HELPFUL TIPS FOR PERMANENT WEIGHT LOSS & REACHING YOUR IDEAL WEIGHT! (PART 4 OF 4) - EAT THE BEST FOODS FOR HEALTH & WELLNESS

HELPFUL TIPS FOR PERMANENT WEIGHT LOSS & REACHING YOUR IDEAL WEIGHT! (PART 4 OF 4) - EAT THE BEST FOODS FOR HEALTH & WELLNESS!

Over the past month, my Weekly Blog posts were dedicated to the major health issues resulting from following a poor diet, using food for emotional purposes, and lacking proper physical exercise. Last week, we began exploring dietary suggestions that can help us attain our natural weight and bring us back to health. Today, we will examine the changes in our diet and our eating habits that will keep moving us towards our healthy weight objectives! 

By following a few simple tips and implementing minor changes in your nutritional intake, you will soon find yourself effortlessly moving toward your permanent health & wellness objectives and reach your natural weight.

1. Stay away from processed food! If you're unsure what processed foods are, follow a simple rule; 'Anything that comes in a package and has more than 1 ingredient is essentially processed.' Remember that processed foods  essentially means 'dead' food, i.e. food that has no nutritional value to your body, that is 'empty' calories! To be nutritional, food needs to provide your body with the essential vitamins, minerals, and enzymes it needs to survive and thrive.

2. Buy your grains, legumes (rice, oats, barley, beans, lentils, etc.), nuts, and seeds in bulk, if you can. They will be fresher and you will lessen the risk of them having been processed or contaminated in some manner. 

3. Always favor Whole foods! For instance, for all your grains' needs, choose the WHOLE/ BROWN option! That means pick brown rice, whole wheat pasta, hole grain bread, etc, rather than their nutrient-stripped derivative. Stay away from white flour, rice, pasta, etc. Again, those are 'empty calorie' foods that build a compact ball of dough that sits undigested in your stomach and go on to block your colon. Remember, deprived of their husks which acts as roughage to help the process of digestion and elimination (peristalsis), the denatured foods that you eat are no longer filled with vitamins and nutritious qualities and prevent the healthy regular movement of your bowels.

4. Pick the 'No Sugar Added' over 'Sugar Free' alternative in all foods. The first option either has no sugar or uses a healthy alternative to sugar such as natural fruit juices or extracts* or completely natural sweeteners such as Stevia (*which is not the best but a better option for sure). The latter usually contains highly questionable products such as artificial sweeteners that have been linked to some types of cancers. When choosing whole grains breads, tomato sauce, or cereals, pay extra attention as there are currently only about 1 or 2 brands that do not ad any sugar or sugar replacement (such as high fructose syrup or other sugar alternatives) to their original ingredients. They do exist and are a much healthier alternative, so be sure to look for them.

5. Choose Organic over conventional foods, whenever you can. Some foods are more susceptible to collect and retain the pesticides and insecticides used in traditional agriculture than others. Following is a high level list of such foods which you should absolutely eat organic; Baby Food, Strawberries, Rice, Green and Red Bell Peppers, Milk, Corn, Bananas, Green Beans, Apples, Cherries, Celery,  Apricots, Peaches, Grapes, Soybeans, Potatoes, Raisins, and Cucumbers. If you really can't buy these organic foods, make sure to peel the skin off of them and to wash them thoroughly - possibly with an organic fruit & vegetable wash product, thereby removing as much of the pesticides and insecticides residues as possible. 

6. Prefer 'Natural' to fully conventional foods. In no way does 'natural' mean 'organic'. It might be better than conventional altogether as it excludes GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms) but it can still be grown using highly undesirable pesticides and insecticides. So only use it as a 'second choice'.

7. Keep to a Raw diet as much as you can, only cooking grains that are just too hard to digest or cannot be easily eaten sprouted. Raw means 'Alive', and since the purpose of eating is to bring Life into the body, that makes for a much more effective process to provide you with optimum nutrition and vitality!  Don't cook what doesn't need to be cooked! You may be used to cooking everything and enjoying that taste of 'cooked' foods right now, but once you switch to raw food, you'll soon notice how much tastier food becomes and how much energy you actually get out of your food! That's real nutrition! Pace yourself when making the switch so that your body's digestive system builds back up and your taste buds get acquainted to new tastes and flavors.

