The Meat Myth - There's Protein Elsewhere!

I am asked all the time if it is necessary to be a total vegetarian or vegan to be healthy?  People just seem to panic at the thought of not eating meat.  And there are a lot of myths about meat worth discussing.

Do I eat meat?  On a very rare occasion.  That puts me in the category of Flexitarian, not Vegetarian.  Meat is very hard for our bodies to digest, beef in particular, and digestion takes energy.  I prefer my body have an easy time of breaking down the food into usable nutrients.  Ever feel sluggish after a meal?  That would be due to over-eating or consuming foods that your body has a hard time digesting so it shuts off everything else to do the work you just gave it.

If you absolutely must have a steak now and then, do not, I repeat do not, eat it with starch - like the famous combo of meat and potatoes.  Have your steak with a large salad and skip anything white with it - except cauliflower of course.  There is a fabulous recipe for smashed cauliflower that is a great substitute for mashed potatoes.  It isn't entirely fat-free but I've served it at dinner parties to rave reviews. (If you can't find it on line, email me and I'll send it to you.)  The point here is that the steak will take energy to digest, and if you add the starch it will take longer and most of the fat you just ate will be stored somewhere you don't want it! 

One of the biggest reasons to cut back or eliminate meat is that unless you buy organic, the meat is not safe to eat.  There is too much scientific evidence to ignore.  The "animal farms" are disease-laden hence requiring massive amounts of anti-biotics injected into the animals just to keep them alive long enough to slaughter.  It is not a pretty picture.

And yes, organic meat costs more.  The remedy?  Eat less but eat organic.  We don't NEED as much meat in our diets as we've been told.  (And who is telling us to eat it?  The meat industry - duh!) 

The biggest myth about meat in regard to it being the source of protein we "should" eat is, in a fun word, BALONEY!  There is protein in nuts, beans, eggs, oatmeal and yes, veggies too.  Here's a quote from Natural News on the subject:

" 5-8% of fruits' calories are protein; vegetables and darker greens contain 20-50%; and sprouted seeds/nuts contain 10-25%. So, Lettuce gets 34%, while Broccoli and Spinach get 45% and 49% respectfully. Beans range from 23-54%. Most people on a standard meat diet are actually protein deficient. Hemp seeds, macca powder, quinoa, flax, spirulina, greens and sprouts- all super foods are high in protein."

Oh my, what are THOSE strange things, Susan?  Quinoa, hemp seeds  and etc. are wonderful additions to have a nutrient rich body.  I'll be doing blogs on each of these  wonderful foods coming up.  And I just know you will get a kick out of the post on chia seeds coming.   Known as Super Foods, they are fabulous additions  for optimum health to start including in your eating healthy program.

Here is a tidbit I picked up from the latest webinar I attended.  The Bush White House had a totally organic kitchen - and the Obama White house is strictly organic as well.  Seems they know something, eh?

But the MOST interesting tidbit of all - the cafeteria and restaurant at Monsanto's headquarters is organic!
The very demon contaminating our entire food supply is Monsanto.  They have company though, there is a list of several huge corporate giants all doing their best to turn a profit at our expense.  Since Monsanto is largely the GMO producing devil, I tend to single them out more than the others.

Apparently, people in the know KNOW to eat organic.  And now you know too!

Drugs R Us - It's ALL about Money, not Health

I found this movie trailer on Dr. Mercola's site - you can see much more on YouTube if you care to explore yet another example of the marketing "genius" we are witnessing in terms of the drug industry.  I had heard, oh about ten years ago, that the drug companies had a goal - seriously - to get every single man, woman and child on some kind of drug for some kind of reason.  Seems they figured out we'd rather pop a pill for every little thing than actually deal with it.

This movie, sadly, shows that their goal is actually working!  There is little, if any, science behind this outrageous marketing campaign first of all.  But perhaps most importantly, these drugs really screw up the body, you know, all those little cells we are supposed to feed proper food to in order to have good health.

Acknowledging that there may be a few drugs that actually SAVE LIVES, the majority of drugs on the market do not.  You are far better off working with a holistic practitioner who can assist you with nutrition and vitamins/minerals, getting proper exercise and learning to deal with stress than popping pills.  I guess the key operative word in the above sentence is "working" - as in working with a holistic practitioner.  As Dr. Mercola says "take responsibility for your own health".  There is a current wave of people doing just that, and if enough people tune in to the deceptive marketing practices we've been subjected to, this wave will soon be a tsunami!

Watch this brief video.  But don't you get all bummed out by this now.  Just stand up, breathe, and know that there IS another way!

Spring Pantry Clean - Throwing Out the Toxins!

I recently attended a very intense week-long webinar called the Great Health Debate where  more than a dozen assorted highly respected doctors and nutritionist and food experts gave at least an hour long presentation on THEIR take of the best and healthiest diet.

Let me preface this by saying I really hate the word "diet".  It seems too depriving, like negatively having to "give up" stuff, too restricting.  I know everyone uses it, even me, but I don't like it.  There.  I said it.  Maybe a better choice would be to simply say I am eating to live - rather than living to eat?  After all, watch how much time we spend talking about food.  It should be a non-issue perhaps?  Just eat what you need to nourish your little cells and talk about, and do, other things?  Well, just a thought.

