Vegan Myths CHL Version

8/13/2019 Vegan Myths CHL Version

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Vegan Myths

27 MYTHS EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT VEGANISM

HEALING OURSELVES

HEALING OUR PLANET

By Bo Rinaldi

www.veganfusion.comand www.cookinghealthylesssons.com


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Inspired by the thousands of people everywherewho have askedmewhy going vegan is so important for ourselves and the planet. Having beena vegan since 1960 I have compiled the top 27 myths I have heard over theyears. Creating a better lifewith perfect health and a more

sustainablefuture for Allliving beings is my purpose in sharing thisinformation with you.Please share this freely with all you know and love.


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Vegan Myths27 MYTHS EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT VEGANISM

Healing OurselvesHealingOur Planet

ASIN !!!!"#$%!"All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without

prior written permission from Vegan Fusion, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of

reviews. For interviews, in depth author bios and further information please contact:

Vegan Fusionwww.veganfusion.com

808-822-0820 or 800-772-3012

Vegan Fusion provides information regarding a healthy lifestyle for educational purposes. The authors and

publishers are not offering or dispensing medical advice. Since every individuals health condition and

circumstances are unique, the authors and publisher recommend that you seek the services of a qualified

health care professional before using any information offered in this book,or our websites, for medicalpurposes.


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DEDICATION

We offer Vegan Mythsto all individuals, groups and

organizations working for peace,

compassion and understanding within

ourselves and in our world.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

IntroductionMYTH #1 Humans are naturally omnivorous so they shouldnt be veganMYTH #2 Weve evolved eating meat so its best for our bodiesMYTH #3 Our bodies optimally digest meatMYTH #4 Some blood types need meatMYTH #5 Vegan diets dont supply enough proteinMYTH #6 Only animal products supply complete proteinsMYTH #7 Tofu is the only complete vegan proteinMYTH #8 You need to combine different plant foods to get a complete proteinMYTH #9 Our bodies need protein for glycolysis to convert into ATPMYTH #10 Milk products are healthyMYTH #11 Being vegan doesnt supply enough calciumMYTH #12 Vegan diets arent healthyMYTH #13 Vegans have too many rules about what they can eatMYTH #14 Everything is good for you in small amounts MYTH #15 Vegan men are weak and impotentMYTH #16 Vegans dont get enough ironMYTH #17 Vegans easily get b12 deficienciesMYTH #18 Youll eat nothing but carrots, celery & lettuceMYTH #19 Vegan food isnt gourmet or interestingMYTH #20 Vegetables dont taste goodMYTH #21 Being a vegan will ruin your social life MYTH #22 Eating a vegan diet is very expensiveMYTH #23 Being vegan isnt better for the environmentMYTH #24 Being a vegan is less sustainable than being a local eating omnivoreMYTH #25 Fruits have too much sugar and should be used in moderationMYTH #26 Plants feel pain tooMYTH #27 You still have to kill a plant to eat it so its essentially non-different


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INTRODUCTION

Ifeel fairly comfortable asserting that nearly everyone in the United States and the worldthese days knows someone who is vegan. Its rise popularity could likely be attributed to the

famous vegan actors and musicians idolized by our youth and to the Hollywood diet crazesthat filter outward until they wither like a neglected weed cast out of the garden. Although Ilike to think that awareness is growing about veganism as a result of its own inherent nobletruth and the liberation it offers from the cycle of suffering and repression thats beenintertwined with our food.

Although Im okay admitting that the media also had something to do with it but since theinception of the vegan movement this attention has been a double edged sword. Its great toget information into the general public but with it often comes a ton of misinformation. Anytime anything new digs its way into the mainstream consciousness we end up hearing a lot of

hype about it. People who claim to be experts can be very misleading and as a result the truthoften goes unrecognized buried under a mountain junk science and corporate opposition. So,in effort to flush out the truth so that we all may benefit from it, Im going to explain to youexactly what veganism is all about as well as what its notabout.

The vegan movement isnt trying to sell you anything but it might take some money out of thepockets of some huge corporations, so the life changing effects and benefits it holds are toooften suppressed. Fortunately, results speak for themselves and anyone willing to giveveganism a try will know for themselves the unfettered access to personal empowerment itdelivers as you unleash your health.

Veganism isa lifestyle that takes into account the effects our diets and daily habits have on ourpersonal health and longevity as well as the ways we impact our environment and the otherswe share this world with. Vegans do not eat meat, diary, eggs or animal derived foods andmany also avoid using any product or goods that have come from an animal. This is a lifestyleof health, wellness and compassion that takes into account much of what I will share with youhere. Being vegan is about preserving innocent lives, improving and maintaining our ownhealth, and creating a cleaner environment through personal integrity and healthy choices.

There you have it. This is veganism in a nutshell. Theres no book of law that comes with it. Nolong list of rules to abide by. Its not a cult and it wont steal your children from you. Vegansjust dont want to hurt and kill animals so they eat plants instead. Its a movement that is very

timely considering the declining health of our nation and the infiltration of junk food into therest of the world. Possibly the most valuable reward for living in such a way that honors life isthe fact that vegans are rewarded with great health, low health care costs and a much smallerfootprint on this green planet. Its a good thing our bodies were designed to eat plants becausewe all be considered martyrs otherwise!

When you consider the ethical grounds and logical reasoning that support a vegan diet itseems odd that its been such an undervalued lifestyle for so long. But, we humans arecreatures of habit and when we arent familiar with a concept, we must explore it from many


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angles in order to make sense of it and to see if it could improve our own lives or not. Ournatural tendencies toward skepticism, doubt, and a bit of fear keep us from doing stupidthings. Theyre the defense mechanisms that have been essential to our survival for eons andwhile theyve proven to be good survival tools, they dont always serve our personal growthor even remain consistent with reality. And humans, driven by our customs and taboos, willoften forge ahead along the habits of our forebears, even if to our detriment. When certain

habits become common to an entire culture it can be very difficult to break away from thegroup understanding of health and wellness in order to pursue a deeper understanding ofyour own body and how to best nurture it.

Sure its taken a long time for veganism to emerge as a well-supported and popular diet, butwe now know that its the best option we have for preserving both our health and ourenvironment. Those of us who have ventured into this unfamiliar territory, weve allencountered a great volume of questions along the way, some we ask ourselves, and othersasked by skeptics and those who are simply curious. After so many years of inquest, study,and good old trial, and error, solid factual and scientifically justified answers about vegandiets have emerged. Indeed medical evidence now points the way that a plant based lifestyle

may actually prevent and reverse heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and many othermodern day maladies.

Still, theres a lot of misinformation perpetuated around veganism and there are certainpersistent MYTHs in circulation that are based completely on speculation and others on shearmisunderstanding or lack of experience. These rifts in the consistency of our understanding ofvegan diets stand between many of us and our ultimate health. Maybe some of yourquestionsabout veganism have gone unanswered. Or perhaps youve been given outdated or inaccurateinformation. It can be difficult to know just whose answer to trust when theres conflictinginformation coming from different interest groups. But in this informative booklet were goingto flush out the reality behind some of the most ugly and pertinent MYTHs surrounding vegan

diets and whether or not they are ideal for humans.

I sincerely hope that by reading this booklet youll be able to put any misgivings or fears aboutveganism to rest so that you can commit wholeheartedly to your own health and well being byadopting a vegan diet.

MYTH #1

Humans are naturally omnivorous so they shouldnt be vegan

One of the biggest general misconceptions about humans is that were naturallyomnivorous.Laymen and professionals on both ends of the spectrum and on every notch in between havepassionately debated this subject. But the debates are over now and the polls are telling of thetruth. There are enough physical indications, enough historical data, and plenty of fossilrecords that support veganism as being not only a healthy diet, but also one that most closelyfollows the thread of human development since the time before we became bipedal.


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If youre just looking at recent history in effort to determine the best diet for the humanpopulation in general, then its easy to draw the wrong conclusions. Rather than beingomnivorous by nature its far more accurate to say that humans are naturally very adaptable.Weve been able to survive and expand our population all over the world despite the vastrange of extreme environmental conditions some of us humans live in. Our bodies can take aton of stress and mistreatment before they wear out and this dramatic flexibility has given our

species an advantage in life not known to any other creature were familiar with. We humansare very good at subsisting off very little and at making use of whatever we can find tonourish our bodies.

