organisms (as I’ve previously explained the strict regulations on organic labeling); however, the organic program does not currently have standards that pertain to seafood. “We may someday address aquatic species. It just hasn’t happened,” says Joan Shaffer, National Organics Program spokeswoman. Then why is there salmon with “organic” labels in our stores? The USDA regulates only the use of the organic seal, not the use of the word “organic,” so companies are free to place the word “organic” on their products whether or not they have been certified. Just another deceptive marketing tactic used by the food industry to mislead the public.

Plus, what happens when these unnatural fish get into the oceans? (And, yes, they inevitably will.) It is already speculated that they would out-compete wild fish for food and mates, spread their modified genes (which we do not know the effects of) throughout the population, and I imagine this could seriously alter some food chains.  (And surely we all know the dangers of altering seemingly unimportant food chains, right?)

How far will we take this? At what point does “playing God” become a bad idea?

____________________
Breakfast: Smoothie with banana, mixed berries (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry) and cauliflower (strange choice, I know, but I had some in the fridge & gave it a shot – it worked out well!)
Lunch: Tomato soup and crackers
Dinner: Spaghetti with meatless meatballs

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What The Heck Is… Saturated Fat? June 25th, 2010

Continuing the discussion on fats…

Unlike trans fats, saturated fats are naturally occurring fats. They are only found in animal products (meat, dairy, and eggs)*. Even though saturated fats are natural, the problem with them is that when they enter your body, they tend to do the same thing they did when they were in a pig’s or cow’s body: Rather than be burned for energy, they’re more likely to be stored as fat in your flanks, ribs, and loins. In fact, they have more of a “storage effect” than other fats.

Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. Cholesterol is only found in animal products (meat, dairy, and eggs). Cholesterol is essential for metabolism but is not needed in the diet because our bodies can produce all that is needed. Raised blood cholesterol causes an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.

A study from Johns Hopkins University suggest that the amount of saturated fat in your diet may be directly proportional to the amount of fat surrounding your abdominal muscles. Researchers analyzed the diets of 84 people and performed an MRI on each of them to measure fats. Those whose diets included the highest rates of saturated fat also had the most abdominal fat.

Here’s the fancy chemistry part

Fats can be classified as either saturated, monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated. This depends on the type of chemical bonds present in the fatty acid. If a fatty acid has all the hydrogen atoms it can hold, it is saturated. However, if some of the hydrogen atoms are absent and the usual single bond between carbon atoms has been replaced by a double bond, then it is unsaturated. If there is just one double bond then it is monounsaturated, and if there is more than one then it is polyunsaturated. Most fats actually contain a proportion of each of these three basic types of fatty acid, but are generally described according to which type predominates.

Recommended amounts

The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of saturated fats you eat to less than 7% of total daily calories. That means, for example, that if you eat about 2,000 calories a day, no more than 140 of them should come from saturated fats. That’s about 15 grams of saturated fats a day.

A single hamburger could easily put you over this limit: 8 g in the meat patty, 3 g in the cheese slice, 2 g in the mayonnaise, and 0.5 g in the bun = 13.5 g saturated fat. And if there’s any extras, like bacon, or a side of fries, you’re well over the limit! Now add in the ham sandwich you had a lunch (with cheese and mayo?) and you’ve blown the lid off the recommended 15 grams. We can just pretend that you didn’t have eggs or milk with your breakfast.

Avoid:
- Meat, especially red meat and fatty cuts
- Dairy, especially whole-milk dairy products
- Eggs, especially the yolk

*There are actually 3 vegan sources of saturated fat: coconut oil, palm oil, and cocoa butter. But none of these contain cholesterol.

____________________
Breakfast: Bagel with vegan cream cheese
Lunch: Chickenless nuggets and tortilla chips
Dinner: Soy chorizo tacos

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Get Involved! June 11th, 2010

There are two bills going through Congress right now that can help reduce farm animal suffering and promote compassion. 

1) Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (HR 4733)
Battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates are considered the most inhumane confinement systems in the agriculture industry. Hens in battery cages have less than the space of one sheet of notebook paper each. They can not even extend their wings.  Pregnant pigs and veal calves that are kept in 2-foot-wide gestation crates can not turn around, lie down comfortably, nor extend their legs. 

battery-cages gestation crates veal4

Most Americans oppose the use of these cruel confinement systems. A 2003 Gallup poll found that nearly 2/3 of Americans “support passing strict laws concerning the treatment of farm animals.” A 2003 Zogby poll found that nearly 70% of Americans find it “unacceptable” that farm animals have no federal protection from abuse while on the farm.

