Blog - Page 15 of 18 - Vegan Coach

The Healing Power Of A Plant-Based Diet, Part 1 – Diabetes and Heart Disease

The Gift of Life from Flickr via Wylio — © 2007 Melissa Johnson, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

“…The idea that whole foods, plant-based diets can protect against and even treat a wide variety of chronic diseases can no longer be denied…now there are hundreds of detailed, comprehensive, well-done research studies that point in the same direction….” T. Colin Campbell, The China Study

So, exactly what diseases can a vegan diet heal, reverse, or improve?

We need to be really specific about how we define ‘vegan and ‘plant-based’ here. As we discussed in last week’s post, a junk-food vegan diet is not an optimal healing diet, so, for the rest of this post, when I say ‘vegan’ or ‘plant-based,’ please know that I mean a whole-foods vegan diet – the diet I mostly coach on my programs. As well as no animal products this also means no refined carbohydrates and no processed crap; just good old veggies, fruits, nuts, legumes, beans, whole grains, seeds, and minimal oil.

There are not many diseases that a plant-based diet won’t have a beneficial effect on. In my experience and studies, it is ALWAYS a good idea. As there are so many other elements at play (such as how active a person is, their emotional state, how toxic their environment is/has been, and even their spiritual state (apol’s for the ‘woo’) there are no guarantees that a plant-based diet will cure terminal cancer. However, fuelling your body with clean, whole, nutritious food while you are ill can only have a positive impact, even if it just extends the timescale of a terminal prognosis, or eases digestion and regulates metabolism and weight, thereby making life more comfortable.

If you are not already plant-based then always get the ok from your medical practitioner before changing your diet to treat, or help treat (along with conventional medicine) your illness. This diet can have positive effects very quickly. If you have a chronic disease and are on specific medications, you may need to reduce them, as regular doses may start to be too much. This is why it is important to do this with the knowledge (and supervision with regard to any medication) of a doctor.

Also: Prevention prevention prevention! Don’t wait till you’re good and crook to change your ways. The animals and the planet need you to go vegan asap, so jump right in! You can think of your ‘reward’ as getting the best protection there is from most illness. What better upside could there be?

Anyhow, let’s kick this off with a couple of biggies:

Diabetes Type 2

Firstly, this disease is easily PREVENTED with a plant-based diet.

Secondly, there is a small possiblity that you have genes that make you more susceptible to diabetes than others, BUT, on a whole-foods plant-based diet, these genes need never play out.

If you already have diabetes type 2? The good news is it can be reversed with a plant-based diet. You can become symptom and medication free. Seeing as how I’m not a doctor, I’m gonna let someone that is, talk and explain the specifics:

If you want Dr Barnard’s book on reversing diabetes, you can find it here.

This disease is unnecessary, it is a lifestyle disease – no-one has to get it. There is no need to suffer.

Some doctors know about this way of reversing diabetes, some don’t (most doctors don’t know much at all about nutrition, it simply doesn’t play a big part in their training). Some doctors may have read about reversing diabetes with a whole food vegan diet, but don’t believe their patients will agree to trying it. However, doctors that have given their patients the option of following a plant-based diet to reverse their diabetes have proved this wrong; most people are only too glad to help themselves.

A little info on diabetes type 1 (I focussed on type 2 here as it is more prolific). Diabetes type 1 can likely be prevented with a plant-based diet if you are vegan from birth, as there is very strong evidence to suggest it is caused by too high a consumption of dairy in childhood. Though a diabetes type 1 patient will always have to take some level of insulin, the amount can often be greatly reduced, and all the usual diabetes type 1 complications can be minimised by adopting a plant-based diet.

Heart disease

It has been known for at least the last thirty years, that a whole food plant-based diet prevents and reverses heart disease. Another lifestyle disease just like diabetes, it has been described by Dr Caldwell B Esselstyn (the author of ‘Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease’) as a ‘toothless paper tiger’ i.e. a disease that need not happen.

So why is it our biggest killer? Because most people are brainwashed into thinking that our standard diet rich in animal products is healthy, when in fact it is the cause of most chronic disease. Most doctors will just come out with ambiguous suggestions like ‘eat everything in moderation’ or ‘eat lots of veg and fruit and low fat proteins.’ Advice like this is not helpful. Who can define moderation? According to Dr Esselstyn, ‘moderation kills.’ And the second piece of advice is useless as it ignores the fact that protein is in vegetables too – it makes it sound as if protein is ONLY in meat and dairy, and it does not even touch on whole grains versus refined grains.

