Drink Soy Milk and Save Cows
Many doctors, parents, and nutritionists say that drinking milk everyday is good for you. Yes, it may have a high nutritional value, but cows are killed in the process of making milk.
In order for a cow to start producing milk, it must get pregnant. Once impregnated the cow’s mammary glands start to produce milk. When the calf is born it is either killed soon after birth to be turned into veal, or it is fattened and killed for beef later on in its life.
According to, Delaware Action For Animals, cows are accustomed to roaming unconstrained, so when they are put into a slaughter house environment they become extremely confused. Also, these farms aren’t equipped with proper shelter, so many cows freeze to death and suffer from dehydration.
These cows don’t deserve to be treated so brutally, and this is why people should drink soy milk instead for regular milk.
Soy milk doesn’t contain as much calcium as regular milk. But, as I have discussed before, calcium is plentiful in many other foods, such as: almonds, beans, cheese, and yogurt. 
Because soy milk is made from beans, it has more protein and fiber than regular milk, and best of all, it doesn’t kill any cows in the production process.
Soy milk isn’t any less in calories, in fact it actually has the same amount of calories as two percent fat milk. However, it doesn’t have any cholesterol, which regular milk does.
Another benefit of soy milk is the isoflavones that are in it. Isoflavones are chemicals very similar to estrogen. Isoflavones are said to prevent many diseases such as, many cancers, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
At my school, Cal Poly, all of the dining halls sell “Silk” soy milk. They have chocolate and vanilla flavors. “Silk” also comes in original flavor. “Silk” comes in four types of milk: simply silk, wellness, organics, and lights.
I drink a vanilla “Silk” with my breakfast at least four times a week. Having a cup of “Silk” and a banana is a very filling and nutritional breakfast. One personal box of “Silk” has 150 calories; this breakfast has a total of 257 calories.
I love drinking the chocolate and vanilla “Silk” because they taste more like milkshakes, than they do milk. Visits the “Silk” site to see what other people have to say about this amazing product.
Scholarships for Vegetarians
As vegetarians we are considered to be part of a minority group. However, more and more people are becoming vegetarian every year.
From the years 2004-2006, the percentage of vegetarian households(at least one person in a house is a vegetarian), has gone up from 4 percent to 12 percent.
This is a dramatic increase, and personally, it seems to be increasing even more. Almost every week I hear of someone that has turned vegetarian, or discover that someone is a vegetarian who I never knew was one.
Promoting vegetarianism saves the poor, innocent animals, and helps fight to preserve our earth. Not all vegetarians promote their lifestyle, but if were to tell you that there was a monetary reward for doing so, I bet more of you would start being an active member of our vegetarian society. It turns out that there are many scholarships that reward students who promote being a vegetarian. I just discovered these scholarships; unfortunately I didn’t know about them until now or else I would have applied to them already. Because I wish that I had known about them sooner, I want to tell you all about them, so you can apply before you have to take out to many loans.
This group gives two $5,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors, who are compassionate about vegetarian, and show it by promoting it throughout their school. This scholarship has already pasted this year, but it will be open again for next year.
This scholarship isn’t limited to vegetarians. Anyone can apply for it if you have done anything that fights for justice and freedom. If you are a vegetarian who has fought for animals rights, you will definitely qualify for this scholarship.
This scholarship is only given out at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It gives up to $10,000 to a graduate student who is studying in the department of human nutrition, food, and animal science, and who is a practicing vegetarian.
If you haven’t done anything to promote healthy, vegetarian eating yet, it isn’t too late. There are many things that you can do. You can start a vegetarian club at your school, create a blog, like I have, organize an event to raise money, and/or participate in a peaceful protest against a company that is cruel to animals. A peaceful protest can be choosing not to buy anything from that company, or doing something to discourage the public from promoting the company.
Eat your Eggplant
Eggplant is a great replacement for meat. Just like tofu, eggplant absorbs the flavors of the sauces that it is cooked in. I would prefer to eat eggplant over tofu because it has a more appetizing texture.
There are many health benefits to eating eggplant. Eggplant acts has an antibody because it balances out your body’s vitamins. If your body has too much of a vitamin it will get rid of the excess. Your body needs iron, but excess accumulation of iron can lead to a high risk of heart disease and cancer. Nasunin is a phytochemical found in eggplant that does just this. Nasunin also shields the brain’s cell membranes from any kind of damage or injury and tells different cells specific functions to perform.
