VEGAN INFO - AS IT COMES MY WAY

Almost every other day, new health research becomes available, more animal cruelty is exposed, or there's more evidence of the spread of veganism. So when I come across it, I'll post it here.

There's also global warming/climate change - the biggest challenge to our survival. Here are some facts about the effects of livestock raising from the film Cowspiracy.

The evidence is overwhelming - a vegan diet is better for our health, for animal welfare, and, most importantly for the planet. If you call yourself an environmentalist, going vegan is the most effective action you can take.

I have several friends who either have cancer or have family members with the disease, so I've gathered together some of the research on what can be done to fight this.

A whole food, plant-based diet and cancer.

Intermittent fasting and cancer.

WHY VEGANISM?

Hi folks

I received this message from a friend of mine:

“Veganism. 

I'm sorry but you really need to get off your soap box.”

My initial thought was to reply just to that one person, giving the reasons for my activism - but then I thought, perhaps there are others in my circle thinking the same thing, and I should indeed pull my horns in.

So I feel I need to get my motivations out there.

Just why would I like people to adopt a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet - and indeed go vegan, which means no leather, fur, etc?

There are 3 reasons, in fact, each one of which is sufficient, in my eyes, to encourage someone to go vegan:

Global warming/climate change

Animal welfare

One’s own health

The first is the most important: if we do nothing global warming will overwhelm us. It affects all of our futures, especially those who come after us- our children and grandchildren.

The second is intimately linked to the first - since raising livestock is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. Estimates range from it contributing about 30-50% of global warming emissions (GWE).
But we have to ask ourselves, 'Given the inherent cruelty in the livestock industry, is it moral to consume meat and meat products?'
Listen to the words of Gary Yourofsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K36Zu0pA4U

Some quotes:
http://www.gary-tv.com/garymain/opinions/quotes/

The top ten vegan documentary films:
http://www.vegansouls.com/vegan-documentaries

The third reason. Adopting a WFPB diet will immediately start to reverse the heart disease you undoubtedly have ATM:

“Prevent and reverse heart disease”

http://www.dresselstyn.com/huffpost.htm

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/heart-disease-starts-in-childhood/

http://www.forksoverknives.com/7-things-that-happen-when-you-stop-eating-meat/

As a side effect it will lessen your chances of getting any of the other 14 killer diseases suffered in a Western/developed society. If we all did this it would hugely take the pressure off the NHS, and the care system, and extend our healthy lives (meaning we may not live longer, but we will be healthier for longer before falling off this mortal coil.)

When I first became vegan I was much more reticent than I am now, but now that global warming can not be ignored any longer, I feel I have to speak out on that issue. 

And, with the number of land animals slaughtered every year reaching over 50 billion - plus incalculable numbers of sea creatures:

http://www.animalequality.net/food

I’ve begun to think that simply being vegan is no longer enough - I need to become more pro-active.

I was a big meat-eater right up until the age of 63, when BSE and CJD were around. It was trying to avoid this disease that caused me to give up eating meat. I was a vegetarian for a couple of years after that - but gradually the blinkers came off and I began to see the cruelty which is a necessary concomitant of the dairy industry. Around this time there was a TV film describing what happens to male chicks at birth. They’re disposed of immediately - by gassing, suffocating or simply being tossed in a grinder. I could no longer eat eggs after that.

Now that I’ve been researching the enormous health benefits that a vegan diet brings, I find it quite ironic that, simply by avoiding harm to animals, my action has resulted in being the best thing I could have done for my own health. And I’m also doing less harm to the planet.

Truly a win-win situation.

There's one other thing - we humans did not develop as meat eaters! We belong to the group of primates - we're great apes - and share all the characteristics of a herbivore with them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee25u3YccHk&t=10s

Instead of this simply being a statement of my position, I'd like to have a dialogue. These are my reasons (plus those below) for adopting a WFPB diet and living a vegan lifestyle. Along with Gary Yourofsky, I've thought long and hard about arguments against veganism - and I can't come up with any:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LKPgRix-A4

Maybe you can.

1st January 2017

Hi folks

I figure if I’ve got all this info, I should share it with my friends. But please don’t take all this as definitive - I urge you to do your own research.

If you agree with the 97% of scientists that global warming is caused by human activity and is the greatest threat humanity faces, then one simple action that everyone can take - is to go vegan!

Here are 2 important speeches pointing out the inherent cruelty of raising livestock:

The speech YouTube didn’t want you to see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZYaqwz0RSo&feature=youtu.be

Here’s James Aspey with a ten minute video, which has been described as the “Best video you’ll ever see.”

https://www.facebook.com/garytvcom/videos/1207126842675895/

“If we aren’t eating animals for our health - and we don’t need to kill and eat them to be healthy, what are we doing this to them for?”

