The Environmental Cost of Pets
In the USA, more of us are pet owners than anywhere else in the world. In excess of sixty percent of households have a pet, which … Continue reading The Environmental Cost of Pets
Environmental reasons to choose a plant-based diet
There are different motivations to switch to a plant-based diet such as for personal health, due to concerns about animal treatment, and to protect our environment. These reasons are motivating more and more of us to eliminate meat and dairy from our food. At first, I was motivated to change my food because I felt that I needed to take action to reduce my lifestyle’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. I used the Ecological Footprint Calculator and to my horror discovered that if everyone lived like me, it would take 3.5 Earths per year to sustain my … Continue reading Environmental reasons to choose a plant-based diet
Physical Activity and Mood
We have known for a long time that being inactive has detrimental effects on our health. Three hundred years ago, a physician called Ramazzini, who wrote about diseases caused by occupation and who is known as the father of occupational medicine, said “…those who sit at their work and are therefore called ‘chair workers’, should be advised to take physical exercise, at any rate on holidays. Let them make the best use they can of some one day, and so to some extent counteract the harm done by many days of sedentary life.” Yet in today’s world being inactive is … Continue reading Physical Activity and Mood
Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas cannot secrete enough insulin, usually under conditions of chronic overconsumption of fuel, inactivity, overweight, and insulin resistance. Some people are more susceptible to developing diabetes than others. If your body sends excess fuel to develop fat in the abdomen around organs like the heart, pancreas, and in and around the liver then you are more likely to develop diabetes than someone who stores excess fuel under the skin. Genes play a role in diabetes; studies have shown that if family members are affected then your risk for developing diabetes is increased. More than … Continue reading Type 2 diabetes
Websites for more information
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine The Diabetes Association The Obesity Society The National Stroke Association The American Heart Association The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Office of Dietary Supplements Community Food Security is organization dedicated to building strong, sustainable, local and regional food systems that ensure access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food for all people at all times. Food Routes is working to rebuild local, community-based food systems. Health Care Without Harm works with hospitals to improve their food procurement policies. Meatless Mondays working to improve our planet and our health by reducing meat consumption by … Continue reading Websites for more information
