Why These 7 Doctors Are Vegan

"A vegan diet is just what the doctor ordered. As the health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle are going mainstream, these doctors are leading the charge on advocating for plant-based nutrition as medicine."

"I tried eating like Leonardo da Vinci" (by Melissa Breyer)

"When I stumbled across some of da Vinci's favorite *vegetarian recipes, I knew I had to try them. Here's how it went..."

I tried eating like Leonardo da Vinci

*Please note: Vegetarian can also mean a vegan diet in some places.

The Easy Vegan Guide To Protein

"While many people often equate high-protein foods with meat, the truth is that there are plenty of vegan protein sources available that allow you to meet your protein intake needs, while still following a vegan diet.

In addition to containing high levels of this muscle-building nutrient, plant-based protein sources such as grains, veggies, nuts and legumes offer other vitamins and minerals that aid in your body’s optimum function."

Read more at: The Easy Vegan Guide To Protein

Hinduism Regarding a Veg*n Diet

*This is regarding the "diet part" of a veg*n life:

Lesson 28 from the book: Living with Siva

Reasons for Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism has for thousands of years been a principle of health and environmental ethics throughout India. Though Muslim and Christian colonization radically undermined and eroded this ideal, it remains to this day a cardinal ethic of Hindu thought and practice. A subtle sense of guilt persists among Hindus who eat meat, and there exists an ongoing controversy on this issue. The Sanskrit for vegetarianism is shakahara, and one following a vegetarian diet is a shakahari. The term for meat-eating is mansahara, and the meat-eater is called mansahari. Ahara means "food" or "diet," shaka means "vegetable," and mansa means "meat" or "flesh." 

Amazingly, I have heard people define vegetarian as a diet which excludes the meat of animals but does permit fish and eggs. But what really is vegetarianism? It is living only on foods produced by plants, with the addition of dairy products. Vegetarian foods include grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, milk, yogurt, cheese and butter. The strictest vegetarians, known as vegans, exclude all dairy products. Natural, fresh foods, locally grown without insecticides or chemical fertilizers are preferred. A vegetarian diet does not include meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. For good health, even certain vegetarian foods are minimized: frozen and canned foods, highly processed foods, such as white rice, white sugar and white flour; and "junk" foods and beverages--those with abundant chemical additives, such as artificial sweeteners, colorings, flavorings and preservatives. 

In the past fifty years millions of meat-eaters have made the decision to stop eating the flesh of other creatures. There are five major motivations for such a decision. 1) Many become vegetarian purely to uphold dharma, as the first duty to God and God's creation as defined by Vedic scripture. 2) Some abjure meat-eating because of the karmic consequences, knowing that by involving oneself, even indirectly, in the cycle of inflicting injury, pain and death by eating other creatures, one must in the future experience in equal measure the suffering caused. 3) Spiritual consciousness is another reason. Food is the source of the body's chemistry, and what we ingest affects our consciousness, emotions and experiential patterns. If one wants to live in higher consciousness, in peace and happiness and love for all creatures, then he cannot eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety, suspicion and a terrible fear of death, all of which are locked into the flesh of butchered creatures. 4) Medical studies prove that a vegetarian diet is easier to digest, provides a wider range of nutrients and imposes fewer burdens and impurities on the body. Vegetarians are less susceptible to all the major diseases that afflict contemporary humanity, and thus live longer, healthier, more productive lives. They have fewer physical complaints, less frequent visits to the doctor, fewer dental problems and smaller medical bills. Their immune system is stronger, their bodies purer and more refined, and their skin clearer, more supple and smooth. 5) Finally, there is the ecological reason. Planet Earth is suffering. In large measure, the escalating loss of species, destruction of ancient rainforests to create pasture lands for livestock, loss of topsoil and the consequent increase of water impurities and air pollution have all been traced to the single fact of meat in the human diet. No single decision that we can make as individuals or as a race can have such a dramatic effect on the improvement of our planetary ecology as the decision to not eat meat. Many conscious of the need to save the planet for future generations have made this decision for this reason and this reason alone. 

6 Tips for Losing Weight on a Vegan Diet

"Anyone looking to lose weight, conversion to a plant-based regimen and weight loss are not always synonymous. Many who switch to a vegan diet for weight-loss reasons often find themselves filling the meatless void with an array of plant-based processed food. Luckily, a veg diet is so much more than packaged food that just happens to be animal-free, especially for those looking to lose weight."

Check out some tips for losing weight on a vegan diet here:

6 Tips for Losing Weight on a Vegan Diet

*Please see your physician first before starting any weight-loss program.

Who Were The World's Earliest Vegans?

"Archaeologist Dr. Richard Leakey says our prehistoric ancestors started off on a plant based diet. 'You can’t tear flesh by hand, you can’t tear hide by hand, and we wouldn’t have been able to deal with the food sources that required those large canines'."

Read more here:

WHO WERE THE WORLD’S VERY EARLIEST VEGANS?

Protein Issue - Vegans Might NOT be Getting Enough

I have never really checked to see if I was getting enough protein since you hear ALL THE TIME that vegans get PLENTY of protein. But recently I read smarter vegans say IF you eat really healthy and eating enough food vegans will get enough protein.

Now that I want to lose weight, I have not been eating that much. So I checked and found out in horror that because of my losing weight and not eating as much, I am way below my daily protein amount. Even when I wasn't dieting I was still below!

I weigh in the 150s right now and according to research, I need to take in about 60 grams of protein--on average daily. 