8. Steam, grill or bake! If you are going to eat cooked food, choose one of those 3 healthier alternatives. Also, never cook vegetables for more than a few minutes as heat alters the natural 'chemical' structure of any element, and that is also true with food! As you might have noticed before, when you cook vegetables for more than a few minutes, they soon lose their vibrant colors and therefore their vitamins and minerals!  

9. When boiling food, use a healthy water source (see below) and keep the 'juice' as a refreshing and vitamin-packed drink!

10. Do not use a Microwave to cook or heat up your food! If you are currently using a microwave, you are actually depriving your food of all nutritional value. Think about the level of heat required to get something that usually takes 1h to cook to do it in less than 5-10 minutes. If you are willing to compromise for the sake of convenience, that's fine but just remember that you are just filling up on empty calories when eating microwaved food and that you should therefore add a reliable liquid vitamins & minerals supplement to your daily diet in order to make up for that loss.

 11. Stay away from fried foods as much as possible! Not only has it been cooked and therefore stripped of its nutritional value (vitamins and minerals) but if it's soaking in 'fat', it's not going to be healthy for you liver and your belly (where most of the fat storage occurs), let alone your arteries and your heart. Instead of frying your food, select one of the cooking methods described above. And If you really can't resist fried food, try using just a tablespoon of sesame oil and adding a little water for stir-fries and the likes. Using a little Tamari (a healthier alternative to soy sauce) or Amino Acids (Raw Coconut or Bragg) to which you add a little water also gives a great taste and texture to food cooked in a frying pan. The best oil for heat use remains Extra Virgin Olive Oil (cold-pressed) and Canola Oil.

12. Discontinue the use of salad dressings and oils in your salads wherever you can. Look at oil in a new light; imagine how many sunflower seeds you need to make a whole bottle of sunflower oil and ask yourself if you could actually consume that many seeds without feeling physically sick. Great alternatives to dressings and oils - which afford myriads of health-giving properties of their own, include: crushed avocado, grated mango, apple, or lemon, all kinds of seeds (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, flax, etc.)  If you absolutely need to use oil, favor pure extra virgin olive oil or canola - both of which are rich in monounsaturated fats, the kind that help reduce “unhealthy” LDL cholesterol and boost “healthy” HDL cholesterol.

13. Stay away from Dairy products, if you can help it. Without entering into the controversial debate about milk and dairy and why its over-consumption can be detrimental to your health, it is worth noting that a large number of people are lactose intolerant (and some don't even know it.) Bloating and weight gain have long been associated with the consumption of dairy.  It also has a high level of fat which doesn't help your arteries (heart disease) and causes the formation of mucus in the body, which is associated not only with colds and the likes but with many of the less desirable modern diseases such as cancer. (For more on that, read Dr. T. Colin Campbell's Best Seller, 'The China Study') But If you really feel the need for that morning coffee 'enema', lose the milk!  There are so many healthy alternatives to milk nowadays that you are bound to find your pick. Most of these now come naturally fortified with Vitamins B12 and D as well as Calcium (so that you don't miss out on the good 'things' your body needs to remain strong and healthy). Almond, Rice, and Hemp are amongst the healthiest and best choices, and have the extra advantage of tasting naturally sweet without any added sugar. 

14. Switch to more Alkaline choices for your beverages! Sodas and mineral water are very acidic to the body. Most recently, doctors have even started warning people against using Spring water which minerals contribute to blockages in the arteries. In order to remain healthy, it is important that the body's PH level remains slightly alkaline rather than acidic. Our modern diet tend to make our body acidic, a state in which dis-ease can develop and thrive. Therefore using alkaline beverages such as Kangen water or green tea in place of soft drinks and regular water is a smart move.  Kangen water is known to be the most alkaline water of all and to be highly oxygenated, bringing a large supply of fresh oxygen to the whole body through all-day hydration. Further, Kangen water is renowned for its antioxidant properties which helps prevent and fight cancer.

15. Introduce 'fat-cutting' foods into your daily diet. Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (a teaspoon in 8 oz of water, 3 times a day), Papaya, Pineapple, and Grapefruit are all known for their enzymatic content or/ and 'fat-burning' properties. They will break down existing fat storage and prevent more from taking place. DaIly consumption of the first is greatly advised, especially since it also aids fight arthritis and pains and aches in the bones and joints. Small amounts of the one of the others will help greatly with digestion and to break down fat. All around, these are miracle foods to help fight fat! Of course, there are always more but these are great and cheap too!

