Vegetarian Star

Will immigration laws like SB 1070 in Arizona lead to a shortage of home grown produce?

The bill that has been deemed one of the toughest in the country, allows state police to stop and ask for I.D. of anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if there is “reasonable suspicion” and allows officials to arrest if proper I.D. cannot be shown.

One news site conducted an online poll about the bill and received a flood of comments, one of which was:

“If you want illegal aliens out of the us of a, then stop eating all your veggies (organic and nonorganic)…”

The New York Times reported that the Department of Labor estimated about 53% of U.S. farm workers are illegal immigrants.

Not only is worker shortage in the field a possible consequence of immigration laws, but many growers opt to take business outside of the United States entirely.

In the past, cracking down on immigration has caused a reduction of workers in the fields on U.S. farms, with some farmers choosing to grow their crops Mexico where the workers will not be subject to immigration investigations.

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A writer in the Chicago Tribune has made some suggestions for president Barack Obama the next time he goes on an eating outing.

Stay away from the burgers and order some beans!

Obama should hit the veggie restaurants, writes the Food Critic, and partake in a salad bar photo op.

“I realize that, as a man of the people, you have to dig into what the locals eat. When in Buffalo, N.Y., as you were this month, delivering a speech on the troublesome economy to a particularly hard-hit city, you’re not going to be grabbing a steaming mound of quinoa at the local veggie restaurant. But wouldn’t it be cool if you did? But this effort needs a slogan. How do you feel about “Yes We Kale”?”

Make that an order of organic kale.

Obama’s own Cancer Panel recommends it.

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Mario Batali, the latest celebrity figure to announce he’s embraced Meatless Mondays, has a tip for those who enjoy pasta with pine nuts, seitan “wheatballs,” or just plain tomato sprinkled with nutritional yeast as a substitute for Parmesan Cheese.

Dried pasta is best if you don’t cook it long.

“The trick is cooking two minutes less than the package recommends, (strain before) adding your sauce, then cooking another minute and a half in the sauce,” Batali told the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

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Christian Serratos is one of several vegetarian women who’ve made Maxim’s Hot 100 for 2010.

The Maxim editors are already trying to faux butter up to the Twilight babe by welcoming vegetarian food.

“One of the bevy of beauties produced by the Twilight series, Serratos recently posed nude for PETA. Hey, Christian, did we ever tell you we love seitan?”

Last year’s number one Olivia Wilde, slid a few notches to #20, but Olivia Munn is also representing the veggie gals by placing in the top 10.

Other notables in the veg/animal community are Hayden Panettiere and Zooey Deschanel.

The entire gallery of Maxim’s hottest can be found here, and are also in the June 2010 edition of the magazine available on the stands.

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Whole Foods "Health Starts Here"

Whole Foods has partnered with Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat To Live, and Rip Esselstyn, author of The Engine 2 Diet, to create their “Health Starts Here,” program designed to show customers what foods are nutrient dense.

The Health Starts Here logo will appear throughout the store near items that are plant based and nutrient dense, with Dr. Fuhrman’s Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) system, which assigns high numbers to foods like fruits and vegetables and low numbers to meat products and processed/prepared foods that are low in nutrients compared to their caloric content.

The Health Starts here program consists of three basic principles:

* Simply put, eat mostly plants
* No matter what type of diet you follow — including those that incorporate dairy, meat and/or seafood — eat more plants, like raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, legumes and beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains
* Eat a colorful variety of plants to ensure you’re getting the best nutrients for your body, which leads to feeling satiated

For more information, visit Whole Foods Market.

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Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Gabe Watson was told by his strengthening and conditioning coach he should lose weight so he took the easiest step by eliminated fat filled meat products from his diet, according to an article at AZ Central.

It worked, as Watson’s lost about 30 pounds and hopes to be 5 pounds thinner than what the coach recommended when he reports to summer training camp.

Watson said the vegetarian diet helped to clean his system out, adding it was really “toxic.”

His typical breakfast now might consist of oatmeal with peanut butter and two bananas.

During the majority of his diet, most of his proteins came from beans and shakes, including a blend of wheat grass, spinach, strawberries, apples and blueberries he still consumes and calls “the nastiest thing in the world, but it helps me.”

Although most of the hard work is over, Watson is still sticking to his regime, only eating meat occasionally.

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The Fresh Farm Farmers Market just two blocks from the White House is already listed in the USDA searchable database where consumers can search by state for a market near their home.

However, there are dozens that might need to be included and the government is asking people to fill out an online form to submit their Farmers Market before June 4, 2010.

Anyone can add a listing, but obviously it’s best if a manager or otherwise important person who runs the market does this to ensure your area farmers get the maximum exposure.

Besides the location, the database also tells if the market accepts government assistance programs for the needy, such as WIC and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.

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Otarian, the chain of vegetarian fast food restaurants created by the female half of the famous billionaire Oswal couple, provides a menu to its customers that indicates the amount of carbon used in creating the plant based meal versus a similar meat version.

Is that too much information?

An article at MNN, discusses whether we are getting information overload when we’re hungry, and if the calories, fat, carbon count and source of food may overwhelm the average consumer.

“At some point, having too much information might actually hurt, because it may start to confuse,” said Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

As vegetarians, we usually never have enough information, as we demand all ingredients, the surface the food is cooked on, what it touches, etc.

Seems like there is nothing wrong with providing a pamphlet of information about the food you eat, as long as it is accurate. And it helps you make more healthful decisions, as some cities like New York and Seattle are requiring places to post calorie content next to items.

When it comes down to it, the hungry consumer will treat the extra information like a spouse treats a nagging partner: Take what you need from the conversation and tune out 99% of the rest.

Or, they’ll just double check for trans-fat before devouring the potato wedges.

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