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In this edition...
Health |
 Soy decreases risk of breast cancer recurrence |
| The high cost of cheap meat |
| Innovative food bank 'Meals for Health' program a resounding success |
| Fight one of deadliest cancers with your fork |
Environment and World Hunger |
| Global campaign to bestow legal rights on 'mother earth' |
| Lessons from fasting |
| Waste not, want not |
| Reimagining food systems in the midst of a hunger crisis |
| Calculating water footprints: How much water in your food? |
| Australia considers cull of 1.2 million camels 'to save the planet' |
Lifestyles and Trends |
| Mark Zuckerberg's new challenge: Eating only what he kills |
| 'Meatless Monday' reaches 50 per cent U.S. awareness |
| Vegetarianism becoming mainstream |
| The inconvenience of being vegan? |
| Going veggie overnight |
Animal Issues and Advocacy |
| Images of cruelty impact meat sales in Australia |
| Rescuers swoop in, give rescued pigs a home |
| Is it hard not to eat meat? |
| Messaging for maximum change |
Books, Films and Perspectives |
| Bollywood animation promotes vegetarianism with 'attack chickens' |
| Call to Compassion: Religious Perspectives on Animal Advocacy |
Of Note - Recipes, Blogs, Videos, Events, More |
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Don't forget to visit:
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(Excerpts are included from current news stories. Click on the "Full story" link to read the full article.)
Health 
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Soy decreases risk of breast cancer recurrence
Full story: PCRM Good Medicine
Women consuming the most soy products have a lower risk of breast cancer recurrence, according to a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Researchers tracked soy isoflavones consumed by 524 women with breast cancer. Postmenopausal women who ate more than 42.3 milligrams of soy isoflavones daily had a 33 per cent decreased risk of recurrence, compared with women who ate less than 15.2 milligrams per day. Sources of soy isoflavones included soymilk, tofu, and edamame. Eight ounces of soymilk contains roughly 20 milligrams of soy isoflavones. The study resonates with findings from a 2009 Journal of the American Medical Association study, showing that women previously treated for breast cancer have less risk of recurrence or death if they include soy products in their routine.
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PCRM Good Medicine - Winter
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The high cost of cheap meat
Full story: New York Times
The point of factory farming is cheap meat, made possible by confining large numbers of animals in small spaces. Perhaps the greatest hidden cost is its potential effect on human health. Small doses of antibiotics - too small to kill bacteria - are fed to factory farm animals as part of their regular diet to promote growth and offset the risks of overcrowding. What factory farms are really raising is antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which means that several classes of antibiotics no longer work the way they should in humans. We pay for cheap meat by sacrificing some of the most important drugs ever developed.
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Innovative food bank 'Meals for Health' program a resounding success
Full story: Valley Community Newspapers
During April, Whole Foods Market partnered with the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services [California] and EarthSave to teach a group of low-income residents a healthier way to eat. Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, bowel diseases, arthritis and a host of other degenerative conditions are rampant in communities experiencing food insecurity. The results from the four-week program were astonishing. On average, each of the 21 participants dropped 21 points in LDL (bad) cholesterol, 7 points in fasting blood sugar, 17 pounds, [and lowered their blood pressure]. All participants had improved skin tone, a reduced (or eliminated) need for medication, a better sense of balance and an overall better sense of well-being. Several participants, who started the program on canes, graduated on their own two feet. One diabetic dropped 100 points in fasting blood sugar - without medication. It was an inaugural program at the food bank that organizers hope to learn from and "roll out" nationwide. [Watch a video of one of the participants.]
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Valley Community Newspapers - May 27
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Fight one of deadliest cancers with your fork
Full story: Sacremento Bee, CA
According to a new study, one of the deadliest types of cancer is also one of the most preventable. The World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research found that eating too much meat raises the risk of colorectal cancer and that eating fiber-rich vegetarian foods reduces the risk. What's more, nearly half (45 per cent) of colorectal cancer cases "could be prevented if we all ate more fiber-rich plant foods and less meat." The more meat you eat, the higher your risk will be. Almost as bad as what's in meat is what's not in it: fiber. Meat and dairy products have absolutely no fiber at all, while fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains are loaded with it. Fiber helps speed the passage of food through the colon. Meat, on the other hand, tends to hang around and, well, rot.
