Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Health and Healing
Health and Healing
Healing
• “Healing means to “make whole.” Our personal health is interconnected to all the other beings on this planet. When we approach the process of healing with integrity for the whole, we create a healthier and more just society.”
Dr. Joel Kreisberg, Teleosis Institute (www.teleosis.org)
What is health?
• One way of knowing whether anything is good for us is to check if it is bad for any other creature on the planet.
• Being in health is the ability to be fully in the present, and do what is best in the moment.
Differences between conventional medicine and holistic medicine thinking
Conventional
• The germs are the villains and need to be eradicated
• Destroy the germs
• Remove the symptoms
Holistic
• The organism is weak therefore the germs attack
• Understand and treat the cause
• Symptoms are the body’s only means of communication.
Conventional
• Treatment is diagnosis based
• Belief that disease is just a stroke of bad luck or sometimes due to certain conditions
Holistic
• Treatment is individualised
• Belief that every individual has full responsibility for their illness
• Nature is the guide for cure
Dean Ornish in the forward to John Robbin’s book, Food Revolution
• “We tend to think of advances in medicine as a new drug, a new surgical technique, a laser, something high-tech and expensive. We often have a hard time believing that the simple choices that we make each day - what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether we smoke, how much we exercise, and how well our social relationships support us - can make powerful differences in our health and well being, even in our own survival. But they often do.”
Prescription medication
Death by prescription - Dr Ray Strand
• Is the 4th largest cause of death when taken according to the prescription
• Is the 3rd largest cause of death when wrongly taken medicines are also considered.
• All side effects are known only after years.
• Even prescription medications are advertised.
• Most of the time when a patient goes to a Dr asking for a medication he comes out with a prescription for it.
• Pharmaceutical companies spend a great deal of time and money to educate physicians
Homeopathy
• Mind and body together
• Way that it works
• Homeopathy as an ecologically sustainable medicine
Think Different !
You Are Responsible
…… for every illness that happens to you and you are also responsible for your health. You can choose.
Holistic health of plants
• A sick plant actually sends forth a beacon, carried in the infrared, attracting insects. It is then the insect’s role to dispose of this plant deemed unfit for life by nature. By learning how to “tune into nature,” may you learn to better understand God’s beautiful design and come to work with nature by enhancing her energies, rather than attempting to overpower and rule over her.
Tuning into Nature
Philip S Callahan, Ph.D. Oct 2000
The human body always tries to preserve itself
• The function of disease is to preserve life.
• What is the meaning of multiple diseases? Eg. High blood pressure / heart disease and cancer
How to understand what your body is telling you
• What could be the cause?
• How did you get it?
• What does your disease make you feel?
• What has this disease got to do with you?
• What can you do to relieve your symptoms?
Disease as a path to personal growth
• The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
Albert Einstein
Why do humans get so many diseases?
• Eating and living habits
• Stress
• Environmental conditions
• Bacteria, virus and parasites can only infect a weak host.
• At least half of the diseases in the world can be treated by making lifestyle changes in accordance with nature and natural laws.
• Consider your health like a savings account. Most diseases do not occur suddenly but are a result of our lifestyles.
How to be healthy without taking medicines
Don’t get an insurance! It adds to the delusion.
Eating
• What would be the natural food for the human being?
Video 1
• Our ancestral eating habits
Humans are predominantly Herbivorous
• Primate ancestry
• Teeth
• Method of drinking
Humans are predominantly Herbivorous
More Reasons
• Movement of jaws
• Saliva
• Long intestines
• Absence of claws
• Night vision absent
Carnivore’s digestive system
Comparison - Carnivore and Human digestive system
Recent research: humans are herbivores and not omnivores
• http://www.earthsave.ca/materials/articles/health/comparative.html
Our Herbivorous Habits
• Living in groups
• Desire for sweets
• Natural instincts
• Frequency of eating
Video 2
• Carnivores
• The Human Carnivore
Our dietary requirements
• Fibre
• pH should be alkaline
• Health = Nutrition
Calories (Eat to Live, Joel Fuhrman, MD)
What about nutritional supplements?
