Posts Tagged ‘vegetables’

Why Meat Can Magnify the Dangers of Alcohol

Saturday, December 1st, 2012

Your liver is a vital organ that is essential for health – and for survival. Drinking to excess can injure and eventually destroy your liver.

Wine and Cheese May Be a Particularly Toxic Combination

Drinking too much over a period of years is even more deadly than smoking. Alcohol can damage your brain, liver, digestive system, and other body systems. A recent study found that death rates were twice as high for alcohol-dependent men and almost five times as high for alcohol-dependent women, compared to the general population. Some studies have found small amounts of alcoholic drinks to be protective of heart health, although this may be due to beneficial phytochemicals in the plants the drinks were made from.

You should consult your physician to determine the amount of alcohol (if any) it’s best to set your limits at. The information in this article is educational and not intended to tell you whether you should drink or (if you do) how much; only a licensed health care professional who is familiar with your health history can do that.

Whatever your choice on consuming alcohol, you should know that that animal foods, such as meat and cheese, may boost the normal dangers of drinking by accelerating (more…)

The Physician Who Sends You to the Food Store, Not the Drugstore

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

Dr. Don Wagner broadcasts 5 days a week for an hour each day with top-notch guests. You can hear him anywhere with the show archives on the web.

Dr. Don Wagner Heeded “Physician Heal Thyself,” and Now Guides Patients with a Whole Foods, Plant-Based Diet Plan

Childhood was a health disaster for Don Wagner. Born with cardiac issues, including a hole in his heart and arrhythmias, he started life on medications and hospitalizations.

At age 4, he tumbled off a three story balcony in New York City, his childhood home. Paralyzed on his left side, he spent 6 months in a hospital with doctors helpless to get him to recover. Finally, still unable to move the left side of his body, (more…)

Whole Food, Plant-Based Recipes for Everyday Feasts

Saturday, March 24th, 2012

Me and David at the table just before dinner. David cooked such an excellent feast that I'm still thinking about it. Yet the recipes he used are designed for easy home cooking by anyone who want to eat healthy with a minimum of time in the kitchen.

David Gabbe Makes the Veg World More Delicious

Do you ever look around your kitchen and feel uninspired? You want a simple, tasty meal but can’t quite get it together to cook something.

David Gabbe, a Portland-based vegan cookbook author, cooking instructor, and speaker, can help you out. I was fortunate, on a recent trip to Oregon, to savor an excellent dinner at David’s house with him and his wife, daughter, and son-in-law.

My spirited, friendly hosts offered such a variety of enticing food that it was hard to know what to eat first. I ended up with a plate crammed with a whole grain medley, tofu cubes, Mexican-themed casserole, corn bread, baked yams, and kale salad. Home made chocolate truffles (more…)

The Perfect Formula Diet Top 10 List of Plant-Based Happenings in 2011

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

The Perfect Formula Diet awards for plant-based happenings in 2011. The "top 10" list with 11 awards for an important year for the plant-based world.

Actually Eleven of the Top Good, Bad, and So-What Legacies of 2011

As 2011 speeds to its end, it’s time to reflect on the top events, organizations, trends, and people that will have a lasting impact on American food choices. The Perfect Formula Diet (PFD) 2011 awards point the way to making 2012 a better year for you and the planet.

THE BEST FOOD OF THE YEAR:

Kale – Kale was all over the media in 2011. This vegetable is universally recognized as dense with minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals (beneficial nutrients found only in plants), and fiber – all with barely any calories. WebMD calls kale “the queen of greens” and notes it is growing in popularity.

A recent Huffington Post blogger calls kale “the new beef.” This is way too kind to the beef industry. However, the point is that you can get all the nutrients in animal foods by eating kale, in a way that is infinitely healthier for you and the planet. Kale comes in many varieties and colors, with flat or curly leaves. You can enjoy kale raw or include it in just about anything you cook. Find this easy-to-grow powerhouse in farmers markets and supermarkets all over the country.

MOST FUN WAY TO CONSUME THE BEST FOOD OF THE YEAR:

Green smoothies– In recent years, (more…)

Dead From Diabetes, Then Revived and Helping Others Thrive

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Mike Vee, dressed in black, in the days when he was eating meat and processed food and struggling with one health problem after another.