As with diabetes, there are doctors who do have this information, but are loathe to suggest it to their patients:

‘Why don’t more cardiologists employ this simple and successfully proven method? The stock answer is “My patients won’t follow such a diet.” That is indeed hard to accept when entire cultures without heart disease have preferred this way of eating for centuries and thousands of heart patients have accepted this technique. A more honest answer would be there is much less financial reward for the caregiver. The hope is that insurance carriers will appreciate this less expensive and more reliable approach and reward lifestyle counselling which will accelerate momentum and acceptance. Dr. Esselstyn now treats invasive cardiologists who seek his counsel when they have the disease. Viewing a broader landscape for the health of America is imperative.’ – Dr Caldwell Esselstyn

As for the how and why a standard diet causes heart disease and how a plant-based diet reverses it – take it away Doc:

The fact that these diseases can be reversed is incredible, but I can’t stress enough – prevention is key.

If you suffer from either of these diseases, or are interested in avoiding them – go plant-based now. If you need any help – I can guide you through the transition, and make it easy and fun. You know where I am!

A Vegan Diet Isn’t Always Healthy…

Being a long-time vegan, I am thrilled that a plant-based diet has received so much media attention in recent months, and delighted that people are waking up to the health benefits the lifestyle has to offer.

The thing that bothers me, is that too many times I’ve read/heard some version of this phrase: ‘A vegan diet is the best thing you can do for your health.’

It’s true, it can be the healthiest diet on the planet, and it’s also true that just by going vegan you have done your body a blinking huge favour, but a lot more information needs to be given.

Yes, it’s very likely that just by eliminating meat, dairy and eggs you will experience better health. After all, you’ll be forgoing all non-essential cholesterol, and most forms of saturated fat. You may well lose some weight, have more energy than before, and improve a few health niggles.

However, the words that are often missed out when referring to the health promises of a vegan diet are ‘whole foods.’

Bottom line – to experience everything a vegan diet has to offer health-wise, try to swap refined carbs and sugars for whole grains. Refined products were once ‘whole,’ but they had the goodness (including the fibre) stripped out, mainly to make them white and more neutral tasting. They therefore do nothing but spike your blood, constipate, and promote heart disease and cancer.

It’s very simple to switch from white rice to brown rice, but the most ubiquitous refined products we use are white flour and white sugar, and you’d be surprised how many products contain them.

From bread (including regular sliced, bagels, veggie burger buns, baguettes, paninis, matzo), to cookies, cakes, and white pasta, there are many ways white flour is sneaking into your body.

As for sugar, not only is it in obvious places like candies and cakes, but also in ketchup, jam, canned beans, chilli sauce (most shop-bought sauces, in fact), and you’d be surprised how much it is used in restaurants – even in main dishes.

Avoiding refined products like white flour and sugar does require a certain amount of label reading at first, but after a while you get to remember which products contain them and which don’t. I think of it this way – how much refined starch goes into your body needs to be controlled by you, not huge food corporations, whose only interest is to keep you addicted to their product.

Wholewheat, whole spelt or gluten free flour can be used in place of white in baking; wholewheat or brown rice pasta are good alternatives to white pasta, and there are many quality pre-made products in health shops that contain only whole grains.

Try quinoa and buckwheat in place of brown rice sometimes.
To replace sugar? Maple syrup or brown rice syrup are a much healthier option for those times when you just have to sweeten something up a little, and they are also great for baking with.

It’s ok to adopt new habits little by little. Just as you may have given up one animal product at a time, you can sub whole grains for refined products one by one if that is easier.

(I should add here that complex carbohydrates are a massive part of a healthy vegan diet – please don’t ever fall for the low-carb nonsense. I’ll talk about this in another post).

It is so important to not misrepresent a vegan diet, saying it is the healthiest way to live without being more specific about how this is achieved.

Fries, coke and white bread can all be vegan – but good luck trying to thrive on that!

With a varied diet made up of whole grains, veggies, beans, nuts, seeds, fruit and legumes, with sugar kept to a minimum, you’ll soon start to reap the benefits other vegans have been shouting about.

NYC – Where Vegans Are People Too, Part 2 (Or, Where To Eat In New York).

So last week, I gushed about how New York caters to all the vegans, not just the studenty, beatniky ones. I totally adore students and beatniks, but more diversity was needed, and New York delivered.

I also shared some food pics from the beginning of our wee break there.

If you missed that post? Click here.

This is SOME of what we ate for the rest of the vacation.

Lula’s Sweet Apothecary

Cashew based ice-cream – check out the coconut whipped cream and hot fudge sauce on top!

And with chocolate sauce on top –

V-Note (part of the Blossom group)

South of the border salad:

Mushroom scallops, tofu salmon, broccollini and forbidden rice in a white wine and mushroom reduction:

Hearty, but non-greasy, sweet potato fries:

Blossom in Chelsea

Blossom greens and cream of celeriac soup:

Part of my intention with these pics was to help quell the common misconception that vegans only eat salad. It was so hot while we were here however, that I ended up wanting to eat salad pretty often!