The pH of various foods
Mike Adams - Newstarget
Very Acid Yielding foods
• Cheese
• Salami
• Luncheon meat, canned
• Liver sausage
• Chicken
• Cod
• Herring
• Trout
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Coffee
• Tea
• Wine , alcohol
• Vinegar
• Salt
• Dairy
Note
• All fruits and vegetables are alkaline yielding, unless they have been pickled or marinated.
Alkaline Yielding foods
• Apricots
• Kiwifruit
• Cherries
• Bananas
• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Oranges
• Lemon juice
• Pears
• Pineapple
• Peaches
• Apples
• Watermelon
• Celery
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Green peppers
• Cucumber
• Tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Lettuce
• Green beans
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Mineral water
The body’s reaction to acid foods
• When acid-yielding foods lower the body's pH, the kidneys coordinate efforts to buffer that acidity.
• Bones release calcium and magnesium to re-establish alkalinity, and muscles are broken down to produce ammonia, which is strongly alkaline. By the time the response is all over, your bone minerals and broken down muscle get excreted in urine.
• Long term, excess acidity leads to thinner bones and lower muscle mass.
• Low magnesium levels can cause muscle cramps, arrhythmias, and anxiety.
• Fruits and vegetables are rich in potassium salts that protect against hypertension and stroke.
• Chloride in food from table salt is acid yielding and constricts blood vessels, and reduces circulation leading to heart disease, stroke, dementia, and other degenerative diseases.
Lessons in Cancer and General pH Management
International Medical Veritas Association
• An oncologist in Rome
• It’s a cyanide to cancer cells, it hits them with a shock wave of alkalinity, which allows much more oxygen into the cancer cells than they can tolerate. Sodium bicarbonate is, for all intent and purposes, an instant killer of tumors. Full treatment takes only days.
• The extracellular (interstitial) pH (pHe) of solid tumours is significantly more acidic compared to normal tissues.
The promise
(Eat to Live, Joel Fuhrman, MD)
• Substantial healthy weight reduction in a short a period of time without starving but by eating as much as you want.
• Prevention and Reversal of many chronic and life threatening conditions
• A new understanding of food and health that will last a lifetime
Prevention is better than cure
Constipation
• Increase Fibre
• Cut out no fibre foods
• Cut out addictions to pass stools
• Straining for stools can cause hemorrhoids, diverticulitis, appendicitis, hiatus hernia. Remnants cause irritable bowel syndrome
• Long term effects - bowel and other cancers
Obesity
• What is Obesity
• What diets work
• Effect of a high protein diet
• Effect of a high Fibre Diet
Cancers and tumours
• What foods cause it
• Specific cancers
• Growth reducing diets
• What happens if you remove a tumour surgically
• Common tumours - breast, prostate, intestinal, thyroid
Cancers and food
• Best documentation to show the effect of animal foods on various cancers - The China Study. Statistics for various cancers- Food Revolution.
Heart Disease and Hypertension
• What is it?
• Mechanism of cause
• Diets to prevent and cure.
• High caffeine and sodium intake
• Smoking
Heart Disease and Hypertension
Role of medication
• What do the drugs do? (vasodilators and blood thinners) What’s wrong with bypass surgery and angioplasty?
• What we can do?
• What is the prognosis?
Diabetes
• Two types - Juvenile or insulin dependent
• Maturity onset
• Effects of Diabetes on the body
• Effects of Insulin
• Diet for diabetes
Problems of the Teeth and skeletal system, osteoporosis
• What is it
• Why is it caused
• Calcium, sugar, high protein diet
• High caffeine and sodium intake
• Smoking
Kidney problems, Urinary Tract Infections
• Stones
• Blockages
• Urinary Tract infections
Asthama, Allergies, Eczema,
• What is the cause
• What is histamine
• How to avoid allergies - diet
But where will I get my proteins?
What protein intake do we require?
• Where do we get protein?
• What is protein deficiency?
Protein needs
• Primary disease linked to inadequate protein consumption - Kwashiorkor
• Primary diseases linked to excess protein consumption - osteoporosis and kidney disease.