The potassium content in eggplant helps maintain a balance in ones salt intake, thus helps your body maintain a good hydration level.
There are numerous dishes that you can make with eggplant. I want to share one of my favorite eggplant entrees with you.
Eggplant parmesan is probably my favorite dish. It is eggplant covered in bread crumbs, that is then covered in tomato sauce and cheese. It could be a little tricky to make in the dorms, but it is quite simple to make once you are living off campus. My mom makes the best eggplant parmesan, so I want to give you all her well crafted recipe:
Ingredients-
3 peeled eggplants (thinly sliced)
2 beaten eggs
4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
6 cups spaghetti sauce, divided
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Now that you have all of your ingredients, you are ready to start cooking.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Dip eggplant slices in beaten egg, then in bread crumbs. After you do this, place the eggplant slices onto a baking sheet. Bake in oven for five minutes on each side.
3. In a baking dish spread spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce.
4. Sprinkle with mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and basil.
5. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
Personally, I think that the thinner the eggplant slices are, the better it taste. I hope that you give this recipe a try. If it doesn’t seem like your type of meal, there are many other eggplant dishes that you can try.
Hidden Animal Byproducts in Vegetarian Foods
Photo from topdoglimobus.com
How certain are you that the salad you are eating is suitable for a vegetarian? If you look down and see no chicken, fish, or bacon
you will think you are in the clear. But look again, do you have caesar dressing? If so, you are not eating a pure vegetarian meal. Caesar dressing contain anchovies.
Animal byproducts are found in a lot of foods that most people would never think about. Even if you read the ingredients on the back of the package, you will probably not know what half of the ingredients are, let alone even be able to pronounce them.
Gelatin is found in marshmallows, yogurt, and frosted cereals. Gelatin is made from bones, cartilage, tendons, and skin of animals. I eat yogurt almost everyday, and I know that a lot of other vegetarians eat yogurt as well. Gelatin isn’t the same thing as meat, but still we have to consider the fact that in order to make it an animal had to be killed.
Some marshmallows are made with non-meat gelling agents like agar. Unfortunately, these non-meat agents make for an product that doesn’t have to same enjoyable texture of normal marshmallows.
Another food that most vegetarians would be shocked to find out consisted of animal byproducts is wine. Most wine is made with sturgeon bladder, egg albumin, gelatin, or casein. Adding these products to wine makes the bits of grape skin that didn’t dissolve, settle to the bottom of the barrel. Having the bits of grape at the bottom, instead of floating within, is said to make the wine have a smoother feel to it.
Cheese, another food that vegetarians depend on to get some of their vitamins, contains rennin. Rennin is an enzyme obtained from a young animal’s stomach, usually a calf’s stomach.
Cheese contains a lot of other animals byproducts such as lactic acid, and oleic acid.
Myself and a lot of other people that call themselves vegetarians eat numerous foods made with byproducts. However, every individual has to make this choice themselves. I think that if tried to not eat food containing the littlest bit of byproduct, I would starve in college. Despite this, I would choose to eat these foods anyways. Eating food with animal byproducts doesn’t make you any less of a vegetarian than those people who don’t.
In-N-Out
When our non-vegetarian friends are feasting on greasy, calorie filled, yet delicious burgers and other fast food, we are often not taking part and in the background munching on a salad. Watching them eat these burgers often used to disgust me and I was content with my veggies and ranch, but not any longer.
This all changed on my road trip to Tahoe this weekend. On the way I gave into the fast food king, In-N-Out. Being a vegetarian I never really had a desire to go to In-N-Out, but I also didn’t know about the secret menu.
In my hungry state of mind I ordered a “Grilled Cheese, Animal Style”, and didn’t even think twice about how unhealthy I knew it was. The grilled cheese had tomatoes, lettuce, extra pickles, extra “secret sauce”, and grilled onions.
Needless to say, it was delicious, and made my celery sticks that I had been munching on taste like dirt. In-N-Out caught me in a moment of weakness, but they definitely filled the part of me that needed some comfort food.
I was also told that on the secret menu there is a “Veggie Burger”, which is a burger with two tomatoes instead of a meat patty.
