Healthnotes Newswire (November 8, 2007)—When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, a vegan diet, which excludes all animal foods. beats a low-fat diet, according to the journal Obesity.

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1. What do you recommend to people who may not be able to fully commit to veganism, but want to get started?

Some people are totally gung-ho after reading Skinny Bitch and go vegan in one fell swoop. But taking baby steps is totally fine, too. Making gradual changes works well for a lot of people. For example, you can stop eating cows and pigs and start experimenting with soy substitutes. Then after a month, you’ll know you’ve got that change under your belt and you’ll feel ready to stop eating chicken and fish. When you do things gradually, you give your brain and body time to adjust to the changes. It’s amazing how after a few weeks, you don’t even want to eat the same foods you were previously obsessed with.

2. Do you need to be vegetarian first before going vegan?

You can go vegan overnight if you want. Lots of people do. They read about factory farming, see pictures of animals being mistreated and exploited, and learn how bad animal products are for their bodies. They’re totally grossed out and want nothing to do with meat or dairy ever again.

But for some people, it helps to get used to vegetarianism first. Giving up dairy can be really challenging for some people. Especially cheese! Cheese is loaded with casein, a milk protein, which breaks down into opiates in the body. (All mammals’ milk has casein. It’s Mother Nature’s way of ensuring that babies nurse.) So when you say, “I’m so addicted to cheese,” you’re not kidding!

3. What can people expect when adopting a vegan lifestyle?

At the beginning, it can be tough. There’s sort of a learning curve where your taste buds get re-trained and you figure out which new foods you like or dislike. And some people may even experience detox-like symptoms while their bodies clean out all the old, stored junk. But after the transition period, you can expect to feel healthier, happier, lighter, and more energized than you’ve ever felt in your entire life. All the aches, pains, misery, and lethargy will be gone. Really! And you’ll actually crave healthier foods and exercise!
When you eat the same junk day in and day out, it’s hard to see how it makes you feel. But when you give up something for two weeks or so, and then reintroduce it into your diet, it’s alarming how bad it makes you feel. This is especially the case with dairy. See for yourself. Don’t eat any dairy for two weeks and then have some. You’ll be blown away by how lousy you feel.

4. How do vegans get protein?

One of the biggest misconceptions is that vegetarians and vegans have trouble getting adequate protein. And nothing could be further from the truth. If you eat a well-balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes, you’ll get more than enough protein. You don’t need to be neurotic about it all.

5. So many vegans seem to be animal rights activists, is it a moral issue?

There are so many reasons to go vegan. Some people simply don’t have the palette for the flesh of dead animals.

Other people go vegan because of the health benefits: Vegans have reduced risk of high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, asthma, obesity, and multiple cancers.

Still, others choose veganism because they’re true environmentalists: The 400-page report recently published by the United Nations states that animal agriculture is the primary cause of global warming. (Factory farming emissions beat out transportation and industry emissions!) Every year in the United States alone, we raise and kill ten billion animals for food. As strange as it may sound, the pee, poop, burps, and farts of these animals are contributing to global warming. In addition, the amount of land, water, energy, and fossil fuels required to raise “meat” is exponentially higher than what’s needed to raise crops. It’s been said that if we all went vegan, we could use all our resources to end world hunger.

And finally, many people do choose veganism to spare the lives of animals. My whole life, I called myself an animal lover. But I never thought about farm animals, and how they went from living, feeling beings to “meat.” One day, I got a magazine in the mail that showed pictures of the “how” and described it in detail:

Cows and pigs are kept in pens so small they can’t even turn around. Chickens have their beaks seared off their faces with a hot blade (so they won’t peck each other or workers). Egg-laying hens are packed into cages so tightly they can’t open their wings. Male baby chicks—useless to the egg industry—are thrown (alive) into garbage bags and piled into dumpsters. That, or they’re fed through a grinding machine (alive) and used for feed, fertilizer, or rendering.

Even free-range animals are subject to the most alarming and barbaric acts of cruelty. There are very few laws governing the transport of farm animals, and of the few in existence, almost none are enforced. Animals spend hours overcrowded into trucks without food, water, temperature regulation, or protection from the elements. It’s common for many animals to die before they even reach the slaughterhouse. And if the weather is extreme, it’s even more common. In the cold months, animals will literally freeze to the floor or sides of the truck (alive). Workers will simply rip the animals (alive) off the truck, often leaving behind a limb.

