I want shrimps! November 14, 2009

I thought it would be very easy for me to be vegetarian. I thought that I didn’t eat that much meat and could easily live without the small quantities that I do eat. But it turns out that I do have relatively big difficulties giving up all meat. I never realised how much I LOVE shrimps, chicken breast on my bread, and tuna salats untill I couldn’t eat it!

To my big surprise I even cheated this week! After only 5 days. Well to my defence, I was put to the ultimate test: a free dinner with my boyfriend and his family at a steak house. I had chicken. Which I told myself would be less cheating than if I had eaten a big red steak.

Well I did eat a chicken, but during my vegetarian week I have maybe saved the lives of at least 40 shrimps. Entire 2 times i had crazy shrimp cravings that I did not cave in on.

I will give vegetarianism a second chance! This time sticking to the diet for an entire week. I will show more will power, watch animal-cruelty documantation, and try out some special vegetarian recepies. Maybe this will help my motivation.

Vegetarianism November 8, 2009

To avoid causing terror to living beings, let the disciple refrain from eating meat.
- the Buddha ( 563-483 B.C.)

Animal rights and questionable meat processing are some of the most common reasons to be a vegetarian. Animals also have souls and personalities, so what gives us the right to kill them? The pig is even smarter than a 3 year old human! Many cases of animal abuse are swept under the carpet and generally ignored by the public. It is not pleasant to think about the chickens living conditions and way of death when eating your chicken nuggets.

Many people also turn to vegetarianism because of health concerns. Scientiffic studies have proven that meat  increase the risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, strokes, and other life threatening illnesses. While on the other hand many vegetarian foods are cancer-fighting food and protect against diseases. Relegious reasons are the oldest historical motives for being vegetarian. Hinduism is a big supporter vegetarianism, and as much as 70 % of the worlds vegetarians are hindus.

Vegetarian comes from the latin word “vegetare” which means “to grow”.  The term was invented in 1847 by the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom—the oldest organized vegetarian group in the world.

 

 

What is a vegetarian diet?

A vegetarian diet consists of plant-based foods and absolutely no meat. Plant-based foods are vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, and grains, Meat is meant by all fowl, fish, pork, beef, and any kind of animal meat. This is the original vegetarian diet.

There are also many many subgroups of vegetarianism. Veganism is the most famous one. Vegans also exclude dairy products and honey, and they refuse to use materials as wool, silk, fur, or leather, or feathers. Vegans are also called strickt vegatarians. Then there are also lactovegetarians who eat dairy products but not eggs. Semivegetarians/pollo vegetarians are people who include fish or chicken in the diet but try to minimize their consumption of animal protein. See a description of all subgroups here.

 

Nutritional risk

Nutritional deficiencies is the number one disadvantage or concern for vegetarians. A vegetarian diet can easily lack important nutrients like protein, minerals like iron, calcium, and zinc.

Also a deficiency of vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B, vitamin A, iodine, and Omega-3 fatty acids are highly likely. All these vitamins and protiens are very important for our health.

It is recommended for all vegetarians to focus on eatigng the foods that do contain all the above mentioned vitamins ect., and also to add nutritional suppliments and vitamins to their diet. Especially vegetarians over the age of 50 should take supplements of vitamin B and vitamin D.

Nothing will benefit health or increase chances of survival of life on Earth as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Nobel Prize recipient

So this week I will try out the original vegetarian diet. I have great understanding for the many reasons why people swear to vegetarianism. They have just never convinced me and held me away from meat. But I am sure I will stay true to the diet, and I look forward to exploreing this lifestyle. If it really is that healthy to be vegetarian, then it is definitely worth tjecking out.

If anyone have some great vegetarian recipies for me to try out, then please do write me.

Yummy and easy prevention of cancer November 6, 2009

I love cancer fighting food! Its so simple, but it can make such a big change in your life. Now it is hard to say if eating cancer fighting food has an effect on you when you don’t have cancer. You do not know if there is anything to prevent. But when in doubt, why not be on the safe side?

The foods are easy to add to your normal diet. And most of it you are probably already eating in smaller amounts without thinking about it. With very little consideration, you can guide your diet in a cancer preventing direction. Eat more tomatoes instead of cucumber, apples instead of a bananas, and potatoes instead of pasta. The theory and sience behind it might be complex, but in praxis it is easy to follow the diet.

You do not have to eat everything on the list, and in enormous amounts. A little is better than nothing. I tried to stay away from cancer increasing food, and eat more cancer fighting food during these weeks. But for me it would be very hard to give up my milk on my cerials, or a great steak once in a while.