Yet, currently, more than 95% of all eggs produced in the US come from hens kept in battery cages. Roughly 80% of breeding pigs and 66% of veal calves are kept in crates barely larger than their own bodies. And your tax dollars are being used to support these three systems! In fact, the federal government spends more than $1 billion a year on animal products for various federal programs (like the National School Lunch Program).

The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act would prohibit the government from purchasing any animal products from animals raised in battery cages, gestation crates, or veal crates. If passed, this legislation could affect the lives of millions of animals.

2) Healthy School Meals Act (HR 4870)
Students in our public schools eat some of the unhealthiest meals day after day. Fed meals of cheap, processed, preservative and sodium laced foods, America’s children are denied access to the fresh, plant-based foods they need to stay healthy.

 school-lunch-1  school-lunch-2

*Update* I just read this on Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project:

The USDA guidelines are warped. Even after eating *almost* 100 school lunches, I still have a hard time understanding the strange regulations governing school lunches. For example, fries and tater tots count as vegetables (contrary to what you might have heard in the 1980’s, ketchup does not qualify as a vegetable). I realize that they do come from potatoes, but something seems to be wrong there. Because of rules like this, 46% of kids’ vegetable servings come from fries (Lunch Lessons, p. 74, Ann Cooper).

And what about fruit? The USDA thinks that a frozen juice bar (“icee”), a fruit cup, fruit jello cup, or a fruit juice cup equal a serving of fruit. Sorry to say but none of those options equal a piece of fresh fruit. When the kids see the fruit icees being served, they get excited. And with less than 20 minutes to eat (including lining up, getting your meal, sitting down and unwrapping packaging), kids have enough time to eat an “icee” and drink their milk. It’s no wonder that an hour after lunch the kids’ attention spans decline and they glaze over.

Additionally, the USDA requires more than five grains per week to be offered to students. That means that every week an extra package of pretzels, a cookie, or even an extra slice of bread is sitting on a lunch tray looking out of place. Because of this rule I eat odd combinations like yesterday’s rice with bread or a package of pretzels with a cheese sandwich. It doesn’t make sense.

The Healty School Meals Act would provide financial incentives to school districts that provide healthful plant-based foods and non-dairy beverages to students. If passed, this legislation would not only improve the health of school children, but would also affect countless farm animals and help reduce the environmental destruction caused by animal agriculture.

Get Involved!

Call or write your congressmen to let them know that these issues are important to you and urge them to support these two bills.

It’s really very easy! Look up your congressmen by zip code (if two representatives show up, this means your zip code is split between two districts and you’ll need to enter your full address on the right). Use the phone numbers and contact page links to tell your congressmen to support these bills.

Below are the emails I sent to my members of congress. Feel free to use them, but a personalized message will make more of an impact.

– Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act –
Dear Representative Norton, 

Please support HR 4733. This bill would prevent the use of federal funds to purchase animal products from animals suffering from some of the cruelest forms of confinement.

 Egg-laying hens kept in battery cages are confined to a space smaller than a sheet of notebook paper. They are unable to do something as natural as spread their wings. Breeding pigs and veal calves are kept in crates barely larger than the size of their bodies. They literally can not turn around or even roll over.

 The federal government spends roughly $1 billion each year to purchase animal products for various programs (like the National School Lunch Program) without any regard for the animals involved!

 HR 4733 is a modest measure, simply prohibiting the federal government from purchasing products from animals who are unable to turn around, lie down, fully stand up, or fully extend their legs or wings.

 In a 2003 Gallup poll, nearly 2/3 of Americans supported “strict laws concerning the treatment of farm animals.” In a 2003 Zogby poll, nearly 70% of Americans found it “unacceptable” that farm animals have no federal protection from abuse on the farm.

 Will you actively support this humane legislation? I look forward to your response.

 Sincerely,
Angie Chappell

– Healthy School Meals Act –
I’d like to ask Senator Hutchison to urge Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller to include the provisions of HR 4870, the Healthy Schools Meals Act, in the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization bill.

This bill would provide our children with the healthy food they need to grow and learn and promote foods that are environmentally sustainable and compassionate.

Thank you,
Angie Chappell

– Phone Call –
“Hello, my name is Angie Chappell and I’m a constituent. I’d like Ms. Norton to urge Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller to include the provisions of HR 4870, the Healthy Schools Meals Act, in the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization bill. This bill would provide our children with the healthy food they need to grow and learn. Thank you.”

