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VEGETARISM Note: Not everyone wants to become a vegetarian. For some, an occasional vegetarian meal suffices to complete one's need of vegetables, fruits and vegetable proteins, and as a way to live healthier and lower one's cholesterol. Some dedicate one day a week as their vegetarian day. It is a personal choice and we respect it fully. We have no intentions to impose any diet on anyone. The following information may simply serve as a means to inspire you to add some vegetarian meals to your life. We, at the Kaivalya centre have been vegetarians for decades and are happy to report a health that is likely above the average. But still, we do not wish to impose this diet on anyone; we believe in a free, educated choice about our lifestyles and diet. Warmest regards, Lynne and Jürgen
Ask the Vegan Athlete, and article by Brendan Brazier (with 2 recipes) Food for Thought! - On vegetarianism and the Ethical Treatment of Animals, by Lynne Cardinal Great Vegetarian Restaurants in Ottawa
Ask the VEGAN ATHLETE Question: What foods are best to eat after exercise to promote recovery? Answer: I hear this question with increasing regularity as people are becoming more aware of the importance of recovery. This is a good sign because it means most are starting to truly understand just how fitness is improved. Simply put, stress (training) combined with adequate rest and proper nutrition is the recipe for improved performance. Interesting to note, the better the nutrition, the less rest needed, therefore the faster performance improves. …Immediately following a workout, once hydration has been achieved, the best foods to consume are fresh fruit with a small amount of protein. Fresh fruit is easy to digest and the naturally occurring sugar it contains helps to quickly restock depleted muscle glycogen stores. The protein further speeds the uptake of sugar into the system. However, the amount of protein must be small at this meal, comprising 25% or less of the total number of carbohydrate grams. This is usually referred to as a 4:1 ration, meaning that for every 4 grams of carbohydrate, there is 1 gram of protein. Another requirement of the protein is that it be easily digestible, ideally in liquid or pudding type consistency. Medium firm tofu is a good option for a post-workout protein source. It is certainly easy to digest and contains magnesium and calcium, two important minerals necessary for smooth muscle contraction. The body needs to restore calcium and magnesium after exercise because they are both excreted in sweat. This snack should be consumed within 45 minutes of the time the workout has ended. If the body is made to wait longer, recovery will be impaired. The following is a recipe for my favorite post workout snack, Chocolate Recovery Pudding, taken from my book THRIVE: A guide to optimal health and performance through plant-based whole foods: CHOCOLATE RECOVERY PUDDING ¼ pound (100 mg) medium
firm tofu – protein, calcium Blend all ingredients together until
reaching a consistent texture. I recommend a food processor. NUTRIENT-RICH SHAKE 3 cups (750 ml) water (or 2 cups
water and 1 ½ cups ice) Blend together. For variety, add either a tablespoon of raw pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Raw carob powdered r is also a good addition. The ease of digestibility, the high pH (more alkaline), the raw protein source, and the nutrient density are all major advantages that post-workout vegan food sources have over animal-based ones. Vegan or not, for the first few hours after a workout, abstaining from animal products can facilitate a quicker recover. Brendan Brazier is a Canadian professional Ironman triathlete who is
vegan (no animal products – no meat, no dairy products) and author
of Thrive: A Guide to Optimal Health and Performance through Plant-Based
Whole Foods. Visit www.brendanbrazier.com
for more information --------------------------------------------------------------------
Food for Thought!
