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The Doctors Told Me To Quit Eating Meat

You might be surprised to find out that I usually avoid talking about my eating habits with new friends. That’s because a lot of people are quick to whip out their “Expert Dietician” personas and haul me off to an imaginary interrogation room. I’m still not sure why saying, “I don’t eat meat.” usually prompts people to empty a full clip of Nutrition 101 questions on me. They are often quite surprised at my admission and make such firm attempts to save me from my insanity, that I’m equally amused and annoyed. But, only a few of these Protein Preachers have ever asked me why I ended up on the ‘rabbit food’ side of the fence. Even fewer have asked me where I’ve been getting my nutritional information from. So, today I’ll tell you about the doctors whose prescription I filled.

 

The Last Supper
On the night of my little brother’s 21st birthday, when my family cozied up in one of Kingston’s more trendy steakhouses, I never imagined that it would have been the last day I sat down to a meal of flesh foods. You know how sometimes, people will say they don’t feel for any meat today. Well, I had been hanging out in one of those zones for a few weeks. Even though, I had spent the previous weeks not having any appetite for meat or poultry, I had been eating lots of seafood with no complaints. But, when my fish dinner arrived, I couldn’t stomach more than a couple bites and convinced someone else to finish the fillet for me. I just realised that I couldn’t do it anymore… My body had decided to quit liking meat!

It wasn’t a big surprise, really. My co-workers had gotten used to me trading the chicken in my boxed lunch for their steamed vegetables. But, what they never knew, was that for about 3 months, I had been feeding my mind on various lectures by various health experts and wellness advocates about making healthier food choices. But, these weren’t the regular, “avoid fried foods and sugary drinks” campaigns. All these medical professionals had been singing the same song: “eat plants, not animals”. So, it didn’t take very long for all their arguments, research findings and real-life case studies to set up residence in my mind and convince my mouth to stop salivating for Pan Chicken and to inveigle my stomach to get repulsed by the normally appetising Steamed Snapper, Oxtail & Beans, Jerk Pork, and Curried Mutton.

 

The Plant-Based Doctors
5 years in, I can say this is not a passing fad. My switch to Vibrant Eats (meals that bring vitality to the body without failing to bring my tongue satisfaction) was actually initiated, encouraged and continues to be supported by medical doctors and nutrition experts. I knew that a plant-based diet was the best one could embrace while sat ad learned at the feet of Dr. L. Danovan Whyte during his Saturday meetings at the Lifestyle Transformation Centre in New Kingston. His book, “Perfect Health is Unquestionably Yours” is very dear to me – I have re-read it many times and reference it often. The knowledge he shares and the impact it is having on those who are willing to make the necessary changes can be heard through his Wednesday night radio programme, “Your Health Matters” on NewsTalk 93FM. Of course, I have much respect for other physicians like Dr. Anthony Vendryes, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. among others.

 

Food as Medicine
Through their writings, videos, workshops and lectures, these truly compassionate and responsible physicians have highlighted the dangers of eating animal foods (meat, fish, dairy and eggs) and revealed how real people, like you and I, have reversed lifestyle related diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension just by switching to a whole-food, plant-based diet. But, they haven’t just left it there. They have gone through the trouble of teaching people about the nutritional needs of the human body and how to fully satisfy those needs with a varied diet made up of whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables. I have personally had the privilege of watching Dr. Whyte prepare live (uncooked) food and served it to us with love and enthusiasm, on more than one occasion. I still have a folder full of some of his favourite recipes. which he so kindly shares in his workshops.

 

Your journey is very likely different from mine, but if you have been arguing with the quiet voice, inside, to make better eating choices you may want to give these doctors a listening ear. Look them up and examine what they have to say. At the end of the day, you may not eliminate animal products completely, but you will undoubtedly have a new respect for your body, be more conscious of your health and make healthier eating choices.

 

Have you ever listened to or read from any of these Plant-Based Physicians? Please tell me what has impressed you most?

 

 

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March’s 30-Day JGS Challenge: Week 1

What a wonderful way to start the month? The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge for March 2014 has begun and we are thoroughly enjoying it.