————————————————————————————————————————–

Aaaaannnnd, mah reKOmenDAYshiuns…

My overall recommendations for vegan dining in NYC are as follows. Though I’ve been four times, there are tonnes of plant-based restaurants I haven’t yet visited, so this is based on my current experience:

Absolute Must Do’s. Go There Yesterday

Franchia – if you love Korean and Japanese food, but want the healthy versions, try this beautiful mid-town restaurant. I love it for the imaginative maki rolls (try the spicy ‘tuna’, the guacamole, or the shiitake ones in particular), the teas, and the space. Don’t forget to look up at the gorgeous ceiling.

Erin Mckenna’s Bakery – If, like me, you are a health conscious, whole food vegan, then you want something healthier than veganised regular cakes. You want goodies that, ideally, are made without refined flour or sugars. So what do you do? You visit Erin Mckenna’s Bakery. They use a gluten-free fava/broad bean mix flour, and use agave as much as possible to sweeten. The excellent thing is, none of the taste is compromised. The cupcakes are deliciously moist and rich. I’ve occasionally had a slightly stale cupcake here, but I’m prepared to accept that it could have been a bad day/member of staff, and even though they’ve down-graded some of their ingredients recently (possibly to increase profit margins, but I have no evidence this is the reason) I’ll always, ALWAYS go back there when I’m in New York. They were the first and are still the best. Try the vanilla and red velvet cupcakes. And the doughnuts. And the banana bread. And the cookie sandwiches. Ok try everything.

Peacefood Cafe – There are now two branches of this vegan restaurant, one on the Upper West Side, and one downtown, which I just visited for the first time. Though I’d heard about Peacefood a while ago, I avoided visiting it the last couple of times I was in NY because I thought the name sounded corny and overbearingly hippie and mother-earthy. Shows what a silly I was. Never judge a restaurant by its name. At the very least, judge it by its online menu. When I finally got around to looking at theirs, the chickpea fries called my name from the screen, and that was my initial reason for going. I can report that they were excellent, along with the drinks (brazil nut chai highly recommended ) and the desserts – the key lime pie was insane. We actually took this to-go, and ate it a couple of hours later in the Plaza Hotel food hall. I feared it would have turned to mush in the afternoon heat, but it was still pretty sturdy. I loved the decor too, very elegant, yet friendly and inviting. We went back to Peacefood a couple of days later, and will definitely return on our next New York trip.

Re: The Plaza Hotel food hall; not much doing for vegans I’m afraid, apart from a froyo kind of place that always has one (rotating) non-dairy flavour – but I guess if you don’t like that one flavour, you’re screwed.

Lula’s Sweet Apothecary – This was our first visit to Lula’s. We tried to go last year but it was all closed down. This was doubly disappointing, as we’d just tried to go to Stogo, another amazing ice-cream place (one we’d previously tried) that had also just shut down. Before we left, I read that the shop had kind of opened again, that it was opened on some days, and it might not be called Lula’s Sweet Apothecary any more. Yes. I was confused too. We went on a Saturday night, we figured it HAD to be open on a Saturday night, and it was. It’s kind of at the address advertised for LSA, but maybe one or two doors along (if you go to the given address, you’ll come across it) and I think it’s open Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun, until late.

We happily slurped and munched on cashew-based strawberry and vanilla ice creams (they have lots of sexier flavours, we were just being boring), with hot fudge and marshmallow sauce, and coconut-based whipped cream. This was while sitting outside the shop in the dimming East Village light, listening to the strains of something very Woody Guthrie-esque (Ramblin’ Jack Elliot?) coming from the cosy interior. Go.There.Now.

As for the Blossom chain, for location I recommend Blossom on Carmine (on a pretty street in the West Village), but for food it has to be V-Note. V-note is not in a great location but absolutely worth making a trek to for the food.

Hangawi – sister restaurant to Franchia, it is also midtown, but a little more expensive and fancy. You take your shoes off at the entrance, and sit at traditional Korean tables. The kimchi stews are amazing.

Bliss Cafe – Let’s not forget Brooklyn. Vegan or vegan curious in Brooklyn? Go here. I had a great bowl of chilli with Daiya cheese on top and some gorgeous house blend iced chai.

If you’re hungry and passing by…

Gobo – We’ve been to their West Village location twice now (they have another on the Upper East Side), but if I’m honest it was more because I like the space than the food. This restaurant doesn’t seem to know what it is, and some of the items just seem a bit, well, weird. It always seems buzzy, and other people’s food looked and smelled good, so I’m happy to believe I just haven’t yet chosen the right thing from the menu.

Angelica Kitchen – I loved this old East Village vegetarian mainstay when we discovered it in 2002, but revisiting in 2011 and 2013, it just really wasn’t great. The cornbread is fabulous, and I’ve never tried the desserts, some of which sounded great, but I would probably only revisit if I was in the ‘hood and starving.

Next time, I’ll be excited to visit…

So, so many, but the places that come to mind are Souen, Village Natural, Beyond Sushi, and Pure Food And Wine

NYC – Where Vegans Are People Too. Part 1.

At this time of year, budget allowing, we like to go to New York for a few days, because…….FOOOOOD.