According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 800 million animals are slaughtered yearly in Canada. Those animals live a very painful and unnatural life, ending in the slaughterhouse. This article is an invitation to take a closer look at this unethical tragedy. So many things are taken for granted in our society that we are forgetting the art of investigation. To question deeply is not encouraged; the general tendency is to just trust. Every day false maxims are repeated throughout the media, often supported by corporations considered to be reputable, creating in the consumer a false sense of confidence in the system. This contributes to our loss of the very essential faculty of scepticism or the ability to question, which propels us to go and discover the true facts for ourselves. Only through such inquiry can we form our own opinion, based upon facts as we see them. Is it right and necessary to consume meat in this day and age? Have we ever questioned the methods used by factory farmers? The desire to live ethically and honestly is surely the natural evolution toward an integrated sense of oneness with all living beings. Leonardo Da Vinci prophesied the following: "The time will come when we look upon the murder of animals as we now look upon the murder of men.” Hopefully this statement will one day become a universal reality. If we demonstrate a grave lack of conscience and ethics toward innocent creatures, how can we ever hope to see a better world where peace, not war, is fostered. Closing our eyes to animal atrocities will surely have negative repercussions on the whole of society. If we learn to respect life on a very basic level, this will definitely have an effect on all other levels of society. Everything is interrelated. There is presently a growing need to take a step in a new direction. I believe that if we begin with exposing the horrifying massive factory farms, more and more people will become aware that this unethical treatment of animals must stop. This won’t be easy. We will have to re-evaluate our ethical codes; but our children will be inspired by our honesty and commitment and they will echo our resolution throughout their lives. We must not waver. Not only will the animals benefit, but this new consciousness, inspired by non-violence and sensitivity, will have many profound effects on our environment. We must expose and eradicate this stagnant blindness in our society. Recently, Ingrid Newkirk, President of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said in her keynote address to the Animal Rights 2002 conference: "The human species isn’t very bright; it just thinks it is. Every summer, PETA serves veggie hot dogs at public events. They taste much like other dogs. But there are always some people, usually men, who come up and say, ‘Yuck! Vegetarian dogs! What’s in those things?’ And we say, ‘Vegetables, soybeans." And they wrinkle their noses. I always wonder if they would be happier if, just once, we said, "Oh, sorry, no, these are the meat hotdogs. What’s in them? Let’s see. Ground muscle, ear skin… blood, nose skin, rectums…" Having stood on the kill floors of slaughterhouses for chickens, cattle, horses, and even dogs, when I smell KFC it is the smell of hot death. A smell that permeates the entire slaughterhouse and gets in your clothes. It conjures up memories of seeing all the fear in the animals’ eyes and the way they seem to scream at you, unbelieving, "Help me! This can’t be happening to me!" This text might shock you, but I believe we live in a time when the desire to be properly informed is rising strongly. We need to take a look and reflect. Do you have a domestic animal? You can surely see in them emotions similar to ours, and even a faithfulness that we don’t always find among humans. Would you put your little puppy in a very small closed box to fatten him up, force-feed him hormones and substances that are contrary to his nature? And if you were to hear your little pet moan, tortured by boredom, ankylosis and muscular atrophy, would you watch him moan while you licked your lips at the thought of roasting him? All animals –– without exception –– are sensitive creatures with feelings. It is unacceptable to torture them solely because we were wrongfully told that it is essential to have meat in our diet. Many scientists have been surprised, facing the now unavoidable fact, that the consumption of meat causes cancer and multiple other ailments. Vegetarianism’s popularity is ever increasing; more than one million Americans are adopting this diet yearly. Albert Einstein, one of the most famous vegetarians, stated: "Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind." The rock star Moby said: "Basically we should stop doing those things that are destructive to the environment, other creatures, and ourselves, and figure out new ways of existing." Dr. Neal Banard, President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine stated: "Meat diets lead to heart attack, cancer and strokes. It is not necessary to eat meat. In fact, it is a death sentence for the planet. To produce one pound of meat, we need sixteen pounds of grains. The hungry part of the planet would prefer the sixteen pounds of grain, which would sustain them longer and in a more efficient way." Some who have visited slaughterhouses describe their experiences as being among the worst of their lives. Often animals are macerated (ground up alive). Fortunately, some laboratories that experiment on animals have been closed; and more and more companies who make aesthetic products no longer conduct animal testing. There is a slow increase in awareness and I see this as ultimately leading to a more compassionate and loving society. As Mahatma Gandhi said: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way their animals are treated." To live intelligently and with integrity is the road to true happiness. Let us choose to simplify our lives, eliminate animal products from our diet and continue to move in the direction of non-violence and compassion for all beings! Lynne Cardinal An important environmental element related to the use of water and meat eating according to Dr. David Suzuki, click here
I am enclosing parts of a remarkable book entitled: The Food Revolution by John Robbins, which was published in 2001. The Food Revolution p. 44 What we know : Death rate from breast cancer in the US : 22.4 (per 100,000) Breast cancer rate for women in Italy who eat a lot of animal products
compared to women in Italy who don`t : 3 times greater The Food Revolution p. 47 Is that so? « A low-fat plant-based diet would not only lower the heart attack rate about 85%, but would lower the cancer rate 60% » * William Castelli, M .D . Director, Framingham Health Study; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The Food Revolution p.49 Is that so? « It`s a myth that beef contributes to cancer. » * National Cattlemen`s Beef Association « If you step back and look at the data (on beef and cancer), the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero. » * Walter Willett, M »D » Chairman of the Nutrition Department. Harvard School of Public Health, and director of a study of 88,000 American nurses that analyzed the link between diet and colon cancer.
