Independent
Articles & Videos About:
1. The Vegan Diet Plan
2. Vegan Diets & Ideas
What's with a Vegan Diet and Weight Loss!
By Gelfey
What's with a Vegan Diet and Weight Loss! Meat
and animal derivatives every day in your diet! What's unhealthier than this
uncontrolled cholesterol diet which could be oily, heavy and fatty. Before
you check the hour to sit for the next meal, the red meat for lunch may
not have digested at all. It's a cruel way to treat your obese body which
requires a lot of attention and medical help. In such cases what are your
chances for a healthy survival?
If it's not too late, just throw away your desire for meat and poultry
products until you lose some weight. Afterwards you could continue it in
moderation. In today's world people are on the look out for idols who they
can epitomize and it's good news that more and more celebrities have moved
on to a Vegan diet. Unknown are their intentions for such drastic steps
but it sure will help people one way or the other to think twice about a
healthy veggie diet. Why not these celebrities publicize their health trends!
Sure it's going to bring in few positive changes to many in the world.
The Vegan Diet Advantage
* It promotes weight loss * A vegetarian diet is excellent for the digestive
system * A vegan diet when combined with a walk or slight exercises can
project excellent weight loss results * It hides you from evitable life
endangering diseases, the main one being the disorders related to the heart
* Your body will have all the natural nutrients for good health * Resistance
to diseases, weight management * An add on value diet for treating obesity
Always add fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. If you are following
a diet pill treatment, eat more veggies and fruits. It's best if you stop
meat products for a while and begin again in moderation once you are over
with the 8 to 12 week treatment. To understand the real benefits of a Vegan
diet, there is no better way than experiencing it yourself.
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Author is an experienced health and diet expert.
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Vegan Chocolate Feeds the Sweet Tooth
By Anna Wilde Being a vegan doesn't mean eating boring food. One
area that causes us more consternation than others is dessert. Most traditional
desserts include milk or cream. Whether it's cake or cookies, the recipes
usually call for dairy products.
That's why most vegans rejoice when they realize there are many vegan chocolate
options on the market. Not all chocolate contains milk. Dark chocolate is
vegan and is, in fact, much healthier than milk chocolate.
Dark chocolate contains antioxidants, much like red wine does. Researchers
in Europe have found that dark chocolate has heart-protective qualities,
whereas milk chocolate does not.
Researchers believe the proteins in milk may inhibit the antioxidant properties
of chocolate. This is terrific news for vegans. With dark chocolate they
are getting not only a dairy-free treat, but they are also treating their
bodies to a healthy dose of antioxidants.
The dairy industry would have us believe milk does a body good, but research
has shown over and over that dairy products are unhealthy. By choosing healthy
non-dairy chocolate and desserts, we are pulling our weight as conscious
consumers and letting the world know we won't be fooled into unhealthy food
choices.
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Anna Wilde is a freelance writer. She writes about vegan chocolate and other vegan issues in her blog.
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Veganism: Not As Intimidating As You Thought
By Kirsten Hawkins To some people, the phrase "Vegan Cuisine"
sounds like an oxymoron. To others, it sounds like the road of a hardcore
food nutritionist. "Scary," was the word used by my roommate when
I announced I was going to try to become a vegan. What most people don't
realize is that it's very possible, indeed even probable, for a creative
chef to make vegan food just as exciting and full of variety as any other
type of cuisine.
What is veganism, first of all? Strictly put, veganism is a diet which
contains no animal byproducts. Not only do vegans not eat meat, like vegetarians,
but they also do not consume any food created by animals. No milk, no eggs,
no dairy of any kind. No pasta derived from eggs. No gelatin. When you stop
to think, it is surprising how much of the typical American diet is animal-derived.
All of this, I admit, can sound rather scary to the typical meat and milk
lover, and certainly to the typical American who is surrounded by fast-food
hamburgers and bologna sandwiches from a young age. But veganism is not
as intimidating as it sounds. In fact, when the right choices in recipe
and menu are made, it can be extraordinarily flavorful and rewarding.