Though the rest of the world is catching up slowly to the idea that a plant-based diet just may be the way to go for the sake of the environment, and for optimal human animal and non-human animal health and wellbeing – New York done got it first.

Los Angeles is not far behind, and San Francisco is almost there. But if you want the full gamut of dining experiences that are usually only available to meat eaters, from street food to elegant gourmet fare in five star settings, and everything in between, you’ll find it in New York.

The first time we visited in 2002, the odd veggie restaurant we came across, though good, most definitely had the hippie vibe. Nothing wrong with that at all of course, but in twelve short years, New York has been smart enough to learn that vegans are not all students/dropouts with piercings and dreads printing off radical left-wing zines to drop into food co-ops. It has realised that we are, in fact, three-dimensional beings, with the full-range of food tastes and desires that meat-eaters have.

In fact, most good restaurants, if they don’t have a separate vegan menu, will have a few solid vegan options. And unlike the UK, they are all better than the oh, so ubiquitous, soul oppressing ‘Roasted blah Mediterranean blah Vegetables.’

Gosh, I sound obnoxious. Look, there is nothing wrong with RMV, it’s just that when you’ve had it at every wedding and Christmas lunch you’ve been to, your heart sinks when yet again faced with those three words on a menu.

If you are planning on going to New York, I hope the following food photos get you excited about sampling the smorgas(mic!)bord of vegan delights that await you.

Even if you’re not planning on going I hope they’ll at least get your tastebuds going, and inspire you to get crazy and creative in the kitch!

You’ll have to excuse the photo quality, my camera is getting on a bit. Focus on the content not on the pixels!

From Franchia Vegan Cafe, sister restaurant to HanGawi:

Kimchi Dumplings

Guacamole maki rolls, shiitake maki rolls

Brown rice noodle soup with bok choi

Bibimbap with cucumber kimchi (sans stone bowl – it’s too hot in the stone bowl, so we cheated and just had a regular one)

Iced ginger tea latte with cream

From Erin Mckenna’s Bakery:

Vanilla and red velvet cupcakes, vanilla doughnut and cookie sandwich

From Peacefood Cafe:

Chickpea fries with garlic aioli

Vegetable tempura

The most divine brazil nut chai

Watermelon mint agave summer cooler

To be continued next week…

Killer Sides, Part 1 – Easy Sweet Potato Fries

These are just one of my favourite foods EVER. So simple and so, so tasty, and if baked (yes, pedants, I know they’re called fries, but in my book it’s the fry size that makes them fries, not the cooking method) then they’re not that blinking bad for you either.

I discovered them on one of our trips to the US a few years ago, and my first thought on trying them was ‘why would anyone ever make a fry out of potato when you can make them out of sweet potato and they taste like THIS?’

They were unheard of in the UK a few years ago, but word is slowly but surely crossing that big pond, and they are now becoming more and more widely available on restaurant/cafe menus here.

There are lots of different ways to make them. One thing’s for damn sure, I’ve never had a bad one.

They are great deep fried, but they are honestly just as delicious this way. The most time-consuming thing is chopping and slicing the sweet potatoes, but once you’ve done that, you’ve nearly done. I’d say overall prep time is around 25 minutes.

You will need:

– A couple of big sweet potatoes, or three smaller ones

– Spraying oil (I prefer sunflower for this purpose)

– 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

– 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

– Salt

– Baking tray

– Greaseproof paper

What you do:

– Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.

– Chop and slice the sweet potatoes into skinny, fry size lengths. If you have one of those fancy gadgets that does this, good for you. If not, get slicing! Don’t worry in the least if your fries are all different sizes, they are kind of meant to look a bit rough and ready. Just try to keep them skinny, around .5 of a centimetre thick.

– Line your baking tray with greaseproof paper, and lay out your fries as best you can.

– Spray your fries liberally. I find it’s better spraying oil than drizzling it from a bottle. It’s quite hard to gauge how much drizzles out and you can end up with your fries swimming in oil when you come to turn them.

– Mix the garlic powder and paprika in a small bowl.

– Sprinkle this mixture evenly all over your fries.

– Salt your fries thoroughly. Don’t be shy.

– They should now look something like this.

– Place in oven and bake for approx 20 minutes, turning them after 10. Take them out when they start to brown.

– This is how I accompanied this batch:

Sweet potato fries are a great side to, oooooooooh, ANYTHING, and amazing just as a snack on their own. You don’t even need to dip them in ketchup they are so delicious naked (of course you can if you need to). Need a crowd pleaser? Got kids/in-laws/friends coming over? They’ll love you forever for making these. Show me someone who doesn’t adore them and I’ll show you a big fat liar!

Will I Die Of Something Horrid If I Don’t Eat Everything Organic?

No.

I mean, probably not.

I mean, you might, but it may not be because your veg wasn’t organic. You know what I mean, don’t you?

