Ramanisblog

Tag: Vegetarianism

  • From 222Kgs. To 95 Kgs. In A Year. No Starving/Pills.

     

    BEFORE THE DIET

    Breakfast: White toast with butter

    Mid-morning: Bacon and egg sandwiches
    Lunch: Sandwiches, crisps, chocolate bars

    Mid-afternoon: Crisps (sometimes 15 packets a day)

    Dinner: Chinese takeaway or spaghetti Bolognese made from a pre-prepared sauce with garlic bread

    Snacks: Crisps and chocolate

    AFTER THE DIET

    Breakfast: Weetabix or porridge with chopped banana
    Lunch: Jacket potato, beans and cheese with a mixed salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion and celery
    Dinner: Roast dinner with vegetables or pasta dish made with chopped vegetables, lean smoked bacon and passata
    Snacks: Fat free yoghurts, fresh fruit or fresh fruit salad or Alpen light bars

    Zelda, left, in 2006, and, right, last month. She used to regularly eat 15 packets of crisps a day Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1373914/Slimmer-year-Zelda-Haxby-sheds-half-body-weight.html#ixzz1IprhE2vE

     

     

    Note the Diet.

    It has more of vegetarian Diet.

    Had she cut non-veg., she could have made the transition swiftly.

    Another important factor is her fear of ridicule.

    Anxiety and Fear has a telling effect on weight, though I would not recommend it.

    I have personal experience of this.

    I dropped 8 kg in a month because of  worry.

    ( stone to kg conversion Link–http://www.convertunits.com/from/stone/to/kg)

    Story:

    A 35-stone mother who used to gorge on up to 15 packets of crisps a day and struggled to even walk up the stairs has lost 20 stone so she could live to see her two sons grow up.

    Zelda Haxby, 47, was so overweight she refused to leave the house for fear of being ridiculed and could not manage everyday tasks like doing the shopping.

    But after being hospitalised five years ago the mother of two from York vowed to turn her life around for the sake of her boys, Liam, 19, and 15-year-old James, and has now been crowned Slimming World’s Greatest Loser 2011. In the process she dropped from 35st 7lb to 15st 7lb and from a dress size 36 to a 14-16.

    She said: ‘When I was in hospital that was the final straw for me. I hated being away from my two boys and I realised that if I didn’t lose some weight I might leave them without their mother for ever.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1373914/Slimmer-year-Zelda-Haxby-sheds-half-body-weight.html#ixzz1IpsD6xoT


  • Parents ‘misled’ by food nutrition labels

    As things stand, manufacturers give out misleading and often incorrect information.If. you do not read even that,then it is highly dangerous.
    As a rule, nutrition obtained from natural resources, especially vegetarian, is best for the body.
    Instead of packeted cereals, buy whole grain, wash it thoroughly, dry it and make it into a powder,sieve it and use.It is not difficult.The effort is worth your health and money.
    For vitamins take vegetables and for iron,greens , leafy vegetables , dates and pure honey(one tea spoon daily in empty stomach).
    Nine out of 10 mothers questioned in a British Heart Foundation (BHF) survey misunderstood the nutrition information on children’s foods.
    The BHF says mothers believe claims such as “a source of calcium, iron and six vitamins” mean a product is likely to be healthy.
    A “mish mash” of different food labelling styles is fuelling confusion among shoppers, it added.
    But manufacturers insisted their nutritional labelling was clear.
    The survey found that 76% of mothers questioned believed that “wholegrain” means the product is likely to be healthy.
    However, the BHF said that – for example – Nestle’s Honey Shreddies, which claim to be wholegrain and to “keep your heart healthy and maintain a healthy body”, contain more sugar [13.6g] than a ring doughnut [9.2g] in an average serving.
    Kellogg’s Coco Pops cereal and milk bars are labelled as “a source of calcium, iron and six vitamins” and 63% of mothers in the survey thought they were healthy.
    The BHF said that for every 100g they were higher in saturated fat and sugar than the average chocolate cake.
    The Natural Confectionery Company Jelly Snakes which are made by Cadbury’s contain more calories gram for gram than black treacle, the BHF said.
    Single labelling scheme
    Almost three in five respondents believed that the phrase “no artificial flavourings , no artificial colourings” indicated a healthy treat.
    The questionnaire found that 84% of them wanted a single, front-of-pack food labelling scheme.
    Peter Hollins, BHF chief executive, said: “Mums are having the wool pulled over their eyes by food manufacturers.
    “Smoke and mirror tactics means that foods targeted at children and high in fat, salt and sugar are being disguised with partial health claims suggesting they are a healthy choice.
    “Regularly eating these types of foods could have serious implications for kids’ future health.”
    A single unified labelling system for food is needed because it the “mish mash” of the different systems serves only to confuse shoppers, he added.
    “It’s time for food companies to stop making excuses , support one system and ensure shoppers are given ‘at a glance’ information about the foods they’re giving their kids.”
    A spokesman for the Natural Confectionery Company said: “All we claim is that the sweets contain no artificial colours and flavours – which is true – so we’re not sure why this should confuse anybody.
    “All nutritional information is clearly labelled on the bag.”
    And a spokesman for Kellogg’s responded: “A Kellogg’s Coco Pops Cereal and Milk bar actually contains less than two teaspoons of sugar per bar and has half the calories (84) and far less fat than a chocolate bar.
    “Parents understand this because we give them the information they need, through our front-of-pack labelling, to make similar comparisons.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8421326.stm

