Welcome to People For Plants.

Have you thought about what kind of shape you'd like to be in when you retire? If you have kids, I know you want the best for them. Learn the basics of good nutrition- for them. The doctors and health professionals I study say that approximately 97% of the adults in the U.S. still do not understand what is healthy to eat and drink, and what is not. Join the 3% who have become informed. That is the purpose of this site. It seems obvious, but here are the basics: 1) Make food and drink that includes only ingredients that promote your health the foundation of your diet. 2) Avoid food and drink that contain ingredients that destroy health. All food from animals have ingredients that destroy health. (Please read the next two entries following this one regarding the harmful dairy industry, plus go to http://greg-foodforthought.blogspot.com/) All food from plants have only ingredients that promote health, especially organic. The best advice we can give: study what is healthy to eat and drink, and what is not. To find out read The Starch Solution by John McDougall, MD. http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_starch_solution.html For the healthiest lifestyle, eat a starch based, plant based, low fat diet. The plant foods that are highest in starch include potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, beans, corn, and whole grains. These foods have the highest amount of calories, or energy, that you should center your meals around. Meat eaters center their meals around meat. Plant eaters center their meals around starches. From my friend Peter in Australia: "I've been eating a plant based diet since 1996. I never feel that I’m missing out, or deprived. Quite simply there is such a wonderful choice of plant foods available from the five following foods groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes (beans) and seeds and nuts. If you decide you would like to adopt a plant based diet, embracing it with the attitude of ‘abundance’ rather than ‘deprivation’, you are more likely to be successful. A healthy plant based lifestyle promotes positive outcomes for the health of people, the environment, and animals." I've heard people say, "I love my meat. I could never give it up." Or "I could never give up cheese", or "I could never give up ice cream." I do understand that these foods are sometimes not easy to give up. The downside is these foods have ingredients that are addictive, and destroy your health. If unhealthy, addictive foods mean more to you than the best health, that is your choice. The majority of people think in the present, with no regard for the future. Those who choose an unhealthy lifestyle have more chance for disease, more doctor visits, more medical expenses, more pain, more pills, and more chance for a shorter life. How much quality time would you like to spend with your grandchildren? Here are some common, well loved foods that have human health destroying ingredients: all meat including all fish, all dairy (even low fat), all cheese, eggs, fast food, all oils including olive oil, excess salt, all products that contain processed sugar, boxed foods, processed foods, pasteurized juices, conventional candy, pop or soda, alcohol, coffee, and many others. All raw and cooked food from organic, edible plants (not sprayed with poison/insecticides) have human health promoting ingredients. If it "comes in nature's package" it promotes health. If the plant foods are cooked in a healthy way, meaning using water/no oil, you can eat as much healthy plant food as you want and achieve your ideal weight. There is no calorie counting with this lifestyle. There is a whole new wonderful healthy world out there just waiting for you to discover. From John McDougall, MD: "There is an individual, specific diet that best supports the health, function, and longevity of each and every animal. The proper diet for human beings is based on starches- sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, rice, whole grains, and beans. Drum roll, please... Here it is, from Dr. McDougall: "The healthiest diet for people: "The Starch Solution" http://greg-foodforthought.blogspot.com/2010/03/solution_18.html

The milk from a cow is for its calf, not a person.

A cow's milk is intended to help its 80 pound calf grow to 800 pounds in one year. How many pounds does a human baby gain in one year? Doesn't it then stand to reason a cow's milk is intended only for its baby and should not be consumed by humans? Cow's milk/all dairy products have human health destroying properties. It's a fact.

Extremely informative video. Please click on the following link: http://www.drmcdougall.com/video/marketing_milk_and_disease.htm An excerpt from the video: "Got Milk? Got disease."

Diseases From Dairy

People who have been taught that cow's milk is the "perfect food" may be surprised to hear many prominent medical doctors are now saying dairy consumption is a contributing factor in nearly two dozen diseases of children and adults. Doctors say the milk from a cow and its products can lead to heart disease, diabetes, iron deficiency anemia, allergies, diarrhea, colic, cramps, gastrointestinal bleeding, sinusitis, skin rashes, acne, increased frequency of colds and flus, arthritis, ear infections, osteoporosis, asthma, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, crohns disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and more, possibly even breast and lung cancer, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Two new studies - an Italian one published this month, and earlier Canadian research - have linked milk consumption to a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1296085/How-milk-drink-For-years-weve-told-good-bones-studies-prostate-cancer-link.html For a thorough investigation on drinking the milk from another species, go to http://www.waoy.org/9.html

