Traveling nationally via car is the most perfect situation when one is a demanding  plant-based foodie like me. I can plan and pack all my meals for the next couple of days to ensure pure nutrition and great taste. It’s a win-win situation: We get real cellular nourishment, quality meals, avoid spending money on restaurants that don’t meet my standards, and my husband doesn’t have to endure my complaining  about how the majority of restaurants suck. Am I a high-maintenance plant-based foodie? No. I just demand quality, great flavor and real nutrition for my physical body wherever I go. To me, that should be standard. I believe that we all deserve at least that. We just have to demand it, and until it becomes the actual standard, we have to provide it for ourselves.

When you live in a busy city like Los Angeles, frequent 2-3 night getaways (nature/up or down the coast/out of the city) are in order. Whether you stay in a hotel, trailer or a camping tent, you can do this meal prep for travel – all u need is a plan and the “I deserve the best“ mentality. Here, I share with you the practical and nutritional plan I have developed for us plant-based foodies to be satisfied and nourished while on the road.

My main three nutritional and dietary “demands” and general non-negotiables are:

1) Produce has to be organic.
2) The food has to taste amazing.
3) Salads need to have loads of dark leafy greens, a variety of antioxidant-rich veggies, and the dressing needs to be freshly made.

Just in case anyone is wondering, although my husband is not as demanding as I am when it comes to meals, he supports my demands 100% because he sees and has experienced the results of good food.  Also, he always says, “happy wife, happy life” – and I agree with him.

Here are some recommendations for a little escape:

• ❉ Bring out the cooler. Always keep a big cooler in your garage or storage area, it’s your “on-call” personal restaurant. My cooler is about 24L x 16W x 18D, and I also have a larger one.
• ❉ Designate a medium-to-large bag (cloth/reusable grocery bag) for your dry foods and other must haves. I use the reusable Ikea frakta medium shopping bag, ’cause it’s the perfect size, and if it gets wet, it can endure it and I can just wipe it clean.
• ❉ Meals should be basic and practical. Breakfast is smoothies, lunch and dinners are huge variations of salads, a whole grain (I bring a Peruvian-style, precooked brown rice and serve cold) and a legume/bean. To fulfill the bean quota (unless you have a kitchenette in your hotel room) the easiest is to bring a batch of marinated baked tofu sticks, which you can chop up and add to the salad mix. Sometimes you can have an open face tartine for lunch, but I usually have to have my salads ’cause they are sooo good!
• ❉ Snacks: Homemade hummus, fruits, veggies (celery, cucumbers, bell peppers), sea algae (my fave), my hubby likes salsa and organic blue corn chips (I might have three chips max), organic olives and avocado. We cut this stuff up, make a medley of snacks, and sip on blueberry Kombucha while relaxing and chatting it up.
• ❉ “Must” produce for me: Two green leaf variations (example: spinach and arugula), heirloom tomatoes, avocados, red onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, celery, radish, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, red apples, pineapple (if it’s in season) and a juicy melon. The best is to bring  your greens already washed (you can buy organic varieties pre-washed) so all you gotta do is chop and season.
• ❉ “Must” nutritional extras: Udo’s oil with DHA, Celtic sea salt, Cylon cinnamon, chlorella, dulse (red algae) and bee pollen. These guys are full of fatty acids, minerals and protein, and they all help keep you healthy.
• ❉ “Must” tools: Big comfortable cutting board, my ceramic knife, Magic Bullet, stainless steel utensils, a drying towel and a large glass bowl (for salad mix).
• ❉ If you stay in a hotel, book one with a mini fridge. That always helps.

With some ice packs, all of this stuff travels well. The more you do this, the easier it gets. To us, it’s the best and only way to travel. You deserve the best and you shouldn’t wait for others to provide it for you. Take control of your health and your life. Have conscious fun – you deserve it.

Dear HLife: What are the Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet?

Dear HLifer,

This is a question that many have asked. Although we have written about parts of this in different articles/posts, here’s a brief list to address that all in one, for you to keep or share with those who ask you about why you have chosen to eat a plant-based diet.

Body: When it comes to physical health, a plant-based diet is a perfect form of prevention and natural medicine. Plants provide the body with good things like complex cabs and good fats to make long lasting energy and keep us from being sleepy and unproductive. Only the Plant Kingdom contains a load of antioxidants, a group of compounds that protect us from cell and tissue damage. Antioxidants keep your heart strong, your body youthful, your mind sharp, extend your life, rejuvenate an aging immune system, and even improve your sex life. Vegetables are known to have a variety of foods classified as anti cancer, so many different items with anticancer properties and abilities to reverse the disease without killing the healthy cells around the tumor. Many vegetables, especially sea veggies, are higher quality protein that is easier  for us to digest, absorb and eliminate, and don’t have cholesterol, antibiotics or disease-causing bacteria that form in the presence of the acidity caused by animal protein. A plant-based diet prevents and reverses Type 2 diabetes. We have never heard of fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes, nuts and seeds giving us deadly diseases or even illnesses that are a big crisis in America, like obesity and diabetes. They are obviously made to be the official food for human beings. Further, from a science point of view, living plant foods in particular are electron-rich foods that act as high power electron donors and also as solar-resonant fields in the body to attract, store, and conduct the sun energy in our body (you can’t get greener then this on all levels, inside and out). Most all diseases/illnesses/imbalances can be linked to mineral deficiencies, but on an unprocessed, whole-foods, plant-based diet, the body is unlikely to be mineral-deficient, especially if you diversify. Real nutrition requires diversity, and variety you will find in this kind of diet because there are so many different options and an abundance of quality vitamins and minerals here – in the form the body is designed to understand.

Mind/Emotions: A plant-based diet maintains the balance of brain chemicals and hormone secretions. According to Gabriel Cousens, flesh food increases the animal frequency in the body and it brings into operation more animal-like tendencies such as the vibrations of anger, lust, fear, aggressiveness and murderous impulses.  He also states that the energy of a flesh food diet adds to the impurities of the minds and the nervous system and it communicates the energy of destruction to the cells, tends to make the mind insensitive, brings the energy of death into our auric fields, reducing the flow of higher life “prana” into the body.  When it comes to disease, genetics actually play a small part. Predisposition to cancer, for example, does not mean you are destined to get cancer. If this were so, all the daughters of a mother with a history of breast cancer would get breast cancer, and we know that this is not the case. So, what happens here? A gene must be activated in order to express that disease. This is the trick. Among the potential activators of a gene are environmental factors like pollution, lifestyle ones like exercise and diet, and more abstract ones like thoughts. Beyond what we know about how animal protein activates cancer on a chemical level, what sort of thoughts do you think are in the subconscious of a person that consumes what others kill? On a very basic level, all of us know that taking another being’s life is wrong. Our minds recognize this, if not consciously, deep down inside. And, deep down, we can’t lie to ourselves. We are bound to reap what we sow.  Not to mention that when we eat animals, we are eating the fear and anxiety that was present at the time of their death. And then we wonder why we are so afraid and anxious. You are what you eat.

