isisaur’s BodyBlog

In yoga, fasting is a way to improve your health, to give your body a break from the hard-to digest foods that might not be as good for you as you think. It’s a way to bring more health into our lives.
Fasting and Yoga complement each other perfectly…

The combination of gentle moving, stretching and twisting together with deep breathing, speeds up the detox process.

The lymph and blood transporting the released toxins are pumped through the body at a faster rate, improving drainage of toxins and speeding up the elimination process.

The state of relaxation brought about by yoga causes the healing, restorative parasympathetic nervous system to take over from the autonomic nervous system, and the body starts to clean and heal itself.
The practice of yoga helps boost energy levels, as you take in and store abundant amounts of prana (energy) whilst holding postures and doing pranayama.

The more you detox, the clearer the energy channels become, and the greater the effects of the yoga practice.

The purpose of fasting is to help detoxify your body. This detoxification helps to eliminate and alleviate many ailments that might be creeping up on us because of the unhealthy eating habits we might be holding. And the fasting I am speaking of if to spend a day without eating cooked or processed foods… to spend a whole day eating lots of fruits, raw vegetable salads, water, juices.
These are things we already know we should be eating more of… why? Because eating raw fruits and vegetables is the best for us to maintain our health. So isn’t it neat to select a day out of our week to try to eat only fruits and veggies?? Letting our food be also our medicine…

1. Retune your digestive system
Not many people know this but fasting can be a way for you to give your digestive system a tune up. According to Dr. Naomi Neufeld, an endocrinologist at UCLA, “You re-tune the body, suppress insulin secretion, reduce the taste for sugar, so sugar becomes something you’re less fond of taking.”
What happens is that the body eventually uses up the stored sugar (glycogen) so that less insultin is needed to help the body digest food. And that gives your pancreas a rest.

2. Reduce your intake of free radicals
Mark Mattson, a scientist with the National Institute on Aging, has reported that fasting can reduce your intake of free radicals, which can cause cancer. In fact, according to Mattson, “These free radicals will attack proteins, DNA, the nucleus of cells, the membranes of cells. They can damage all those different molecules in cells.”
Even just reducing your calorie intake can have the same effects as a fast. In a study amongst rats and mice, it was noted that those who were fed very little and restricted in their food intake had a reduction in disease compared to those who were fed normal daily diets.

3. Speed up your journey to self-discovery
We are all creatures of habit. And eating, just like smoking and sleeping, is a habit. What happens during a fast is that by taking away such an essential part of your daily routine, you mess up your whole schedule. This sounds bad but it’s not. It’s really a time to reflect on your routines and give you a pause to think about how you want your life to move forward.
By fasting, you become more conscious of yourself and you can take the time usually spent eating to meditate, journal, or do any other form of reflection.

4. Increase your gratitude
How could you not be grateful to break your fast? And after each day when you do break fast, it’s a celebration. A celebration for a completed day of fasting, reflection, and persistence. So rejoice and celebrate your success! Show gratitude to yourself and others.
And when you break your fast, you will be very very happy to taste food again. And contrary to some beliefs, you won’t binge on food. In fact you will be more conscious of what you allow into your body and feel gratitude for the food you receive.

5. Launch yourself into your ideal life
Sounds like a pretty big benefit for something as simple as fasting. But it’s true. When you begin your fast you can take this time to break old patterns, examine your current situation, and use it as the starting point for a whole new life.
What really makes this possible is that by fasting you are exhibiting control over yourself and your situation. And controlling your eating habits may be one of the hardest things to do. For each day you complete a successful fast, you condition your mind into to believe it can and will do anything. You are training your mind to be successful. And after days of a successful fasting your mind will be neurologically conditioned for success.
So the next time you set a goal for yourself, it’ll be easier to attain!

Fasting is an exceptionally ancient, and powerful, approach to healing many common disease conditions. It allows the body to rest, detoxify, and to heal. During fasting the body moves into the same kind of detoxification cycle that it normally enters during sleep. It uses its energy during a fast, not for digesting food, but for cleansing the body of accumulated toxins and healing any parts of it that are ill. As a fast progresses the body consumes everything that it can that is not essential to bodily functioning. This includes bacteria, viruses, fibroid tumors, waste products in the blood, any build up around the joints, and stored fat. The historical record indicates that human beings are evolutionarily designed to fast. It is an incredibly safe approach to healing and the body knows how to do it very well.

The Physiological Changes of Fasting
Many of the most dramatic changes that occur in the body during fasting take place on the first three days of the fast. These occur as the body switches from one fuel source to another. Normally, the primary form of energy the body uses for energy is glucose, a type of sugar. Most of this is extracted or converted from the food we eat. Throughout the day, the liver stores excess sugar in a special form called glycogen that it can call on as energy levels fall between meals. There is enough of this sugar source for 8-12 hours of energy and usually, it is completely exhausted within the first 24 hours of fasting. (However, once the body shifts over to ketosis or fat as fuel, this new fuel is used to also restore the body’s glycogen reserves.)
Once the liver’s stores of glycogen are gone, the body begins to shift over to what is called ketosis or ketone production - the use of fatty acids as fuel instead of glucose. This shift generally begins on the second day of fasting and completed by the third. In this interim period there is no glucose available and energy from fat conversion is insufficient but the body still needs fuel. So it accesses glucose from two sources. It first converts glycerol, available in the body’s fat stores, to glucose but this is still insufficient. So it makes the rest that it needs from catabolizing, or breaking down, the amino acids in muscle tissue, using them in the liver for gluconeogenesis, or the making of glucose. Between 60 and 84 grams of protein are used on this second day, 2-3 ounces of muscle tissue. By the third day ketone production is sufficient to provide nearly all the energy the body needs and the body’s protein begins to be strongly conserved. The body still needs a tiny amount of glucose for some functions, however, so a very small amount of protein, 18-24 grams, is still catabolized to supply it - from 1/2 to 1 ounce of muscle tissue per day. Over a 30 day water fast a person generally loses a maximum of 1-2 pounds of muscle mass. This conservation of the body’s protein is an evolutionary development that exists to protect muscle tissue and vital organs from damage during periods of insufficient food availability.
From the third day onward the rate of the breakdown of fatty acids from adipose or fat tissue continues to increase, hitting its peak on the tenth day. This seven day period, after the body has shifted completely over to ketosis, is where the maximum breakdown of fat tissue occurs. As part of protein conservation, the body also begins seeking out all non-body-protein sources of fuel: nonessential cellular masses such as fibroid tumors and degenerative tissues, bacteria, viruses, or any other compounds in the body that can be used for fuel. This is part of the reason that fasting produces the kind of health effects it does. Also, during this period of heightened ketosis the body is in a similar state as the one that occurs during sleep - a rest and detoxification cycle. It begins to focus on the removal of toxins from the body and the healing and regeneration of damaged tissues and organs.

Fasting and Healing
Fasting has been found to help a number of disease conditions, often
permanently. There have been a number of intriguing clinical trials and studies treating numerous disease conditions with fasting. Here are some of those findings.