From a health standpoint, there is no reason we need to eat animal products. There are countless atrocities in farming practices. To turn a blind eye to them simply because we like the taste of meat or dairy... Yes, the decision to be a vegan or an omnivore is definitely a moral issue.

Forget about the potential Spice Girls reunion rumor, Victoria Beckham was recently spotted buying the book Skinny Bitch. The book was written by Naturalpath Featured Experts and LA fashion industry elites - former model Kim Barnouin, who has a degree in holistic nutrition, and ex-Ford model agent Rory Freedman. This no-nonsense book takes an “in your face” approach pushing you to go vegan and get skinny!

Although there are many designers who insist on exploiting animals in the name of fashion; there is a growing trend of buying Eco-friendly products. Looking at the latest fashion magazines, there are beautiful models clad in clothes made out of fur, leather, and suede. All the latest must have accessories are all made of animal materials. (Hermes Ostrich Birken bag anyone?) It seems that these items have somehow become a status symbol that screams high fashion.

What's a girl to do?

I admit it's irresistible at times to resist and I do cave in to my fashion needs. But is it possible that we could become more sensitive to the fact that many animals are killed for such materials? Are there alternatives?

According to a UK newspaper article, some leaked emails revealed that the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is considering recommending eating less meat as one of the "key environmental behaviour changes" needed to save the planet.

The article continues to explain that the agency acknowledges that consumption of animal protein has been highlighted as impacting the planet.

"Future Environment Agency communications are unlikely to ever suggest adopting a fully vegan lifestyle, but certainly encouraging people to examine their consumption of animal protein could be a key message."

Tofu has gotten a bad rap in popular culture today. Just mentioning the word seems to be synonymous with weak, effeminate, Birkenstock-clad freakdom.

However, tofu, once you know how to cook it, is pretty darn tasty, not to mention really versatile.

I happen to think that this method is the absolute best for trying tofu for the very first time. It happens to be my husband’s favourite “junk food,” (and I would dare anyone to look at him and call him effeminate!) It may not be the healthiest method of preparing it, but it sure is yummy.

Yes, it’s true folks. Although it’s been seventeen months since I last ate meat, I certainly did love it.

My husband used to make the best steak I’d ever had, marinated overnight in his super-secret recipe and grilled to perfection. I loved toasted turkey-and-cheese sandwiches, McDonalds Double Cheeseburgers, and heaven lived in a KFC Big Crunch sandwich.

Recently my mother in law (who seems to have an opinion on just about everything I do, by the way) commented to me (and not for the first time) that my husband and I must have lots of money because we always seem to buy whatever we want at the grocery store without considering the cost. Sorry Mom-in-law, but we don’t have a fortune tucked away under the mattress. We simply have decided that what we eat is a priority in our lives, and from a financial standpoint, we consider it a good investment in the future.

  This observation really has nothing to do with becoming pretty strict vegetarians a year and a half ago. Even when we ate meat, the weekly supermarket run ate up a pretty good chunk of our paycheck. I would say that today the amount we spend is about the same as before the change in diet.

I would have liked to think that giving up animal products would ultimately be cheaper, but that hasn’t been the case yet. A lot of my acquaintances over the past year or so have commented that they were sure it would be much more expensive to be a veg*n, but that hasn’t been the case either.

I felt an urgent need to reach out to you all regarding the Op-Ed article published yesterday in the NYTimes.  I know some of you read it on a daily basis, but this particular article got a lot of attention on the homepage of their site.  

I was saddened and angry at the same time to see the irresponsibility of this article regarding human nutrition, and commonly spread but scientifically incorrect information.  This article was in response to a family of parents convicted of murder who fed their child soy milk and apple juice, clearly not the correct way to feed an infant.  However, the article published paints the picture that a vegetarian or vegan diet is inadequate, while stating some very incorrect assumptions and statements.  It continues to reinforce the negative images, and quite frankly the lies, about the choice to live a healthy diet of no meat products, and in cases no dairy or eggs.