Check out a Color Guide to Staying Healthy and Eating Right – a visual guide to which fruits and vegetables are part of a colorful, healthy diet. Green, red, yellow, orange, blue and other colour-vibrant foods serve an important role in keeping the body healthy. Antioxidants and phytochemicals, found in fruits in vegetables, have been noted to significantly reduce cancer risks. Beta carotene and lycopene can help protect cells from damage.

Speaking of colour and variety, farmers' markets are great places to find fresh local fare. Not only can you find diversity in taste and colour, but there is also variety in form. Check out Mutatoes, a project by Uli Westphal. He photographs “non-standard fruits, roots and vegetables found at Berlin's farmers' markets.” Photos copyright (c) Uli Westphal 2007.

VegE-News is a monthly news and events email service. It is free to subscribe. Their May issue's stories include:

Health    Wolfgang Puck: Changing tastes   Millions of chickens fed tainted pet food   Dairy linked with Parkinson's in men   Scientists point to link between dairy foods and dementia   Don't blame veganism for child neglect

Environment    How eager are we to fight global warming?   Bishop Desmond Tutu: This fatal complacency

Lifestyles and Trends     Veggie experiences: A vegan army vet - and cute to boot
  We like it raw    Vegetarian dinners made easy    Beware hidden animal ingredients    Vegetarian fare - at Fatburger?!    Dissention in the ranks? Vegetarian vs. vegan

Animal Issues and Advocacy    California to allow roo sales    English horses being sent to France to be eaten    Animal sentience: Activists want chimp declared a 'person'    Industry viewpoint: HSUS attack mere sideshow to real animal welfare reform    Turkey producer accused of animal cruelty

Books and Perspectives    The Thrive Diet: A vegan diet for a stress-free life

A team of veggie runners will be participating in Toronto’s upcoming Sporting Life 10K on May 6, 2007.  There has been an amazing response from the vegetarian community.

Damian Wiechula from Toronto writes:

You don’t need to be an omnivore to be a successful athlete. I started mountain bike racing 6 years ago, and in my first four years finished 2nd and 3rd in the Ontario Cup Masters Series (for competitors over 50). In the last two years, I have won the Ontario Cup Series and Provincial Championship, again in the Master’s division. I’ve been a vegetarian for well over 20 years and a vegan for the last 8 years, and nobody has ever accused me of lacking energy.”

See Veggie & Fit  website for more information and race details. 

Chocolate improves blood vessel function
A recent study found that dark chocolate improves the function of blood vessels. The study is the latest in a growing number that link reduced heart disease risk to flavonoids. These beneficial substances are found in dark chocolate as well as red wine, green tea and dark-colored fruits and vegetables. But don't overdo it. Chocolate has high sugar and fat content. Link >>

Eat a lot of beef? Forget grandkids
It appears that women who eat a lot of beef while pregnant give birth to sons who grow up to have low sperm counts. According to new research in the UK, Scientists now believe that steroids and sex hormones, like estrogen and testosterone – used to make cows grow faster – could interfere with the development of unborn babies, affecting male sperm production later in life. Note: There is also a link between meat-eating and impotence.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has information on vegetarian nutrition during pregnancy. Also the Vegetarian Position Paper by the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada has information on pregnancy, infants and children. View as a 20-page pdf.

A few weeks ago, Health Canada launched a new version of Canada’s Food Guide. It’s been 15 years since the guide was last updated. There are several changes of interest to vegetarians.

The guide still uses a rainbow design, but fruits and vegetables now take the place of grains on the outer band. The veggie and grain bands are now wider than the milk and meat bands. The Milk group has been renamed “Milk and Alternatives“ and includes fortified soymilk. The “Meat and Alternatives“ group now emphasizes the vegetarian options instead of meats. The first recommendation is to eat “meat alternatives such as beans, lentils and tofu often.”

While there have been some advances for vegetarians, the guide is far from perfect. Milk and Meat continue to be two of the four categories, and the only vegan milk alternative mentioned is soymilk. They recommend eating fish, but provide a footnote warning about limiting exposure to mercury. Presumably the fish promotion is to wean meat eaters away from land animals, and to provide a source of Omega-3. Unfortunately, there is no mention of vegetarian sources of omega-3. The guide also does little to address concerns about obesity and junk food.

Where do vegetarians get their protein?  Are low-carb, high-protein diets OK? What kind of oils are the best to use?  And, what about omega-3's and 6's?  When it comes to going veg, these are the big topics that garner the most questions. On Saturday, a full house turned out to hear dietitian Bev Miller unravel the confusing science of nutrition and offer practical guidance on how to make healthy food choices. The occasion was part 2 of our Veg 101 series: Moving Towards a Heart Healthy Diet. In addition, participants were treated to free food samples donated by Tofurky (thanks to Neil) and plenty of information to take home and review!

For those of you in the Toronto area, there is still one more opportunity to meet Bev and event organizers, members of the Toronto Vegetarian Association’s Veggie Challenge Team. Join us 3pm Saturday, March 31 at Northern District Library for the 3rd and final installment of Veg 101: Healthy Living for a Lifetime. Admission is free, so arrive early to ensure you get a good seat.

