Eating Consciously

When you read your food labels, the nutrients listed are shown as a percentage of the DV, which fails to keep up with quickly changing nutrition information. The reason being that it would be entirely too costly to change all food labels every time a small change is made. There has been a pretty significant change concerning vitamin B12 that has yet to be reflected on the DV. B12 levels are now about half the levels that the DV are based on, so if a label says it contains 50% DV of B12, it actually contains about 100% of your recommended intake according to current information. The DV is based on recommended consumption of 6 mcg per day, but more current information suggests that 2.4 mcg per day is adequate.

There may be a silver lining to these released videos from the Humane Society. These unfortunate videos are finally bringing animal cruelty to the mainstream media and people can really see what is happening to the meat they eat. Downed cattle, which are banned from the food supply to stop the spread of mad cow disease, are lifted by forklifts and forced to walk. Check out the video for yourself:

Most companies that produce vegan products use a vitamin D source that is not of animal origin, but some companies just don't realize that the vitamin D they are using is animal derived. Whenever you buy a fortified food such as cereal, soymilk, or even margarine, after doing the usual ingredient checklist, you may want to double check that vitamin D. On the ingredients list, you will either see it say vitamin D2 or vitamin D3. Vitamin D2 is derived strictly from plant sources, but vitamin D3 is derived from animals and therefore is NOT VEGAN. I would also just double check anything you have at home right now, because I have heard that there are still some companies using vitamin D3 to fortify. If you find this, I would stop buying this product and contact the company immediately to make them aware of the situation and tell them you are no longer buying their product until they change the source. Let me know if anyone runs across any vitamin D3. Make sure you check back soon...

Here's a healthy vegan mac and cheese alternative! 3 c cooked carrots 1/2 block tofu 3 cloves garlic 2 tbs nutritional yeast salt and pepper to taste 1/4 cup soymilk 8 oz whole wheat pasta shells (or whatever pasta you prefer) Blend carrots, tofu, garlic, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and soymilk until smooth and creamy. Mix with cooked pasta. Easy and awesomely delicious. Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!

I finally got some replies to my post on dietitian central, which I blogged about on 2/2/08. You can scroll down, or read it here: . All of the responses were very positive and helpful except for this one: "If you don't care what people think, why are you asking. It isn't about you dear. If you are able to advise people that don't want to be a vegetarian then go for it. If you can not, this is not the field for you. Get over yourself." Here's what I replied: "I said I didn't care what other people thought because I knew I would get some negative responses from people such as yourself. In this case, I really don't care about your negative opinion, but I just wanted to comment on something you brought up, which is the fact of having to deal with people that don't want to adopt a vegetarian diet and getting over myself. I don't plan on being able to help anyone through my counseling that doesn't have the ability to make dietary changes ...

Yet, another clippet from an article I dug up on the NY Times website this morning. It doesn't really make me angry, but I actually found it amusing as I'm sure you will as well. "And many places that are trying. Lately, when restaurateurs create a menu or settle on a design, they’re considering the environment along with the cuisine. Some do it to save money and others to tap into a popular trend, but many do it because they believe in it. Jason Hennings said the ingredients at Black Iron Burger, which he is to open soon in the East Village, will come from New York State, avoiding fuel-burning, cross-country deliveries. “I want this to be an ethical burger,” he said." An "ethical" burger indeed! Hahaha!

I made up this recipe for general tso's sauce last night and it tastes exactly like that stuff you get from the chinese places, but this is actually not so bad for you. Here it goes: 1/2 c water 2 TBS agave nectar 2 tbs tamari (I like reduced sodium) 1 tbs canola oil (leave out if you wish) 3 cloves garlic (pressed or mushed into a paste) 1 tbs orange juice (I use lemon in a pinch) 1/2 tsp ginger (I used powdered, but fresh would be much better) 1/4 tsp tumeric 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or less depending on your taste) 1/4 tsp xanthan gum (feel free to leave this out, I only added it to make the sauce thicker) salt and pepper to taste Put all ingredients into a saute pan and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes. When is reduces a bit and starts to get thick and bubbly, remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly. Use a wire whisk to mix it to a smooth consistency. Serve with whatever you like. I served it with asian veggies and baked tempeh and served it over brown r...

Sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as I would like to. I have been extremely busy with school, interning, and starting my business. Oh, I don't think I had mentioned the business. Let me first discuss that. My business partner, who used to be my 10th grade Chemistry professor, are planning an elaborate cafe and wellness center in South Philadelphia. Our mission is to create a sustainable haven in this small community where people can come get healthy, delicious food and also have the ability to join classes and workshops to help create total wellness in their lives. First, let me give you a bit of background on the community itself. It lies not far outside of Center City, but the two couldn't be more different. This small community is a melting pot in every sense of the word, it contains blacks, whites, hispanics, asians, and many other ethnic backgrounds. What is interesting about this melting pot, is how interconnected this community seems to be. Neighb...

As I had mentioned before, in the field of nutrition, there is little knowledge concerning veganism and there is also very little focus on using nutrition to prevent disease. They like to wait until disease occurs, then diagnose a diet. I recently posted a topic on a forum at dietitiancentral.com to see what kind of responses I get back. I'll share the responses with you also as soon as they arise. Read this post, I think you are going to like it: "I am currently a student working towards my RD. While I am extremely interested in nutrition, I am more interested in preventative nutrition rather than therapeutic. In my opinion, we need to focus more on eating to prevent disease, rather than waiting for disease to occur, then diagnose diets that probably won't be followed anyway. For this reason, I have no intention of working in a clinical setting, yet I feel that I am being pushed in that direction through my education. I am the type of person that is going to do what m...