For our ancient ancestors, strong intelligence and shear ingenuity blessed those primitivehumans with an ability to think abstractly. This is exactly the type of brilliance it took forhumans to begin altering their surroundings, forging shelters and constructing vessels forgathering, carrying, and storing food. All the while a keen preoccupation withexperimentation and profound connection to nature allowed us humans to eventually deviseways of shaping tools to help dig for nutritious roots, overcoming the obvious shortcomings ashunters of fashioning weapons from basic raw materials. Humans have been wildly successful

at conquering the challenge of finding food, by making our environment conform to ourneeds.

But our urge to avoid the extreme threat of starvation by hunting, and our capacity for findingways of killing for food regardless of our natural disadvantages, are not adequate ways to testor prove what our intended natural diet should be comprised of. Rather, we need toinvestigate what it is that our bodies were designed to digest as was informed throughmillions of years of evolution, and what foods we were naturally attracted to when we weregiven an abundance of choices.

There is definitely something to be said for our instincts and the insight they offer into what a

natural diet looks like. I think we can all agree (jokes aside) that no human walks past a cow, asquirrel, or a rabbit and honestly thinks Wow, that animal sure looks yummy. I cant wait tokill it and eat it! On the contrary, most of us talk about how kind or gentle or cute the critteris. Of course everyones heard someone they know make the joke about how delicious a cowlooks and refers to them as hamburger rather than cow, but if that were true on an instinctuallevel wed all be knocking down fences and ravenously sinking our teeth into livestock theway wolves and mountain lions do.

Instead we bring our kids to petting zoos and farms so we can look at animals with wonder.We allow them to touch these gentle beasts affectionately, to feed them, and give them names.And if a particularly unruly child hurts an animal we reprimand them and take them to apsychiatrist. How strange is it that we then drive home with a serving of cow in the grocerybag and unconsciously or consciously place barriers between their connections with theanimals they adore and the hunk of flesh on their plate? We dont tell our kids were eatingcow for dinner, we say were eating beef or hamburger or steak. Then when kids find outwhat exactly theyve been eating many of them resist the idea and others may even feelbetrayed that theyve been coerced into eating the animals they care about. We dont knowhow to reconcile our love and appreciation for the beauty of animals and our addiction toeating them. We make jokes to cover our vulnerability around the subject and convince


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ourselves that we simply cant survive without eating them. We use every justification onecould think of to make ourselves feel at ease with what we all know on some level just isnthealthy.

Of course, if you still insist that a pig looks like something youd want to eat there are severalother physical idiosyncrasies that are indicative of our pitfalls as meat eaters. I find that the farmost compelling evidence for plant-based nutrition can be found in a careful comparison ofour physical features and those of omnivores or carnivores, because there are so many notabledifferences. And when we examine each aspect of our bodies and analyze our similarities anddifferences to omnivores our physical features reveal that were indeed quite unfit for meateating.

First off there are the problems weve had to overcome as hunters; we lack the speed needed tochase down game, and even if we were fast enough to catch anything other than a lizard, wewouldnt be able to effectively subdue a larger animal with our bare hands without beingseriously maimed ourselves. Even while hunting in a group without tools the risk of injuryand loss of life would be more than its worth. After all, we lack the razor sharp claws of cats

that enable them to ensnare their prey or the stout nails of dogs that help them to unearth andcatch rodents. And we certainly dont have teeth that are built for tearing the fur and fleshaway from a still breathing animal very easily.

Actually, our teeth and our jaws appear to be strikingly similar to animals that eat fruit andleafy greens as the main part of their diets. True carnivores such as cats, have all manner ofpointed teeth in their jaws, all designed for gnashing. And their jaws are far more pronouncedthan ours with very wide mouth openings compared to their overall head size. Even theirmolars are very narrow and pointed as opposed to the shallow divots in our comparativelyflat and wide molars. True omnivores like bears and raccoons have some teeth that resemble afelines and are far more sharp and menacing than a humans but the teeth further in the

back are used for masticating plant matter and more closely resemble human molars. But abears large, long jaw with a mouth opening that stretches across either side of its cheeklessface still far more closely resembles a carnivores than an herbivores. All the same, most bears with the exception of polar bears eat a predominantly vegan diet even though theyre farmore suited to hunting, killing, and consuming animals than we are. In fact, 75%-95% of whatmost bears eat throughout the year is plant based! You might even call the diet of a grizzlybear the equivalent of the modern Paleodiet.

But bears just dont hunt very often. Instead they tend toward foraging fresh, in season plantfoods to supply them with nourishment. Hunting takes a lot of energy so its reserved fortimes when plant food is in short supply. My question then is, how are we to assume thathumans, who are far less physically suited for hunting and killing animals, are ideallysupposed to be set on the same stage as a bear? How is it that we even came to believe wewere omnivorous?

In fact there are so many physical similarities between humans and other primates thatobserving their diets is possibly the best way for us to develop our ideas about an optimal dietfor us too. As well, with few exceptions, most primates eat a predominantly vegan diet heavyon leafy greens and fruit.


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The deeper truth in discovering our ideal diet and the reason for our ability to survive inunfriendly conditions lies in the fact that humans are less specialized than other animals. Thisis reflected in the story written on our genetic coding of the evolution weve gone through andis a reminder of the origins of our mammalian roots and even of life on earth. You can seeshadows of our primordial connection to other mammals through various similarities whenyou look at human development. Weve just grown out of our natural habitat. Thats what

makes us different.

Animals and indeed all forms of life on Earth respond to their environment and aftermillions of years make major adaptations to suit the conditions of their surroundings. Butadaptation usually takes a long time. There are always minor variations, slight changes thatoccur generation to generation, which will improve the chances of survival of the species. Butgenerally any large modifications happen over thousands and even millions of years.

Through minor adaptations and interbreeding our species has become less locked in to onespecific type of environment and this has allowed humans to brave a vast variety of differentclimates and enabled us to surviveon a wide variety of different foods and diets. However, just

because we can survive while eating meat, this does not mean that well thrivewhile doing so.Its ultimately not what our bodies were originally designed to process and eating meat inexcess can eventually cause disease and shorten our lifespans.

MYTH #2

Weve evolved eating meat so its best for our bodies

Lets begin tackling this one by getting our timeline straight. We need to keep in context thatthe bodies of our species, who we currently call Homo sapiens, have been developed throughmillions of years of evolution to yield their current state of being. Very little about ourcomponent parts, like our digestive systems or our endocrine or nervous systems, has changedmuch over the last several hundred years or even through the last thousand. Of course thereare small variations that occur after many generations following a predominating diet but thetemplate is the same and remains almost completely undifferentiated.

Lots of diets are supposedly modeled after the dietary habits of our ancestors and dependingon how far back in history you go or what region of the world you focus on this can lookdrastically different. And for the most part diets like these assume, wrongly, that our digestive

systems are all very different from person to person. But this simply isnt true. Extremely smalldifferences aside, were far more alike than we are different and healthy adults of the humanpopulation will all thrive on very similar dietary habits.

High protein, low carb diets in particular have become ragingly popular in the last decade orso but the results they yield are very temporary and can even be dangerous. You see, thereisnt much in the way of essential minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids, or enzymes to beextracted from meat, yet these nutrients are absolutely essential for our organ health, tissuegrowth and cellular regeneration. Carbohydrates not proteins - are actually the easiest


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macronutrient for us to convert into energy and restricting them completely can leave usfeeling pretty lethargic. Eating high protein diets leads to halitosis, inflammation, acidity of theblood, high cholesterol, constipation, and is very hard on the liver and kidneys; it can evenlead to kidney failure or worse.

In recent history humans have taken to eating meat more regularly mostly because itsignaled wealth but early in our history and during times when plant foods were plentifuleven our more recent ancestors largely abstained from eating meat. Current studies point tothe fact that Neanderthals ate far more plant matter than was previously assumed and thesame is true for humans up into the last hundred years or so. There are even wholepopulations of people in India, Asia and the Americas whose ancestors have abstained frommeat since time immemorial. However, even those in societies where meat was morecommonly eaten it was still taken in moderation for the most part.

A portion of meat was only a part of a meal and a small one at that. An ounce or two of meatonly a few times a week was about all a person from the 19thcentury would eat. Over the past100 years our meat intake has increased over 500%! And this has affected our health and entire

environment. We move slower, we think slower. We have all kinds of health epidemics likeobesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart diseases. Were not doing ourselves any favors by makingmeat a huge dietary staple.