To find out what is healthy to eat and drink:

This is the book for you. This is the book for everyone. From Atkins to Dukan, fear of the almighty carb has taken over the diet industry for the past few decades—even the mere mention of a starch-heavy food is enough to trigger an avalanche of suspicion. But the truth is, carbs are not the enemy- they are our friends. Now, best-selling author John McDougall, MD, and his kitchen-savvy wife, Mary, prove that a starch-rich diet will help you improve your health, lose weight, prevent a variety of ills, cure common diseases, and affect the earth in a positive way. The Starch Solution is based on a simple swap: by fueling your body primarily with carbohydrates, you’ll feel satisfied, boost energy, and look and feel your best. Based on the latest scientific research, this easy-to-follow plan teaches you what to eat and what to avoid, how to make healthy swaps for your favorite foods, and smart choices when dining out. The Starch Solution explains the healthiest way of eating on earth. You'll not only improve your health, you'll shed pounds, save money, and help save the earth. It will change your life. To order: http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_starch_solution.html or go to Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Starch-Solution-Regain-Health-Weight/dp/1609613937/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329158755&sr=8-1

Disease promoting TV commercials, ads, and billboards

We are unknowingly bombarded by incorrect and disturbing information in our everyday lives- in TV commercials, in newspaper and magazine ads, and on billboards. What a sad thing. There are many of these misleading ads.
Here are 5:

1) On a TV commercial sponsored by the corn syrup business: To music in the background, a nice, smiling person in a beautiful corn field reports that scientists have proven that corn syrup acts exactly like sugar in the human digestive tract- that there is no difference.

And this is their selling point? They're counting on a naive public to be unaware that sugar kills (as well as corn syrup), that it is highly addictive, that it promotes diseases: cancer, heart disease, diabetes II, alzheimer's, obesity, and others. Processed white sugar has been compared by doctors to cocaine addiction as it is so hard to give up.
What a preposterous commercial. Isn't the corn syrup corporation aware of the health hazards of sugar and corn syrup? Yes they are the same. They are equally unhealthy!

2) There are several TV commercials for prescription drugs that state: "When diet and exercise aren't enough..." then they give their spiel for the need to take their drugs. What a lark. Take Lipitor for example, a drug to reduce cholesterol. If people wouldn't eat cholesterol in the first place, they would not have a cholesterol problem, plain and simple. There is cholesterol in all foods from animals. There is no cholesterol in plant foods. So, if your diet was healthy/plant based, you would not have a cholesterol problem- period. Diet and exercise would be enough.
Also be aware that all prescription drugs have harmful, unhealthy side effects, and are expensive. You are paying to be unhealthy, in more ways than one.
And if you do take prescription drugs for a diet related disease, the pills don't cure the problem. It's like putting a band-aid on a cut that never heals.
You can cure a diet related disease by turning to a low fat, plant based diet. See "The Starch Solution" in the Welcome entry of this blog.

3) In large print on a large billboard advertising a fish market along the highway in a southern state: "Fresh Farm Raised Catfish"
What a terrible, unhealthy selling point. This company obviously is hoping customers don't know the distinction between "Wild Caught" and "Farm Raised".
Maybe the company themselves don't know the distinction!?

A wild caught fish is caught in the wild- from a river, lake, or ocean. In other words, it has had a normal fish life.

A fish that is farm raised has been raised unnaturally in misery its whole life.
It is raised in a situation where it has to breathe its own sewage its entire life with many other fish in a confined area. Many people think, "so what, a fish has such a small brain, who cares?"
Fish are sentient beings that experience pain and stress. Having to inhale their own urine and excrement their entire lives makes their flesh unhealthy for human consumption. And by the way, fish is not health food. Besides containing cholesterol and saturated fat, fish are sponges for pollutants.

4) I pick on McDonalds alot, because they deserve it. Almost ALL fast food restaurants sell junk foods. I used to eat them. Now I understand what's in them. If you are what you eat, and you eat junk, what does that make you!?
I used to be a junk food junkie, until I became informed.
If we stop buying their junk, maybe fast food places would start serving healthier fast food. It is possible as there are a few individual fast food restaurants in western states that are offering healthier choices. We need to vote with our dollars folks. First, the general public needs to be educated.