* In one clinical trial of hypertension and fasting, 174 people with hypertension were prefasted for 2-3 days by eating only fruits and vegetables. They then participated in a 10-11 day water only fast, followed by a 6-7 day post fast in which they ate only a low-fat, low- sodium vegan diet. Initial blood pressure in the participants was either in excess of 140 millimeters of mercury (mm HG) systolic or 90 diastolic or both. Ninety percent of the participants achieved blood pressure less than 140/90 by the end of the trial. The higher their initial blood pressure the more their readings dropped. The average drop for all participants was 37/13. Those with stage 3 hypertension (over 180/110) had an average reduction of 60/17. All those taking blood pressure medication prior to fasting were able to discontinue it. Fasting has been shown in a number of trials like this one to be one of the most effective methods for lowering blood pressure and normalizing cardiovascular function. Blood pressure tends to remain low in all those using fasting for cardiovascular disease once fasting is completed.
* Fasting is exceptionally beneficial in chronic cardiovascular disease and congestive heart failure, reducing triglycerides, atheromas, total cholesterol, and increasing HDL levels.

* Fasting has been found effective in the treatment of type II diabetes, often reversing the condition permanently.
* Because of its long term effects on metabolism, fat stores in the body, leptin, and disease conditions associated with obesity, fasting has been found to be one of the most effective treatments for obesity.
* A number of studies have found that fasting is beneficial in epilepsy, reducing the length, number, and severity of seizures. Fasting is especially effective for helping alleviate or cure childhood epilepsy.
* In a 1988 trial of 88 people with acute pancreatitis, fasting was found better than any other medical intervention. Neither nasogastric suction or cimetidine were found to produce as beneficial effects as those from fasting. Symptoms were relieved irrespective of the etiology of the disease.
* A number of studies have found that fasting is effective for treating both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Fasting induces significant antiinflammatory actions in the body and researchers found decreased ESR, arthralgia, pain, stiffness, and need for medication.
* Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rosacea, chronic urticaria, and acute glomerulonephritis have all responded well to fasting.
* Severe toxic contamination has been shown to be significantly helped with fasting. Clinical trials have found that people poisoned with PCB experienced "dramatic" relief after 7-10 day fasts.
* Poor immune function improves during fasting. Studies have found that
there is increased macrophage activity, increased cell-mediated immunity,
decreased complement factors, decreased antigen-antibody complexes, increased immunoglobulin levels, increased neutrophil bactericidal activity, depressed lymphocyte blastogenesis, heightened monocyte killing and bactericidal function, and enhanced natural killer cell activity.
* Other diseases that have responded to fasting are: psychosomatic disease, neurogenic bladder, psoriasis, eczema, thrombophlebitis, varicose ulcers, fibromyalgia, neurocirculatory disease, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, bronchial asthma, lumbago, depression, neurosis, schizophrenia, duodenal ulcers, uterine fibroids, intestinal parasites, gout, allergies, hay fever, hives, multiple sclerosis, and insomnia.
* The historically lengthy claim that fasting increases life span is beginning to garner some support in research literature. Regularly repeated 4-day fasting has been found to increase the life span in normal and immunocompromised mice.
* Although the use of fasting in the treatment of cancer is controversial, there is some emerging data SHOWING that fasting helps prevent cancer. Intermittent fasting (2 days weekly) has shown an inhibitory effect on the development of liver cancer in rats.

One way we can help prevent cancer — in addition to not smoking — is to stop eating hot dogs and other processed meats.

In 2006, we wolfed down 1.5 billion pounds of hot dogs. Sixty-two percent of all Americans eat some form of processed pork, with the average person eating 32 pounds of it a year. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council’s 2009 survey of hot dog and sausage consumption at major league ballparks in the United States, ballparks expected to sell 21 million hot dogs this season.

But hot dogs and other processed meats increase the risk of colorectal cancer and should be avoided completely, according to a landmark report on diet and cancer risk by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund. The scientists announced that when it comes to colon cancer, there is absolutely no amount of processed meat that’s safe to eat.

In fact, according to researchers, just one 50-gram serving of bacon, sausage, deli meats or other processed meat (think one hot dog) daily increases our risk of colorectal cancer, on average, by 21 percent.

Each year, about 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Approximately 50,000 Americans are expected to die of the disease this year. Children are at particular risk as lifelong eating habits are established during childhood.

The good news is that more fresh vegetables, fruits, and low-fat meatless meals can reduce the risk of cancer. But too many Americans don’t know about the power of wise food choices. That’s why public education efforts are necessary—even if some consumers don’t relish the news that hot dogs can endanger their health.

Learn more about hot dogs and other processed meats:

http://www.aicr.org/site/News2?abbr=pr_&page=NewsArticle&id=1
2898

http://cancerproject.org/media/pdfs/BarnardBackgrounder.pdf

http://www.pcrm.org/health/PDFs/CP_Processed_Meat_Report.pdf

http://cancerproject.org/media/pdfs/ProcessedMeatsGM08SM.pdf

Why are hormones used in food production?

Certain hormones can make young animals gain weight faster. They help reduce the waiting time and the amount of feed eaten by an animal before slaughter in meat industries. In dairy cows, hormones can be used to increase milk production. Thus, hormones can increase the profitability of the meat and dairy industries.

Cows raised for milk and flesh are injected with powerful hormones to make them grow larger and produce more milk than they ever would naturally.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by 1999, roughly 99 percent of cows on large feedlots in the U.S. were given synthetic hormonal implants.

These hormones, some of which are used illegally by athletes, are prohibited for over-the-counter use by humans in the United States, but the FDA refuses to adequately regulate their use to promote growth in cows, meaning that when you eat meat and drink milk, you are consuming unsafe drugs that weren’t prescribed to you. Consuming extra hormones disturbs the natural hormonal balance in the body, and eating animal products laced with hormones can have serious consequences for both children and adults.

Kids’ bodies are small and still developing, so exposure to even tiny amounts of the hormones in animal products on a regular basis can have a large impact.
According to a report on hormones in meat and milk that appeared in The Los Angeles Times, “The amount of estradiol in two hamburgers eaten in one day by an 8-year-old boy could increase his total hormone levels by as much as 10 percent, based on conservative assumptions, because young children have very low natural hormone levels.”
The Cancer Prevention Coalition warns parents that even small amounts of animal products contain enough hormonal residues to harm children, saying, “No dietary levels of hormones are safe, and a dime-sized piece of meat contains billions … of [hormone] molecules.”

When kids eat the flesh of cows who were treated with hormones, the spike in hormone levels can disrupt the development of their brain and sex organs. According to a report by the European Union on the effects of hormone-laced animal products, “Certain organs are more susceptible to the effects of oestrogens, androgens, and anti-androgens [all hormones used in cows raised for food] during development than during adulthood. These organs include the brain, and the … primary and secondary sex organs.”

The negative consequences of feeding children meat were clearly demonstrated in Puerto Rico in the early 1980s, when thousands of children experienced premature sexual development and painful ovarian cysts; the culprit was meat from cattle who had been treated with growth-promoting sex hormones.
The hormones in meat-based diets are also blamed for the early sexual development of young girls in the Western world—nearly half of all African-American girls and 15 percent of their white peers now enter puberty at the age of 8.64

Raising the amount of estrogen and other hormones in our bodies through the consumption of meat and milk can cause other disorders, including gynecomastia, or enlarged male breasts.
In one school in Italy, nearly one in three boys aged 3 to 5 and more than half of boys aged 6 to 10 were found to have enlarged breasts, and the hormones in meat were suspected to have caused the disorder.