Still, theres something to be said for eating the way our ancestors did, but the problem is thatwere going about it all wrong. If we really want to sketch out what our natural diet should bein terms of what our ancestors ate, then with careful scrutiny well find that through most ofour evolutionary history from primitive primates to Homo erectus what our ancestors atewas predominantly composed of fruits, leaves, nuts and seeds, insects, with the infrequentsmall bird or frog tossed into the mix. Even Neanderthals, the famed savage hunters whodiscovered fire, have shown us through fossil records that they ate diets filled with plant

matter and perhaps the occasional animal snack rather than the other way around. This paintsa very different picture of our ancestors than the traditional meat-eating barbarians weve allcome to know, and it should give us every indication that a vegan diet is not only sustainablefor modern humans but that it may well be the best general diet of all.

If you really want to eat like a Neanderthal then you should probably also consider the factthat our ancestors ate when and if they could find food at all. They didnt have a constantbuffet of different animals to eat along with the occasional strawberry. They ate fruit andleaves as they came into season and likely stored nuts as an extra reserve food. If we reallywanted to follow their dietary habits then wed be fasting for nearly half of the yearcollectively and eating very opportunistically. And there is something to be said for regularfasting when it comes to health and longevity but the point is that you cant say you eat like aNeanderthal just because youre chowing down a six-ounce portion of salmon every other day

For those of us who want to eat the diet we evolved to eat, try giving the vegan diet a whirland make sure to place a huge emphasis on fresh fruits, raw veggies, and leafy greens. Thendo some long term seasonal fasts and voila! Throw in a grasshopper or lizard and you have anaccurate depiction of a well-rounded Paleolithic era diet.


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But historical debate aside, its very important to know that regardless of how meaty yourparents diet was, or even your great-grandparents for that matter, veganism can and willwork for you because despite your recent family history your body is the product of evolutionand for most of history humans were vegan or very close to it. When you revert back to anatural way of eating the only thing that happens is that your digestive system works betterand you feel great.

So, even if you directly descended from Vikings or other tribes of the far north where meat hasbeen a relatively large dietary staple for hundreds of years, eating a vegan diet will allow yourbody to activate the genetic markers for longevity and vital health. Converting to a vegan dietwill stop the stress that forces unnecessary adaptation.

Lets look at an example from nature to demonstrate this point. When hybridized orgenetically modified plants are left to the wild, after several generations they revert back totheir natural state or to something very similar. The blueprint that had worked well for aparticular plant until the time it was tampered with reinstates itself. After all its prettydifficult for humans to improve upon millions of years of evolution. And the fact remains that

we alter plants for our own benefit, not for theirs. Its the same for humans. Just because wevehad unnatural habits throughout past generations this does not mean that our own bodies andthose of future generations will suffer when meat is removed from the menu. And in fact on awell-planned vegan diet successive generations will only become stronger, have betterresistance to disease, immune systems and longer lifespans.

MYTH #3

Our bodies optimally digest meat

Again, the best way to understand this MYTH is to take a look at which animals eat meat asopposed to those that subsist off vegetation. If we separate out specific features that arecommon to carnivores and omnivores as opposed to herbivores well begin to piece together amore accurate picture of what an omnivore looks like and what a vegetarian looks like.

Lets refer back to our own bodies and see what insights they can offer when compared toclosely related primates. An important attribute we share with primates aside fromopposable thumbs is the size and positioning of our mouths. Unlike cats and dogs or evenbears or raccoons, our relatively small mouths are positioned on the front of our faces and we

have cheeks and lips that cover our teeth where omnivores and carnivores grin from ear to earand have far less expressive lips.

Our faces definitely shine some light onto what it is we might be eating but really its whatson the inside that counts. And we happen to be the proud owners of digestive systems thatclosely resemble those of most apes and monkeys, with the exception of some leaf-eatingmonkeys. As far as digestive systems go, ours are very basic. Weve got so few specializedfeatures popping up in our digestive tracts that our insides reveal us to be little more thanmonkeys or apes with short colons. One difference is that our colons are just a bit shorter than


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those of other primates and this is telling of the subtle differences between what we can digestwell and what less civilized primates thrive on.

Our small stomachs where proteins are digested small intestines, and relatively short largeintestines suggest that were far less suited to eating meat than carnivores who burn up fleshwith their with their extraordinarily low pH gastric fluid and huge stomachs while a short setof intestines flushes out the waste quickly. Also, carnivores dont produce digestive enzymesto accompany their saliva as we do. Thats because the enzymes in saliva are meant to breakdown carbohydrates rather than protein, which is digested mostly in the stomach. Sincecarnivores dont really eat carbohydrates the way we do they dont need saliva enzymes.

Humans on the other hand sluggishly pass meat out of the stomach after partial digestionwhere it then winds through our long labyrinth of intestines allowing it to ferment along theway. Our very long digestive tracts and small stomachs closely resemble other predominatelyvegan primates. Of course there are also many leaf eating monkeys who have some prettywild looking insides, but Im not trying to convince you that you should be a leaf-eater. As faras comparisons go were focusing specifically on the only other group of animals who have

digestive systems that are nearly identical to ours, and the fact is that most primates andhumans share uncannily similar digestive tract traits.

So we really dont digest meat efficiently but we wont do very well with the tough tree leavesmonkeys eat either. Of course there are lots of leafy green vegetables we digest perfectly wellbut they happen to have softer cell structures and different types of phytonutrients that aremore easily welcomes by our bodies in particular. But like monkeys and apes were very wellsuited to eating predominantly fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Most of any animalprotein other primates eat comes in the form of insects with the occasional tasty lizard treat. Ofcourse the exception to this are the chimpanzees who like humans - seem to relish killing andeating animals more frequently. Of course they also share in our generally violent

temperament too so the two things may just go hand in hand. And even though chimps havebeen observed eating other animals they still do so very infrequently compared to humans; itwould be surprising to see one hunt more than once a month.

Because we have long digestive systems we are pretty dependent on fiber to help push foodthrough our winding tubes and canals. Foods that are devoid or low in fiber sit for longerperiods of time waiting for our peristaltic waves to usher them through and building a plaquealong the intestinal walls as they go. They make us ill if we consume too much of them andcontribute little to nothing toward our general health or nutrition requirements. Meat inparticular really has no fiber to speak of and therefore hangs around while our bodies trylaboriously to push it out. This allows meat to putrefy inside our intestines before it even has achance to pass out of the body. This causes all sorts of ailments and leads to stagnant colonfunction and infection that can lead to more debilitating digestive problems.

So just like many monkeys and apes we have the abilityto digest meat, but we do soinefficiently at best and most of whats eaten just becomes waste. It doesnt even give us thenutrients we need to keep us healthy and strong into our old age. Meat heavy diets are thecause of hundreds of different diseases and rapid aging. Our bodies thrive on vegan diets fullof fresh plant foods and we receive vibrant long-lasting health when we make them thefoundation of our diets.


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The important thing to take away from this scrutinization of the features that make certainanimals likely candidates for meat eating is that we humans are strikingly different from trueomnivores or carnivores.

MYTH #4

Some blood types need meat

This is an area that truly needs to have the slate wiped clean. The eating by your blood typetheorywas prosed by layman, Peter DAmo, who used his ownpersonalstudy of human historyto come to his own conclusions. He was not a scientist or even a nutritionist and the wholeeating for your blood type concept was based upon his speculations and some misinterpretedscientific studies.

Its true that our blood type does have some influence over the types of lectins which are aspecial group of sugar-binding proteins that either help or harm your body your body canand cannot process efficiently, but there is no scientific information that backs up the claimthat some blood types such as type O need to eat meat in particular. (Take it from a type Owho went vegetarian at the age of 10!) After our previous observations about the similaritybetween human digestive systems and those of the majority of other primates its logical toassume that regardless of blood type were actually more alike on the inside than we aredifferent.

Its not that one person needs meat and another can get by without it, rather we all have verysimilar nutritional requirements based on our degree of health and on how efficiently ourorgans are working. If your diet has been full of fatty fried foods your liver will eventuallybecome taxed enough that it can no longer digest fat properly. If you eat too many sugaryfoods your pancreas will stop producing the enzymes and insulin will be needed to metabolizeit. When one eats too much protein it may cause ulcers and freeze up the stomach so thatalmost no digestion at all is able to take place. A very small portion of these disorders is basedupon our genetic predispositions but they are certainly always activated by the lifestyles welead.

Because of our tendencies toward weakness in certain organs based upon our lifestyle choiceswe are given the illusion that some of us needto eat high protein foods while others dont. This

is only true to a very small degree and the rest of what look like differences are actually causedby disordered eating to begin with. With diligence and modified diet plans anyone can bevegan. And anyone can help heal themselves by going vegan, as we have seen from the tens ofthousands of people we have worked with.

