Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts
Monday, March 16, 2015
Eat Your Fiber
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Monday, April 26, 2010
Traditional Americans Have Forsaken Tradition - to their Detriment
April 25, 2010
Saving American Indians' Diet
Eli Reichman for The Chronicle Review
Devon A. Mihesuah at home in her kitchen, Baldwin City, Kan., April 2, 2010
Enlarge ImageIf Devon A. Mihesuah had her way, American Indians would abandon their love of fry bread, quit drinking so much, and embrace a healthy, active lifestyle like that of their ancestors. As a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a professor of global-indigenous-nations studies at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, she has made it her goal to educate her fellow tribe members about the importance of nutrition and fitness.
Mihesuah has long sought to empower American Indians
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Vegetables, Fruits, Soy Help Prevent Breast Cancer
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| Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine 5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Ste. 400 Washington, DC 20016 | Phone: 202-686-2210 E-mail: info@pcrm.org | |
| Forwa |
Saturday, October 10, 2009
RAW Vegans in America's Entertainment 'Capital' (emphasize CAPITAL !)
Hollywood's Coolest Vegans
Here's what Wynter Mitchell says in his blog (these are NOT my words):
In this month's Maxim, actor Woody , who stars in next month's "Zombieland," discusses how a chance meeting with a girl made him become a vegan. When the stranger promised him it would cure his chronic acne, he claims the decision turned his life around.
The actor claims a meat and dairy diet ruined his skin and left him lethargic and sluggish. He's been on a raw food diet for 25 years. He tells the monthly, "I used to eat burgers and steak, and I would just be knocked out afterward; I had to give it up."
"The first thing was dairy. I was about 24 years old and I had tons of acne and mucus. I met some random girl on a bus who told me to quit dairy and all those symptoms would go away three days later. By God she was right."
Recently on "Top Chef Masters," the chefs were challenged to provide a vegan lunch for charming and Zooey Deschanel and about 20 of her friends. Simple right? Except she's gluten intolerant and doesn't eat soy. In other words, everything on her plate has to be totally raw. Explains her dewy skin and cheery outlook.
It got me thinking, who are some of the coolest vegans in Hollywood? And more important, will they have any impact on my rather bad eating habits?
Here are Hollywood Top Ten Coolest Vegans That Could Talk Me Into A Raw Food Diet:
10. Prince (especially if he put it into song)
9. Alec Baldwin
8. Olivia Wilde
7. Lenny Kravitz (see Prince)
6. Shania Twain
5. Fiona Apple
4. Kathy Freston
3. Zooey Deschanel
2. Casey Affleck
1. Ginnifer Goodwin
So, if anyone is interested in giving me a lesson in converting my junk-only diet into something of value and worth, and you are one of the top listed above, I'm available.
photo courtesy of veganbenalaru.files.wordpress.com
Monday, October 05, 2009
Vegan Food Professionals Can Promote Veganism for Fun and Profit
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Veganizing Standard Menus; and Normalizing and Publicizing the IDEA of all-Vegan Restaurants More and more diners either want meatless meals themselves (whether or not THEY are actually FT vegetarians) when they dine out, or diners want those meals for others - vegetarians or vegans who dine out with them (business colleagues, friends, family members, coworkers, et al.). Restaurants can save money by using fewer animal ingredients because plant-based items spoil less quickly. Less spoilage means less waste or 'shrinkage' of food supplies (and that saves money). Attracting vegetarian diners and selling meatless items (with the same profit margin calculated for their other food) to current and drop-in diners is a socially conscious way to make money while doing the right thing. Vegan dietitians, nutrition educators, nutritionists, culinary gurus, and others who are vegans who have dared to commit their scientific and educational careers to empowering the food side of veganism often are often Under-employed stay-at-home moms, and thus they are short of cash, but these under-employed vegan SAHMs can earn money while doing effective outreach to modify prevailing food habits at the 'supply chain' level. You will need or should have: * good working relationship with local vegetarian group(s) * basic business clothing * comfortable clothing for working with 'back of the house' (restaurant kitchen) * computer with Internet connection * stable Internet connection * commitment to veganism and its broad public desirability * good understanding of vegan food and vegan nutrition * broad vegan menu design skill and experience * web design skill or a partner wish with someone with wed design experience * good business sense * good selling and other persuasion skills * flexible daytime work hours without a need to haul a child around at the same time * restaurant or food service experience Veganizing Standard Restaurant Menus Under-employed dietitians, nutrition educators, nutritionists, culinary gurus, and others who are vegans who have dared to commit their scientific and educational careers to empowering the food side of veganism often are short of cash. Such vegan food professional go out to restaurants that are not vegetarian - and offer to VEGAN-ize the menus as follows (a modest fee – oh, perhaps $150 per restaurant - is charged): The vegan