Got Autism?

Parents, heads up. Recent studies have suggested a link between dairy consumption and autism. Since many people don’t know this, PETA is planning to run a billboard in Newark, New Jersey. Even though it won’t please the billion-dollar dairy industry, parents have a right to know the truth about milk.

In a study at the University of Rome, researchers noticed a “marked improvement” in the behavior of autistic children who were taken off dairy products, but how dairy might worsen or cause autism is still unclear. Some suspect that casein (a component of cow’s milk) harms the brain, while others suggest that stomach problems that are often caused by dairy products cause distress and thus worsen behavior in autistic children.

Not so surprising, considering that milk has already been strongly linked to Crohn’s disease, certain types of cancer, and other serious health problems. But I digress.

Thankfully, there is hope. Testimonials suggest that some people with this devastating disease may be able to find relief by simply removing milk from their diet.

There’s a whole world of information out there for parents and for women who are pregnant or nursing about how to raise their kids dairy-free. Be an informed consumer and check it out!

*The Newark area had the highest rates of autism occurrence among 14 states studied in one report.

UN says eat less meat to curb global warming

From the Observer:
“Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize, said that people should then go on to reduce their meat consumption even further.”

Anybody who has ever done an ounce of research about the benefits of vegetarianism has ran across studies and statistics that explain why factory farming is bad for Mother Earth. Besides the needless slaughter of millions of animals, the ecological side effects of stockpiling animals is highly detrimental to the sustainability of natural resources. Moreover, the greenhouse gasses put off by the un-natural overpopulation of animals in factory farms is . . . . well, for lack of a better explanation, bad for everyone, especially the Earth.

I have had these conversations with my meat eating friends before - always receiving the same scoff of a response from them, something along the lines of “Thats a bunch of bull, eating meat is a natural thing and it does nobody harm, get over it, there is no scientific evidence to prove what you are claiming.”

To be frank, at the time I never had hard data or scientific references to back my claims that factory farming was detrimental to the Earth. I always felt like it was my opinion based on vague ideals rather than hard facts. Fortunately, the doctors of the UN are here to get my back!

The recent recommendations they have outlined recommend that the most effective way that people can reduce greenhouse gasses is through a reduction in meat from their diet. There! Its not my skinny, vegetarian, biased opinion, but hard factual data from people who know what the heck they are talking about.

Unfortunately, these facts will land on millions of deaf ears. For most people it is not about hearing the truth - most of my steak and potato buddies don’t’ give a damn about the implications of their diet on their own bodies, much less the side effects to mother earth. They eat beef because they actually believe they need it to survive, or because they have eaten their whole life and just like the way it tastes. They will probably never come around, no matter how much factual and scientific data comes to light.

In order for the following quote and fact to even resonate with your being you must first be even slightly conscious of the greater good, but even with a slight sliver of awareness, surely it should sink in that your personal diet choices can effect the collective. Here is the quote:

Tomorrow, Pachauri will speak at an event hosted by animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming, which has calculated that if the average UK household halved meat consumption that would cut emissions more than if car use was cut in half.

Great facts, love that this stuff is coming to the masses, of course the meat industry will fight like hell to keep most people from hearing about this, but a great step nonetheless.

For the Entire Article visit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/07/food.foodanddrink

LA bans Fast Food

In a unanimous decision by a council in a low income district of Los Angeles Fast Food chains are banned. This is an interesting development in my opinion because it hopefully means that more areas of the country will follow suit. In this cases apparently, the district in question was a low income district with an above average percentage of morbidly obese people - it seems that the fast food industry was inundating the area with more and more cheap, fattening and unhealthy food and the decision makers decided to put a stop to it.

“Councilwoman Jan Perry says residents at five public meetings expressed concern with the proliferation of fast-food outlets in the community plagued by above-average rates of obesity.”

But, I mean, come on - so they stopped future fast food restaurants from entering the neighborhood, is this really going to help curb the obesity of the residents? I don’t think so, they are still going to eat the same crap they did before. The only hope for this poor community is that some progressive and health concious affordable food options come in as alternatives, give these people some Griller Burgers and veggie corn dogs!

What do you think is going through McDonalds head when they hear that they have been banned by a City Council - in the board meeting the next Monday “Well, um, what do you say we . . . . . I know, I KNOW lets offer carrot sticks with ranch as a side to our chicken McNuggets. BRILLIANT! Now we can DEFINITELY convince people that we give a rip about their health. . . .”

I hope this continues to happen on a massive scale - and I think it will.

Relative Karmic Debt

This is a follow up from a post where I discussed meat consumption and karmic debt.

Below you will find an analysis of the relative Karmic Debt that you might incur for eating various animals. The assumptions underlying this chart are that Animals experience pain and suffering. Some animals are more advanced and therefore more able to comprehend pain signals and suffering. Since not all animals experience pain in the same way, the relative Karmic Debts incurred by those who eat the animals vary from species to species.

