Fresh Kale & other Greens from the Square Foot Garden.
I am so delighted that "Forks Over Knives" is reaching a lot of people. I am sure that it helps that Dr. Oz even wrote a little snippet on the back cover. This book is great because it explains all of the reasons that Plant based is the way to go. It gives examples of people who have changed their lives by changing their diet and it provides recipes from many different "styles" of veganism. But they are all healthy. You won't find any cup of sugar here or extra oil there. Most recipes have zero added oil, some have a small amount of cold pressed. Many recipes have zero nuts while others include small portions. There are also several easy raw recipes included as well.
Check out Nigella, in East St. Louis. Nigella, Nigel & Nina have lived on the streets their whole lives. Nina has puppies now and they are in this building that is set to be condemned any day now. Pj wants to go in there & rescue the pups and the dogs, if possible. But we need fosters. A never ending story. Gateway Pet Guardians finally bought a property! But it will awhile before we can use it as a shelter. If you are in the St. Louis area & want to "ride along" to see what Pj does every single day of the year, please follow the link for Gateway Pet Guardians. We have a "Pet Adventures" rescue tab at the top as well so you can follow along. And if you are a St. Louis area blogger (or will be in this area visiting, etc...) and want to ride along & blog-please contact us! Please. Please come and get the word out about these kids on the street. East St. Louis is a very underserved area for people & animals. We are working on trying to help spay/neuter, educate, and rescue these dogs & cats. We would love fellow bloggers to "ride along"!!
Here's the video of Nigella in the abandoned building. Pj is the beautiful redhead that feeds the dogs every single morning. She hasn't missed a morning in over a decade.
And this is video of them from 2010. Help spread the word!!
And if it's Kale you want to spread the word about, heck, that saves our planet too!
While I have a zillion and a half books, do love the addition of Engine 2. There's no junky food in it & that's refreshing because usually I have to sift through recipes to avoid stuff that has sugar or flour (tend to avoid both a bit for daily eating) to find the healthy stuff. Rip's recipes are also made for "real people" so he doesn't have you going to buy kilos of Goji Berries from the Mountains of China or Argentine Mesquite Powder (although I did just buy this one on sale!). The food tends to be normal for people who don't eat an eccentric diet. After all, he got his fellow firefighters in Texas (gasp) to eat this way & it probably saved some of their lives. Rip not only wrote "The Engine 2 Diet" book, but was also featured in the "Forks Over Knives" movie & book. His father, of course, is Caldwell Esselstyn, uber important Heart Doctor. He has his own website, Heart Attack Proof.
Talk about recession food. I used DRIED chickpeas & cooked them in the slow cooker. Which works out great in this disgusting sweltering heatwave in the Midwest. Also, organic chickpeas cost pennies and a tub of Whole Foods brand hummus (I don't even think it's organic), costs 4.69, as of today. So I am thinking I can get over 2 lbs. dried chickpeas for 4.69. Organic at that. My hubby is the guilty verdict of the tubs of hummus. It's easy. No mess, no fuss. But, their Hummus does actually have tahini in it also, which if you are avoiding oil, doesn't work so well. So the Engine 2 Diet Hummus has no nut/seed butters. Just chickpeas & flavors.
Of course the amount of garlic is always a "suggestion" as some people are garlic whores (me), and others meditate daily & avoid garlic & onions because it disturbs the stillness of the mind. I think my Yerba Mate & my Speed Freak Smoothies (recipe to come) probably already do that, so garlic & onions are not going to further f**k up my monkey mind.
Make sure you use Gluten Free Tamari if you have a GF guest eating! Lots of people forget that there is gluten in regular soy sauces. They usually have wheat ingredients. However, it is pretty standard to find GL soy/Coconut Aminos/et.... substitutes easily.
You just put in your almighty food processor & go until it is your desired texture. I like to leave a few beans just slightly chunky. I actually loved this hummus recipe and could not stop eating it which resulted in a stomachache shortly after. The rest of you probably aren't addicted to beans, so you will most likely avoid that problem. :)
And on the "Forks Over Knives" Movie Post. Rumor (the "news") has it that he & CEO John Mackey (Whole Foods) are going to come out with a line of foods that meets the "Forks Over Knives", "Fire Engine 2", "China Study" kinds of diet principles. Should be interesting. And of course if you don't eat "cooked" hummus, check out the Raw Vegan Hummus I made from Zucchinis from the "Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people book".