JGS Newbies & Consultants
We had just completed a mini-challenge within the JGS Facebook group, called the “Simple Six” and it was a perfect opportunity for the Green Smoothie Newbies to get acquainted with the basics of blending up leafy greens and fruits. This was also the time during which many JGS challengers who had false-started during the January challenge, took the time out to get themselves psyched up to take on March’s hurdles. But, what was most heart-warming during the first 7 days of our journey, was to see all of the persons who had entered 2014 as Green Smoothie Novices graduate to the worthy status of Green Smoothie Consultants, if I may brand them so myself. They were excited and fully competent to welcome March’s JGS Newbies and teach them the basics, help them tips and tricks, recommend delicious leafy-fruity combinations and answer all the different kinds of questions that could be asked. Congrats, my darling! I’m immensely proud of you all.

JGS to di Rerl
When I initiated the first 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge, my desire was to create a realm in which Jamaicans could explore then locally-grown leafy vegetables and fruits as they developed the habit of blending for wellness. I had no idea that a movement would have started that has now spread across a number of continents. So, now we are welcoming Jamaicans within the diaspora and lovers of Jamaican culture. It is such a pleasure to see JGS posts coming from familiar and prominent places like Portmore, Kingston and Mobay, but most of us never expected to see so many of them from Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua, Mexico, the USA, Canada, UK, France, Japan, nor Australia. (If I have left out your country, please complain loudly!) But, we are thrilled to have you all.

The first week of our Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge has come and gone! How was it for you? Did you try any of the recipes from Week 1’s mailing?

 

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Green Smoothie Challenge: Tips & Quips

So, we have completed 2 weeks of the 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge, a new shopping list is due out tomorrow and we are in the 3rd week of Melon Madness!! I still have a big watermelon sitting in my kitchen that I need to start slicing up. But, I’m trying to work through quite a bit of pineapple at the same time. LOL. You guys should probably know that since this challenge has begun, I’ve actually changed time zones – which means I lost a day – and I also changed hemispheres – which means I lost access to the lovely Caribbean fruits. This move also meant that the lovely heavy duty, brand-name glass blender that I had been using had to be left behind and I had to go online to order a new personal sized blender – which was delivered the next day, by the way! So, I have a had some challenges with sticking to the challenge – but I’m still smoothing my greens away 🙂

My New Blender & Mill
My New Blender & Mill

 

I have loved how the fever for consuming more liquefied fruits and vegetables has spread! This excites me because it means one less bottle of soda was consumed by some wonderful human being each time they drink a smoothie. *big grin* In fact, I’ve seen so many variations to this 30 Day Challenge that it has been simply amusing. Some persons are just juicing whatever they find in their kitchen while others are making power punches (oats, peanuts and all). So, I’m having a ball reading all the posts and viewing all the pics. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely.

Leafy Greens
Leafy Greens

Now, on a more ‘serious’ note. A green smoothie – in it’s purest form – is a beverage made by blending up leafy green vegetables, fruit and water. For example: lettuce, banana and water. For it to be considered an authentic green smoothie, the beverage must contain leaves and must not be strained, sieved or otherwise modified once blended.

  • It may contain more than one type of leaves, e.g. callaloo, lettuce and mint.
  • It may contain more than one kind of fruit e.g. mango, june plum and pineapple.
  • It may contain extras like ginger, lime, cinnamon powder or even a sweetener like honey or raisins.
  • You may use fresh fruit or frozen fruit.
  • You may use other liquids aside from water like coconut water, cerasee tea or almond milk.
  • You may even use two different liquids, e.g. water and coconut milk.

Image 3If you don’t like bananas, you can leave them out. But, if you still want that smooth creamy texture, you may replace the bananas with mangoes, avocado pears or pawpaws. But, the most important things to note are:

  1. Do not strain the smoothie – you are throwing away all the lovely fibre.
  2. Do include a leafy green vegetable – pumpkin and cucumber do not count as leafy greens. LOL.

 

 

Please remember the advice we got from the ladies over by Simple Green Smoothies. The 60:40 rule or 60/40 formula (60% fruits; 40% leafy greens) means that you put more fruits than greens into your smoothie. The next big piece of advice is: always blend your greens and liquid first! Afterwards, you can add your fruits and extras. It’s the only way to get a balanced and creamy smoothie each and every time. I tried it many other ways and only the ‘greens first’ method works. Now, I would’ve loved to post all the beautiful pics that you guys have shared on here, but I’m just going to add a few of my favourites to the 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge (July 2013) album on the Didan Ashanta Facebook page. So, check it out, because I’ll be posting some recipe ideas for you to try on there as well.