It’s no surprise that meat and milk laced with sex hormones are especially harmful to kids, but the farmed-animal industry continues to dose animals with these drugs in spite of the well-documented health risks.

What are the different hormones used now by the meat and dairy industries?

There are six different kinds of steroid hormones that are currently approved by FDA for use in food production in the US: estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate, and melengestrol acetate. Estradiol and progesterone are natural female sex hormones; testosterone is the natural male sex hormone; zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengesterol acetate are synthetic growth promoters (hormone-like chemicals that can make animals grow faster). Currently, federal regulations allow these hormones to be used on growing cattle and sheep, but not on poultry (chickens, turkeys, ducks) or hogs (pigs). The above hormones are not as useful in increasing weight gain of poultry or hogs.

Antibiotics in Chicken Feed

In addition to growth hormones, many types of food given to livestock contain antibiotics. The main concern that many experts have with using antibiotics in cattle, pigs or chickens is the threat of creating antibiotic resistant bacteria. According to the Organic Consumers Association, bacteria that has become antibiotic resistant can infect humans and create “fatal illnesses” if antibiotics will no longer work against them.

As mentioned earlier, FDA allows the use of the protein hormone rbGH to increase milk production in dairy cattle. This protein hormone is not used on beef cattle.
rBGH: Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone

One example of the hormones that are being placed in your meats is rBGH which stands for recombinant bovine growth hormone. But, believe it or not, this is not used for beefing up the bovine muscles for thicker, juicier meat. This hormone is used in the milk industry. rBGH is suggested to increase a cow’s production of milk by twenty-five percent. This hormone has been approved by the FDA as of 1994. Five to thirty percent of U.S. cows are injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone.

Experts are finding that rBGH is harmful in many different respects. On the one hand, the hormone can often make the cows themselves sick, say some experts. In addition, milk affected by rBGH is chemically different from natural milk. Critics of the practice claim that the milk has high levels of IGF-1, a natural growth hormone that in these crazy doses can increase chances of colon, breast, and prostate cancers.

One cup of cow’s milk cannot legally contain more than 50 MILLION  pus cells.
That’s 200 million pus cells per liter.

Pus in milk? A dairy cow filters ten-thousand quarts of blood through her udder each day and uses dead white blood cells (somatic cells) to manufacture milk. These dead cells are pus cells. Dairy scientists are aware that when one quart of milk is tainted with 400 million or more pus cells, some 35% of the milking cows in the herd are infected with mastitis. Infected udders discharge mucus, bacteria and blood into the milk that you and your children drink.

The number of pus cells in milk in each of America’s 50 states can be found at this USDA site:

=”UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), “37899130d7bb4c6aecc6f2e62d6086dd”, event)” href=”http://aipl.arsusda.gov/publish/dhi/current/sccrpt.htm”>http://aipl.arsusda.gov/publish/dhi/current/sccrpt.htm

More and more physicians and dietitians realize that removing dairy products from the diet can be the solution to many childhood illnesses such as runny noses, constipation, colic, ear infections, and gas—and the list goes on.

According to a report published by the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology Committee on Adverse Reactions to Food (part of the National Institutes of Health), the allergies of up to one third of children tested cleared after milk was removed from their diet.

Dr. Benjamin Spock, author of the world-famous book Baby and Child Care, wrote in 1998, "Cow’s milk is not recommended for a child when he is sick—or when he is well, for that matter. Dairy products may cause more mucus complications and cause more discomfort with upper respiratory infections."

In their book Allergies to Milk, Drs. Sami L. Bahna and Douglas C. Heiner report that children who are allergic to milk "may have breathing difficulty, particularly during sleep, or an irritating cough associated with a postnasal drip. … The cough is frequently associated with noisy breathing and excessive mucus in the throat, and sometimes parents worry that their child is ‘gagging.’ … Such affected children are frequently diagnosed as having upper respiratory infection, viral illness, bronchitis, … or pneumonia. Accordingly, they may be given unnecessary medications, including cough syrups, decongestants, or antibiotics. Relief, however, is not satisfactory until cow’s milk is eliminated from the diet."

A 1997 report on food allergies in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that cow’s milk allergies tend to hit children in their infancies. Recommended therapies for food allergies include "strict removal of the offending allergen" or possibly a diet centered on human breast milk.

A British study found that 93 percent of children diagnosed with cow’s milk allergy experienced asthma and/or rhinitis when milk was included in their diet. (The book Asthma and Rhinitis states that rhinitis is "characterized by itching, sneezing, nasal blockage, and discharge.")

Frank Oski, M.D., the former director of the Department of Pediatrics of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, said in his 1992 book, "The fact is: The drinking of cow milk has been linked to iron-deficiency anemia in infants and children; it has been named as the cause of cramps and diarrhea in much of the world’s population, and the cause of multiple forms of allergy as well."

In his book Pregnancy, Children, and the Vegan Diet, Dr. Michael Klaper explains why milk may trigger the production of mucus: "[W]hen the protein of another animal is introduced into one’s immune system, an allergic/immune response is created in many places in the body. A common reaction to such an assault by a foreign protein in our immune system is an outpouring of mucus from the nasal and throat membranes. … The resulting mucus flow can create the chronic runny noses, persistent sore throats, hoarseness, bronchitis, and the recurrent ear infections that plague so many children (and their parents)."

According to the metastudy Milk Allergies, "Cow’s milk allergy, mainly a disease of infancy, is usually manifested within the first two or three months of life. … No age, however, is exempt, and milk allergy may be first detected during adolescence or adulthood."

Dr. Christiane Northrup states: "Dairy is a tremendous mucus producer and a burden on the respiratory, digestive, and immune systems." Dr. Northrup says that patients who "eliminate dairy products for an extended period and eat a balanced diet … suffer less from colds and sinus infections."

The mucus created by milk may cause other health problems, as well. Dr. William Ellis, who has studied the effects of dairy foods for more than four decades, says that milk is "simply no good for humans." Dr. Ellis believes that the excess mucus caused by milk can harden to form a coating on the inner wall of the intestines, hindering the absorption of nutrients and possibly leading to chronic fatigue.

According to an article in the June 26, 2003, Calgary Herald, milk is the most common source of allergies in children. Sharon Tateishi, a Calgary, Alberta, nutritionist for more than 20 years, comments, “There are so many articles coming up. You can’t ignore the issue any more. If a child has food sensitivities to milk, the symptoms can include eczema, bloating, runny nose, chronic ear infections, stomach problems. It could be asthma. Even things like kidney and bladder problems.”

Milk is very bad for you It like putting fuel on the fire if you have cancer- It increases cancer growth. Also the milk industry is very cruel!!

Milk contains:

Lactose (sugar)

Lactose Intolerance
Lactose intolerance is common among many populations, affecting approximately 95 percent of Asian Americans, 74 percent of Native Americans, 70 percent of African Americans, 53 percent of Mexican Americans, and 15 percent of Caucasians.²⁴ Symptoms, which include gastrointestinal distress, diarrhea, and flatulence, occur because these individuals do not have the enzyme lactase that digests the milk sugar lactose. For those who can digest lactose, its breakdown products are two simple sugars: glucose and galactose. Nursing children have active enzymes that break down galactose. As we age, many of us lose much of this capacity.²⁵ Additionally, along with unwanted symptoms, milk-drinkers also put themselves at risk for development of other chronic diseases and ailments.

