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The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of protein for an adult male is 56 grams. This is equal to the protein in 2 cups of skim milk, 3/4 cup of Cheerios, 2 eggs, 2 slices of whole wheat bread, and a 2-oz chicken breast. So, a breakfast of Cheerios and milk, lunch of an egg sandwich and a glass of milk, and a tiny 2-oz chicken patty at supper would meet the full requirement.

Compare this with an egg breakfast, a meat-and-cheese sandwich at midday, and a 4- to 6-oz. portion of beef at supper. We haven’t even mentioned the protein content of any vegetables or starches. It’s easy to see that we typically enjoy far more than the minimum RDA. With a mindset change about how much protein we really need for good health, our food budgets would shrink significantly.

In addition, by combining grains, dairy products, and legumes, we can create complete proteins with the same nutritional value as meat for even more savings.

I’ve listed some combinations with examples beneath them below:

Milk + Grains

Legumes + Grains

Notice how complete protein combinations are already a staple in meals from many areas of the world? Doctors have known for decades that eating too much meat is bad for your health. Meat increases the carbon footprint and balloons your food budget. When times are tough, use these protein combinations and stretch your pennies guilt free.

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There has been a lot of false hype promoted by unscrupulous marketers of Acai berry products.  The truth is, it doesnâ??t cure cancer, male baldness, or even guarantee you a flat tummy.  But donâ??t let the preponderance of false claims diminish the value of this amazing superfood.

Acai berries have five outstanding features that are genuine.  Lets take a look at them.

Much of our grocery food these days is depleted of much of the vitamins they once had.  These days we really do need to supplement our diets with, well, dietary supplements if we want to feed our body with all that it needs to be healthy.

The information listed above is not medical advice.  Rather, it is meant to increase the readerâ??s awareness of potential health care alternatives.  For medical attention, advice, diagnosis and treatments, see your qualified health-care professional.

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Cabbage has been known throughout the ages, both for its nutritional values, and for its medicinal values. It has recently become recognized that it can reduce the risk of certain forms of cancer (such as colon cancer and breast cancer).

Nutritional Facts:

Following is a short listing of the nutritional facts of cabbage:

- Cabbage helps to promote weight loss in some people. This is because of its content of Vitamin C, which helps burn fat, as well as of Vitamin B, which increases metabolism and thereby helps the body burn off fat.

- If one is looking for ingredients of a low calorie diet, cabbage is at the top of the list. One cup of cabbage only holds about 15 calories. It is definitely a weight-loss food.

- Vitamin A Content: Cabbage is a source of Vitamin A which your body needs for healthy skin and eyes.

- Vitamin C Content: Due to its relatively high amount of Vitamin C, cabbage helps boost the Immune System, as well as assisting in removing toxics from the body, and playing a role in burning fat.

- Vitamin E Content: Vitamin E is known for keeping the skin healthy, as well as for assisting oxygen uptake of the blood cells. Having sufficient amounts of Vitamin E in one’s body helps to reduce acne.

- Vitamin B: An essential vitamin for your nerve system, also known to assist in reducing stress and in boosting metabolism.

- Drinking juiced cabbage is known to assist in curing stomach and intestinal ulcers.

- Cabbage is even known to help keep your skin in a healthy condition, due to its vitamin E content.

- It contains quantities of fiber and iron, which help to keep the digestive tract and colon in a healthy condition.

This is by no means a complete list of all the benefits of cabbage. It serves to give you a general outline.

In earlier times, the ashes of burnt cabbage leaves were a key ingredient in disinfectant ointments. These days, commercial disinfectants are widely available, so one need not go through motions of burning cabbage in order to disinfect a small cut. The primary benefit of cabbage in modern times comes when it is simply made part of one’s diet. Special diets exist which are based on cabbage.

There are many different varieties of cabbage. Green Cabbage and Red Cabbage are the most common, and are the types we are most familiar with.

Other types include Savoy Cabbage, Bok Choy cabbage, and Nappa cabbage (which are used in many Asian dishes, but are equally useful within other recipes).

Does this mean one should switch to a diet of eating only cabbage? Of course not. There are many more vegetables with equally important nutritional ingredients.

But it including cabbage in one’s diet on a regular basis can be beneficial health, weight loss, and well-being.