On a highway McDonalds billboard, in large print by a huge burger:
"$1 buys Happiness."

It should read, "$1 buys disease and animal misery."

Educate yourself what is in that burger. Please click on the link:
http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2011/11/pass-pink-slime.html

McDonalds only uses factory farmed cows for their burgers. All factory farmed animals are raised in misery their whole lives.
So the next time you think about eating a McDonalds/any fast food burger, keep in mind, there's misery on the menu.

5) And my favorite commercial, (or least favorite) would be the milk mustaches. On posters in well-intentioned school cafeterias, on billboards, on TV commercials, in magazines and in newspapers, the dairy industry has plastered this unhealthy message everywhere brainwashing children and adults into thinking they need the milk from a cow to be healthy. If people were cows this would hold true. The milk from a cow is intended for its calf, not a person. I have written many blog entries on this topic. A recent one is two entries down: http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-am-sad.html
In the entry "I am sad" I list several links dispelling the dairy myth. All foods from a cow promote diseases in people: cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes II, bone disease, and more. Please check out the links in "I am sad" for the truth on dairy.
We are the only country that consumes the milk from another animal.
We have been duped folks.

(And by the way, regarding the picture at the top of this entry with the kids watching TV, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) uses only factory farmed chickens- again, misery on the menu. Boycott! Do not buy. If we do not buy, hopefully they will start using only respectfully raised chickens, called free range.
At the very least, try to decrease your consumption of food from animals.


When I see all the incorrect information advertised out there in the world, the first thing I think about are children- unsuspecting, innocent children. It is time to get to the bottom of what is healthy for our kids, and what is not. We must all educate ourselves, and spread the word. There is a small growing army of people who are becoming "in the know". Maybe not in our lifetimes, but in the future there will be only TV commercials, ads, and billboards that promote the health of our children.

Plant foods, particularly vegetables are the real health foods.

Health for the Ages

Make “eat your vegetables” a timeless prescription.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/visions-now-next#/now
Scroll down.

Submitted by Peter

I am sad.

I am a school assembly performer, on a tour across the U.S. to almost every state, presenting programs on fitness and health. At the end of one of my recent shows, a little boy, maybe a 2nd grader? came up to me and asked,
"Is milk healthy?" The question probably came to him after I explained in the show that the two healthiest drinks for people on the earth are good clean water, and freshly squeezed juice from fruit or vegetables.

On previous tours years ago, I was much more vocal and honest in front of my audiences about the unhealthy qualities of food from animals, even if it got me in trouble. I even went so far as to say, "The two most dangerous foods for people are cheese and butter, because of their high levels of saturated fat and cholesterol." You can guess that this did not go over well in Wisconsin! I did not mention that dairy foods can cause Crohn's Disease in humans, irritable bowel disease, colitis, can contribute to obesity, diabetes II, and that all foods from a cow contain cancer promoting substances called casein and estrogen. Excess estrogen is linked to prostate and breast cancer. I did end my negative dairy message years ago with a question: "What is the natural purpose of a mother cow's milk?"
(answer of course to feed its calf)
In North Dakota where the state drink is milk, after seeing my school program, some kids went home and told their parents that this guy suggested that milk is not healthy to drink. This upset parents, who may have been dairy farmers, who in turned complained to the school principals, who in turn complained to my boss, who in turn demanded I take this message out of my shows. So- from that moment on, I had to choose my job over telling the truth to students about milk.

Back to the 2nd grader who asked if milk was healthy- I was handcuffed.
As much as I wanted to tell him, I told him that he must study to find that answer, that I knew the answer but I could not tell him- that he must find the answer for himself.

Abraham Lincoln said, "The truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstance."
Well, Mr. Lincoln, in a perfect world, that statement would be true. Here are links that provide proof that dairy is unhealthy, unless you are a calf:

http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-is-must-see.html

http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2011/09/got-courage.html

http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2011/08/got-facts-on-milk-milk-documentary.html

http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2011/09/two-most-dangerous-foods.html

It is amazing to me, that even when people are presented the truth about the milk from a cow, they discount the information and continue to consume dairy products. If it's not broke, no need to fix it right? Well it IS broke. Did you know that cow's milk is infected with viruses such as bovine leukemia virus? http://greg-foodforthought.blogspot.com/2012/08/milkit-does-body-harm.html Maybe if someone gets sick, it'll be enough to change their minds. Maybe not. Some people resort to medication, mistakenly thinking it'll fix the problem, when in actuality the only way to heal or prevent a diet related disease is to turn to a healthy starch-based, plant-based diet- which does not include consuming the excretions/milk from another species.