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Sacremento Bee, CA - June 13
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| Environment and World Hunger
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Global campaign to bestow legal rights on 'mother earth'
Full story: IPS
An international coalition of academics and environmental activists has launched a global campaign for the creation of a new UN convention to protect "mother earth." With the United Nations fighting a relentless battle against water pollution, loss of biodiversity, desertification, deforestation, climate change and a depleted ozone layer, the campaign for a "Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth" has taken added significance. Maude Barlow, a lead campaigner for the UN convention and chairperson of the Council of Canadians, a citizen's advocacy organisation, said: "We hope that one day a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth will stand as the companion to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights as one of the guiding covenants of our time. It will not be an easy struggle to have the rights of nature understood and adopted. But it will happen one day," she predicted.
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Lessons from fasting
Full story: VegSource blog
A few months ago I read the book, Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor's Program For Conquering Disease by Joel Fuhrman, M.D., which led to my decision to engage in a 7-day water only fast... It made me appreciate that I was not eating food for seven days by choice whereas there are millions of people not eating food for weeks and months, eventually starving to death, not by choice but because there is no food to be had. This is disturbing enough as it is. Now add this nugget to the mix [from the book Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth From The Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat by Howard F. Lyman]: "... the same amount of grain needed to produce one pound of meat could feed thirty-two people a day if they ate the grain directly. And so as our population increases, we will basically face the choice of whether to continue feeding our corn, wheat, barley, oats and soybeans to animals, while letting untold millions go hungry, or else to eat our grains directly, and have many times as much food available for human consumption."
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Waste not, want not
Full story: IRIN
A recent study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated global food loss and wastage at 1.3 billion tonnes a year, which it calls a "major squandering of resources." The amount of food wasted is shared almost equally between industrialized and developing countries. But while developing country losses are largely the result of pests, diseases, poor storage and inadequate transport for agricultural produce, in richer countries, perfectly edible food is rejected by retailers or thrown away as household waste. Ultimately, as the FAO report says, "The most important reason for food waste at the consumption level in rich countries is that people simply can afford to waste food."
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Reimagining food systems in the midst of a hunger crisis
Full story: IPS
Today one billion people are living in hunger, not because of scarcity of production or a shortage of food on shelves in the global marketplace, but because they "lack the most basic purchasing power needed to acquire it," Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said June 2. According to experts like De Schutter, the inability of 10 per cent of the world's population to feed itself is also a reflection of unsustainable patterns of consumption and deeply flawed models of industrialised agricultural production which, if allowed to continue, will divert 50 per cent of global cereal harvests towards feeding cattle by the year 2050. "A food system that is increasingly industrialised and commodified is not the only one available to us," he stressed. "We can and must re- imagine other food systems that take numerous social dimensions into account."
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Calculating water footprints: How much water in your food?
Full story: Triple Pundit
Often, when you think about food production, it is only the carbon emissions in terms of fertilizer use, transportation etc. that is accounted for. However, food production also has a steep water footprint. As a general rule of thumb, crops like sugar and vegetables are more water-intensive than cereals. Meat and dairy are even more water intensive. One cup of fresh coffee needs 140 litres of water to produce while the production of one kilogram of beef requires 16,000 litres of water. According to [a Food Ethics Council] report, in order to understand how to reduce our use of water, we need to measure this "embedded" or "virtual" water.
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Australia considers cull of 1.2 million camels 'to save the planet'
Full story: Daily Mail, UK
Australia is considering proposals to kill all the wild camels that roam the outback as part of its contribution to fighting global warming. The 1.2 million camels, considered pests by farmers and conservationists, each produce a methane equivalent of one ton of carbon dioxide a year. That makes them collectively one of Australia's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. But if the government goes ahead, politicians will be braced for a backlash from animal lovers, who are already a powerful voice against annual kangaroo culls. Under [the] plan, which will see the government awarding carbon credits to individuals and organisations involved in the cull, camels will be shot from helicopters or four-wheel-drive vehicles. Others would be rounded up and sent to an abattoir for either human or pet consumption.
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| Lifestyles and Trends
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Mark Zuckerberg's new challenge: Eating only what he kills
Full story: CNN Money
When he's not too busy connecting people across the universe, Mark Zuckerberg is pursuing a new "personal challenge," as he calls it. "The only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself," says the Facebook founder and CEO. [He explained:] This year, my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have. This year I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I'm eating a lot healthier foods and I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals. I started thinking about this last year when I had a pig roast at my house. A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn't want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me.
