What I Eat in a Day | Vegan | In Ireland | High Carb ~ Low Fat ~ Low Pro...

7 Reasons Why Protein is Overrated

1. A Diet of Animal Protein Could Be as Harmful as Smoking

The result of this study which followed 6318 people concluded that those who ate a diet high in protein were 4 times more likely to die from cancer than those following a low protein diet.

“The percent of calorie intake from protein was used to categorize subjects into a high protein group (20% or more of calories from proteins), a moderate protein group (10%–19% of calories from proteins), and a low protein group (less than 10% of calories from proteins).”

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041311400062X

When the media found out about this it was all over the papers and internet news sites but I already knew animal protein was bad news after watching Forks Over Knives. But some people need an article in a trusted newspaper to convince them over some annoying plant eater trying to convert them (i.e. Me). So here are some links to articles that have highlighted the main points of this new study:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/high-protein-diet-could-be-as-dangerous-as-smoking-study-1.1713266

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/food-high-protein-diet-increases-mortality-risk-030414#3

There is sooooo much evidence in the world pointing to this that we all overlook! What are the biggest causes of death in the Western world? Cancer, heart disease and stroke! What is the typical Western diet? Meat, dairy, refined sugar, salt and NO FIBRE. It is blatantly obvious. You are what you eat. To get the full low down on this correlation and how you can literally cut your risk factor for these diseases in half (or more) watch the documentary “Forks Over Knives”. Seriously interesting and it could save your life. Actually.

Photo courtesy of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj5usjFQqs0

2. The World Health Organisation protein requirements are actually way lower than what people are eating and far lower than what the protein company marketers are making you think you need. 

You actually only need 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight. The average American (my sources are only American websites but there aren’t many major differences between macro-nutrient ratios in all of the developed countries) eat twice as much protein as they need.

http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/how-can-i-get-enough-protein-the-protein-myth

And that’s only the average person. Imagine how much meat someone on a body building or paleo diet eats.

To see how much meat Irish people were eating check out this survey: https://www.safefood.eu/SafeFood/media/SafeFoodLibrary/Documents/Publications/Research%20Reports/NorthSouthIrelandFoodConsumptionSurveyIrishUniversitiesNutritionAllianceSummaryReport.pdf

However, this was done in 1999, nearly 20 years ago, and you can be sure that people are eating even more protein now due to all the ridiculous marketing.

The bottom line here is we are eating too much meat and it is dangerous as f**k.

3. Kidney stones. 

This is the surface of a kidney stone under a microscope.

Photo courtesy of: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surface_of_a_kidney_stone_with_tetragonal_crystals_of_Weddellite_(calcium_oxalate_dihydrate)._REM_21.jpg

Can you imagine that having to pass through your urinary tract? High meat diets increase your risk of developing kidney stones, whereas a diet of fresh fruit and vegetables reduces the risk. Dr. Gregor has a few videos on this topic and can explain it for you a lot better than I can: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to-prevent-kidney-stones-with-diet/

4. Heart disease. 

Photo courtesy of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronary_artery_disease

Do people know about this one yet? Again this is one of the main topics in the documentary “Forks Over Knives”. Basically the more meat you eat the more likely you are to get heart disease. Think about it, meat is laden with cholesterol and saturated fat, even if you trim off the fat! It’s still there in through the flesh.

Animal protein is the only dietary source of cholesterol too and cholesterol is NOT HEALTHY.

But regardless of the fat content of meat the protein is still linked to heart disease, so that’s two major components of meat that contribute to heart disease. Again watch this video for the facts broken down: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/protein-and-heart-disease/

http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/how-can-i-get-enough-protein-the-protein-myth

5. Excess needs to be excreted.

I already mentioned in another point that we are eating way more protein than we need, but aside from the fact that we are obsessing over it for no reason and it’s a waste of time, there are actual health consequences to this excess. The body only uses what it needs to repair the muscles and any excess obviously has to be dealt with and eliminated. This process is very damaging to the kidneys who are under strain from trying to get rid of all this extra protein. Here’s what the Physician’s Committee for Responsable Medicine say about this:

