I believe in the statement: you are what you eat.

I found this interesting article about the evolution of men in correlation to meat eating, how eating meat changed our body. whether for the better or worse, it’s up to you to chose.

National Geographic

Arguments against being vegetarian anyone?

I found the comment below in the forum “Steady Health“

In this forum people are debating the pros and cons of being vegetarian. I personally find myself that a lot of the comments in this debate were directly related to ignorance. The only one I found that made sense is the one below. Unfortunately there is no name; just the user “veganlee”: Enjoy!

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I know it was a while ago that this topic started but I couldnt read all the nonsence that had been written without writing something myself!

So far the arguments AGAINST vegetarianism are; a lack of iron, the difficulty in sourcing protein, we are designed to eat both meat and plants and animals are humanely killed.

So, first I will mention the iron – Dried beans and dark green leafy vegetables are especially good sources of iron, even better on a per calorie basis than meat. According to the FDA iron deficiancy is not hugely common in vegetarians. (I know a large number of meat eaters that are anaemic.)

Protein – In a standard meat eating diet often people take in too much protein. Protein from meat can in fact have a negative effect on calcium uptake in the body. Protein can be found in high quanities from beans, nuts, fruit and vegetables. I am vegan and ALWAYS get enough protein in my diet without even thinking about it. Protein combining is of course necessery, but not difficult – beans on toast or lentils and rice give you a full amino acid count, one does not have to combine the protein in one meal, just over a day.

According to the British Nutrition Foundation – “A well-planned and varied vegetarian diet will provide adequate energy and sufficient amounts of these nutrients.”

Someone mentioned that we were not DESIGNED to eat a plant based diet. Well for one thing we were not designed at all, we have evolved, according to Darwins theory. Not many people know this but Darwin himself was vegetarian and believed humans should not eat meat. We have much longer intestines than all other carnivores, cannot stomach raw meat and do not have the sharp teeth necessery for ripping apart flesh.

It was also mentioned that animals are “humanely” bred and slaughtered. This is a very ignorant statement from someone that has obviously never researched the subject correctly. A caged hen is kept in a cage smaller than the size of an A4 piece of paper. In britain 60% of eggs on supermarket shelves are from caged hens. A dairy cow could easily live 20 years, however after about 5 years it will collapse with exhaustion and be sent to a slaughterhouse.

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls we’d all be vegetarian.” Sir Paul McCartney

I think one of the most important arguments for vegetarianism at the moment is the effect the meat industry has on the enviroment. A study looked at a steak dinner compared to a stir fried veg dinner and found that the meat dinner had 25 times the carbon footprint than the veg. Shifting entirely from an average American diet to a vegetable-based one would reduce the same emissions as 8,000 miles driven per year.

So there ya go, some arguments FOR vegetarianism.

Life is an open road; destination: Bryan Adams’ concert.

¼ to 5, here I am; Life is an open road; destination; home!

I know you probably think “ooo boring” but I tell ya; “no exciting”. My friend Sonia is meeting me home for about ¼ to 6. The big event: Bryan Adams at the Copps Coliseum (Hamilton, ON). Yay!

Hamilton is about 1 hr away from Toronto. The show is at 8 so we got to leave early and fight traffic. Although it sometimes feels like traffic cuts like a knife, when you get to your destination, it feels so right. The night is heavy, foggy and a mist covers the road. The windshield of the car is all fogged up. We hit a bit of traffic from Bay to Jameson (as usual) but then, it’s all fine from there. I can tell you straight from the heart that luck was on our side. By 7:30 we were parking 2 blocks from the arena.

Long story short, needless to say that Bryan Adams lived up to and way beyond my standards and expectations. Mind you, I didn’t really have expectations, I was just looking forward to see him perform live. The little dude (from our seat) Canadian rocker star hit the stage and transported us way up on cloud number nine.

All I’ll say is that the show was great. By the time the show was done, we got back in the car and drove back to Toronto. The fine rain and mist covering the road was now only a memory of the Summer of 69.

Let me veg I’m stressed out!

In recent years, I have been experiencing stress and anxiety episodes as are a lot of people. I go through periods where all is good and other where I’m totally stressed out. Sometimes I see dark but I would say that 90-95% of the time I feel positive and/or manage to find positive in my day to day life.

What to do when you can no longer control stress and anxiety? Tips anyone?