 

Image 5

Oh! Before I go. Did you know that Real Farm Freshness has recently created a specially customised “Green Juice Pack” which features a varied mix of herbs like cilantro and parsley, leafy greens like kale and swiss chard – all from The Family Garden – as well as good stuff like grapefruit, ginger and lime. This market delivery service also carries fruits like pineapples and ripe bananas, along with leafy greens like pakchoi and lettuce. So, you have no excuse for not stocking up your fridge.

 

Another thing: I don’t know if anyone else has noticed the changes in their bodies… I’m definitely going through a detox because of this challenge – and I’m not even going hard like my friend Sapphire of Karisma Krochet! LOL. So, I’ve had to ensure that I’m drinking large quantities of water to help my body flush out the toxins. All, I can say to you is observe your skin and your stool – those two organ systems tell the tales. Based on these results, if you know someone else who you think would benefit from green smoothies, serve them up a cup. Let them taste and see that it is good 😉 Soon, more and more people will be grabbing their greens, fruits, liquids and blending away as we transform our lives… one cup at a time.

Spinach & Japanese Ume Plum
Spinach & Japanese Ume Plum
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Jamaican Green Smoothies

 

Almost every week, I see a friend posting about some green juice or green smoothie they had or need to have. I’ve enjoyed a few myself and I remember my introduction to the world of green beverages: an extremely refreshing bottle of callaloo juice I randomly picked up off a supermarket shelf some years ago. It had only 5 ingredients: water, callaloo, lime juice, ginger and sugarcane juice. You can’t do it any better than that! *ahhhhhh*

I usually whip up my green smoothies at home by grabbing whatever’s green and blending it with a little water and a bit of fruit. If I have any bananas that are becoming over-ripe, I normally chuck them into the freezer for use in a smoothie. This is because I find that frozen fruit makes the drink extra chilly and quite the right stuff on these ‘force-ripe-summer’ hot days we’re having.

Most green smoothie recipes that you’ll find online will call for green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, collard greens or mustard. But, if you’re in Jamaica, you don’t need to complicate things by thinking ‘foreign’! We have an abundance of our own green leafy vegetables to choose from. Don’t believe me? Look in your fridge! Don’t you see something green?! LOL.

Unless you live in a home with a very blessed backyard, or just went to visit your granny in the country, you’ll need to add the ingredients for your green smoothie stash to your regular grocery list. No! You don’t need to go through the hassle of travelling to the market to haggle for quality produce at great prices. To get all your fruits and leafy greens, you could use an affordable but high quality market delivery service like Real Farm Freshness. These are some courteous people who will bring your fruits, veggies and any other produce to your home or office door for likkl n nutten.  But, if you need the exercise from walking around and you enjoy the social interaction, please go to your neighbourhood fruit stand and green grocer, or a farmer’s market like the one held at Michi Super Center every month. Don’t forget that we need to build Jamaica by buying Jamaican and eating Jamaican!

Once you’ve got your fruit and leafy green stash, you’ll probably need some ideas for how to combine them for yummy beverages. While I enjoy my spontaneously crazy fruit and vegetable combinations, my green smoothies may not get the same frothy grins from you.  So, I checked out the blog at Simple Green Smoothies and they have a lot of info for the clueless and even offer a Free Green Smoothie Recipe e-Book. They also have what they call “The 60/40 Formula” in which your recipe is always 60% fruits and 40% leafy greens.

“For example: 3 cups fruit, 2 cups dark leafy greens, 1-2 cups of water. Makes 32-40oz or 4-5 cups.”

So you don’t have any excuse to say the smoothies will taste yucky or ‘green’. In fact, you could really benefit from taking on their “30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge” – which begins 1 July 2013 – and try to drink one cup of green smoothie goodness a day.