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'Meatless Monday' reaches 50 per cent U.S. awareness
Full story: Huffington Post
Awareness of Meatless Monday in the U.S. is now at 50.22 per cent. That's up from 30 per cent just 6 months ago. That's, well, half the nation! Equally significant, this awareness is translating into behavior change. Of those aware, 27.47 per cent said that Meatless Monday had influenced their decision to cut back on meat. The American Meat Institute is even seeing a change of behavior - a November 2010 study found that 18 per cent were "implementing meatless Mondays." It's definitely a movement. If you think Meatless Monday is a good idea, tell someone. Together let's go get the other half!
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Vegetarianism becoming mainstream
Full story: ABC News, U.S.
Shortly after giving up meat in 1995, Jessica Lindsey took a cross-country trip that gave her a taste of what eating out was going to be like. "Vegetarianism was still so fringe then that hardly anyone outside of California knew what it meant," she says. "At one restaurant, the waitress told me that the soups were vegetarian. She said that the broth was from beef, and it contained chicken pieces, but no meat!" Today Lindsey rarely has such strange encounters. Vegetarianism is steadily becoming mainstream. Meet some of the new vegetarians....
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The inconvenience of being vegan?
Full story: Huffington Post
Why bother going vegan? ... Here's why: You're curious and you know deep inside that this is something you need to think about. It could be because you have a pet and wonder if there's a difference between him/her and the pig that turned into the bacon you ate for breakfast. Maybe you saw an eye-opening video about society's treatment of animals. Or maybe you have been reading about the environmental impact of industrial animal agriculture or the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Whatever the reason may be, the fact that this seems mildly interesting to you means that you have already taken the first step towards thinking vegan. Don't panic! That's a good thing and is reason enough to not turn back now. Once you acknowledge that with every lifestyle choice, you can help build a smarter future for people, animals and the planet, you will realize that choosing not to think vegan is, in fact, an inconvenient burden to live with.
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Going veggie overnight
Full story: Simple Green Action blog
For four weeks in April, I gave up meat. For one of those weeks, I gave up milk, cheese, yogurt and all other animal by-products. Why did I do it? As the creator of Earth Day Canada's first online action and commitment campaign where eating vegetarian or vegan was one of the suggested actions, I knew I had to walk the walk after talking the talk... I learned something from going veg for a month. I now know that the most effective way to change a habit is to seek information about alternatives, tell others about your commitment (to be accountable and for support), and select a feasible time period to try out the new behavior. I learned something else from this personal challenge: I can do it! Armed with this experience, I plan to integrate more vegetarian and vegan menus options to ease myself into a plant-based diet for the long run.
Read more... |
Simple Green Action blog - May 16
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| Animal Issues and Advocacy
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Images of cruelty impact meat sales in Australia
Full story: ABC, Australia
A Victorian meat processor says sales are down by 15 to 20 per cent, because the graphic footage of cruel practices in Indonesian abattoirs has turned Australian consumers off red meat. Robert Radford, of Radford Meats in Gippsland, says retailers who supply his products to the Sydney and Melbourne metropolitan markets have reported a significant drop in sales in the past week. And he says it's not just beef that consumers are steering clear of. "It has affected lamb sales as much as it has with beef," he said.
Read more... |
Rescuers swoop in, give rescued pigs a home
Full story: Durham News Observer, NC, U.S.
The Interstate 540 [a U.S. highway] pigs are on the road again. But unlike their March 30 adventure, when the five swine tied up traffic after falling from a livestock truck, the pigs are now safely in a rental van and headed for a new life in Florida. Lee and Jennifer Sackett, who run an animal rescue farm in Keystone Heights, Fla., paid $3,200 for the pigs during an auction May 27. "Farmers see them as commodities. We see them as sentient beings not deserving of slaughter," said Lee Sackett, who had heard about the pigs through friends in the local animal rescue community. Sackett said he raised money to bid on the pigs through his CJ Acres fan page on Facebook. "People felt very moved to help them out and, at the same time, send a message to factory farming."
Read more... |
Durham News Observer, NC, U.S. - May 28
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Is it hard not to eat meat?
Full story: Vegan Outreach blog
Answer... Ask most people this: Is it hard not to eat your dog? Many people are vegans because we know that the animals slaughtered to be "meat" were just as alive, just as much as individual as the animals we love. As Tom Regan said: "I think everybody has the capacity to stop and think and say, 'If I knew you, I wouldn't eat you.' And in some ways, it really is that simple."
