How can I include more fruits and vegetables in my diet?

Take veggies seriously. Vegetables are an important component of your diet, and most of us don’t eat enough of them. The American Cancer Society advises us all to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day, and many researchers suggest 8 to10 servings per day would be optimal. The only way to achieve this is to plan each meal to include several servings of fruit or vegetables.

For breakfast, focus on fruit. A smoothie (see Protein-Powered Fruit Smoothie recipe) is a great way to get plenty of fruit into your diet, as you can include bananas and whatever fruit you have on hand. Alternatively, a glass of orange juice, and a piece of fruit on the side of whatever else you have for breakfast will get you started on meeting your fruit requirement for the day.

For lunch, try to include a couple of different vegetables with the meal. This may mean that you include some greens, cucumber slices, and red pepper sticks in your sandwich. Choose romaine or red leaf lettuce or spinach rather than iceberg lettuce, which has little nutritional value. Baby carrots, zucchini and red pepper sticks are great to dip into hummus or other dips. Coleslaw (see The Great American Coleslaw recipe on page XX) is a delicious option in a pita pocket, and vegetable soups are always a good choice. A piece of fruit makes a great dessert.

For snacks, choose a piece of fruit, dried fruit in trail mix, and baby carrots as quick, easy options.

For dinner, choose an entrée which has plenty of vegetables included, and add more if you can. For example, if you buy a prepared vegetable pizza, there will be a few small pieces of vegetables included. Top up the pizza with extra vegetables – sliced mushrooms, zucchini, red peppers and some frozen peas and corn are easily added to give extra nutrition and fiber. In addition to the entrée, aim to always have at least one steamed vegetable and a salad bowl on the side. Good choices for steamed vegetables include greens such as kale, collards or chard, green beans, and broccoli, although any vegetable you like is a good choice. Remember that variety is important, so try to vary your choice of vegetables from one day to the next.

For environmentalist Ed Begley, the reasons for being a vegetarian are simple and clear. Begley ditched meat and says, “It simply takes more land, more water and more energy to grow a pound of beef than it does a pound of broccoli or grain.” That certainly is true. Raising animals, feeding them the plants that we could consume, and cutting down forests in order to graze cattle, makes animal agriculture an unsustainable way to feed an ever-growing population.

But it’s not just the environmental impact that inspires Ed to stay meat-free. He goes on to say, “Nowadays cattle and hogs and chickens are kept in very confined conditions too, so it’s not something I want for the animals or for myself.” Begley sure knows a thing or two about standing up for what he believes in. He’s been living a green lifestyle since the 70′s.

“First of all, I did go vegan and I’m very excited about it. I feel great. I feel alive. I really do. I feel like I’m making great choices for my health. I’m enjoying cooking vegan,” she told participants. As much as she loves being vegan, she has struggled with not having quick go-to meals. Luckily, she found a solution and now Mowry, her hubby and son can enjoy vegan meals whenever they want.

“What I’ve had to do, especially for my family, is cook a lot. When you’re a mom it’s hard to find that time. So I find myself cooking tons of food and then storing it up in the freezer or in the refrigerator,” Mowry said. “It’s a difficult transition, especially when you’ve been eating one way all of your life. You kind of have to relearn ways on how to cook, and I think that has been difficult.”  She hasn’t let that discourage her, and she has loaded up on cookbooks such as Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet.” Mowry is so passionate about her new diet, that she hopes to publish her very own vegan cookbook centered around quick 30 minute vegan meals for moms that are on the go, sometime in the future.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and student Arianna Francisco have a vegetarian meal together.

America’s first all vegetarian public school has just started operating in New York City. We won’t hide our excitement. We hope that now that the ice has been broken, and positive reports from students are rolling in, that this will be the start of a new trend.

“The founding of our school was based on health and nutrition and teaching kids how to make healthy choices, in the belief that they would be more successful academically and in their life,” Principal and school co-founder Robert Groff said.

The School, which opened in 2008, gradually started offering vegetarian meals more and more days a week, reducing the days per week they served traditional cafeteria food like chicken nuggets. “But then we started to watch the kids; one, what they would bring in to school, and two, what they would gravitate towards in the cafeteria” Groff said. The switch to meatless — which the school did in partnership with nonprofit organization New York Coalition for Healthy School Food — was seamless.

