Share this handy poster with family and friends. You can also print it out and post it on your refrigerator. See: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/VeganDietsinaNutshellPoster.pdf
Marian from New York is a VRG video contest winner. She said: I am interested in vegetarianism for environmental reasons. A goal of mine is to reduce pollution by raising awareness about the devastating effects of the meat industry. By advocating a vegetarian lifestyle, I believe the public can counteract the ethical dilemmas introduced by factory farming.
Her video is at https://www.vrg.org/veg_videos.php#coloradoriversolution
The deadline for the next video contest is July 15, 2024. See https://www.vrg.org/videoscholarship.php
For information about VRG’s college scholarships, see https://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm
To donate towards The Vegetarian Resoutce Group internships and scholarships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate or join at https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Imagine a pair of spooky eyes staring up at you from a plate of pale orange strands (or, could it be hair?), topped with red sauce. Then picture “bones” to dip into more red sauce (blood?) and you have the makings of a Halloween dinner.
Vegan Eye Balls (Adapted from Vive le Vegan! By Dreena Burton)
(makes 18 balls)
7 ounces firm or extra-firm tofu, torn or cut into pieces
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
1½ Tablespoons catsup
1 teaspoon minced garlic (or to taste)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 Tablespoon olive oil plus additional oil for baking sheet
Pepper to taste
1½ cups breadcrumbs
½ cup quick-cooking oats (uncooked)
18 pitted olives (pimiento stuffed olives are a nice touch, but black or green olives would also work)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drizzle on a little olive oil. In a food processor, purée tofu until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except breadcrumbs, oats and olives and process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in breadcrumbs and oats. Let sit for 5 minutes to firm up. The mixture should hold together – add more breadcrumbs if necessary. Form mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball, carefully pressing an olive into each ball, and place on the baking sheet, olive facing up. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.
Spaghetti Squash
You can start baking this while you prepare the “eye balls.” Cut a spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until squash is soft. Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle. Remove seeds. Use a fork to comb through the squash, separating the strands. Place the strands in a serving bowl.
Top the spaghetti squash (or you can use regular spaghetti) with pasta sauce (homemade or your favorite vegan brand) and then add a couple of “eye balls.”
Breadstick “Bones” (Adapted from The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, edited by Louise Hagler)
(makes 15 small breadsticks)
1 teaspoon vegan sugar
1 Tablespoon baking yeast
6 Tablespoons warm water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
In a medium bowl, combine sugar and baking yeast and add warm water. Stir and let proof for 5 minutes. Add olive oil, all-purpose flour, wheat flour, salt, and nutritional yeast and stir, adding water or flour to make a smooth dough. Knead dough for 5 minutes. Form dough into relatively thin bones shapes (or just make thin breadsticks), place on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet, and let rise for an hour. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 9 minutes or until done. Serve with a small bowl of pasta sauce for dipping.
Happy Halloween!
Recent topics brought up include:
– Looking for vegan Halloween treats to handout? Here’s some suggestions.
– We’re hosting a big, FREE anti-dairy Halloween Party on October 21st at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland, Oregon! We’ll have a kids table and trick-or-treating PLUS the first 1,000 attendees get a FREE Lush product and carton Oatly! Please share!
– My 15-year-old son will be hosting a vegan Halloween party for mostly pre-vegan kids 12 years of age and up courtesy of our local group Northern Vegans. So we are looking at providing some party favors and some kid-friendly vegan literature. Any suggestions to where or what we can use?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VRGparentsandkids is intended to be a group that offers support for families raising children on vegan diets and for vegan kids around the world. We envision it as a place to get advice about a wide-variety of topics: pregnancy, birthday parties, school lunches, Halloween, non-leather apparel, cruelty-free products, summer camps, and more. Please use it as a place to share your wisdom, seek advice, or just find a sympathetic ear. The goal is to offer support.
Consequently, any profane, defamatory, offensive, or violent language will be removed. Feel free to disagree, but do so respectfully. Hateful or discriminatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs will not be tolerated. We expect that posts should relate to vegan diets and lifestyles. The Vegetarian Resource Group reserves the right to monitor all content and ban any user who posts in violation of the above rules, any law or regulation, SPAM, or anything otherwise off topic.
Please share this information with any veggie families that you know! Thanks.
photo from Adventist Nutrition and Dietetics International Association
The Adventist Nutrition and Dietetics International Association will hold a virtual health symposium October 28 and October 29, 2023. Webinars will provide the latest updates on plant-based nutrition. For details see www.adventistdietetics.org
magnesium vegan sources image from Freepik
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
I was at a conference for dietitians when a speaker, extolling cow’s milk, said that 3 cups of cow’s milk provided 25% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for magnesium. Actually, the speaker just said “milk,” but it was understood that “milk” meant cow’s milk. Three cups of cow’s milk contain about 90 milligrams of magnesium. In addition to the fact that few adults will drink 3 cups of cow’s milk, the speaker neglected to mention the many plant sources of magnesium. Some of these vegan sources have more magnesium in a serving than is found in 3 cups of cow’s milk.