16. Consider fasting from time to time! Fasting doesn't have to be all the way, i.e. no food! This kind of fast can actually be detrimental to the body if you are not ready for it.  Start slowly based on your current diet and health condition and build it up. If you have a really poor diet or know your body to be highly 'toxic' don't go all the way since you might be causing more harm than good. Whatever you do, drink lots of water all throughout!  Fasting for you could just be cutting out all greasy and processed foods and switching to healthier foods such as fruits and vegetables for a few days. It could also consist in going on a mono-diet, eating one one food at a time for a few days (healthy that is!). If you are a little healthier, it would be having fresh juices and smoothies only for a week or more. And if you are a hardcore and experienced faster, you could go on a 'water' only fast, though I would not recommend this type of fast but rather using a blue-green algae (such as E3LIve) in your water in order to continue to bring a non-invasive yet optimal nutrition to your cells while ripping the benefits of fasting.

17. At this point, providing you with a list of the healthiest foods to eat is beyond the scope of this Weekly Blog post as it requires a separate post of its own (which we'll cover next week). However if you follow the 'live food only' rule, you'll be eating the healthiest food and feeling great all the time. Until next week, 'eat as much fresh, unprocessed foods as possible; that means, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables (the green leafy kinds are packed with vitamins and antioxidants) and freshly sprouted legumes (beans, lentils) and seeds. Miso soup and sea vegetables (algae) should be integrated into any diet to make it most complete and healthful!  And keep drinking the most healthful beverages you can find (Kangen water, E3Live, Green Tea, Raw Coconut Water should be top on your list!)

For more on how to effect permanent changes in your life or ways to achieve permanent weight loss and gravitate towards your ideal weight, consider our Holistic Cleansing Programs which cater to all dimensions of your being. Visit us at www.thesouthbeachdetox.com and www.letloverule.us.

Next week tune in for our weekly "Health & Wellness" blog post covering the final addition to our Special on 'Food/ Lifestyle for Healthy Weight Management'. This last article will feature all the great foods that should be incorporated into our daily diet in order to balance both body and mind, keep healthy, and attain permanent weight loss objectives (or simply achieve our 'ideal' weight). 

Food & Nutrition: '4 Reasons To Eat Almonds'

Food & Nutrition: '4 Reasons To Eat Almonds' 

Dr. Weil's Weekend Tip, January 30, 2011

Almonds, eaten in moderation, are a very healthy snack.  They are alkanizing to the body, keeping you healthy and free from disease.  They contain vitamins and minerals necessary to the body's proper functioning. For more, read below.

Some of the best snacks you can enjoy (in moderation) are nuts, and almonds in particular. The benefits are plentiful - almonds contain:

1. Monounsaturated fats that help reduce the risk of heart disease

2. Protein to provide sustained energy

3. Calcium for strong and healthy bones

4. Magnesium, which promotes normal blood pressure and healthy metabolism

I recommend unsalted or low-salt almonds that are raw or dry-roasted as a staple in your pantry. Toss almonds in a salad, cereal or yogurt; chop finely to use in a marinade or coat tofu "burgers"; or simply enjoy them on their own!

Other ways to eat almonds include vegetarian paté or stuffing for pears; almonds are versatile. 

FOOD, VITAMINS AND NUTRITION:VEGETARIANISM AND VEGANISM

VEGETARIANISM & VEGANISM

'President Clinton goes VEGAN' 

Reuters News - Monday, September 20, 2010

'Bill Clinton chooses life over death!'   Faced with the grim outlook of degenerative heart disease and motivated by his desire to live a long, healthy life and see his future grand children grow, President Bill Clinton has decided to go become vegan.  Given the impressive results Clinton has experienced in the reversal of his condition, this might just be the impetus needed for the generation of boomers already well set in their ways to decide to change their lifestyle and embrace better health. To watch President Clinton talk about his experience with veganism on CNN, be sure to visit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ied_AD4iE.  For more, read below.  