Think of it this way: Vegan cuisine can't rely on heavy, flavorful ingredients
like meat and dairy to get its flavor and substance. So what do they do
instead? They replace those ingredients in a way that makes you never even
miss them- with fresh vegetables, heady spices, wonderful texture combinations
and delicate wheat-based starches.
One of the most uniquely vegan foods on the market, and the one that tends
to scare the layperson the most, is tofu. Tofu is basically a soybean curd
with a sponge-like consistency and a bland taste that absorbs whatever flavors
are around it. Am I tempting you yet?
Wait. Let's try this. Imagine a dish of Italian stuffed shells, loaded
with tomato sauce and basil, garlic, and oregano. Now imagine that instead
of cheese, the shells were stuffed with a mixture of soft tofu, blended
with fresh spinach. The tofu absorbs the Italian spices and has a delicate,
creamy flavor all its own. Would you notice the absence of the cheese? Sure.
Would you miss it? Not likely.
There are many recipes unique to vegan cuisine that are truly surprising
in their variety and tastiness. Curry is one of the darlings of vegan cuisine,
and is available in all forms and flavors. Other wonderful vegan dishes
include several types of stir-fry, swimming in soy sauces and fresh vegetables;
salads overflowing with fresh beans and sweet oil dressings, and many spicy
and exciting side dishes and appetizers. Many people, for example, love
the wonderful garlicky zing of hummus and do not realize that it's a distinctly
vegan food.
Give vegan cuisine a try. Once you stop relying on meat and milk for your
flavor and fullness, you might just discover a whole new world out there,
where spices are abundant and soybean curd can be delicious.
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Kirsten Hawkins is a food and nutrition expert specializing the Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food.
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Vitamins For Vegetarians
By Simon Harris There are a lot of vegetarians amongst us, some by circumstance
and some by choice. Those that are vegetarians by choice can be divided
into two general groups, those that do not eat meat, poultry or fish, but
do consume dairy products as - in theory - the animals are not harmed or
killed by the gathering of those products. Vegans, however, use no animal
products whatsoever.
There are many health benefits to a planned vegetarian diet, as opposed
to the unplanned vegetarian diets that result from poverty and a lack of
food availability. However, there are also some special precautions that
need to be taken to safeguard nutrition, as adequate amounts of some of
the most important nutrients can be more difficult to obtain. This is especially
true for those following the more restrictive vegan diet.
The body is a complex and delicate system, and the foundation of all of
its functioning is chemical and electrical actions, interactions and reactions.
The operation of this system rests firmly upon the balance of these chemicals.
The majority of the chemicals in these essential physical processes come
from the food that we eat, from the nutrients that come from its consumption.
Thus, nutrition has a deep influence of the health of the body and the quality
of its functioning.
Because the brain, like the body, functions on chemical reactions and electrical
impulses, the processes of cognition, emotion, and so on, are also affected
by nutrition. In fact, deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals can
result in mental illness and retardation, as well as cognitive dysfunction
and difficulties and emotional instability.
The Vitamin B complex offers a perfect example of how vegetarians must
pay special attention to their diets to ensure peak performance of body
and mind. The Vitamin B complex is involved with every major system in the
body and has a role in almost every important bodily process. It is essential
to mental health and functioning, and essential to life itself. However,
there are certain Vitamin B complex vitamins that need special attention
by vegetarians, as vegetarians do not consume the richest sources of these
vitamins.
The richest sources of Vitamin B2 are milk and organ meats. It is available
in enriched breads and cereals, but care must be taken to consume the right
amount daily. Niacin and Vitamin B6 are other B complex vitamins in which
the richest sources are meats and, again, are available in smaller concentrations
in enriched breads and cereals. Vitamin B12 is only found in animal products.
It is important to note that vitamin B12, in addition to being important
to the production of red blood cells, is essential for the normal growth
of children.
Nutritional supplements can serve to enhance the health benefits of the
vegetarian lifestyle. Indeed, they can serve to prevent the serious health
consequences that vitamin deficiency can cause. Nutrition is especially
essential for children, as their minds and bodies are growing and developing.
If you are vegetarian or vegan, you may want to consider the complete, safe
and reliable nutrition that dietary supplements can provide.
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