Spirit: Spiritual teachings may differ in many things but most concur that a basic respect for life is a good thing. If we stop to make the connection for a minute, and we think about what we are really eating, we will notice that by eating a steak, what we are doing is eating an animal, an animal that someone had to slaughter. Does contributing to the slaughter of a fellow animal-kingdom being sound like basic respect for life to you? We share many of the same genes and systems with these animals. If I say it’s not okay for you to beat or eat my dog, but it’s okay for you to beat, kill and eat another animal with a sophisticated neurological system that allows it to feel pain, one that has offspring just like you, and a defined social structure and behavior just like you and your pet do, does that sound like a bit of a double standard to you?  When it comes to respect for life, is it okay to draw the line where your taste buds tell you to? Or is it a more honest and compassionate answer to say that a basic respect for life translates into a strong effort to not kill other animals (humans being a part of that kingdom), no matter how big or small they are?

On an energy level, a plant-based diet nourishes our spirit with high frequency vibrations. Plants, just like all living organism emanate a vibration frequency that is very elevated.  Through photosynthesis, they are able to absorb and store photon energy from the sun’s rays that comes from the cosmos. This photon energy nourishes our cells on an energy, electrical, and vibrational level, which is essential for the health and survival of our bodies (mind/body/spirit) and especially in helping us connect with our higher Self, which is directly linked to the Source of life and consciousness.

Planet: Burping Bertha is a huge problem for the planet. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, livestock contribute more to global warming than transport, producing 18% of all global greenhouse emissions.  The cow that is raised to provide you with milk and then its flesh in the form of a steak actually causes damage to the environment by burping and farting methane. A molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of carbon dioxide. Also, methane stays in the atmosphere longer than carbon dioxide, which means its damage lasts longer. This means your milk and steak cause more damage to the planet than cars on the street do. And that means opting for a plant-based diet is one of, if not the single, most responsible thing you can do to combat global warming. Help a planet out.

The basic case for a plant-based diet is this: We weren’t meant to eat other animals. Our bodies are not best-suited to use animal flesh as food. Neither are our minds or spirits.  And now, our planet can’t even handle that habit. Any way you look at it – once you take the time to really think about it and do your homework – a plant-based diet is the best option for human beings alive on this planet at this time.

If you’ve been living under a nutritional rock and haven’t heard about T. Colin Campbell or his book, The China Study, then let us start by telling you that he is considered the top figure in this country when it comes to nutrition. The China Study, an investigation that has been called “the Grand Prix of epidemiology” by the New York Times and which the book is named after, was a massive scale landmark project between China and the United States that discovered startling conclusions about the link between diet and disease. The research showed the connection between animal protein and cancer, as well as the relationship between diet and diseases like diabetes and obesity, leading Dr. Campbell to the conclusion that, “there is one diet to counteract all of these diseases: a whole foods, plant-based diet.”

T. Colin Campbell is Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, where he taught and conducted research for over 20 years. He has received more that seventy grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding and authored more than 300 research papers. He is a true scientist and speaks with both evidence and integrity. We highly recommend The China Study if you have not read it, as well as his upcoming book, The Master and Slave State, in which he goes into  information control, policy and the ideology behind the current health crisis in this country. We had a candid chat with Dr. Campbell while he was in Los Angeles lecturing and discussing his upcoming film Forks Over Knives (another ‘must’), and we talked about raw foods versus cooked, vitamin supplements, what we should really be eating, and why the majority of the population can’t seem to get it right.

Maryl Celiz: So, why is it that we can’t get the right information about what we should be eating?

T. Colin Campbell: My second book deals with that question. The last third of The China Study talks about my experiences, especially in Washington. I spent about 20 years in various expert panels that, in a nut shell, is a place where scientists are always trying to translate the science into public policy, so it’s the interface between politics and reality/science. Obviously, there are a lot of people that are opposed to this for various reasons, some of them very personal and downright hostile. In many cases, this has to do with the fact that people are part of institutions, the biggest institution of all being industry. Of course, they have their vested interests. So, that’s certainly a factor, a big factor. But I think there’s something more fundamental than that and that is the thesis that I am trying to develop for this book. If we go back 100 or 150 years or even longer than that, to the ancient Greek times, it turns out that, in science, If you wanted to know something about a complex system – and biology is extraordinarily complex, medicine and nutrition too – science demands that you focus your attention and do your research on something very specific. And, what happens in a case like that is, people become specialists on working on a very narrow slice of the pie. And they get disconnected from the larger community – they’ll spend a whole career working on one enzyme, one hormone, and they don’t see the larger vision. And that goes back a long way, Aristotle and Plato debated on this.

Silvie Celiz: What’s the alternative way to thinking about things in this way?

TCC: The alternative way of thinking about this is understanding it in a more holistic way – that things are connected. That’s an idea that is recently accepted by most people in the public – it’s quite appealing, you sort of intrinsically know it – but in science, because of the way it works with focusing on one thing at a time, scientists tend to get disconnected from the idea. And the word holism in science is considered to be a naughty word – they don’t even wanna hear it. I remember one time co-teaching a course at Cornell and kinda getting warmed up to this whole idea and I used that word and was told “you can’t use that word”. And I thought to myself “what’s going on here?”  But I started thinking about this more, and it turns out that the whole medical system is based on this very reductionist idea – not holistic. Now, the medical people in Asia, India and China, ancient times, they thought more holistically, and they spent their practices trying to understand a bit about that, whereas Western medicine went the reduction route. And you can see that in the fact that the medical system we have is focused on the idea that disease is local, specific someplace in your body. So, surgeons had a heyday with cancer, for example, because they said “oh, you can just cut it out”. It was a raging debate in the 1800s and the surgeons had the knives, so they could sort of rule the roost. It was quite bizarre. But then, in addition, the chemists and others also went down that track, and radiation biologists figured if you could just take the chemical and target it to the problem, eventually you’re going to do something. “That’s science, let’s figure out how to target things”. So you hear about this concept of targeted drug therapy. Target and kill the cancer cells. I think this is wrong. Because that’s not what disease is all about. Disease is a lot more stuff going on.

MC: And we also apply the same reductionist concept to plants and take one isolated vitamin, one mineral out of the whole plant and sell it as the thing to take.

TCC: Absolutely. And on that point, the vitamin and supplement industry these days is $24-$25 billion dollars a year. I mean, it’s huge. And I’ve followed it rather closely because, when it had its big impetus in the early 80s, it was at the time that I was on the National Academy of Science Catalog on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer, which was the most publicized report in the NAS history, and we were talking about vitamin intake and discussing amounts of fruits and vegetables and we specifically and explicitly said in our executive summary “this does not apply to individual nutrients”. But at the same time, there were people over here in the commercial sector who wanted to take advantage of our story and would take full page ads in Time magazine and US News and World Report saying “oh, you know, this body decided that vitamin C and vitamin E can prevent cancer”. So, they would run and make a business out of it. They started putting this stuff in pills and making these wild claims, almost obscene. So, I was invited as a key witness for the Academy in hearings held before the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, responsible for keeping some control on these claims. It was an interesting experience, there I could see too the intricacies between what business wants to do and what the facts really are. And I can tell you, business focuses on targeted stuff, and individual chemicals. I have followed the industry over the years because it was my idea at the time, and I made this argument, that these vitamin supplements were not likely to work. Wrong dose, wrong time, out of context – all that stuff. And I created a lot of hostility among some friends who wanted to go down that road.

MC: You mentioned before that patent law plays a role here as well.