'I'm trying to be one of those experimenters', said Clinton. 'Since 1986, several hundred people who have tried essentially a plant-based diet, not ingesting any cholesterol from any source, has seen their bodies start to heal themselves -- break up the arterial blockage, break up the calcium deposits around the heart. 82 percent of the people who have done this have had this result, so I want to see if I can be one of them.'  Just hours ago, Ecorazzi received exclusive information from a friend of Clinton (who wishes to remain anonymous) regarding first-hand conversations with the former president about his vegan diet.  According to our source, Clinton decided to adopt the diet in the early part of May. While he does occasionally eat fish, the former president otherwise follows a strict vegan diet.  What made him go vegan? According to our source, Clinton has read many books on the topic, including books by T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish.  Although losing weight was a benefit of the dietary change, the choice to go vegan was about more than just losing weight.  'I've never known him not to say what's on his mind', says our source. 'And he knows quite a bit and likely has a lot to say about the benefits of a vegan diet.  He has read The China Study, and he knows the issues. With time, I think it's likely he could become the most

outspoken proponent of a complete vegan diet.'

'Beyond judgment... A million reasons to become vegetarian and enjoy a long, healthy life'

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Beyond any judgment or preaching, the main, logical reason for becoming vegetarian is self preservation. The consumption of animal products causes the pH of the body to become acidic, leading to cellular degeneration and the onslaught of disease. This has been confirmed in hundreds of scientific studies. An acidic pH in the body is the primary precurser to all disease.  Further, when you choose a vegetarian lifestyle, you not only help yourself, but you help the planet as well.  Objective statistics related to meat consumption and how it affects our health, our environment and our peace of mind support Vegetarianism as the most viable option for ourselves and out planet.  For more, read below.