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David Panofsky, 35 of Madison, Wis.; Doug Bursnall, 31, of Wales; and

Katherine Bradt-Wells, 30, of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, climbed

to the summit of Aconcagua last year. And they have a lot more in common than mountain climbing. They all have Type I, or insulin-dependant diabetes, and they are all vegetarians. In fact, everyone on the 26-member Team International Diabetes Expedition Aconcagua 2000 (IDEA 2000) has Type I diabetes.

For people with this disease, the pancreas does not release sufficient amounts of insulin, a protein hormone necessary for the body to regulate the metabolism of sugar and certain carbohydrates. Diabetics may require insulin injections and blood testing — as often as eight times a day. Untreated, the disease can cause blindness, nerve damage, cardiovascular disease and kidney failure.

Panofsky, Burnsall and Bradt-Wells are also members of the Diabetes

Exercise and Sports Association (DESA), an international organization made up of amateur and professional athletes whose mission is to help people with diabetes achieve their athletic goals. The team’s success at Aconcagua served as a statement against the stereotypes that tend to define diabetics: that their activities must be restricted because they can become quickly incapacitated. And for Panofsky, Burnsall and Bradt-Wells, the trek to the summit was also a way of dismantling one of the myths about nutrition, meat and muscle power. A vegetarian diet, says Brandt-Wells, “Is much easier to digest to get important nutrients and vitamins – especially at high altitudes like 20,000 feet, where the altitude interferes with digestion.” Food poisoning is also avoided, points out Brandt-Wells, because vegetarian fare is much less likely to spoil than meat.

Most diabetics suffer from Type II diabetes, a non-insulin-dependent disorder that tends to develop in overweight adults and is often preventable. Type II diabetes can be caused by poor diet, excessive weight and a sedentary lifestyle. It is more easily treated than Type I diabetes, according to Stephen Clement, M.D., director of the Georgetown University Diabetes Center in Washington, D.C., mostly through oral medication or insulin injections, diet and exercise.

To reduce weight and increase insulin sensitivity — making insulin work better and thus reducing dosages — ‘‘eat less, exercise more,’’ said Marion Franz, a registered dietician and former director of Nutrition and Professional Education at the International Diabetes Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Reducing food intake, being selective about what they eat and exercising help keep diabetics in fit condition.

Speaking at the DESA annual conference held this month in Washington, D.C., Franz emphasized the benefit of eating smaller portions of lean meat — or replacing meat altogether with peas, beans, lentils, soy protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Last year, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a health-advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., and Georgetown

University Medical Center Department of Endocrinology published the

results of a study on the effectiveness of a vegetarian diet for

diabetics. In conjunction with the Diabetes Action and Education

Foundation in Arlington, Va., the Physicians Committee compared

‘‘fasting’’ glucose levels — the blood-sugar levels that result in the

absence of food for 12 hours — and weight loss of Type II diabetics,

using two types of diets for a period of three months. The pilot study had

13 participants; a follow-up study begins this year at The George

Washington University Medical Center with 60 participants.

‘‘We compared two different diets,’’ said Mark Sklar, M.D., an associate professor at Georgetown University Hospital’s Department of Endocrinology, ‘‘one, a high-fiber, low-fat, vegetarian diet that contains no animal products; and the other, a more common American Diabetes Association (ADA) diet, which contains meat and dairy products.’’

‘‘The vegan meals were made from unrefined vegetables, grains, beans,

and fruits, with no refined ingredients, such as vegetable oil, white flour, or white pasta,’’ said Neal Barnard, M.D., president of the Physicians Committee. ‘‘These meals averaged just 10 percent fat (as a percentage of calories), 80 percent complex carbohydrate and 10 percent protein. They also offered 60-70 grams of fiber per day and had no cholesterol at all.’’

The comparison (ADA) diet contained more plant-based ingredients than

the average American diet but still relied on the conventional chicken and

fish recipes. This diet was 30 percent fat and 50 percent carbohydrate. It

provided about 30 grams of fiber and 200 milligrams of cholesterol per day.

REDUCED INSULIN DOSAGES AND BETTER CONTROL

The fasting blood sugars in the vegetarian group decreased 28 percent,

whereas the ADA group’s blood sugars dropped only 12 percent. The

vegetarians needed less medication to control their blood sugars, whereas

the ADA group needed just as much medicine as before.

While the ADA dieters lost an impressive 8 pounds on average, the vegetarians lost nearly 16 pounds. Cholesterol levels also dropped more in the vegetarian group, compared to the ADA group.