TCC: If you work in science, you have to come up with an idea of some kind, that might be useful for the public. It succeeds, basically, because it can make money. We’re living in this kind of system. And so this is the way it is – if you can’t make money with an idea, to be honest, it’s not gonna spread very fast. And the reason for this is that ideas spread as a function of how much resources people have to bring to bear on it, to sell the idea. It’s all about marketing. So, for something to sell and get into the public market place, the only way it can do that is to get some kind of intellectual property protection, copyright, trademark, stuff like this. If you get an idea, it’s gotta be protected. And patent law is such that you have to be very specific about your idea, so you can distinguish it from all the other ideas that were done beforehand. It demands focus – what’s the chemical structure, what’s the exact mechanism, that kind of thing. So, the intellectual property protection business forces this reductionist thinking. And in the scientific arena,  having sat on review panels that decide who gets grants and who doesn’t, the same idea is there: focus your hypothesis, focus, focus. So you’ve got the whole business world and the whole scientific world all into this idea. And that’s why the current medical system is what it is – it’s focused on one drug at a time, doing something specific, which creates enormous confusion and a lot of harm.

SC: What’s your opinion then, if we’re talking about a whole foods, plant-based diet, on chlorella – green algae in powder form granulated in order to break the cell wall for better absorption?

TCC: That’s certainly much more reasonable, because something like chlorella – or a lot of other herbal substances, quite frankly – are made up of tens of hundreds or chemicals working together. It’s really still whole. In China, for example, watermelon is an herb. You know, it’s a food, it’s an herb. SO, when you’re talking about the whole food, chlorella being an example of course, that’s a different situation. In fact, there is a new industry emerging now in this country where instead of taking whole vegetables and fruits, they freeze dry them so they can maintain the biological activity and just dry off the water. You take out the water and the fiber, so you basically get everything in the plant except for the water and the fiber – you concentrate it.  That’s whole foods supplements.

SC: But in reality, we do need the water and fiber.

TCC: Exactly. When you’re consuming a whole food, you get the water, you get the fiber, everything is working together. But, at least with this even if you take out the water and the fiber, you still end up with something, which is better than a single nutrient. It’s a very different situation. It’s a step in between.

MC: There’s a misconception that vegan equals nutrition if you just cut out the meat and dairy, but there are many junk-food vegans out there.

TCC: Absolutely, in fact, most of them are vegan junk foodies, just eating a lot of pasta and stuff like that.

MC: So, can you clarify what is really meant by nutrition in a plant-based diet and what people should eat on a daily basis?

TCC: We have so many different plants to eat, so, rather than getting caught up in talking about vegetables and fruits – and some of them can be both – I just like to sort of go back and think about it in a natural sense: Why don’t we just eat some roots, and some stems, and some leaves, and some flowers – so you have all these different opportunities for all these different kinds of plants. Different plants offer different kinds of nutrients.  The stuff that’s in the tubers and the roots, is really loaded with starch – like potatoes – because the plant is storing energy for the next generation. So, we need that kind of energy, we eat the roots. We can also get our energy from other forms of storage – I’m thinking of nuts and seeds. They are pretty high in fat, and that’s a form of energy, so some of that is just fine. And then, at the same time, the really big bang for the buck is to eat the part of the plant that’s colored – the green, the reds, yellows and stuff like that. Because the color that is the part of the plant actually comes from chemicals – it has this double bond system, which gives some color, but also shares the property of being an antioxidant. So, now we have a lot of antioxidants all over the place. If you look at if in that context of using the whole plant, concentrating as much as you can on the plants that are colored, especially the greens, because if there is one food group that really is pretty special, it’s the green, the leafy part. And, I should say, things like the cauliflower, things like the flowers, the buds, because they’re kinda loaded up too with a lot of antioxidant activity. There are reasons that these plants create these antioxidants, quite frankly, in certain parts of the plant, especially in the part of the plant that’s taking in the sun rays, ‘cause that in turn is going to create excess of oxidation, and the plant and Nature have very nicely done this where it packs all the chemicals around there as scavengers of these free radicals that might occur during photosynthesis. So we got all these different plants that  you can eat, we know what we should be doing – we need some energy, we need some fiber for the intestinal tract.

SC: You mentioned roots, flowers and stems – sprouts are comprised of all three of these. Are they pretty special?

TCC: Yes. Sprouts are very good because at that point in time you have that young seed growing and really taking advantage of the young, rich nutrient storage it had when it was first starting. So you get a fairly rich supply of nutrients at that point in time. And if its sort of sticking it’s head out and gathering some sun at that point in time too, then you’re really gonna get a nice supply of antioxidants as well. So, I have every reason to believe that sprouts are pretty nutritious.

MC: So, you have all these things to eat. Now, how do you eat them? How do you cook them for the most nutrition – and should you even cook them?

TCC: I think it’s a good idea to include a lot of raw foods, it makes common sense because that is the native form of everything, and you destroy some things at the point of cooking. So, we have salads, which are a great thing. The raw food people who want to have 100% raw foods – that doesn’t work too well for too long, I think. For one thing, by doing that, they can’t consume the grains, because they require some cooking. So that rules those out, which means they have to rely on another source of energy, like a lot of nuts and seeds. And that’s distorting the total package, in a way. So, some of my physician friends end up getting  some raw food people that do it for two or three years – and they end up with some problems.

SC: How does it distort the package? Is replacing some carb energy with too many nuts providing too much fat?

TCC: When we eat food, we need energy. We need a certain amount of calories. So, the question is, where do we get it from? We can get it from all kinds of parts, but it;s better to get it from carbohydrates. And that’s gonna be present in the seeds and the tubers. But not many people wanna eat a raw potato.

SC: Have you?

TCC: I’ve eaten a raw potato before without any problems, but, you know…it’s not my favorite food. On the other hand, as a matter of fact, potatoes that are raw and are exposed to the sun a little bit, you can get this greenish part of the skin, and that produces alkaloids, which are a bit poisonous. So, it’s not the greatest idea to count on eating raw potatoes. So, potatoes, the starchy part of the plant, need some cooking. Grains, wheat, barley, corn, that kind of stuff need some cooking. Raw food people can’t go there, for the most part. They can get rolled oats or something like that, but mostly what they do is they turn their attention to consuming all this fat. And that’s what I mean when the diet becomes a bit distorted. So, I think cooking is not bad. It’s a good idea and most people like to have something cooked.

MC: What does get destroyed when cooking?

TCC: It depends on how much you cook it and if you’re cooking with really high heat, over an open fire for example, you might get, not only destruction of things that you want to get, but you may also get the formation of charred material, which of course is not the greatest thing in the world. That’s one problem with overcooking. The other is overcooking in a pot, which is usually boiling and stuff like that. If you cook it for too long on too high, you will likely destroy some of the nutrients, and when you throw the water out, you’re throwing away a lot of the nutrients.

SC: What happens to amino acids when cooked?

TCC: They tend not to be destroyed, but what is somewhat de-natured is the protein. Proteins are big molecules and they’re made up of a whole lot of different amino acids, so when you add heat to this or put it in acid or alkaline conditions, the protein, which otherwise has a very nice biological activity, ends very different, because you’re breaking up a bunch of bonds. The whole molecule of a protein like an enzyme, for example, has a very unique configuration. The shape of it is extremely important in terms of determining its ability to catalyze a reaction. And it’s held in this configuration partly because loose chemical bonds tend to attract one part of the amino acid sequence to another part, and that’s how bonds form. The cooking process, as well as our digestive process, tend to break down everything into the individual amino acids.

SC: Then is it a good thing to cook beans, for example, so that the stuff is already broken down somewhat?