Er…This is what I mean:

Bottom line – of cooourrrsse it is better to buy everything organic if you can. Fewer chemicals on your food is always a good thing.

BUT…

….if you’re like me, and haven’t (ahem..yet) won the jackpot, and your current budget is not organic friendly, what can you do? Are you doomed to pesticide laden purgatory and herbicide ridden hades?

Not in the least.

Here’s what you need to know if you want to minimise the nasties, and not piss off your pocketbook!

First of all – if you are vegan (and I’m assuming you are trying to be, or at least interested in the subject if you’re reading this), do not even worry if you can’t budget for anything organic. Really. Why am I saying this? Because the most chemical laden foods are animal products. By eating these you are taking on the chemical load of the animal. Crops grown for livestock feed are the most heavily sprayed. The chemicals from these pesticides are fat-soluble and accumulate in the fat of the animal. Add this to the fact that lots of livestock are fed ground-up bits of other animals, and you’ll see how the problem is compounded. Meat and milk have much higher chemical levels than plant-food, so by ditching them you’ve already avoided the most pesticide laden food on the planet! Well done!

Familiarise yourself with the clean fifteen (fruit and veg that contain the least pesticide residues, that are ok to buy non-organic) and the dirty dozen (fruit and veg to prioritise buying organic if you can).

If you need to be super canny with the budget and can’t always afford to buy a dirty dozen item organic, maybe buy it organic every other time. Maybe see if the dish you are planning to make that would ordinarily contain something from the dirty dozen list could be made with another from the clean fifteen list. For example, I often make an Ethiopian soup that calls for a pound of potatoes (Booooooo, dirty). I realised the soup flavours would go just as well with sweet potatoes (yaaaay, clean!), and so now always make it that way. Sometimes, admittedly, that just won’t do. The recipe calls for an apple – you need a frickin’ apple. In that case, apply my next tips!

Scrub, scrub, scrub your non-organic fruit and veg. You can buy an inexpensive little brush (like this one) specifically for this purpose.

H2O. Drink it. If you are drinking enough water, your body is continuously being flushed out, so any toxins or chemicals that may be on your food have the best chance of being eliminated expediently. Or, should I say, exPEEdiently. Hee.

If you read my post about flax seeds, you will remember that one of their many benefits is that they bind to, and transport toxins and heavy metals out of the body. Add 5 teaspoons ground flaxseeds to one meal per day (breakfast is often easier, as they go well on cereal or porridge).

If you eat meat and dairy, or know you might have to buy non-organic fruit and veg on the dirty dozen list (or any others that may have been sprayed) here’s what to do: Try to eat plenty of soluble fibres (fruit, beans, oats, legumes, nuts), that soak up toxins in a sponge-like fashion as they pass through your body and prohibit them from entering the blood stream. Insoluble fibre foods are important too (found in veg, whole grains and seeds) as they ‘sweep up’ the colon as they pass through. As we’ve learnt, animal foods contains the most residues and precisely NO fibre, so it’s ultra important, if you’re a meat/dairy eater, to ensure you are getting plenty.

This last tip does rather beg the question ‘if I buy non-organic beans, does the fibre in them cancel out the pesticide residue?’ Hah! I don’t know. You just gotta do the best you can.

What do I always buy organic? Soy milk, whole grains, and as many veg and fruit on the dirty dozen list as possible (but I don’t always buy every single one organic).

Lentils and dried beans I often buy in bulk from the Asian aisle in the supermarket. This can be a good idea to offset the expense of the organic grains.

So, don’t fret if your budget doesn’t allow for a 100% organic foodshop. Follow these tips, and eliminate or minimise animal products for the greatest reduction in chemical nasties.

Plant-Based Tips For Glowy, Radiant, Youthful Skin

Skin 3 from Flickr via Wylio — © 2014 Iwan Gabovitch, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Who on earth doesn’t want amazing skin?

The good news is plants are here to help! And they are cheap! Forget your La Prairie or Creme de la Mer expensive gloop. In order to get and maintain beautiful skin, we need lots of alkaline, anti-inflammatory, vitamin and mineral-rich foods (veg, fruit, legumes, beans) that nourish and keep the skin well hydrated; whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat products etc) to keep the moisture inside us as long as possible; and nutritious fats (found in avocados, nuts and seeds) that keep the skin moisturised from the inside out.

Meat dairy and eggs are acid-y when in the body and only promote skin inflammation and dehydration.

Here are some of the absolute best things you can do to maintain a youthful, dewy, glowy, radiant skin. Some are well-known and scientific, and hell, I’ve thrown in a few anecdotal tips that I’ve found out for myself. YOU’RE WELCOME!