We vegans say you can get protein from lots of foods like beans, seeds, nuts, etc. but have you really seen HOW MUCH protein are in these foods?--Very low! Peanuts are pretty high but most other nuts, seeds, legumes are pretty low. You'd have to eat a lot to get in your daily protein amount. I've been checking lots of vegan foods and to be honest while there are indeed plenty of vegan foods with protein, the issue is not where vegans get their protein but HOW MUCH protein is in the foods to cover your daily needs.

Even vegan protein supplements are low in protein grams.

Everyone, just make sure you are getting enough protein. You may be getting enough, or you might be surprised....The good news is as I lose weight, I'll need less protein. 

Is A Vegan Diet Too EXTREME!? 

Don’t Give Up! Learn How Not to Let Your Vegan Diet Make You Sick

Here is a terrific article for anyone who struggles with the food part of a vegan life:

Don’t Give Up! Learn How Not to Let Your Vegan Diet Make You Sick

How to Stick to a Vegan Diet When it’s Not on the Menu

When you are out-and-about, looking for a place to eat, check out these suggestions so you can be prepared if going to a non-vegan restaurant:

How to Stick to a Vegan Diet When it’s Not on the Menu

American Goldfinches: Strict Vegetarians

Female and Male American Goldfinches

For my Fourth of July blog, I would like to talk about the American Goldfinch.

With a diet consisting entirely of seeds and an anti-confrontational attitude, the American Goldfinch is a vegetarian pacifist!

This bright yellow songbird is one of the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, preferring an entirely vegetable diet and only accidentally eating an occasional insect. Their cruelty-free lifestyle extends to adversaries as well, opting to turn the other cheek rather than join other songbirds mobbing predators.

American Goldfinches are numerous and their populations have been stable from 1966 to 2010. Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population at 42 million, with 57 percent breeding in Canada, 71 percent spending some part of the year in the U.S., and 5 percent wintering in Mexico.

Habitat

Weedy fields, open floodplains, and other overgrown areas, particularly with sunflower, aster, and thistle plants for food and some shrubs and trees for nesting. Goldfinches are also common in suburbs, parks, and backyards.

Food

Goldfinches eat seeds almost exclusively. Main types include seeds from composite plants (in the family Asteraceae: sunflowers, thistle, asters, etc.), grasses, and trees such as alder, birch, western red cedar, and elm. At feeders prefers nyjer and sunflower.

Behavior

American Goldfinches are active, acrobatic finches that balance on the seed-heads of thistles, dandelions, and other plants to pluck seeds. They have a bouncy flight during which they frequently make their po-ta-to-chip calls. Although males sing exuberantly during spring, pairs do not nest until mid-summer, when thistles and other weeds have gone to seed. Goldfinches do not join other songbirds mobbing predators.

Other Facts

American Goldfinches are the only finch that molts its body feathers twice a year--once in late winter and again in late summer. The brightening, yellow of male goldfinches each spring is one welcome mark of approaching warm months.

American Goldfinches breed later than most North American birds. They wait to nest until June or July when milkweed, thistle, and other plants have produced their fibrous seeds, which goldfinches incorporate into their nests and also feed their young.

When Brown-headed Cowbirds lay eggs in an American Goldfinch nest, the cowbird egg may hatch but the nestling seldom survives longer than three days. The cowbird chick simply can’t survive on the all-seed diet that goldfinches feed their young.

Goldfinches move south in winter following a pattern that seems to coincide with regions where the minimum January temperature is no colder than 0 degrees Fahrenheit on average.

The oldest known American Goldfinch lived to be 10 years 5 months old.

Paired-up goldfinches make virtually identical flight calls; goldfinches may be able to distinguish members of various pairs by these calls.

Flexitarian Samples a 100% Plant-Based Vegetarian Diet

Blog author, Zoe Lintzeris, goes on not a vegan diet (because veganism isn't a diet--it's a social justice cause), but on a strict vegetarian diet for a week (meaning no animal products at all, including eggs, dairy, and honey) and a bit more as she stays away from beeswaxed lip balm too. Check out her honest opinion of it here:

"I Don't Diet, I Just Go Vegan"

F.A.A.R.M.'s Expertise is Helping You LIVE!

 

 

As of today, F.A.A.R.M. is in the Expert Health & Medicine category at LivePerson, answering any questions you may have about veganism--dietary, ethically, and environmentally. This category is technically titled: Health & Medicine: Diet and Nutrition, so F.A.A.R.M. can also counsel people on that in general as well, having worked professionally in managing health food stores and working in diet clinics for several years in the past, but the main focus will be on veganism:

 

Professional Service

I will help you to understand abolitionary veganism, and veganism as a whole, which is about diet, ethics and the environment, but it's mainly about ethics. While being vegan is mostly about ethics, I'll show you how all three can not be separate, as being vegan is about saving animals, humans and the entire planet. I will offer recipes, and suggest places as to where you can get very affordable vegan items of food, clothing and cosmetics, both online and offline. Proceeds from my services will go towards helping stray/rescued animals get fed, spayed or neutered and to help guardians take great care of their companion animals by providing healthy nutrition and great information for them as needed. So happy with the "virtual office"! F.A.A.R.M. is looking forward to serving you!

Veganism and Vegetarianism

I agree with everything Gary L. Francione says in this commentary below except he is wrong about one thing. Many, many people--including me--became vegan via being a vegetarian first. When I found out how cruel it is to eat animal flesh, being a vegetarian made me want to learn more about the subject and that naturally led me to veganism studies.

So, although I definitely do agree with Gary in that it is better to be a vegan for a day, or several days, or a week, etc., at first to eventually become a vegan, being a vegetarian first does work sometimes too on the road to being vegan. But yes, as Gary said, vegetarianism and veganism are very separate diets/lifestyles and should be promoted as such.

Commentary #1: Vegetarianism as a “Gateway” to Veganism?