Over a billion cattle populate the earth, with a combined weight greater than the entire human population. They are sustained unnaturally in these numbers to satisfy demand for their flesh. They are a primary cause for the destruction of the environment.  Beef cattle return only 1 pound of meat for every 16 pounds of grain and soybeans they are fed, causing huge inefficiencies in food utilization, while millions of people go hungry.  Animal-based diets are high in saturated fat, excessive protein and cholesterol, leading to heart disease and stroke, nearly 50% of all deaths in the U.S.  It takes about 2,500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of meat. According to Newsweek, "The water that goes into a 1,000 pound steer could float a destroyer."  In contrast, it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat.  The world's cattle alone (not including other livestock) consume food enough for 8.7 billion people. Over a hundred million of tons of grain go to animals while only 5 million tons of grain could adequately feed the 15 million children throughout the world who starve to death every year. By feeding grain to livestock, we lose 90% of the protein, 96% of the calories, 99% of its carbohydrates, and 100% of the fiber.  A meat-eating American needs 3-1/4 acres of cultivated farm land per year;  vegetarians only require 1/6 acre per year.  There are virtually no laws against cruelty to animals raised for food in the U.S.  Meat contains no essential nutrients that cannot be obtained in higher quality directly  from plant sources.  Grotesque methods of reproduction are employed on animal farms. One method of animal procreation employs so called "teaserbulls" (cattle) or "sidewinders" (boars) to identify females in heat. Their penises are surgically re-routed to come out of the sides of their bodies so that they cannot reproduce directly. These mutilated, frustrated studs exist only to identify fertile females. The cows or sows are artificially inseminated.  Meat would cost over $35/lb. if the water used by the meat industry were not subsidized by the U.S. government. Livestock production accounts for twice the pollution of industrial sources in the U.S.  Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a key researcher involved with The China Study, says "In the next 10 to 15 years, one of the things you're bound to hear is that animal protein is one of the most toxic nutrients of all that can be considered."  Risk for disease increases dramatically when even a little animal protein is added to the diet.  The planet's entire petroleum reserves would be exhausted in a just over a decade if the whole world adopted the technology used in the U.S. to produce the standard American meat-centered diet.  Trees are being cut at an alarming rate to clear land for meat production. If tomorrow people in the U.S. switched to vegetarian,, 200 million acres could be returned to forest.  "Redskins" are chickens on the conveyer belt to death which missed not both the brine filled electrified stunning trough but also the knife that was to cut their throats and bleed their bodies. Their deaths occurred in the scald tank where feathers are loosened before plucking. Piles of them are thrown aside every day.Chicken feed is routinely laced with hormones and antibiotics to allow agribusiness the efficiency of massive flocks under intensive confinement. Only with massive drugs, a practice begun in the fifties, can such cruel and brutal conditions be maintained. These hormones and antibiotics make their way into those who eat their flesh causing hormonal imbalances and antibiotic resistance.  Meat-centered diets are linked to many kinds of cancer, such as cancer of the colon, breast, cervix, uterus, ovary, prostate, and lung.  U.S. livestock produces 20 times the excrement of the human population. Their waste no longer serves to fertilize pastures a little at a time, since they spend much or all of their lives in factory sheds or feedlots. Wastes are often simply flushed away dangerously raising ammonia and nitrate levels in our drinking water.  Going vegetarian helps to clean up our nation's water more than any other single action.  The human digestive system is not designed for meat. A natural carnivore's bowel is relatively short (2-3 times the length of its torso) and smooth inside, a human's bowel is 12 times the length of the torso and deeply twisted and puckered. The carnivore has much stronger digestive acids. In the long convoluted human digestive tract, meat putrifies and becomes toxic to the body.  John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America, says that a dairy cow living in today's modern milk factory "is bred, fed, medicated, inseminated and manipulated to a single purpose -- maximum milk production at minimum cost. She lives with an unnaturally swelled up and sensitive udder, is kept inside a stall her entire life, is milked up to 3 times a day, and is kept pregnant nearly all of the time with her young taken from her almost immediately after birth. "Contented" is the characteristic most often attributed to the cow. However, cows in factories are fed tranquilizers to calm their frazzled nerves."  On a calorie basis, spinach has 14 times the iron of sirloin steak. Animal products are deficient in vitamin C which is needed for iron absorption. Male cattle in the beef industry are castrated to make them more docile and to promotes a fattier (more profitable) animal. Anesthetics are seldom used.  The typical egg factory may hold 80,000 hens per warehouse with 4 or 5 layer hens squeezed into a 12" x 18" cage. Poultry producers de-beak their chicks with hot-knife machines to prevent the crazed birds from killing each other in response to their intense confinement.  The National Cancer Research Institute found that women who eat meat daily are almost 4 times more likely to get breast cancer than those who eat little or no meat.  At the expense of their own hungry populations, exporters in poor countries produce luxury foods such as meat to sell to rich countries. Meat is much more profitable than subsistence crops of rice, beans and vegetables. Cattle are responsible for 12% of the methane emissions. Methane contributes to global warming by trapping 25 times more solar heat than carbon dioxide.  Pigs in today's factory farms are often stacked two and three decks high in space just big enough to fit in. They stand on metal or concrete slats which painfully cripple the legs of half of them before slaughter. Their entire lives are lived this way. Pigs have a similarly high intelligence and sensitivity as the family pet dog.  Mother's milk from a nursing woman who eats a diet rich in animal sources is so toxic that if it were to be sold across state lines, it would be subject to confiscation and destruction by the FDA.  Two hundred years ago, American topsoil averaged 21 inches. Today, it's only about 6 inches. Each year an area the size of Connecticut is lost to topsoil erosion. Livestock production is responsible for about 85% of this erosion. Fish concentrate toxic chemicals. Consumer Reports (Feb., '92) notes that the incidence of unacceptable levels of PCB's and mercury were found in certain species of fish.  Ingesting PCB's is considered a primary cause for the sperm count in American men to be 70% of what it was 30 years ago. Half the world's fish catch is fed to cattle, which concentrates the poisons.  Drugged animals in factory sheds are supposed to have their drugs stopped at a certain time before slaughter. Withdrawal schedules are often lax. Troughs of old, drug-laden feed are not removed when withdrawal should begin. Since animals are often fed animal waste and flesh, drug and pesticide residues accumulate.  The common cold, as well as allergies to dust, cats and pollen, are likely to go away when milk is removed from the diet. No other mammal in nature drinks milk after weaning, or drinks the milk of other species. Cows will not even drink cows milk after weaning.  USDA meat inspection today is virtually non-existent with sometimes as few as 3 out of 1,000 carcasses checked. Federal inspectors are not allowed to stop the assembly line if a problem is sighted, they may only complain. Many cancerous carcasses pass inspection.  Cattle grazing destroyed most of the lush ecosystems in North America. Grazing is the primary cause for the loss or endangerment of plant species in the U.S.  The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Food and Nutrition Board recommend eating only 2.5% to 6% of one's calories as protein to satisfy requirements. It's nearly impossible to get below 9% with a vegetarian diet. Typical Americans eat 28% of their calories as animal protein and an additional 12% as non-animal protein. High protein intake is the primary cause of osteoporosis.  About 98% of all milk in the U.S. is produced with factory methods. Today's factory cow is fed dangerous levels of hormones to produce two to three times more milk than normal. After about four years, when the hormones no longer work, the spent cow becomes hamburger. Slaughter ends the agony of mostly solitary, intense confinement,  in which our friend has never seen a blade of grass. A cow naturally lives 20 years.  Cattle grazing is subsidized on public lands in the U.S. The market rate is about $6.40 to $9.50 per month per cow, many government permit holders pay less than $2.  According to U.S. Congressman Dick Armey of Texas, our nation's "farm cartel" government policy is simply "Welfare to the rich."  Factory-farmed animals have as much as 30 TIMES more saturated fat than yesterday's free-range, pasture-raised animals.  Nearly half then fish tested by Consumers Union were found to be contaminated by bacteria from human or animal feces. The suspected cause is poor sanitation practices.  In the barnyard of the past, a sow gave birth to 6 piglets a year. Today's factory farms are working towards 45! Frankenstein methods include hormone injection for greater fertility, artificial insemination, "embryo transfers" where embryos are surgically removed, and implanted into other sows -- all in the name of greater meat production at reduced cost. Similar methods are employed in the beef industry.