It takes time to make ourselves sick from eating junk and processed food that just dont workwell for human digestion. So exercise patience with your diet while making the switch toveganism. Remember that small changes can be a very large help. Rather than eat for yourblood type, just eat a diet filled with lots of fresh fruit and enough simple protein foods and


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healthy fats to keep your body in constant supply of high energy and high nutrient foods, andyoull have a recipe for vegan success. And I promise you wont even notice your blood typewhile doing it!

MYTH #5

Vegan diets dont supply enough protein

Protein is one of the most basic structures for life and consists of an infinite variety ofcombinations and chains of amino acids. There are hundreds of different types of proteins inyour body and they all have different but equally important jobs. They contribute to the form,structure, and function of your body and they help carry out essential processes in metabolismand nutrient utilization.

Amino acids are present in every living cell and are so abundant within the plant kingdom

that its a wonder this MYTH ever got more than a passing glance to begin with. Nearly everyfood on the planet supplies dietary protein. That includes bananas, apples, and even lettuce,which we often think of as being little more than colored water with little nutritional value.Protein is such an abundant nutrient that its nearly impossible to become protein deficientunless youre actually starving.

Weve been led to believe that fruit has nothing in it but sugar and maybe some vitamins buteven oranges and mangoes supply plenty of building blocks for the complex and variedproteins in our bodies! Even if you ate nothing but almonds and broccoli every day of your lifeyoud still get enough protein. What youd lack though is a variation of vitamins and mineralsthat come from a varied diet.

Protein is actually very easy for our bodies to synthesize when we have all of the necessarycomponent parts, and its far easier for our bodies to utilize readily accessible amino acids thanit is to break down complex protein chains into the amino acids needed to then resynthesizethe correct proteins for our use. This makes plant foods an indispensable source of protein nomatter the amount each food contains. Actually, relying on animal products as a main proteinsource gyps your body out of a lot of useful energy that could be used for processes other thantaking apart complex protein chains. And this is a big part of the reason people get that 3oclock pm sluggish feeling or a bout of major lethargy after eating a protein heavy meal.

While its essential to get enough of, protein is over rated as a necessary nutrient and we reallydont need to concern ourselves with monitoring our intake. Its one nutrient that is found invarying degrees no matter what you happen to be eating. In fact the importance thats placedon consuming enough protein really should be transferred onto the nutrients that are severelylacking in most modern diets, the minerals and phytonutrients like vitamins and enzymes.

Without calcium and silica or sulfur, our skin and bones would just disintegrate yet wereoften at least slightly deficient in these essential minerals. This is reflected in many healthproblems like osteoporosis, loss of muscle mass, and accelerated aging of the skin. Without


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sufficient minerals our skin and bones loose their integrity and structure and they witherbefore their time. Vitamins too are needed to carry out every process that goes on in the body.You need vitamin-C for iron absorption and the production of collagen and vitamin-A isabsolutely essential for your eyesight and for maintaining healthy teeth, bones, skin, andmucous membranes. However, there are countless other vitamin cofactors and dozens ofphytochemicals that are also an integral piece in the grand orchestra of a healthy body and you

need them all. And most of them are only available from the plant kingdom.

Too much protein on the other hand is extremely detrimental to the body. It slows down bloodflow by making it thick and sluggish. Its also difficult to remove protein waste from thedigestive tract without eating enough fiber to push it through. Eating too much protein isincredibly hard on your kidneys and liver in particular and contributes kidney and gallbladder stones.

While its important to get enough dietary protein, we must get it from high quality sourcesthat are also rich in micronutrients in addition to the three basic macronutrients. If we chose tofocus on overall good nutrition by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as the mainstay

of our vegan diets then wed never have to question our protein intake at all! Now, rather thanask whether youre getting enough protein I think we should be asking: Arent you getting toomuch protein?

MYTH #6

Only animal products supply complete proteins

A running MYTH that persists even into modern nutrition classes today is that meat and otheranimal products like dairy and eggs supply complete proteins, but plant foods must becombined in order create a complete protein of equal value. Not only is this untrue its alsovery misleading.

The theory behind this incredibly sticky MYTH states that animal protein supplies us with allnine essential amino acids the amino acids your body doesnt produce on its own in theproper ratios to human nutritional need. It might seem obvious that animals have proteinprofiles similar to what we say we need since the muscles of both humans and animals havesimilar composition and function, but the story doesnt end here. You might recall that earlier Imentioned it takes energy to digest complex protein. As soon as youve eaten a piece of meat

youve already created an energy deficit. Sure youll get some basic units for energyproduction covered but the amount of energy youll derive from a meal of flesh is far less thanthe amount you could get from a plant-based meal.

If youre eating a lot of food that ends up as waste but doesnt offer much in the way ofnutrition, I imagine you can draw the conclusions that the complex complete protein youwere after just isnt worth the hole your digging yourself into in all other aspects of generalnutrition. But rather than trust sound science and meet our realistic needs for protein andgeneral nutrition from far less violent sources, we focus single-pointedly on getting enough


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protein as if there were some shortage of epidemic proportions and animal flesh was the onlyway to stave of some terrible wasting disease. We stuff our faces with addictive, high proteinfoods like burgers all the while citing our dependence on meat to ward off a low blood-sugarepisode or to prevent lightheadedness.

Its really time we step out of our monotonous, centuries old understanding of protein andbroaden the view of our dietary requirements passed the paradigm of protein being the centralpillar of nutrition. Our archaic notions of protein and the role it plays in our health is greatlymisunderstood, as are most concepts in nutrition. Humans often overanalyze things in effortto understand them but we often forget that component parts make up a complete whole. Weplace stock in protein because of its relationship to meat and the status meat holds as a sign ofwealth. The archetypical image of a fat king with a banquet of meats before him may representto many a sign of wealth but it is far from being a sign of health.

Although meat has proven itself a convenient way for humans to acquire all of the dietaryprotein needed in just a small portion, its disastrously out of proportion with our actualoverall nutrition requirements. You see our bodies dont really need all that much protein at

all. In fact just one three or four ounce portion of meat would cover your protein requirementsfor the day, but the portions people eat are far larger than this and they are consumed severaltimes a day rather than once a day or several times a week, the way our forefathers ate it.

Part of the problem we have with our ideas about meat and protein stems from the fact thatweve dissected food into its component parts and isolated many of them in the form of drugsand supplements and along the way weve lost touch with the significance of just eating goodold simple food. The food that we are designed to eat. Instead we nosh on steaks and chickenwings for a quick fix and then supplement our diets with nutrition shakes and energy drinkswhen our reserves run low. But the humble plants our planet has provided for us to eat arealways available in an incredible display of the diversity of life.

Meat on the other hand is ruthlessly inflammatory and doesnt offer much in the way ofnutrition anyway. Its acidic mineral content can send your body into a dangerous state ofacidosis. In fact meat creates such a low pH that your body will actually pull alkaline mineralsfrom your bones to keep it from damaging your insides. Can you say osteoporosis? How aboutarthritis? The toxic byproducts left over after digesting meat often accumulate in your joints.They can even degenerate your neural pathways and weaken the integrity of every cell in yourbody.

But when you bite into a natural fruit or vegetable of the earth it reveals itself to be a source ofprotein and indeed a perfect food source thats brimming with the vibrating, living,

substrate of animated nutrients linked within a web of symbiotic keys for unlocking full accessto the multifaceted nutrition they offer. And theyre imbibed with colors, scents, and flavorsthat are incredibly pleasing to our senses and make us feel amazing when we eat them. Makesyou wonder why wed choose to eat anything else.


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MYTH #7

Tofu is the only complete vegan protein

Tofu is not the only complete vegan protein. Thank goodness this isnt true because Id be one

cranky vegan! I wont knock tofu since I know it has many advocates and fans even beyondthe vegan community, and I love it on occasion too. There are so many amazing foods that arecomplete proteins and theyre also among the most nutritious foods on the planet. Amongsome of the top-notch protein foods out there are chia seeds, hemp seeds, barley grass, wheatgrass, goji berries, sprouts of all kinds, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, peas,spirulina, Chlorella, AFA blue-green algae, and most seaweeds. The list doesnt stop hereeither so stay open to adding new foods to this ever-growing list as we discover more aboutplants that pack super nutrition.

As well learn when we bust MYTH #8 in this booklet, protein combining isnt necessary aslong as youre eating a varied diet that includes lots of different fruits, vegetables, nuts, and

seeds, greens, herbs, and spices. Though its still good to know that if you feel your proteinneeds are higher than they might be for others you can still get them all from plants.