Magnesium is an essential mineral. We need to get it from food and/or supplements in order to stay healthy. Magnesium is important in many parts of our body including bones, muscles, nerves, and DNA. It also helps to control blood sugar levels and blood pressure.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for magnesium is:
Birth to 6 months: 30 milligrams/day (this is the Adequate Intake rather than the RDA)
7-12 months: 75 milligrams/day (this is the Adequate Intake rather than the RDA)
1-3 years: 80 milligrams/day
4-8 years: 130 milligrams per day
9-13 years: 240 milligrams/day
14-18 years: 410 milligrams/day (male); 360 milligrams/day (female)
19-30 years: 400 milligrams/day (male); 310 milligrams/day (female)
31 years and older : 420 milligrams/day (male); 320 milligrams/day (female)
Pregnancy: 400 milligrams/day (14-18 years); 350 milligrams/day (19-30 years); 360 milligrams/day (31 years and older)
Lactation: 360 milligrams/day (14-18 years); 310 milligrams/day (19-30 years); 320 milligrams (31 years and older)
Many whole plant foods supply us with magnesium.
10 Good Sources of Magnesium for Vegans
Dietary fiber and substances found in plant food called phytates are known to decrease the amount of magnesium absorbed. Generally, however, vegan diets based on whole plant foods are high enough in magnesium to compensate for the possibility of a reduction in absorption.
To read more about magnesium see Magnesium Fact Sheet for Consumers (from National Institutes of Health; contains nonvegan sources of magnesium)
The Vegetarian Resource Group recently tabled at two events in Denver, Colorado, and we had the pleasure of dining at WaterCourse Foods. This vegan restaurant offers both indoor and outdoor dining and their menu is quite creative. We absolutely enjoyed the 2-piece cauliflower chicken served with a bowl of soup, and side salad as well as their Smoked Turkey + Brie sandwich served with a delicious salad. For dessert, we devoured a slice of vegan cheesecake.
They are located at 837 E. 17th Ave., Denver, CO 80218 and more information can be gotten at (303) 832-7313 or https://www.watercoursefoods.com/
VRG Booth at Richmond VegFest 2023
Thanks to Elsa Spencer, PhD, for staffing The Vegetarian Resource Group’s booth at the Richmond VegFest. She said that she talked to one person 10 minutes before the event opened and focused on where she is at diet wise. It was a steady flow of people – my voice was mostly gone by 6:00 p.m when the festival closed, and I was chatting with someone right up until 6:10.
Michelle from Texas is a VRG video contest winner. She said: “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Gandhi. This statement is one that I am living by as I embark on my healthy lifestyle journey. Taking charge and controlling what I put in my body has shown to be very effective with vegetarianism, and I have noticed a vast difference in my health. It also impacts the environment and is highly sustainable, as it requires fewer resources compared to animal agriculture, which contributes to the increase in greenhouse emissions that are harmful to the Earth.
Her video is at https://www.vrg.org/veg_videos.php#michellevegetarianrap
The dealine for the next video contest is July 15, 2024. See https://www.vrg.org/videoscholarship.php
For information about VRG’s college scholarships, see
https://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm
To donate towards The Vegetarian Resouce Group internships and scholarships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate or join at https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
A recent study investigated what the study researchers called “disproportionate beef consumption” in the United States. They defined disproportionate beef consumption as eating more than 4 ounces of beef per day. Using a large survey of U.S. adults, they determined that 12% of the adult population consumed more than 4 ounces of beef per day. This 12% of the adult population was responsible for fully half of beef consumption in the United States (1).
Who is eating these “disproportionate” amounts of beef? They are more likely to identify as male than as female. They are more likely to be non-Hispanic White than non-Hispanic Black or Asian. Younger (18-29 years old) and older (66 years and older) adults are less likely to be “disproportionate beef consumers.” Family income does not appear to play a role.
Almost a third of the beef consumed was in the form of different beef cuts such as steak, brisket, ribs, and pot roast. The other categories in the top five sources of beef were burgers, mixed dishes containing beef (such as meatloaf and beef stew), burritos and tacos, and cold cuts.
These “disproportionate beef consumers” are markedly exceeding recommendations. For example, the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet calls for an upper limit of half an ounce per day of red meat (beef and lamb) (2). The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans U.S.-style Dietary Pattern limits total meat, poultry, and eggs to 4 ounces per day for those with a 2200 calorie diet (3).
Meat production has serious environmental impacts. Identifying and implementing programs to influence those who consume the most beef to greatly reduce their beef consumption (or, even better, to eliminate meat entirely) could have beneficial environmental effects as well as offering health benefits.
References
To read more about meat’s environmental effects see:
Carbon Footprint of Vegan vs. Meat Pizza
The Water Footprint of a Vegan versus a Meat Burrito
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The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on veganism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger. We have been helping health professionals, food services, businesses, educators, students, vegans, and vegetarians since 1982. In addition to publishing the Vegan Journal, VRG produces and sells a number of books.
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