TCC: You can make that argument, yes. As a matter of fact, I think it’s soy beans and a couple of other things that if you don’t cook, you can end up with some materials in there that are a little bit toxic. And so, if you destroy those toxic materials, it’s a good idea. So, arguments can be made, like you’re suggesting, for some cooking. I think though when you just sort of look at it in the general sense, our diets should certainly be comprised to a large extent of some fresh salads and fruits. Not cooking them is a good thing. With the cooking, a couple of cautionary things: We shouldn’t cook things and then throw away the water. Quite frankly, you’re just losing all the water soluble vitamins and good stuff in there and it’s better to have vegetable stock and use it some place else if you’d like. Or just don’t overcook. So, what it just comes down to is light cooking – the wok idea is not a bad idea – and maybe even doing this (this is kind of neat too) without frying foods, ‘cause then you’re sopping up a bunch of oil, corrupting things. It might be better to just sauté things in water.

SC: So, oils under heat, even those like coconut oil with a high heat point – better not to heat them if we’re talking about optimal nutrition?

TCC: Yes, exactly.

MC: What happens to animal protein during digestion?

TCC: We’re able to still break it down into individual amino acids. The whole putrefaction thing is something quite different, it’s when animal flesh lies around and decays and that doesn’t necessarily happen in our intestines, but what can happen is that it can get compacted, so it hangs around our intestines longer, and that’s not a good idea. Plus there’s constipation, to be honest about it. And the other thing is that the amino acids that are present in the animal foods too, have some properties that are not so good – a little more sulfur amino acids, which in turn, when that gets metabolized, creates sulfate ions. Sulfate is an acidic ion, so you end up getting a more acidic type of tissue, and that’s not good. So, we can think of a lot of reasons that animal proteins aren’t very good, other than putrefaction.

SC: Some people believe that combining rice and beans also creates sulfur/harmful byproducts. Is that true?

TCC: I’m not a big fan of food combining either. The macrobiotic diet will talk about that, some others too. I think food combining is becoming too specific without the evidence. We sometimes get caught up in too much detail – two parts of this, two parts of that- but we didn’t do that in evolutionary times. If we eat just a variety of things – variety is a good idea – then nature takes care of itself.  I don’t know the evidence, the science, to suggest whether this combination or that combination is better or this time is better than that time. It’s too much to figure out.

MC: What about deficiencies in a plant-based diet? People talk about B12, calcium.

TCC: Calcium is a no-no, there’s no calcium deficiency on a plant-based diet. B12, yeah, it turns out that people who eat that way for long periods of time, you will see the B12 go down in the blood. And so the range of B12 in vegans is pretty consistently lower than omnivores. And the range that was considered to be normal up until fairly recently was 250-800 or so, that was omnivores. And what we see in vegans is a range of maybe 150-300, so there’s a tendency for it to be lower. Well, because we get to caught up in numbers and just accept history and never question it, we tend to think “oh, it’s gotta b 250 and above” and anybody below is in trouble. So, most vegans are urged to take some sort of supplement. And, my argument – and I was discussing this at a medical conference yesterday – is that, we already know from history that ranges are devised in certain periods of information, but generally reflecting what we’re doing at the time. So, if we’re mostly consuming animal foods when all of this information was being put together, that happens to yield 250-800. Now we’re going over to plants and starting to discover people with less B12 – maybe that’s the normal. Maybe that’s what it should be.

SC: The same thing happened with cholesterol.

TCC: It used to be that the normal range for cholesterol was 200-300. Now we know that’s not true. People started eating plants and all of a sudden normal is less than 200. In my early days, if you got cholesterol less than 200, it was considered a problem, it was even said to increase suicide rate. All these crazy things. Eventually, they started coming to their senses, especially when they discovered the statins and that they can reduce cholesterol level. So now they want to reduce the cholesterol levels and make sure they’re even lower so you have to take a statin. So, these ranges shift in time, and it’s a challenge to the medical doctors to stop and think about it: The only thing that really matters is not necessarily the range that you happen to see when you’re measuring the blood, but basically what is happening at the end of the day. If you really had a serious vitamin B12 deficiency, you would have a condition that is called parasthesis – tingling in the fingers – or you would have some kind of anemia. If that’s the case, then next question is, is that more common in vegans than in omnivores? We don’t know that. I’d like to see a little more systematic research to accept that. The argument is always “B12 doesn’t grow in plants”. Well, it doesn’t grow in animals either -it’s created by bacteria. And we have bacteria in our gut, and in the soil too, so, if you have good organic soil, the plant will take up some of the stuff and get it. There are people who say there’s also active B12 and inactive – but active for what? If you really look at the basic science, you find a lot of gaps in knowledge. If you want to play it safe, then you can take a B12 supplement now and then, if you want.

MC: Or throw a little dirt in your food.

TCC: Or just don’t wash the organic stuff very well.

MC: I know that you are largely funded by the National Institutes of Health, the authority here, and I’m wondering – what is their stand on a plant-based diet?

TCC: I’m glad you asked that because it’s a real sore point. I consider nutrition to be THE premiere science in medicine – end of story. And there’s nothing that can touch it – if we understand it. We don’t understand it. People in my community of research don’t understand it. People in the medical practitioner community don’t understand it, we talked about that before, how there is no nutrition course requirement in medical school. And NIH is the premiere research funding agency in the world, it has the most money, has a great track record, is highly respected. It’s made up of 27 institutes, centers and programs, on cancer, diabetes, etc…Not one is called the Institute of Nutrition. The head of the NCI and the head of the Heart and Lung would say “oh, we got nutrition built into our fabric, in our system, in our research”, but when they asked them what percent would you actually say is focused on nutrition, they would give a figure of 2% or 3%. And the others don’t have any, so it’s just limited to a couple of the institutes, and only 2%-4%. And most of that is actually spent on clinical trials – where they spend a lot of the little money testing the ability of single nutrients, like “does vitamin C stop colon  polyps?” It’s done with an eye on the corporate sector – that’s what it’s about: What can we put into a pill and see if it works. And it’s just ridiculous. And to add insult to injury, since the director of an institute has to be a medical doctor, that means it has to be someone who is not trained in nutrition, by default. I have served on NIH review committees and it became very clear to me that they were consistently very opposed to nutrition – even though they use the word a lot, they don’t seriously study it. My book is about having these kinds of experiences.

SC: When is it coming out?

TCC: I’m hoping later this summer.

SC: How do we change things and how did we get here in the first place?

TCC: I’m trying to address it in my book – and so far my colleagues in the sciences can’t argue with it – and it really comes down to this: We have lost respect for nature. We over-name things, we over-quantitate things. We live that way, partly because that’s the way our brains work, maybe we just can’t think in this kind of context – but we have to. That’s the way nature is and until we recognize that this is what life is all about, we’re not gonna make a lot of progress. What we’re going to do is continue to make a lot of money, and let the rich get richer and let the rest of the people serve as slaves. That’s one title I’m considering: The Master and Slave State. We’re focused on money, greed and competition, and the people who really want to go down that route become very hostile when you challenge them.

MC: The truth is that health is power, and if everyone has health/power, then who is left to rule, right?