  • 10 Signs Vegetarianism Is Catching On

    Good Sign.
    Story:

    On Thanksgiving, I spent some time taking stock of my life and the world around me and, as we’re supposed to do over the holiday, giving thanks for all the joys — little and big — in my life. One of the larger joys for which I am giving thanks is all of the recent attention that has been lavished on a topic that is near and dear to my heart — the cruelty and environmental harm involved in raising animals for food.

    I struggled to cohesively construct an article about some of the many recent and important developments on this topic, but there is just too much. Instead, I decided on a top ten list (a tip of the hat to David Letterman) — the 10 most interesting articles on the farmed animal welfare front.

    So without further ado:

    1. World Bank scientists conclude that eating meat causes more than half of global warming (conservatively).

    World Bank agricultural scientists Robert Goodland, who spent 23 years as the Bank’s lead environmental advisor, and Jeff Anhang, a research officer and environmental specialist for the Bank, argue convincingly that more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to our desire to eat chicken, pigs, and other farmed animals. That’s right: Add up all the causes of climate change, and you find that eating meat causes more than everything else combined.

    Honestly, this was the biggest point for me: How can I possibly take the environment seriously if I’m still participating in what is — by far — the biggest contributor to warming?

    Which might explain:

    2. Prominent Stanford biochemist pledges to focus ALL his energy on promoting veganism.

    Most of us have heard of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. RK Pachauri from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and his lectures all over the world promoting vegetarianism. Now along comes Dr. Patrick O. Brown who, as reported in (of all places) Forbes, will spend the next 18 months focused on “put[ting] an end to animal farming.” Explains Dr. Brown, “‘There’s absolutely no possibility that 50 years from now this system will be operating as it does now… I want to approach this as a solvable problem.’ Solution: ‘Eliminate animal farming on planet Earth.’”

    3. Al Gore is taking notice.

    Although Gore’s Global Warming Survival Handbook noted that “refusing meat” is the “single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint” (emphasis in original), Gore had not spoken publically about the issue. Now he has — repeatedly. For example, on Larry King recently, Gore explained that “the impact of meat-intensive diet is a significant factor” in warming the planet, that “the growing meat intensity of diets around the world is bad for the planet,” and that “the more meals I’ve substituted with more fruits and vegetables, the better I feel about it…” The truth is becoming less inconvenient, thankfully.

    4. Celebrated author of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close publishes riveting book based on three-year investigation of factory farming.

    Jonathan Safran Foer has been widely hailed as one of the greatest novelists of his generation, was one of Rolling Stone’s “People of the Year,” and Esquire’s “Best and Brightest” — and after just two extraordinary works. As Nobel Prize for literature novelist J.M. Coetzee puts it about Foer’s latest work, “The everyday horrors of factory farming are evoked so vividly, and the case against the people who run the system presented so convincingly, that anyone who, after reading Foer’s book, continues to consume the industry’s products must be without a heart, or impervious to reason, or both.”

    In his interview with Mother Jones Magazine (the entire interview is worth reading), Foer points out that Americans “now eat 150 times as much chicken as we did 80 years ago,” and that it “takes between 6 and 26 calories to make one calorie of meat. It is an incredibly inefficient protein because we are cycling through all of these other grains that humans could eat.”