 “When people eat too much protein, it releases nitrogen into the blood or is digested and metabolized. This places a strain on the kidneys, which must expel the waste through the urine. High-protein diets are associated with reduced kidney function. Over time, individuals who consume very large amounts of protein, particularly animal protein, risk permanent loss of kidney function. Harvard researchers reported that high-protein diets were associated with a significant decline in kidney function, based on observations in 1,624 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study. The good news is that the damage was found only in those who already had reduced kidney function at the study’s outset. The bad news is that as many as one in four adults in the United States may already have reduced kidney function, suggesting that most people who have renal problems are unaware of that fact and do not realize that high-protein diets may put them at risk for further deterioration. The kidney-damaging effect was seen only with animal protein. Plant protein had no harmful effect.9
The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that high animal-protein intake is in part responsible for the high prevalence of kidney stones in the United States and other developed countries and recommends protein restriction for the prevention of recurrent kidney stones.10"

http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/how-can-i-get-enough-protein-the-protein-myth

6. It’s a money racket. 

Photo courtesy of: http://www.berserkbarbell.com/2013/07/supplements.html

Think about all the horrible health problems I have just mentioned that are associated with high protein consumption. But why do we all believe that it is the be all the end all? Marketing!

Body builders and protein powder companies and the meat industry have just completely milked the need for protein into something much more than it really is. Think about it, they’re all trying to sell you something! And does it all even work? Most of the big body builders are on steroids as well as over-eating protein so how do you even know if it’s the protein that makes them big and muscly?

Vegan body builders do actually exist and they do not rely on protein powders and shakes. They just eat enough calories and with enough calories they get enough of the nutrients their bodies need. http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/

7. There isn’t even a word for protein deficiency. 

Most people get unbelievably worried if you tell them you don’t eat meat and ask “But where do you get your protein?” As if we are going to be deficient in protein. The only way you can be deficient in protein is if you are actually malnourished…as in starving. It is such a myth that we need to make an effort to get enough protein. Just eat until you’re full ar every meal and you will have enough. There is a website https://cronometer.com/ where you can choose a macronutrient ratio goal and then put in your daily food intake and it will tell you how much fat, protein and carbs your are getting. I aim for 80% carbs, 10% protein and 10% fat and I don’t even eat that many beans and I still get enough protein! Seriously check it out. It’s a really good wa to see what nutrients your getting.

So moral of the story is, if you eat meat your getting too much protein and it’s dangerous. Best thing to do would be to start cutting down, slowly but surely. You’ll ease the pressure on your arteries, kidneys and your whole body. Don’t be afraid of carbs. They are your body’s primary preferred source of fuel. And all foods that are considered “carbs” actually have protein in them too! (again check out chronometer it breaks down each individual food and tells you what’s in it) There is so much more information out there about the dangers of protein but I just wanted to give an easy to read summary of the main issues surrounding the overrated protein.

Cecil the Lion, and other animals too...

My 10 Favourite Dairy Alternatives

This post is for those who have learned about the truth of the dairy industry and the health implications of eating dairy and who want to transition to a dairy-free diet but might not have the full information about what they can eat instead!

:)

For Milk:

1. Koko Coconut milk. This is the best milk substitute I've found so far. I actually didn't realise how good it was until someone at work told me that they put it in glass bottles to trick their kids into thinking it was real dairy milk and it worked! Then I actually thought I'd have a taste of it straight from the carton to test it and lo and behold it's up there with semi-skimmed Donegal Creameries milk. Minus the puss and enslavement of innocent beings. This is perfect in tea, coffee, cereal, baking, or even on its own. It has no taste of coconut either by the way incase you thought that might be weird. It would be weird. However be warned people: make sure if you go out looking for this that you don't get confused and buy the Alpro Coconut milk because it is vile.

PS. You can get chocolate "milk" from this brand too and it is so delicious! If you're feeling American!