Water, water, water. Of course skin needs water to stop it from drying out. If you eat a whole-food, plant-based diet, you don’t need to go too crazy as the veg and fruit you eat will contain lots of water, so just drink when you feel thirsty – but don’t put it off. If you are not vegan, then at least a litre and a half of water (plus more if you feel thirsty) per day will keep the skin well-hydrated. You can always do the dehydration test (not hugely scientific but nevertheless a good indication): Put your hand, palm side down, flat on a table; pinch some skin from the back of your hand and hold it for a couple of seconds. Release it! If it goes back down flat right away – well done! You are well hydrated. If it takes a couple of seconds to go down, this is telling you you need to be supping more water.

Vitamin E – This is an anti-oxidant vitamin and, as such, great for the skin, and anti-aging. Get it from nuts, seeds, green leafy veg, and whole grains. Olives and avocados are other great sources, and as we know, avocados have the added benefit of providing the moisturising oils to the skin. Try avocado toast, avocado maki rolls or rustle up a quick guacamole.

Vitamin C – Yup, good old, ubiquitous (in the plant world, anyway!) vitamin C. Aside from being an antioxidant, it is needed to produce the collagen which maintains the skins structure. so chow down on those citrus fruits, berries, broccoli, and brussels sprouts!

Vitamin A – Get yo’ vitamin A on – in the plant-based form – beta carotene. Like vitamin C, this is a powerful antioxidant. Generally speaking, the more intense a colour the fruit or veg is, the more beta carotene it contains. Orange, yellow and red veg are great examples. Get chomping on sweet potatoes, carrots, red peppers, cantaloupe and butternut squash. Green leafy veg are good sources too. DON’T take beta carotene supplements though. This could mean you get too much. Although not seriously harmful in excess, it can turn your skin orange – really! Just get your vits from your food and you’ll be fine.

Zinc – This hardworking mineral doesn’t get as much press as vitamins A and E when talking about healthy skin, but it is vital for skin healing and reparation. If you have acne or psoriasis you may need to check you have adequate levels of zinc with your medical practitioner. Vegetarians and vegans may get told they can only get zinc from animal foods, but, like lots of things we get told, this is monumental BS. You can get plenty from brown rice, wholemeal bread, legumes, nuts, seeds and beans.

And here are a few anecdotal tips!

Dried rose buds. What do you do with these? You make an infusion with them, that’s what. You can get them from any Chinese herbalist, or from ebay. Put maybe 6 or 7 buds in a large mug and pour boiling water on top. Leave for a few minutes and drink. This has been used for centuries in China as a skin beautifier, and if you have it before bed you may even notice the rosy hue in your cheeks the next morning! I can’t NOT have a big cup of this before bed now! Added bonus – it is also thought to ease depression and menstrual cramps, calm nerves and aid the body in absorbing iron.

Coconut oil (as a topical night cream!) In my opinion, you don’t need fancy schmancy creams to have great skin. Cut the middle man and just invest in a jar of coconut oil (good coconut oil, mind; organic virgin). All the expensive-ass creams contain coconut oil anyway, so you’ll just be getting the goodness of the creams, but cheaper! Apply it liberally before bed and massage in well. Though it is oil, it doesn’t feel too greasy on the skin, and absorbs quite quickly. Rose-hip oil is also fantastic, but coconut oil works out more economical.

Kimchi – I noticed a while back that whenever I ate kimchi, the following day my skin was glowing. I had no idea why this could be – in particular why the effect would be so immediate. After a little research I’ve found that kimchi is chocka with vitamins A and C, which would go some way to explaining its beauty promoting qualities (see above). For it to work so quickly however, there must be something else at play too. I don’t know what that is. Maybe it’s because it aids digestion, and good digestion is reflected in your skin (bad digestion can give you skin issues). Maybe it’s that if your gut is happy with all the good bacteria from the kimchi, then your skin is happy too. All I know is that there are lots of Korean blogs touting kimchi as being amazing for the skin, so I know there is something to it. And I’ve seen it for myself!

Don’t waste hard-earned money on the gloop and the gunk in fancy packaging.

Combine these tips with lots of fresh air and exercise, and your skin will show you how grateful it can be!

What’s Wrong With Eggs? They Are Good For You And Chickens Don’t Need Them!

A couple of years ago, somewhere in the southern states of America, (it could have been Chattanooga) I got talking to a lady who owned a second hand book and bric-a-brac store. We had a perfectly lovely conversation until she asked me what I was writing about (I’d mentioned I was writing a book). When I told her it was about how a standard diet negatively impacts our health, the environment and animals, and how a vegan diet was the antidote to this, she got very animated.

She got the most worked up about eggs, saying she didn’t understand how I didn’t eat them, telling me how they were the most healthy food you could eat, and she went as far as to say that eggs are ‘God’s own protein,’ whatever the feckin’ heck that meant.

Firstly, she was most decidedly not the best advertisement for her health claims regarding eggs. I don’t want to snark (ok I do, but I shan’t), let’s just say she was very evidently NOT healthy.

Secondly, I haven’t eaten eggs for 23 years, and I am still here and thriving – not a shrivelled pile of protein-deprived fatigue, convulsing on the floor. I do not believe I am missing the so-called protein of God.