Lactose, a milk sugar, is made up of two other sugars, glucose and galactose. (Galactose has been identified as a causative factor in heart disease and cataracts). Most adults “lack” the enzyme, lactase, to break down lactose. Instead, lactose is broken down by bacteria in the lower intestines. Bacteria gotta eat too, right? Problem is, after bacteria dine, their own body wastes combine with those sugars to ferment into gas and toxins causing bloating and cramps. “An estimated 50 million Americans experience intestinal discomfort after consuming dairy products. Symptoms include bloating, stomach pain, cramps, gas, or diarrhea.”

Casein (protein) CASEIN is a tenacious glue. Eighty-seven percent of milk is water. 

Four percent of the remaining thirteen percent is CASEIN.  The furniture in your home is held together by this powerful glue. So too is the label affixed to a bottle of beer. 

Fat

Doctors and dieticians have long known that high-fat foods like dairy products contribute to obesity for a variety of reasons. First, fat is calorically dense. Gram for gram, fat has more than twice the calories of carbohydrates. That bowl of ice cream has far more calories than an equal amount of grains, beans, fruits, or vegetables. Second, our bodies store fat more readily than carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are fuel and are burned up easily. Fat, on the other hand, turns into fat and makes those who eat it fat. Also, fat doesn’t fill us up as carbohydrates do, especially complex carbohydrates and fiber. Dairy products, which contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates at all, are about as high-fat as they come: A glass of milk is 49 percent fat; Swiss and cheddar cheeses are more than 65 percent fat; ice cream and yogurt are almost 50 percent fat; even “low-fat” milk and “nonfat” cottage cheese, which many consumers mistakenly believe to be fat-free, are more than 20 percent fat . The dairy industry tries to deceive us-labeling milk “2 percent,” when, in fact, more than 30 percent of that milk’s calories come from fat, or labeling cottage cheese “non fat,” when one-fifth of its calories come from fat!

PUS, Blood, fecal matter, scabs

One cup of cow’s milk cannot legally contain more than 50 million pus cells. That’s 200 million pus cells per liter. Pus in milk? A dairy cow filters ten-thousand quarts of blood through her udder each day and uses dead white blood cells (somatic cells) to manufacture milk. These dead cells are pus cells. Dairy scientists are aware that when one quart of milk is tainted with 400 million or more pus cells, some 35% of the milking cows in the herd are infected with mastitis. Infected udders discharge mucus, bacteria and blood into the milk that you and your children drink.

High cholesterol

Bovine growth hormone (BGH), a synthetic hormone used to boost milk production in cows across the United States, has been linked to cancer in humans. BGH, is  approved in the U.S., it is illegal in Canada, Australia, and the entire European Union,

growth hormone (rbGH) a Monsanto genetically engineered bovine growth hormone

Allergies and Mucus

If your kids suffer from chronic runny noses and sore throats, it might be time to dump the dairy. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, cow’s milk is the number one-cause of food allergies in children. According to the former director of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Frank Oski, there is evidence to indicate that up to half of U.S. children have some allergic reaction to milk. For these kids (and for adults who are allergic to dairy foods), milk is a mucus maker and can lead to persistent problems such as chronic coughs and sinus infections, asthma, and ear infections.

More and more physicians and dietitians realize that removing dairy products from the diet can be the solution to many childhood illnesses such as runny noses, constipation, colic, ear infections, and gas—and the list goes on.

See for yourself:

According to a report published by the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology Committee on Adverse Reactions to Food (part of the National Institutes of Health), the allergies of up to one third of children tested cleared after milk was removed from their diet.

Dr. Benjamin Spock, author of the world-famous book Baby and Child Care, wrote in 1998, “Cow’s milk is not recommended for a child when he is sick—or when he is well, for that matter. Dairy products may cause more mucus complications and cause more discomfort with upper respiratory infections.”

Cancer
Prostate and breast cancers have been linked to consumption of dairy products, presumably related to increases in a compound called insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I).¹⁵ IGF-I is found in cow’s milk and has been shown to occur in increased levels in the blood of individuals consuming dairy products on a regular basis.¹⁶ Other nutrients that increase IGF-I are also found in cow’s milk.

Case-control studies in diverse populations have shown a strong and consistent association between serum IGF-I concentrations and prostate cancer risk.¹⁷ One study showed that men who had the highest levels of IGF-I had more than four times the risk of prostate cancer compared with those who had the lowest levels.¹⁸ Other findings show that prostate cancer risk was elevated with increased consumption of low-fat milk, suggesting that too much dairy calcium could be a potential threat to prostate health.^19,20

Ovarian cancer may also be related to the consumption of dairy products. The milk sugar lactose is broken down in the body into another sugar, galactose. Research suggests that the dairy sugar galactose might be toxic to ovarian cells.²¹ In a study conducted in Sweden, consumption of lactose and dairy products was positively linked to ovarian cancer.²² A similar study, the Iowa Women’s Health Study, found that women who consumed more than one glass of milk per day had a 73 percent greater chance of ovarian cancer than women who drank less than one glass per day.²

And it supporting a cruel industry

Dairy Cows

Traditional small dairies, located primarily in the northeast and midwest are going out of business. They are being replaced by intensive ‘dry lot’ dairies which are typically located in the southwest.

With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, it is common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day — ten times more than they would produce in nature. The cows’ bodies are under constant stress and they are at risk for numerous health problems.

A cow eating a normal grass diet could not produce milk at the abnormal levels expected on modern dairies, and so today’s dairy cows must be given high energy feeds. The unnaturally rich diet causes metabolic disorders including ketosis, which can be fatal, and laminitis, which causes lameness.

Another dairy industry disease caused by intensive milk production is “Milk Fever”. This ailment is caused by calcium deficiency, and it occurs when milk secretion uses calcium faster than it can be replenished in the blood.

Although the dairy industry is familiar with the cows’ health problems and suffering associated with intensive milk production, it continues to subject cows to even worse abuses in the name of increased profit. Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), a synthetic hormone, is now being injected into cows to get them to produce even more milk. Besides adversely affecting the cows’ health, BGH also increases birth defects in their calves.

Veal Calves

Veal is a by-product of the dairy industry. In order for dairy cows to produce milk, they must be impregnated and give birth. Half of the calves born are female, and they are used to replace older cows in the milking herd.

The other half are male, and because they are of no use to the dairy industry, most are used for beef or veal.

Within moments of birth, male calves born on dairies are taken away from their mothers and loaded onto trucks. Many are sold through auction rings where they are subjected to transportation and handling stresses. The fragile animals are shocked and kicked, and when they can no longer walk, they are dragged by their legs or even their ears.

Published scientific research indicates that calves confined in crates experience “chronic stress” and require approximately five times more medication than calves living in more spacious conditions. It is not surprising then, that veal is among the most likely meat to contain illegal drug residues which pose a threat to human health.