In hind sight, the next time students asks me if milk is healthy, I'll give them a hint by leaving them with a question, "What is the natural purpose of a mother cow's milk?"
I could also tell them they can find the answer in the books "The Starch Solution" http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2012/05/from-atkins-to-dukan-fear-of-almighty.html, or "Eat To Live" http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/ETLBook.aspx.
The titles are easy to remember.

Here in America, I cannot tell an elementary student the truth. I am sad.

Fat, sick, and nearly dead...

Check out this 13 minute audio interview. Joe got his health back, by adopting the People For Plants lifestyle. Click "Download audio".

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/joe-cross-fat-sick-and-nearly-dead/3691648

Submitted by Peter

* Comment from a reader: "This is wonderful. It's funny how 'juicing' is seen by the medical professions and dieticians as being not so good and yet here it, along with a healthy diet, cured disease that couldn't be cured with medication.
We should be looking at food and lifestyle more often than just getting a prescription, but unfortunately that's harder for people to do given so many issues we have with affordability and resourcing of pure food.
I know that juicing is a great way of getting nutrients that couldn't otherwise be eaten. It's helpful in addition to daily food for children."

Editor's comment: If you take prescription medication for a diet related disease, the pills never heal the disease. It's like putting a band-aid on a cut that never heals. The best way to prevent disease is with a low fat, plant based diet.
If you do have a diet related disease, it can be healed with a low fat, plant based diet: "The Starch Solution".

There are two main rules for getting the most out of your vegetables:

– one is eat lots of different colored vegetables (not just the green ones)
and the other is never ever boil them. Boiling vegetables is a food crime. Besides nuking important nutrients, it also kills off delicate flavors, giving good vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts a bad name. If you ever wondered why Australia’s vegetable intake is low, boiling deserves some of the blame.
But while we’ve learned that lightly steaming is the best way to preserve flavor as well as nutrients like vitamin C in cooked vegetables, how well do other methods like roasting and stir-frying do when it comes to locking the food value in?
They’re pretty good, according to nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton in her latest book, The Choice Guide to Food – how to look after your health, your budget, and the planet.
“There’s not a lot of difference between stir-frying and steaming, as long as the stir-fried vegies are still crisp,” she says.
Stanton rates roasting as the next best way to preserve nutrients, especially if you wrap vegetables in foil. Stewing vegetables – as you might do in ratatouille or in a casserole - is okay too. You might lose some of the vitamin C and the B vitamin folate but most of it will go into the cooking liquid and be part of the meal, she adds. That’s assuming you don’t soak your vegetables in water first - another good way to sacrifice vitamin C.
But sometimes cooking can make it easier to get some nutrients from vegetables - carotenoids, an important group of around 600 plant chemicals found in brightly colored fruit and vegetables, are absorbed better from cooked vegetables than raw. That doesn’t mean you have to cook every carrot – they still contribute useful amounts of carotenoids in their raw state, says Stanton who suggests eating some of your vegetables raw, and some of them cooked.

As for what to dress your vegetables with, olive oil vinaigrette trumps fat free dressing every time.
“Carotenoids are absorbed better when some fat is eaten at the same meal – so adding a dressing with extra virgin olive oil or cooking tomatoes in olive oil helps to absorb these valuable compounds,” Stanton explains. "Make sure to always use olive oil (or any oil for that matter) sparingly, as it is pure fat, virtually zero nutrients. The fat you eat is the fat you wear."
But whatever the cooking method, the fibre content of vegetables is bullet proof and won’t be lost – even if your beans are soggy.

Along with the right cooking techniques, there are other ways of getting more bang for your buck with vegetables. Many nutrients work better as a team than all by themselves – which helps explain why eating a broad mix of fresh food is good for us. You’ll absorb more iron if you eat a vitamin C rich food with your iron food, for instance – think tomatoes or red capsicum with a plant source of iron like red kidney beans.
Tossing avocado into a salad can also make a difference. Along with its own package of vitamins and minerals, it has a similar effect to adding olive oil – the healthy fat helps us capture more nutrients. In a study at Ohio University, researchers found that the fat in avocado helped to absorb more of the antioxidant lycopene and more carotenoids from tomatoes. The same researchers found that when volunteers ate a salad they absorbed four times as much lutein from the leafy greens when avocado was added to the mix – lutein is the antioxidant credited with protecting against vision loss from macular degeneration.
Another winning combination could be broccoli paired with spicy salad vegetables like radish, rocket or watercress – University of Illinois researchers say that an enzyme in these hot flavored vegetables boosts broccoli’s cancer fighting properties.

