Vegan Beauty 101 Column: iEG

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!

This Just In: Preggers and Vegan?

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!

Cheese-hab: A Cure for Casein Addictions

Photo From donhalbert.com

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?

IFRAME Embed for Youtube

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.

Voila! Vegan meds. You’re cured.

This article was originally posted on iEatGrass.

So you thought it was Vegan? Vegan sneak-rets!

To learn more about sneaky non-vegan ingredients that lurk in some of your favorite products and food items click here!

My first article published on iEatGrass.com! High hopes for many more :)

Oh, and Ethos Vegan Kitchen update: IT HAS FINALLY OPENED! Excited to check out the new location. Photos and review to be posted soon!

Kathy Freston

Love this woman! She is so positive and has such a wonderful way of enlightening her audience. I can listen to her forever! @kathyfreston.

I hope to be as successful as Kathy one day. She uses her passion for a healthy lifestyle to help others through writing and interviews and so on. She is so in tune with life and really takes everybody's lifestyle situations in consideration. Such an inspiration! http://www.kathyfreston.com/

Oh, and don't forget to follow me on Twitter! @GetVeg

Hamburgers & Hot Dogs

At work on Wednesday, I overheard a mother asking her son what he would like for lunch (I work at a gym, mind you.) She suggested a hamburger. The conversation went a little like this:


Mom: Do you want a hamburger?
Son: A hamburger and a hot dog.
Mom: How about a hamburger now and a hot dog for dinner?
Son: Hamburger AND hot dog!!

Alright little boy... calm down. You'll most likely get your happy meal on the way home. If you decide you're still hungry by the time you get to the house... you might get your hot dog too. If not, hot dog for dinner -- guaranteed.

Okay, here goes the break down (assuming a stop at McDonald's took place on the way home):

According to McDonald's: A Happy Meal is a juicy hamburger with kids sized world famous fries, apple slices and your choice of fat free chocolate milk, low fat white milk or apple juice.

According to real life: Happy meals and the like are HUGE contributors to child obesity. Any combination of a Happy Meal whether it's fries and nuggets, burger and apple dippers -- whatever -- the caloric intake will almost always be over 50% of a child's daily caloric needs.

According to Skinny Bitch: about 99 percent of the meat in our country comes from factory farms. We already know that the animals in these farms are raised in confined, cramped quarters. In order to prevent disease and promote growth, the animals are given hormones, steroids, pesticides, and antibiotics. After this process, we feed the animals to our children in the form of Happy Meals. Our children, in turn, ingest this junk. In addition, the saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and all that other gross stuff just speaks for itself.

I don't even really want to get into what hot dogs are made of. I mean, who does?

Obesity is a huge deal. It is a disease that leads to other diseases and can be fatal.

I guess I was just disgusted to hear this conversation. Think, people! Is this what we want our children to grow up eating? Do we want them to think it's OK to eat this garbage?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! You are what you eat. Remember that.

Attention! Ethos Vegan Kitchen is relocating!

Although the charming downtown location will be terribly missed by many, Ethos' move is definitely a positive one.

The new Winter Park location is super close to where I work: PLUS! Also, it will actually have more than four parking spaces; another plus! From what I hear, service will be A LOT better since the restaurant now offers full on table side service.

If a more casual setting is preferred, it will have a lunch bar and a counter area dedicated solely for pick-up and to-go orders to cut down time waiting in line.

So, overall, I am excited about this. I cannot wait until the grand opening this summer to drag all my friends to Ethos and make them taste the best vegan food Orlando has to offer! (Well, that I've tried at least.)

For more information check out my article in the Central Florida Future:
Veg out at Ethos' new location - News - Central Florida Future - University of Central Florida