Fight heart disease with a plant-based diet?

Here is a post from the Huffington post about fighting heart disease.
I like Huffingtonpost.com's living section , they have some good stuff there.

Still here

Wow , Its been a while since I have written anything.
Anyway I have been eating good but recently I have started eating lots of fried , sweet and calorie rich food , have to cut back.
I am drinking a lot of Green tea , hopefully its helping.
I am really not working out at all, have to do something about that. With the holiday season coming up there will lots of eating I am sure.

I should be either cutting back on unhealthy food or exercise more , ideally both of these right?
Anyway 1 of the 2 should be good for now.
I will start posing some good links soon.

A good article about how Humans are Natural Vegetarian

I found this Huffington Post article pretty interesting , click on the link to read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/shattering-the-meat-myth_b_214390.html

Sea Salt

A little more digging on Sodium/Salt and I came across lots of Sea Salt fans.
It seems Sea Salt and especially Celtic Sea Salt is different than ordinary table salt and has lots of minerals.
I have never tried it but from what I read , there are people promoting this a lot. They claim its not bad for anyone, not even people with high Blood Pressure.
Check out this website, http://www.celticseasalt.com/ , and also google sea salt or Celtic sea salt.
I am planning to try this out.

Sodium levels in food

Its very usual for doctors to ask patients with high blood pressure to cut on sodium/salt.So when I was asked to do the same I started avoiding salted stuff. But now when I am checking the sodium content in day to day food , I am kinda shocked.
See I was avoiding the food which is know for high sodium/salt. But when I checked the sodium in the bread I buy from local grocery stores, I was surprised.
I slice of any bread contains minimum 7% sodium and it easily goes up to 11%.
This is just bread mind you. I eat a lot of it , so if I take a bread with 10% sodium and east 4 slices, that's it I have already consumed almost half my allowed limit.
Also this limit is for normal people with no issues. For people with high BP it is supposed to be lower than that.
I like some vegan vegetarian patties , they are tasty and have high protein , same with vegan hot dogs/Tofu etc. But the sodium in these is pretty high. The patty I like from Boca has 18% sodium in it.

So if I eat 1 patty with 2 slices of bread with some cheese or lets say any spread , that's it I am easily way 50% of recommended daily sodium levels.

This is just too much of sodium/salt . Just imagine eating outside for more than 50% of a week.
You won;t even know how much you are consuming if you eat to hotels/sandwich shops etc.

Everyone likes to add sodium as that's what makes food taste better.
So I am now eating mostly at home , very occasionally do I eat outside. In fact I have a bread maker at home and that's what I should do , make my low sodium bread at home.

Its very usual for doctors to ask patients with high blood pressure to cut on sodium/salt.

Hydroxycut being recalled?

According to this article , the popular supplement Hydroxycut is being to forced to be recall 14 of its products.
Click here for the story.

I am someone who takes supplements every now and then , but I am skeptical of those who promise too much .
I think there is no substitute for proper eating and proper excersize when it comes to health . So trying to lose pounds too fast with some product is surely going to not be helpful and if it is then there might be some huge side-effects .
Heck even if you excersize too much you get burnt out .
Slow and steady wins the race .

This is not to say that do not work hard to reach your objective. But do not expect results overnight. A supplement is just that, a supplement. It will help achieveing a goal, it will not achieve it inspite of bad habits.

Example they say a glass of wine will help you live longer, now if you take a lot of glasses every day to speed it up, its not gonna work, it will make you an alcoholic .

So eating right and having an active lifestyle helps a lot. Does not mean you have to eat only salads everyday , but it means you have to eat smart.

Green Tea

I am hearing a lot of good things about Green Tea and in fact I started drinking it after reading a bit.
Click here for a site which explains the benefits ( not just a random site but university of Maryland medical center ).

Now take a look at this site which says the reserach is in prelimnary stages.

I guess what they are saying is , they do not see immediate huge effects. But what the reasoning is that in many eastern countries people who have been having green tea for a prolonged period show that the health benefits of Green tea are great.

In standard research , it shows no harm shows a little positive effect, so I guess I will keep sipping my green tea, with some honey or sugar to make it drinkable.
Butu I like the Flavia Jasmine green tea which I can have without anything.

Posting after a while

Hello, Have not been able to post for a while. I found this nice link to Chlorella and Spirulina.
Click here to read it.