I assembled and arranged this list based on the biology of animals, brain size, central nervous system, brain neurons, personality traits, intelligence and biological factors. It is merely posturing about the relative Karmic burden of eating various animals.

Primates Karmic Debt: HEINOUS Pain: 1000 Humans, Baboons, Apes, Chimpanzees

Cetaceans Karmic Debt: BRUTAL Pain: 800 Dolphins, Whales

Marsupials Karmic Debt: Grim Pain: 750 Kangaroos, Kuala Bears

Artiodactyla Karmic Debt: FIERCE Pain: 700 Pigs, Lambs, Cows, Deer, Goat

Carnivora Karmic Debt: GRUELING Pain: 675 Cats, Dogs, Bears, Lions, Tigers

Lagomorpha Karmic Debt: SEVERE Pain: 500 Rabbits

Rodentia Karmic Debt: HARSH Pain: 425 Squirrels, Rats, Mice, Hampsters

Birds Karmic Debt: Intense Pain: 400 Turkeys, Chickens, Duck, Geese, Quail

Reptiles Karmic Debt: Moderate Pain: 300 Alligators, Snakes, Lizards, Turtles, Alligator

Amphibians Karmic Debt: Mild Pain: 200 Frogs, Salamanders

The animals listed past this point operate more or less on instinct. It is believed that their respective level of consciousness and pain awareness are so basic that one will incur no negative Karma by killing and eating them. However, they do still experience pain and suffering at some level, so if you don’t want to take any chances, keep your diet relegated to the Plant Kingdom. Consequently, just because an animal is listed below does not necessarily indicate that it is a healthy thing to eat. Lobsters are the cockroaches of the sea, they are filthy, dirty animals and are one of the worst things you can eat.

Fish Karmic Debt: Light Pain: 50 Salmon, Trout, Sharks, Tuna

Crustacean Karmic Debt: Soft Pain: 40 Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimp

Insects Karmic Debt: Incidental Pain: 30 Spiders, Bees, Butterflies, Ants

Mollusks Karmic Debt: MINOR Pain: 20 Snails, Clams

Porifera Karmic Debt: Negligible Pain: 10 Sponge

Meat & Karmic Debt

This morning I was had a phone conversation with my friend Eric Bramlett. At the end of the conversation he told me “You would be proud of me - I have not eaten meat in 2 weeks, I am playing with the idea of becoming a vegetarian, except I am still eating fish.” I congratulated him and casually mentioned with a smile on my face, “Fish are fine - No Karmic debt.”

A few minutes later I got an email from him following up from our conversation:

“Is it bad karma to eat chicken? Ali (Eric’s Boss Lady) wants to know. Any links you can send me to see what is good/bad karma to eat?”

I started to write him an email back explaining the concept of Karmic Debt and Meat when 10 minutes passed and I realized that I had a full blown blog post. So here is my answer to his question:

Here is the rule of thumb:

Animals all experience fear, pain and suffering to some extent - some more than others.

The more developed and advanced the central nervous system is corresponds to how much pain and suffering the animal is capable of experiencing.

Cows, pigs, goats, cats, dogs and other mammals have for the most part physical biology similar to humans - advanced central nervous systems, glands and brain functions that enable them to be more alert and conscious. Consequently, they experience more pain.

These animals experience a great deal of pain and suffering when they are slaughtered - therefore by eating them you are incurring a great deal of negative karma.

On the other hand fish are not a very advanced animal - the have very small brains and are operating more or less on instinct - they are just slightly more advanced and conscious than plants.

It is said that the pain and suffering that they experience is so slight that one can eat them without incurring any karmic debt. I read this in a book: The Yoga of Nutrition by Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov.

This seems to make sense from a biological perspective. I personally choose not to eat fish, mostly because I have found countless other nutritious and tasty alternative but also because I don’t want to take any risks that I am creating bad karma for myself!

However, if you are moving away from a carnivorous diet, I would say continuing to eat fish is a very effective way to ween yourself off of the flesh of more advanced animals. It is a very positive life change to move toward fish in an attempt to exclude other meats - I always encourage people when they tell me about such a life decision.

As far as Chickens go - they are somewhere in between a Cow and a Fish - they definitely experience pain and suffering, and there is no doubt that by eating them you will be incurring a Karmic debt. On this one I would say use your best judgment. Watch “Meet Your Meat” if you are still comfortable eating chicken after watching that video than you are obviously not ready to give up chicken. The good news is this: There are countless soy based meat alternatives available today. Delicious, tasty alternatives that will make you ever wonder why you ate the real thing.

My wife Alison became a Vegetarian about two months after we met 6 years ago. Once she was veg, she would always tell me how much she MISSED chicken fajitas when we would to to Mexican restaurants. It was the one food that she really craved. Well, we went to Whole Foods and found “Lite Life” Chicken Strips. We took them home and cooked them up on the grill and she DEVOURED them. They are delicious and for her they were a perfect substitute.