Read more... |
Vegan Outreach blog - May 26
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Messaging for maximum change
Full story: Vegan Outreach blog
For 2.5 years I had been telling people I was vegan if the subject came up. Now if people ask I say I'm vegetarian, and it makes a world of a difference. When I used to say I was vegan, people would immediately say some kind of variation of, "That's awesome, but I could never do that myself." Now when I say I'm vegetarian, people become more open and tell me about other vegetarians they know, vegetarian foods they've tried, how they've considered going vegetarian, or they had been vegetarian in the past and want to get back into it... This is something important to remember. I didn't go vegan because another vegan was telling me to, or even telling me about it... I did it on my own after thinking about it and researching it for several months. Now while leafleting, I give words of encouragement to vegetarians I meet. [By Kenny Torrella, Vegan Outreach leafleter.)
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Vegan Outreach blog - May 31
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| Books, Films and Perspectives
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Bollywood animation promotes vegetarianism with 'attack chickens'
Full story: Guardian, UK
Children's animated films have long had a tradition of pushing a message. From the Depression-era Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with its "good triumphs over evil" theme, right up to the present-day eco-messaging of Finding Nemo, Happy Feet and Wall-E, animators have often sought to thread a political strand into their story-telling. But it is unlikely that Hollywood's animators would ever go as far as the producers of The Greenchic - Finding Dad, a full-length animation set to premiere in India later this month. India's first-ever 100 per cent vegetarian animated feature film, it depicts the pain faced by mute animals when they are separated from their families by man. A small chicken travels from the jungle to the city in search of his dad. His journey from the forest to the city has several dramatic sequences filled with fun, friendship & adventure. A film for those with a heart!
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Call to Compassion: Religious Perspectives on Animal Advocacy
Full story: Lantern Books
Covering doctrine and the lived experience of the world's religious practitioners, Call to Compassion is a collection of stirring and passionate essays on the place of animals within the philosophical, cultural, and everyday milieus of spiritual practices both ancient and modern. From Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism, through the Abrahamic traditions, to contemporary Wiccan and Native American spirituality, Call to Compassion charts the complex ways we interact with the world around us.
Read more... |
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| Of Note - Recipes, Blogs, Videos, Events, More
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Recipes
This month: Spice mixes that make a meal; BBQ and picnic recipes; Farm Sanctuary's "Just Eats Tour" recipes - it's too late to vote but you can still enjoy the fab recipes collected during the tour's recipe contest. Finally, be sure to check out VegE-News' recipe pages for lots more BBQ and picnic ideas along with our own tips for making the transition to a vegan diet - or staying on one.
6 DIY spice mixes from around the world
Meet the Shannons top 15 favorite vegan BBQ and picnic recipes
Farm Sanctuary's Just Eats Tour Recipes
VegE-News recipes and tips
Become a trained World Peace Diet advocate
If you're interested in deepening your understanding of the ideas in The World Peace Diet by Dr. Will Tuttle, here's some exciting news. Dr. Tuttle writes: "We are now offering two self-paced online educational programs focused on providing you with the liberating skills and training to thrive as a vegan and also to be an effective advocate for compassion and health. The basic 4-week program, the World Peace Diet Mastery Program, provides an excellent foundation for the 8-week program, the WPD Facilitator Training. This 8-week advanced training leads to certification as a World Peace Diet Facilitator, and can open many doors in your life..." The two programs are independent and provided directly from Dr. Tuttle. Click below for all the details.
World Peace Diet Mastery Program and Facilitator Training
Podcasts/Blogs/Websites
International Fund for Animal Welfare is always there to rescue and protect animals - their blog is informative and inspiring.
IFAW blog
The focus of Gary Smith's blog is on veganism as a social justice movement, as opposed to a dietary plan. He poses interesting pop quizzes and consortium questions that ask what you think - such as the recent relation between atheism and veganism or the hero you wish would be vegan.
The Thinking Vegan
Dominique Dupuis is passionate about nutrition, people, and travel. She has traveled the world to discover new tastes and ways to eat whole food. On her L'Armoire du Haut (the top shelf) website, she has an entertaining blog (en Français), details about her cooking classes (in English and Français) at her école culinaire santé in Montreal, and info on her new cookbook, available in both English and Français versions, full of beautiful images and recipes.
L'Armoire du Haut
Cooking with Dom, the book
Dans L'Armoire du Haut, le livre
Video shorts (and longs)
 This delightful short film, directed by Stéphane Groleau of Vegan Québec and Mary Marcotte is an invitation for people to discover and incorporate legumes into their eating habits. Its appealing images, all made with legumes, cleverly promote Meatless Mondays for the sake of the animals and the environment. Two minutes well worth spending! French and English.
Also this month:
Dr. McDougall on what causes Type 1 diabetes and other auto-immune diseases, such as arthritis, colitis, lupus and many more.
