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Becoming Vegan: Express Edition

Fiber for Good Gut Health

To keep your intestine healthy and to avoid bowel cancer, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) have provided the following recommendations. These are two organizations that keep a close eye on the scientific research. Eat mostly (or all) plant foods: As it passes through our intestines, fibre acts as a roto-rooter, carrying out waste and toxic substances. Fibre is absent from meat,… Read More »Fiber for Good Gut Health

A Caveman Diet?

Would a Paleo diet work in today’s world? Would it be an optimal way for everyone to eat? Although we might envision a past Garden of Eden or a tribe of hunter-gatherers for whom life was simple and food was unprocessed and free of additives and pesticides, how realistic is it for us to adopt the diet from the Palaeolithic Era? Well, it is unrealistic for a number of reasons.… Read More »A Caveman Diet?

Veggie Eating Gone Mainstream

Bill Clinton has gone vegan. Oprah had her 378 staffers go vegan for a week and they lost 444 pounds collectively. To celebrate nutrition month (March), plenty of people are shifting their diets toward plant foods and becoming vegan or near-vegan. However, does this automatically mean they will be eating healthier? Not necessarily. People often assume that becoming vegan means no more donuts, cheesecake, s’mores, gummy bears, ice cream bars,… Read More »Veggie Eating Gone Mainstream

Not So Happy Meals

Over a 15-year period, studies show a dramatic increase in the number of overweight (tripled) and obese (quadrupled) Canadian children. (1) In the US, which has similar statistics, the Centers for Disease Control states that one child in three born since the year 2000 will develop diabetes during his or her lifetime. In many families, even young children consume too many calories, too much fat and far too much sodium.… Read More »Not So Happy Meals

Sprout Your Way to Health

Mung beans and lentils are seeds with the potential and life force to grow into large, strong plants. For this purpose, these little embryos contain a rich store of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates, all ready and waiting for the right conditions of heat, moisture and oxygen to be present in order to grow. As soon as seeds germinate, chemical changes occur, including some that provide us with health… Read More »Sprout Your Way to Health

Sumptuous Sandwiches

Someone I know took a peanut butter sandwich in his lunch bag every day – for seven years. Then what happened? He didn’t give up peanut butter, but when he finished school and got a job as a computer whiz, once in a while he ate a warm meal in the company cafeteria, to add a little variety. Sandwiches are named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792),… Read More »Sumptuous Sandwiches

Food and Compassion

You have just dined and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. – Ralph Waldo Emerson Humans are magnificent creatures capable of achieving great heights. Although at times less than obvious, there is much goodness in humankind. Never before in history has any species invested so much time in helping other creatures. We love others. We try to remedy injustice. We feed people… Read More »Food and Compassion

Water: Life’s Foundation

Water is the essence of our body’s circulatory system and that of the planet’s. In our bodies, a loss of 10 percent of our fluids can be fatal. However, with an increase of 83 million people on the planet every year, water demand will continue to escalate unless we change our use of this precious substance. It is expected that in 15 years, 1.8 billion people will live in regions… Read More »Water: Life’s Foundation

Exploring Food and Nutrition

While we can certainly find some pretty absurd stuff on the Internet, I marvel at the ease with which we can now find facts that, in past decades, would have taken months of searching. The following websites are rich in information: For accurate information about vitamins and minerals, visit the Linus Pauling Institute’s Micronutrient Information Center at http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/ If you’re curious about how much calcium is in a cup of… Read More »Exploring Food and Nutrition

Have a Berry Delicious Summer!

Many of us love July because this is the month that nature brings out her berries and stone fruits in abundance.  These colorful and sweet jewels fromBritish Columbia’s fields and orchards are little powerhouses of nutritional protection. Of the common berries, strawberries are highest in vitamin C; and because of their seeds, raspberries contain a little more protein (not that fruits have much protein), iron, and zinc; both berries provide… Read More »Have a Berry Delicious Summer!