More Vegetables, Less Cancer

Fuhrman and Kraynak

…or something like that.  This is the kind of bold statement Dr. Joel Fuhrman might make.  I continue my coverage of “The Seed: A Vegan Experience”

Dr.Joel Fuhrman spoke on “Winning the War Against Cancer” in his keynote speech on Saturday, June 16th.  In the spirit of Campbell and Esselstyn (Forks Over Knives), Fuhrman’s doctoring style is nutrition as a cure and drugs as a last resort.  While herbalists, health store owners and eastern medicine lovers have been preaching this for years, the medical community has often been slow in embracing this idea.  Fuhrman brings the science and some very bold statistics that suggest that living a life of what he calls “Super Immunity” will protect you from cancer, cure cancers, prolong life and repair the damage done from eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) for so long. 

As he simply puts it: Health equals Nutrients/Calories or H=N/C for short.  This ideology encourages a higher nutrient to lower calorie ratio, avoiding especially empty calories (containing no nutrients).   I originally saw Dr.Fuhrman in the documentary Vegucated.  I encourage you to read his book Super Immunity.  He’s quite the visionary and quite passionate about his practice.

These are some of Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s beliefs:

•  Too much protein causes cancer
•  Korea has a 90 percent lower breast cancer before introduction of fast food into their diet.
•  White rice is one of the worst things you could eat (zero nutrients)
•  Salt causes stomach cancer
•  It’s a myth that we are living longer these days
•  Living longer numbers are bogus and are actually skewed by less infant mortality rate, due to better childbirth/running water etc.
•  We are suffering longer – we now get sick 10-15 years before we die
                Used to be our quality of life goes down 2-3 months before death
•  Antibiotics cause cancer
•  ITC’s (Isothiocyanates) in cruciferous vegetables repair the dha, neutralize cancer-causing carcinogens
•  All oil is bad – goes directly into the blood stream and instantly turns into fat
•  Grounded up flax seeds not flax-seed oil
•  Flax seeds-prevent breast cancer
•  Best soy products are tempeh and edamame
•  Worse soy products  is tofu dogs and soy protein shake
•  Men who eat beans 3 times a week have 50 percent lower colon cancer
•  Mushrooms make immunity system work better
•  Mushrooms prevent growth of blood vessels – No blood vessels, tumors can’t grow
•  Mushrooms don’t allow you to get fat.
•  You only need a small amount of mushrooms to get these benefits
•  Half cup of onions per day equals 100 percent protection from cancer
•  Half pound of green vegetables per day equals 100 percent protection from cancer
•  Strawberries make you live longer and also prevents colon cancer
•  The best diet is a vegan one that includes nuts and seeds

You Ever Wonder Why?

The Key to the best possible health or becoming what Fuhrman calls a “Nutritarian”…
GOMBBS: Greens, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Beans and Seeds

Sound radical?  You may ask why his findings are not always embraced by the medical community.  It’s been suggested that one possible reason, is that it’s hard for a Doctor to completely abandoned what they were taught and is the current medical thought of the time.  After all, doctors have given this contrary advice for years.

I think we can all agree, GOMBBS makes sense. Dr.Fuhrman’s statistics are hair-raising and certainly brings a new chapter to how we view our health.  Read more and decide for yourself.

Here’s the Q&A.  What did I ask?  Watch and find out

The Seed: The Verdict on my Vegan Experience

To me, critiquing the Seed is like critiquing a religious outing.  If I had come into the whole thing, “deciding on whether to become” vegan then I might have an objective view to share.  So keep in mind that I am speaking from within the cult, not as an outside observer of said-cult (I mean lifestyle).  There was so much to take in so I will continue to discuss over the next few days.  Here’s a quick conclusion on this monumental (told you it wouldn’t be objective) event.

The Organization

While several angry vegans were irritated at the fact that they got in 20 minutes late (because of the long line) I think it was very well put together.  I was a bit annoyed at the fact that I, an early bird paid 30 dollars for a two day pass, while most used a groupon and were admitted for 10 bucks a day.  The speakers were introduced clearly, there was signage, and it was everything an event should be.  I also think there was a balanced representation of the various vegan camps including, athletes, anti-animal cruelty, alternative energy, restaurants/food, medical experts, and cruelty-free fashion. If it were my event, I may not have put the Vitamix guy next to the main stage.  Those things are noisy (the Vitamix machine was also noisy).

The Food

I saw a friend from a vegan meetup group I belong to who agreed with me that there was a surprisingly small amount of food for purchase.  I came hungry and walked right past the Cinnamon Snail (which was parked in front of the venue).  For the amount of people there, to buy a taco or sandwich you had like four options (including The Regal Vegan, Food Swings and the Love Bug).  Those few venders must have made mucho bucks.  There were plenty of restaurants represented but they where only giving out samples.  The V-spot and Wild ginger had great samples but they were not meals.

The collection of restaurant and vegan products was impressive.  I was especially fond with the Vegan Bodega’s olive dips, Lucky Duck’s raw macaroons, and Blossom’s Cordon Bleu.  It was a great opportunity to see these folks shine.  I think everyone would agree that there was too much chocolate at this event.