TCC: Yeah, I say it’s “wealth for the few at the expense of health for the many”. It’s really what it’s all about. To come back to your question of HOW we do this – establishment does not understand nutrition, and whether they know it or not, they are consistently trying to keep this information from the public. So, I say, first of all, it’s about information control – let’s face it. And I show how industries have devised systems to keep things under control. Registered dietitians, for example, are the only ones allowed to practice nutrition professionally. There’s licensing, and the ones who are controlling the licensing is the American Dietetic Association. And the ADA is a front for the dairy industry, for crying out loud. Two years ago, I was invited to give a keynote there and we were given our registration bags and there on the outside it says “ADA partners” and you see The National Dairy Council, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola. So I just took a picture and I just showed the others and I said “look at this criminal outfit”. They are the ones that not only control who is allowed to talk about food because of the licenses, but they also control the curriculum in universities as to what courses you have to take to get and RD. So, all the Registered Dietitians in this country are working with a corrupt organization and getting trained in an area of nutrition that is controlled. When I tell them this, a lot of dietitians get upset, but all of a sudden they realize that they’ve been had. And the public has really been had.

]]> http://hlifemedia.com/2010/03/hlife-interview-colin-campbell/feed/ 8 http://hlifemedia.com/2010/03/dear-hlife-candida-albicans/ http://hlifemedia.com/2010/03/dear-hlife-candida-albicans/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:19 +0000 Silvie Celiz http://hlifemedia.com/?p=3671 Healthy Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet

Dear HLife: What is the Deal with Candida?

Dear HLifer,

Candida sounds like the name of a hot girl who lives next door right? And that’s not far from reality. It lives closer to us than we know it, but it is not a human being. Candida Albicans is a yeast, a type of fungus that lives naturally in all human bodies of all ages from birth on.  Here is the ‘big deal’ with candida and health:

If you live in a healthy body: It lives symbiotically in a balanced environment as a yeast in the gastrointestinal tract, on the mucus membranes and on the skin, causing no problems for the body. Living in a healthy body implies that you have a strong immune system via a nutrient-dense, conscious diet and high-frequency thought patterns.

If you live in an unhealthy body: This harmless ‘yeast’ (single-celled organism) can overgrow, turning into an extremely dangerous pathogenic fungus with roots that can attack any organs or systems in your body. This fungus uses its roots to dig and create holes into the intestinal lining, where it and its by products can then infiltrate the blood stream.

I compare Candida to the Incredible Hulk. If it’s under control, it’s harmless. If it’s activated, it’s lethal. And guess who can control your Hulk/Candida disease-activating transformation? You. So, how do we go from harmless yeast to dangerous pathogen? Candida overgrowth happens in many different ways that cause the body to be in a weak imbalanced state. Major causes of Candida overgrowth include alcohol overuse,  the use of antibiotics, recreational drugs, birth control pills, as well as stress, radiation, chemotherapy, steroids and poor diet.

This is genuinely the real Hulk in potentially all of us, which can literally take the body down by causing illnesses such as sinus problems, mucosal and systemic infections, hypoglycemia, acne, hypothyroidism, fibroids, anxiety, depression, lupus, autism, mental diseases – and even cancer. Can you control this from happening? Absolutely. A whole foods, organic, plant-based diet is the best way to keep Candida in a controlled yeast state. Yeast overgrowth thrives in the environment of diets high in refined sugars, refined carbohydrates, dairy products, alcohol, processed foods, and hormones secreted as a result of high stress levels.

• ✻ Destroying good/friendly bacteria in our gastrointestinal gut through birth control pills, antibiotics, or poor diet will allow yeast to take over.

• ✻ Whether due to stress or ingesting processed, refined sugars, the fungus only cares about  the resulting “high blood sugar” content, and will use this sugar to reproduce itself.

• ✻ Once “Hulk” imbalance is in effect, yeast continues to multiply as it is fed sugar in any form – desserts, alcohol, white flour, dairy products like milk and cheese, and elevated blood sugar levels caused from stress.

• ✻ By-products of Candida, called mycotoxins, are neurotoxins that cause disruption of cellular communication, destroy and decompose tissues and organs, which makes the body weak and prone to infection and inflammation.

• ✻ Mycotoxins weaken the immune system, disrupt RNA and DNA production, damage and destroy neurons, are carcinogenic, cause a lack of coordination and confuse the body systems so much that they create cross-wiring problems of the immune system causing it to attack itself (your own body, which it is supposed to be protecting).

• ✻ The status of the body’s intestinal flora, GI mucosal function and liver health protect the brain against mycotoxins.  Poor diet contributes to a toxin-filled liver and a low count of friendly bacteria, which will allow mycotoxins to make camp in places like the brain, the nervous system, the joints, and skin.  A nutrient-dense, organic, plant-based, unprocessed foods diet will keep the liver healthy, free from toxins, and keep the friendly bacteria count high.

• ✻ Candida overgrowth creates a cascade of imbalances in the body such as emotional disturbances (anxiety/depression), multiplication of microorganisms,  and hormonal changes.

• ✻ Poor diets (high in refined sugars, refined carbohydrates, dairy products, alcohol, processed foods) and hormones secreted as a result of high stress levels elevate blood sugars, which in turn feeds bacteria, parasites and viruses.  Animal flesh and derivative products create an acidic environment, perfectly suited for all of these pathogens to thrive in, therefore creating more disease in the body.

With its high minerals and vitamin content and no refined or processed sugar, a whole foods plant-based diet is perfect support for a stressful or healthy lifestyle.

Foods to eat:

• ✻ Organic vegetables. No GMO, pesticides nor herbicides for a toxin-free, strong liver. Veggies are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals for stress support, aid in body regeneration, and reduce acidity, which reduces inflammation. (Avoid mushrooms and corn).

• ✻ Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, spelt, whole wheat.

• ✻ Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, like dark leafy greens, coconut, flax, hemp seed oil, olive oil, raw nuts and seeds and avocados.

• ✻ Beans and legumes in small quantities (small serving 1/2 cup) because, although they contain protein, they are also high in starch, which turns into sugar in the body. Adzuki and mung beans are the highest in protein, so they are the most suitable. (Avoid fermented soy products).

• ✻ Fruits have amazing micronutrients but in this case, because they have sugar in the form of fructose, limit to one fruit per day, preferably the ones with a lower sugar content. Berries contain the least amount of sugar and are loaded with antioxidants.

• ✻ For an enzyme-rich nutrition and an alkaline-promoting environment, eat more raw vegetables and fruits than cooked foods. Try a ratio of 70% raw to 30% cooked.

• ✻ Drink plenty of pure water and alkalinize your body through fresh vegetables juices.  Avoid too many carrots, as they have a higher sugar count.

• ✻ All nuts and seeds (raw only) – except cashews, peanuts, peanut butter and pistachios.

• ✻ Avoid all processed foods, canned foods, refined sugars, refined flours, white starches, sodas and pre-packaged products, frozen meals, bottled dressing and sauces, and animal products.

Yesterday, Oprah Winfrey had author Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Rules), actress and author Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, The Kind Diet) and Chipotle restaurant founder Steve Ells as guests on her show for “Food 101″, an episode dedicated to food. The show focused on the truth about the food we eat – where it comes from, what is added to (or removed from) it, and different diets.  A big shout-out to all the guests and to Oprah, for having the courage to shed a little light on a crucial topic. We watched the show and here is what we each had to say about the subject.

Silvie’s Thoughts

I was a bit surprised that none of the guests, including the radiant Alicia Silverstone, who is a conscious animal lover and a vegan, touched on two important points:

1)  Animal protein is not healthy. Studies have shown that it causes cancer/osteoporosis, is extremely acidic, and too much of our energy is used to break down (digest) such dense carcass.