    5. Actor Alicia Silverstone and Chef Tal Ronnen on the New York Times bestseller list.

    For some weeks now, Chef Tal Ronnen’s Conscious Cook and actress Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Diet have joined Foer and former model agent Rory Freedman (whose book convinced home run slugger Prince Fielder to adopt a vegan diet) on the list with books that make the case for vegetarian eating. You may recall Ronnen from his appearances on Oprah, which caused Oprah to exclaim, “Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying.”

    6. Martha Stewart promotes a vegetarian Thanksgiving.

    As my friends at Ecorazzi put it, “Martha Stewart has proved once again why she’s a pioneer in the kitchen. Having someone with as much sway as the famous host show people that the big feast doesn’t have to include meat to be successful is huge. Even better, she took the opportunity to educate her audience on factory farming industry — with help from author Jonathan Safran Foer (of Eating Animals) and filmmaker Robert Kenner (Food, INC.).”

    7. Egyptian mummy heart disease in LA Times

    I’m not sure it belongs in my top 10 list, but I found it extremely interesting that “CT scans of Egyptian mummies, some as much as 3,500 years old, show evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which is normally thought of as a disease caused by modern lifestyles…” What on earth could have caused it? I think I know: “The high-status Egyptians ate a diet high in meat from cattle, ducks and geese, all fatty.” If only the ancient Egyptians had the wisdom of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn!

    8. Honesty at the Turkey Pardoning

    First Obama talks about factory farming and animal rights as a candidate. Then he puts in a garden at the White House. Now he’s adding some honesty to the annual turkey pardoning — talking about the fate of other birds, the fact that it’s a fairly new ceremony, etc.

    Might he have celebrated a vegetarian Thanksgiving? The White House isn’t saying, according to Gail Collins of the New York Times in her delightful Thanksgiving Day contemplation of the turkey pardoning. Okay, I’m kidding a bit (could he really get away with having a veggie Thanksgiving, given the power of Agribusiness — as documented in this sad piece on FoodConsumer.org), as was Collins of course, but the honesty at the event is refreshing, and we do have the first President who understands the harms of factory farming and who is taking global warming seriously.

    9. Cargill launches dairy-free cheese!

    The largest privately held company in the United States (six times the size of McDonald’s) has just launched “a 100 percent non-dairy cheese analogue for pizza and other prepared food applications” that “replicates the functionality of dairy protein and replaces it fully at an outstanding cost advantage for the manufacturer.” According to Cargill, “its appearance, taste and texture perfectly match those of processed cheese” and it “also offers health advantages as it contains reduced calories (less fat and no saturated fats) and… a unique opportunity for vegans to enjoy a product that has the characteristics and taste of cheese but without any animal-derived ingredients.” It’s also Halal and Kosher.

    10. Yet another study is exposing the horrid treatment of workers by the all-powerful meat industry.

    A recent six-part piece in the Lincoln Journal-Star documents the horrid conditions endured by slaughterhouse workers. Sadly, nothing has changed since Human Rights Watch released their report on the industry, “Blood, Sweat, and Fear,” six years ago. Then and now, researchers have documented “systematic human rights violations embedded in meat and poultry industry employment.” It’s becoming all too obvious that if we care about worker rights, it makes sense to go vegan.
    http://www.alternet.org/story/144241/10_signs_vegetarianism_is_catching_on?page=entire

  • Eating Meat May Cause Sickness, Paralysis and Death.

    Published in AlertNet

    By Tom Laskawy, Grist.org. Posted October 12, 2009.
    http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/143136/warning:_eating_meat_may_cause_sickness,_paralysis_and_death/?page=entire

    This year almost half a million pounds of E. coli infected beef have been recalled and sadly the government is far more concerned with protecting companies than public health.

    It’s hard to draw any other conclusion from Michael Moss’s New York Times blockbuster investigative piece on E. coli in industrial beef, which is centered on the plight of Stephanie Smith, a young dance instructor left comatose, near death and now paralyzed from eating a single Cargill hamburger. Of course, a “single hamburger” can include meat from hundreds, some would say thousands, of animals. As Moss puts it:

    Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say. Despite this, there is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen.