For cancer patients this diet is a very powerful tool to get well. And for healthy people it is a great chance to take precausions. We all carry cancer cells in us. Will you just leave it up to luck weather or not they turn into a complete cancer illness? Now you have the knowledge and the opportunity to make a change in time.

This diet has definitely tought me something and awakened me. In the future I will try to focus more on eating cancer fighting food, and hopefully live a cancer-free life. I suggest you do the same.

What is cancer fighting food? November 1, 2009

Food that prevent, fight, and cure cancer.. It just sounds too good to be true. Can something as simple as apples and advocados have such a big impact on our body and health? Well the scientists are not yet a hundred procent sure, but all tests and reseach so far point to it.

Phytochemicals and Antioxidants

But how is it that food - and specially fruit and vegetables - fight cancer? It is not only because of the many types of vitamins you can get from eating them. Many fruits and vegetables contain a plant chemical called Phytochemical. Phytochemicals help fight cancer by reducing the growht of malignant cells, that are the bad cells causing cancer.

Antioxidant is another keyword. Antioxidants can be found in fruits and vegetables, and other plants. An Antioxidant, as perfectly described on Wikipedia, is a molecule that prevent oxidation of other molocules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction, that produce free radicals. (Oh god I know, it sounds complicated!) Now free radicals can be described as small wild and bad molecules that start chain reactions that damage cells, and so can cause cancer.

An example of an antioxidant is carotenoid, which is the stuff that gives fruit and vegetabels their colours yellow, red and orange. Also Vitamin C and E are strong antioxidants. 

 

 

It works!

Though the general scientific opinion is only that a diet may help fight cancer, many have already been convinced. A frim believer is scientist and docter David Servan-Schreiber. When he was diagnosed with brain cancer, he started doing a lot of research on the healing powers of food. He has keept cancer at bay for a long time, largely thanks to the changes he has made in his diet and lifestyle.

David Servan-Schreiber has written the book “Anti cancer – a new way to life“. In the book he describes how you can fight cancer by making a few changes in your diet and your overall lifestyle. His book is said to be a survival manual for patients and a prevention guide for everyone else. To find out more please visit David Servan-Schreiber’s blog: http://www.anticancerbook.com/

 

Your life in your hand

Thanks to Katie and her comment on my earlier post, I was introduced to professor Jane Plant and her book “Your life in your hand“. Professor Plant is a british scientists that got breast cancer. The cancer spread to her lymph system, and she was told she had only three months to live. But, as Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, she began to research.  She came to the conclusion that your diet could be the trigger for the deciese. As she continued her investigations, she also became convinced that there was a  link between consumption of dairy products and breast cancer. Jane Plant defeated her cancer by avoiding cancer-causing food and increasing her consumption of cancer fighting food.

 

Food to avoid

Now there is not just cancer fighting food, there are also certain food groups that increase the risk of cancer, like above mentioned dairy products. Cancer-causing food can be bad for us because they contain specific toxins or chemicals. Below you can see a list of food that increase the risk of cancer:

• All charred food increase the risk of cancer, because it contains carcinogen. The same dangerous substance found in asbestos and tobacco smoke.
• Red meat should be avoided. Especially well-done meat.
• All processed meat increase the risk of cancer.  “A chemical added to processed meat products is responsible for a 67% increased risk in pancreatic cancer”, says nutritionist Mike Adams. Read more
• Sugary, heavily salted, smoked, and pickled foods
• Soft drinks and sodas, because of the high content of sugar and additives.
• French fries, chips and snack foods that contain trans fats
• Baked food should be avoided because of acrylamide, which is a bad chemical.
• Farmed fish (fish that are raised by human hand on farms) are bad because of a higher level of toxins.

Cancer fighting food October 24, 2009

The fruit detox has been very challeging and time consuming for me, so for next week I have chosen a less extreme diet. The following weeks I will focus on eating cancer fighting food.  I will not be eating only cancer fighting food, because that would be a wierd mix – see list of food beneath. But I will be eating as much food from the list as possible.

There have been many studies on cancer fighting food and a lot of knowledge has already been gathered, but scientists are still not completely sure how and why certain fruits and vegetables help prevent cancer. But one thing is for sure, many studies have already shown that eating the right combination of these fruit and vegetables will increase you chances of a cancer-free life.