Together we can make a difference!  I know, that’s so cheesy, but we really can.

____________________
Breakfast: Soy yogurt and applesauce
Lunch: Spaghetti
Dinner: Black truffle quesadilla and chilaquiles at Oyamel

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What The Heck Is… Trans Fat? June 3rd, 2010

Fat is probably one of the most misunderstood dietary nutrients, stemming from a widely held but misguided belief that fat should take much of the blame for our obesity epidemic. In the 1980s, with the release of the FDA’s nutritional guidelines warning against foods high in fat, a slew of  low fat diets and foods flooded the market. Americans now fear fat and think that removing it from their diet will also remove it from their waistline. But, the truth is that there are many different kinds of fats, some unhealthy and some healthy, and a reasonable amount of healthy fats can actually help you lose weight.

To stay healthy, it is important to know the different types of fats, which types are good or bad, and why. In a series of posts, I’ll discuss each type of fat, starting today with an unhealthy one: Trans fat.

More and more, you’re seeing trans fat listed on food labels. Though it’s in more than 40,000 packaged foods, it’s so bad for you that food manufacturers have fought for years to keep it off ingredient labels. In 2003, the USDA finally adopted regulations requiring trans fat content to be included on nutritional labels. The regulations are being phased in, but it is helpful to know where it comes from because some labels still do not list it explicitly.

Trans fats were invented by food manufacturers in the 1950s as a way of appealing to our natural cravings for fatty foods. But there’s nothing natural about trans fats. They’re cholesterol-raising, heart-weakening, diabetes-causing, belly-building chemicals that didn’t even exist until the middle of the last century, and some studies have linked them to an estimated 30,000 premature deaths in the US every year.

In one Harvard study, researchers found that getting just 3% of your daily calories from trans fats increased your risk of heart disease by 50%. Three percent of your daily calories equals about 7 grams of trans fats, roughly the amount in a single order of fries. Americans eat an average of 3-10 grams of trans fats every day.

To understand what trans fats are, think of a bottle of vegetable oil and a stick of margarine. At room temperature, the vegetable oil is a liquid, the margarine is a solid. Now, if you baked cookies using vegetable oil, they’d be really greasy and no one would want to buy cookies swimming in oil. So to create cookies (and cakes, chips, pies, muffins, doughnuts, waffles, and many many other foods we consume daily) manufacturers heat the oil to very high temperatures and infuse it with hydrogen. The hydrogen bonds with the oil to create an entirely new form of fat – trans fat – that stays solid at room temperature.  The vegetable oil is now margarine. And foods that might normally be healthy, but maybe not as tasty, now become fat bombs.

Because trans fats don’t exist in nature, your body has a hell of a time processing them. Once consumed, trans fats are free to cause all sorts of mischief inside you. They raise the number of low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol particles in your blood and lower your high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good”) cholesterol. They also raise blood levels of other lipoproteins and the more lipoproteins you have in your bloodstream, they greater your risk of heart disease. Increased consumption of trans fats is also linked to increased risk of diabetes and cancer.

Yet, trans fats are added to a shocking number of foods! They appear on food labels as “partially hydrogenated oil” (usually vegetable or palm oil). Go look in your pantry or freezer right now – you won’t believe how many foods contain them. Crackers. Popcorn. Cookies. Fish sticks. Cheese spreads. Candy bars. Frozen waffles. Stuffing. Even foods you might assume are healthy, like bran muffins, cereals, and nondairy creamers, are often loaded with trans fats. And because they hide in foods that look like they’re low in fat (such as Wheat Thins), these fats are making you unhealthy without your even knowing it.

Take control of your trans fat intake. Check the ingredient labels on all the packaged foods you buy, and if you see partially hydrogenated oil on the label, consider finding an alternative. Even foods that seem bad for you can have healthier versions: McCains shoestring french fries, Ruffles Natural reduced-fat chips, Wheatables reduced-fat crackers, and Dove dark chocolate bars are all trans fat free.

And remember, the higher up on the ingredients list partially hydrogenated oil is, the worse the food is for you. You might not be able to avoid trans fats completely, but you can choose foods with a minimal amount of it.

The other way to avoid trans fats is to avoid ordering fried foods. Because trans fats spoil less easily than natural fats and are easier to ship and store, almost all fried commercial foods are now fried in trans fats rather than natural oils. Fish and chips, tortillas, fried chicken – all are packed with belly-building trans fats.