Researchers have also reported that calves confined in crates exhibit abnormal coping behaviors associated with frustration. These include head tossing, head shaking, kicking, scratching, and stereotypical chewing behavior. Confined calves also experience leg and joint disorders and an impaired ability to walk.

In addition to restricting the animals’ movement, veal producers severely limit what their animals can eat. The calves are fed an all liquid milk-substitute which is purposely deficient in iron and fiber. It is intended to produce borderline anemia and the pale colored flesh fancied by ‘gourmets’. At approximately sixteen weeks of age, these weak animals are slaughtered and marketed as “white” veal (also known as “fancy”, “milk-fed”, “special fed”, and “formula fed” veal). Besides the expensive veal which comes from calves who are kept in small wooden crates, “bob” veal is the flesh of calves who may be slaughtered at just a few hours or days old. While these calves are spared intensive confinement, they are still subjected to inhumane transport, handling, and slaughter, and many die before reaching the slaughterhouse.

Have some … pus with your cookies? If you down a glass of cow’s milk, you will. It may be white, but researchers say that every cupful contains somatic cells, i.e., pus.

The dairy industry knows that there is a problem with pus in milk. Accordingly, it has developed a system known as the “somatic cell count” to measure the amount of pus in milk. The somatic cell count is the standard used to gauge milk quality. The higher the somatic cell count, the more pus in the milk.

Any milk with a somatic cell count of higher than 200 million per liter should not enter the human food supply, according to the dairy industry. Therefore, anyone living in a state where the somatic cell count is higher than 200 million shouldn’t be drinking milk. There’s only one problem—every state but Hawaii is producing milk with pus levels so high that it shouldn’t enter the human food supply! At the bottom of this page, you can see how high the pus levels in your state’s milk are. Even the national average, at 322 million, is well above the industry’s limit.

One culprit causing the hundreds of millions of pus cells in every liter of milk may be “bovine growth hormone,” the Monsanto chemical company’s growth hormone marketed as Posilac. Posilac is now widely used by dairy farmers to increase the amount of milk that their already overburdened cows produce. Because cows are not built to produce this much milk, they are prone to a painful udder infection called mastitis. When they are milked, pus and bacteria from the infection flow right along with the milk. The journal Nature reported that Posilac increases somatic cells—pus—in the milk by a whopping 19 percent! Researchers estimate that an ordinary glass of milk contains between one and seven drops of pus. This isn’t just disgusting—it can also be dangerous. Pus can contain paratuberculosis bacteria, which are believed to cause Crohn’s disease in human beings.

Dairy farmers try to control the rampant mastitis with large doses of antibiotics—but these antibiotics also wind up in the milk. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of too many antibiotics, which researchers believe can inhibit the development of the immune system.

Dairy farmers don’t tell consumers that every glass of milk is contaminated with pus, bacteria, and perhaps with paratuberculosis. The only way to avoid drinking pus is to avoid cow’s milk.

Check out : www.Notmilk.com

Watch this documentary

http://quest.tv/pages/episode.php?eid=228

So-called organic meats are sold as a means for people to reduce their exposure to hormones and chemical toxins. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that animals raised on an organic operation must be fed organic feed and given access to the outdoors. They are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic crops are raised without using most conventional pesticides and using no petroleum-based or sewage-sludge-based fertilizers.

However, while concentrations of some contaminants may be decreased, switching to organic meat does nothing to decrease the risk for the diseases that remain the biggest killers of Americans. Cholesterol, fat (especially saturated fat), and animal protein are the major culprits in meat that are associated with higher risks of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. They are also associated with the development of the many risk factors that lead to these diseases, including obesity and hypertension.

Animal products, however they are produced, increase the risk of many diseases.

Cholesterol Found in All Animal Products

The liver naturally produces all the cholesterol the human body requires, so we never need outside sources. All foods from animals—dairy products, meat (no matter what kind), fish, eggs—contain cholesterol, whereas plants have essentially none.

Cholesterol is a troublemaker. First, it adds to your own cholesterol, which raises the level of cholesterol in your blood.¹ Everyone is different, but generally, every 100 milligrams of cholesterol in your daily diet adds about five points to your total cholesterol level. What does that look like on your plate? A four-ounce serving of beef or chicken, with or without the skin, contains about 100 milligrams of cholesterol.

Even the leanest chicken cuts have cholesterol, because it lurks in the muscle tissue. Overall, chicken contains only slightly less fat than beef does—23 percent fat as opposed to 29 percent fat. And much of it is artery-clogging saturated fat, the worst type.

With respect to cholesterol content, fish vary. A four-ounce serving of tuna has 40 milligrams of cholesterol, while haddock or rainbow trout has more than 80 milligrams. None are even close to being cholesterol free and some are extremely high—shellfish like shrimp, lobster, and crayfish, for example. Ounce for ounce, shrimp have about double the cholesterol of beef.

Cholesterol in foods can be a health risk even for those without high blood cholesterol levels of their own. Numerous studies, such as the one conducted at the Western Electric Co. near Chicago,² have shown that the more cholesterol you ingest, the higher your risk of artery blockages, regardless of blood cholesterol level. Less cholesterol on the plate means less risk for heart problems—as much as 50 percent less—whether or not it lowers blood cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol-containing foods should be avoided completely. An international conference of leading heart researchers, including Michael DeBakey, M.D., Dean Ornish, M.D., and many others concluded that “the optimal intake of cholesterol in the adult is probably zero,”³ reiterating the same conclusion reached by Harvard researchers.⁴ A diet containing red meat, as well as any chicken, turkey, fish, beef, eggs, or dairy products at all, is not a zero-cholesterol diet.

Saturated Fat

Saturated fat is even worse than cholesterol in foods—and its content is not affected by organic status. Saturated fat is particularly harmful because it stimulates the liver to manufacture more cholesterol. The term “saturated” simply means that the fat molecule is completely covered with hydrogen atoms. Saturated fats are easy to recognize since they are solid at room temperature, while unsaturated fats are liquids. Fat is marbled throughout all meat and poultry, so the only way to avoid it is to avoid meat altogether. Even chicken and turkey breasts cooked without the skin have significant amounts of saturated fat; about 20 percent of the calories still come from the animal fat lurking in the muscle. And about 15 percent to 30 percent of the fat in fish is saturated fat. A study published in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Medicine showed that people who adopt a vegetarian diet naturally reduce their saturated fat intake by 26 percent and achieve a significant drop in cholesterol levels in just six weeks.⁵

Osteoporosis

Animal protein from any source is bad for bones. Studies have shown that animal proteins encourage increased calcium excretion and risk of fracture and osteoporosis.^6-8 Many years ago, animal protein was thought to be advantageous, but it is now believed to be part of the problem, not part of the solution. Plant protein—in beans, grains, and vegetables—does not appear to have this negative effect on bones.⁹

Impaired Kidney Function

Protein releases nitrogen into the blood as it is digested and metabolized. When too much protein is consumed, this places a strain on the kidneys, which must expel the waste through the urine. High-protein diets are associated with reduced kidney function. Over time, individuals who consume very large amounts of protein, particularly animal protein, risk permanent loss of kidney function. Harvard researchers reported that high-protein diets were associated with a significant decline in kidney function, based on observations in 1,624 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study. The good news is that the damage was found only in those who already had reduced kidney function at the study’s outset. The bad news is that as many as one in four adults in the United States may already have reduced kidney function, suggesting that most people who have renal problems are unaware of that fact and do not realize that high-protein diets may put them at risk for further deterioration. The kidney-damaging effect was seen only with animal protein. Plant protein had no harmful effect.¹⁰

Heart Disease

Four major risk factors for heart disease are high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle. None of these are alleviated by switching to organic meat.