Anyway, I digress.  This conference was amazing!  From strict vegans, to meat eaters, from raw foodists, to smoothie lovers - one heck of a lot of information!  What it all boiled down to, even with all the varying backgrounds and opinions is this common ground:

Most participants agree that most of the disease in industrialized countries results from dietary excess, especially from the use of excess animal food, (including dairy) and added oil, salt and sugar and other refined carbohydrates.


There are also problems that come from deficiency issues including low vitamin B12, vitamin D and possibly DHA resulting from too low an Omega 3 fatty acid intake or to much omega 6 fatty acids.

Improving the essential fatty acid rations may result from increasing vegetables, flax seeds, walnuts and reducing or eliminating the use of oils, especially fried foods and foods with added oil.

I would like to Re-emphasize "most of the disease in industrialized countries results from dietary excess, especially from the use of excess animal food, (including dairy) and added oil, salt and sugar and other refined carbohydrates."

I am sometimes amazed that I can spend so much time attending conferences, listening to lectures, and reading books that all finger the same basic "bad guys".  It does comfort me, in an odd sort of way, by lending a bit of credence to what I counsel people about and write about. 

Awhile back, I blogged about the two leading causes of disease - toxins and deficiencies.  You can get both from eating food!  We are a nation of over weight people who are starving -  deficient in the proper nutrients but certainly not looking all that deficient, eh?  I think there is a third cause of disease I'm going to add in and that would be unconsciousness.  Why unconsciousness?  Because we eat things without thinking, really thinking, about what is going in our mouth.  We can't seem to get beyond that "but it TASTES so good" into asking just WHAT is this going to do inside my body?  Everything you put into your mouth affects everything in your body.  I know that sounds simplistic, but indeed it is.  You don't have to be a scientist.  The more pure (unadulterated and unprocessed) a food is, the better it is for you. 

Now that spring is here, if you haven't started adding more fresh foods to your plate, and as snacks, how about now?  If not now, when?  Spring clean the food cabinet, really read the labels.  Recently there was a big deal made of contaminated peanut butter.  The ingredients on peanut butter jars should be : peanuts, salt.  Period.  If you grind your own peanuts, you can make your own peanut butter without all the additives - same with sunflower seeds, almonds or just about any nut/seed.  If you want it creamier, add a bit of flax seed oil and it will spread nicely.
(I did a blog a month ago on peanut butter and the potential of aflatoxins in peanuts, so you know I'm not a big fan - preferring almond butter - but I use this as an example today for checking labels since most pantries have peanut butter.)

Point is - go through the food supplies that are sitting in your cabinets or pantry and give label reading a go.  You may be surprised what snuck in there when you weren't looking.

A nice spring pantry purge - check those expiration dates as well if you tend to stock pile when things go on sale.  Check labels for bad guys like MSG - I found it was in instant broth cubes I used to use - say bye-bye!  If you want a detailed list of other things to look for, shoot me an email.  Basically if you don't really know what the ingredient is,  or you cannot pronounce it, say bye-bye to it.  There is plenty of REAL food in the stores to take its place.

I was excited to hear a news blurb last week that "they" were looking into food dyes and additives as a possible explanation to hyper activity in kids.  Then a few days later "they" toned it all down.  I ran a video about an experiment in a school on just this subject - I'll post it here.  "They" really don't want to reveal the truth, as usual.  Food dyes and additives are neurotoxins and there is absolutely nothing good in them for anyone, especially kids.  Avoid them all!!!!  On this video you'll hear some specifics to avoid - do watch this, it's amazing!

Anti-Aging? Listen up!

I can remember my dad telling me not to over-feed my dog.  I loved giving treats to my best pal, but he insisted that if I made the dog over-weight, he wouldn't live as long.  He also told me that Skippy would love a green bean or an apple slice just as much as a hot dog.  It was the IDEA of a treat, so give something that is good for him.  Sure enough, dumb ole Skippy would perform his "sitting up" for a silly green bean - AND he ate it just as happily!

Funny how this all comes back to me now.  I've been doing research on anti-aging which, at 63, is no surprise I suppose.  And over and over again I read and hear lectures on exactly what my dad told me about my dog!  Less weight, live longer.

Of course there is a buzz about Vegan diets, Raw Food diets, and Calorie Restricting diets.  I have studied them all.  I do come away with the knowing that every single person is unique and that is the way I work with my clients, not lumping everyone into one diet or program.  I, myself, practice a Flexitarian lifestyle with food with an occasional piece of meat and randomly having some dairy (yogurt or cheese).  I feel it rounds out my nutrient consumption as well as allowing me to be "socially acceptable" with friends who do not subscribe to my intensive scrutiny of food.

Looking at the food consumption over-all in the average person, adding more raw veggies is probably the single most important thing to do.  You will get ALL the vitamins and minerals that way since cooking them destroys more than half of those essentials nutrients.  It doesn't mean that you become a Vegan by any means.  You will have not only more essential nutrients but fiber which will fill you up.  This could morph into calorie restriction too which is the great benefit to anti-aging right there.

I selected a video from Dr. Gabriel Cousens.  I have studied his books and research and although he is a Vegan himself, he offers up some valuable information on foods and anti-aging.  (If you are reading this on Facebook and the video doesn't show up, just go directly to   http://www.todayspath.com which is my website and click on blog - you can also sign up to receive it in your email, but again I think you will need to click on the name of the blog in the email to actually GET the blog with the video)