Cow's milk is meant for calves, not humans. An infant's natural protein needs are actually quite low. Human milk contains only 5% of its calories as protein which enables an infant to double in size in 180 days. In contrast, cow's milk is 15% protein by calorie. Newborn calves double in size in only 47 days.  At most stockyards so called "downers" may lie suffering for days until they are dragged by chain to their slaughter. The tragedy is that an animal can legally be kept in agony, sick or with broken bones simply because alive it will fetch a higher price for a rancher.  More antibiotics are used in animal production than for humans. Animal drug sales are in the billions.  Meat industry apologists claim that livestock do not compete for edible food with humans because they live on forage humans cannot eat. In truth, 70% of all the grain produced in the U.S. is fed to livestock.  Today's animals are packed indoors and kept alive with drugs and vitamin injections.  The battle against infection and death in the factory farm shed is a constant concern.  Misting animals with insecticides has become routine. In the chicken factories, birds are fed chemicals to control flies which are so potent, they stay active even in their droppings, still able to kill larvae.  The great Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies the nation's bread basket with water, is being pumped dry, mostly for growing grain to feed livestock. It spans over 8 midwestern states with an area three times the size of New York State. This natural reservoir from the last Ice Age may be gone in 30 years.  Meat contains about 14 times more pesticides than plant foods; dairy products more than 5-1/2 times. There are 20 - 30 thousand animal drugs currently in use. Roughly 90% have NOT been approved by the FDA.  The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group of 3,000 physicians,

introduced the New Four Food Groups: fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Meat, poultry, fish, nuts, seeds, and oils are termed "optional" foods, not considered necessary for health.  All natural instincts are restricted in today's pig factories. Driven insane, bored, and frustrated, these naturally intelligent, playful creatures are driven to gnawing and biting on other pig tails and hind ends. A mauled pig may die from an attack and then be eaten by his attackers. Mauled pigs cannot be sold, a definite problem to the producer.  In answer? Pigtails are amputated and animals are kept in total darkness except for feeding.  The Bureau of Labor lists poultry processing as one of the most hazardous occupations.  Workers often contract diseases from sick animals. The meat packing industry suffers injuries 10 times the national average, primarily nerve and tendon damage from repetitive motion (up to 8,000 times an hour).  Egg factories all over the country weed out male chicks and dispose of them en masse in plastic bags and barrels where they are crushed and suffocated. A half a million chicks a day are disposed of. They may also be ground up WHILE STILL ALIVE for use as animal feed. Animals at the top of the food chain absorb many of the toxic chemicals in their diet. Pesticides, insecticides, petrochemicals, hormone injections, antibiotics as well as toxic

wastes such as PCB's and mercury in our oceans. Today, more than ever, it is wise to eat low on the food chain. Plant foods are the safest. A diet vegetarian diet helps prevent diabetes, often relieves the symptoms, and can