This is also good information to have for parents of picky children who may be concerned thattheir kids arent getting enough variation in their diet. We all know that kids go through lots ofdifferent phases where they single out certain foods they deem acceptable to them while theyplace a heavy moratorium on any other foods that havent been preapproved by theirdeveloping taste buds and narrow comfort zones. You can easily cover most of you childsprotein and general nutrition needs by serving them just one super nutritious and kid-friendlymeal every day.

You can use any of the foods listed above in many different ways to sneak them into yourkids diet. Blend hemp seeds into creamy smoothies and throw in some Chlorella or spirulinawhile youre at it and youll have a recipe for a great meal that not only offers plenty ofcomplete proteins but also gives you a power boost of brain simulating, body nourishingvitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytonutrients that are very much lacking in animal basedprotein powders, and animal products in general. Or sprinkle your guacamole with somedulse or kelp flakes for a savory, mineral rich protein boost.

Versatile ingredients like these lend themselves well to many other healthy and delicioussnacks and treats for the whole family. Throw some pumpkin or hemp seeds into a vegetableand seed pate or blend up some peas with a touch of tahini and lemon juice for a savory dip to

serve with veggie crackers or whole veggie sticks. You could also replace some of the rice youserve to your family with amaranth or quinoa to bring some variety to your meals and to makesure your family has no questions about making their protein quota.

Whatever way you choose to incorporate some of these complete vegan protein foods at leastyou wont be eating soy curd everyday for the rest of your life!


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MYTH #8

You need to combine different plant foods to get a complete protein

Its a common misconception that you need to combine foods with incomplete proteins tocreate complete ones. Believe it or not, the idea that we need to combine foods during a meal

to make a complete protein was a MYTH started by vegetarian author, Frances MooreLapp, in her book Diet for a Small Planet back in the 70s. She later withdrew this assertion butnot before it was taken up by the American Dietetic Association (ADA) as well as critics ofvegetarianism and its remained a nutrition MYTH since. However, in more recent times theADA has since reversed its support for the idea that protein combining was essential andinstead offers peer-reviewed studies on the lack of scientific basis for the necessity of proteincombining.

In fact as long as you eat several different foods throughout the day and keep your diet wellvaried week to week youll get all the protein you need; you dont even need to eat them at thesame time. Your body pools amino acids for use when it needs them, so as long as you eat

more than one type of food a day and more then 20 types of food during an average weekyoure getting the protein you need.

Variety is key when it comes to protein and fortunately this is true of good nutrition ingeneral. Protein is really nothing more than a fundamental aspect of balanced nutrition, butits no more important than any other isolated nutrient because every one of them isinextricably linked within the matrix of living vibrating cells. Plants in all their vivid andcolorful glory contain thousands of different vitamins, phytochemicals, minerals, antioxidants,enzymes, polysaccharides, and co-factors, and theyre all important. They all serve a functionand unless youre getting variety in your diet regardless of whether or not you eat meat

youre going to be lacking some of the crucial building blocks your body needs tocontinuously support its homeostasis and vitality.

The real truth is that you need to combine different foods from the plant kingdom to give youcomplete nutrition, not complete protein. To make it simple, just focus on eating as diverse adiet as you can and you will have enough protein, a very healthy body and a nutrition richlifestyle.

MYTH #9

Our bodies need protein for glycolysis to convert into ATP

I have a running debate with an associate of mine who happens to be a chemist and on thePaleo diet. She doesnt know yet but Ive always used our debates to fuel my personaleducation on the matter of health and veganism and while there are many similarities betweenour personal theories on nutrition there are some obvious holes in her assertions and thus herconclusions.


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One such debate weve had was over the basic unit for energy production (ATP) in most lifeforms and the most efficient way to create it. Shes still hanging out in the protein camp butIve always been of the carbohydrate persuasion, which provides simple sugars the mostefficiently for our bodies. The thing I cant wrap my brain around is how she thinks its easierfor our bodies to break down protein into glucose which is a seriously complicated and longseries of chemical reactions rather than just eating a piece of fruit which has plenty of simple

sugars that are easily converted into glucose.

I suppose I can see her point when I consider how fast sugar is metabolized. We all know whata sugar high feels like and thats what were talking about here. If you eat sugar it convertsrapidly into ATP and gives you a huge energy rush. So obviously our bodies more easilyutilize sugar for energy over protein.

Efficiency and even necessity aside I think she and I both agree that we need to eat lots ofvegetables and leafy greens to help stabilize our blood sugar and regulate energy productionso that we have a steady stream of energy moving through. The place we disagree though ison the matter of fruit versus meat and which one should be included or excluded.

She claims that its better to eat complex, heavy, difficult to digest meat so that hours later youstill have energy. She also claims that eating fruit is bad for your health and that its far toosugary for proper metabolization. What I cant get over though is the fact that fruit is naturallyfull of fiber which helps to modulate sugar uptake and thus give a totally different effect onthe body than sucking down a sugary drink or even eating a hunk of bread which we bothshy away from.

After all, I can get efficiency and lasting power from my vegan diet. And why she may say thather meals keep her full longer I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that ultimately Im gettingfar better nutrition. You just cant cut the food group thats the most attractive to the human

senses out of your life and expect to still have everything your body needs.

MYTH #10

Milk products are healthy

Got Milk? This popular slogan promoting dairy products has been beamed through nearlyevery advertising stream in existence for the past ten or more years. Drinking milk and eatingcheese has long been accepted as a convenient way to keep our bodies healthy and as the bestmethod for providing us with dietary calcium. Most of us have never even thought to questionwhether or not milk was indeed a healthy food at all.

Many people have become aware of the problems caused by drinking milk from theirexperiences with allergies and intolerances. Of course the majority of people with such issuesstill try to find ways around giving up dairy completely. Theyd rather chemically alter milk toseparate and remove the lactose than choose an alternative.


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Cows that have been given growth hormones present one of the biggest dangers with cowsmilk. These hormones pass through the milk and even into municipal water supplies andwhen theyre consumed they disrupt the natural onset of breast development andmenstruation in girls who come into contact with contaminated milk or water. For the last twodecades these hormones have been bringing the average age of sexual maturity for girls downfrom 16 to 12! Its also arguable that these hormones have been a major player in increasing

obesity in children of both sexes by adding unnatural amounts of estrogen to their bodies.

Also, homogenization prevents milk from separating by coagulating the fats and proteins,which essentially binds them in such a way that their molecular structure resembles plastic.Its about as digestible as plastic too and this is a big factor in cases of dairy intolerance. Andthen what to do with the milk that becomes tainted with actual blood? Well, that becomeswhat we all like to think of as chocolate milk. Chocolate sure is a clever way to disguise milkthat looks pink when it should be white.

Lets also consider that these cows all the while being fed drugs and hormones are also eatinga slew of unnatural foods that corrupt their digestive systems and make them ill. They eat

pesticide-laden crops like soy and wheat and genetically modified crops like corn. After a lifeof eating these toxins these poisons build up in their tissues so that by the time you get themilk or the meat you have an ultra concentration of this carcinogenic junk far higher thanon the most intensely sprayed lettuce or strawberries! Dont you find it a bit odd that milkproducts, like other animal products, are considered healthy when they bioaccumulate allthose toxins that circulate in our environment and in the food system?

So, maybe youve decided that factory farmed, conventional milk products arent for you.Perhaps youve sought out the best milk you can find from pasture-raised animals who havefull lives and lasting relationships with their offspring. Your favorite organic dairy treats theircows well and the farmers love them. You may have evaded the pain and suffering that can

come from the dairy industry but there are a few other issues yet to reconcile.

I implore you to take some time to ponder why it is that humans drink milk at all. Its no bigsecret that cow milk was created for baby cows, not baby humans and definitely not adulthumans. Milk is species specific. Human babies dont grow to weigh 200-400 pounds in theirfirst few years of life or hopefully ever. The fat and protein ratios are far higher in cow milkthan they are in human breast milk and cow milk doesnt provide the proper antibodies,enzymes, or probiotics for human infants.

Humans are also the only species on the planet that drink milk outside of infancy. I find itstrange and a bit unusual that is actually acceptable in our society. There are plenty of other

health reasons to give up dairy too. It may seem a bit counterintuitive but milk makes yourbody acidic. Youd think that alkaline mineral calcium we hear so much about would reflect inthe pH of this creamy liquid but the opposite is true. The other minerals and protein causeacidity after your body digests them. The problem here is that acidity in the body creates abreeding ground for nearly every disease we know of. From candida to cancer they all takeroot in an acidic environment. Dairy products also create inflammation due to your bodyseffort to rid itself of the indigestible material. One of the ways your body protects itself fromoutside invaders is by producing mucous. Much the same way you have an excess of mucous


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when you get sick, milk triggers a similar reaction to act as a buffer and long-term exposure todairy can cause and contribute to respiratory illnesses like asthma.