Groff said most parents have greeted the changes warmly and were able to test new dishes at “family dinner” nights. The children are also giving it a “thumbs up”. Students were enjoying dishes such as braised black beans and plantains, Tofu roasted in Asian sesame sauce, roasted organic tofu with cacciatore sauce, whole grain pasta and roasted zucchini, “Superhero” spinach wrap with cucumber salad, tofu vegetable wraps, and vegetarian chili served with brown rice. “This is so good!” said Marian Satti, while devouring a black-bean dish and “I’m enjoying that it didn’t have a lot of salt in it.” one said, “When you’re healthy you can do better on tests, and you can fight more diseases.” Another student added, “It’s green so it can make your eyes better, and it can also help your muscles to become stronger, and it also has a lot of protein, not a lot of sugar.”

Bob Groff, the school’s principal, says support from everyone, including its partner, the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food, has made a big difference in producing results. “Our internal studies show a clear reduction in the percentage of fat in body weight,” Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, who often crows about maintaining a fit lifestyle, said the launch of the vegetarian food-fest should be duplicated in schools across the city and country. “I don’t eat fried foods. I don’t drink soda. I try not to have sweets too often,” said Walcott, who tested the veggie victuals. “And that’s what we want for our students … to make sure they eat healthy both at home and school.”

Susan Levin, Director of nutrition education at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, says “Schools across the country should look to New York City elementary school P.S. 244’s visionary, plant-based cafeteria, not only to improve their students’ test scores, attention and mental focus, but also to improve students’ overall health and well-being. School districts that offer healthy, low-fat, cholesterol-free options give their students a leg up on test scores. Many studies link low-fat, high-fiber diets with brain-boosting power, and simply adding more fruits, vegetables and whole grains in school cafeterias will help halt the meteoric rise of obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension, among other chronic diseases in children and teens.”

Many feel that New York’s bold move represents a ray of hope for the serious nutritional and health crisis children are experiencing. Unfortunately, France has taken a step in the opposite direction and it’s one that, if not overturned very soon, could hurt every student in the country, especially the vegetarian ones.

A decree and bylaw, published in the “Journal Officiel” on October 2nd 2011, forces school canteens to respect a set of standards meant to guarantee the nutritional balance of the meals. Each meal necessarily has to contain a protein dish where proteins are exclusively animal-based (meat, fish, eggs or cheese), overriding the plentiful availability of vegetable proteins. A dairy product is supposedly necessary as the only way to cover calcium needs, ignoring untold vegetable and mineral alternatives. For meats (beef, veal, lamb, or offal…) and fish, a minimum frequency is specified as mandatory.

So now it is impossible in France for regular school cafeteria users to be vegetarian on a consistent basis, and it is impossible to be vegan for even one meal. Vegetarian children, who may manage to leave the meat on the edge of their plate, are forced to have unbalanced meals, as no alternative can be provided.

This decree appears to be a short-sighted political move designed to protect the French animal farmers, who have been scared by the success of speeches by famous people such as Paul McCartney, advocating eating no meat one day a week. Let’s hope there’s sufficient uproar by health and human rights advocates in France, for the politicians to see the folly of such a move someday soon!

According to Bill Gates, “meat consumption worldwide has doubled in the last 20 years. By 2030, the world will need millions of tons more meat than it does today. But raising meat takes a great deal of land and water and has a substantial environmental impact.” Gates cites the UN figures on the expected growth of meat (see chart).

So what’s his solution? Companies that produce vegan meats. Products that are delicious but that don’t use any animal products. Gates writes, “Put simply, there’s no way to produce enough meat for 9 billion people. We need more options for producing meat without depleting our resources. Over the past few years, I’ve come across a few companies that are doing pioneering work on innovations that give a glimpse into possible solutions. To be sure, it’s still very early, but the work these companies are doing makes me optimistic. I wanted to share with you a look at their work on creating alternatives to meat and eggs that are just as healthful, are produced more sustainably, and taste great.”

Gates says “fake meats get real” and writes about two companies in particular, “Food scientists are creating healthful plant-based alternatives that taste just like eggs, chicken, and other sources of protein. Companies like Beyond Meat and Hampton Creek Foods are experimenting with new ways to use heat and pressure to turn plants into foods that look and taste just like meat and eggs. I tasted Beyond Meat’s chicken alternative and was impressed. I couldn’t tell the difference between Beyond Meat and real chicken. Beyond Eggs, Hampton Creek Foods’ egg substitute, doesn’t contain the high cholesterol of real eggs.” Entrepreneurs take note that Gates considers fake meats a “big market opportunity.”