I didn’t want to continue the conversation, so I just wrapped it up politely and left. I intuited that she would not have been open to receiving any actual facts on eggs, as invested as she clearly was in what were probably lifelong, myth-based beliefs, so I let it go. Although I believe in advocating when possible, it’s also important to know when to conserve your energy for better opportunities!

In case YOU have questions about eggs, or in case you get asked questions by curious friends – who you feel may be more receptive to facts than my book-store lady; here are some of the common egg myths dispelled.

Eggs are good for you

Uh-uh.

Yes, eggs do contain protein. But they are also very high in cholesterol, and like all animal products, they contain destructive saturated fat. Just consider this for a hot second: Eggs have inside them the wherewithal to grow ONE cell into a baby chick in a relatively short space of time. They actually contain the most concentrated form of protein (second only to animal brains). This is excessive for humans – ‘too much of a good thing,’ if you will. We have been led to believe that the more protein the better, and some people eat egg whites believing them to be the healthiest and most protein-filled part of the egg, but this is just not a balanced form of protein for humans to be ingesting.

Because of this, consumption of eggs is very closely linked to cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

You do not need eggs for health. You can meet ALL your protein needs with plants.

How is the egg industry cruel? The chickens aren’t killed or anything…

Ok, so I don’t need to go into why battery hen farming is cruel – that’s obvious.

Cage-free, free-range and organic are just great labels to make you feel you are doing something good for the hens when you buy eggs. BUT, in terms of hen suffering, they mean nothing. And all across the board, baby male chicks are gassed, ground alive or suffocated, being of no profit to the egg industry.

All that farmers need in order to classify their eggs as free range, is a tiny ‘door’ hole in a barn, so they can say that chickens have access to fresh air. These barns are normally crammed with so many thousands of hens, and hens are hierarchical, so only a very few will see the fresh air. Most will live in very cramped conditions, walking around (as much as they can walk) in their own pee and poop. Many grow deformed or die and aren’t discovered for ages. They are also debeaked without anaesthetic, just like battery hens.

What if I have chickens in my back garden and I treat them well? Surely it’s ok to take their eggs?

This article very nicely explains the ethical stance regarding backyard chickens that are kept for eggs.

Also, the reason hens KEEP laying eggs is because their eggs KEEP getting taken away. They would only normally lay enough to fill their nest.

Laying so many eggs takes up a lot of energy, and so lots of chickens eat their own eggs to replenish the nutrients they’ve lost in this effort. Lots of backyard hens are rescues from the egg industry, so they will often do this, as they are attempting to restore a lifetimes worth of nutrient loss.

If you’re wondering whether you can eat the eggs that backyard hens don’t eat that might otherwise go to waste? Weeell, you could…but first, reread about the health dangers of eating eggs!

Never Be Afraid To Be Different

Passion Flower from Flickr via Wylio — © 2012 Ernest McGray, Jr., Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

A big stumbling block to many people considering a vegan lifestyle is the fear that they will be perceived as ‘awkward,’ or ‘different.’

I guess I’m lucky. I’ve never given two sweet ones what anyone thought of me in relation to my life choices. There was a brief period in my early teens when I wanted to be like everyone else, to fit in, to wear the same clothes, to belong to a perceived ‘something,’ but it quickly passed, thank goodness.

If your motivation to go vegan is ethical, then just think back to the first abolitionists who spoke out against slavery, or the first people who fought for women’s rights. These folks would certainly have been considered ‘different’, being disruptive to the status quo as they were. Slaves had been kept for hundreds of years in the south, and women hadn’t voted since elections began. This prejudice was completely normalised. From where we are now, we can see clearly that these two discriminatory practices were wrong and hateful. Yet where would we be if abolitionists and suffragists had been afraid to be different?

Someone has to be the first to speak out. In the case of veganism – don’t even worry, you are nowhere near the first. The earliest vegan I’m aware of is Pythagoras; and Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Tolstoy followed later, among many, many other eminent names, so it’s not at all as risky as being the first abolitionist or suffragist. Most people you will encounter are used to hearing about vegetarianism at the very least, so by eliminating animal products from your diet, you will not be doing something that no-one has ever heard of.

Nothing bad happens to you if you stick your neck out and dare to be different. You don’t get struck by lightning; you don’t get excommunicated from life! Quite the opposite in fact, life becomes richer and fuller, and you begin to feel more authentically ‘you.’

What’s the absolute worst that can happen? Maybe a few people talk about you behind your back calling you ‘awkward,’ ‘weird,’ a ‘lettuce muncher’ and you will probably be thought of by some as ‘preachy’ and ‘militant’ (you’ll find, sadly, that even if you never speak about being vegan, it’s enough for some people to know that you’re vegan, to perceive you this way). You may not get invited for dinner as often as non-veg friends do. But guess what? This is all on them. This is nothing to do with you, and real friends WILL make an effort to cook for you, you’ll see!

