Vegetarian Star

During her chat with Oprah, Alicia Silverstone brought up the subject of how being vegetarian helps you, um, do #2 better.

“I will say this,” Oprah said about being vegan. “Your poop is fabulous.”

“Don’t you want to bring your friends in and say ‘Look at this beautiful thing,'” Alicia added.

With all the fiber consumed from healthy vegetarian food like fruits and vegetables and beans and rice, you’ll always have art to showcase to your friends and family.

Oprah’s not vegan, but she did try the diet for 21 days as part of a cleansing.

Bet she misses the good ol’ days of plentiful poop.

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Michelle Obama gave a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the Capital Hilton this week which highlighted the need to combat childhood obesity.

The First Lady has taken a leadership role in encouraging healthier habits in children and adults.

Appearing on Sesame Street, she and Elmo urged children to eat more fruits and vegetables.

She showed up to support local and fresh produce at the nearby Farmers Market in D.C.

And according to Jocelyn Frye, the first lady’s domestic policy adviser, good habits start in the home–or at least in the yard of the home.

“We didn’t want to have a garden just to have a garden,” said Frye of the White House garden, according to the Washington Post. “It was a vehicle for talking about children’s health.”

Mrs. Obama’s ideas to reduce the childhood obesity epidemic include ensuring healthier options are in school lunches, encouraging more physical activity, increasing the availability of healthy food in every neighborhood and giving parents and kids better nutrition education.

Would a meat-free Monday be too much to ask for as well?

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Author Kathy Freston interviewed Dr. Michael Greger of the Humane Society of the United States to get his thoughts on the possible connection between recent outbreaks of the flu virus and factory farmed meat.

According to Dr. Greger, the first hybrid mutant strain of swine flu was found in a factory farm in North Carolina, where hundreds of pregnant sows were crammed together in crates.

Dr. Greger believes these conditions provide the environment necessary for viruses to emerge.

But does touching or eating meat actually increase your risk of contracting the virus?

“There are certainly lots of viruses people can pick up from handling fresh meat… There have been a number of cases of human influenza linked to the consumption of poultry products, but it’s not clear whether swine flu viruses get into the meat. Regardless, the primary risk is not in the meat, but how meat is produced. Once a new disease is spawned from factory farm conditions it may be able spread person to person, and at that point animals–live or dead–may be out of the picture.”

But in the end, it probably pays to go veg anyway.

“We’ve known for 20 years that the immune function of those eating vegetarian may be superior to those eating meat. First published in 1989, researchers at the German Cancer Research Center found that although vegetarians had the same number of disease-fighting white blood cells compared to meat eaters, the immune cells of vegetarians were twice as effective in destroying their targets–not only cancer cells, but virus-infected cells as well. So a more plant-based diet may protect both now and in the future against animal-borne diseases like pandemic influenza.”

Read Dr. Greger’s online book about bird flu at birdflubird.com.

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January 1st has arrived and that means the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program has begun!

As mentioned before, there are several celebrities that offer tips for keeping up your resolution of going veg, like John Salley‘s advice on helping children make good food decisions.

“Adults influence kids’ eating habits. We have to improve kids’ eating habits—and re-educate adults about what is food and what is not food. People can have pizza and pastries without dairy products and eggs. They can have tofu mozzarella cheese or egg substitute and they should use agave in place of high-fructose corn syrup and refined whole sugar.”

Rory Freedman is also there to be the cheerleader in case you do cheat.

“If you slip up and get off track, forgive yourself. It’s okay to be imperfect and to make mistakes. Try to do better, that’s all.”

But with recipes like her Green Goddess pasta, it might be hard to even think about falling off track.

And Bob Harper wants you to examine what’s on your plate before asking why you feel tired and crummy every evening. And hopefully, put some of his black bean quinoa salad on there.

“When you pay attention to what you eat, it becomes easier to understand your relationship with food and how it affects your day-to-day life.”

For more celebrity nutrition tips, visit kickstart.pcrm.org.

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Argh!

Is New Year’s here already?

If you’re the resolutions type, this may be the year to give veganism a try.

And there’s no better organization to remind you how this resolution could be the best health decision ever than the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine.

The PCRM is giving individuals a chance to sign up for their 21 day Vegan Kickstart Program.

The program offers resources and tools to get you on the vegan path including diet tips from Alicia Silverstone and other veg celebrity guests, nutritional webcasts from PCRM’s president, Dr. Neal Barnard, a restaurant guide, daily emailed tips, a 21 day meal plan and a community forum to share all your happiness after discovering which brand of fake breaded chicken tricked the fam into believing it was real.

The Kickstart begins on January 1 2010 of course, so sign up today!

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Dr. Neal Barnard

Ugh!

Who wants to think about New Year’s Resolutions before the holiday season is over?

Unfortunately, if you’ve been on the Thanksgiving to Christmas diet and stuffing yourself with every cookie invented, it may be time to start thinking how to drop the 10 pounds even vegan desserts will ultimately put on the belly.

Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine, has offered a few tips at the Huffington Post and of course the pres of an organization that promotes a vegan diet recommends the V word.

“Abundant research has shown that the more vegetarian meals people eat, the easier time they have maintaining a healthy weight. And the most powerful meals are vegan. In May, researchers at Loma Linda University published results of a study of nearly 61,000 Americans. Vegans were the thinnest, meat-eaters were the heaviest, and fish-eaters and ovo-lacto-vegetarians were between the two. People who switch to a vegan diet typically lose about a pound a week–and this prescription for weight loss doesn’t require portion control or calorie-counting. A meatless diet also helps reduce the risk of heart disease, type two diabetes, and some cancers.”

Read what other tips Dr. Barnard gives at huffingtonpost.com.

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After the victory of preventing downer cattle from entering the food supply, the Humane Society of the United States would like to extend this rule to pigs as well.

Nicole Lapin, CNN anchor reports: “Not only cruel, but the Humane Society says it’s also dangerous to our health to have so-called downers enter into our food supply.”

Perhaps everyone should follow Lapin’s lead and go veg, excluding pigs and all animals from their diets.

The National Pork Producers Association insists proper precautions are already being made to ensure diseased pig product isn’t delivered to the consumer, but Dr. Michael Greger of the HSUS has a different opinion.

Watch to find out.

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Woody Harrelson recently went on a 40 day detox that consisted of drinking only liquids.

“I went 22 days only having fruit juice, the rest of the time water,” Woody said.

“Also, I haven’t spoken a single word for most of the time. But it was totally worth it. Previously, I felt physically and spiritually blocked. Now I feel great.”

Skipping the heavy meal and going for a lighter snack of fruits and nuts is one thing, juicing for a day is another, but 40 days of detoxing?

Sounds faintish just thinking about it.

Original MTV Real World and VH1 Confessions of a Teen Idol star Eric Nies tried fasting to draw attention to world hunger, but did all the wrong things at first and ending up feeling dizzy and losing muscle before consulting with a friend who recommended energy drinks from fruit juice.

Guess the bottom line is, it’s always best to check with the doc before trying anything so drastic.

Have you fasted before and what were the results?

via contactmusic.com

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