If all this inspires you to get cooking with vegetables, there's a goldmine of ideas on the Well column of the New York Times - a collection of great vegetable recipes for Thanksgiving that can work for an Aussie Christmas.
The Choice Guide to food: how to look after your health, your budget, and the planet by Rosemary Stanton is published by Choice, RRP 29.95

Submitted by Peter

The Truth

There is a saying, "People tend to lie to themselves, rather than face the truth."

Even when science and logic are right in front of our faces, sometimes we choose not to believe it. That may mean having to change a belief, or habit, what we are used to. It points to a flaw in our human nature- our imperfection.

"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it." Blaise Pascal, 1660.

"Some like to understand what they believe in. Others like to believe in what they can understand." Stanislaw J. Lec.

Those that do change their lifestyles, their eating and drinking habits, for their own good and for the good of the earth, will reep the rewards. Those that continue to lie to themselves, well, let's just say "will make their own beds."

If you can make the foundation of your diet whole natural foods, good clean water, and freshly juiced fruits or vegetables, you will have the best chance for great health, to be at your best.

Golden what?

Ah yes... the "Golden Arches"...

As I drive all over the U.S. on my job as a school assembly presenter, I see lots of miles, and lots of fast food logos on exit signs wherever I go, enticing travelers to stop and partake in their unhealthy offerings. One day a few weeks ago, I had a revelation as I noticed yet another one of these exit signs, with McDonald's at the forefront of the group. Suddenly "The Golden Arches" took on a whole new meaning: The shape of the arches themselves can be likened to the shape of "tombstones!"

"The Golden Tombstones", "Eat here and die sooner."

Later that night at a motel, as I soaked in my nightly hot bath in the dark (my "yoga"), I came up with the idea the arches also look like "Moses' Tablets". "Thou Shalt Not Eat Here."

Back to the exit signs. Sometimes there are gas stations listed with restaurants on the same sign. I saw one yesterday with a Shell logo with the word "Gas" underneath, next to a McDonald's logo with the word "Food" underneath.
It should read like this: Shell logo with the word "Gas" underneath, next to the McDonald's logo with the word "Junk" underneath.

If you are what you eat, and you eat junk, what does that make you?

Regarding Ronald McDonald houses- for people with cancer, isn't it ironic that McDonald's promotes cancer with their unhealthy food, then gets great advertising from their "humanitarian" cancer houses? It's a vicious, profitable cycle. Just yet another example of a world turned upside down.

The only way change will occur is if people stop patronizing McDonald's and the like. If we start showing fast food restaurants we refuse to jeopardize our health by consuming their unhealthy junk food, maybe the fast food execs will educate themselves on what is healthy and what is not/be turned on to the teachings of ie: John McDougall, MD and others, and instead offer healthy fast food, or at the least healthier fast food. It is already being done on a small scale across the U.S.
Unfortunately this scenario is light years away. We need to start voting with our dollars folks. Meanwhile, fast food bigwigs will continue to profit handsomely from the unsuspecting, uninformed, obese public.

Peter adds: "For a long time I have been somewhat cynical about Ronald McDonald house as they call it here in Australia. It's for kids suffering from cancer and other diseases. The world would have a lot less cancer cases if their unhealthy foods weren't so ubiquitous! I'm sure McDonald's execs however justify the sale of their junk food in their own minds. All in the name of profits of course! Introducing truly healthy foods into their menu is just too risky as they see it. By risky I mean less profitable. Oh, but we create jobs, or that's what the market wants, we provide cheap food for people with less money, and so on the weak arguments continue.
Can we possibly hope that in 20 or 30 years there will actually be a few 'healthy' options on their menu?"


So the next time you see the "Golden Arches", on an exit sign or on the restaurant itself, see if the arches don't remind you of tombstones,
or Moses' tablets. "Thou shalt not eat here!"

"Pass the pink slime and meat glue"...