Percentage of protein in different animal’s milks
• Man 1.25 - 2.7
• Monkey 2.3
• Guinea Pig 8.55
• Rat 8.7
• Dog 10.11
• Cat 11.1
• Cow 3.3 - 4
• Goats 4.1
What’s wrong with meat?
• High blood pressure and heart disease
• Cancer
• Constipation and digestive problems
• Lack of energy
• Bacterial Diseases - Salmonella
• Gout
• Osteoporosis & Arthritis
But Vegetarians get Heart Disease and Cancer too!
• On the average Indians spend 25% of their food budget on milk and milk products. Nutrient - wise milk has a similar composition to other animal foods.
Where do I get my calcium?
• 1. Human Breast Milk 33 mg
• 2. Almonds 234 mg
• 3. Amaranth 267 mg
• 4. Apricots (dried) 67 mg
• 5. Beans (pinto, black) 135 mg
• 6. Beet greens (cooked) 99 mg
• 7. Bran 70 mg
• 8. Swiss Chard (raw) 88 mg
• 9. Chickpeas (garbanzos) 150 mg
• 11. Collards (raw leaves) 250 mg
• 12. Cress (raw) 81 mg
• 13. Figs (dried) 126 mg
• 14. Hazelnuts 209 mg
• 15. Kale (raw leaves) 249mg
• 16. Kale (cooked leaves) 187 mg
• 17. Lettuce (dark green) 68 mg
• 18. Molasses (dark) 684 mg
• 19. Mustard Green (raw) 183 mg
• 20. Mustard Green (cooked) 138 mg
• 21. Parsley 203 mg
• 22. Pistachio nuts 131 mg
• 23. Potato Chips 40 mg
• 24. Raisins 62 mg
• 25. Sesame Seeds 1160 mg
• 26. Sugar (Brown) 85 mg
• 27. Tofu 128 mg
• 28. Spinach (raw) 93 mg
• 29. Sunflower seeds 120 mg
• 30. Water Cress 151 mg
The Relation of Protein to Calcium
• The Nurse's Health Study recently found women who consumed 95 grams of protein a day compared with those who consumed less than 68 grams a day had a 22% greater risk of forearm fractures.
Calcium imbalances in the zone diet
Calcium cannot be used in our body without Vitamin D
Vitamin D is needed for calcium absorption
The main source of Vitamin D is sunlight
• Vitamin D is produced by the skin in response to UV rays from the sun.
• It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts from the diet.
• There is no danger of getting too much vit D from exposure to the sun.
• Antioxidants greatly reduce the burning of the skin by the sun.
A large proportion of the population has deficiency of Vitamin D, which could be due to -
1. Cloudy weather, short winter days, distance from the equator or just lack of exposure to the outdoors.
2. Sunscreen, even SPF 8 blocks off the body’s ability to generate vit D by 95%.
3. UV rays do not penetrate glass.
4. People with darker skin need more exposure.
5. Liver and Kidney problems since it is activated here.
Chronic vitamin D deficiency causes -
• Osteoporosis, osteomalacia, rickets
• Muscle weakness aches and pains
• Prostrate, breast, ovarian, colon cancers, depression, schizophrenia,
• Melatonin imbalance causing seasonal affective disorders
• Impaired insulin production exacerbating diabetes 2 and predisposing diabetes 1 in infants
• Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight.
What’s wrong with milk?
• When is milk most required?
• Difference between Human milk and Animal milk.
• How much protein do we require?
• What about calcium requirement?
• Who started the myth about protein?
Bad effects of Milk and milk products
• Diabetes
• Hypertension and heart conditions
• Obesity
• Constipation
• Cancers - breast, prostate, colon
• Indigestion and Gas formation, acidity
• Arthritis
• Asthma and sinus infections
• Acne
• Allergies
• Depressions, mood swings
• Iron Deficiency
• Osteoporosis
• Tuberculosis
• Mad cow disease
Iron deficiency and anemia
Iron deficiency is found in vegans as well as non vegetarians to the same degree.
• Factors leading to low iron absorption are
• Coffee
• Tea
• Calcium supplements
• Milk
Iron may be lost because of loss of blood or parasites.
