Ageless Raw Vegan

This is amazing!  I stumbled across this clip today & thought I’d share it.  Reason #689 why I’m veg!  Enjoy.

“One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals.”   Mahatma Gandhi

A Green And Humane Society – Be Kind To Animals And Your Body

There has to be a conscious and deliberate effort to establish and promote an animal friendly and humane society as this ultimate goal complement other major variables that are critical to our own survival. It is directly linked to other key issues like environmental protection, poverty alleviation and food security.

A solid and sustainable future for our survival will always dovetail to green advocacies and promotion of animal welfare. This is the mantra adopted by most environment and animal protection groups. It sponsors and coalesces with key institutions and other advocacy groups in order to promote animal welfare and green-based livelihood and enterprises and help protect the fragile environment.

The prevailing conditions during these modern times necessitate the need for us to adopt practices that are beneficial to animals and harmless to the environment. Sustainable development must be the focus of modern society. We have to create an environment where economic, environmental and social issues are taken into account in our effort to promote animal welfare.

Take Care of the Herd and Your Health

We need to take into account the tangible benefits that are obtaining when we adopt humane treatment of animals and advocate animal welfare. Thus, we must learn to observe the best practices which ensure positive results that are linked to sustainable animal friendly enterprises and businesses.

By doing so, we are able to enjoy its health and economic benefits. Some sectors go to the extent of becoming a vegetarian to demonstrate their commitment to the protection of animal welfare. Of course, these individuals would readily attribute the low incidence of cardiac arrest and other diseases to their meatless diet. You need to fully understand the core value of such practice – you take care of the herd and the herd will take good care of you.

Why We Need to Promote Animal Welfare

Animal welfare is one of the important pillars of our green advocacy. Nearly a quarter of the world population relies heavily on animals for their economic survival. Suffice it to say, all sectors of the society must do their share in protecting the welfare of animals as they are important in supporting the main livelihoods of people. You achieve stability and promote productivity if you focus at improving animal welfare and health.

Responsible animal care and management have significant impact on climate change, land use, pollution, biodiversity, habitat conservation and water conservation. Thus, our green advocacy must always be anchored on the best practices that support animal welfare and protection.

Good animal care and management minimize the risk of cardiac arrest and other lifestyle diseases. These include diseases triggered by pathogenic microorganisms that are transferred from animals to human. You maintain food supplies and prevent hunger and malnutrition if you have healthy animals.

Learn about the key parameters of modern-day green advocacy that aim to establish a more humane society. Go beyond the issues like being a vegetarian, cardiac arrest and other health concerns and understand the major reasons why we have to promote animal welfare and be kinder to our planet.

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Kyle Quandel is a student of Buddhism and spirituality, as well as life long vegetarian. Read more articles and publications of Kyle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6718324

Vegetarians Explained

A vegetarian is usually defined as someone who doesn’t eat meat. But someone who is vegetarian could conceivably eat dairy products such as milk, eggs and cheese. A ovo-lacto vegetarian doesn’t eat meat, fish or poultry, but does, in fact, consume eggs, milk and cheese. Likewise, a lacto vegetarian consumes milk and cheese products, but won’t consume egg products.

Many people think of vegetarians as homogeneous group that simply doesn’t eat any kind of meat. Frankly, it’s just not the case here.  There’s different categories of vegetarians, as diverse as the reasons for going vegetarian in the first place.

Within the vegetarian community, there’s an array of opinions, differences, preferences and ethics. Fruitarians, for example, will only eat fruit. Their rationale is that fruits, including tomatoes, are self-perpetuating and do not need to be planted in order to generate the food which they source. This type of vegetarians think about this as a way of eating what is most in balance and harmony with the earth, the most natural; taking what nature offers.

A vegan is someone who does not consume any kind of animal product or by-product, including dairy food (and dairy by-products).   Vegans, strictly eat only vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains and legumes. They also refrain from using animal products, such as leather, silk and wool. Most strict and sincere vegans will also not consume white or refined sugar because it’s mostly processed and filtered with charred animal bones (which makes the sugar white).

The more restrictive you choose to be with your diet, most times, the more educated you are required to become to be about what you’re putting into your body.  This results in a  positive realization about getting all the necessary proteins and vitamins that you require to maintain optimal nutrition, muscle and heart health.

