Red Meat Causes Cancer - Another reason to give up meat

Red meat causes cancer (and damages the environment... and it's not good for the animals, either).
Eating processed meats like hot dogs, sausages or bacon can lead to bowel cancer in humans and red meat is a likely cause of the disease, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said.
The review by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), released on Monday, put processed meat in its group 1 list, which also includes tobacco and asbestos, for which there is "sufficient evidence" of cancer links.
The advisory also reported that eating an additional 100 grams of red meat per day raises the risk of colorectal cancer by 17 percent and eating an extra 50 grams of processed meat daily raises the risk by 18 percent.
Research studies on the deleterious effects of red meat have been suggesting these problems for years. It is notable that now the preponderance of evidence has reached the point where the WHO advisory panel has made the recommendation to eat less red meat. (In the advisory, "red meat" refers to all animal meat: beef, chicken, pork, lamb.)
It should be noted that the evidence of cancer is strongest for processed meats which includes bacon, lunch meat, and sausage.
When you add the now confirmed association between red meat and cancer to the other unhealthy effects of red meat (heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, cerebrovascular disease, etc.) it should be clear to everyone that they should eat very little, if any red meat.
I should also point out that the production of meat contributes to climate change, drought, water pollution and antibiotic resistance.
Also, many people are concerned about the living conditions of farm animals, most of whom are raised under inhumane conditions.

There is a preponderance of evidence now. Just say no to meat.

Cowspiracy

I've understood for some time that animal agriculture has severe environmental impacts. It's one of the reasons I decided to start eating a vegan diet.
There's a new documentary movie which lays out in great detail the massive impact that animal agriculture has on the planet. Short version: It's the world's greatest contributor to global warming and environmental destruction. If we would all switch to a vegan diet, we would reverse global warming (and the world would be able to support a lot more people sustainably).

The movie is available from the website: www.cowspiracy.com and it's also now streaming on Netflix.
Here's an infographic with the facts:

You can't really say you're an environmentalist if you eat meat and animal products.

Mediterranean Diet Lowers Breast Cancer Risk

Another win for the Mediterranean diet!
I've been an advocate for the Mediterranean diet for some time now.
A long term prospective study (PREDIMED) of the Mediterranean diet has produced solid results showing it lowers the breast cancer risk in people who consume more extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).
Mediterranean Diet and Invasive Breast Cancer Risk Among Women at High Cardiovascular Risk in the PREDIMED Trial
Although the study is primarily intended to study the effects of the diet on cardiovascular health, it is showing benefits in other areas such as this result for breast cancer, lower incidence of cognitive decline and improved metabolic functioning (lower risk of diabetes).
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts; replacing butter with healthy fats, such as olive oil; using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods; and using fish as a primary protein source.
The diet in this study included three groups: a "standard" Mediterranean diet, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with additional nuts and one supplemented with additional olive oil. The additional olive oil seems to have made a difference, showing lower breast cancer incidence than the other two groups.

Palm Oil - Just say no!

The problems of palm oil have recently be highlighted in various news stories. I'd like to summarize the case against palm oil.
- Bad for you
- Bad for the environment
- Bad for communities

Palm oil comes from a type of palm tree which has a nut high in oil. This oil is high in saturated fats, unlike most other vegetable oils. This makes is suitable for many manufactured food and cosmetic products.

Bad for you

However, the high saturated fat content means that it is not as healthy as other vegetable oils and studies have shown a relationship to cardiovascular disease. The FDA has concluded that it is not a safe substitute for trans fats (which have recently been banned).
Unrefined oil does contain carotenes which might be healthy but these are removed during refining and processing so all you get from the processed oil is the unhealthy fat. Processing palm oil also involves oxidizing the oil which increases its saturated fat content and makes it less healthy.

Bad for the environment

High demand from the food processing industry has led to large areas of Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and other producing countries becoming deforested. Often virgin jungle areas are clear cut and burned to plant palm oil trees. This has led to loss of habitat for endangered species and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Bad for communities

Indigenous communities have been hard hit by the expansion of palm oil plantations. Often their lands are appropriated and they are forced into subsistence labor on the plantations.

Palm oil is everywhere!

Palm oil is used in a wide variety of food and cosmetic products.
Foods such a manufactured bakery products (bread, pizza dough, cookies), margarine, chocolate and instant noodles all contain palm oil. Its also found in lipstick, detergent, soap and shampoo.
Here is a list of some products containing palm oil: http://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil

It should be noted that most of these are manufactured products where you can find home made or commercial alternatives which do not contain palm oil. So please read labels carefully and avoid palm oil. Your health, the environment and the world community will benefit.

Palm oil is often labeled with these names:
INGREDIENTS: Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hyrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol

The Secret to Keeping your Brain Alert: Eat Fish!

A new research study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (with a digestible, non-paywalled summary in TechTimes, here and here) finds that people who eat fish at least once a week have larger brain volumes in regions associated with memory and cognition.
Two interesting things here:
1. This again confirms that fish is good for you. The study found the effect for baked or broiled fish but not fried fish... so take note when you cook that fish.
2. It's the whole fish, not just omega-3 fatty acids. They found no relationship to only omega-3 levels. Again, eating whole foods and (not deconstructed components) is healthy.

Want to have a real impact on climate change? Then become a vegetarian

Today's Guardian has an interesting opinion piece about climate change and farm animals.
A few choice quotes from the article:

"Precisely how much livestock contributes to climate change remains up for debate: studies show numbers ranging from 18% (a 2006 UN food report) to 51% (a 2009 World Watch study). Most other studies fall somewhere in that range but, in each of them, the advice is the same: humans need to eat less meat to curb climate change and resource scarcity.

"Raising animals to eat produces more greenhouse gasses (via methane and nitrous oxide) than all of the carbon dioxide excreted by automobiles, boats, planes and trains in the world combined. Over a 20-year period, methane has 86 times more climate change potential than carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide has 268 times more climate change potential, according to the 2006 UN report. Radically reducing the amount of methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere can produce discernable changes in the greenhouse gas effect within decades, while the same reductions in carbon dioxide take nearly a century.

"Yes, quitting meat can reduce your carbon footprint significantly more than quitting driving. 

"To put this in digestible terms, producing the meat for a one-third pound hamburger patty as much as 18,000 gallons of water depending on the farming method, according to the US government."

Something to think about.

Nutella

We went on vacation for a month and I have some great recipes from that trip which I will post soon.
However, before we left, I made a great discovery.
We both like Nutella and eat small amounts as a regular treat. However, it has always bothered me to read the ingredients label which is the usual manufactured food list of synthetic chemicals, fats and sugar. Palm oil, lecithin, and artificial flavoring are problematic. It prominently advertisises hazelnuts but it only contains 13% hazelnuts. The rest is sugar and palm oil. I am trying to find substitutes for factory food that I can make out of simple ingredients at home.
Before we left on vacation, we ran out of Nutella. I didn't want to buy a new jar just before leaving. However, we did have a half jar of almond butter. I added some cocoa powder and sugar to this and made a simple substitute for Nutella which should be actually healthy.
To the half jar of raw, organic almond butter, I added 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of sugar. That's it. It tastes great and is easy. (You may want to adjust the proportions to meet your taste as well as consider adding real vanilla extract.) My simple recipe ends up with about 80+% almonds which has to be more healthy.