You’re not going to believe what you’ve been eating the last few years (thanks meat industry lobbyists!) when you eat a McDonald’s burger (or the hamburger patties in kids’ school lunches) or buy conventional ground meat at your supermarket.

http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/nutrition/pink-slime.php

"It’s “the cheapest, least desirable beef on offer — fatty sweepings from the slaughterhouse floor, which are notoriously rife with pathogens like E. coli 0157 and antibiotic-resistant salmonella. (Beef Products, Inc. or BPI) sends the scraps through a series of machines, grinds them into a paste, separates out the fat, and laces the substance with ammonia to kill pathogens. With the U.S.D.A.’s stamp of approval, McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast-food giants use this "pink slime" as a component in ground beef, as do grocery chains. The federal school lunch program used an estimated 5.5 million pounds of this processed beef last year alone. And since the USDA considers it a "process", ammonia (which is poisonous) doesn't have to be listed on the packaging as a separate ingredient!"

Also, check out this 5 minute video on of all things: "meat glue". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6caa___wxA

Comment from a reader: "Our society has become so profit driven, that money has become more important than the citizens. This only proves that lobbyists have their strong hold on law makers. But at what cost? It may make the beef farmers a little more profit. However, the health risks and costs that will mount up from people getting sick or even die just doesn't seem to be worth it, even from an economical stand point.
I bet the people that passed this don't feed their families this kind of product. Seems that only the less fortunate, and poor will get stuck eating this kind of garbage."

From someone else: "The industrialization of food production, specifically the way animals are raised, slaughtered and processed, and the resulting consequences, is really the central issue. The humane treatment of the animals is at best an afterthought, as is the welfare of all the humans who consume these products. The driving force is profit for corporations, who care about nothing else except the bottom line.
Why are we always shocked when the food produced is tainted, or lethal?
It's just a natural result of abusing nature, being oblivious to animal rights, and placing profit above everything else."

This is another "must see" from John McDougall, MD.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_electures.html">http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_electures.html">http://www.drmcdougall.com/store_electures.html

After you've arrived at the link, scroll down the page 4/5 of the way (a long way) to see on the left:

FREE 4. Marketing Milk and Disease
Click here to download now.

Once you've found this, there is a choice to watch the video or listen to the audio. (I recommend the video.) If you scroll down from the video selection you'll see audio-only.

It will take awhile to download. Be patient. It is definitely worth the time to hear this information.

An excerpt right from the doctor: "Got Milk? Got disease."

Just because you exercise...

does not mean you have a healthy lifestyle. You must eat healthy, drink healthy, AND exercise. I know people who tell me, "It doesn't matter what I eat, just so I exercise the calories away, I'll be healthy."
These people are misinformed or uninformed.

You have to first educate yourself what is healthy and what is not regarding food and drink. Only then will you have a chance for a completely healthy lifestyle: healthy food and drink combined with regular exercise.

For example, you need to understand that the sludge in food from animals- the saturated fat and cholesterol- builds up in your arteries and blood vessels over time promoting diseases like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and atherosclerosis- hardening of the arteries.
Think of the grease drippings from meat (which is fat and cholesterol). If you let it sit, it solidifies. This is the sludge you are putting through your arteries, blood vessels and organs.

Here is a fantastic 4 minute video from Dr. Michael Greger: Eliminating the #1 Cause of Death http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/eliminating-the-1-cause-of-death/

The best way to not have a cholesterol problem is to not eat it. There is only cholesterol in food from animals- none in plant foods. There is fiber only in plant foods- none in food from animals. Fiber acts as a healthy scrub brush in your colon. Plant foods digest quickly. Animal foods sit in your colon for long periods of time and putrify. A diet high in animal foods and low in plant foods over time promotes colon cancer.

On a different note: I know someone who tells me, "I can eat whatever I want, just so I take my cholesterol pills". This person could not be farther from the truth. Pills do not heal disease, they merely mask it. Taking pills for a diet related disease is liking putting a band-aid on a cut that never heals. The best way to heal a diet related disease is to turn to a starch based, plant based diet. Would you rather not have to take those expensive pills?

The best way to protect your heart, your arteries, your blood vessels, your organs- your entire body and your mind/your mental health, is by having a healthy diet- a starch based, plant based diet, combined with some form of regular exercise.

The reason many people have a problem considering switching to a starch based, plant based diet is they are addicted to junk foods and food from animals. Sugar addiction has been compared to cocaine addiction, it is so hard to give up. There are mild opiates in all food from animals, making them addictive and hard to give up. Again, if you educate yourself and put into your brain what is healthy and what is not, making the change from a junk food/animal foods diet to a starch based, plant based diet is much easier.
This is your life, your longevity we're talking about. The choice is yours.