All of the above will eat any cooked vegetables, fruits and legumes. There is also a growing movement towards eating only raw or living foods. This diet is based on the assumption that cooking food tend to process most of the nutrients out of it.  In order to get all of the full nutritional value, vitamins and amino acids from food,  it’s best consumed raw, or juiced. If cooked at all, it ought to only be cooked to slightly over 100 degrees, so the nutrients are still retained.

Whichever you choose, it’s a good idea to be keenly aware of what you’re putting into your body; being aware of the ethical and nutritional implications.  A healthy diet always consists of an array of color and variation is important.  Be sure to include proteins, antioxidants, simple carbohydrates.  When in doubt, it’s always best to do further research, find a local nutritionist, or health professional.

No Holiday for the Turkeys

The consumption of turkeys in the U.S. has escalated through the years. It’s no longer eaten primarily at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but throughout the year. The process of mass-producing turkeys for human consumption is as barbaric, if not more so, than the process of mass-producing chickens.

Turkeys are kept in cramped, dark spaces to discourage the naturally aggressive behaviors that occur when an animal is kept confined without space to roam and feed freely. They’re overfed to the point where their legs can’t support the weight of the breast tissue. And this animal which normally has a 10-years life span is generally slaughtered at about 2 years of age.

Unhealthy and overcrowded conditions mean that disease amongst commercial turkeys is widespread, resulting in approximately 2.7 million turkeys dying in their sheds every year. Foot and leg deformities, heat stress and starvation caused by the inability of immature birds to find the feed and water troughs are commonplace. Ulcerated feet and hock burns are common – caused by continual contact with litter contaminated by urine and feces.

Can you really sit at dinner on your next holiday and look at a roasted turkey the same way? Turkeys come with the same recommendations for cleanliness and cooking that chickens do. You have to be sure they’re cooked to a specific temperature to ensure that any disease-causing bacteria are completely killed. You should clean up any counter space with bleach, again to kill all bacteria.

It makes a compelling case for switching to a vegetarian diet, doesn’t it? Suddenly, the jokes about vegetarian dinners, with nut loaves and vegetables, instead of meat, seem to make more sense, not only from a health standpoint, but from a humane issue as well. Why do we persist in eating in such a way that makes us unhealthy and is inherently bad for us? For you next holiday dinner, consider the possibilities of an all-vegetarian menu. So much of the dinner is vegetable-based to begin with; it’s a small change to replace turkey with a plant-based main course as well.

You Really Are What You Eat

Recent dietary research has uncovered 14 different nutrient-dense foods that time and again promote good overall health.  Coined “superfoods,” they tend to have fewer calories, higher levels of vitamins and minerals, and many disease-fighting antioxidants.

Beans (legumes), berries (especially blueberries), broccoli, green tea, nuts (especially walnuts), oranges, pumpkin, salmon. soy, spinach, tomatoes, turkey, whole grains and oats, and yogurt can all help stop and even reverse diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and some forms of cancer. And where one might have an effect on a certain part of the body, it can also affect the health of other body functions and performance, since the whole body is connected.  With these 14 foods as the base of a balanced, solid diet, weight loss gimmicks and other fly-by-night programs can become a thing of the past in your life.

Conversely, the ill-effects of an unbalanced diet are several and varied. Low energy levels, mood swings, tired all the time, weight change, uncomfortable with body are just a few signs that your diet is unbalanced.  An unbalanced diet can cause problems with maintenance of body tissues, growth and development, brain and nervous system function, as well as problems with bone and muscle systems.

Symptoms of malnutrition include lack of energy, irritability, a weakened immune system leading to frequent colds or allergies, and mineral depletion that can trigger a variety of health concerns including anemia.

And since the body is connected, realizing that an unhealthy body will result in an unhealthy spirit only makes sense.  When we nourish our body with these superfoods and complement them with other nutrient-dense and healthy fresh foods, our spirit will be vitalized and healthy as a direct result.

Many modern diets based on prepackaged convenience foods are sorely lacking in many vitamins and minerals, which can affect our mental capacities as well, and cause irritability, confusion, and the feeling of ‘being in a fog’ all the time.

Superfoods can be the basis of a sound, healthy, nutritious solution to curing many of these ailments and more.
Edited:  Kyle Quandel