And avoid fast food joints, where nearly every food option is loaded with trans fats (drive-thru restaurants ought to come complete with drive-thru cardiology clinics).

Avoid:
-Margarine
-Fried foods
-Commercially manufactured baked goods
-Any food with partially hydrogenated oil in its list of ingredients

____________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Veggie sandwich from the deli across the street – lettuce, tomato, avocado, sprouts, carrots, vinegar and oil
Dinner: Nachos and a veggie taco at H Street Country Club

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This Is Your Milk On Drugs May 26th, 2010

I thought that by now nearly everyone had heard about hormones in milk. Yet, people continue to buy conventional milk! I’m baffled. Maybe more explanation will finally wake people up about this?!

Bovine Growth Hormone
Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), or Bovine Somatotropin (BST), is a protein hormone that cattle naturally produce. Back in 1937, it was found that injecting this hormone (extracted from cadaver cows) increased lactating cows’ milk production by preventing mammary cell death. There was very limited use of this technique until the 1980’s when the practice began to increase.

In 1994, agribusiness giant Monsanto (one of Powered By Produce’s arch nemesises!) artificially synthesized this hormone using recombinant DNA technology and called it recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST), also called recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) .

How it works
An average dairy cow begins her lactation with a moderate daily level of milk production. This daily output increases until, at about 70 days into the lactation, production peaks. From that time until the cow is dry, production slowly decreases. This increase and decrease in production is partially caused by the count of milk-producing cells in the udder. Cell counts begin at a moderate number, increase during the first part of the lactation, then decrease as the lactation proceeds. Once lost, these cells generally do not regrow until the next lactation.

Farmers are recommended to make the first rBGH application about 50 days into the cow’s lactation, just before she peaks. The rBGH then sustains already-present mammary cells, limiting the rate of production decrease after production peaks. After the peak, production declines with or without application of rBGH, but declines more slowly with rBGH than without. This decrease in the rate of production decline permits dairy cows to produce more milk over the span of a lactation – at its best, this will be seen by seven to eight more pounds of milk being produced per day than would be produced without rBGH.

The controversy
Increased use of rBGH has caused health problems for the animals and has resulted in “additives” to our milk (among them: rising levels of pus, antibiotics residues, and a cancer-accelerating hormone called IGF-1).

Animals
Whenever cows are forced to produce more milk, they become more susceptible to udder infections called mastitis. Mastitis is a condition which can increase the amount of cow’s pus which ends up in the milk. (Yes, PUS IN YOUR MILK!)

Monsanto’s own data shows that there is a 79% increase in mastitis (udder infections) and a resulting 19% increase in somatic cell counts (pus & bacteria in the milk). In fact, the warning label on Monsanto’s Posilac drug (their brand name for rBGH) explicitly states: “Cows injected with POSILAC are at an increased risk for clinical mastitis (visibly abnormal milk). The number of cows affected with clinical mastitis and the number of cases per cow may increase…. In some herds, use of POSILAC has been associated with increases in somatic cell counts [pus & bacteria].” The warning label goes on to say “use of POSILAC may result in an increase in digestive disorders such as indigestion, bloat, and diarrhea…. Studies indicated that cows injected with POSILAC had increased numbers of enlarged hocks and lesions (e.g., lacerations, enlargements, calluses) of the knee…and…of the foot region.”

And true to American agricultural form, instead of removing the offending factor from the equation, we just pump more antibiotics in to the cows’ diet to combat the infections caused by the rBGH. (Really makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?) Antibiotics that leave residues in our milk. Mmmm…

Humans
The growth hormone also stimulates an increase in insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in the cow’s milk. Recently, Eli Lily & Co, a manufacturer of rBGH, reported a ten-fold increase in IGF-1 levels in milk of cows receiving rBGH. The IGF-1 protein is identical in both cows and humans and it is not destroyed by pasteurization. (Some sources even say that the pasteurization process actually increases IGF-1 levels in milk.)  Nor is it destroyed during digestion. Instead, it is readily absorbed across the intestinal wall.  (Some research shows that it can be absorbed in the bloodstream as well.)  And while IGF-1 is naturally present in humans, research suggests that elevated levels are associated with breast, colon, and prostate cancers.