And a little treat. Bill Maher (my friend's future ex-boyfriend as although he is witty & wise, he may not be a chic's best pick for a man!) But Mr. Bill did have Colin Campbell, author of "The China Study" on his "Real Time with Bill Maher" show!! Yeah!
Just wondering how many of you are familiar with all of these books. Is there anyone reading that doesn't know the ideas behind the "Engine 2 Diet" or are not familiar with "Forks Over Knives" or "The China Study"?? Also, please keep a Mother & Daughter in your thoughts. Jess & her mom are fighting cancer & going au natural (standard treatment quit working on Jess, well, they would have done more, by chopping her arm off). She has a donation link on her blog & all money donated goes to helping pay for the materials they need to do "The Gerson Therapy". Please read my post about "The Groovy Gerson Girls" & then go to Jess's blog, "The Wellness Warrior" to keep up with them. Jess writes inspirational & honest posts about what this whole experience has been like. Jess is in her twenties, not when ya expect to have to being doing this sort of thing.
Dr. Oz finally had a show that promoted a plant based diet as a way to prevent cancer and heart disease, diabetes, and the like. The last few years have been incredible for getting information out to people via film, and this may be one of the most highly viewed films yet. "Forks Over Knives" is saying that using a fork over a knife, eating plants over meat (and dairy too), can prevent a huge number of diseases. Not only prevent, but even cure. Featured people in the show included Dr. Esselstyn, Rip Esselstyn, and my favorite, Colin Campbell (author of "The China Study"). Dr. Oz called its concepts the possible "Hail Mary of Medicine", declared his love for the film and thought everyone should see it too.
Which we probably should....considering we spend over 120 BILLION dollars each year on drugs and trying to fix a lot of things that may be preventable. Lee Fulkerson, director of the film, dropped his own weight by 20 pounds, his blood pressure by 30 points, his LDL cholesterol went from 157 to 80 and his CRP went from 6 to 2.8. In 12 weeks with doing nothing more than eating a plant based diet with no processed foods and no added oil. WHAT? Yep. No added oil. Now lots of the Plant Based peeps differ on this point. Most vegans eat Olive Oil! But.... Why take a massive amount of olives, go to all of this work to squeeze the oil out of them, and eat that when we can just eat the olive itself? It also would use less energy! Just eat the olives, the avocados, the nuts. Forget the whole "factory" part! Hm.....thinking my raw food cheezecakes might be safe because I use Arstisana Whole Coconut, a loophole indeed!
So, excess protein turned cancer on. Plant protein did not. That was just one of the findings in "TheChina Study". There is also massive amount of evidence about the possible negative effects of casein, a milk protein. Apparently the docs had about a 92% compliance rate with the diet, which is pretty darn good. Of course life changes take time and you have to hang with the right crowd to learn the ins and outs of cooking and buying these foods. Basically hit your produce aisle and your bulk. Frozen fruits and veggies are okay too. Neal Barnard, a 25 year vegan, comes out on stage to give us the visuals of what we can and can't eat on this type of diet. It kind of goes like "Nothing with a Parent of a Face". I was happy he talked about the no fish part as we are convinced that Oz is already getting paybacks from the Salmon industry. But Barnard says that most of the fat in fish is not the Omega type we are trying to get anyway and that oil isn't good for your heart. And fish has cholesterol. If you are looking for long chain DHAs, then get the algae caps (like Omega Zen). That is where the fish get them from! Why not you? Of course Barnard's blog talks about how the fish oil actually increased prostate cancer risk! Check out Neal Barnard's "The Cancer Project" and recipes from Cancer Project site Here.Just a few of his books/dvds! Go to his site & read about all of his programs! Cancer Surivor's Guide Book.
1. No Meat and NO fish.
2. No Dairy. So no cheese, no eggs, no milk.
3. No processed Food which would include oils! No olive oil!
Rocco, the meat loving cowboy, that was put on a plant based diet for 30 days (on the Dr. Oz Show) to save his life.
What can you eat? Anything else! There are a multitude of grains like Quinoa, Millet, Brown Rice. Beans and Nuts. Leafy greens and lots of Fruits. All of these foods stretch out our tummies and make us feel full. Olive oil and meat just sit there, and we still can fit food in our bellies. Trust me, there are only so many beans or apples you can eat before you actually can't fit any more in your belly! Then he made a quick salad dressing of Lemon Juice, Thyme, and Garlic and put it over a Spinach, Tofu, and Veggie Salad.