A far better choice for your morning cereal or your baking needs is a cholesterol free nut orseed milk. There are many packaged options to choose from like almond, coconut, rice, oat,hazelnut and hemp milk. Any of these can be purchased from grocery stores or even madefresh at home with little effort. A switch to non-dairy milks may take some getting used to butI assure you that youll come to prefer them to dairy sooner than you might think.

MYTH #11

Being vegan doesnt supply enough calcium

Have you tried to drink plenty of milk to make sure youre getting enough calcium? Hopefullynot, because the truth is that if youre not getting enough magnesium along with it youre not

absorbing calcium either. In fact, taking excess amounts of calcium can lead to ossification ofyour joints and leave bony deposits called bone spurs if its not properly assimilated. And, itdoes nothing to stave off osteoporosis, which is actually higher among women who consumedairy.

As with many other aspects of nutrition calcium is a very misunderstood mineral and littleabout the reality of our calcium absorption is allowed to circulate within our generalknowledge. There is significant evidence that any biological organism can in fact transmutecertain minerals into others. In particular there have been many experiments that have proventhe metamorphosis of potassium or silica into calcium. One such experiment revealed thateven when a laying hen had no dietary source of calcium she was still able to produce normaleggs with eggshells made of calcium!

The reactions needed to change one mineral into another are said by many to only occur on thelevel of nuclear fusion, but biological evidence challenges this idea. Other successfulexperiments have also been conducted wherein radioactive material has been converted byparticular cultures of microorganisms into benign elements by the process of biologicaltransmutation. All sorts of seemingly miraculous chemical magic happens within our bodiesand much of it has yet to be discovered. So while this process of minerals being changed by thebody is little understood and even less studied, it is happening.

However, if you prefer to have some extra health assurance there are plenty of calcium richfoods that are easy to come by. Good sources of both calcium and magnesium are almonds,sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, sea vegetables, lentils, many types of beans, figs, oranges,peanuts, broccoli, collard greens, and kale.


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MYTH #12

Vegan diets arent healthy

One of the main reasons most people adopt a vegan diet is to improve their health! Vegans are

far more likely than their meat-eating counterparts to meal plan better than their non-vegancounterparts to eat a wider variety of fruits, vegetables, greens, nuts, and seeds. This simplefact alone should tell us that vegan diets are healthy. There isnt a single diet fad, nutritionist,or doctor who doesnt push us to add more veggies into our daily fare and for most vegansthey become the largest dietary staple. The World Health Organization (WHO) evenrecognizes a well-planned vegan diet as being healthy and offers tips on proper dietrequirements for vegans!

I suppose this MYTH is a bit outdated but for people who dont tend to get much variation intheir diets as meat-eaters, I suppose it could be concerning to remove a huge staple. Ratherthan an awareness of the multitude of edible plants we have available its human tendency to

see the hole left behind by what youve removed. Going vegan can be a big change but itdoesnt have to be.

I prefer to encourage people to add in healthy foods rather than restrict all of their meat ordairy when first starting out. Adding a vegan meal into a day, then doing an all vegan day isvery easy for most to do. This way youll already be forming healthier habits and when youreready you can make a switch to all vegan without fear of starvation or a sense of missinganything.

MYTH #13

Vegans have too many rules about what they can eat

When you first make the switch from a Standard American Diet (SAD) to a vegan diet it canseem like youre giving up a lot. Like there are endless restrictions and temptations beyond afence of rules and every food you like happens to be on the wrong side. But really veganism isincredibly simple. Meat eaters on the other hand have lots of rules and taboos. No pork forsome, no cows for others, no horse, dog, or cat in America while theyre eaten in many othercountries. And then there are all the dangers of bacterial contamination when handling,

preparing, cooking, and storing meat and all the rules that come along with it.

There are rules from your doctor on portion control and rules about steaming rather thanfrying. Rules about red meat or fish being okay for your health while others must be avoided.Plus you cant eat it raw or even slightly undercooked depending on the type of meat withoutthe looming possibility of life-threatening illness.


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Vegans only have one rule; dont eat anything that comes from an animal! You dont have tocook it to a high temperature or be diligent about preventing cross-contamination becausevegetables are completely safe unless contaminated by animal agriculture.

You dont even have to have a perfectly healthy diet as a vegan. There are plenty of junk foodswhich I wont recommend, but for the sake of clarity, they are worth mentioning. You can nowfind vegan versions of all of your classic favorites too. Everything from sub sandwiches withextra mayo to chocolate or even pizza can be found vegan. You have options that will allowyou to remain vegan but for your health... you may just want to ignore some of them. Forbinge night though, you can get pretty much anything you want as a vegan dish, and yes, it isfun to experiment once in a while.

MYTH #14

Everything is good for you in small amounts

This MYTH is based on the theory that nothing can hurt you in small amounts and that it mayeven be good for you. When it comes to health and in particular healing, the truth is quitecontrary. The best rule to live by if you really want to get healthy and feel great is that itswhat you leave out completely that will most greatly contribute to your health.

If youve ever experienced allergies, chances are you may have gone on an elimination diet tosee if you can pinpoint the trigger. This translates into eating only a few types of foods that areunlikely to be the cause of an allergy. As you add foods back in you can easily isolate the onesthat are giving you issues.

Even if you identified your dietary intolerances or allergies in other ways, then you well knowhow essential it is to leave these foods out of your diet completely lest you become inundatedwith mild to severe discomfort or even immediately life threatening reactions. Well theproblem is that most of us dont realize what were intolerant to for a long time if ever. Milkfor instance is not designed to be digested by humans and likewise, were not designed tobreak it down effectively. A child who is born lactose intolerance inherits this trait from itsmother who is also lactose intolerant. It may take several generations for an obvious overtintolerance to develop into an allergy but when you consume foods that are inappropriate foryour body you enter the beginning phases of disease and pass the predisposition down ontoyour children.

So we can see that small amounts of milk are not only bad for us because they dont contributeto our health, they are slowly and cumulatively damaging. A little bit irritates your insides,more will start creating health problems, and a lot will pretty much guarantee that youmanifest a disease and pass down the trait to your offspring.

A man in his late forties who has high blood pressure and high cholesterol might be advised tocut back on red meat and junk food. Of course if this man were used to eating such food atevery meal he may cut it back to a hamburger only twice a week instead of every other day. Of


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course there is no guarantee that his health will improve much at all or that this measure willprevent that next burger from being the one that pushes his heart over the line. In fact, thisscenario is entirely likely unless this man chooses to firmly eradicate junk food from his lifealtogether.

So just because a 10-year-old girl isnt going to have a heart attack from eating a hamburgerdoes it automatically mean that a burger will be good for her body if she eats it? Absolutelynot. Shes doing damage. Maybe not irreparable damage, but from my experience it issomething that will accumulate until shes ready to clean house and heal from it.

There is a reason that so many babies regurgitate much of the food theyre given. Babies fedbreast milk from mothers who eat healthy food and then feed their babies fresh organic fruitsand vegetables rarely spit up. Its the babies who are bottle fed and weaned onto cereals as astarting food, then progressively fed diets that include dairy and meats and cheeses that endup having major health crises down the road. Spitting up is their way of telling you they cantdigest what youre feeding them. Its not normal and its definitely not healthy.

A little bit of sulfur dioxide in preserved fruit can trigger an asthma attack, a cheeseburger cancause a heart attack, and even a little bit of dairy causes inflammation and mucous productionas your body tries to prevent assimilation and usher the foreign substance out. It is most oftentrue that its what we leave out entirely that most determines our level of health.

MYTH #15

Vegan men are weak and impotent

Possibly the biggest misjudgment about vegans ever is that theyre weak. The 400-poundmountain gorillas in Africa are vegans and they could literally rip your arms off! Cows andelephants are vegans too and they dont seem to have any problems keeping weight on ordeveloping sufficient muscle mass. So why does this absolutely silly MYTH persist that realmen eat meat?