Dr Benjamin Spock warned against milk
"Cow's milk in the past has always been oversold as the perfect food, but we are now seeing that it isn't the perfect food at all and the government really shouldn't be behind any efforts to promote it as such."
"Cow's milk has become a point of controversy among doctors and nutritionists. There was a time when it was considered very desirable, but research has forced us to rethink this recommendation...dairy products contribute to a surprising number of health problems..."
Benjamin Spock, M.D., "Child Care," 7th Edition
• Old Ayurvedic texts refer to milk as the white poison
• Jain scriptures refer to milk and milk products as ‘vigai and mahavigai’.
What else is bad about Milk?
• Milk is a cocktail of the following ingredients -
• Hormones
• Pus
• Urea, earthworms for preservation
• Concentration of pesticides
• Antibiotics
What’s the problem? Why is it so difficult to change your diet?
• video
Masaru Emoto
The Message From Water
If water can convey the energy of the environment, what energy does meat from factory farms convey?
Factory farming
• video
FOOD AFFECTS THE MIND AND BODY
• Emotions caused by adrenaline in flesh foods - fear, anxiety, depression, lack of self confidence, violence, suffering.
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet"
“Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind.”
Albert Einstein
Vegan diet and Stamina
• Dr. Per-Olaf Astrand conducted an informal study of diet and endurance using nine highly trained athletes, changing their diet every three days. At the end of every diet change, each athlete would pedal a bicycle until exhaustion.
Those with
• a high protein and high fat meat (carnivore) diet averaged 57 minutes.
• a mixed (omnivore) diet, lower in meat, fat and protein averaged 1 hour and 54 minutes: twice the endurance of the meat and fat eaters.
• A high carbohydrate diet lasted 2 hours and 47 minutes, triple the endurance of the high-protein group.
(Source: Astrand, Per-Olaf, Nutrition Today 3:no2, 9-11,1968)
(http://www.filipinovegetarianrecipe.com/why_vegetarian_foods_are_best_for_you/vegetarian_foods_are_energizing.htm)
Refined foods - unhealthy components of a plant based diet
• Oil
• Other fats like butter, ghee, vanaspati
• Sugar
• White flour (our ‘brown breads’)
• White rice
• Processed foods, soft drinks
All of these give us calories without nutritional value. Because of the lack of fibre, more is eaten leading to obesity.
Effects of refined foods
• Diabetes, heart disease, elevated triglycerides, cholesterol, constipation and obesity...
• Whole foods contain complex carbohydrates.
• Refined foods contain simpler carbohydrates.
Percentage of nutrients lost when whole wheat flour is refined into white flour
Food Revolution - John Robbins
• Protein 25%
• Fibre 95%
• Calcium 56%
• Iron 84%
• Phosphorus 69%
• Potassium 74%
• Zinc 76%
• Copper 62%
• Manganese 82%
• Selenium 52%
• Thiamin (vit B1) 73%
• Riboflavin (vit B2) 81%
• Niacin (Vit B3) 80%
• Pantothenic Acid (vit B5) 56%
• Vitamin B6 87%
• Folate 59%
• Vitamin E 95%
Effects of sugars
• In the process of refining sugar lime is added and then extracted with carbon dioxide.
• It is then bleached white with a chemical solution that uses pork by-products (blood albumin and/or animal charcoal). The sugar is processed at least three times till it no longer resembles a food and is now a drug and an artificial substance.
Sugar
• The chemicals used in sugar processing (phosphoric acid, calcium phosphate and others) are potent and health-debilitating.
• Sugar has a tremendous amount of carbonic acid which disturbs the nutritional balance in the body. Sugar robs the body of almost all nutrients, especially the minerals chromium, zinc and calcium, and vitamins C and B-complex.
Sugar
• Sugar destroys food digestion enzymes in the mouth, stomach, the small intestines and the pancreas. It also reduces the amount of hydrochloric acid (a necessary digestive acid) in the stomach. Without enough hydrochloric acid the food isn't broken down properly. Therefore, we can't properly absorb the nutrient and we will have frequent bouts with constipation.