And yet another mover & shaker in the Plant Powered Men movement, Rip Esselstyn. He wrote the "Engine 2 Diet" where he put his own Firehouse (Rip is kind of a "ripped" fireman himself) on a plant based diet and it had incredible results. He later did the same thing with a Chicago Firehouse on the Oz show. And his dad is "The Dr. Esselstyn" whose work showing the scientific basis for all of this is shown in the movie. Click here for some of "Rip's" recipes. Rip tells us all 5 foods you must have in your kitchen. Escarole, Banana Ice Cream, Rhubarb, Freeze Dried Strawberries, and Nutritional Yeast. All for "Cancer Fighting" qualities.
Although I went vegan for ethical reasons, after reading the work of John Robbins and Colin Campbell, I personally equate milk or meat with something like having a cigarette and would consider them the same risk. Especially when I started reading about Prions and BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and possible Alzheimers patients that may be suffering from something different. Why start eating a potentially addictive food if I have to stop? Dr. Campbell's studies are eye-opening. They "turned on" and "turned off" cancer cells. With what? Animal Protein.
Dr. Oz comes out with a fork and a scapel and lets us know that it may be that the fork is more powerful in preventing and curing disease than the scapel. And obviously less expensive and easier. He mentioned that he carried "The China Study"book around with him and educated his heart patients about the benefits of a plant based diet. Especially after he has seen them a few times, and there was nothing more he could do for them. Maybe that is a blessing in disguise. Maybe the thought that we can empower ourselves to change many of our debilitating diseases is the real blessing.
Interview with Colin Campbell
Using a fork over a knife could save your life. A plant-based diet can not only lower your risk for cancer and heart disease, it can reverse their...
Using a fork over a knife could save your life. A plant-based diet can not only lower your risk for cancer and heart disease, it can reverse their...
Are you concerned about cancer? Learn the 5 foods everyone can keep in their kitchen to lower their risk. Give your kitchen a makeover and improve...
Are you concerned about cancer? Learn the 5 foods everyone can keep in their kitchen to lower their risk. Give your kitchen a makeover and improve...
I do know that if I were to get cancer, like from being in abandoned buildings, getting puppies, that I have accumulated enough evidence for my own being, that I would hit either the Hippocrates Institute or the Gerson Center. I would see regular doctors as well but I would most likely not go through "regular" treatment. I believe I would have a tumor cut out of me, but am unlikely to get radiation and 99% sure that I would never go through any type of Chemo. I remember hearing that if you are Cancer Free for 5 years and die the 6th year, that you are considered "Cured". Since when is "Cured" being alive for 5 years. It seems that people are pushed into Chemo without time to even think. Heart Disease as well. "We must start today, or you will die." Do they tell you that they can run all of their treatments, every one of them, and what your rate of living beyond the 5 or 10 years is? Seeing people dying of Chemotherapy is a very sad place to be. Sometimes I think that they are just writing checks to have a system kill them. It's prudent to pay attention to these issues now because if you find yourself in a very scary situation, I believe that there is an immense amount of pressure to "act fast" and the "Client" is not given a ton of time or other options for healing. Obviously most oncologists aren't going to say, hey, have you heard about Wheatgrass? Castor Oil? Carrot Juice?
No. Unfortunately, many tell Clients that they need more protein and to drink more milk.
Heartbreak.
"Cruelty to animals is as if man did not love God...there is something so dreadful, so satanic, in tormenting those who have never harmed us, and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power." -Cardinal John Henry Newman
Are there people out there reading that have had personal experiences with Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease or other illnesses? What has your experience been like? Have you seen films like "Healing Cancer from the Inside Out"? Do you think about what you would do if diagnosed with these "ailments"?
is reaching a lot of people. I am sure that it helps that Dr. Oz even wrote a little snippet on the back cover. This book is great because it explains all of the reasons that Plant based is the way to go. It gives examples of people who have changed their lives by changing their diet and it provides recipes from many different "styles" of veganism. But they are all healthy. You won't find any cup of sugar here or extra oil there. Most recipes have zero added oil, some have a small amount of cold pressed. Many recipes have zero nuts while others include small portions. There are also several easy raw recipes included as well. 
! Great for virgins. (ha.)
Dr. Oz comes out with a fork and a scapel and lets us know that it may be that the fork is more powerful in preventing and curing disease than the scapel. And obviously less expensive and easier. He mentioned that he carried 