Check out the following articles and events. Throughout March we will be featuring more articles on vegetarian nutrition and healthy eating.

• Vegetarian Nutrition – Vegetarians can rest assured. Plant-based foods are loaded with nutrients including ample protein, iron, calcium, vitamin D, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids, and zinc. Vegans require a reliable source of vitamin B12.

• Vegetarian Position Paper  – "It is the position of Dietitians of Canada and the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."

• Veg 101 – If you are in Toronto, check out this free series presented by Beverley Edwards-Miller, BASc, RD: Saturday March 17 – Protein, carbohydrates and fats. Where do vegetarians get their protein? Are low-carb, high-protein diets OK? What kind of oils are the best to use?  Saturday March 31 – Adopting healthy lifestyle habits.
  

Nina Plank author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why, eats “red meat, egg yolks, butter, lard, raw milk, and other taboo foods with impunity.” According to her website, she considers vegan, vegetarian, and low fat diets to be “draconian regimens.“ Plank lays the blame for the steep rise in heart disease, diabetes and cancer on industrial processed foods and hydrogenated fats. On a positive note, she is a big supporter of organics, farmers’ markets, and local food. She abhors factory farming.

Joanne Charlebois responded to Plank’s nutritional views in a feature letter in the Ottawa Citizen titled, Vegan diet is nutritional, practical choice:

“...until the 20th century, in almost all cultures, [animal foods] were eaten very sparingly, more like a garnish than a major source of calories as used by most Westerners. The only people who historically came close to eating the amount of animal products in the standard North American diet were the nobility, who suffered from many of the illnesses such as cancer and heart disease that plague people today. ... Epidemiological evidence points toward a whole-foods plant-based diet to minimize the risk of many diseases.“

One of the biggest barriers in encouraging others to adopt vegan diets is the perception that being vegan is difficult and/or unhealthy. Most vegans are walking testimonials that veganism is a healthy choice, but it often takes extreme examples to prove a point. Check out Robert Cheeke, Tonya Kay, and Brendan Brazier, in a new DVD called Vegan Fitness. Robert is a competitive bodybuilder, Tonya is a dance instructor and performer, and Brendan is a professional triathlete. They are all in peak physical condition, and each excels in different areas of athleticism. Robert focuses on building large muscles and getting “ripped” for competition, Tanya focuses on movement diversity within a wide variety of fitness genres, and Brendan focuses on strength and endurance (running, cycling, and swimming, up to 8 hours per day!). These athletes know better than anyone that the food they eat directly fuels their athletic performance. In Vegan Fitness, we learn from Robert, Tonya, and Brendan what to eat, when to eat it, and where to buy it. This 30 minute documentary doubles as a top-notch exercise instructional video – with extensive coverage of the training regimes utilized by Robert, Tonya, and Brendan. A perfect gift for anyone reticent to try a vegan diet for health reasons.

Vegan Fitness is available for $25 from Downbound.ca.

The current issue of Excalibur, York’s student newspaper, features a story about going vegan.  “With the end of the school year approaching and warm summer weather on the way, many students are looking for a way to gain energy for exams and shed a few pounds for bathing suit season. So what better way to do both than adopt a healthy vegan diet?“

They interview nutritionist Bev Miller, lead author of our Veggie Challenge emails. Bev says that a vegan diet can be healthy and nutritionally balanced, as long as it is approached properly. "I've heard stories of people who overnight just became vegan. There is absolutely no problem with that, as long as you know what you are doing."

She explains some of the health benefits of a vegan diet, including increased stamina due to proper blood circulation. "The big (change) is more energy because people aren't eating the same saturated fats and cholesterols.“

She also discusses the weight loss that results from consuming less saturated fat. "Fat has nine calories per gram, as opposed carbohydrates or proteins that only have four calories. So when you're not consuming the fatty things, automatically your calories are slashed."

Bev will be giving a series of talks on going vegetarian starting this Saturday.

VegE-News is a monthly news and events email service. It is free to subscribe.
Their February issue's stories included:

Health
	Unhappy meals - some healthy advice from author Michael Pollan
	Latest Canada mad cow case shows epidemic
	Mad cow: How risky is it to drink milk?
	Survey finds mercury in every fish tested
	Message for men: Go veggie for sake of virility and longer life
Environment
	Meat and global warming: A few more 'Inconvenient Truths'
	Forget a Prius. Eat a falafel
Lifestyles and Trends
	Veggie experiences: My veg moment
	Filipinos urged to celebrate 'Year of the Pig' by going vegetarian
	Boycott this cruel 'delicacy' – foie gras
Animal Issues and Advocacy
	Silent protest against cruelty of Australian live-sheep exports
	Chimps may have used hammers 4,300 years ago
Movies, Books and Perspectives
	Cajun cooking, veggie-style
	Catching up with the Mad Cowboy – Howard Lyman’s new movie