Here are some examples of cancer fighting food:  Advocado, beans, berries, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, chili peppers, jalapeños, brussels sprouts, figs, garlic, grapefruit, grapes, nuts, mushrooms, papayas, oranges, lemons, red wine, rosemary, sea vegetables, soy products, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and whole grain. For further information and more cancer fighting food please follow this link.

Cancer is unfortuneately extremely common in my family, so it is a topic of great interest to me. I really look forward to trying this out and researching further on this topic.

I really really hate fruit! October 23, 2009

The 5 days are finally over, and now you will get my fruit detox evaluation. Well as you might have guessed from the headline, I am so sick of fruit at the moment. The last few days I have experienced constant nausea, hunger and tiredness.

This is what I’ve been eating: 1/2 pineapple, 2 melons, 3 plums, 8 bananas, 1 grapefruit, 1 plate of salat, 200 g corn, 4 pears, 100 g raspberries, grapes, 4 apples, and 3 fruit juices. It has been really hard to stick to this diet. I would say that I have a pretty strong mind, but as it turned out, not quite strong enough for this diet. During the 5 days I have cheated by eating 5 Wether’s original bonbons, 1 hot chocolate, 50 grams pasta (and 10 cough tablets, but hey, I was ill and coughing my lungs out).

Day one went by pretty well, everything was still very exciting and I was optimistic because I normally love fruit. I felt energetic and I was very happy about my healthy looking fridge and kitchen. Day two and three were very hard. I was so unbeliveable hungry, and constantly wanted to quit. It was also during these days, that the unallowed food was consumed.  Day four and five.. well they were allright. At this point I think I had gotten used to being hungry, and just wanted to see it through. Plus it helped that I was ill wich meant that I had no real appetite anyway.

Right now I feel quite good. Mostly because I am happy and proud to be done with the diet, but actually I also feel very healthy (despite from the fact that I have a fever and Im constantly coughing). Im sure I have lost some weight, and I truely feel detoxed! My grossery bills almost trippled while shopping for all the delicious fruit. But I must say, that I enjoyed how the people in line would look admiering at you and your healthy basket in the supermarket.

Im not sure if I will reccomend this diet to you. The detox works. My body feels healthy and cleansed, but I do not think it is worth the trouble. I am glad that I tried it out, and I certainly learned something about my own limits. But one thing is sure, I will never ever do it again.

Fruit Detox October 22, 2009

The rules:

Sticktly following the detox you may eat 2 pieces of fruit a day plus 2 small 100 % fruit juices. And of cause you may drink as much water as you need. You may exchange a juice against another piece of fruit if you wish. You can also eat certain “light” vegetables instead of fruit, like salat, cucumber and tomatoes. But absolutely no potatoes! Practically the detox is about eating as little as you can and cleansing your system.

I want to send a special thanks to my friend Anna for telling me about the detox diet, and specially for supporting me during the week by going on the diet with me!

Why do a detox diet, you ask. Well according to everydiet.org a detox diet “will remove toxins and poisons from your body. The idea of a good detox diet is to eat pure and natural foods that will aid the function of the lymph, kidneys, and liver. All foods that hinder the regime will be avoided.” This sounds pretty logical to me, and I believe a detoxing of my system would be a good place to start.

Never been on a diet October 7, 2009

It is true, I have never been on a diet. I have no idea what proteins, calories, or carbohydrates are. I have never forbidden myself to eat anything I really wanted.. well maybe only the 3. mars bar of the day but that was just common sence.

I do not understand people that go on a diet and starve themself for a week. For what.. to loose a few kilos (that they will gain immediately after they start eating normal again) or to purefy their system? I do understand why some do not eat meat because of the killing of animals and all. But why shouldn’t you eat solid food, or carbs, or milk, or a banana rigth after you ate an orange? It has never made sence to me, so I have never tried. Plus it just so happens that my favorite food is steak and ice cream, and so far I have not heard of any diets or eating lifestyles where it is not looked down upon.

I have a strong opinion about diets and other eating lifestyles, yet I know nothing about it. So I have chosen to investigate further and try out a variety of diets and lifestyles. I promise I will try to keep an open mind and not to cheat. Who knows, maybe I’ll feel better and loose weight, and maybe even learn and come to understand why diets are so popular.

Next week I will start on a fruit-detox diet. I will only be allowed to eat fruit and drink water for 5 days :O Normally the amount of fruit is limited.. but that sound a bit too extreme to me. So I’ll stick to fruit, but then eat as much as I need so I wont go crazy.

Now if you will ecxuse me, I will go eat a lot of ice cream and other bad stuff while I still can..