food professional understands food and looks at the pre-existing menu, comprehends the SORTS of things that could QUICKLY be 'veganized' by substituting one, two, or three vegan items for animal products, then types out that recipe. Ingredients chosen should be inexpensive, health-supporting, common (easy to find), versatile, and not distasteful. This process is repeated for each of the menu items which could be 'veganized', and the collection of all 'veganized' menu options is listed in a reasonable order, then the list is word-processed into a simple format (usually with the restaurant's contact information, logo, hours, and more. The electronic template is e-mailed to the management, and the vegan food professional keeps a copy and retains (unlimited non-exclusive) IP or intellectual property rights to the ideas, the menu, the menu (food) items, etc,. (so that s/he can use these identical ideas again (and the restaurant) is free to customize the items in their way. The vegan food professional’s (e-mail?) contact info is visible in small print on the menu. Then, when vegetarian or vegan diners (or diners with a vegan friend) arrive and ask about vegetarian options, the serving person brings out the 'very special menu' (the vegan menu), and the vegan diner is made to feel 'very special' with an all-vegan menu in a nonvegetarian restaurant. The vegan food professional also offers to coach the kitchen staff ('back of the house') on vegan food substitutions and to coach the serving personnel and host(s)/ess(es) and managers on how to attract, support, please, and retain veg(etari)an diners. The restaurant management is taught how more vegan items can be more profitable (less spoilage, thus less shrinkage or food loss). A possible synergy could be a two-fold advertising program. A website is maintained for the local vegetarian group(s), which feature these ‘veganized’ menu clients prominently but appropriately on the local vegetarian society’s website. The link opens NOT to the restaurant’s website, but to a CUSTOMIZED all-vegan-appropriate PAGE with (a) the restaurant’s all-vegan menu AND the restaurant’s appropriate contact information and hours, and a pop-up MAP (perhaps with travel directions from a typed in location). Also, the restaurant could offer a 10% discount on vegetarian (vegan) items ONLY to veg society members (when their show their vegetarian society or vegan association cards). © Maynard S. Clark - http:// Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com - Maynard.Clark@GMail.com Second Idea: no additional charge. Exciting Vegan Advocates about Vegan Restaurants Normalizing and Publicizing the IDEA of all-Vegan Restaurants (1) Humorous vegan restaurant business plans are written out and posted widely around the Internet, including 'themed' vegan items: e.g. The Boston Bean (either a vegan legume-based restaurant in Greater Boston, or else a global chain, as in SBC - Seattle's Best Coffee - need not be in Seattle), etc. Vegan laugh at the concept. SOME concepts 'catch on' and some ideas 'germinate' in the vegetarian and vegan online communities, and ideas happen, and more clever vegetarian and vegan restaurants emerge as clever veg(etari)ans who can get funding start opening such clever veg(etari)an restaurants. (2) Writers include vegan restaurants in their short stories, novels and novellas, radio and TV scripts, jokes and anecdotes, etc. Vegan dining is culturally 'normalized' (3) Songs – fun, humorous singable songs – are composed that have lyrics about ‘going to the vegan diner’ or dining out in a veggie eatery, etc. (4) Local vegetarian societies are encouraged to develop dining guides that include (i) all-vegan, (ii) all-vegetarian), and (iii) vegan-friendly eateries. The local vegetarian (or vegan) dining guide is put online. What’s missing with MOST online vegetarian dining guides is a list of WHAT vegan diners can BUY (and eat) in these vegan-friendly eateries. © Maynard S. Clark http:// Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com Maynard.Clark@GMail.com © Maynard S. Clark - http:// Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com - Maynard.Clark@GMail.com http://Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com "Making connections for plant-based diets" Vegetarian Resource Center (since 1993) P. O. Box 38-1068; Cambridge, MA 02238-1068 USA 617-571-4794 (cell) Maynard.Clark@GMail.com http://maynardclark.spaces.live.com - |
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Sunday, October 04, 2009
On World Vegetarian Day 2009, US WIC nutrition program expands to cover fruits, vegetables
~~ Maynard S. Clark: http://Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com
An internationalist view:
From Boston to Beirut, we need to have the fruit."
2001, Vegan Global Reflections on Peace and Rightful Human Moral Claims
~~ Maynard S. Clark: http://Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com
These changes in the supplemental US food package better reflect the US Federal government's dietary guidelines.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
An internationalist view:
An internationalist view:
"From New York to Kabul, we need to have the vegetables;From Boston to Beirut, we need to have the fruit."
2001, Vegan Global Reflections on Peace and Rightful Human Moral Claims
~~ Maynard S. Clark: http://Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com
WIC nutrition program expands to include the purchase of health-supporting, life-sustaining, disease-fighting high-fibre phytochemical-rich fruits and vegetables
These changes in the supplemental US food package better reflect the US Federal government's dietary guidelines.