Diet can be an effective treatment for heart disease. However, the current national guidelines that recommend lean cuts of meat and fish are not enough. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the effect of the National Cholesterol Education Program Step II Diet on cholesterol, which includes lean cuts of meat and fish, is ineffective for treating heart disease. Even among patients with good adherence, this diet has been shown to reduce LDL by only about 5 percent.¹¹ For a patient with a cholesterol level of 250 mg/dl (6.5 mmol/L), for example, a 5 percent drop leads only to about 235 mg/dl (6.1 mmol/L), which is still far too high for safety. Not only does such a diet not lower cholesterol levels effectively, but it does not reverse arterial blockages and, in fact, allows blockages to gradually worsen for most patients. Sadly, studies such as this, which have investigated what are considered “the gold standard” in dietary treatment, have led many people to believe that diet alone cannot be an effective treatment for the prevention or reversal of heart disease—this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Plant-based diets have consistently been proven to be the most effective in preventing and reversing heart disease. Vegetarians tend to be leaner, have lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and less heart disease. And a clinical study using a low-fat vegetarian diet was shown to actually reverse the disease by shrinking coronary artery blockages¹²—something “prudent” low-fat diets that include animal products have not been able to demonstrate.

Cancer

Contaminants found in animal products can lead to increases in cancer. However, many of the known carcinogens found in meat would not be decreased by switching to organic meat. The contribution of meat to cancer risk appears to stem from its nutrient make-up, high in saturated fat and devoid of fiber, rather than to the conditions of production. Meats, organic or not, that are cooked at high temperatures tend to contain sizable quantities of heterocyclic amines, carcinogens that form as meat cooks. A 2005 amines study showed that nearly 80 percent of studies in humans found a connection between cancer incidence and consumption of well-done meat.¹³

Foodborne Illnesses

Foodborne illnesses are another serious concern stemming from consumption of meat, especially poultry. Microbial contaminants live in animals’ intestinal tracts and can easily turn up on any sort of meat product.

From 1993 to 1997, 2,751 outbreaks, involving 86,058 cases of food poisoning, were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Bacterial pathogens caused 75 percent of the outbreaks in 86 percent of the cases.¹⁴

The most common foodborne infections are those caused by campylobacter (associated with poultry products), salmonella (beef, poultry, milk, and eggs), and E. coli 0157:H7 (ground beef). Other foodborne pathogens include listeria (dairy products) and vibrio (shellfish). Raw foods of animal origin are the most likely to be contaminated, such as raw meat and poultry, raw eggs, unpasteurized milk, and raw shellfish.¹⁵

About 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported to the CDC annually, and about 600 deaths are associated with these cases. But the CDC estimates that the actual number of infections may be 30 times more, because many milder cases are not diagnosed or reported.¹⁶ From 1990 to 1992, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) found salmonella in 25 percent of broilers analyzed. Also studied by FSIS were 25-gram uncooked samples of beef (1.4 percent positive for salmonella), pork (4.8 percent), chicken (15.7 percent), and turkey (8.5 percent).¹⁷ These bacteria-infected samples were taken from products sold to consumers.

Campylobacter is the second leading bacterial cause of diarrheal illness in the United States, according to the CDC. Campylobacteriosis is estimated to affect more than 1 million people every year and causes approximately 100 deaths.¹⁸ These organisms readily colonize in the avian intestinal tract but generally cause no illness in the bird. This means that infected birds are unlikely to be detected using the current methods of inspection in the slaughterhouse.

Microbial contamination of meat and poultry is a big problem, and it’s a huge concern for people consuming any animal products at all. With contaminated products in kitchens and restaurants, cross-contamination and contagion will be increasing problems.

Fish: Toxic Chemical Exposure

The USDA has not set any organic standards for fish and seafood, so the current problems with contaminants in fish may very well still exist in any fish product that is called organic.

Fish absorb contaminants as the water around them passes over their gills. Many of these chemicals do not break down in the environment, but dissolve easily in oils and can accumulate in the fatty tissues of the fish. Chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), have been linked to various ailments in the children of women who consumed fish contaminated with PCBs during pregnancy. These include low birth weight¹⁹ and negative effects on neurological and cognitive development.²⁰ PCBs were originally used as electrical insulators and hydraulic fluids before being banned in the U.S. in 1979, but their impact lives on. According to the National Research Council, PCBs are found in every site where fish have been tested. Indeed, fish is the most significant source of both PCBs and mercury for humans.²¹

Mercury, which causes neurological development problems and can cross the placenta of pregnant women, is another problem with eating fish. Mercury enters the environment naturally and through pollution from industries. Nearly all fish contain methyl mercury, but older, larger fish that feed on other fish, such as shark or swordfish, accumulate extremely high amounts of methyl mercury. These fish pose the largest threat to people who eat them on a regular basis. In January 2001, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that, because of astronomically high levels of mercury, pregnant women should not eat four types of seafood—swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tilefish. These four fish exceed the safety standard of containing an average of 1 part per million of mercury. Scientific studies imply that even lower, more regular doses of mercury consumption may result in subtle neurological deficiencies in infants, such as lowered IQ, abnormal muscle tone, and loss of motor function.²²

Also noteworthy are DDT and DDE, banned pesticides that are known to be extremely toxic and that still reside in the environment. Studies have shown a direct relationship between consumption of fish and blood levels of PCBs, DDT, and DDE.^23-25

A Diet for all the Right Reasons

For those interested in promoting a healthy diet, it is important to teach and understand the many factors that play into health and disease and to adopt practices that address health as a whole. While organic standards may help to improve some aspects of health, it cannot help prevent obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and many forms of cancer, nor will it cure the environmental contamination and resulting health hazards plaguing the production and consumption of animal foods. A plant-based diet that is naturally low in carcinogens, pathogens, and disease-causing fat and cholesterol is the best medicine for promoting a healthy life.

Health Benefits of Vegan Diets

In their study of 50,000 male health professionals, Harvard scientists have found that men who ate red meat as a main dish 5 or more times a week had 4 times the risk of colon cancer compared with men who ate red meat less than once a month. Heavy consumers of red meat were also twice as likely to get prostate cancer.

In another study from Harvard, high-fiber diets rich in fruit and vegetables were associated with lower levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure while meat intake was associated with higher systolic blood pressure values. Other epidemiological studies suggest that regular consumption of fruit and vegetables protects against risk of stroke.