I suppose this one has its roots tied in with the machismo, animal drive to dominate anddefend. (Apparently youre only a man if you kill animals?) And it didnt help that the originalvegan men were on the slightly more effeminate and empathetic side you know the type,skinny, artsy, and sensitive. It was easy to stereotype the first wave of vegans because theylooked different and thought outside the box. This may have given people in the generalpopulace the impression that being a vegan would make you less masculine or less virile ingeneral. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Men and women who eat meat are getting more than meets the eye when they chow down ontheir beloved steak. You see, when animals are slaughtered their bodies produce massiveamounts of adrenaline just like our bodies do when we sense impending danger or experiencetrauma. So when a cow dies its muscles (meat) are saturated with adrenaline. That means thatwhen you eat meat, youre getting an adrenaline high along with your meal. This not only


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gives the false impression that you feel strong and virile, it also throws off your bodys ownhormone production to compensate for what youre getting through your diet.

When you cut the meat out of your diet your body may indeed go through a withdrawalbecause of the lack of adrenaline in your food. You may feel for a time as though you have lessenergy and youre likely to lose some weight at the same time. You may also feel cravings toeat meat during your initial fast from it but not only will this pass, but when it does youllhave far more energy than you did before. You may in fact feel younger and stronger than youremember feeling in years or ever before in your life.

When you eat a healthy vegan diet you not only get all of the nutrition your body needs tofunction optimally which is severely lacking in diets that contain meat you heal the damagecaused to every system in your body by a diet full of difficult to digest meat and dairy. Thismeans that your lung capacity will increase and your cardiovascular system will get strongerand have more endurance during physical exertion. Your endocrine system will heal so thatyou have the proper amounts of the right hormones for your sex instead of the hormones ofother animals. With improved skin health and a more pleasant smell a strong, healthy vegan is

far more attractive than even the healthiest meat eater.

If you still arent convinced that vegans can hold their weight against meat-eaters then checkout some of the many vegan athletes like Olympic Gold Medalist/Olympian of the CenturyCarl Lewis, Ultraman/triathlete Rich Roll, Mike Tyson, Ultimate Fighting Champion MacDanzig, professional football player Eric Johnson, professional NBA player Salim Stoudamire,Keith Holmes, Brendan Brazier, and many others plus body builders like Charlie Able, RobertCheeke, Giacomo Marchese, and Mike Mahler.

MYTH #16

Vegans dont get enough iron

Iron is easy to get if you eat plenty of leafy greens. Most people are used to getting their mainiron source in the form of meat because animal blood and flesh like that of humans is iron rich.There is good news though for anyone who prefers plant sources of iron though. Chlorophyll,the green pigment that gives most plants their emerald glow, has a nearly identical molecularstructure to hemoglobin, the red pigment in blood, and is just as iron rich.

Its possible for anyone to become iron deficient regardless of whether they eat meat or not. Itall depends on the quality of your diet. No matter your daily diet make sure you include avariety of greens along with some cruciferous veggies, soy products like tempeh or tofu, andbeans, lentils, quinoa, apricots, prunes, raisins, figs, tahini, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds,peaches, cherries, or one of the several different types of edible algae like spirulina. And eatthem with foods that are high in vitamin-C to increase your rate of absorption.

You should also avoid eating grains like wheat, rice, oats, or corn along with your high ironmeals as a certain type of iron binding compound called inositol hexaphosphate decreases the


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rate at which its absorbed. Instead, opt for quinoa, which is not technically a grain but doeshappen to be iron rich. You could also skip the grains altogether. This way in addition to ironyoull also be properly combining your food for better digestion all around.

MYTH #17

Vegans easily get b12 deficiencies

You may not know this, but B12 deficiencies are actually higher among meat-eaters thanamong vegetarians or vegans. This is largely due to the fact that vegans and vegetarians are farmore likely to supplement this essential vitamin. Its our food supply that is generally lackingin B12, which causes this deficiency. This is partly due to the fact that we wash most of ourproduce and that the soil we grow our food in is little more than glorified dirt thats almostcompletely lacking in the normal and natural microorganisms that live in rich soil.

There is actually a lot of speculation as to where we get our B12 from naturally. Some say itsproduced by microscopic bacteria that live within our own bodies and others insist it can onlybe supplied by meat and dairy. Still there is evidence that we can find enough of this essentialvitamin in various types of algae. Chances are, no matter what your dietary preferences, youcould benefit from at least occasional supplementation. Fortunately its an easy one tosupplement and doing so cuts out a huge risk to your health that I personally would rather nottake.

MYTH #18

Youll eat nothing but carrots, celery & lettuce

Oh if you only knew! As creatures of habit, once we find foods we like we tend to eat themoften and many of us resist trying new and unfamiliar foods at all after finding our favorites.This is a great blunder that most of us have been guilty of at least at one point or another inour lives. When you go vegan its like opening a door to a world of edibles that you neverknew existed! There are endless new foods to try and even more combinations and flavors toexperience and not to mention, healthier versions of your old favorites.

Rather than thinking salad and potatoes, think brownies, cheesecakes, truffles, potpies, stews,stir fries and lasagna all vegan and made with high quality ingredients! At this point, countlessbooks, blogs, and websites have been dedicated to vegan cooking and you can easily findmultiple recipes for any traditional dish that you what to veganize. Weve even authored tensuch books ourselves which you can easily find by searching on Bo Rinaldi or Mark Reinfeld.These books will instill in you the basic tools, techniques and tricks for making delicious veganmeals and will arm you with a healthy repertoire of vegan recipes that range from simple andfamiliar to exotic and out-of-this-world!


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Vegan food can be as simple or as gourmet as you want it to be and there really are no limitson what you can come up with on your own once you get the hang of it. Remember thatvariation is the key to success in your health and is incredibly helpful for keeping you on trackwith your vegan diet. If you go vegan and get excited about food then you wont be temptedto slip into old eating habits or search out comfort in the unhealthy foods youve been eatingsince childhood.

Just remember that you dont have to restrict yourself from the foods you love. You just needto discover creative ways to convert some of them into vegan fare. You might even find thatyou prefer your new vegan recipes over more, ehem, traditional ones. In my personalexperience when you eat healthier food that just hits the spot and you begin to feel better atthe same time youll never look back at your old lifestyle. It wont even be an option.

MYTH #19

Vegan food isnt gourmet or interesting

Vegan food can be made to taste like anything. Just like meat products, its in the seasoningand texture. A good sauce can transform even those little brussel sprouts into amazing fare.You do have to learn how to use new ingredients but when you get comfortable with themyoull find that your gourmet, vegan dishes are far more delicious and satisfying than anymeat youve ever had!

Forget about tofu and pasta, we want chocolate mousse and sundried tomato stuffed squash!Anything from breakfast to a late night snack, from oatmeal to risotto or a fabulous cake canbe made vegan andincredibly gourmet. Watermelon sorbet with a lime twist, tempeh tacoswith mild green mol, pumpkin pie with pecan praline, parsnip and purple potato mash withshitake gravy, orange cayenne truffles, matcha lattes, rustic caramelized onion and pestopizza, or even a silky smooth homemade mac-and-cheese. Now if that doesnt have yourmouth watering then youve never tasted some of the better things in life. Its all possible tomake vegan.

And gourmet doesnt have to mean complicated either! You dont need to use exoticingredients that you can only purchase online. It all just takes a bit of finesse and an openmind to spice up your menu. Youll need to visit new aisles in your grocery store, makefriends with a local health food store and meet the local farmers at the farmers market, but

youll certainly be able to rustle up some of the most fantastic ingredients from right in yourown hometown. Its good for the local economy too!


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MYTH #20

Vegetables dont taste good

I feel for the multitudes of people out there who have been fed overcooked and lifeless

vegetables. Im truly sorry that someone put a taste in your mouth so bitter that the memoryattaches itself to anything green, grown in the ground, or remotely resembling anythinghealthy. I cant tell you what a disservice has been done to those who claim not to likevegetables. Of course when your taste buds are always being blasted with tons of salt, sugar,and chemical flavor enhancers it can be difficult to derive pleasure from our humble friendsfrom the vegetable kingdom.

The truth is that vegetables taste amazing. They taste great all by themselves, picked fresh,unseasoned, and raw. But they also taste incredible lightly cooked, and seasoned well. If youdont already agree with me that vegetables of all kinds are designed for our health and longlife, then take heart that in several weeks after removing the chemicals from your diet you

should come upon a revelation of just how healthy you feel living more simply and naturally.Eat some lightly steamed broccoli, and it may come as a shock but there in all its green glorylays an almost perfect food, all to itself. Tender, yet succulent and juicy with a complex flavorall its own and a subtle sweetness that begs to be enjoyed all on its own. And for those of uswho just crave some realflavor, there are so many options at our fingertips that naming themall would make you think you were reading a dictionary.