There were also a lot of nutritional supplements and bars.  Protein was a controversial topic at The Seed.  Some of the offered protein solutions were called unnecessary and even dangerous by some of the medical professionals at the event.  Conflict!

Many products were being sold by speakers from the event.  For example Dr. Fuhrman has a line of nutrient-rich soups and Professional Athlete Brendan Brazier owns of the Plant Power/Vega protein powders and smoothies.

Vitamix Me Impressed

The Activists

You have your morality vegan and your dietary vegan.  I was concerned that these groups might not mix and even fight. Well, I was wrong.  Everyone played nicely together.  There were various animal sanctuaries, shelters, charities and groups like PETA (although I don’t think I saw PETA).  There is a lot of cross over within the vegan world.  Some buy food based on production methods and if they happen to give to animal groups.  Obviously being vegan alone is an animal-kind gesture.  Other activists included alternative energy sources and tables on politics.

The Merchandise

Because Bust Magazine sponsored the event, there was a “Craftacular” portion of the event.  Craft not Craptacular.  There was a great offering of cruelty-free purses, jewelry and clothing.  It was not my thing, but it seems a lot of folks liked it.

The Classes

Yoga Local was giving classes.  I only mention it because I am really into yoga right now.  I did not partake because of my tight jeans.  I tried to grab a cashew milk they were handing out but it was only for yoga participants.  I was not happy with that, Yoga Local.  I missed the Yoga and the milk.

There were plenty of cooking demos representing books that were on sale.  In addition there were several panels on anything from travel to blogging.  Good stuff, all of it.  The Vitamix guy had a demo going every 15 minutes.  I didn’t buy one but like I said, that cashew ice cream was unbelievable and he appeared to make it in less than 5 minutes.

The Crowd

Attendance was great.  It was a packed house. There were good vibrations all around.  I had several very nice conversations with people about various vegan issues.  I think there was enough room for everything.   Even at its most crowded, I still managed.  The crowd was about 80% women.  I’m not sure why.  I met someone who said it was because generally, men don’t take care of themselves.  They provide.  They hunt.  It really wasn’t meant to be a slam on men.

The Flicks

Several vegan classics were shown including everyone’s favorites “Forks Over Knives” and “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.”  Most people I had talked to had already seen both of them.  Perhaps some smaller vegan movies could have been shown.  I was happy to see “Vegucated” playing with a Q&A from director Marisa Miller Wolfson.  Vegucated is a great mixture of all the parts of being vegan.  It was a perfect place to show it even though it was a little preaching to the choir.  I wanted to interview Marisa for the blog but she was so busy talking to people.  Good for her.

The Talent

I’ll talk about most of the speakers individually in later posts.  To me, the speakers are the meat or should I say vegetable of the conference.  I pessimistically thought they would choose all doctors or all animal rights.   The truth is everyone was represented and I learned a lot.  I was most interested in the nutritional talks and thought it was interesting that the speakers did not often agree with one another.  Conflict!  There was a great mix of perspectives.  I kind of wish they had gotten a movie, television or rock celebrity.  Doesn’t Alec Baldwin live down the street?  What about Ted Leo?  Alicia Silverstone?

The Verdict

A success! Next year Julia must come.  I missed her and each night, we talked about my experiences for hours on the telephone. There was too much vegan junk food but hey, what’s a carnival without fried foods and sugar.  I went to be motivated to stay vegan.  I wanted to see that I was not alone, that I had mass amount of people, medical professional, athletes, restaurants and retailers that supported and lived the vegan life. I came out of it exhausted from information overload.  I also walked out, pleased with my vegan decision.

V-E-G-A-N

The Seed vegan experience continues…

Acronym for Vegan

By Main Street Vegan author
Victoria Moran

V
Validate – acknowledge it is who you are. Make a commitment and identify yourself as a vegan. This is the way to start and choose your new path.

E
Enjoy- being vegan is a fun adventure. She points out, if you live in New York, there are so many fun restaurants, bakeries and store to discover and enjoy.

G
Get to know other vegans. Join a vegan meetup group. The New York one has three thousand members. You can go to your new vegan friends for support and ideas.

A
Add instead of subtract. For so many, being vegan means giving up things. Make it about adding more than you subtract. There is so much vegetables, grains, nuts and more you can add to your diet for the first time. If you subtract one, add two.

N
Never ever ever forget the animals. Whatever your reason for becoming vegan, killing animals is never “friendly.” Animals are innocent creatures and as a vegan, we love the fact we do not have to eat them.

Planting The Seed of Veganism Through Blogging

“Choosing Raw” food blogger says consistency is key, get on a blog schedule or your audience will turn out. She also said, be sincere and it will shine through. She became a reluctant activist and it was a natural progression.

Yoli’s Green Living blog – Yoli changed her blog name to exclude the word “vegan.” She tells people how to not go broke being vegan. She uses a platform called “thesis.” She says engagement with the readers is more important than numbers. Yoli is in the blogging business but says no to certain advertisers.

Vegan Superman Rich Roll