    This is why a food safety expert who helped develop tracking systems for E. coli in meat can declare that, “Ground beef is not a completely safe product.” No kidding. The problem, however, is not with E. coli in general. The problem is that the particular strain of E. coli which infected Smith — known as E. coli O157:H7 — is virulent, deadly, persistent and endemic in industrial beef. How virulent, deadly and persistent? This much:

    Food scientists have registered increasing concern about the virulence of this pathogen since only a few stray cells can make someone sick, and they warn that federal guidance to cook meat thoroughly and to wash up afterward is not sufficient. A test by The Times found that the safe handling instructions are not enough to prevent the bacteria from spreading in the kitchen.

    In other words, if a piece of infected meat ends up in your kitchen, you are almost guaranteed exposure to it no matter how carefully you handle it. And how endemic? This year alone almost half a million pounds of E. coli infected ground beef have been recalled nationwide (and that doesn’t include the 800,000 pounds of Cargill beef recalled for contamination with antibiotic-resistant salmonella). Indeed, if Moss’s work proves anything, it’s that the safety systems in industrial beef processing are both barely functioning and almost fully opaque. And while the government is able to peek behind the curtain at these massive slaughterhouses and processing facilities, it seems far more concerned with protecting companies’ intellectual property than with the public health:

    The meat industry treats much of its practices and the ingredients in ground beef as trade secrets. While the Department of Agriculture has inspectors posted in plants and has access to production records, it also guards those secrets. Federal records released by the department through the Freedom of Information Act blacked out details of Cargill’s grinding operation that could be learned only through copies of the documents obtained from other sources. Those documents illustrate the restrained approach to enforcement by a department whose missions include ensuring meat safety and promoting agriculture markets.

    In one of the most chilling, and I thought devastating, quotes in the entire piece, a top official at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service observed that his options were somewhat limited since he had to “look at the entire industry, not just what is best for public health.” Note the fact that his phrasing sets the meat industry’s needs at odds with ours — the two can’t be reconciled in his eyes. What does that say about the government’s ability to ensure a safe food supply? No matter how you structure it, the industry now appears too big and too powerful to be regulated. What other explanation is there for the fact that the top food safety job at the USDA remains unfilled if not regulatory paralysis — the meat industry seems to have veto power over its regulators and hasn’t found a federal overseer to its liking.

    One area that Moss does not cover is how E. coli O157 got into industrial beef in the first place. In fact it’s there because of the meat industry’s insistence on feeding cows corn — something they cannot easily digest — instead of grass. Among other things, corn feeding requires cows to be fed a steady dose of antibiotics, which has led to the rise of antibiotic resistance among various pathogens. But more importantly, it has caused very real changes in the cow’s gut which has allowed this toxic strain of E. coli to take hold, a strain that research suggests cannot survive in the gut of cows that eat only grass.

    In short, E. coli didn’t just “happen” to the meat industry — it’s a consequence of industrial practices. But nowhere in the article (or in the halls of the USDA or the largescale beef producers for that matter) is the possibility of moving away from this corn-based system raised as a solution for the industrial system. Surprisingly, the article includes virtually no proposed solutions for this crisis — just vague assurances that the USDA isn’t “standing still” on the issue. In reality, the industry focuses exclusively on “managing” the ongoing presence of E. coli O157 though the development of an E. coli vaccine for cows, and irradiation or chemical washes for the meat. All of which are attempts to mask the risks of a failed system and represent an institutionalizing of the underlying failures. And none of which make me ever want to touch industrial meat again.

    Indeed, if there ever was a powerful argument for eating only grass-fed beef from small producers, this article is it. The only conclusion worth drawing from this expose is that industrial ground beef simply isn’t worth the risk. And without wholesale industry and regulatory reform — neither of which appears likely or even possible, it may never be.
    Comment:
    When one eats nen vegetarian food,the animal proteins are converted into vegetable proteins and only then is ingested by human system.Why then go for non veg. food?

    Remember, animal’s meat ,which we eat, gain their nourishment from vegetables and grass.

    Why don’t we go to the source as animals do?

    Also meat has a chance of being infected as is evidenced in this case.

  • Vegetarianism

    Non vegetarian foods contain infections transmitted to animals genetically and also acquired by the animals.Also our system has to convert animal protein to vegetable protein during digestion.As an aside , from where do the animals get their proteins?-from vegetables.Why do not we go the source?