As as the social media intern for iEatGrass.com, I was given the opportunity to write the beauty column. Editorial powers too!? Bonus!
Beauty 101 is a DIY/review hybrid. Basically, I like to concoct stuff out of ingredients that I (and most people) already have lying around the house. Everything is natural. So far I have done both an avocado mask and an oatmeal hand scrub.
This week, I plan to try a banana sugar body scrub. I really would like to get some reader feedback and suggestions!
If there is ANY beauty product (animal product/cruelty free) you would like me to review or any DIY concoction you would like me to try before you do, PLEASE let me know!
I appreciate any comments, suggestions, thoughts, questions, whatever! Let me be your guinea pig. I'll try anything once, just let me know in a comment. Be sure to keep up with iEatGrass for all of your vegan lifestyle news and entertainment!
Hey I know you, you have adopted a plant-based diet to help save the animals, the planet and yourself. But now you’re knocked up–congrats! And you’re wondering, could a vegan diet be detrimental to your unborn child? New research claims that consuming milk and eggs during pregnancy can lower your baby’s risk of developing a stress-related illness as an adult.
I’m no doctor, and this is just a side note but: No matter who you are, as long as you have bills, deadlines and relationships… you’re going to be stressed. I do understand that stress-related illnesses are serious and prevention is important; especially when it comes to your own child.
Pregnant women who eat foods that are high in choline(meat and eggs) have babies with lower levels of cortisol which is a hormone that affects the response to stress in the body. Apparently, Natalie Portman tweaked her vegan diet and consumed dairy and eggs to provide this nourishment to her son. After she gave birth, she ditched the dairy.
On the other hand, according to the American Dietetic Association, a plant-based diet planned in accord with current dietary recommendations can easily meet the nutritional needs of pregnancy.
This photo is from my sister-in-law’s baby shower [she's in the pink & blue]. All the dishes in the photo are veg-friendly!
Pregnancy is definitely a period of time in a woman’s life when nutritional needs increase. Obviously, as for pretty much every food known to man there are alternatives. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, the richest vegetarian source of choline is toasted wheat germ. Other sources include Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Peanut butter can do the trick as well.
If it makes you feel better, in a Q&A, Alicia Silverstone said that all of the vegan pregnancies she had witnessed have been way smoother than those of her non-vegan friends.
Vegan or not, the diet you chose to stick to during pregnancy is probably the first of many decisions you will make as a parent. Make it easier on yourself, do the research to ensure that you provide your baby proper nourishment throughout your pregnancy as well as the rest your child’s life.
Comments? Share your thoughts, stories or experiences in a comment!
Check out the original post on iEatGrass! LOVE my internship!
It’s cubed, stringed, fried, melted, spreadable, dip-able; all the best ways to enjoy food but unfortunately, not free of animal secretions.
Cheese: a food that, as vegans, we like the idea of it more than we actually like it. Perhaps this key ingredient that separates vegans from vegetarians is due to its drug-like qualities. Is it true? Is cheese…addicting?
Does this clip hit home? Maybe you yourself are a cheese addict. Here’s why:
The primary protein in milk is casein. According to The China Study, casein is the most “relevant” chemical carcinogen ever identified; not to mention cancer-producing. As you digest casein, it breaks apart to release morphine-like chemicals. Since cheese is denser than milk, the casein is more heavily concentrated which means the cheese produces a larger amount of the “drug.” After swallowing cheese, these chemicals enter your bloodstream, pass to your brain and attach to your opiate receptors. Hence, making you feel addicted.
Ever hear anyone say “I could totally be vegan, but I could never give up cheese.” Well, that’s why.
Scientists say that the reason why cheese digestion produces the “morphine-like” chemicals is because there actually are tiny amounts of morphine in cheese! These opiates are found in cheese because they are in the cow’s milk. The hormone is used to bond baby cows to their mamas! Sense a correlation here?
Neal Barnard, president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine declared ever so eloquently that cheese is “morphine on a cracker” and refers to the drug as “dairy crack.”
Barnard is not the only one who associates cheese with drugs. President of the Body of Animal Rights Campaigners organization, at the University of Central Florida, Alanna Wagy, dubbed cheese “the heroin of foods.”
FreeFromHarm.org suggests breaking the addiction with this program: go on a dairy fast for three weeks at the least. Your taste buds will change, and you will find the craving greatly weakened or even gone. You’ll still have a taste for creamy, rich and fatty foods in your diet, but at this point, you will have learned to satisfy them with healthier foods from plants instead of animals.
In reality, being addicted to cheese should not be used as an excuse and should not deter a person from adopting a vegan diet. There is nicotine gum and the patch for cigarette addicts just as there are delectable non-dairy alternatives and substitutes for cheese addicts.