A study from Uruguay found that a high intake of fruit and vegetables was associated with a low risk of bowel cancer. Lettuce, apples, and bananas especially showed a significant protective effect. In a recent British study, the daily con-sumption of fresh fruit was associated with a 24% reduction in mortality from heart disease, a 32% reduction in mortality from cerebrovascular disease and a 21% reduction in all causes of mortality compared with a less frequent consumption of fruit.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma accounts for about 3% of cancers in the US and affects about 43,000 Americans each year. Its incidence has increased 75% over the past 2 decades. It is now the fifth leading cause of cancer mortality. Concerning the 35,000 post-menopausal women who participated in the Women’s Health Study in Iowa, 104 of the women, after 6 years, were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Their dietary habits were compared with the rest of the women in the study. Women who ate four or more hamburgers a month had nearly twice the risk of NHL compared with the women who ate fewer than four. Elevated risk of NHL was associated with consumption of animal fat and red meat. A greater consumption of fruits was associated with a lower risk of NHL.

Americans who want to reduce their risk of cancer should limit their consumption of meat and alcohol, according to the American Cancer Society. In their recently revised Guidelines on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer published earlier this year ACS suggests that consumers need to emphasize foods from plant sources (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, pasta and beans) and limit the intake of high-fat foods (especially from animal sources) and limit consumption of meats (especially high-fat meats). Over 500,000 deaths due to cancer occur in the US annually, and proper dietary choices are an important way to reduce the risk of cancer. While some are touting the benefits of alcohol for heart disease, even a moderate intake of alcohol may significantly increase the risk of breast cancer.

In the Nurse’s Health Study from Boston it was observed that excess protein increases the risk of forearm fractures but not hip fractures. Women consuming over 95 gm protein/day had a 22% increased risk of forearm fracture compared with women consuming less than 68 gm/day. The increased risk of osteoporotic fractures was seen for animal protein but not for vegetable protein.

Vitamin B12. The U.S. RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) is 6 mcg. Since Vitamin B12 as cyanocobalamin is not readily available in a plant based diet, it is important that you take a supplement to fulfill the body’s needs. Though the requirement seems small, this vitamin is essential to maintaining a healthy nervous system, important in preventing pernicious anemia, helpful in cell and blood formation, beneficial to proper digestion, fertility, and growth, and necessary in the synthesis of genetic material (DNA). 
This vitamin is also an aid to people with menstrual difficulties, nervousness, insomnia, memory loss, depression, fatigue, skin problems, asthma, schizophrenia, and heart palpitations. 
If the label on the supplement says it contains Vitamin B12, make sure it includes the word cyanocobalamin or cobalamin. In this form the vitamin will be more readily absorbed.
Many foods are now fortified with Vitamin B12. Look for it on soy milk labels, cereal packages, and meat and chicken substitutes made from soy protein. 
The Red Star company makes nutritional yeast in two varieties. Their Vegetarian Support Formula contains Vitamin B12 as cyanocobalamin. Look for it in health food markets. Two heaping tablespoons a day will supply the needed RDA. Many new mothers find it increases their milk production during lactation. 
Calcium. The U.S. RDA is 1,000 mg. Calcium is an important mineral for maintaining firm bone structure and strong healthy teeth. This mineral helps us in other ways as well. It is essential for blood clotting, needed for muscle relaxation, permits regulation of cell metabolism, and helps nerve cell message transmission. 
Maintaining healthy levels of calcium is rarely a problem on a well planned vegan diet. You can find calcium in a multitude of plant foods. Foods that contain the highest calcium content includes sesame seeds, collards, kale, mustard greens, watercress, broccoli, okra, and dandelion greens. Sea vegetables such as wakame, arame, hiziki, and dulse are also excellent sources of calcium.
Many other foods in the plant kingdom contain rich stores of this vital mineral. 
Impressive calcium content can be found in all legumes. Enjoy them daily for their exceptional calcium benefits. Within the bean family soybeans rank highest in calcium, with navy beans and black beans following closely. Foods made from soybeans, such as soy milk, tofu processed with calcium, tempeh, and meat and chicken substitutes made from soy protein will provide plenty of calcium. 
Nuts and seeds are good sources of this mineral with almonds, hazelnuts, and sesame seeds rating highest. Sesame tahini added to salad dressings and sauces is a good way to bring calcium into the diet. 
Among the fruits, figs are tops for their calcium content. Oranges and fortified orange juice will deliver this mineral in ample quantities as well. 

Vitamin D. The U.S. RDA is 400 IU. Vitamin D is technically a hormone that is manufactured in the skin when the skin is exposed to natural sunlight. Essential to our health, Vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium in order to maintain strong bones and teeth. Just 10 or 15 minutes a day of natural sun exposure will provide the body with enough Vitamin D to function optimally. If you are unable to get direct sun exposure, look for foods that are fortified with this vitamin or take a supplement. 
When reading labels on fortified foods or supplements, vegans will want to choose those items labeled Vitamin D2 rather than Vitamin D3. Vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, is synthesized from plant sources, mostly from yeast’s through the process of irradiation. 

Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Called essential fatty acids, these important fats perform many functions including enhancing the immune system, lowering cholesterol and triglycerides, preventing heart attacks, and reducing blood viscosity.
Following are foods that contain ample quantities of Omega 3’s: dark green leafy vegetables like kale and collards, broccoli, flax seed meal, flax seed oil, hemp seeds, hemp seed oil, soy beans, soy bean oil, firm tofu, organic canola oil, walnuts, and walnut oil. Recommended daily servings of some items are as follows:
Flax seed oil, 1 teaspoon 
Flax seed meal, 1 tablespoon 
Canola oil, 4 teaspoons
Walnuts, 1/4 cup 
Hemp seed oil, 1 tablespoon 
Soybeans, 1 cup 
Firm tofu, 12 ounces
Iron. The U.S. RDA is 18 mg. An important mineral, iron supplies oxygen to the cells throughout the body and carries away carbon dioxide as waste. It also helps immune system function and assists our mental processing. 
Good sources of iron are found in all types of legumes but are especially high in soybeans, and products made of soybeans, such as firm tofu. Grains are high in iron with quinoa ranking highest. Raw kale, raw spinach, mushrooms, and baked potatoes are also healthy sources. 
Nuts and seeds are excellent sources of iron with pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, sesame seeds, and pistachios leading in quantities. Meat substitutes made from soy are outstanding sources for iron. 
The iron content of black strap molasses is exceptionally high, making it an important source for this mineral. 
Iron is best absorbed when eaten along with foods containing Vitamin C. Most vegetables qualify, as do citrus fruits. A little squeeze of lemon juice will easily enhance iron absorption. 
Zinc. The U.S. RDA is 15 mg. A facilitator to many functions in the body, zinc wears many hats. A few of its many tasks include eliminating carbon dioxide, assisting wound healing, and helping the immune system. 

Legumes are a good source of zinc, especially garbanzo beans and lentils. Products made from soy protein, such as the meat and chicken substitutes provide plenty of zinc. Wheat germ, millet, and quinoa are highest among the grains, with all grains supplying healthy quantities. 
Nuts and seeds offer ample zinc stores, with sesame tahini at the top of the list, followed by pumpkin seeds, cashews, and almonds. 
Whole grains contain many of the B vitamins that directly serve the nervous system. You may find yourself thinking more clearly, concentrating with more ease, maintaining a sharper memory, managing stress better, sleeping more soundly, and enjoying an overall feeling of well being. 
Certain foods have been beneficial in their ability to lower blood pressure. Some grains, such as oats and barley, and many varieties of beans are noted for their soluble fiber that has helped to bring high blood pressure down to normal levels. The allium family that includes onions and garlic is also said to lower blood pressure. 
All plant foods contain valuable phytochemicals that are known to protect the body from free radical damage. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that damage our cells and are linked to a number of debilitating diseases, such as cancer, coronary artery disease, cataracts, and even aging. 

