Red meat consumption doubles risk of colon cancer, says study; is it time to go vegetarian yet?
Copyright 2006 Truth Publishing
A current study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows a doubling of the risk of colon cancer for people who are heavy consumers of red meat. More specifically, it shows that the risk doubles compared to those who consume smaller quantities of red meat. But how does this compare to people who consume no red meat at all?
This is conjecture, but I'm willing to bet that heavy consumers of red meat probably have quadruple the risk (or more) of colon cancer compared to vegetarians or people who consume no red meat. By the way, you don't have to be a vegetarian to boycott red meat. You can still be a consumer of other sources of animal protein (fish, seafood, etc.) while avoiding red meat.
There are plenty of health reasons to avoid eating red meat, and a higher risk of colon cancer is just one of them.
The saturated animal fat found in red meat products contributes to heart disease and atherosclerosis. In addition, red meat can contain contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides and undesirable environmental pollutants that tend to collect in the fat tissues of cows, which are absorbed into your body when you eat cow fat. And you can't eat red meat without getting some animal fat.
Then, of course, there's what I call the vibration of red meat, which concerns the homeopathy of the meat, or the environment in which the cow was raised. Was it a natural environment? Did the cow have access to open fields, sunlight and clean water? Or was this a cow raised as part of a slaughterhouse operation, produced for the sole purpose of generating profits? If you eat cows' meat that has undergone that kind of experience, you are consuming a product that is tainted with the negative experience of the animal from which it came.
There are a lot of negative effects associated with the consumption of red meat, and this is why more and more people are now giving up red meat and moving to healthier foods like fish, free-range chicken, or better yet, plant-based proteins like spirulina or soy products like soy milk and tofu. This is where you'll get your best protective effect and disease prevention, and you will be helping protect the environment at the same time.
After all, it's far less stressful on the environment to produce food as plants than as animals.
It takes 10 acres to produce the same amount of red meat protein as it does to produce one acre of soy beans. And producing spirulina yields a tenfold increase over the production of soybeans. So think about it: one acre of farmland used to produce spirulina can produce 100 times as much protein as beef and red meat. That will be very important to realize as our world population grows and it becomes increasingly difficult to produce the protein required by the population.
These are all reasons to avoid an animal-based diet and pursue a plant-based diet. Many people reading this are already following a plant-based diet, but some of you who might be considering making the change probably aren't sure exactly how to do it.
Perhaps you want to merely reduce your consumption of red meat but not give it up completely yet, which is fine, since that's the way all of us ex-meat-eaters got into plant-based diets to begin with.
Few people ate more meat than I did because I grew up in an environment where we had all the red meat we wanted at no charge (my grandfather was a cattle rancher). We had a freezer full of red meat at all times, and we could have as much hamburger, steak or other cuts of meat as we wanted. I consumed large quantities of red meat for nearly 30 years.
I found the transition away from red meat to be difficult at first. I started consuming less of it and eating other meat alternatives, and pretty soon I began to view red meat in a different way, because if you eat less of it, you eventually start to lose your appetite for it. And within less than a year, any time I would see red meat at the grocery store, it would gross me out.
I look at it and I realize what it is: a chunk of flesh sliced off the carcass of a living creature that has been ground up and stuffed into a box. Usually there's some blood running around in the container as well. Every time I would look at that I would get grossed out and think to myself, "Gee, is this really what I want to eat for the rest of my life? This sliced up chunk of a dead cow?" And the answer was, "No." So it didn't take very long before I didn't want any red meat, and now I can't imagine eating it.
That's one way to get rid of red meat in your diet, but there are many other ways and I encourage you to experiment and see how you'd like to approach it. But the bottom line on red meat is that there is an increasing body of evidence supporting the notion that you can prevent cancer by pursuing a plant-based diet. If you want to be healthy, it's time to join the vegetarians.
Maybe even join the vegans, if you have the courage.
Think about limiting or eliminating your consumption of red meat and instead nourish your body with the phytonutrients, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and even the living energy of plants. That's how you'll be the healthiest you can be.
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http://www.newstarget.com
Fight Fatigue with this Natural Remedy
Most doctors agree that non-specific fatigue can be exacerbated by modern diets rich in fats and refined carbohydrates. For a graphic example of this, you only have to watch 'Supersize Me' - the Documentary about what happens if you eat nothing but fast food for a month. Additionally, drugs, coffee (caffeine products), smoking and alcohol can make the problem even worse, even though most of these are usually thought of as 'stimulants'. If untreated, chronic fatigue can lead on to much worse conditions such as anemia, hypoglycemia, diabetes, hypothyroidism and even cancer. So how can one avoid fatigue, without resorting to un-natural stimulants? Here's a natural remedy you can try.
The herbs ginseng, lavender, rosemary and sweet flag can all help raise your energy levels naturally. Combine these with vitamin B complexes, vitamins C and D, as all of these have been known to help fight fatigue. The remedy is also improved by the addition of vitamin A, pantothenic acid, B12, folic...