Also note that you can find 42 pages of biographical notes at the end of The Food Revolution to confirm the sources of the many quotations found in the book. To see a very moving video on vegetarism and compassion, click here: www.petatv.com/tvpopup/videodirect.asp?video=chew_on_this
Vegetarian Stats* * Number of American becoming vegetarians or vegans per year: One million. *Sources: National Zogby Poll, British Medical Journal ******************* "Eliminating animal foods from your diet reduces the risk of some of our biggest killers. According to Dr. T. Colin Campbell, nutritional researcher at Cornel University and director of the largest epidemiological study in history, "The vast majority... of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other forms of degenerative illness can be prevented ... simply by adopting a plant-based diet." Heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, and other diseases have all been linked to meat and dairy consumption. "It`s never too late to change your habits for the better. Changing your diet isn`t nearly as inconvenient as enduring a heart bypass operation, suffering paralysis from a stroke, or facing chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer! Going vegetarian is the single best thing you can do for your health." * from the PETA Vegetarian Starter Kit, available at no cost, with wonderful recipes and important facts about becoming a vegetarian at: http://goveg.com/VegKit/index.html "There`s no reason to drink cow`s milk at any time in your life. It was designed for calves, not humans, and we should all stop drinking it today." * Dr. Frank A. Oski, former director of pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University " Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of
coronary disease of any group in the country... they have a fraction of
our heart attack rate, and they have only 40 % of our cancer rate. On
the average, they outlive other people by about 6 years now." * * * From the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an international nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, VA. (http://www.peta.org/) Q.: "Don’t humans have to eat meat to stay healthy?" A.: Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Dietetic Association have endorsed vegetarian diets. Studies have also shown that vegetarians have stronger immune systems than meat-eaters and that meat-eaters are almost twice as likely to die of heart disease, 60 percent more likely to die of cancer, and 30 percent more likely to die of other diseases. The consumption of meat and dairy products has been conclusively linked with diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, clogged arteries, obesity, asthma, and impotence. _______________________ Veg Nutrition 101 * Variety is the key to health for any diet. Vegetarians choose from
grains, vegetables, legumes, beans, nuts, seeds and fruits. Eggs and dairy
are optional. According to the U.S. RDA, people should get 8-10% of their daily calories from protein; the World Health Organization's estimate is lower. Most plant foods greatly exceed this amount: potatoes have 11% of calories from protein, wheat 15%, tomatoes 20%, beans 20-30%, and broccoli 45%. If someone in this society consumes adequate calories, it is virtually impossible not to get enough protein. Other nutrients can also be easily obtained from a vegan diet, including: Calcium - seeds, green vegetables, and oats ________________________ The best of foods* Soy -- Many soy products in the U.S. are now allowed to carry a label
stating that they may help prevent heart disease. Soy may also ease the
symptoms of menopause and protect against osteoporosis and cancer. The worst of foods Hamburger -- Ground beef labeled 80% lean is in fact 20% fat by weight,
and 70% fat as a percentage of total calories. Ground beef ismore likely
to contain dangerous E.coli bacteria than any other food. From "Here's why I'm a vegan" in the liner notes of Play, Moby's latest album: "You can feed lots more people with grain directly than by feeding
that grain to a cow and then killing the cow.... All of the waste from
animal farming gets washed into our water supply, poisoning our drinking
water and fouling our lakes, streams, and oceans." Five good reasons to go vegetarian: 1. Longer, healthier life:Vegetarians are at lower risk for heart disease,
cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, food poisoning and obesity.