2. The next best one I would say is the Organic Alpro Soya milk. Not the non-organic one - just the organic one - they do taste different. I don't know if you could drink this one straight like normal milk but it's perfectly fine in tea and cereal and the like.

For cheese: 

Let me talk about cheese for a second here. Melted cheese is not an easy thing to replicate and I havn't come across many good vegan versions - however - I have never looked for them or bought them. My only time experiencing melted vegan cheese was when I ordered a vegan pizza in England when I lived there. The first time it was lovely, the second time it was absolutely vile. They were from two different restaurants though and more than likely used different "cheeses". So if you are obsessed with melted cheese you are just going to have to wean yourself off it. Think of the puss and the scabby udders and the poor cows.

Now I have only experienced vegan cheese cold once and I was very very impressed with this one.

1. Violife cheese slices. I bought these once in London just out of curiosity to see if I could replicate a ham and cheese sandwich, And I could! It was amazing actually how much it reminded me of sliced cheese. I had the mozzerella flavoured one and I really liked it. For texture it was identical (in my opinion), and in flavour, it was definitely like a cheap sliced-cheese, but very authentic. So if people like their cheese sandwiches, this is your go-to product! I didn't try it melted but if anyone likes cheese toasties and tries it with this please let me know how you get on.

Photo courtesy of: http://independentkitchen.co.uk/vegan-parmesan/

2. Parmesan. Now for a fun one you can make yourself! One of my housemates in England has a blog focusing on vegan and vegetarian recipes and she is a genius! She came up with this parmesan alternative and it is so so good. It's so easy to make as well. You need about 4 ingredients, the main ones being cashews (unsalted) and nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is another vegan staple ingredient. It's a flaky kind of substance and is very nutty and cheesy. It's light so you can sprinkle it over any savoury dish for extra flavour. Click here for her recipe. (Her name is Danni go look at her blog for excellent vegan recipes and ignore her vegetarian ones :D )

For butter:

1. Pure Soya butter. This stuff is an all-round winner. It tastes like real butter, it's soft, and it's cheaper than real butter! (Where we live anyway) My mum buys this now instead of normal butter for herself, myself and my dad. The boys are still afraid of anything that isn't "normal". Be careful not to buy the olive one instead because I have tried that and it's not as good. The soya one is best.

For ice-cream:

1. I've only tried this once. It was raw too - the only ingredients were cashews, water and vanilla! It was definitely identical to ice-cream because it was so rich I felt sick afterwards. But if you like ice-cream and can't go without then this is for you. Except it costs a small fortune so maybe you should save it for special occasions and try my next idea instead!

2. Nana ice-cream! Or Nice cream! Whatever you want to call it...!

But basically, to make a really healthy and really tasty homemade ice-cream, all you need to do is get some (5/6/7) frozen ripe bananas, chop them up and put them in a good blender, or food processor. Your blender/food processor needs to be very good for this because frozen bananas are rock hard. You should even let them sit for 10 minutes before blending and use a bit of water or milk add moisture and help them blend.

You will need a tad bit of patience for this because the frozen bananas get stuck up above the blade a lot and you need to keep getting a spatula and pushing them down, but trust me, it's worth it. The best thing is too, you can literally add anything you want to make different flavours. Cacao powder for chocolate, strawberries for strawberry flavour, raspberries for raspberry flavour (duh), peanut butter, etc etc. I would suggest though that you use dates or coconut sugar for a bit of extra sweetness. 

Oh and please for the love of God could people please learn what a ripe banana is! It is not yellow! It is speckled brown! With yellow underneath! If the stem or any part of the banana is green it is very under-ripe and the sugars won't be developed and therefore the vitamins and minerals won't be developed and it will be starchy and give you constipation and bad digestion! You will even know yourself by the smell, a ripe banana always smells sweet and banana-like whereas a yellow/green banana doesn't really smell of anything except maybe twigs. Look this up if you must but please don't make a banana smoothie or banana ice-cream with unripe bananas and then complain that it wasn't nice.