Best of luck! :)
-------------------

Here's a comment from a reader: "The runner, Jim Fixx, argued with Nathan Pritikin that if you could run a marathon you could eat anything you wanted.
In other words, exercise allows you to eat anything. Jim Fixx died of a heart attack at the age of 56 while out running.

A friend who was very slim told me she could eat anything she wanted and remain slim- just like her mother. I asked how old her mother was. She said her mother had died, at 55 years old.

So your body may be in great shape, you may be fit, but all the fat ends up in your arteries. You would be better off if it took up housekeeping on your hips, thighs and belly. At least then you would know you have a problem.

Exercise won't help in the long run if you don't eat well. It could actually be more dangerous than being a couch potato."

Another reader writes: "This reminds me of my father. About 10 years ago at the age of 61 he had a mild heart attack and underwent quadruple bypass surgery. This was a man who never smoked or drank and was very active. While he didn't "exercise", he cut firewood to heat his house in the winter and lived a very active, rural life with very rare instances of illnesses and was thin. The problem was his cholesterol was in the 300's from lots of animal products. Much of it was home-grown beef/pork so you can't blame it on supermarket meat.
The year after his bypass he climbed an indoor rock climbing wall without much difficulty and just a year ago at 70 he climbed Stone Mountain and completed 15 push-ups at the top. His eating cleaned up considerably after his operation for a few years, but has reverted back and won't change because of all the medications he's taking to keep his heart "healthy". I fear he will have another event. I bet he would live a very long life if he followed a starch based, plant based diet, which he won't."

One more reader adds: "Michael, for your dad and many others, my diagnosis is: an unhealthy lack of fear.
They probably would not cross the street without looking to see if vehicles were approaching but they will eat recklessly. So your dad may live to be 90 and do quite well but if he would listen to you maybe he could drop some meds, feel even better and reach 99!!! :)

Is junk food really cheaper than healthy food?

This is an excerpt from an article from the New York Times written by Mark Bittman, submitted by a reader:

The “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli ...” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

This is just plain wrong. In fact it isn’t cheaper to eat highly processed food: a typical order for a family of four — for example, two Big Macs, a cheeseburger, six chicken McNuggets, two medium and two small fries, and two medium and two small sodas — costs, at the McDonald’s a hundred steps from where I write, about $28.

In general, despite extensive government subsidies, hyperprocessed food remains more expensive than food cooked at home. For instance, you can serve a plant based meal of brown rice and beans with salsa, a steamed vegetable plus a nice salad- easily enough for four people and costs about $9.

Another argument runs that junk food is cheaper when measured by the calorie, and that this makes fast food essential for the poor because they need cheap calories. But given that half of the people in this country (and a higher percentage of poor people) consume too many calories rather than too few, measuring food’s value by the calorie just does not make sense.

The alternative to soda or pop is water, and the alternative to junk food is not grass-fed beef from a trendy farmers’ market, but anything other than junk food that is healthy- plants. Instead of a meat selection, start centering your meals around an energy loaded starchy vegetable such as:

sweet potatoes
or any kind of potatoes
or rice
or beans
or corn
or grains

or any combination of the above, supplementing your meals with fruit, fresh vegetables, canned vegetables, frozen vegetables- any plant food eaten raw or cooked in a healthy way (using no oil) — in every case a far superior alternative.
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From the blog editor: When you factor in the cost of illness associated with a diet of junk food combined with an animal food based diet, a starch based, plant based diet is much more inexpensive.

Woudn't it be nice...

if every doctor was like this man: Michael Klaper, MD.

http://www.vegsource.com/news/2011/09/dr-klaper----plant-only-medicine-man-video.html Scroll down for the 5 minute video.

Dangerous Ideas?

Written by blog editor Peter

The podcast below is about a plant based diet presented by Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of "Eating Animals" was broadcast on Australia's ABC national radio. Foer is part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas taking place this weekend.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2011/3328457.htm

Who would have thought that going vegetarian is a dangerous idea?

Many Americans and Australians are so wedded to the consumption of meat and animal products that they do indeed regard eating a starch based, plant based diet as heresy.