Vouchers also can be used to buy whole grains, canned beans, baby food, and tortillas.
By Mary MacVean October 1, 2009
E-mail
PrintBeginning today (World Vegetarian Day), women and children who receive food vouchers through the federal government's WIC program will be able to use them to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
"It's a really welcome change," said Gail Harrison, a public health professor at UCLA who was on the national Institute of Medicine panel that recommended the revisions to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children -- the first major change in the program since it began in the 1970s. "The supplemental food package contributes a very substantial share of dietary intake, and so making it healthier is all to the good."
Added Laurie True, executive director of the California WIC Assn.: "We're in seventh heaven. We've been pushing for this for 20 years."
A typical family will get $14 a month for produce alone, True said by phone Wednesday. That breaks down to $6 for children; $8 for pregnant women and mothers of children 5 and younger; and $10 for mothers who are exclusively breast-feeding.
The changes, instituted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program, better reflect the federal government's dietary guidelines.
WIC predated the guidelines by several years and, because it was established at a time when hunger and anemia were problems, had emphasized consumption of calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and protein. The revisions reflect today's problems: obesity and attendant diseases such as diabetes.
The changes also will allow recipients -- more than 8 million low-income pregnant women, new mothers and young children -- to use WIC funds for whole grains, canned beans, baby food and tortillas.
Previously, recipients could buy infant formula and cereal, eggs, milk, juice, peanut butter and dried beans. Nursing mothers could buy fresh carrots for their vitamin A content.
The new provisions reduce the allotments for some dairy products and juice.
Congress funds WIC annually, with $6.86 billion in fiscal 2009; the changes don't increase the program's costs.
Pina Hernandez, the outreach manager for the Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC Program, which provides WIC services to 316,000 people in Los Angeles and Orange counties, said families would continue to receive about $60 a month in vouchers, but the mix of foods would shift.
Families are eager for the change because of the high cost of produce compared with other foods, she said.
Added True: "We have little kids who have never tasted broccoli, have never seen brown rice. . . . The issue is not just ignorance; the issue is cost and access."
All stores -- major supermarkets, corner stores, shops operating exclusively for WIC recipients -- that want to take part in the program will have to stock produce and whole grains, True said. That's 4,700 vendors in California.
A UCLA study, published last year in the American Journal of Public Health, found that "if you add vouchers for fruits and vegetables that they get used and used wisely," Harrison said.
Overall, few Americans are eating enough fruits and vegetables, said a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Tuesday.
In the report, the CDC said that 14% of adults and 10% of adolescents were eating the recommended amounts of both fruits and vegetables -- not including French fries -- for their age and size. The recommended amount is two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables per day.
mary.macvean@latimes.com
"It's a really welcome change," said Gail Harrison, a public health professor at UCLA who was on the national Institute of Medicine panel that recommended the revisions to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children -- the first major change in the program since it began in the 1970s. "The supplemental food package contributes a very substantial share of dietary intake, and so making it healthier is all to the good."
Added Laurie True, executive director of the California WIC Assn.: "We're in seventh heaven. We've been pushing for this for 20 years."
A typical family will get $14 a month for produce alone, True said by phone Wednesday. That breaks down to $6 for children; $8 for pregnant women and mothers of children 5 and younger; and $10 for mothers who are exclusively breast-feeding.
The changes, instituted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program, better reflect the federal government's dietary guidelines.
WIC predated the guidelines by several years and, because it was established at a time when hunger and anemia were problems, had emphasized consumption of calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and protein. The revisions reflect today's problems: obesity and attendant diseases such as diabetes.
The changes also will allow recipients -- more than 8 million low-income pregnant women, new mothers and young children -- to use WIC funds for whole grains, canned beans, baby food and tortillas.
Previously, recipients could buy infant formula and cereal, eggs, milk, juice, peanut butter and dried beans. Nursing mothers could buy fresh carrots for their vitamin A content.
The new provisions reduce the allotments for some dairy products and juice.
Congress funds WIC annually, with $6.86 billion in fiscal 2009; the changes don't increase the program's costs.
Pina Hernandez, the outreach manager for the Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC Program, which provides WIC services to 316,000 people in Los Angeles and Orange counties, said families would continue to receive about $60 a month in vouchers, but the mix of foods would shift.
Families are eager for the change because of the high cost of produce compared with other foods, she said.
Added True: "We have little kids who have never tasted broccoli, have never seen brown rice. . . . The issue is not just ignorance; the issue is cost and access."
All stores -- major supermarkets, corner stores, shops operating exclusively for WIC recipients -- that want to take part in the program will have to stock produce and whole grains, True said. That's 4,700 vendors in California.