Sugar
• In addition sugar is released into the blood too quickly which is toxifying and damages the body cells.
• Too much sugar, salt, and starch can increase the appetite. The body really desires nutrition.
Sugar in fast foods and ready made foods
• Almost 70 percent of the sugar that we consume is hidden in foods. For instance, a typical 12-ounce soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar. The typical candy bar is almost all sugar. Even pizza has a considerable amount of sugar in it. The sweetness of the pizza is hidden by putting in a lot of salt and other ingredients which give a semi-sweet taste. Tomato ketchup is also largely sugar.
Effects of caffeine (found in coffee, tea, colas)
• Increases stomach acid secretion and promotes ulcers.
• Produces anxiety, irritability, depression mood changes.
• Stimulant action - Raising the blood pressure, damaging blood vessels and causing heart attacks.
• Birth defects. Infant deaths.
Tea instead?
• Theophylline, in tea, is five times more potent than caffeine as an irritant to the nervous system.
• Tannin, an astringent - constipation and impaired secretion of digestive enzymes.
• Drinking coffee or tea after a heavy meal is a common cause of heartburn.
Less refined foods are less harmful but not as good as whole foods
• Examples : juices, jaggery
Fried Foods
• Carbohydrates subjected to high temperatures become carcinogenic.
• Oil heated over and over or for a long period of time is also carcinogenic - acrylamides
• What should be done with oil once used for frying?
• Alternative to frying is baking at lower temperatures.
Facts about Fats
• Animal fats contribute to cholesterol
• All fats contribute to triglycerides
• Monounsaturated fatty acids and poly unsaturated fatty acids are not very different
• All oils are bad for health
• Heated (refined oils) are worse than cold pressed oils. What oils should we use?
• How to get natural oils
What about fish?
Essential Fatty Acids
• Only plants can create two types of polyunsaturated fats called essential fatty acids (EFA) known as omega-3 and omega-6 fats (w-3 and w-6 fats). They are considered essential because we cannot make either so both must be present in our foods.
Important Functions of EFA’s
• They are a part of phospholipids in all animal cellular membranes - a deficiency of EFA results in the formation of faulty membranes.
• The transport and oxidation of cholesterol; as a result EFA tend to lower plasma cholesterol.
• They are precursors of tiny, but powerful hormones, eicosanoids (prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and thromboxanes), which are only formed from EFA.
EFA Deficiency
• EFA deficiency does not occur in people whose diets are high in vegetable foods,
• Through the intake of large amounts of animal products, hydrogenation of vegetable oils, milling, and selection of omega 3 poor foods, we have been systematically depleting our intake of EFA. A relative deficiency is also caused by large intakes of saturated animal fats and synthetic trans fats.
• Since plants synthesize these fats they are the original and obvious source of all EFA. If animals, say fish, have significant amounts of EFA in their tissues it is because they ate plants, like algae, which originally made the EFA.
Plants rich in EFA
• Linoliec acids - safflower, sunflower, hemp seed, soyabeans, walnut, pumpkin, sesame, flax
• Alpha Linolenic - flax, hemp, canola (rapeseed), soybeans, walnut, green leafy vegetables, purslane, perilla
• Gamma Linolenic - borage, black currant seed, primrose
Too much of a good thing
• These EFA’s protect against atherosclerosis and heart attacks, as well as relieve rheumatoid arthritis, diabetic neuropathy.
• Olive oil and omega 3 acids are thought to be safe however, larger intake of these also leads to heart attacks. Mediterranean diets are better because they a higher in vegetarian food, rather than because of olive oil. Too much linoliec acid is carcinogenic.
Raw foods are live foods
Dead foods
Rules to Follow in Diet
• Eat foods that are anatomically suitable.
• Eat whole rather than refined or processed.
• Eat fresh foods, unprocessed.
• Wash before chopping, cook in just the right amount of water so that you don’t throw away nutrients.
• Don’t peel fruits and vegetables.
• Eat foods grown in the vicinity and that are seasonal.
• Choose organic over artificially grown ones.
• Food combining is important.
• Avoid junk food and artificial food.