“We have core values of veganism, before we were vegans. We have veganism in our heart. If you agree that causing unnecessary harm to animals is wrong, then by that belief, by your own belief, you are obligated to become vegan. Because anything less than being vegan is going in conflict with your core value of non-violence to animals.” James Aspey

Still not convinced?

The environment:

http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/

Your health:

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die/

Reversing coronary artery disease (CAD) - Dr Esselstyn

http://dresselstyn.com/JFP_06307_Article1.pdf

Animal welfare:

Geez, where do I start?

Chickens:

http://simplecapacity.com/2016/05/leaked-footage-heres-monstrous-things-sake-meat-industry-video/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/30/free-range-eggs-con-ethical?CMP=share_btn_tw

Beef: Not as cruel as the dairy industry, by a long chalk - but they still end up having their lives cut short. (Need citation for this)

Dairy:

“The Perils of Dairy”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJvrlwnEqbs

“What the Dairy Industry Doesn't Want You to Know”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3c_D0s391Q

Eggs:

“What’s wrong with eggs?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-hs2v-UjI

Pork:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUYhAJ6MDrc

WHY EATING NOTHING BUT PLANTS IS NOT ONLY GOOD FOR US - IT'S ESSENTIAL FOR GOOD HEALTH

7th December 2016
In an attempt to avoid BSE/CJD (Mad Cow's Disease), I became a vegetarian 15 years ago. I first of all gave up beef, then, after Christmas 2001, all other sources of meat. It was just easier that way.

It then took me around 2 years to transition to a completely plant-based (vegan) diet - impelled by increasing concerns about animal welfare. About 2-3 months after giving up all sources of dairy, I found that my nasal drip - a constant irritant - had completely dried up. 

My osteoarthritis, from which I'd suffered for the previous few years, stabilised - it was no longer getting worse each year, as it had been. Today it is no longer a concern - I no longer have osteoarthritis.

Now, of course, Climate Change has reared its ugly head and forswearing meat and meat products is even more of an imperative.

So, 3 reasons to adopt a whole food, plant-based diet: 
Health; 
Animal Welfare; and, 
Global Warming.

Any one of these three reasons, IMO, should be sufficient on its own to persuade people to eat nothing but plants.

The evidence for the health effects of eating a plant-based diet is overwhelming. The case is made most effectively in the film, Forks Over Knives. (95 minutes) 

Here is a review.

The film Forks Over Knives, Extended Interviews is also available. In it the scientists who contributed to the film talk about their work.

Review here.

IS VEGAN THE NEW VIAGRA?

Basically, men who consume meat have lower testosterone levels than their vegan counterparts, take more medications for diet-related conditions, suffer from diminished sexual performance, potency, and erectile dysfunction, are subject to smaller or deformed genitalia in utero, inclined to halitosis/body odor, have enlarged prostates which makes urinating difficult, and tend to be overweight/obese - which elevates oestrogen levels. As Dr. McDougall says, "Now isn't eating meat a manly thing to do!"

(Source)

(See WHY A WHOLE FOOD PLANT-BASED DIET IS ESSENTIAL)

MUSINGS OF AN AGING*, HEALTH CONSCIOUS, INTERMITTENT FASTING VEGAN!

(*Aged 77 and counting!)

Put simply, my goal is to live healthily into old age. If that leads to greater longevity, well, that would be a bonus, but it's not my main concern.

So I am health conscious, and, since I began intermittent fasting (IF) in Feb 2012, I've become more and more aware of how we can take control of our own health.

Intermittent fasting plays an integral part in this, of course, its benefits are legion. (Just off the top of my head I can think of half a dozen health conditions that are countered by IF.) But there are other interventions that are necessary in order to maximise one's health - in my opinion.

Exercise and IF complement each other perfectly - but there are, of course several types of exercise which are covered in depth here by my guest blogger, GymBoffin. Last November I began a home-based exercise routine and in December I began using a kettlebell. Later I added High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to my routine.

A plant-based diet. I've been a vegan now for around 10 years, and I'm more and more convinced that this contributes greatly to my all-round good health and sense of well-being.

MAKING HEART ATTACKS HISTORY - by eating a plant based diet!

It's no secret that, as a vegan, I'd like everyone to adopt a plant based diet. 

My reasons for this until recently have been two-fold - it would undoubtedly   remove a lot of cruelty from the world, and it's much better for the environment and global warming.

But there's also the issue of one's health. I personally feel good on a vegan diet - and there's a wealth of evidence to show that eating meat and dairy foods isn't always a good thing.

Now I've just come across a TEDx talk by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn on the benefits of a plant-based diet in regard to the heart, entitled,

"Making Heart Attacks History: Caldwell Esselstyn at TEDxCambridge 2011."

I don't follow all of Dr Esselstyn strictures - I consume a fair bit of oil, and I do like my coffee - but I follow most of them. And I figure with my fasting and exercise regimes I'm in pretty good shape!