A UCLA study, published last year in the American Journal of Public Health, found that "if you add vouchers for fruits and vegetables that they get used and used wisely," Harrison said.
Overall, few Americans are eating enough fruits and vegetables, said a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Tuesday.
In the report, the CDC said that 14% of adults and 10% of adolescents were eating the recommended amounts of both fruits and vegetables -- not including French fries -- for their age and size. The recommended amount is two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables per day.
mary.macvean@latimes.com
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Cells don’t like to be alone
Detached Early Cancer Cells May Die from Lack of Nourishment
Antioxidants Could Rescue Starving Tumors-to-be
http://focus.hms.harvard.edu/2009/082809/antioxidants.shtml
Antioxidants Could Rescue Starving Tumors-to-be
http://focus.hms.harvard.edu/2009/082809/antioxidants.shtml
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Detached Early Cancer Cells May Die from Lack of NourishmentAntioxidants Could Rescue Starving Tumors-to-beCells don’t like to be alone. In the early stages of tumor formation, a cell might be pushed out of its normal environment due to excessive growth. But a cell usually responds to this homeless state by dismantling its nucleus, packing up its DNA, and offering itself to be eaten by immune cells. Simply put, the homeless cell kills itself. This process, known as apoptosis, typically stops potential cancer cells before they have a chance to proliferate.  Photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services Joan Brugge and collaborators have identified metabolic defects with a lethal effect on cells that stray too far from their home environment. The defects might be a way for the body to stop potential tumor cells from proliferating. Now, researchers from the lab of Joan Brugge, the Louise Foote Pfeiffer professor of cell biology and chair of that department, have discovered another mechanism that these precancerous, homeless cells use to commit suicide. By studying two different types of human breast epithelial cells, the researchers found that when separated from their natural environment, these cells lose their ability to harvest energy from their surroundings. Eventually, they starve. “We originally thought that in order for cells to survive outside their normal environment, they would simply need to suppress apoptosis,” said Brugge, senior author on the paper, which appeared online Aug. 19 in Nature. “But our studies indicate that this activity is not sufficient to prevent the demise of homeless cells. Even if they escape apoptosis, these cells can’t transport enough glucose to sustain an energy supply.” Surprisingly, metabolic function is restored if antioxidant activity is increased inside the cells, allowing them to use energy pathways that do not rely on glucose. “It raises the interesting idea that antioxidants, which are typically thought to be protective because they prevent genomic damage, might be allowing these potentially dangerous cells to survive,” said first author Zachary Schafer, assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame and a former postdoc in Brugge’s lab.
“We think that genes with antioxidant activity play a much bigger role than antioxidant compounds administered from outside the body,” said Brugge. Beyond Cell Suicide The team had previously reported that when cells were endowed with a cancer-causing gene that prevents them from committing suicide, they still died when cut off from their extracellular environment. This puzzled the researchers since they had long thought that apoptosis was the only way the cells could die. In the recent study, Schafer and colleagues took a closer look, measuring the levels of proteins and molecules associated with metabolic activity in the displaced, but apoptosis-resistant, cells. They found that the cells had become incapable of taking up glucose, their primary energy source. Under the microscope, the cells also displayed telltale signs of oxidative stress, a harmful accumulation of oxygen-derived molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS). The result was a halt in the production of ATP, the molecular lifeblood that transports energy in the cells. The unmoored cells were literally starving to death. “The idea that a lack of extracellular matrix can prevent cells from accessing nutrients hasn’t been shown conclusively before,” said Schafer. “Loss of glucose transport, decreased ATP production, increased oxidative stress—all those things turn out to be interrelated.” Tumor Metabolism To figure out what was wrong, the researchers took a direct approach: they tried to fix it. Schafer engineered the homeless cells to express high levels of a gene, HER2, known to be hyperactive in many breast tumors. He also treated the cells with antioxidants in an attempt to relieve oxidative stress and help the cells survive. Both strategies worked. The cells with the breast cancer gene regained glucose transport, preventing ROS accumulation, and recovered their ATP levels. The antioxidant-treated cells also survived, but by using fatty acids instead of glucose as an energy source.
The researchers are currently planning to test the effects of antioxidant genes, some of which are abnormally regulated in human tumors, and a wider range of antioxidants in animal models. They also plan on characterizing the metabolic consequences of matrix detachment in more detail. “Ultimately,” Brugge said, “we want to understand enough about the metabolism of tumor cells so that new types of drugs can be designed to target them.” Students may contact Joan Brugge at joan_brugge@hms.harvard.edu for more information. Conflict Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Funding Sources: The National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health; the authors are solely responsible for the content of this work. top | |||||
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