Health Considerations of Organic
• Toxic effect of pesticides cause cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes and various other diseases.
• Diminished nutritive value of non -organic produce.
What are the results of eating foods with high nutritive value
• Quantity required decreases.
• No nutritional supplements are required.
• Tasty. Spices and food additives are not needed.
Results of eating foods with low nutritive value
• Obesity with poor health.
B12 in Vegetarians
• Bacterial flora in the intestines produce B12 in minute but sufficient quantities.
• The acid produced in the stomach to digest animal protein foods like meat and milk causes minor injuries to the lining of the intestines, which obstructs the absorption of B12. Since meat contains relatively large quantities of B12, meat eaters get enough. Vegetarians may be deficient because they get smaller quantities and have damaged intestinal linings. Vegans are unlikely to suffer a lack of B12; they absorb enough B12 because their intestinal linings are intact.
Cholesterol
• Average intake (milligrams per day)
Non veg 300 - 500
LO Veg 150 - 300
Vegans zero
• Average levels in the USA
Non vegetarians 210
LO vegetarians 161
Vegans 133
References - health without medication
• Diet for a New America
• The China
• Fit for Life - Harvey and Marilyn Diamond
• Eat to Live - Joel Fuhrman
Links
• www.newstarget.com
• www.earthsave.org
• www.pcrm.com
• For more categorised links and references please see www.sharan-india.org, and look under resources.
There are lots of different theories about what to eat. How do we know what to believe?
• Understand what nature intended for us.
• Think whole - In nature there is always a balance. If it is right for you it will also be right for the environment and right for other species.
What are the effects of a high protein diet?
• Cholesterol
• Products of decomposition
• Energy usage
• Pesticide levels
• Ecological impact
• Animal impact
ECOLOGICAL IMPACT
Food for thought
Numbers
• Today we are 6.6 billion human beings. The number of animals being slaughtered per year for our food is 56 billion - 8.5 times the number of humans
• At any given moment there are 20 billion livestock on earth - more than triple the number of human beings!
Greenhouse gases
• Livestock produce 18% of the greenhouse gases in the world. This is more than all the vehicles in the world.
UN & FAO Report - Livestock’s long shadow
Water
• It takes 500 litres of water to produce 1 kg of potatoes, 600 for 1 kg of wheat, 2000 for 1 kg of rice, but 100,000 for 1 kg of beef. Livestock consume 80% of the world’s water supply.
• With the water used to produce a single hamburger you could take a luxurious shower everyday for 2 1/2 weeks!
Food shortages - Land Usage
• It takes approximately 12 - 16 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of meat or milk. (6 kgs of wheat would produce 12 loaves of bread or 1 hamburger)
• A non vegetarian needs 16 acres of land for sustenance as against the 0.5 acres required for non meat eater.
Forests, Wildlife
• 260 million acres of virgin forests have been cleared in the US
• 40% of all the grain grown goes to feed livestock and that’s besides the pastures where the graze.
• 50% of all the land on the planet is used for agriculture, and of the other 50% a chunk is used as human habitat and habitat for our animals used for food, roads factories etc. It does not leave very much for other species
Grazing destroys the forests
India
The Result
Energy
• The world’s petroleum reserves would last for only 13 years if all humans were meat eaters but 260 years if all humans were vegetarian.
• With the energy needed to produce a single hamburger, you could drive a small car twenty miles!
Food Miles & Energy
Ice Cream
• Cows are fed with dry feed – comes from north or middle India
• Then the milk is transported to the dairies.
• Dairies pasteurise, pack in plastic, transport it to the consumer. (50% of our milk comes from out of state) Refrigerate
• Milk goes to the ice-cream factory - processed, frozen, supplied to shops in refrigerated vans. Stored in freezer
• This calculation does not include the sugar!
60 million people die of starvation each year. Is it because of the meat we eat?
• 80% of the corn grown and 40 % of the total grains are consumed by livestock.
• 12 Lbs of wheat produce 12 loaves of bread or 1 hamburger.
• 20 vegetarians can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one non vegetarian.
• Note: One billion humans could be saved from starvation if Americans ate just 10% less meat.