But, don’t get bogged down by all the recipes that call for weird sounding leafy greens, berries and super foods –  just use my list Jamaican fruits, vegetables and liquids outlined below, to make your green smoothies low-cost and local:

  Leafy Green Fruit Liquid Extras
Basic Callaloo Banana Water Lime
  Pak Choi Pineapple Coconut Water Ginger
  Lettuce Watermelon Nut Milk (coconut/soy/almond)  
  Cabbage Orange Tea (Peppermint/Lemongrass)  
         
Special Cucumber Mango    
  Stringbean Cherry    
  Carrot Guava    
  Tomato Passionfruit    
  Avocado Pear Otheiti Apple    
  Chocho June Plum    
  Broccoli Soursop    
   Sweet Pepper Sweetsop    

 

Once you’ve decided that you want to get your green smoothie habit going, my recommendation is that you:

  1. Plan for one week of juices.
    Fail to plan? Plan to fail!
  2. Make a shopping list.
    Don’t get too much of anything and don’t end up with snacks or other junk that distracts you while you shop.
  3. Get your ingredients.
    Wherever you can: Coronation Market. Market Delivery Service. Local fruit stand and green grocer. Farmer’s Market. Your backyard.
  4. Grab 5 mins to gather your stuff, blend and fill your bottle to go.
    The quickest meal you ever made! LOL.
  5. Always use local  fruits and veggies and buy whatever is in season.
    Healthy doesn’t mean you have to be wealthy nor make someone else wealthy.

Now, if you’re lazy – sorry – extremely busy, you could simply call up Live Juice Bar and order a few bottles of their “100% Fruit and Vegetable Juices and Smoothies made Live!” They deliver and you can win cool juice jars, bottles or even bonus juices when you order.

Remember, if you want to up your veg intake or just ensure you have something sensible for the day, try a green smoothie! No strainers, no twisting of muslin cloths to wring out precious juices. No fibre lost.

But, whatever you do, just keep it simple and fill up on your greens!

 

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The Dangers of Eating Meat

“You need meat!”
Quite recently, after informing one of my lecturers that I don’t eat meat (animal flesh), he kindly encouraged me to include even small portions of animal protein into my diet for good health. He went on to support his advice with an exceptional story about a man who nearly died from a blood disorder (the description resembled haemophilia) because of his vegetarian diet. Another person recently told me of another man who would faint frequently because of his refusal to consume anything that wasn’t green. These and similar stories are usually conveyed in an attempt to dissuade the listener from eliminating meat from their diet. Although my lecturer probably doesn’t know what protein is good for, nor how much of it he needs to maintain his health, he is convinced that he must get his daily supply of protein from an animal. This is belief is held and perpetuated, in spite of the larger number of vegetarians living in Jamaica – think Rastafari and Adventists.

“No, I don’t.”
When I decided to stop eating meat, I made sure to re-educate myself. I felt that I needed to learn what my body needs and how to go about getting it. I needed to hear this information from the experts – medical doctors, nutritionists, etc. So, I did a lot of research: attended workshops, read books, articles, blogs, and watched documentaries and lectures.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” – Thomas A. Edison

“How do you know that?”

One of the most informative lectures I came across was by “A Diet for All Reasons” by Dr. Michael Klaper. Select this link to watch Dr. Klaper’s lecture: A Diet For All Reasons. In his presentation, Dr. Klaper he outlines that a diet that includes a high consumption of animal flesh:
1. Makes you fat (overweight or obese)
2. Clogs your arteries (atherosclerosis)
3. Causes some cancers (breast cancer, prostate cancer)
4. Causes calcium loss (because of too much protein)
5. Causes colon diseases (because there is no fibre in meat)
6. Causes high blood pressure (because of too much sodium)
7. Causes PMS in women (because of prostagladin 2)
Checks with your doctor will reveal that most chronic diseases (e.g. atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, obesity and type 2 diabetes) are lifestyle diseases which are treated by one of the following: lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, etc), surgical procedures, or medications. The choice for me is very easy!

“How much protein do we need?”
We only need about 30g of protein daily. According to the United States Dietary Guidelines published in 2010, for a male (19-30yrs) the daily requirement is 56g and 46g for a female (19-30yrs). This would translate to weekly requirement of:
Animal protein: 8oz of seafood or 26oz of meat/poultry/eggs
Plant protein: 13oz of beans and peas or 10oz of soy products or 15oz of nuts/seeds

Human Nutritional Needs
Human beings do not have a nutritional need for animal flesh (red meat, poultry or seafood). There is no nutritional deficiency for ‘too little chicken’ or ‘not enough snapper’. But, our bodies require the following for optimum health:
1. Protein
2. Water
3. Vitamins
4. Minerals
5. Energy

“The single most effective thing anybody can do in order to make themselves personally healthier and make this ecosystem more stable and life-preserving is to reduce or eliminate the animal flesh in your diet.”