Vegetarians avoid flesh foods which are high in cholesterol and saturated
fat, and completely lacking in dietary fibre. Some web sites to visit on this subject: http://www.webdirectory.com/Health/Vegetarianism/ http://www.cs.unc.edu/~barman/vegetarian.html http://www.earthsave.bc.ca/index.html http://www.webvalue.net/recipes/ http://www.vegweb.com/
The society People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals publishes product lists in two other formats: a pocket-sized "Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide," updated twice yearly, and the Shopping Guide for Caring Consumers, an annually updated directory of companies that don't test on animals, which includes lists of their products, coupons, and contact information. To order contact PETA. For a list of companies that are committed not to do tests on animals: http://www.stopanimaltests.com/c-cconsdont1.html For more information on animal testing: http://www.peta.org/feat/whitman/about.html http://www.petamall.com/cc/ccdonttest.html
We are all interrelated, reciprocally connected Quotes: "The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them, that's the essence of inhumanity." Isaac Bashevis Singer "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." Albert Einstein "I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals." Henry David Thoreau "Suppose that tomorrow a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth, beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals. Would they have the right to treat you as you treat the animals you breed, keep and kill for food? - John Harris "I was so moved by the intelligence, sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on the film "Babe" that by the end of the film I was a vegetarian. - James Cromwell "It's a man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man." - Dr. Albert Schweitzer - Nobel 1952 "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian." Paul McCartney Quick Stats from "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins: - Risk of death from heart disease for vegetarians compared to nonvegetarians: Half (p. 19) - Patiens with high blood pressure who achieve substantial improvement by switching to a vegetarian diet: 30-75% (p. 29) - Annual medical costs in the United States directly attributable to smoking: $65 billion (p. 95) - Annual medical costs in the United States directly attributable to meat consumption: $60-$120 billion (p. 95) - Catle alive today on Earth: More than 1 billion. Weight of world's cattle compared to weight of world's people: Nearly double. - Area of Earth's total land mass used as pasture for cattle and other livestrock: one-half. - Grassland needed to support one cow under optimal conditions: 2.5 acres. - Grassland needed to support cow under far more common marginal conditions: 50 acres. - Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2 - Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from corn or wheat: 3 - Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie from beef: 54 - Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released by driving a typical American car, in one day: 3 kilograms - Amount released by clearing and burning enough Costa Rican rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger: 75 kilograms - Water required to produce 1 pound of U.S. beef, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association: 441 gallons - Water required to produce 1 pound of California foods, according to Soil and Water specialist, University of California Agricultural Extension, working with livestrock farm advisors: 1 pound of lettuce: 23 gallons -----------------------------------------------------------------
Great Vegetarian Restaurants in Ottawa: Here are a few addresses of some of the greatest vegetarian restaurants in Ottawa and Gatineau areas (though the vegetarian diet can easily be accomodated in all restaurants): The Green Door Restaurant Vegetarian and Organic Foods Since 1988. The Green Door Restaurant is Ottawa's oldest and best known vegetarian restaurant. Specializing in high quality foods and baked goods made from ingredients that are locally grown and produced. Healthy Vegetarian Buffet - 198 Main Street - Ottawa - 613.234.9597 Soup'Herbe café Cafe Soup'Herbe is a non-smoking
establishment that serves vegetarian fare. Located on Chelsea's main street,
the eatery features a terrace and has a liquor license so patron can enjoy
a drink outside during the summer. Address: 168 chemin Old Chelsea Chelsea
QC J9B 1J3 Gaïa The Table
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