2)  The Global Warming situation. Even if we have health, that doesn’t really matter if there is no planet to live our healthy lives in. Methane gas emitted by cows is one of the main causes of Global Warming, and since we vote with our wallets, our consumption of meat is destroying the planet!

Also, in the food segment of a show, it would have probably been a good idea for Oprah to have an expert on the science of nutrition, someone like T. Colin Campbell, PhD, author of The China Study, to explain what happens when you take in certain foods and that our current way of seeing health is bonkers. Maybe a neuropsychologist could have told Oprah that her love for the “taste” of fried chicken, a very toxic food because of antibiotics plus deep-fried super-saturated oils, is probably a chemical and psychological addiction like the kind that prevails all over our obese country. Well, I am gonna say it: The human body is not made to eat animals because our intestines are way too long to have  quality, healthy digestion. Sorry, but being a carnivore is a thing of the past. We are evolving beings, no one lives in a cave and hunts for food anymore. Everything else has evolved but our style of eating.  We need to catch up to the rest of our evolution.

OK, so you don’t want to give up eating animal carcass. Well, then, at least cut down to meat just twice a month. But you need to know the TRUTH about what comes with making that choice – on a mind, body, and spirit level – and then, if you still want to consciously go forward, then, you will live your own cause and effect. Your body will tell you if you made the right decision.

The thing is, dairy makes you sick. Milk is for calves, and, many people are either allergic to it (lactose intolerant) or overweight from it. This is also a matter of perception. Humans are not supposed to look like people from a Botero painting (it’s not healthy) – but we do, and we have an obesity epidemic in this country. A nutritionist could have made the point that humans actually do not need that much protein, and that in this country, we are, in fact, mostly over-proteinized. The average woman body only needs like 50 grams a day, not much. A lentils and rice combo contains an average 23 grams of protein. Just in ONE serving, you get have your daily dose. All vegetables have protein, and chlorella (green algae) has 58% protein, (among other amazing nutrients)which is twice as much then a piece of cooked beef. Add nuts and seeds, which are very high in protein, and you easily, as a vegan, (without mucous-making, cancer-causing milk/cheese) can get your daily dose by eating three small meals a day with two snacks. What we need more of is: Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Everything the body really needs is available in a plant-based diet.

You care about yourself, your family and our planet. Show it by voting with your dollars, educating yourself by knowing how your body works, what it really needs on a molecular level, and nourish it property with conscious whole food choices.  Actions speak louder then words.

On another note, there is the energy aspect. Spirituality. Living a spiritual life doesn’t mean praying and chanting. Spirituality is not a ritual, it’s a way of being, thinking, living positively and taking responsibility. A part of this is respecting our bodies, loving our cells, and providing the best nutrients they need in order to thrive in your body. It’s being conscious of the reality that our planet is suffering because of our food choices. It’s accepting that everything is ENERGY that we emanate and take in – synergy. It’s understanding that the animals being killed are filled with death energy, the energy of FEAR, and that what you are feeding on when you eat meat is…FEAR and DEATH. It’s thinking: “Wow, am I really eating another sentient being that also has bowel movements?”

WE NEED TO CHANGE.  People talk about change coming – WE ARE THE CHANGE. External change will happen when WE change. Change our habits, starting with the foods we eat, which will eventually change our body chemistry, our minds, our energy and, in that moment, we will have changed the world without even leaving our city.  But it starts with YOU. Every bite, every single person counts.

Oprah is right: We need a food revolution. And that revolution consists of eating mostly plants for our health and for the future existence of our planet. Are we being selfish with future generations? Do we not care of the children of our children and what they will have to face in the direction we are going? BE STRONG. Don’t let your palate, your senses, (which are just programmed electrical impulses) dictate YOUR LIFE and the possible destruction of this beautiful planet. This planet gives us so much, and it’s nice to receive what it offers, but what have we given back to it?

Reminder of some of the benefits of eating a plant-based diet:

• 1) The only source of antioxidants on the planet. Antioxidants keep us young, regenerating and protecting our cells from free radicals that want to damage our cells. Recent studies say that phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables are anti-cancer agents and general preventative aids.

• 2) What is cheaper then rice, beans and a salad? Help your wallet!!!

• 3) Helping the planet stay alive by consuming and putting your dollars in organic produce that doesn’t burp or fart methane gas all day long, on the contrary, plants capture sunlight and photon energy to feed it straight to us! They also purify the air through photosynthesis.

• 4) You skin glowing, and you looking radiant, healthy, and young, because you are being nourished by the quality nutrients inside the plant: minerals, vitamins, proteins, complex carbohydrates, and good fats!

• 5) You eat more quality protein minus the fat, cholesterol, putrefaction, acid-production, and disease-causing bacteria.

• 6) Your cells are receiving photon energy straight from the sun and the plants are your middle man that capture it. Way too amazing. These are not only great for your body – they are high frequency vibrations that will elevate your mind to higher thoughts of creation and raise the vibrational frequency of the planet.

• 7) You become more clean, pure of thought and behavior, and more aware of your internal universe to the point of seeing the amazing divine being that you and we all are, and understand how we create realities…create our lives.

Food 101, an introduction to the reality of our food system and its consequences on our health, was a great start. Let’s act on this information and take charge of our lives.

Maryl’s Thoughts

First of all, I applaud Oprah’s efforts at educating the public about food. But this very sentence brings up a very serious point:  Why weren’t we already educated about food in the first place? In school, in college, by our parents? We have to study and pass tests to get a license to be able to drive. But the most crucial things in life – how to feed ourselves, how to raise our children, how to communicate with our partners, how to find our true calling – none of those things, things that either make or break our health and life in general, are taught to us.  Our parents didn’t require a license or any studying to be our parents – most parenting “just happens”. I was fortunate to be raised by a mother who dedicated her time to raising me and my sisters, and this meant plenty of studying and reading up on psychology, nutrition, spirituality and more, plus plenty of observation and experimentation. But most parents don’t think they need to do that, and many don’t have that kind of time because they are exhausted from working to survive or to keep up with the Joneses.

Well, the truth is, the Joneses didn’t have parents/teachers/organizations who taught them how to eat either. And if you’re spending your time keeping up with society instead of focusing on learning about what you really should be putting in your mind and body to stay healthy, you are headed for where many Americans are already: Obesityville. Diabetes Drive. Cancer City. The corner of Unhappiness St and Depression Ave.  Welcome to reality.

The fact that we have to leave it up to Oprah to tell us a little bit about what many books and other have been saying about food for years is kind of sad, because it goes to show us just how ill-informed we are as a society, in this country and the planet as a whole.

Speaking of the planet: Why didn’t either guests or host mention the effects of diet on the grave problems we have in the environment? Why was there no mention of methane gases from cow farms being a huge contributor to Global Warming?  Are we really afraid to make the connection between all of our behaviors – the way we eat having an effect on our planet’s deterioration or survival, the way we think/perspective having an effect on our health and lifespan, our food choices dictating our moods and our relationships – and so we choose to compartmentalize (“I am an environmentalist not a health-nut”, “I’m spiritual but I grew up eating meat”, “I care about the environment so I own a hybrid. Steak anyone?”) our lives and break our whole system and person into one aspect of who we are?  That’s not the way it works, people.  What you do, affects your entire self.  What I do, affects you.  What you eat, affects me.  What you say (or don’t say while you’re on national television, an incredible opportunity to help people understand health or any other life-changing topic) has a direct effect on this planet, MY planet. Your planet, too.