Dean Ornish, M.D. , Dr Neal Barnard and John McDougall, M.D. have seen evidence in their medical practices that a strict vegan diet reverses heart disease, lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, and brings weight down naturally. 

“Our task must be to free ourselves…by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” —Albert Einstein

THE NEW FOUR FOOD GROUPS

WHOLE GRAINS
5 or more servings a day
This group includes bread, rice, pasta, hot or cold cereal. corn, millet, barley, buglar, buckwheat groats, and tortillas. Build each of your meals around a hearty grain dish — grains are rich in fiber and other complex carbohydrates, as well as protein, B vitamins, and zinc Serving size: 1/2 cup hot cereal, 1 ounce dry cereal, 1 slice bread

FRUIT
3 or more servings a day
Fruits are rich in fiber, vitamin C, and beta carotene. Be sure to include at least one serving each day of fruits that are high in vitamin C — citrus fruits, melons, and strawberries are all good choices. Choose whole fruit over fruit juices, which do not contain very much fiber. Serving size: 1 medium piece of fruit, 1/2 cup cooked fruit, 4 ounces juice. 
 
LEGUMES
2 or more servings a day
Legumes — which is another name for beans, peas, and lentils — are all good sources of fiber, protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and B vitamins. This group also includes chickpeas, baked and refried beans, soy milk, tempeh, and texturized vegetable protein. Serving size: 1/2 cup cooked beans, 4 ounces tofu or tempeh, 8 ounces soy milk. 
 
VEGETABLES
3 or more servings a day
Vegetables are packed with nutrients; they provide vitamin C, beta carotene, riboflavin, iron, calcium, fiber, and other nutrients. Dark green, leafy vegetables such as broccoli, collards, kale, mustard and turnip greens, chicory, or bok choy are especially good sources of these nutrients. Dark yellow and orange vegetables such as carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin provide extra beta-carotene. Include generous portions of a variety of vegetables in your diet. Serving size: 1 cup raw vegetables, 1/2 cup cooked vegetables.

• 1-Carbohydrates
• 2- Fats
• 3- Protein
• 4- Vitamins
• 5- Minerals
• 6- Water

Carbohydrates and  Fats  are energy calories. It is easy for a Vegan person to get enough each  day found in natural  sugars, starches, and  vegetable Oils (olive oil). It is abundant in grains, vegetables, nuts, cooking, fruits,ect.. Proteins are the building block for making muscles, blood, hormones, hair, fingernails, immune antibodies. The building blocks are called amino acid. they are found in Vegan foods such as grains, legumes, green vegetables, nuts and seeds. There are two families of vitamins, that dissolve in water and those that dissolve in oil. The water soluble vitamins- which are not stored in the body, and so they must be consumed everyday. (vitamin C, B, Folic Acid)  They are found in green leafy vegetables as well as in citrus fruits and nutritional yeast. The oil soluble vitamins- which are stored in the liver, so they need to be consumed only a few times a week (vitamin A, E). They are found in yellow Veggies, like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, melons, kale, and broccoli. Minerals like potassium, sodium,  iron,  zinc, selenium, calcium, and iodine  are requirements for the body. They can be found in green leafy veggies, grains, mushrooms, nutritional yeast, and sea veggies (nori, kelp, dulse). Water is essential  for body function. Which you can find in pure water, fruit, fruit juices, veggie juices,  watery fruits, vegetable soups and salads.
Protein: Is found in Grains- Legumes- Greens- Nuts & Seeds
Calcium: Is found in Greens (broccoli, collards, kale,romaine lettuce, celery)- Legumes- Seeds & Nuts (especially sesame). One cup of cooked collards or broccoli contains as much usable calcium as a 6oz. glass of milk.
Iron:  Is found in Raisins- Greens- Whole Grains- Nuts- Seeds- Legumes- Molasses- Dried Fruit.
Vitamin  C:  is  found in Broccoli- Turnip Greens-  Brussels Sprouts- Potatoes- Sweet Potatoes- Peppers- Tomatoes- Cabbage- Citrus Fruit.
Zinc: Is found in Whole Grains- Green Leafy Veggies- Mushrooms- Nuts- Seeds- Legumes- Tofu- Miso- Wheat germ- Nutritional Yeast-.
Vitamin B-12: Is found abundant in Healthy soil, If you have an Organic Garden eating Vegetables will be covered with  B-12. Other sources are fortified Soy milks- Soy Based Un-meats- Nutritional Yeast- Vegan B-12 Supplements-
Vitamin D: Is not really a vitamin, but is actually a hormone made with our own bodies. We make this when Sunlight activates a fatty substance called ergosterol. This is transformed into vitamin D and flows into the blood, muscles and bones. 15 min a day in the Sun is all we need.
Folic Acid: Is found in Dark Greens- Leafy Veggies- Nutritional Yeast- Dates.

The Building Blocks of Life

Protein is an important nutrient required for the building, maintenance,                 and repair of tissues in the body. Amino acids, the building blocks                 of protein, can be synthesized by the body or ingested from food.                 There are 20 different amino acids in the food we eat, but our body                 can only make 11 of them. The 9 essential amino acids, which cannot                 be produced by the body, must be obtained from the diet. A variety                 of grains, legumes, and vegetables can also provide all of the essential                 amino acids our bodies require. It was once thought that various                 plant foods had to be eaten together to get their full protein value,                 otherwise known as protein combining or protein complementing. We                 now know that intentional combining is not necessary to obtain all                 of the essential amino acids.¹ As long                 as the diet contains a variety of grains, legumes, and vegetables,                 protein needs are easily met.

Protein Requirements

With the traditional Western diet, the average American consumes                 about double the protein her or his body needs. Additionally, the                 main sources of protein consumed tend to be animal products, which                 are also high in fat and saturated fat. Most individuals are surprised                 to learn that protein needs are actually much less than what they                 have been consuming. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for                 protein for the average, sedentary adult is only 0.8 grams per kilogram                 of body weight.²

To find out your average individual need, simply perform the following                 calculation:

Body weight (in pounds) X 0.36 = recommended protein                 intake (in grams)

However, even this value has a large margin of safety, and the                 body’s true need is even lower for most people. Protein needs                 are increased for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. In addition,                 needs are also higher for very active persons. As these groups require                 additional calories, increased protein needs can easily be met through                 larger intake of food consumed daily. Extra serving of legumes,                 tofu, meat substitutes, or other high protein sources can help meet                 needs that go beyond the current RDA.

The Problems with High-Protein Diets

Osteoporosis. High protein intake                 is known to encourage urinary calcium losses and has been shown                 to increase risk of fracture in research studies.^6,7                 Plant-based diets, which provide adequate protein, can help protect                 against osteoporosis. Calcium-rich plant foods include leafy green                 vegetables, beans, and some nuts and seeds as well as fortified                 fruit juices, cereals, and non-dairy milks.