Study vegetarian dieters said they were pleased with the weight loss

and the reduction or elimination of insulin injections or oral medication.

‘‘Being able to take control of my diabetes has been a wonderful thing,’’

said Scott Johnston, 34, a business consultant from Arlington, Va. ‘‘Had I

known that this diet would have such a powerful effect, I would have

adopted it years ago.’’

‘‘In the beginning, it’s not an easy diet,’’ said Sheldon Berman, 62,

of Washington, D.C. ‘‘But I managed to lose 17 pounds. I’m no longer on

medication for diabetes, and I am no longer on medication for blood

pressure. … The overall mental outlook on how I feel about myself as a

diabetic is much more hopeful now, as I am self-sufficient with a diet

that makes sense for me.’’

Worldwide, more than 125 million people have either insulin-dependent

or non-insulin dependent diabetes, according to Stuart Sundem, a senior

community health specialist at the International Diabetes Center in

Minneapolis, Minn. And that number is expected to skyrocket to more than

300 million by 2025, as Asian countries adopt Westernized lifestyle patterns of high consumption and sedentary activity, he said.

Francine Kaufman, M.D., president-elect of the American Diabetes

Association and chairman of Children’s Hospital Endocrinology Division in

Los Angeles, cites ‘‘fast food laden with fat and lower levels of activity’’ as the culprits for approximately 25 million cases of undiagnosed diabetes worldwide.

This month, the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases released the results of their own Diabetes Prevention Program study, showing that Type II diabetes can be prevented.

The study maintains that two different approaches — diet and exercise

therapy, and the administration of a diabetes medication, metformin –

were both effective. Just 30 minutes of daily exercise coupled with a

low-fat diet increases insulin sensitivity and reduces weight, possibly

eliminating the need for insulin injections altogether, according to the

report.

Christopher D. Saudek, M.D., president of the American Diabetes

Association and a principal investigator says ‘‘the Diabetes Prevention

Program conclusively proves that Type II diabetes is not inevitable for

people at high risk of developing it.’’

The DPP is the first study to demonstrate that prevention strategies

can work across the broad spectrum of racial and ethnic diversity. Both

lifestyle and medication interventions worked with those of Caucasian,

African, Latino, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander origin.

Judith Ambrosini, another DESA member, has lived with diabetes for more

than 40 years. Currently a food columnist and caterer in Boston, Massachusetts, she became a vegetarian 20 years ago while living in Italy. ‘‘I

would go into town to the butcher shop,’’ she said, ‘‘but by the time I

got there, all that was left were brains, intestines and hearts.’’

She opted for the traditional Italian fare of pasta and vegetables when

she realized that she had better ‘‘make friends with this thing

(diabetes) — it will be with me for the rest of my life.’’

Mothers worldwide tell their children to eat their vegetables. This advice

may very well hold the answer to combating diabetes.

WEB-LINKS

Bruce Andrew Peters: http://www.GreatWriteUp.com

DESA: www.Diabetes-Exercise.org

IDEA 2000: www.IDEA2000.org

Physician Committee for Responsible Medicine: www.PCRM.org

International Diabetes Center: www.idcdiabetes.org

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A vegetarian is commonly defined as an individual who does not consume meat. However an individual who is vegetarian could conceivably consume dairy products such as milk, eggs and cheese. A lacto ovo vegetarian does not consume meat, fish or poultry, but does eat eggs, milk or cheese. A lacto vegetarian consumes milk and cheese products, but does not eat eggs.

A vegan is an individual who does not eat any animal product or by-product, this includes dairy food. They consume merely vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains and legumes. Plus they do not use animal products, such as leather. Vegans also do not use white sugar since they are often processed with a substance derived from animal bones that whitens the sugar.

There are some more categories within the vegetarian community. For instance fruitarians, who like the name suggests only consume fruit. Their principle is that fruits, including fruits such as tomatoes, are self-perpetuating and do not need to be planted to create the food source. They believe it is a way of consuming that is most in balance and harmony with the earth, the mostly natural.

All of the above will consume cooked vegetables, fruits and legumes. There is also a developing movement towards consuming only raw or living foods. This is established on the assumption that the process for cooking food loses most of the essential nutrients out of it. Therefore to acquire all the nutritional value, vitamins and amino acids from food, it is better consumed raw, or juiced. If cooked at all, it should only be cooked to slightly over a hundred degrees; therefore the nutrients are still retained.