People will not drop you as a friend because you eat differently to them. My partner is vegan, and I have one close friend that is. About half the rest of my close friends are at least sympathetic to veganism and are happy to eat at vegan restaurants with me. The other half I’m sure think I’m a lunatic, but it is honestly never an issue. They may or may not mock behind my back, but if, when we’re together, it’s all good and they treat me as they treat everyone else – who cares? What I don’t know won’t kill me.

And we are all different in so many other ways. You don’t have the same tastes in music or clothes as all your friends do you? Even if I wasn’t vegan, my friends and I still wouldn’t eat the same kinds of food – some have pretty conservative tastes while I eat food from a ton of different ethnicities. And none of my close friends share the same taste in music as me, so even if I weren’t plant-based they would probably still perceive me as different. There isn’t much I can do about that, but you should know – it really isn’t a big deal. When I think about most of my friends, what we share above all is our senses of humour – and that is more bonding than anything.

I do get that it’s sometimes scary to be different, but once you try it and live it, you’ll see that your life (and social life) really doesn’t change all that much. And the more you experience all the benefits of a vegan diet; the fact that you may be a little different to most people will matter less and less to you. Once you begin to feel good and radiate health, joy and purpose, there’s a good chance they’ll want some of what makes you different for themselves!

Yerba Mate – Move Over Tea (Or At Least Make Room!)

So have y’all heard of mate (pronounced ‘mah-tey’)?

I’m sure most of my US readers have. I’d never heard of it before going to the US. Now, every time we visit the States, it’s one of the first things I buy to take home.

If you don’t know, yerba mate (to give it its full name) is a drink made from the naturally caffeinated leaves of the Ilex paraguariensis plant, (a member of the holly family), from South America. It has been drunk by indigenous people in South America for centuries, and is now still widely consumed in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Traditionally it is a social drink, made in a gourd, passed around a group of family or friends, and drunk through a metal straw.

It is thought to contain as much caffeine as coffee, but without the side effects – the jitteriness, the heart racing, etc. So, if you’re like me and need a bit of a kick up the pants every morning, but don’t fancy bouncing off the walls with the effects of the caffeine in coffee, mate is ideal.

It is incredibly nutritious, more so than green tea! It contains twenty-four vitamins, including high concentrations of vitamins A, C, E, B1, B2, B3 and B5. It is also mineral rich, being a good source of calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron, selenium, zinc and phosphorous.

As if this isn’t good enough, it has fifteen amino acids, and more antioxidants than green tea.

A recent study at the University of Illinois found that the anti-inflammatory properties in mate kill cancer cells, and may be particularly helpful against colon cancer.

Elvira de Mejia, lead researcher in this study, had this to say about mate:

‘Our studies show that some of the most important antioxidant enzymes in the body are induced by this herbal tea.’

There is also evidence to suggest that drinking mate daily helps preserve bone-density in post-menopausal women.

Another study shows that mate lowers cholesterol.

In 1964, the Pasteur Institute and the Paris Scientific Society studied the properties of mate and concluded that it would be ‘difficult to find a plant in any area of the world equal to mate in nutritional value,’ and that mate contains ‘practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life.’

Pretty damn impressive huh?

So, what does it taste like?

I sometimes describe mate as like drinking a cigarette. Maybe I’ve just put everyone off of it right there. You really just need to try it. If you’ve ever smoked you’ll know what I mean, and if you’ve never smoked and are now thinking mate sounds gross, when you try it you’ll really see it’s about the smoky flavour.

There is some information on the internet linking mate to oesophageal cancer. When I saw it I thought ‘NOOOOOO, surely not!’ On further investigation, it seems that IF mate can cause cancer then it’s due to the boiling temperature at which some people drink it. Frequent consumption of boiling hot drinks is thought to cause cancer, because the repetitive burning of the throat can eventually cause malignancy in some people, (though there are probably a lot of other lifestyle factors involved). I think most of us wait until the beverage is more drinkable though, don’t we? In some cultures, a lot of very hot mate is drunk very often, so this might be a factor in cancer risk within these cultures, but any boiling hot drink is going to raise this risk, not just mate!

I have seen a lot of backlashes against certain highly nutritious foods and drink products, specifically those that big industries do not benefit from financially. Though I have no evidence for this, it would not surprise me if mate, being as nutritious as it is, was yet another victim of corporate fear.

Mate can be drunk hot or cold, with or without milk, sweetened or unsweetened, and flavoured with whatever you like (though like tea, it does have plenty of flavour of its own, so do try it plain first).

You can even get ‘mate latte’! I was a little skeptical of this at first – then I tried one at a cafe that specialised in mate – it was delicious! It was hazelnut flavoured, and this just really worked with the smokiness of the mate.

You can find it everywhere in the US, I usually get it from Whole Foods or Trader Joes. In the UK and elsewhere, you can try health stores, but it is always available online.

If you haven’t already, sample the taste of the Pampas!!