Maybe you have been eating the same thing all your life and maybe you’re, like Alicia said, ‘flirting’ with the idea of eating healthier.  I love that.  Flirt all you want – then make a move.  You wanna be benched all your life or do you wanna be the protagonist, the hero of your own story? That is what we’re talking about when it comes to food.  Nobody taught you (because nobody knew – our parents did their best, so much of what they know is what they themselves learned from their own parents, and those guys didn’t even have Internet or Barnes & Noble for information!) so it is UP TO YOU to learn how to eat for your own and your planet/children/siblings/parent’s survival.

I understand that television is an entertainment medium, not an informative one (it’s a box, a frame that makes the eye focus on a central visual mostly, which is why you don’t see any ugly newscasters.) But what a beauty life is when you can get your entertainment AND your information all at once. This Food 101 show on Oprah was good – but it is only the first step, the tiny tip of a huge iceberg that, if you don’t wanna see, will continue to melt and tsunami its way over to you. This food crisis is happening in this country, in your city, and in your body.

Don’t let it be too late – get informed and take action when it comes to your health, that of your loved ones, and your planet.  It starts with choosing the cashews over the chips, with that one home-cooked meal instead of the drive-thru, with that conversation about that one book you read on the truth about our food system, that one movie you watched that showed you the crude reality about how animals on farms are raised. And with your desire and ability to choose who you want to be every second of the day.

Dear HLife:  How Do I Transition Into A Plant-Based Diet?

Dear HLifer,

The act of choosing what to eat expresses a level of consciousness in a being. A plant-based diet is founded on Love, compassion and respect for our planet, as well as for all sentient beings. It is a step towards a realistic spiritual life (see Spirituality: What A Concept post), taking responsibility for the future of our planet and the continuance of the human race. First, we must understand that everyone is its own unique being, living his or her own evolutionary process. Transitioning to a plant-based diet is a process, but a conscious processes of which your mind and body will determine the speed. For example, some people take away red meat, then gradually stop eating chicken and fish. Others go vegan-raw in one day and never go back. Whichever the case may be for you, you need to do it with Knowledge of what you are doing: Know what your body needs and make sure you provide the right nourishment in order to feel balanced and energized.

What you need to know before you begin:

❇ It’s not about taking things away from your diet, it is about expanding your horizons and replacing some things with better, higher quality, organic whole foods.

❇ Learning, researching, analyzing, studying, reading about plant-based nutrition will become a part of your daily regimen in order to understand what it is that you are doing.

❇ When we say dark green leafs, we don’t mean lettuce. And, no, lettuce is not the nutritional leaf choice for our salads.

❇ Nutrition is about quality not quantity,  And by quality we mean foods that have the highest nutrient count PLUS are easy to digest, absorb and eliminate.

❇ When changing your lifestyle to a plant-based diet your body will be chemically changing right in front of your eyes, eyes that cannot see their micro-universe. You will be changing from the inside out. Don’t be surprised if the you find that you now don’t like things that you liked before and vice versa; this is normal and to be expected.  As you change your diet, you will have a new body, physically and chemically.

❇ Some kitchen tools to make your transition easier in the kitchen: high speed blender, food processor, seed grinder, great paring and chopping knife, mandoline or julienne slicer, lime presser, stainless steel pressure cooker, stainless steel medium size pot, stainless steel sauce pan, mixing bowls, salad bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, plastic chopping board (one for veggies and one for fruits).

❇ You are finally taking responsibility for your health and overall well-being by doing what you are doing, consciously exerting your power of choice (with knowledge), now that you choose not just what you put in your body but also WHY.

❇ You are helping our planet survive by not consuming animals that produce gigantic amounts of methane gas, which is a huge contributor to global warming.

❇ Your body is not very forgiving and when you go back to the bad stuff, it will complain  – faster and louder.

❇  If you are not doing this under the supervision or advise of a knowledgeable holistic practitioner, make sure you inform yourself daily and do things gradually to test out your system.  Some people have a bad liver, kidney issues or certain imbalances/allergies, and if you don’t prepare your body for the change you might experience uncomfortable symptoms of cleansing, such as diarrhea or gas.  This is part of the process, as your body tries to get all of the toxins out. Drink plenty of water to help.

Here at HLife we support an organic, whole foods, plant-based diet and especially a holistic lifestyle. So, our recommendations for transitioning into a plant-based diet will be Holistic = Mind, Body and Spirit.

Mind: Preparing your mind for a lifestyle shift is a must. Especially since this change will have such an amazing impact on, not just your body, but also your mind. Remember, our mind and body are one, what we do to one affects the other and visa versa. Having an optimistic, positive attitude, and being open to great change is a wonderful start for the mind. Know that through this change you will be the healer of your own self. You are in charge of your health and it is up to you to care for your cells, neurons, organs; you guys are a team and must look after one another.  That is why we are never alone. It is the beginning of your relationship with energy, with the Source, and the vegetable kingdom is the medium by which you will acquire photonic energy from the sun for your cells, and change the frequency of your body, mind and spirit. Replace your old thoughts with new ideas, thoughts, and mental associations to food.  You need to see food in a different way in order to understand why and what you are doing. Reading HLife can help you, by supporting your plant-based lifestyle and informing you with post about this subject. You Can Do It!!

Also, know that by eating a plant-based diet and healing your body with these foods, you will not only be cleaning out all the crap from your intestines but also the crap from your mind.  Your personal issues ( personal “demons”) will surface, so you can face them, understand them, transmute them and let them go. Remember: Mind and body are one. To heal the body we must also heal the mind.

Body: First step – read The Protein Myth post on HLife, so you can start to understand what protein is, and how you can replace animal protein with plant-based protein. By taking meat away, you need to replace it with other protein from plant sources, of which there are plenty like organic tempeh, bean and grain combos, nuts and seeds, quinoa, spirulina, chlorella, bee pollen, and vegetables themselves.  Don’t just stop eating something without replacing it; being malnourished and starving the body is very similar.  The point of eating is to get the right amount and quality of proteins (amino acids), complex carbohydrates, lipids (good fats), enzymes, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients in order to get nourished and create ATP (ENERGY).  We will be posting the Protein Myth Part 3 next week where we will discuss all our plant-based protein options!!

Bring more veggies into your life. Seventy to 80% of your plate should be veggies. Go to the farmers markets and grocery store and load up on ORGANIC produce. Organic, because it is about NUTRIENTS, and organic and wild produce have more nutrients than conventional as well as a higher frequency energy. You also don’t want to work your liver overtime with the pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals in conventional produce. Have fun – there are  infinite varieties and options when it comes to the vegetable kingdom. Remember that the stronger the color, the more antioxidants that fruit or vegetable contains. Antioxidants are what give vegetables and fruits their pigmentation, what keeps you young, and keeps your cells from damage. And you can only get them from the Vegetable Kingdom.