even eliminate the need insulin treatments. Detection of salmonella is not required by the USDA. Not a single plant in the country inspects for it. CBS's "60 Minutes" found half of the chickens they randomly purchased to be contaminated. The male calf born to a dairy cow is taken immediately after birth to a veal factory and locked up, immobile, for his entire life. He is fed a diet without iron or roughage to produce tender milky white meat. He is injected with growth hormones and antibiotics to keep him alive. He is kept in darkness except for feeding. Veal fetches a premium price. Agricultural engineers discovered that the energy costs of producing poultry, pork and other meats was over10 times that of any plant food.  Nearly all toxic chemical residues in the American diet (95% to 99%) come from animal sources. To help end the controversy over whether humans are carnivores, consider that it is not common for a person to stalk a wild animal, catch it by sinking claws into its body, bite its neck, and feel comfort in the taste of fresh warm blood and uncooked flesh. To crank up pork production, piglets may be taken away from their mother soon after birth. They are then provided with a mechanical teat, without which they would die from the emotional loss. The forced weaning allows the sow to end her lactating period, so she can become pregnant again. The high incidence of constipation hemorrhoids, hiatal hernias, diverticulosis, spastic colon and appendicitis parallels today's widespread high fat, low fiber, meat-centered diets. Our dwindling water supply is directly tied to meat consumption. Over half of the water in the U.S. irrigates land for livestock feed and fodder. Considering factory housing, irrigation, trucking, refrigeration, and petrochemical fertilizer, vast amounts of energy, about a gallon of gasoline, is required for every

pound of grain-fed beef. The Allied naval blockade during World War I forced Denmark dramatically into nationwide vegetarianism. The death rate from disease during the period dropped by 34%. Chicken feathers, guts, and waste water, which normally would be discarded, are routinely "recycled"back to the hen houses as feed. Industry experts believe this unclean slaughtering, processing, and forced cannibalism, leads to the rampant salmonella epidemics in poultry plants. Ignoring true causes, the U.S. government recommends food irradiation to "sanitize" contaminated birds. Food irradiation causes potentially carcinigenic changes to proteins. Even, though organic farming and natural insect controls are proven, agribusiness continues with pesticides. Pesticides may take hundreds of years to decompose. In a March, 1984 Time magazine reported on cholesterol and heart disease... "in regions where ... meat is scarce, cardiovascular disease is unknown." An acre cultivated in spinach yields 26 times more protein than it does for beef. Human beings have no sharp needle-like teeth to puncture flesh as do carnivores; humans have flat back teeth to grind (plant) food unlike carnivores. The USDA does not inspect for trichinosis in pork, which must be thoroughly cooked before eating. About 4% of Americans have trichinella worms in their muscles. Vegetarians live on average about six years longer and are healthier than meat eaters. Desertification, now affecting 29% of the earth's landmass, is largely due to the demands of livestock production around the world. Meat-eating countries, such as the

U.S., drive continued increases due to conversion of land which has been sustainably farmed for centuries being coverted to beef production for export. European countries have banned nearly all imports of American beef because of the routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock. Demand for ocean fish contributes to over 200,000 deaths of marine mammals and birds caught in fishing nets every year. Doctors learn to treat diseases with drugs and surgery. Today's physician has virtually no education on nutrition. USDA poultry inspectors are expected to inspect about 90 birds per minute on a fast moving conveyor. An impossibility. They are forced to allow unsafe poultry to get the USDA's stamp of approval. To produce foie gras, duck and geese are force-fed huge quantities of grain three times a day through a feeder tube. This painful process lasts 28 days before slaughter, often causing stomachs sometimes to burst. Diseased livers, which swell to several times normal size by this process, are considered a delicacy which sells for about $12 an ounce. About 8,000 tons are produced worldwide each year. A vegetarian diet is often a quick cure for ulcerative colitis. Each pound of feedlot beef can be equated with 35 pounds of eroded topsoil, at an estimated cost of $44 billion a year. Antibiotics for medical use are becoming ineffective because excessive use of antibiotics, especially in the meat industry, creates super bugs that are resistant to all known antibiotics. It is predicted that we are about to embark upon an era in which antibiotics are useless. It's easy to become a vegetarian. Simply do not buy meat or eggs when you go to the grocer or to a restaurant. If you do not buy it, you will not consume it. You will learn how to cook and serve nutritious and delightful vegetarian fare. There are many cookbooks available at your favorite natural food store or bookstore.