pandacake

lol, turn on the TV… walk into a restaurant… go to a birthday party or a wedding… look at what foods are subsidized by the government… take a peek at the food guide… ask your doctor or nutritionist… go to the grocery store and compare the amount of meat in the store to the availability of tempeh and fresh greens… compare the number of animal sanctuaries in your area to the number of farms and slaughterhouses…
eating animals and their secretions = overrated.

What underlying force drives this machinery of violence? Why do we insist on stabbing, burning, and cutting our precious mother Earth instead of cooperating with her miraculous bounty, respecting and loving her? Why are we ripping apart the fabric of living creation, destroying the beautiful interconnected life that is celebrating through the communities of birds, fish, animals and plants around us?

I believe we have to look much more deeply than mere economic and political forces to the underlying, driving mentality that is ritually injected into all of us by our cultural upbringing, and more specifically, by the foods we are indoctrinated to eat by all the institutions in this culture. What we need more than anything now are conversations and discussions about the irresistible consequences of our routine violence toward billions of enslaved animals for food.

The mentality that is required to hyperconfine, mutilate, kill, and eat hundreds of millions of animals daily is precisely the mentality that ruthlessly destroys ecosystems without remorse. It is the mentality that is injected into all of us from birth by powerful cultural forces that indoctrinate us into seeing beings as mere commodities to be used. Our innate inner landscape of compassion and wisdom is devastated by relentlessly eating the flesh and secretions of enslaved animals, just as the outer landscape is devastated by the same behavior.

The hidden and mostly ungrieved tragedy is that all the devastation caused by eating animal foods—diabetes, cancer, arthritis, heart disease, osteoporosis; dementia, depression, insomnia, anxiety; air and water pollution, global climate change, massive species extinction, soil erosion; starvation, malnutrition, war, inequity; and the inconceivably vast enslavement, torture, and killing of billions of fully sentient animals for food—is utterly unnecessary. There are no nutrients in animal foods that we cannot get directly from eating plants. The door is open! Each and every one of us can walk out of the prison of misery of eating animal foods, right now! There is nothing holding us except the bone-deep disconnectedness that we don’t realize we’re in a prison. We are forced by our culture to forget the truth that we are all connected, and that as we harm and imprison others for some supposed benefit, we actually harm and imprison ourselves even more. Our violence toward animals for food is ultimately violence toward ourselves. It inevitably and elegantly boomerangs. We are so obtuse as a culture that we don’t realize it.

The way out is straightforward: Do not do to others what you wouldn’t want done to you.

— Dr. Will Tuttle
(Read more)

Have you ever noticed that the biggest and strongest animals are herbivores? Moreover, they eat nothing more than green leaves, grasses, and berries. The gorilla, the elephant, and the giraffe are just a few examples of strong, healthy, and long-living animals that thrive on nothing more than the energy and nutrients provided by nature’s gift – the greens!

The Power of Chlorophyll
Why green plants are so amazingly powerful is because they are direct conduits of the sun’s energy. The sun’s rays are absorbed by the green plants’ pigment called chlorophyll (which gives plants their green colour). This energy is then used to produce carbohydrates through a process known as photosynthesis. This is how the food chain begins.
Once we (or animals) consume greens, we immediately benefit from the sun’s life-giving energy that is held in the bonds of the chlorophyll molecule. Immediately, we feel uplifted, light, and energetic. Quite the contrast to the feelings of fatigue and lethargy that arise from the consumption of refined, cooked, and animal-based foods.
The amazing thing about chlorophyll is that it is the plant’s version of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying molecule in our blood which binds iron to oxygen. Without hemoglobin we die. Likewise, without chlorophyll plants cannot thrive.
But the true beauty arises when humans and animals consume chlorophyll via green plants. Instead of iron, chlorophyll binds magnesium – one of the most deficient minerals in our diet. Not only do you enrich your body with this vital mineral by eating greens but you also help strengthen and build your blood since the molecular structure of chlorophyll and hemoglobin are almost identical. As a result, the energy of the sun is directly inserted into your bloodstream. It’s no wonder the blood is known as the “river of life”.

Green Equals Alkalinity = Energy, Health, Fat Loss & More
The other vital characteristic of all plants is that they are highly alkaline-forming in the body. This is important because disease cannot thrive in alkaline environments. Cancers, viruses, and bacteria all thrive in acidic environments. Unfortunately, an overwhelming percentage of the North American population is acidic due to a diet high in refined sugars, bad fats, meat and dairy products, and a stressful lifestyle. The result – one of the most unhealthy populations on the planet.

How many wild animals do you know of that suffer from “human” diseases? None! Why is that? Well, just look at what we’re putting in our bodies and there’s your answer. Do wild animals have access to packaged foods? Do they have the luxury of using an oven or a microwave? Of course not! But we do.
Why don’t we learn from what works in nature? Look at the elephant. It is by far one of the largest, strongest, and smartest mammals on the planet. It even has one of the longest lifespan averaging 69 years. The elephant eats nothing but grass!
The longest living animal in the world – the giant tortoise has a lifespan of 177 years! It too feeds mainly on grass.
How about cows. Humans drink their milk for its “apparent” rich calcium and protein content. But where do cows get their nourishment from? That’s right – grass!
I hope you’re starting to see my point. Greens help life thrive. The alkalinity that greens provide helps the body age gracefully while maintaining a suitable level of health and vitality for survival (or life).

The take home message from this article is simple – EAT MORE GREENS!

(Source: 101 Ways to Total Wellness by Yuri Elkaim, BPHA, CK, RHN)