You can't be a meat eating environmentalist

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said "Liverstock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," "Urgent action is required to remedy the situation."

In the FAO report, "Cattle-rearing is also a major source of land and water degradation"

"With increased prosperity people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year"

The global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector.

Livestock now use 30% of the Earth's land surface.

33 per cent of the global arable land is used to producing feed for livestock

As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforeststion, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 per cent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.

"Herds cause wide-scale land degradation with about 20% of pastures considered degraded through overgrazing, compaction and erosion." the report said.

This figure is even higher in the drylands.

The livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the earth's increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.

The Union of Concerned Scientists and many leading environmental organisations have recognized that raising animals for food demages the environment more than just about anything else that we do.

In 2004-2005, all the wild animals and trees in more than 2.9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed in order to grow crops that are used to feed chickens and other animals in factory farms.

In a 2006 UN report, the livestock sector caused more greenhouse gases worldwide than the entire transportation sector. Nitrous oxide is about 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide.

UN report cont'd "The meat, dairy and egg industries account for a staggering 65 percent of worldwide nitrous oxide emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the run-off from factory farms pollutes our waterways more than all other industrial sources combined.

According to the UN report Chicken, hog, and cattle excrement have polluted 35,000 of rivers in 22 US states and contaiminated groundwater in 17 states.

It takes 16 pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat. One average meat eater could consume that pound of meat during a meal, while 16 people could have been fed on the grain it takes to produce the pound of meat.

Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population - 86,000 lbs per second. Hence the meat industry causes more water polution than all other industries combined.

90% of all corn and 80% of all grains and beans grown in the US are used to feed livestock animals. 75 percent of U.S. topsoil has been lost to date. 85 percent of that is due to livestock rearing.

The livestock population of the US consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed more that 5 times its human population.

Every 2 seconds, a child starves to death somewhere in the world. Countries such as Ethiopia and some Central American countries use their garmland to supply the US with cheap burgers instead of growing healthful grain foods for their own starving people.

Fortunately there is something we can do - switch to a plant-based diet.

Excerpts from 2006 United Nations Report & WoodstockFAS.org

FAO Newsroom: Livestock a major threat to environment - Remedies urgently needed

FAO Spotlight / 2006 - Livestock impacts on the environment

UN News Center Report: Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report

Livestock - One of Major Contributors to Environmental Problems

Meat is murder on the environment

European Vegetarian and Animal News Agency (EVANA)

LobsA

You can't be a meat eating environmentalist - YouTube Video

Drink Water Empty Stomach

It is popular in Japan today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value. We publish below a description of use of water for our readers.

For old and serious diseases as well as modern illnesses, the water treatment had been found successful by a Japanese medical society as a hundred percent cure for the following diseases:

Headache
Body-ache
Heart system
Arthritis
Fast heartbeat
Epilepsy
Excess
Fatness
Bronchitis
Asthma
TB
Meningitis
Kidney and Urine diseases
Vomiting gastritis
Diarrhoea
Piles
Diabetes
Constipation
All eye diseases
Womb cancer
Menstrual disorders
Ear nose
Throat diseases

Method of Treatment:
1. As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink four glasses of water each of 160ml.

2. Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minutes.

3. After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.

4. After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for two hours.

5. Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink four glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to four glasses per day.

6. The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life.

The following list gives the number of days of treatment required to cure main diseases:
1. High Blood Pressure: 30 days
2. Gastric: 10 days
3. Diabetes: 30 days
4. Constipation: 10 days
5. Cancer: 180 days
6. TB: 90 days

Arthritis patients should follow the above treatment for only 3 days in the first week to be followed by daily treatment.

This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times.

Good Health to you...

Healing effect of Okra (Lady's Finger)

Okra, also known as lady's finger, fruit of a vegetable plant. Its scientific name is Abelmoschus esculentus.

Someone has been suffering from constipation for the past 20 years and recently from acid reflux. He didn't realize that the treatment could be so simple -- OKRA! (or Lady's Finger).

He started eating okra within the last 2 months and since then have never taken medication again. All he did was consume 6 pieces of OKRA everyday.

He's now regular and his blood sugar has dropped from 135 to 98, with his cholesterol and acid reflux also under control.

Here are some facts on okra (from the research of Ms. Sylvia Zook, Ph.D in nutrition, University of Illinois).

"Okra is a powerhouse of valuable nutrients, nearly half of which is soluble fiber in the form of gums and pectins. Soluble fiber helps to lower serum cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease. The other half is insoluble fiber which helps to keep the intestinal tract healthy,decreasing the risk of some forms of cancer, especially colo-rectal cancer.

Nearly 10% of the recommended levels of vitamin B6 and folic acid is also present in a half cup of cooked okra. Okra is a rich source of many nutrients, including fiber, vitamin B6 and folic acid. He got the following numbers from the University of Illinois Extension Okra Page.

Please check there for more details.

Okra Nutrition (half-cup cooked okra)

* Calories = 25
* Dietary Fiber = 2 grams
* Protein = 1.5 grams
* Carbohydrates = 5.8 grams
* Vitamin A = 460 IU
* Vitamin C = 13 mg
* Folic acid = 36.5 micrograms
* Calcium = 50 mg
* Iron = 0.4 mg
* Potassium = 256 mg
* Magnesium = 46 mg

These numbers should be used as a guideline only, and if you are on a medically-restricted diet please consult your physician and/or dietician. Ms Sylvia W. Zook, Ph.D. (nutritionist) has very kindly provided the following thought-provoking comments on the many benefits of this versatile vegetable They are well worth reading

1. The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize blood sugar as it curbs the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract.

2. Okra's mucilage not only binds cholesterol but bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver. But it doesn't stop there...

3. Many alternative health practitioners believe all diseases begin in the colon.

The okra fiber, absorbing water and ensuring bulk in stools, helps prevent constipation.

Fiber in general is helpful for this but okra is one of the best, along with ground flax seed and psyllium.

Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra's mucilage soothes, and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic many people abhor. In other words,this incredibly valuable vegetable not only binds excess cholesterol and toxins (in bile acids) which cause numerous health problems, if not evacuated, but also assures their easy passage from
the the body.

The veggie is completely non-toxic, non-habit forming (except for the many who greatly enjoy eating it), has no adverse side effects, is full of nutrients, and is economically within reach of most.

4. Further contributing to the health of the intestinal tract, okra fiber(as well as flax and psyllium) has no equal among fibers for feeding the good bacteria (probiotics).

5. To retain most of okra's nutrients and self-digesting enzymes, it should be cooked as little as possible, e.g. with low heat or lightly steamed. Some eat it raw.