In the last few weeks I’ve been experiencing episodes of anxiety and panic attacks. Somehow all the methods I know or use seem to fail. I go to the gym to sweat it out but I can’t get my mind of the tightness I feel in my chest; I try meditating but only manage to focus on distracting noise around me; I tried to get back into doing Yoga but instead of concentrating on my breath I think about the things I have to do later on. I listen to relaxing music when I go to bed, sometimes while driving in the car to chill out but my thoughts are louder than the music; and the list goes on and on…

The good things: eating habit wise I know for sure that I’m ok. I love to eat well.

Lifestyle wise: My partner lives in another city about 1 hr away but it’s something I don’t mind too much at the present time. Although we’d love to see each other more often, we manage to see each other 2-3 times a week and/or including weekends. There are 3 wonderful kids part of our life and our connection and love for each other is strong and true. We have the most amazing connection. There’s a move on the way which will leave us with only 30 minutes from each other which will be amazing.

Passion wise: Music occupies my time quite a bit. My band rehearse about twice and week plus performs once a week or so and we’re establishing a network which will allow us to have more gigs. Trying to promote the band, writing new songs and planning our future is also keeping me very busy. In addition to that, my passion for photography has awakened from a close to one year siesta. That keeps my creative eye in a constant alert.

Work wise: well I work a full time job which pays my bills.

Apart from that I try to stay in contact and get together with friends and family on a regular basis.

I know you’ll say “just slow down”. Trust me I try. I book days off here and there; just got back from a 3 day trip to New York, try to evade to the country side for a drive every so often; going to my partner’s house is amazing because it’s so peaceful. I try to watch movies and funny shows for distraction… and more. One of my fav thing to do is petting; brushing, playing and napping with my cats which I don’t get to do enough.

Nothing to complain about: I have a great family and great friends to whom it’s difficult to say “no” to; I have great passions that keep me alive; a wonderful partner who keeps my heart pounding with love; 2 adorable cats, an ok job that pays my bills. What’s wrong with me?

Anyway, I just needed to write this down to put things in perspective. It’s still not very helpful. If you have any tips, let me know.

A weekend without equipment…

This weekend was full of excitement, busy, with episodes of déjà vu…

Friday night was my band’s last rehearsal prior to a 2 gigs back to back weekend. Rehearsals always fly by so quickly; especially when you want to finest couple of songs that are a bit messy prior to a show. I left rehearsal that night with a bit of anxiety and high blood pressure (mentally and not physically as I am healthy… well at least I think so– lol). We were tight on most of our material except maybe 2 songs. Mind you, out of 27 songs or so… it ain’t too bad.

Sat night @ MacGradies: We get to the bar about 1 hr prior to starting our first set. Shortly after we walk in with our gear, we find out that, although PA is provided, mics, stands and cords are not. The owner of the bar had no idea and we were all far from home; however, luck was on our side when my buddy Andy shows up and had all the equipment in the back of his car. Luckily, despite my anxiety, adrenaline got us through the show quite successfully. The show had a good turn out; we got people dancing and got asked again by the owner of the bar.

I got home hungry and shoved down a bunch of spelt ginger snap cookies with a glass of soy milk. That was my reward for the night… reward or not… that night… I only managed to sleep about 3 hours. I was up at 7:15 watching “Ratatouille” on DVD.

Sun night @ Slack’s: This one gig was an acoustic gig with a few friends in a songwriter circle format. An early one; 6-9 ish. An email had been sent to the owner of the pub earlier last week to confirm details such as PA, mics etc…; we were left without a response. Sunday comes… Disorganized as we are (not always, only every now and then); we try to reach management early afternoon and again are left without a response. It would be 100% correct to say that we should have attempted to reach out to them last week more than once. So, planning the worse case scenario (of no equipment) we start calling friends. I manage to reach a friend of mine who I know has played there before. I was thrilled to find out, again, that no equipment was provided apart from the PA… oooo “déjà vu”… This time, at least, we found out early enough; prior to leaving home. So, just enough time to turn around and bring our own equipment.

The night turned out pretty good, lots of new faces and a few friends which is always good. It’s great to have friends’ support but it’s great to have new people discover our music. My voice was a little hoarse which is bad vocal health wise but gave me a bit of an edge for one night only.

I got home early last night. Pet my cats for a bit and went straight to bed.

if you’re interested, you can check out my site: click here.

I also invite you to visit some of my co-performer songwriter friends: Laura, Kim and David.

Veggie Challenge

Veggie Challenge – Go vegetarian or vegan for one week for a chance to win some great prizes. Sign up to receive an email per day for seven days. Each message includes meal suggestions, recipe links, nutrition information and tips. The site includes inspiring stories, quotes, pictures, getting-started resources, and more.