Mike Vee Is Transformed From Dead to Vigorous on a Whole Foods, Plant-Based Diet

Mike Vee is an amazing Facebook friend. I always enjoyed his posts, but when I learned he died in the emergency room and then was revived, I had to know more and wanted to share his story. Mike Vee has been working as a clinical dietitian for 25 years and presently provides medical nutritional therapy through a Federally Funded Grant for people living with HIV/AIDS in Trenton NJ. He reduced the number of meds he takes from ten to zero solely with a whole foods, plant-based diet.

What kinds of foods did you grow up eating?

Growing up as third generation Italian-Americans, our home life reflected this. We would have the prerequisite spaghetti and meatballs, veal and chicken parmigiana, escarole and beans, pork chops, flounder, beef stew, hamburgers and hot dogs and TV dinners. Most of the vegetables we ate came from a can and were heated up to a point of ashen green that shouldn’t be allowed on the color wheel in the scheme of things. My mom liked to bake more than she liked to cook and our waistlines often reflected this.

What kinds of foods do you eat now?

If it is in the plant family, I’ll eat it. Suffice to say, on occasion I do tangle with (more…)

Six Reasons Portion Control Will Make You Overweight

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

Why Serving Sizes Undercut Health and Weight Loss

Meals limited by portion control can feel so skimpy.

Run-of-the-mill diets focus on controlling the amount you eat by limiting portions. This is an attempt to fit a manmade, arbitrary concept (“serving size”) into a natural biological system (your body). While this strategy may work for some people for a short time, the long-term outcome is often counter to health and weight goals.

The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 is typical. Some of the serving sizes this report lists include:

• Bread: one slice

• Cooked rice: half a cup

• Cut up vegetables: half a cup

• Fruit: one medium piece

• Cooked beans: half a cup

• Milk: one cup

• Cooked meat, poultry, or fish: one ounce

• Soft margarine: one teaspoon

• Sugar: one tablespoon

Here are six reasons that portion control ultimately will not succeed in getting you to a trim weight and (more…)

Calcium Can Stiffen Your Arteries

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

Whole foods are dense with calcium because plants need this mineral to survive.

Calcium Supplements May Also Make Your Body Too Alkaline

Whole plant foods contain thousands of beneficial substances, including amino acids, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, complex carbohydrates, fiber, and phytochemicals, health-promoting nutrients found only in plants. These nourishing elements work together to form a vital tapestry supporting vibrant health.

Yet the media and commonplace nutritional advice focus on only a few isolated food components. Calcium is one of the most overhyped nutrients, largely because of the clout of the dairy industry. The myth is that (more…)

Protection from Radiation: Five Ways Plant Foods Guard Your Health

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

For high levels of radiation, stay away. Essential workers must be suited up for protection. You can't avoid low levels of radiation. Suit up with whole foods.

Diet Helps Shield You from Radiation and Cancer

The struggle to contain radioactive releases at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has focused the world’s attention on the hazards of radiation. However, even without such incidents, you are subject to harmful radiation every day.

Low-level background radiation bathes the earth. Cosmic rays are penetrating subatomic particles. According to NASA, about 100 of these particles bombard every square meter of the planet at sea level every second – and will pass through you if you are in their path. The number of powerful cosmic rays increases rapidly with altitude.

Additional radiation originates from (more…)

Eleven Risky Mistakes the USDA Makes About Plant-Based Diets

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

The USDA should be teaching Americans that healthy food is also appetizing and delicious.

You’ll Need Bigger Clothes If You Follow the Government’s Advice

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched their Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 with great fanfare. Mostly, the Guidelines are more of the same wimpy advice that has been making Americans fatter and sicker for the last several decades.

The 2010 Guidelines does have a new twist, though. The USDA makes a half-hearted effort to lay out a 100% plant-based eating plan. Appendix 9 of the Guidelines is labeled “Vegan Adaptation of the USDA Food Patterns.”

What a silly task, to “adapt” plant-based eating to a framework built on animal foods that create obesity and disease. This is like writing Shakespeare by (more…)

What Kind of Soup is Best for Colds?

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

 

Colds, watch out. This potent "medicine" is heading your way.

A Well-Known Study Gives Unexpected Insight

Colds, flu, and all manner of upper respiratory infections blossom in winter. Modern medicine has no effective cure for the patient’s misery. Some drugs can temporarily help with symptoms, but may have unwanted side effects that make things worse in the long-run.

So what is a desperate sufferer or their family member to do? Folk cures abound. Chicken soup is reputed to be useful in alleviating cold symptoms. In fact, a scientific study published in 2000 in the peer-reviewed medical journal Chest is often cited to support the idea that chicken soup has real clinical effects. The action the study authors see as most beneficial in helping with cold misery was the demonstrated (more…)