Fight Fatigue with this Natural Remedy
Diets > Fight Fatigue with this Natural Remedy
Wellness versus Ignorance
If you ask most Americans whether wellness is important,most will agree. Parents will usually say that family healthis one of their major concerns. Yet most are rather ignorantabout nutrition information. Blame our public educationsystem, false or misleading reporting, and ads, ads, ads.Recent news increasingly reports that obesity is epidemic inthe United States, and that it is the major cause of earlydeath, after tobacco. Yet the solution is really simple.It used to be that people who claimed the simple life is thekey to anti aging would be met with a big yawn, or strongdoubt, or rude noises.
Now, such reliable sources of healthinformation as Centers for Disease Control and Preventionare saying that good diet and moderate exercise really arethe keys to long life.The same ad blasters who helped get us into health troublesare eager to sell us pills, potions, books, quack cures thatdance all around the truth. After all, folks really wantmagic bullets to fix problems, so they won't...
Wellness versus Ignorance
Diets > Wellness versus Ignorance
Understanding your Metabolism
Our metabolic rate determines the rate at which we ?burn up' our food, and by increasing this rate, we can lose weight more quickly, easily, and safely.
When we diet, by decreasing our calorie intake too drastically, we cause our metabolism to slow down, making it progressively more difficult for us to lose weight. Most diets fail, yet we continue to try one after another, always hoping that each new regime will provide the ?magic' solution. If this sounds like your problem, there may be a simple answer. Let's look at why most diets fail, and how strength training, combined with a healthy food intake can speed up your metabolism, making it easy for you to lose weight.
By drastically cutting our food intake, our body's natural instinct is to switch to a ?starvation response.' The fewer calories we consume, the more our bodies become efficient at using these calories - leading to slower weight loss. This was once a useful mechanism for our ancestors...
Diets > Understanding your Metabolism
Researching Glyconutritionals (a.k.a. Glyconutrients)?
The Greek word "Glyco" means, "Sugar". Most people think of sugar as being bad for you. However, there are actually TWO kinds of sugars. One is the refined or "extracellular" sugars which have been long associated with human disease. The other sugars are "intracellular" which can be found in fruits and vegetables and provide the body with nutrition it needs.
These sugars, also known as complex carbohydrates, have been studied for years. However, only recently have we begun discovering their purpose in the body. An increasing number of scientists believe that certain carbohydrates represent the next frontier in the search for non-toxic treatments for various degenerative conditions. Even though we have just begun to scratch the surface in understanding the full potential of these carbohydrates, the research being reported in just the last decade has ignited a new level of hope and optimism with some of the world's leading immunologists. One of the world's most renowned veterinary...
Researching Glyconutritionals (a.k.a. Glyconutrients)?
Diets > Researching Glyconutritionals (a.k.a. Glyconutrients)?
High Mercury Content in Fish
We all know that adding fish to our diets can help increase our body's ability to repair itself, as well as its ability to burn body fat and keep our energy up, but it's important to choose fish that's also going to improve your health as opposed to silently poisoning you?
Being exposed to too much mercury can cause memory loss, tremors, neurological difficulties, advanced aging, decreased immune functions, and death.
But how is all this mercury getting into our body?
Well here are the top 4 places that contribute to the levels of mercury in our body (not in any specific order):
Vaccines (past and present)
Dental fillings
The environment
And Fish
We're going to focus on fish right now because that's the prime source of mercury in our diets.
When coal is burned, inorganic mercury is released into the air and eventually ends up in our lakes, rivers and oceans. There, bacteria mixes with...
Diets > High Mercury Content in Fish
"Lighten Your Load"A New Year?s Resolution
Its 2006!
Another year, another reason to party and yes?.another set of resolutions to tackle.
Most of us start the new year ready to take on new goals. We start with a strong push toward meeting these new goals. However, sometimes as early as the second week of the year, the resolutions lose their energy and eventually die by the middle of February, if not sooner.
It doesn't end there. We sometimes further recycle those same resolutions the next year.
We wonder why we fail at something that we have so desperately wanted to accomplish?
The answer is simple?we fail because we have not planned to succeed.
Success takes planning. Ask anyone who has ever reached a major career or personal goal.
Achieving a weight loss goal will happen if you follow the steps outlined below.
Define your end result: This is the first step to losing weight. Define clearly the end result that you want. Is it to be able to slip into a favorite dress or...
Diets > "Lighten Your Load"A New Year?s Resolution
How Diet Influences Cancer Risk
Diet is a double edged sword. Improper diet increases the risk of cancer but a proper, well balanced diet reduces the cancer risk. Diet is one of the most important lifestyle factors and has been estimated to account for up to 80% of cancers of the large bowel, breast, and prostate. Diet affects the risk of many other cancers, including cancers of the lung, prostate, stomach, esophagus and pancreas.Prostate Cancer: High consumption of meat, especially red meat, substantially increases the risk of prostate cancer. Vegetables, especially cooked tomatoes, reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
In one clinical trial, the role of Vitamin E as a prostate cancer reducing factor was established. In this study there was a 32% decrease in prostate cancer incidence and 41% decrease in prostate cancer mortality in people receiving Vitamin E supplements when compared to controls. Breast Cancer: In Japan, people consume Tofu, a soya product. It contains isoflavones that moderate the estrogen receptors...
How Diet Influences Cancer Risk
Diets > How Diet Influences Cancer Risk