The more restrictive you get with your diet, the more educated you need to become. This way you are certain that you are acquiring all the essential proteins and vitamins that you need to maintain healthiness, especially when it concerns your muscles and heart health.

Happy Learning

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The recipe for Turnip Tops and Nettles on Toast appeared in a book called â??Vegetarian Cookery by a Ladyâ?, published by Fred Pitman of London in 1866.   Fans of the current fashion for â??wildâ?? food may wish to give this recipe a try, but the less adventurous could still find plenty of things to tempt them in the book, like Onion and Sage Fritters or Baked Vegetable Marrow.

These were tough times for vegetarians though, facing scorn, and a general population with a dislike of vegetables!  There was also very little choice of ingredients available and some of the recipes contain cooking methods impossible to imagine today.  Many recipes though, seem surprisingly modern and can offer a simple, relaxed approach to appreciating the flavour of vegetarian food.

â??A brave, friendly, exhilarating foodâ?

In 1690, Thomas Tryon wrote â??Wisdoms Dictates, including Bill of Fare of 75 Dishesâ?, a tract which called for a vegetarian diet as the only sensible way to live healthily.  His approach is all about avoiding foods difficult to digest and several of his 75 recipes donâ??t much stretch the imagination; Number one in the list for instance is a recipe for Bread and Water!  He can also be somewhat puritanical even when suggesting tasty sounding recipes,  such as in Currans (sic) and Oatmeal:  â??You may add Butter as most good Housewives do; but I must tell them that it makes it heavy on the stomach, and apt to send fumes into the headâ?.

However, a good look through his Bill of Fare reveals an intriguing list of vegetables and herbs, that are well worth seeking out: smallage, sweet charwell, balm and colworts for example.  As for his recipes, you may wish to try â??One Egg broke into a Pint of good Ale and brewed wellâ?, but Iâ??d have reservations about serving Spinnage (sic), Endive and young Parsley, which â??cleanseth the Passages and loosens the Bellyâ?!

â??Procure a nice square loafâ?¦â?

Even though the recipes can seem overly simplistic to modern readers, such as the recipe for toast in â??Vegetarian Cookery by a Ladyâ?, which is one of the longest in her book.  They do also offer more creative combinations such as her Onion Pie, which is filled with a tasty mix of onions, apples and sage. 

Many of the recipes seem carbohydrate-rich to those of us more used to a Mediterranean style of vegetarian cookery, but there are pleasant surprises such as the Italian influence in Mary Popeâ??s recipes of 1893 for Polenta Cutlets and Rice Polpetti.

As with todayâ??s recipe books, many are laid out in chapters, and these in themselves can be illuminating – it would be pretty impossible now to imagine a whole chapter of 29 recipes devoted to â??Porridge, Gruel, etcâ?!  Mind you, the recipes themselves are often laced with sugar, dried fruit, molasses, nutmeg and lemon juice, so they offer more tempting ideas than it might first appear.

The more limited range of available ingredients did encourage lively invention.  How about Beetroot Fricassee and Curried Beetroot and Cucumber for example and Mrs Bowdich writing in â??New Vegetarian Dishesâ? in 1892, suggests Fried Beetroot as a breakfast dish!  The anonymous Lady also has a few surprises for the modern palette, with dishes like Stewed Watercress, Mushroom Tea, Fried Cucumbers and Crisped Parsley.

In their choice of ingredients, the writers display a spirit of using whatever is available in the land around them and not letting anything go to waste.  Hence those turnip tops and nettles, which turn up as ingredients in several books, and also making an appearance are hop tops and sorrel, a hedgerow herb often ingnored by modern retailers.

Our notions of sweet and savoury can be surprisingly overturned.  Savoury Semolina never turned up on the school dinner menu, and Moulded Lentils from the anonymous â??Penny Vegetarian Cookeryâ? of 1885, is actually a sweet dish!  Lentil flour is cooked with water, lemon flavouring and sugar, poured into a mould and when cold served with stewed or preserved fruit.

â??Shape as much as possible like a fowlâ?

We might see it as a modern trend to create vegetarian versions of meat products like bacon and turkey-style Christmas roasts, but in fact, this seemed to be something of a trend by the end of the 19th Century.  Florence George, a cookery teacher in Birmingham, UK published â??Vegetarian Cookeryâ? in 1908, and included recipes for a stuffed Roast Chicken made from butter beans and Roast Goose made from lentils.  A woman surely well ahead of her time!