For mayonnaise: 

1. This one is really easy because there are mayo substitutes everywhere! I just picked this one for the picture because it's organic and organic is always better! But get whichever one you want because any fake mayo is better than the real thing. Actually I'm just thinking mayo isn't actually dairy because it's made from egg but it's white so let's classify it as the same for this occasion.

But yeh this can be used as the real thing in sandwiches and to make nice dips and different sauces or spreads for wraps and stuff. Some of the mayo substitutes can be slightly like salad cream though...which I love...but if you don't - sorry. However, if you get some soya natural yoghurt and mix that in, it will neutralise the flavour a bit and make it more subtle and bland like real mayo!

For yoghurt

1. Alpro yoghurts are excellent. They come in all the different yoghurt flavours like fruit, berries etc plus natural, vanilla etc. There is no soya taste off it and the texture is identical to normal yoghurt. I can't really find a fault with these.

2. Coyo might not be as well known but they are really nice, They're definitely different to normal yoghurts though so you need to be slightly open minded. They are really tasty though and come in loads of favours. The texture is kind of thick and it separates slightly but you just mix it all up and you're good to go. It's just another option anyway.

So folks I hope you found this helpful! I just want to make it as easy as possible for anyone interested in trying out this lifestyle. Obviously there are plenty more dairy alternatives out there but these are the ones I use and that are available in Ireland from the supermarkets or health food shops. If you're wondering about chocolate that's not actually hard to get. Most dark chocolates are milk-free so just check the back of any dark chocolate! Green and Blacks is good but they're all similar enough. If anyone has any questions please mail me on facebook if you know me and if not just comment under this post or on YouTube or on Instagram.

Thank you 

Amy

xxx

Vegan eco holiday vlog #2 Algarve Portugal

Vegan holiday vlog #1 | Eco-hostal Algarve

10 Simple Vegan Breakfast Ideas

Here's a pretty comprehensive rundown of really simple and really healthy (well some more than others) breakfast ideas for people who maybe might want to take veganism one meal at a time! Enjoy :)

1. A mono-meal of fruit! Mono-meal meaning eating a lot of one fruit, it could be 10 bananas, 3 cartons of strawberries, 6 mangoes, apples, oranges etc. etc. you catch my drift! Why is this easy? Because no prep involved except lifting and putting to mouth.
   
   
   Why is it healthy? Mono-meals of fruit are the easiest thing for your stomach to digest. Fruit is the fastest digesting food for our bodies which means the body doesn’t have to strain to digest it. It does it with ease, leaving more energy to do other things like heal and play!
   
   
   The reason mono-meals are better than mixed fruit meals is because if you give the body different types of fruit all at once it will have to struggle slightly as different types of fruit are digested at different speeds. So eating the one type of fruit is best.
   
   
   
   Oh here’s an important tip: melons can be digested in 15 mins – provided you don’t have any dead rotting flesh stuck in your gut– so always eat melon alone…for optimum digestion. If you have good digestion 24 / 7 then you may disregard this and experiment!
2. A fruit smoothie! There are so many options here I don’t even know if there’s a point explaining! Basically get 1 or 2 fruits that are reasonably similar in sweetness or in the same fruit groups so they digest well together, put in the blender (to the top), add some sort of liquid like water, coconut water, plant based milk, apple juice, orange juice etc., some greens or nuts or powders, or any fancy stuff you want in your smoothie to make you feel like you’re eating superfoods, something to give it extra sweetness because your blending the fruit with something less sweet so like dates, coconut sugar, or lucuma powder (never tried it but heard it nice) and blend! 
   
3. Cereal! An old traditional favourite, how simple can you get. Just find your favourite plant based milk and pick a relatively clean cereal. I would highly recommend organic cereals, gluten free is good, and the lesser processed the better and check the ingredients to make sure there is no milk or honey! If you get a plain cereal you can always jazz it up with the likes of dates, goji berries, nuts, seeds, agave syrup, fresh berries, banana etc.! Again the possibilities are endless! 
    Picture: http://www.top.me/nutrition/goji-berries-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-fruit-of-immortality-2543.html
   
   
4. Toast. Hi I said simple breakfast ideas! Try to get organic bread because word on the street is that wheat is GMO and sprayed with all kinds of dirty filthy chemicals. That being said though I myself do not buy organic bread (because my mum buys the bread). But when I don’t live at home I don’t really buy bread unless I see organic bread. Oh and sorry to break it to anyone Irish, our beloved traditional brown bread and soda bread is not vegan. It has buttermilk and butter in it.
   