Have a raw, dark green leaf salad with every meal, if possible. Leafy greens are filled with enzymes, vitamins and minerals like calcium, some which lose their potency when cooked. Combine the salad with brown rice and beans (legumes), which make for a complete protein when eaten together (this can be 30% of your meal and your raw salad 70%). You can also lightly steam some veggies like asparagus, or broccoli and either add them to the salad or serve them as a side with some raw cashew cheese. for other meal options. It is delicious. Get some vegan, raw cook books to get some ideas and check out our HKitchen section every week for a new plant-based vegan recipe. Remember the variety of vegetables you have to create nutritious, hardy and delicious meals.  Also, bring in some whole grains like brown rice, quinoa (a complete protein all by itself!), millet, amaranth, buckwheat. I’m not a big fan of wheat because the gluten in it is an inflammatory agent, and many people develop allergies to it.  But, if you do have it, perhaps in the form of bread, have it once a day or once in a while,  and have it whole grain, organic and freshly made. Bread that comes from another state probably had to have a preservative as part of the ingredients to prevent it from molding. Who knows how many days it has been since they actually made it? And the list of ingredients for most of these items is ridiculous.  Bread doesn’t require much to make – so check the ingredients. My rule is: Organic, whole grain, freshly made, no more then 4 ingredients and NO SUGAR.

This brings me to my next point: READ LABELS.  Having a plant-based diet doesn’t mean a processed, boxed, vegetarian junk food diet.  <–NOT NUTRITION, PEOPLE. Processed sugar is poison for the mind and body and, petroleum is not for human consumption, but when you have both from GMO corn turned into a cheap sweetener that the food industry uses any possible way they can, WE HAVE A PROBLEM.  Google it and learn how many names corn syrup goes under, maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup… hey, they even made a commercial saying “no, its not bad, its just corn!” Yeah, corn mixed with DNA of fish, fossil fuels and who knows what else. DONT BUY IT!  Read labels and read our post/video on Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills You, which will definitely get you to start reading labels, and focused on whole, plant-based foods.  Eat food people…REAL FOOD!

Spirit: Get in touch with nature. Connect. Go to some organic farms, learn about them, what they are doing, and why. Experience the people, the real farmers that take pride and love in what they do, which is cultivate the land and give us nutrient-dense produce. Learn about our planet and how it suffers from the bad and ignorant choices we make everyday with our wallets.  Love your planet; it’s a living being and it needs our help. Get in touch with it, look at it from a different perspective. Earth (Tera) could be just one cell inside a huge body that hosts all of us. Be grateful for the vegetables that bring us only great nutrients with no cholesterol or bad fat, the very veggies that have vibrational codes inside them to activate our divinity once we breakdown the cell walls by chewing and accessing the pure photo energy from the sun.  Think about your energy and how you will be cleansing and raising its vibration by ingesting high-vibration energy from the vegetable kingdom.

Be grateful, for your time has come to prepare for the upcoming cosmic alignment beginning 2012-2014, where our bodies need to be lighter and higher frequency in order to sustain the photonic energy that will come down.  A plant-based diet will help us to acclimate, and enter the alignment with ease.

This is a big question and there is still so much more I want to say, but all in due time.  Baby steps. We need to process the information and take things step by step. Change is a constant and it is a good thing, especially if it comes with positive effects.  We are beings in evolution, and evolution will keep going with or without us. Will you ride the wave or get hit by it?

The word protein comes from the Greek word proteios, which means “of prime importance”. So, what is this important thing called protein? A protein is a very large molecule made up of smaller molecules called “amino acids”. Each different protein is composed of various amino acids put together in varying order, with almost limitless combinations. These small units (amino acids) have a three-dimensional structure, and exist in many different forms, including long chains, branched molecules, spheres, sheets, and helixes.  Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, so, in reality, what we are talking about when we say protein is not a dense animal whose carcass rots in your intestines per se, but about tiny little molecules that come organized into many different shapes and forms. MOLECULES! So, when we think of protein, we should now replace our mental image from whatever antiquated notion or association we have, with a new and true image, that of a complex sequence of molecules that we now know are amino acids. Maybe your mental picture can look something like this:

There are about 22 amino acids that we know of. These are classified into two categories. Non-essential amino acids are the ones the body is able to produce by itself. Essential amino acids are the ones the body can’t make and that must be supplied by the foods we eat. There are eight of these essential amino acids, but recent studies have shown that we should not just focus on these because, if a person has poor nutrition and is lacking in some vitamins and minerals, they won’t be able to make those non-essential amino acids either, which then makes those essential as well to that nutrient-deficient body.  The right approach is eating a variety of foods in order to get all the amino acids and the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients we need to have a balanced protein content.

Surveys have shown that Americans eat almost twice as much protein as their bodies need.  Food consumption surveys show an average protein intake of about 100 grams per day, 70% of this from animal products.  The average daily requirement for an adult female whose best weight is 110 pounds, or 50 kilograms, is about 40 grams a day. For an adult male who should weigh about 154 pounds, or 70 kilograms, requires about 56 grams of protein daily. That’s about half of what the survey showed.  When it comes to small unit molecules like amino acids, it is never about quantity – it’s always about quality.  Quality protein has everything to do with digestibility, absorbability and elimination, meaning, the better your protein source is, the better your body will be able to break it down, take nutrients from it, and get rid of the waste.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, a six-ounce broiled porterhouse steak gives you a whooping 38 grams of protein. But it also delivers 44 grams of fat, 16 of them saturated. It also leaves you with all sorts of bad bacteria from the rotting of the meat in your intestines, bacteria that then multiply, build cities in your body, quickly get rid of the good bacteria that help your immune system, and finally create a perfect environment for disease. On the other hand, let’s look at another source of protein: legumes. A cup of cooked lentils has 18 grams of protein – AND UNDER ONE GRAM OF FAT (keep in mind that cooked meat loses its protein content and absorbability, so, unless you are eating raw meat – which brings with it even more bacteria, we are not sure if you are even getting the 38 grams we mentioned earlier.) Lentils, a legume like beans and chick peas, are a plant, not an animal, so there is no rotting to create bad bacteria involved here.

Considering that we eat three times a day, between snacks and meals with proteins sources like beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and vegetables (all vegetables have some amount of protein, especially in the form of enzymes if eaten raw,) we can say that enough is enough. No wonder we have so many people with colon cancer and kidney problems, among other diseases related to protein over consumption or bad digestion-absorption-elimination. T. Colin Campbell PhD, who, in addition to human studies, maintained a 27-year laboratory research program in experimental animal studies and spent his entire professional career in biomedical research centered on protein, shows us impressive evidence in his book, The China Study, of how people who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic diseases.  Campbell also consistently found that plant-based, whole foods nutrition reversed and/or prevented diseases and maintained optimal health.  In the book, he also notes that even small intakes of animal-based foods were associated with adverse effects.

It makes much more sense to get your protein from the vegetable kingdom, not just to lower your risk of diseases like colon cancer, but because, at the end of the day, with a varied plant-based nutrition based on an understanding of  nutrition, it is very easy to meet the daily requirement of protein without the saturated fat, bad cholesterol, bacteria overgrowth, and negative/fear energy from the killed animal.  A varied plant-based nutrition not only gives your body a pool of amino acids to choose from to synthesize into whatever it needs to keep you healthy, but it also gives you plenty of minerals, vitamins, enzymes (which are composed of amino acids anyway,) complex carbohydrates, good fats, fiber, lighter high-frequency energy, photon energy to align with the cosmos and the great feeling that you helped the planet from the methane gas from the many cows in farms, which is contributing to global warming.

In Part 3 of The Protein Myth, we will focus on why quality protein has to do with digestibility, absorbability and elimination, and plant-based sources of protein.  I’m excited – GET EXCITED TOO!

Sources: The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph D, extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_191.pdf, Staying Healthy with Nutrition by Elson Hass M.D., Enzymes The Key to Health, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/