As I have admitted in some of my previous posts, my school caters more to vegetarians then I initially knew. The fact that the burger king of California has vegetarian options gives me hope for the future as a vegetarian.
Digging into a burger once in a while is a nice treat, but isn’t something that should be done frequently. My grilled cheese around 400 calories.
If you want to lower your carb in take I have learned that you can order your grilled cheese, or veggie burger “protein style”. This means that instead of a bun, your burger is wrapped in lettuce.
Next time your meat-loving friends go out and indulge on a treat, don’t stay behind. Don’t choose not to go because you assume you will find nothing to eat. Go out and enjoy yourself, and don’t regret eating something that isn’t good for you.
Eating healthy and organic food is great to do, but letting it control your life isn’t. Sure, watching your calories and not eating meat makes you a healthier person, but every now and then eat something you consider a treat, just eat it in moderation.
Sushi Snacking
After class we are all starving, but finding the perfect snack is often a long process. Not to fear, I have the answer for you-Sushi. Sushi is a great after school snack. It is healthy and filling; it will get you through all that tedious studying that you have to do until dinner time.
In most people’s minds sushi is associated with expensive prices, but if you make it yourself it is actually pretty cheap.
In order to make it, first go to your local market and buy the essential ingredients for all types of sushi. You must buy: small grained rice, nori, and then any vegetables that you want in your sushi. You will also need to purchase a sushi rolling mat. You can be creative and make your own sushi creation, or you can follow a recipe.
Now that you have all of your ingredients you are ready to start cooking. First you are going to have to cook the rice. Cook however much rice you want. Just keep in mind that for every cup of rice, you need a cup of water. Once you have put the rice and the water into a pot, cover the pot and put the stove on medium high. Let the rice cook for about 15 minutes, or until all the water is gone. Take the rice off of the stove, and let it cool.
Once the rice is cool, it is time to start constructing your sushi rolls. Start by laying out a piece of nori on the sushi rolling mat. Now cover the nori with a flat layer of rice, it can be as thick as you want it to be.
Now it is time to add the vegetables. Line up the vegetables off center in two rows. The rows should be as long as the nori.
After you add everything that you want to your sushi, start rolling it up with the mat. As you roll it apply some pressure with your hands, so you make the roll stick together. Once you have one long roll cut it into bite size pieces and enjoy.
The nori, which is dried seaweed, has antioxidants which are vital in fighting off cancer causing cells. It is also rich in fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals. Compared to plants that grow on land, these sea or ocean vegetables are 10- 20 times higher in vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
Guide to go back to meat the healthy way
We all know the feeling of getting the wrong meal at a restaurant. We are starving and it feels as if our stomach is about to eating itself. This is one of the worst feelings in my book.
Last night at dinner I stood in line to get a salad for 25 minutes. By the time that I finally sat down I was almost convinced that this was going to be the best salad of my life. This was until I found a piece of chicken in it. At first in was no big deal, but after a few more bites I found another piece.
I became upset because I had been told that if a vegetarian eats meat, they will become sick and not be able to process the meat.
It is important for vegetarians to know how to start eating meat again if they want to. If they take it too fast, or eat certain meats right away, they could put their bodies in harm.
The stomach has an enzyme called protease. The purpose of protease is to break down meat proteins. If you don’t eat meat your body will produce less amounts of protease, and eventually stop producing it all together.
If you re-introduce meat into your body after some time of not eating it, you need to take small steps. If you aren’t cautious then your body will reject the meat and you will experience horrible, painful stomach cramps, and you could throw up.
Start by cooking your vegetables in beef or chicken broth, instead of vegetable broth. This will help your body acclimate to animal products that feel foreign.
The next step to take would be to eat very bland meats. Try chicken to begin with. If you are a fish eater you can have white fish instead, if you prefer. Eat these meats for a few days to let your body build up protease.
After eating white meat for a few days, your body is now prepared to handle more hearty meat, like steak. Your body can handle a steak by now, but I wouldn’t recommend eating two full steaks, because this has turned out bad for some people.
For most people it only takes their body a week to become accustomed to digesting meat. Some people dig into a steak right off the bat and they don’t feel sick at all. Everyone’s body responds differently, but I would take it slow to avoid any cramping or irregularity that could take a toll on you.