I have stopped taking supplements for now as I go through some check ups. Want to see the before and after effects.

So is Canola oil good or bad for health?

There is so much information on the internet that with we find almost all kind of opinions.
Many a times the opinions are not backed by evidence , but on the internet many a times an idea picks up steam and you do not know whats right.
For example Canola oil, many say its good, but I have read many places that its not so good or outright bad.
So who is right? I must say that though there is no answer we have to go by evidence.
For example there was a uhge scare regarding Canola oil on the internet. But then many peopl came out defending it.
Click this link
to read about the internet scare and the explanation refuting the scare below it.
Also stick to reputed websites, where you read stuff written by Doctors or subject experts.
Of course even Doctors are know for their lack of knowledge in certain cases.
So do nto believe whatever you hear or read, Google any such thing and get opinions and evidence from know reputed sources before coming to any conclusion.

a Rebuttal of sorts for Dr. Ray Peat

I found this web-site where Mary G. Enig replies to Dr. Ray Peats theory that Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency create problems .
Click here for her article.
I would also ask readers to read that website in detail and bookmark it.
Seems very good and well written.

A different conclsion to the whole omega-3, PUFA story

While reading about Omega 3 and Polyunsaturated fatty acids ( PUFA ), I came across Dr. Raymond Peats site and newsletters etc.
They claim this to be a marketing gimmick and say PUFA is harmful in the long run.
I just read this and thought it might be good to post it . I have to do some more reading on this, if anyone has some conclusive evidence on either theory , please let me know by commenting here.
Link 1 _ "the great fish oil experiment"
Link - Dr.Raymond Peats website.

Its better to see both sides of the debate.

My blood pressure medication

Oh I think I need to mention that I have been taking blood pressure medication too .
The story goes like this, I used to be pretty healthy and fit but around 4-5 years ago , due to traveling ,long commute etc. my health deteriorated .
My physician recommended BP medication but I resisted, after feeling really bad I had to take them and that helped.
So I had low HDL ( good cholesterol) , high LDL ( bad cholesterol ) and BP . Plus of course less energy etc.
But around sometime last year the medication started making me lethargic. So I started taking only half when I felt bad. Now I take half almost always.
But still just my BP is in control , health wise everything else was still way way down compared to 5-6 years ago.
I just hope eating healthy and exercising regularly bring me back to my old form and then makes me/my heath even better.
The supplements are something which I obviously miss in my diet but over time I intend to include it in my diet or keep taking the supplement.

We shall see.

Supplements working for me

Its 11-12 days since I started eating the CHIA seeds and started taking Spirulina ( they recommend 6 tabs, the now foods 500mg tablets ) but I took only and avg of 4 per day.
But I think I am seeing results already , infact I saw them last week too. I do not get tired easily, I have a extra spring in my step etc.
Well before this I used to feel very drained out many evenings and if I did not sleep 7-8 hours I was pretty much stressed.
But that has changed , I feel energetic throughout the day and if I sleep less , I am ok ( but have to make up that sleep during weekends etc.)
It might be the placebo effect , like my wife suggested ( meaning its all in your head ) but we shall see. I did not expect anythiing so fast anyway.
I have started taking Chlorella 2 days ago too.

I have ordered some more stuff , like Omegavega and V-pure omega-3 . One that arrives I will start taking that too .
Will keep you updated.

CHIA seeds

So I did some reading online and came to the conclusion ( right or wrong ) that since Oils are extracted from seeds and can lose some nutrient value, omega value in that process, I will stick with seeds. Not sure if its a correct theory.
I read that Chia seeds are better than Flax seed ( I will try and post some links ).
I am not sure if that is right or wrong , but since the store had both , I read the nutrient value and like the Chia seeds from CHIALIFE.
Very convenient and lots of Omega-3 ALA. 2.4 grams per tablespoon and only 0.7 grams Omega 6. The lesser the Omega-6 the better as most reserachers say that we get a lot of Omega-6 from our regular diet.
So the perfect thing would be something with just Omega-3 but since nothing Veggie/Vegan had that , I had to go with the CHIA seeds.
The seeds themselves are pretty tasteless, so one can mix them with anything or eat right out of the bag.
So I have to say I like this product though I wish it had more Omega-3 ALA per serving .