• The science of ecology teaches us that everything in the universe is connected. We cannot separate ourselves from the consequences of even the least of our actions: whatever we do here comes back there. This is the law of the unity of life. Like any law of nature, you cannot break it; you can only break yourself against it.
• If you throw a bottle into the air, it will return to earth and shatter. Similarly, if you act in a way that violates the unity of life – polluting the atmosphere, wasting precious resources, ignoring the needs of others – you will find your health, your peace of mind, and your happiness destroyed. We are not separate fragments. Like all the animals and plants, we depend on each other and on the environment.
Eknath Easwaran’s Thought for the Day
ANIMAL ABUSE
Milk is not vegetarian
Veal
WHY SHOULD WE BOTHER ABOUT ANIMAL SENTIENCE?
From an early age we are exposed to animal abuse through zoos and circuses
We are exposed to stone throwing on dogs, slaughter of animals, caging of birds, unnecessary dissection resulting in
DESENSITIZATION
Violence is increasing today
• We accept these incidents, which are nothing but lack of respect to fellow beings that are more helpless and vulnerable than us.
• The FBI has documented that a large percentage of murderers, rapists and other criminals start out as animal abusers in childhood.
• It’s a bit hypocritical to talk about non violence if every meal involves violence.
Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal- health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently and, once a year, sends out cards praying for "Peace on Earth."
Coats, C. David from Old MacDonald's Factory Farm
• Video - children exposed to violence
48 billion reasons to stop eating animals.
• Forty eight billion farmed land animals are killed for food each year worldwide. That enormous figure does not include the horses, dogs, cats, and wild animals killed for food, nor the uncounted millions of male chicks ground up while still alive because they have no monetary value. Eighty nine million tons of fish, which would represent billions of uncounted individuals, are also killed each year. Fully one third of those residents of the sea are killed and tossed away as trash.
• “Peace To All Beings” - Judy Carman
Stress as a cause of ill health
• Our relationship with each other is reflected in our relationship with animals and the environment. By changing one the other automatically changes.
• Our health is directly related to our relationship. In today’s society most relationships are not genuine, but need based
• Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living beings, man will not himself be free.
Dr Albert Schweitzer 1875 - 1965
• The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
» Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Many good reasons to go vegan besides health
• Starvation and poverty
• Ecology and environment
• Wildlife
• Human rights
• Animal rights
Health and Healing
• Healing means to “make whole.” Our personal health is interconnected to all the other beings on this planet. When we approach the process of healing with integrity for the whole, we create a healthier and more just society.
• Joel Kreisberg, Teleosis foundation
Health in Sanskrit is ‘Swasthya’
• Being rooted in one’s self
• Become the master of your body – this will lead you to freedom.
(– pg 205 Health and Healing in the Yoga)
What is the best way to transition?
• It depends in large part on your goal. Do you want to become a vegan, lose weight, address a chronic disease or are you making this choice for ethical or environmental reasons?
• Your personal nature
• Take animals and animal products out of your diet all at once. People who choose this option often decide to eat analogs (vegetarian products that look and taste like meat and dairy foods).
• Gradually eliminate the animals and animal products from your diet, perhaps over a 3-6 month period. Add more fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
• Notice the difference in the way you feel. Give in to your cravings now and then and observe the effect on your body.
• Join a local vegetarian group. Have potlucks with vegetarian friends.
• Take food preparation classes.
• Experiment with recipes from vegetarian cookbooks, and from the internet. Work with substitutions. Be adventurous and try vegetarian recipes from various countries.
• Visit vegetarian restaurants.
• Take the trouble to ask for your preferences during flights, etc.
• Purchase locally grown organic food. Join organic groups on the internet and find out where products are available near you. Try fruits and vegetables that you’ve never eaten before to expand your food options.
• To handle a sweet tooth, eat more green leafy vegetables and substitute fruit and fruit smoothies for processed sweets.
• Read about vegetarianism and veganism. There are a lot of books and websites available.
• Most importantly, enjoy the transition. See it not as a chore, but as a positive step toward reaching your goal.
• www.sharan-india.org
• nandita@sharan-india.org
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