LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO EAT CRAP!

With more than half the Australian population either overweight or obese, Australia is in the grip of a global epidemic, which has significant cardiovascular health, social and economic consequences.

People who are overweight or obese are at an increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure and type 2 diabetes. Many of the deaths attributable to excess weight are due to chronic diseases..

In 1999/2000:

60% of adult Australians aged 25 years and over were overweight or obese:

Around 39% of adult Australians (aged 25 and over) were overweight; and

Around 21% of adult Australians (aged 25 and over) were obese.

Being overweight or obese seriously affects your health AND quality of life.

Australia’s fresh food and vegetables may be among the best in the world, yet most people don't eat enough of them. There is growing evidence that eating the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables not only contributes to good health, but also protects against a number of diseases.

Decades of experience, culminating in more than a million vegans today, have shown that appropriate vegan diets support good health at all stages of life and reduce the risk of heart disease. This has been confirmed by independent scientific studies.

The Vegan Society recommends a highly varied diet including both cooked and raw foods as the proven basis for vegan health, particularly for infants.

Like any other form of diet, some vegan diets are more nutritionally complete than others. White bread, hydrogenated margarine and chips qualify as a vegan meal, but too many such meals will remove the usual benefit of a vegan diet in reducing risk of heart disease. Bananas are a healthful food in moderation, but anyone trying to live on bananas alone is headed for deficiency in about ten important nutrients.

The starting principle for health is to eat a wide variety of plant foods, including plenty of strongly coloured vegetables and fruits. Each food has different strengths, so the fewer foods you eat the less likely it is that all your needs will be met. Vegetables and fruits provide plenty of many vital vitamins and minerals along with a host of other beneficial plant chemicals.   

Over-processed foods that have lost much of their nutrient content or have been transformed into unnatural and harmful forms should be used sparingly, if at all.

In conventional nutrition, animal products are seen as a key source of protein, iron, zinc and vitamin B12, while dairy products are seen as a key source of calcium. However, zinc and iron are found in useful amounts in many whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes and vegans are no more likely to become anaemic than anyone else.

Protein is found in adequate amounts in most plant foods: it is fairly low in fruit, potatoes and rice, but particularly high in legumes. With regard to calcium,100 grams of spring greens, kale, mustard greens or Chinese cabbage provide about the same amount of retained calcium as a cup of cow's milk.

If you eat a lot of these vegetables, you can be confident about your bone health. If you totally avoid such vegetables, two cups of fortified soya milk (about 300 milligrams calcium per cup) would be adequate..

A small number of nutrients need more specific consideration to ensure optimal intakes. If you don't use fortified soya milk, you should include some other food fortified with B12 each day or take a supplement. B12 is not reliably available from modern unfortified plant foods in the amounts required for optimal health, although the body is able to produce it on its own - so take no chances: use fortified foods or supplements.

Remember that all the neccessary requirements for optimum health are readily available on a vegan diet.