Chicken is slimy and gross, they have, feathers, beaks and claws - do we really want to eat them?

So when choosing the food you eat, be aware of what all had to happen before it reached your plate. How much pain and suffering was created to cut off its limbs, sear its beak, boil it alive or bludgeon it? When you consume pain and suffering you become pain and suffering.

For the good of all mankind who are still lured by the shredded flesh of dead animals, I have put together a diagram that compares the relative Karmic Debt of consuming animals. This is just my humble opinion. However, I have based it more or less on biology and the advancement of each being and other factors such as: brain size, central nervous system, intelligence and general consciousness. You can find a full breakdown of my theory concerning relative Karmic Debt here

Chill Vegan Quiz - How healthy are your eating habits?

We have built this quiz which runs you through a typical day of food eating decisions. Based on your answers you are assigned a category: “Chill Vegan” “Meat & Potatoes American” “Vegetarian” etc. At the end of the quiz, it gives you a listing of the potential categories that you could have possibly fallen into and explanations of each.

It is a fun and simple test and is an excellent gauge for you to figure out how healthy your diet is - you might be surprised!

http://chillvegan.com/chillveganquiz/

Skinny Bitch

Skinny Bitch! It is an incredibly fun phrase to say, especially when you are able to say it out loud in a restaurant in polite company. I first heard about the book during OU/TEXAS weekend while sitting around the table with my family at a Thai restaurant in Dallas.

When my mom first told us the title of the book she was reading, she murmured the title under her breath, obviously bashful, almost whispering. I could barely hear her, “Pardon?!” – my mom said it a little louder, but the next time she said it I was still unsure that she had actually said “Skinny Bitch.” So, just to clarify I asked her to repeat it one more time, “Yes, the name of the book is SKINNY bitch.”

To which my brother and I started mocking all social sensitivities, “So the name of the book is skinny BITCH?!”. Repeating and re-phrasing the question, incrementally putting louder emphasis on ‘BITCH’ in a bout to outdo the other until everyone in our section had heard us practically scream “skinny BITCH.” Rascally I know, but typical of my brother and I.

After the ensuing conversation that night about Skinny Bitch, I picked myself up a copy back home in Tulsa. It was an easy read; I read the whole thing in a few days. I have been a vegetarian my entire life, so many of the concepts and paradigms in the book were familiar to me, however the authors did a spectacular job of presenting the facts and their opinions about the state of health awareness in America with a unique and ‘saucy’ flair. Their “We don’t give a shit if this offends you because you need to hear it” attitude are an appropriate and effective communication style considering the sad state of health in our culture today.

They call it like it is, shining a huge spot light with exciting flair on the entrenched and unconscious lifestyle habits of Americans. Without delay, they start the tough love on the third page: “Brace yourself, girls: Soda is liquid Satan. It is the Devil. It is garbage. There is nothing in soda that should be put into your body.”

The book reveals a litany of oversights by the government, corporate cover ups and scandalous science that has played a part in formulating our miss-informed paradigm of what constitutes a “healthy” diet. The truths revealed in Skinny Bitch are indeed SHOCKING. Before you read the book, you need to be prepared to set aside everything you think you know about health and wellness and be receptive to a new consciousness.

Skinny Bitch is not just for women. Every person, man and woman old and young alike could benefit from the insight and truths revealed. I can attest to the effectiveness of the truths they reveal – after reading the book, I followed just one of the minor tips and tricks. The book helped me fully understand that cheese is a fattening junk food with hardly any nutritional value. After reducing and almost eliminating it from my diet, I lost 15 pounds in less than 4 weeks, down from 200 to 185. With no exercise!

If more Tulsans would read this book and adjust their diets accordingly, it would be a big step forward to improving the types of restaurants and healthy offerings on the Tulsa dining landscape.

I office downtown and it is practically impossible to get a healthy light salad, a fresh alive sandwich on wholegrain bread or a wholesome cup of soup anywhere. However, if I want a
Coney, some brisket or a bologna sandwich I have an abundance of choices. Everyday people vote with their money and patronage to determine what restaurants our community chooses to continue to support.

Unfortunately for our community the majority of consumers are ignorant about health and totally unconscious of what they eat. Lets be honest, the majority of Tulsans are overweight and unhealthy, rapidly consuming the red meat, the processed foods and other toxic JUNK that is served up for us at our local restaurants. All the while we remain completely oblivious that we are sleepwalking while making our food choices instead of being discerning about what types of foods and lifestyles we continue to support in our town.

IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP! Do we need more fast food? Do we really need another Coney stand? Do we really want another sandwich shop that serves us white bread, processed meats, cheese and ice burg lettuce?! Why are we still so ignorant about our food? It is 2008 and we still eat like it is 1958.

Just because we live in Oklahoma, does not mean that we have to eat like Oklahomans.

Read Skinny Bitch, tell your friends to read it, and let’s raise the consciousness of our community and stop eating like Oklahoma Billies.