Spirulina and Chlorella

So have you heard about Spirulina and Chlorella? They have been around for a long time and I read about them some time ago but just decided not to try them.
Google both and you will find tons of info on them, google them seperately as they are both independent of each other but people seem to take them together.
Wikipedia has some unique info on them ,click here for Chlorella and click here for Spirulina.

They both were thought of as superfoods but it seems it was tough to make them in large bulk quantities. In the meantime other crops have come quite further and so the hype is now less.
But that does not mean one should not try them. I got them , I got Spirulina as it has GLA, Gamma linolenic acid , which is a Omega 6 but has properties similar to Omega 3, example its anti-inflammatory etc.
So I went online and looked up Spirulina and ordered some from IHERB.com , why iherb? well that the one store everyone on the web seemed to recommend.
I liked them, many brands were available there and the NOWFOODS was cheaper than other sites or same.
They offered priority mail from some 4 bucks and I liked that, I oredered on a Wednesday and I got it on Friday, though I stay on the East cost and they are located on the West coast. Maybe they have warehouses here but I ordered it pretty late around 5:00 I think.
Even on Amazon.com ( I like those guys) I have to order it by 4:00 to get it shipped that day.

But coming back to the main point , I started takig my Spirulina that Friday and also was taking the CHIA seeds I got from the local store ( more about that soon ).
Let me write about my experience in another post so its not lost in this post.

Omega-3 types

Omega-3 has many types of components, ALA, SDA, EPA and DHA are the most talked about and researched ones.
ALA- Alpha linolenic acid comes mainly from Plant sources like Flax seed, Chia seed, Borage, Walnuts etc.
This ALA is converted in the body into SDA and then into EPA and DHA.
EPA and DHA are the most important acc. to many researchers and a Harvard doctor,Andrew Stoll, who wrote the book - The Omega-3 Connection.
Omega-3 also comes from some Algae and the fish which eat this algae convert the omega-3 into EPA and DHA.
Therefore fish oil is said to have EPA and DHA directly.
But these days due to contamination , most people avoid fish. Also Vegetarians and Vegans avoid fish.
So for them is the ALA conversion to EPA and DHA in the body, the only source to get those Essential Fatty acids?
DHA has been extracted from Algae and is available in stores.
But EPA , which is very important for cardio-vascular help and its anti-inflammatory properties , is not extracted easily as of now.
Our bodies convert 36% of ALA into EPA and DHA in Women and 16% in men.
In fact some men do not convert anything into DHA it had been written and observed.

Plus given the fact that our diets have less omega 3 and more of omega 6 , this poses a bigger issue.
The researchers say when Omega 6 is so high in the body, it inhibits the conversion of ALA into EPA and DHA.

So for veggies/vegan the first thing to do and the easiest is eat lots of ALA rich food . Bring the ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 intake to 1:1 to 1:4 max.
Remember only a small % of that gets converted to EPA and DHA.
I will write more about how to get EPA and DHA directly next, but eating ALA is a must I would say for Veggies and Vegans .
I myself started eating lots of Chia seeds recently.
Stay tuned....

So here goes - One very important ingredient - Omega 3

We have come a long way since all fats were looked at as culprits.
Nowadays the research shows there are certain FATs which are good Fats.
You might have heard of them , Omega-3 Omega-6 and Omega-9.
Also it is said that during the last 100 years or so , our diets have changed a lot .
We now consume lots of Omega-6 and not enough Omega-3.
The ratio of Omega-3 to -6 is anywhere from 1:1 to 1:4. But most researchers say we now eat such that the ratio is 1:10 to 1:20.
This causes a lot of issues.
I will cover the issues later, but all research recommends eating more Omega-3.

My Veggie life

Hello Everyone,

I am a vegetarian by choice and have been for the last 18 years or so. I have come so far and have learnt so much that I now want to write it down so others on my path can see what its like and also share their knowledge.
The most important thing is about leading a Healthy Vegetarian life. I am doing a lot of reading about veggie Omega 3 , Spirulina etc that I am sure it will help others.

Also today is Sri Rayaru's, whom I consider my Guru, birthday. He lived in the 16th-17th century in India. So I thought why not start this blog today and also spread some good things about Vegetarian living.
So Sri Rayaru I dedicate this site to you today and hopefully it will help many to live a Healthy Vegetarian lifestyle.