   
   This is unfortunate but I have, on my mental to-do list, a plan to try to make a vegan version. I have seen some recipes online I just need to get a day to do it. If successful I will share.
   
   
   But yeh don’t be afraid of toast! If it is a whole organic toast it’s a natural enough food! High carb for the win!
   
5. Beans on toast J People like beans on toast! And it’s vegan too….do I need to explain this anymore? People surely know how to make beans on toast? Try organic baked beans if you can spend the extra few cent...it's just better for everyone.
   
   
   
6. Scrambled tofu…oooh yeessss I went there…. :)  But no just wait until I explain here. Scrambled tofu is a vegan take on scrambled egg, minus the chicken period. It is really similar in texture and colour and personally when I made it first I thought it tasted like scrambled egg! But it’s been a while so I don’t know how similar it really was but my aunty and uncle absolutely loved it and they know the real thing. There are so many recipes online but I’ll give you a list of what I put into it, and you can look at actual recipes online to get a general estimate of quantities: Firm tofu, plant based milk, vegan mayo, turmeric, cumin, paprika, nutritional yeast, salt&pepper, I might have put lemon juice in to….but check the recipes online for a breakfast version and experiment! It’s amazeballs. 

   
   Photo courtesy of: http://vegandad.blogspot.ie/2008/10/vegan-moms-scrambled-tofu.html
   
   
7. Smoothie bowls! Smoothie bowls have taken Instagram by storm….mainly because they look pretty. But they are basically just thicker smoothies in a bowl with toppings of your choice.
   
   
   They can be anything from berries, shredded coconut, coconut sugar, crushed nuts, goji berries etc. Personally I think smoothie bowls should be thicker than drinking smoothies so kind of like melted icecream….so using frozen fruit along with your normal ingredients helps make it thicker. And use less water. I don’t know how obvious that one is so I had to say it..!
    Photo courtesy of: http://www.domesticate-me.com/vegan-berry-crunch-smoothie-bowl/
   
   
8. Fruit salad. I know I said it is better to eat one type of fruit at a time for your digestion’s sake but if you’re feeling adventurous or if you have a steel stomach then experiment away with different combos!
   
   
   A selection of different types of melon would be nice with passion fruit over the top! Or plums, peaches and nectarines. Or different citrus fruits in winter. Or all three…! Be an artist..! I would recommend soya natural yoghurt on top if you had to have a topping. My favourite food growing up was fruit salad and natural (Greek) yoghurt and I swear it is still unreal but with plant based yoghurt instead! (because yoghurt is cultured cow pus) J 
   Photo courtesy of: http://arsenal-scotland.blogspot.ie/2014/10/pistachio-fruit-salad-recipe-tree-with.html
9. Porridge. A big one for us in Ireland because eating fresh fruit on a cold winters day isn’t the most satisfying breakfast you can have….especially before going out in the gale force winds and icy rain. (What lovely winters we have…) SO porridge is the answer! For me anyway! What I recently learned to do is to soak my porridge over night! I do this with juice or my plant based milk and then in the morning it’s basically already cooked and all I need to do is heat it up. It’s far quicker than cooking it from scratch in the morning.

   
   

   And again porridge is a blank canvas for all your healthy sprinkles so add your berries and your nuts and your dates and you have yourself an interesting breakfast.

   
   

   If you add chia seeds to it while it’s soaking overnight too it makes it even softer and smoother in the morning. Chia seeds do some weird shit to things. But good shit. Try it honestly. 

   Photo courtesy of: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17292/porridge+with+banana+pecan+topping