For the sake of intrigue though Ill let you in on some of my personal favorites for seasoningsteamed veggies and adding flavor to my sauces, soups, salads, and dips. Among the mostversatile are certainly: tamari, chipotle, nutritional yeast, lemon pepper, sesame oil, miso,seaweeds, herbs, and spices. Choosing what you want to play with simply depends on what

sort of mood youre in and what youre trying to make. And believe me, you can makeanythingtaste amazing with some good seasoning.

You can whip up a south of the border slaw by adding a bit of stone ground mustard and apinch of chipotle to your vegan dressing and creating a sensational dip to accompany yourboring vegetables is as easy as throwing some cashews, miso, lemon juice, and nutritionalyeast into a blender. Pour some curried coconut milk over your broccoli and some tamari andtamarind into your eggplant casserole.

Dont be afraid to get adventurous with your food but you should also feel free to referencerecipes to avoid some major kitchen disasters which weve all gone through while honing

our skills as vegan chefs. Sooner than you think youll be on your way to getting rave reviewsfrom your family, compliments from everyone around you as you improve your health andyour physique, or even praise from your physician for how healthy youve become as they askwhat it is youre doing. Then you can boast that all you do is eat your veggies!


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particularly ones that are less than helpful for your personal evolution, and this can distanceyou from acquaintances or casual friends.

Its important to know that this is an ongoing process in our lives. As we grow and change sodo our surroundings, and adopting a vegan lifestyle really isnt an exception. If youre reallydedicated to keeping the relationships you already have it will take some work on your part tobalance your values with your acceptance of others. The key here is always patience. Peopledont like to be preached to and despite your best intentions the only way to navigaterelationships with people who dont share your values is to practice acceptance and patience.Make a few new vegan friends and bring vegan dishes to share at your old buddys barbequeand take it day by day, as everyone will be impressed by your new lifestyle, vitality,knowledge and conviction.

MYTH #22

Eating a vegan diet is very expensive

Being vegan in particular is no more expensive than eating any other intentionally plannedhealthy diet. Our food system is pretty backward when it comes to food and cost. It takesmoney to grow food, more money to harvest it, ship it, and then even more to process it intowhatever end product its destined to become. You would think then that eating fresh produceinstead of processed or prepared foods would cost less money. It doesnt though. Its cheaperto buy a loaf of heavily processed white bread with over 20 different ingredients in it than tobuy a pound of whole grain in many instances.

In a world where we see government subsidies going to factory farmed meat producers and tofamers who choose to grow with pesticides and GMOs it gives a skewed perspective that itcosts more to grow and eat health food than it does to eat junk. Unfortunately at this time inour history there is vested interest in growing food that is less healthy because chemical andpharmaceutical companies have their hands in the pockets of government officials who thenendorse these harmful and unsustainable methods of raising meat and growing food. And soeating healthy, nutritionally rich food does cost more up front than eating nutritionally deadfast food. Thats true of diets that include meat and diets that dont. The meat and dairyindustry receive gigantic government subsidies every year that allow them to sell meat anddairy for dirt-cheap. The same is true of industrial crops like wheat and corn. The fact is that ifyou want to eat healthy food, it will cost you a bit more up front but whether or not youre

vegan has nothing to do with it. It simply saves on health care costs in the future and whenyou buy local, eat simply and follow the concepts here and at our websites, you will find it willsave you in the long run with most everything involving health, beauty and wellness.


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MYTH #23

Being vegan isnt better for the environment

Humans have been raising livestock for thousands of years right? And livestock are a natural

part of a healthy ecosystem arent they? After all theyve been roaming the globe for millionsof years. Why would raising them for food be any different than letting them roam in wildherds?

Well if youve ever driven passed a factory farm and seen (or smelled) it, then there would beno question that something is definitely wrong there. Traditionally animals were taken out topasture and allowed to roam free as they grazed over land that was rotated as the grass grewto feed them. But in these days of modern industrialized farming animals are kept in suchclose quarters that they live in a space where they can hardly move at all. Theyre fedunnatural diets to fatten them, and meat byproducts that produce e coli outbreaks thatcontaminate water sources and plant food crops.

Statistically speaking, animal agriculture alone accounts for half of the fresh waterconsumption in the US. It also makes up 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions, although thispercentage contains gases that are by far more deadly to our atmosphere than many othercontributors. Also, 65% of the nitrous oxide caused by human activity comes from animal lots,and this gas is 296 times as strong an insulator as carbon dioxide! The methane output fromanimal lots account for 37% of all the methane we produce and this gas is 23 times moreharmful than carbon dioxide. Additionally, 64% of the ammonia we create comes from raisinganimals and when this stuff gets into our atmosphere it falls back to the earth as acid rain!Runoff tainted with antibiotics, hormones, e coli, and salmonella seeps into the groundwaterand finds its ways into rivers and streams and neighboring farms polluting our waterways

more than every other source of water pollution combined. Raising livestock is even moredangerous than hydro-fracking?

In fact the differences in the carbon footprint of a vegan and a meat-eater are so astonishingthat it can be likened to the difference between someone who uses a bicycle for transportationand someone who drives a hummer around all day.

MYTH #24

Being a vegan is less sustainable than being a local eating omnivore

There is a lot of hype from people who eat meat about how its more sustainable to eat locallyproduced meat than to ship produce from far away. While its always best to eat local, poundfor pound, animals produced for food local or not still pollute our environment more thanimporting produce from across the world!


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Animals raised for food also consume a huge amount of our resources. It takes roughly 15pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to make one pound of beef! While a vegan can befed for one whole year on a meager one-sixth an acre of land, people who eat meat need atleast 20 times more space to feed them for the same amount of time. And livestock alreadycover 30% of our arable land. Just imagine what we could do will all of our available farmlandif we raised food crops for humans instead of animals destined for slaughter.

If we want a sustainable solution to our global food crisis and to save children all over theworld from starvation then we need a world that is primarily vegan to emerge. Its in fact verytrue that we have enough land to feed every human living in this world right now. I think itsa huge problem that we waste food rather than give it to the needy and that we raise animalsfor food instead of raising crops that we can share with those who are in danger of starvation.

So lets get something straight here Cows and other farm animals need food right? And theyneed water. So, we end up clearing land which depletes the Earths ability to absorb heat andradiation and helps raise the global temperature to grow food crops for animals which alsouses tons of our precious fresh water and instead of feeding the food grown on this land to

humans we feed it to animals who also need massive amounts of land to live on and thenin turn these animals pollute our air and water, and destroy our soil and somehow this is moresustainable than just eating a salad or some fruit?

OK, sure To be fair Ill admit that about 5% of US animal agriculture is relativelysustainable, but if all meat and animal products were sustainably produced, we wouldnt haveenough land to feed the number of animals currently being used for meat, eggs, and milk.Somethings got to give here. Either every animal raised for human consumption needs to beconfined to torturous conditions and raised in squalor, making each other and the people whocome into contact with their agricultural runoff sick, or we need to use all of our land forroaming animals so that people can continue eating the amounts of meat they eat now.

Suddenly, Thai coconuts, Florida oranges, and off-season Mexican grown tomatoes are lookinglike far more sustainable options. Buy local, eat local, go vegan and live simply and you willaffect your entire community and the world!

MYTH #25

Fruits have too much sugar and should be used in moderation

Arguments in support of this MYTH come mainly from people who eat some sort of variationof the Paleo diet. Proponents of this claim that through human intervention in naturallyoccurring plant breeding, weve encouraged fruit to hybridize into versions that contain moresugar than their ancestors. While most fruit varieties have been selectively bred for theirsweetness over other varieties they have not beengeneticallytampered with to encourage thisdesirable trait. First, one might argue that the ancestors of the modern cow were not biggerthan a large pig and that our modern livestock have also been bred selectively to expresscertain traits.


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But, onto the topic of fruit sugar Fruit is a naturally occurring food that humans and otherprimates are naturally attracted to. Despite our selective breeding there are plenty of fruits thathave always been sweet like bananas, figs, melons and dates. It may be true that you canovereat fruit, as with anything taken in excess, but its actually very difficult to do unless youarent eating anything else. Of course its always good to balance your fruit intake inmoderation and variety to make sure youre getting enough variation of nutrients.

Like I just mentioned, you can overeat fruit. If youre eating more sugar than youre burningoff then technically youre eating too much of it. Fortunately the threshold is fairly high forfruit sugar because our bodies convert it very efficiently into energy. But as with anything fatand protein included if you

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