I used to think like this. When I was in my late teens, relatives who we hadn't seen for while stayed with us for a few days. They told us that following a plant based diet was healthy, and that consuming too much meat was unhealthy.
I thought they were cranks! In fact I had grown up with what most people in industrialized western countries thought was essential- getting plenty of protein via meat and animal products.
Fortunately a few years later as I began to study nutrition I became vegetarian, and then two years after that vegan. It's one of the best decisions I ever made. Do I feel I'm missing out? In fact the contrary is true. I have no desire to eat any animal products as the plant options as so vast. As I've explored the vast array of plant foods that are available in western countries I've never enjoyed food as much, with the added side-effect of maintaining excellent health.
And by the way, there is a big proten myth:
http://greg-foodforthought.blogspot.com/2011/06/ten-dangerous-nutritional-myths.html Scroll down.

Foer doesn't say that you should give up meat but that you should reduce your consumption, and increase the quantity of plants you consume for your health, for the environment, and to decrease the overall number of animals used for food that are raised in poor conditions. Less meat and more plants.

Now that's not too dangerous or scary is it?

Please see this video:

This is the shocking story of a medical doctor/Ph.D. biochemist who has discovered the genetic mechanism that can cure most human cancers, but is being blocked by the FDA because of all the money they'll lose not being able to sell their ineffective drugs and treatments.

The video lasts 1 hour and 48 minutes. It is a must see for everyone. The film exposes the powerful, unscrupulous forces that work to maintain the status quo of the medical- and pharmaceutical industry at any cost—including the lives of millions of people.

http://www.vegsource.com/news/2011/06/unbelievable-story-of-fda-corruption---full-documentary-online-thru-monday.html

Scroll down for the video. Even though the headline states the video is only available through June 20 it is still available for viewing for free. Depending on your internet speed, it will take awhile to download. Hang in there- it will play.
When the movie starts, the opening states the video is only available from June 11-13, but again, let it keep playing. The video will play in its entirety.

Find out more or purchase the film on DVD for $13.99 at:

http://www.burzynskimovie.com/

Got Courage?

Do you have the courage to watch this video on the truth about milk and dairy products presented by Joseph Keon, Ph.D.?

Dairy: Essential Nutrition or Health Saboteur?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp9MwjW5QX0

Dr. Keon's talk begins about 4 minutes into this 54 minute video.

An excerpt:

About 41 1/2 minutes into the video he says: "We don't need the milk of any other species at any time of our lives. The best thing we can do is turn our back on the dairy bandwagon. We can adopt a plant strong diet where all the nutrients are to support bone health, and make sure to exercise/be active."

We sincerely hope you take the time to watch this video in its entirety, and discover the real truth about milk and its hazards to human health.

Dr. Keon's new book can be found on his website:

http://www.whitewashthebook.com/

(Link supplied by Peter)

The good news is, you have a choice.

It is estimated that about 95% of the people in the United States do not understand which foods are healthy, and which are not. Many will contract a diet related disease such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes II, obesity- there are many more. I'm here to tell you that you do have a choice. You can prevent or heal many diseases with a diet of nutritional excellence. I absolutely love the food I eat now. I do not feel deprived. Why would I feel deprived of food and drink that promotes disease?

http://greg-foodforthought.blogspot.com/2011/02/watermelon.html

Since I've turned to a healthy diet of plants- vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, seeds, nuts, and whole grains, my senses of taste and smell have heightened.
I avoid processed sugar/concentrated sweeteners, salt, and oil whenever I can. My tastes buds are so sensitive and healthy now. The only way to experience what I am talking about is to try this lifestyle.

The first thing you must do is educate yourself, that is key. See the book recommendations in the Welcome entry: http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2011/09/welcome-to-people-for-plants_28.html
You must have an open mind to unconventional wisdom, because if you don't, you'll more than likely join the conventional who will contract a diet related disease. Pain and pills may be in your future. And by the way, pills never heal disease. It's like putting a band-aid on a cut that never heals, not to mention the side effects and expense.

And remember, you do have a choice. I hope when you're older, you don't regret what you chose to eat and drink.

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*A reader's response to this entry: "Yes, we DO have a choice, thank goodness! What amazed me initially and still amazes me is how EASY this choice has been. People on the other path are always asking (with sympathy or derision) "Isn't it HARD to eat that way?" But the truth is, it was never all that difficult to choose plant-and-starch-based eating, and it gets easier with each passing day. This way of eating gets inside your head. Foods that I craved before have become unappealing. I expected the physical changes of better health. I did not expect the emotional changes of peacefulness and joy."