adopting a vegan lifestyle

Adopting a Vegan LifestyleMarch 12 New College InstituteNancy Bell

My Lifestyle-Related Issues

High cholesterol

High blood pressure

Overweight

Not sleeping well

Depression

Avoiding Medications

4 pills

Understanding the effect food has on

the body

The “Western Diet”

The Challenge No animal products for 6 weeks

Avoid processed foods

Learn to use new foods

Learn new methods of food preparation

What (Exactly) is Vegan?To be healthy and free of diseases of the body and mind, eat more foods as grown, and avoid processed foods and animal products.

The new basic 4 good groups Whole grains

Legumes, seeds, nuts

Vegetables

Fruits

My results… Six Weeks 150 point drop in cholesterol

38-pound weight loss

Blood pressure to normal

Better sleep

More energy

Enhanced concentration

No cravings

What I Learned There is a better way to eat Many billions of dollars are spent on

“unnecessary” treatments, surgeries and prescription drugs

Lifestyle changes eliminate the need for medical interventions

What the Experts Say… Advances in high tech medicine have

not altered the advances of the killer diseases – primarily: cancer, heart diseases and diabetes.

We are with diet, especially with meat, where we were 20 years ago with tobacco.

How to Do it Do your research about your own health

conditions, if any, and lifestyle recommendations

Become familiar with the vegan diet (Reading list in handout)

Start with a 7-day cleanse

The Cleanse Eat only grains for two days + water

Can lightly sweeten with one of these: agave nectar, maple syrup, honey

Day 3 add fruits

Day 4 add veggies

Day 5 add seeds and nuts

Day 6+ break out the vegan recipe books

Cooking Vegan Food Keep it simple Focus on “foods as grown” Start with grains every morning Choose 1 day each week to cook for the

week Familiarize yourself with vegan

substitutions for recipe ingredients

Consider a Lifestyle Class

www.chiphealth.com

Rocky Mount Lifestyle Health Center

21-Day Vegan Kickstart online class

Eating vegan even part time can benefit your health

OBESITY (5 – 20% < meat eaters), LOWERS BMI REDUCEs RISK OF TYPE II DIABETES, LOWERs INCIDENTS OF

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, LOWERs RATES OF CERTAIN CANCERS

(especially colon cancers) Read: “Eat to Live,” “The China Study”

DRUGS Over reliance upon prescription drugs

produces undesirable side effects and dependence and is unnecessary.

Prescription medicines have eroded the principle of self-sufficiency in health and wellness.

What About Protein? Osteoporosis is not a deficiency disease

but a disease of dietary excess – too much protein.

Protein rich animal foods load the blood with acid, which the body may neutralize by stealing minerals from bone.

Fruits and vegetables counteract dietary acid

Toxic hunger – Eating low nutrient foods leads to the desire to over consume calories.

Maintaining cholesterol levels below 150 makes one practically heart attack proof

Low blood cholesterol levels may actually reverse the process of atherosclerosis.

The only source of cholesterol is animal products

Nearly 90% of all coronary deaths could be prevented if cholesterol was below 182, blood pressure was under 120, and no diabetes was present

THE MEDICAL ARGUMENT

Our lifestyle is turning diabetes into one of

the worse and fastest growing epidemics.

Since 1950, fat intake has quadrupled

sugar tripled

animal protein doubled, and

starch intake has been cut in half

USDA studies show that more than 1/3 of broiler chicken carcasses on the market are contaminated with illness-causing bacteria.

THE ANIMAL ARGUMENT

Eating vegan can save the planet Nearly 20% of man-made pollution

comes from the meat industry. It takes 40 calories of fossil fuel energy

to create one calorie of feed-lot beef in the U.S.

Plant production 2.2 calories of fossil fuels

The SAVE THE PLANET Argument

Lifestyle Changes are Up to You

Gender, age and heredity cannot be altered by lifestyle changes, but the following factors can: cholesterol levels smoking high blood pressure sloth stress

What’s YOUR Argument?

Forks Over Kniveshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ijukNzlUg

Questions?