Monsanto’s own tests, conducted in 1987, demonstrated that statistically significant growth stimulating effects were induced in organs of adult rats by feeding IGF-1 at low dose levels for only two weeks. While there is no evidence that this same effect occurs in humans, the Cancer Prevention Coalition concludes that, “Drinking rBGH milk would thus be expected to significantly increase IGF-1 blood levels and consequently to increase risks of developing breast cancer and promoting its invasiveness.” The Harvard-based Nurses’ Health Study found higher blood levels of IGF-1 in women with breast cancer than in those without. Studies suggest that pre-menopausal women below 50 years old with high levels of IGF-1 are seven times more likely to develop breast cancer. Men are four times more likely to develop prostate cancer.

Labels
A milk carton from Maine’s Oakhurst Dairy stating, “Our Farmers’ Pledge: No Artificial Growth Hormones” became the subject of controversy on July 3, 2003 when the dairy was sued by Monsanto over their labels. Oakhurst eventually settled, agreeing to add a sentence saying that ‘according to the FDA no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBGH-treated and non-treated cows.’ But this statement is simply not true. Both Monsanto and FDA scientists have acknowledged the increase of IGF-1 in milk from treated cows. Higher amounts of pus and antibiotic residues in the milk were noted are as well.

label

This misleading addition to the label was written by the FDA’s deputy commissioner of policy, Michael Taylor, previously Monsanto’s outside attorney who, after running policy at the FDA, became vice president of Monsanto. (Could this revolving door between Monsanto and the government regulators be the one of the reasons why the FDA isn’t protecting US consumers?)

Corruption
In the late 1980s, one FDA scientist was fired after expressing concerns about possible health problems related rBGH-treated cows. Other like-minded FDA scientists had been stripped of responsibilities or forced out. Remaining FDA whistle-blowers wrote an anonymous letter to Congress, complaining of fraud and conflict of interest at the agency.

In 1997, the potential link between rBGH and cancer was one of the topics revealed in a four-part news series set to air by a Tampa-based Fox TV station. Just before the series was shown, however, Fox received letters from Monsanto’s attorney, threatening “dire consequences for Fox News.” The show was postponed indefinitely. The reporters who had created the series later testified that they were offered hush money to leave the station and never speak about the story again. (They declined.)

In 1998, six Canadian government scientists testified before their Senate that they were being pressured by superiors to approve rBGH, even though they believed it was unsafe. They also testified that documents were stolen from a locked file cabinet and that Monsanto offered them a bribe of $1-2 million to approve the drug. Monsanto responded to the alleged bribe, claiming that the scientists misunderstood an offer for research money. (Eventually in 2005, Monsanto was fined for offering bribes to 140 Indonesians, as the company tried to gain approval for their genetically modified cotton.)

Progress (sort of)
Growth hormone producers were unsuccessful in banning “rBGH free” labels on a national level, so they have now taken their fight to the state level. Currently, Ohio is considering legislation that would prohibit the use of the “rBGH-free” label. Countries around the world have completely banned rBGH from being used in cows as long ago as 1990. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the whole European Union all prevent rBGH from being used in their countries (and prevent imports of dairy from the US containing rBGH). The United States is more than a decade behind and now there’s a chance that we might not even know when this drug is used in the milk we drink if this Ohio rule stands.

With the spread of information about rBST, there has been a widespread consumer demand for hormone-free milk. Many large corporations (WalMart, Starbucks, Kroger, Dannon, and Yoplait, for example) have completely removed hormone treated milk due to consumer demand. This goes to show that consumers are still at the top of the food chain. We can dictate the direction of this fight!

What you can do

  • - Look for “rBGH-free” labels on all of your dairy products.
  • - Purchase USDA certified organic milk. To be certified organic, cows can not be treated with growth hormones.
  • * (It is important to note that “rBGH-free” and “organic” labels have absolutely nothing to do with humane treatment of the animals.)
  • - Choose dairy alternatives such as soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, or hemp milk.
  • - Let your grocer/coffee shop/deli/ice cream parlor know that you want hormone-free dairy products!

*Note* Throughout this post I solely referred to “milk” but the truth is that effects of rBGH apply to all dairy products including cheese, yogurt, butter, and ice cream. (Imported European cheeses are rBGH free because the EU has banned rBGH.)

____________________
Breakfast: Strawberries and cherries
Lunch: Amy’s burrito and more cherries (I love cherry season!)
Dinner: Mini pizza made on a whole wheat tortilla with tomato sauce and Daiya vegan mozzarella. After I took the picture, I added some dried basil & oregano.

food 002 food 006 (2)

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