Gates’ foundation has also completed a major global study documenting various diseases. “Researchers released the results of a five-year project—funded by our foundation—to assess the prevalence of diseases, injuries and risk factors in 187 countries over a 20 year period—from 1990 to 2010. Known as the Global Burden of Disease 2010 (GBD), it is the most comprehensive study of its kind, and incorporates the work of hundreds of public health experts.” This study showed that along with the increase in global meat consumption comes an increase in diet-related diseases. For instance heart disease now tops the list of the most common diseases world-wide while stroke has moved to the number 3 position. Diabetes has also moved way up on the list.

The message seems clear. Plant foods constitute the most sustainable and healthy future of food. To take part in this cutting edge trend, you need no special technology or billions of dollars. Healthy eating is as close as your kitchen and natural food store and Vegetarians of Washington is here to help!

Steve describes his journey to veg by saying, “Initially, my decision to stop eating meat was motivated by fear of spiritual consequences, but right away I found that not eating meat made me feel good about myself. It increased my self-esteem, which I found so rewarding, I wanted to do more. As soon as I went vegan, people started telling me that my skin looked great, and that I appeared younger, slimmer, and healthier. I’m convinced that of all the changes I’ve made to my lifestyle, it’s the adoption of a vegan diet that has been best for me — physically, mentally, and certainly spiritually. It’s benefited every area of my life.”

She was motivated to make the change to improve her health. After initially switching to a vegetarian diet, but still eating a bit too much junk-vegfood, she transitioned over to better vegetarian choices and now credits her recent weight loss to this change. “OK, you’re seeing less of me. Here’s the skinny on my weight loss,” Meade begins on the post before announcing, “I’m a vegetarian. And have been for about a year.”

It’s scary, and it can be deadly, when antibiotics stop working against bacteria. This is known as antibiotic resistance. Patients suffer and can die from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Unfortunately, this is happening more and more these days. Many doctors warn that we may soon have no effective antibiotics – a medical catastrophe. In fact, the problem has become so widespread and serious that the World Health Organization calls antibiotic resistance one of the three greatest threats to human health.

Many medical authorities from around the world, and from right here in the good old US of A, are starting ring the alarm bells. For instance, Britain’s most senior medical adviser has warned that the rise in drug-resistant diseases could trigger a national emergency comparable to a catastrophic terrorist attack, pandemic flu or major coastal flooding.

Dame Sally Davies, their chief medical officer (equivalent to our Surgeon General), said the threat from infections that are resistant to frontline antibiotics was so serious that the issue should be added to the government’s national risk register of civil emergencies.

She described what she called an “apocalyptic scenario” where people going for simple operations in 20 years’ time would die of routine infections, “because we have run out of antibiotics”. Drug resistance is emerging in diseases across the board. Davies said 80% of gonorrhea was now resistant to the frontline antibiotic tetracycline, and infections were rising in young and middle-aged people. Multi-drug resistant TB was also a major threat, she said. Another worrying trend is the rise in infections that are resistant to powerful antibiotics called carbapenems, which doctors rely on to tackle the most serious infections.

As with so many threats besetting humanity, the problem is linked to meat.

Most farm animals these days are raised on what are known as factory farms. On factory farms, animals are badly crowded together, and overcrowding promotes the spread of disease. To enable farm animals to survive under such harsh and unnatural conditions, farmers must routinely give them antibiotics in their daily feed. 80% of the antibiotics in the United States are used on farms. (The other 20% is prescribed by doctors for human use and over-prescribing is also a cause for concern). The practice, far from abating, is getting worse with sales of antibiotics to factory farms growing 2% over last year. The problem is that, with repeated use, all antibiotics become less and less effective because the bacteria develop resistance to it. According to former FDA commissioner, David Kessler, “Rather than healing sick animals, these drugs are often fed to animals at low levels to make them grow faster and to suppress diseases that arise because they live in dangerously close quarters on top of one another’s waste.”

To make matters worse, resistant bacteria have the ability to transfer their resistance to other previously non-resistant bacteria, making them resistant even though they have not been directly exposed to antibiotics themselves. These bacteria can then spread throughout the farm to other animals, to the farmers themselves, and from the farmers into the broader community. And of course, these bacteria are also transported into the community through the meat itself.

Outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are in the news quite frequently these days. Many infections caused by bacteria, such as Staph, Strep, Salmonella, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea, that were once easily cured with antibiotics are again threatening our health and even our lives due to antibiotic resistance. In one case, a 12-year-old child was infected with Salmonella that was resistant to 13 different antibiotics. One outbreak of antibiotic resistant bacteria in food was the recall of over 36 million pounds of antibiotic resistant salmonella found in ground turkey made by Cargill. Health officials say the turkey being recalled contains Salmonella Heidelberg, a strain that is resistant to most commonly prescribed antibiotics.

You may have heard of a very dangerous bacterium in the news lately called MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus). MRSA causes serious, sometime deadly, resistant infections among healthy individuals, tragically including high school students and athletes. In one study, researchers found this deadly bacterium on 70% of pigs in Iowa and Illinois. And even more troubling, they found that 40% of farmers were carrying MRSA into the community, where children are particularly at risk. Another study found that resistant bacteria were being spread by flies.

Resistant bacteria are also making their way into our food supply. In one study of meat collected from supermarkets, almost all the bacteria found were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and over half the bacteria tested were resistant to three different antibiotics. Dr. Davidson H. Hamer, assistant professor of medicine at Tufts University, states, “The fact that one’s Sunday roast could literally be harboring a deadly and potentially untreatable pathogen no longer leaves any excuse for complacency.”

The Food and Drug Administration systematically monitors the meat and poultry sold in supermarkets around the country for the presence of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. These food products are bellwethers that tell us how bad the crisis of antibiotic resistance is getting. And they’re telling us it’s getting worse. This year, the FDA found that 74 percent of bacterially tainted chicken products harbored germs that were resistant to one or more types of antibiotics. For turkey products, more than three-quarters contained E. coli, and of those samples, 75 percent were resistant to one or more types of antibiotics.

Of course, the livestock farmers won’t admit responsibility. But, listen to what Dr. A. Khan, a deputy director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at a recent congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.: “There’s unequivocal evidence [of a] relationship between use of antibiotics in animals and transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing adverse effects in humans.” At the same hearing, Joshua Sharfstein, principal deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that researchers used molecular fingerprinting to follow an outbreak of drug-resistant bacteria, “You actually can trace the specific bacteria around, and they find that the resistant strains in humans match the resistant strains in the animals.” Even the reluctant US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has finally acknowledged the problem. But none of this is news. The American Medical Association called for an end to the routine use of antibiotics in farm animals years ago.

Don’t hold your breath for things to change. While both the FDA and the USDA have known about this problem for many years, they have chosen not to act on it. The same goes for congress. Bipartisan sponsored bills that would end the practice have gone nowhere, including the latest proposed legislation that would ban farmers from using seven classes of antibiotics critical for human health, except to treat sick animals.

Recently, the FDA, in a new but largely symbolic move, issued an advisory against the routine feeding of antibiotics to farm animals, because the practice is breeding resistant bacteria that are infecting humans more and more frequently. But the advisory has no force at all. It’s only a recommendation.

Just imagine what humanity stands to lose if the antibiotics become useless. We can’t wait any longer to take action. This is where the vegetarian diet comes into play. By adopting a vegetarian diet, you can help reduce the demand for meat and thus the amount of antibiotics used in agriculture. If you’re not yet ready to become a vegetarian, even cutting down your meat consumption can make a big difference. In doing so, you’ll be protecting your own health and the health of the whole community by helping to prevent the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria.

Many restaurants are planning even more. A case in point is Chipotles. The Chipotle Mexican Grill is expanding its test market for a new menu item called Sofritas to seven San Francisco Bay Area stores. Sofritas are a vegetarian menu option that features shredded tofu, chipotle chilis, roasted poblanos and a blend of spices. The Hodo Soy Beanery, Oakland, Calif., a processor of tofu and yuba, supplies the shredded tofu to Chipotle.

“We are changing the way people think about and eat fast food,” said Steve Ells, chairman and co-chief executive officer of Chipotle. “Sofritas is a very different menu item not just for Chipotle, but for any fast food or fast causal restaurant. It was really conceived with vegetarians and vegans in mind, but it’s so delicious that we believe it will have a broad appeal on taste alone.”

Sofritas will be available in burritos, tacos, burrito bowls and salads and may be combined with other ingredients, including white or brown cilantro-lime rice, pinto beans or vegetarian black beans, salsas and guacamole, and cheese or sour cream.

Not to be outdone by California, and always one step ahead, Washington already has Mexican style restaurants featuring tofu. Check out the tofu burritos and fajitas at Gorditos in the Greenwood section of Seattle and in Everett. All we can say is yum meets healthy in every bite!