Tag Archives: Health

The China Study

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veganmofoHappy October!

Happy VeganMoFo III!!

VeganMoFo is celebration of all things vegan and I’m excited to be a participant this year! I thought I’d kick of VeganMoFo with a quick report of a book I’m reading:  The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II.

The China Study is the most china studycomprehensive study of the relationship between animal protein and diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disease. It was published in 2005 and I’d been hearing all about it, but I had always been hestitant to read The China Study because I thought it would be technical and dry.

Not so!

The China Study is simply blowing me away. And I’m only on page 70!

Here’s what’ I’ve learned so far.

  • There are three stages of cancer, which the author compares to planting a lawn. The Initiation Stage is like putting seeds into the soil. The Promotion Stage is when the grass begins to grow, and the Progression Stage is when the grass gets out of control and grows places you don’t want it to grow.
  • The chemicals that “plant the seeds” of cancer are called carcinogens and they originate primarily from industry byproduct but can also be found in nature.
  • Professor Campbell (author of The China Study) found that decreasing dietary protein decreases the chance that carcinogens will evolve into tumors into the Initiation Stage.
  • He also discovered that when protein needs are exceeded, disease onset begins (the Promotion Stage).

  • Finally – here’s the doozy – plant protein does not promote cancer growth, even when consumed at higher levels. Only animal protein promotes cancer growth.

  • In fact, plant protein actually DECREASES tumor development.

Interesting, huh?

Now I haven’t read past page 70, and I’m sure there are LOTS of critics of this book. AND he did a lot of animal testing, which I didn’t know about before I bought the book and that breaks my heart. But I thought what I’ve read so far was worth sharing. It seems that eating vegan, plant-based foods may decrease the onset of many of the diseases that plague the US. How cool is THAT, VeganMoFo?

If you’ve read The China Study or have any opinions of it, please share!

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The Two Million Calorie Sweet Treat

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Ok – so try to guess. What treat has two million calories?

I’m not kidding! Two million calories.

Give up?

It’s the world’s largest cupcake!

Just a few days ago the great folks over at gourmetgiftbaskets.com created the World’s Largest Cupcake – a new Guiness record! Their 1,224 pound cupcake stood four feet tall and ten feet wide. It was made with 200 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of butter, 200 pounds of sugar, and 1000 eggs. Yikes!

Guinness-Center4

Slices of the cupcake were sold to benefit the Susan G Komen foundation,
which is “dedicated to education and research about causes, treatment, and the search for a [breast cancer] cure.”

OK.

So I love cupcakes just like the next person,
and the idea of a 1000+ pound cupcake makes me drool.
And as you know I LOVE to bake.
And the idea of such a HUGE CUPCAKE is so impressive to me.
But I have to point out the irony in selling pieces of the world’s largest cupcake to benefit an organization that is dedicated to finding a cancer cure.

  • 200 pounds of sugar: A study published on Aug 18 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed the results of a study that shows glucose (sugar) actually drives cancer growth.
  • 200 pounds of butter: Some studies have shown that eating lots of dairy can increase your chances of cancer, but some studies have shown this is not the case. The results are mixed – however given the power of the dairy industry in the US…well..you can fill in the blanks.
  • 200 pounds of flour: A new study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Mile Markers, and Prevention presents evidence of the link between the consumption of refined carbohydrates and cancer.
  • 1000 eggs: The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology released a study last December that found a link between consumption of eggs during pregnancy and breast cancer rates in the mother’s offspring.

Maybe they would have been better off providing the World’s Largest Veggie Stir Fry?

I know, I’m such a Debbie Downer.

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Authenticity

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DSC_0003I am SO HAPPY that I teach yoga! It just struck me – again – this morning while I was teaching how much I really really love what I do. And I am so grateful that I am in a situation where I can do it. For so long I worked in a career that I really didn’t love. I felt trapped and dreamed of doing something else but WHAT? That was always the question.

Do you know what I mean?

  • You just KNOW you cannot continue to work in a job that isn’t truly you.
  • But you’re not sure what “truly you” means.

For me, the situation was that I had a corporate job that fit in with what I thought was expected of me. It paid me really well and gave me the status that I thought I was supposed to have. All of my friends were from that world – we would talk about work outside of work and we had our own little corporate-speak way of communicating with each other. I lived in a big house and ate out 4-5 times a week in really nice restaurants. I shopped at expensive stores and outsourced boring tasks such as housecleaning, laundry, and washing the car.

On paper, I would think to myself, my life is fantastic. But why then did I feel bad?

I know now – I felt bad because I wasn’t living authentically.
I wasn’t living the life that I really wanted to live, that I am meant to live.
I wasn’t being the person I truly am.

The question then became: what kind of life do I want? And of course, who am I really?


au-then-tic-i-ty: the truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions.


My path of self-discovery began with my yoga practice. What was at first just a physical activity (maybe YOGA will help me lose 10 pounds!) evolved into a journey of learning about my Self. I learned to quiet my mind, to look inward rather than outward for the answers to these questions.

Eating whole natural foods was and is an essential key. Who I am and what I want becomes clear when I am eating well and able to think clearly. It’s next to impossible to find your authentic self when you are constantly in a haze of sugar, caffeine, chemicals, meat, and dairy.

And best of all, the unfolding of ME is continuous as I am constantly transforming :)

PS there’s a beautiful almost-full moon out tonight. I hope you can see it too.