Mrs Bowdich also got in on the act and her book contains seven different recipes for sausages, with ingredients ranging from lentils to cabbage; Sausages in Batter and Sausages with Curry Flavour for example.  Thereâ??s also Savoury Rissoles and burger-style Lentil Cakes, made from lentils, mixed vegetables, flour, baking powder and butter, then rolled and stamped out with a pastry cutter before frying.

â??Noble Dishes of Excellent Foodâ?¦â?

While heavy use is made in the majority of the recipes of eggs, cheese and milk, vegans arenâ??t entirely left out.  The case for excluding all animal products seems to be recognised only in terms of easy digestion, but certainly by 1908, Florence George lists such an exclusion as one of the forms of vegetarianism.  Many of the recipes are made simply with vegetables, such as Spinach with Peas and Tomatoes, or vegetables served with bread in the form of toast or crumbs, such as Herb Soup thickened with breadcrumbs.  Special efforts are made, such as an Omelet without Eggs or Butter, a mould made with macaroni, and by the turn of the 20th century vegan butter substitutes appear in the recipes, as do various brands of â??nut meatâ??.

â??â?¦Affording a good clean nourishmentâ?

The inspiration for these early writers appears as varied as the reasons for turning vegetarian today.  As well as those seeking a healthier, kinder diet, other titles hint at a prophetic realisation that vegetarianism offered better, cheaper nutrition for greater numbers of the population; books like Eleanor E. Orlebarâ??s â??Food for the Peopleâ? and Job Caudwellâ??s â??Vegetarian Cookery for the Millionâ? for example.

But whatever their individual reasons, it would be hard to imagine todayâ??s explosion in vegetarian ingredients, ready meals and restaurant options without these inspirational writers.  And with our increased awareness of issues such as â??food milesâ? and a need for more locally produced, freshly prepared food, maybe now is a good time to reconsider such â??traditionalâ? cooking and ensure we keep it as part of our repertoire.

Rice Polpetti – Mary Pope, â??Novel Dishes for Vegetarian Householdsâ?

6oz rice

3oz grated wheatmeal bread

1 clove garlic chopped

1 handful of parsley chopped

1 tblsp lemon juice

1 tsp finely rubbed basil and thyme

Pepper and salt to taste

1pt water

3oz butter

Wash the rice and put it to boil with all the other ingredients except the butter.  When the rice begins to swell add the butter and cook until all the water is absorbed and the rice quite soft.  Turn out into a shallow pie dish to get cold and stiff.  Cut into slices not more than half an inch thick, and cut the slices into triangles.  Egg and crumb these and fry in hot fat.  Serve with a thick brown sauce and grated cheese in a separate dish.

Zwiebel Sauce â?? Mary Pope

Cut one large onion very fine and one tart apple; fry them in oil or butter quite brown; dredge in flour until it forms a thick paste and allow the flour to brown; thin it down with water; add salt and pepper to taste and a tablespoonful of lemon juice.

Brussels Sprouts Sausages -  Mrs Bowdich, â??New Vegetarian Dishesâ?

4 oz cooked sprouts

2 oz mashed potatoes

2 oz bread crumbs

1 oz butter

1 tsp sage

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 egg and bread crumbs

Mix the vegetables, bread crumbs and flavouring together, moisten with half the egg, form into sausages, roll in other half egg and bread crumbs, and fry in the one ounce of butter or boiling oil.

Thomas Tryon, â??Bill of Fare of 75 Dishesâ?

Take Raisins, Currans (sic) and a few Pruans (sic), boil them in good water, when near done, thicken it with White Bread, adding Spice, Sugar, Butter and Salt; This is a rich Pottage, affording a great nourishment, and therefore it must be eaten more sparingly.

Plum Pudding â?? Anon â??The Penny Vegetarian Cookeryâ?

Half a pound of flour, half a pound of currants, half a pound of grated carrots, half a pound of grated potatoes, quarter of a pound of butter and two ounces of sugar,  Mix all together, adding a little salt, and any other approved seasoning.  Boil in a buttered dish, an hour and a half, and serve with sweet sauce.  A large spoonful of treacle is an agreeable addition.

More of these recipes can be found in â??Early Vegetarian Recipesâ?? by Anne Oâ??Connell http://www.offmotorway.co.uk

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