Dr. McDougall explains what causes autoimmune diseases
Farm Sanctuary's Plate to Planet shows how small decisions we make every day about what we eat can make a huge difference to the planet. Short and powerful.
Plate to Planet
Calls to action
Canadians for Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA) and the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals (CCFA) have launched a campaign to ban sow stalls in Manitoba. The groups are asking Manitoba Pork to voluntarily phase out cruel sow gestation stalls by 2017, not 2025 as they have announced (NZ is phasing them out by 2015 and Australia by 2017). You can view the public service announcement to learn more about the issue here. To watch an extended video, learn more and send letters to Manitoba Pork, pork producing companies, and grocery companies, click on the website link.
helpthepigs.ca
Rabble.ca blog re issue
The World Society for the Protection of Animals is asking you to be a hero for hens and sign the cage-free egg pledge. For those who use eggs, you can lessen suffering by buying eggs from hens that have been treated with some humanity - but beware of labels and be aware of what happens when their best egg-laying days are past.
Be a hero for hens
Avaaz.org has a petition to help free the saddest dolphins. The pod was swimming peacefully in the Solomon Islands when nets closed in from behind - trapping 25 wild dolphins for a luxury resort's latest exhibit. They are now locked in tiny pens, starved of food - but you can help free them.
Save the saddest dolphins
Events
EarthSave's 'Meals For Health' celebration, June 26, Beverly Hills, CA
You are invited to join John Robbins and Team EarthSave for a magical summer evening
- of drinks, hors d'ouevres, music, dancing, and fascinating people. Meet the health professionals and the people from Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services who participated in the 30-day Meals For Health plant-strong intervention. Hear some of their stories of how adopting a plant-based diet has dramatically improved their health - by losing significant weight, and arresting and reversing serious conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and autoimmune diseases. Join the celebration - and help support EarthSave, to continue and expand plant-strong intervention programs.
Meals For Health
Taking Action for Animals Conference, July 15-18, Washington, DC
The TAFA conference is for veterans and newcomers alike who want to explore opportunities for making a difference for animals.
TAFA conference
Second annual global Animal Freedom Day July 23-24
Eighteen year old Canadian film-maker Nadia Masoudi is the creator of the online Animal Freedom Day - a resounding success last year and back for 2 days in 2011. It's a global multi-venue music festival that will be streamed live from the Burlington Jazz'n Blues Festival and feature performances from legendary music icons. High-profile celebrities, environmentalists, politicians and major animal rights organizations will take part to free animals from abuse, torture and neglect. Animal Freedom Day was inspired by Nadia's documentary film Don't Eat Me (coming summer 2011).
Animal Freedom Day
Don't Eat Me
Vegetarian Cookery School and Yoga Retreat at Casa della Pace, Italy, August 20 - September 3
Santi Borgni, a vegetarian for over 30 years, is the chef and owner of this idyllic retreat nestled in the hills of Northern Umbria. The food served is always vegetarian, introducing the non-veggie guests to a new approach to taste and relationship with food. Casa della Pace will host a cooking seminar based on the exclusive use of plant foods at the end of August, with the assistance of a nutritionist giving personal advice and diet guidelines. You can join in for 3 days or more at a very affordable cost.
Vegan and yoga retreat at Casa della Pace, Italy
Farm Sanctuary 25th Anniversary Gala, September 24, Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills, CA
The year 2011 marks a quarter century of Farm Sanctuary's progress for farm animals. You are invited to the Farm Sanctuary Gala - an inspiring evening is planned with a three-course gourmet vegan dinner and a decadent dessert reception, an auction with beautiful farm animal art, and an awards ceremony with celebrity presenters.
Farm Sanctuary Gala
VegSource Healthy Lifestyle Expo, October 14-16, California
The 10th annual Healthy Lifestyle Expo promises it will help you change your life! You can hear and meet in person some of the most renowned and influential figures in the plant-strong movement. There are general admission tickets available as well as reserved seats, for those who want to sit near the front.
Healthy Lifestyle Expo 2011
Vegan Retreat at Sthitaprajna, India, Dec 2011, Jan 2012 & Aug 2012
The Indian Vegan Society says that at Sthitaprajna one learns to live life in a state of constant happiness with good health and in harmony with nature using minimum resources. Sounds good!
Vegan retreat in India
Classified - Fab apartment for rent Montreal, Canada
Large one-bedroom apartment in perfect central location available for 21 months from October 1. High ceilings, tastefully furnished with antiques, vegan kitchen. Click below to see the listing or contact the email for pictures, more info.
Montreal apartment
Email
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