The Vegan and Vegetarian Secrets Blog …

Yoga and the raw food diet offer many similarities in the ways they benefit the body. Yoga books describe the same euphoric experiences I have found in the raw food diet. Both purify and heal the body. Both offer powerful therapeutic effects in dealing with physical and psychological problems. Both promote radiant health.

Running, swimming and weight lifting are great for muscle building but do little for connective tissue. It is the flexibility of the joints and of the connective tissues that gives us the feeling of ease and lightness in the body.

Yoga postures and the vegan diet make you more alive. Each practice complements the other, bringing many of the same physical and mental benefits

Needless to say, in this day and age, it’s no more an “hippie”

thing to try either or both for that seemingly unattainable health.

It’s working for me, I just turned 25 last week and my boss at work asked me in the men’s room :”Are you even legal (21) yet?”

…and he was dead serious.

So, why not empower yourself to improved health and radiance beginning today with Yoga and the vegan diet. I think the man in the mirror would appreciate that.

In Friendship, Foras

About the author: Foras Aje is an independent researcher and co-founder of BodyHealthSoul LLC. He invites you to visit his blog on Yoga for Beginners for more yoga tips today.

How Your Eating Habits Affect the Environment How Eliminating Animal Products From Your Lifestyle Benefits the Earth

* POLLUTION/GLOBAL WARMING Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population — 86,600 lbs per second — which all too often leaches into streams and contaminates groundwater. Nearly 90% of all U.S. farms drain into a single body of water – the Mississippi River. Waste lagoons on livestock farms release a considerable amount of methane into the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming.

* LAND USE/DEFORESTATION/HABITAT DESTRUCTION Nearly 90% of all agricultural land in the U.S is used to raise animals for food.

20 times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than to feed a pure vegetarian. For every quarter-pound burger made of rainforest beef, 55 square feet of land are consumed. Livestock grazing is the number one threat and cause of elimination of tropical rainforest species.

* WATER Nearly 50% of all water consumed in the U.S. is used for livestock. The production of one pound of California beef requires a total of 2,464 gallons of water. You would save more water by not eating a pound of California beef than you would by not showering for 6 months.

* ENERGY Raising animals for food requires more than 30% of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States.

Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuels to drive a small car 20 miles, not to mention enough water for 17 showers.

* FISH FARMS/FACTORY TRAWLERS Fish and shrimp farms destroy habitat and contaminate water with the heavy use of antibiotics, causing coastal pollution, displacement of local people from their land, and the clearing of mangrove forests. They take away land that is traditionally used for growing rice, the primary staple for most of the world’s people. Just like their land-dwelling counterparts, fish and shrimp are highly inefficient converters of protein. It takes 5 lbs of wild ocean fish to feed and produce a single pound of farmed saltwater fish or shrimp. Think you’re better off eating wild-caught? Think again. Factory trawlers use long lines with thousands of hooks and huge nets, spanning up to 80 miles. These lines wreak havoc, destroying the ocean floor and drowning everything in their path, including seabirds, seals, dolphins, sea turtles, and countless other species. About 25% of all animals caught in factory nets are thrown away (by-catch). Factory trawlers have driven more than 100 species of “food fish” to full or near extinction and have caused irreparable harm to others.

* PERSONAL HEALTH/ANTIBIOTICS The obesity rate among the general

(meat-eating) U.S. population is nearly 50%. For vegetarians, that number drops to 6%, and for vegans (people who abstain from all animal products), it is only 2%. The increased risk of heart disease and gallstones for obese people is double to triple; the risk of colon cancer is triple to quadruple; and the risk of diabetes is 40 times greater than for people at a healthy weight. Vegetarians and vegans enjoy a reduced risk for obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some types of cancer. This translates to a much lower drain on U.S. tax dollars spent on health care and preventable medical procedures.

In addition, the EPA estimates that 60 – 80% of all livestock receive antibiotics as a routine food additive, leading to an increase in antibiotic resistance in humans by causing selective pressure for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Roughly 24 million pounds of antibiotics (about 70% of the nation’s total antibiotic use) are added to animal feed every year to speed livestock growth.

* PUBLIC HEALTH Open waste lagoons on factory farms store urine and liquefied manure, home to more than 150 pathogens (disease-causing organisms) such as Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform. These pathogens are 10-100 times more concentrated than in human waste and pose a serious threat to human health. Animal waste is also contaminated with endocrine disrupters from pesticides (consumed via feed crops) and hormones (fed to cattle to speed up growth), which can alter sexual development in humans, undermine intelligence, and render us less resistant to disease. Animal waste lagoons emit toxic fumes (such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and

methane) which can cause diarrhea, nausea, headaches, eye irritation, sore throat, shortness of breath, wheezing, excessive coughing, seizures, coma, and even death.

Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can increase the risk of methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome), and high levels of nitrate contamination have been linked to spontaneous abortions.

* WORKER SAFETY On average, 25% of factory farm workers suffer job-related injuries and/or illnesses each year – the highest rate of any job in the country. At high concentrations, methane and/or carbon dioxide can displace enough oxygen to suffocate a worker; hydrogen sulfide can result in unconsciousness, respiratory failure, and death within minutes; and ammonia causes severe irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, and can also be fatal.

* SUSTAINABILITY/WORLD HUNGER Livestock are simply not efficient converters of protein – it takes 17 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef. As the meat industry devotes more and more grain to feeding livestock, valuable food resources are diverted from the hungry, contributing to food scarcity for the world’s poor, particularly in developing countries. An astounding 70% of U.S.

grain and soybeans are fed to livestock. If Americans were to reduce their beef consumption by only 5%, it would free up the

12 million tons of grain needed to adequately feed every single person on the planet who dies from hunger or hunger-related diseases annually.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Diet For A New America, by John Robbins A Diet For All Reasons, by Michael Klapper, MD Hope’s Edge, by Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe Earthsave – www.earthsave.org Natural Resources Defense Council: www.nrdc.org

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About the author:

Dr. James Carey is a retired engineer and international consultant, now dedicated to the Raw Foods Movement.