If you live in or near New York City, the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts is an excellent choice for a vegan culinary school. They offer a comprehensive 619 hour education that incorporates eliminates of vegan cooking, Chinese medicine and the raw food lifestyle. However, for those of us who don’t near New York, finding a vegan culinary school can be challenging.

Vegan Cooking Class

It’s true that most large cities offer culinary schools. Still, although many of these schools are attempting to meet the demand for healthier eating by offering vegetarian or vegan courses, the bulk of their coursework still requires use of meat, dairy and eggs. Vegan culinary schools often require more extensive travel and relocation plans for their students, which in turn requires a greater expense.

If you are in the market for a vegan culinary institution and such relocation is not in the realm of possibilities, consider one of the alternative ways of gaining a vegan culinary education.

1. Consider specializing in raw food.
The primary raw food culinary school is the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute, run by Cherie Soria since 1998. While attendance will obviously depend upon your feelings about the raw food lifestyle, it holds several advantages beyond being vegan friendly. Courses can be taken onsite, offsite or online, and are available to chefs with a variety of cooking abilities, ranging from beginners to experts.

2. Consider a vegetarian culinary school.
If a vegetarian school is closer or more affordable, investigate what their course requirements are. Some vegetarian schools block their meat/egg/dairy portions together, and you may be able to skip that week and still obtain your degree or certificate.

3. Consider a non-traditional degree program.
While traditional vegan culinary schools can be difficult to find, the more nontraditional model certainly isn’t. Schools that offer courses exclusively online or through correspondence courses continue to grow. Some examples include the School of Natural Cookery located out of Boulder, Colorado, the Vegan Culinary Experience and the Vegan Culinary Academy. Though not all of these schools offer degree or certificate programs, many of them do.

Three Tips For Getting a Vegan Culinary Education is from groovy vegetarian

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Vegetarian Sports Nutrition is from groovy vegetarian

When humans consume meat, especially in huge proportions, it stays in the intestines for longer periods, which can decay and lead to the formation of toxins. These toxins have been found to be trigger diseases such as colon and rectal cancer, liver and kidney problems and many others. Excessive consumption of meat can also increase saturated fat and cholesterol counts that can slow down the body’s metabolic functions, thus leading to cardiovascular problems.

Even when you think the meat has been inspected for cleanliness and safety, you can still never tell whether it is really free from disease carriers. Moreover, the presence of antibiotics, hormones and other drugs in animal produce can pose a serious threat to human health as well.

With a vegetarian diet, you may not have to worry about these possible health risks. Plant food is a direct source of more nutrients compared to animal food. Especially when vegetarian diets are well planned, you can be sure that you will be getting proper nutrition that you need, which is necessary for good health.

Too often, it has become a common misconception that nutrition from meat consumption is better than vegetarian nutrition, which may not always be the case. In fact, a study in Yale University showed that vegetarians have more endurance than those who eat meat. Vegetarians can still get adequate amounts of protein by increasing intake of wheat, whole grains and vegetables without ever resorting to meat.

Moreover, the nutrition that a vegetarian diet provides can give you a leaner physique, a healthier body, a sharper focus, which in totality can lead to a better quality of life. In fact, vegetarians are known to live longer lives than meat eaters. Of course, while modern science may have already introduced approaches to prolonging life, perhaps nothing can top up with the health benefits that a vegetarian diet can give.

Above all else, your health should be your topmost priority. Without it, you may never live your life at its best. Now that you know what vegetarian nutrition can give you and why it is the best option for your health, all you need to do is to make the switch.

Why Vegetarian Nutrition Stands Out is from groovy vegetarian

Nutricion Forestal/ Vegetarian Nutrition is from groovy vegetarian

Nutricion Forestal/ Vegetarian Nutrition is from groovy vegetarian

When you look at these different foods that you can eat, you will notice that vegetables and fruits are ones that seem to offer you a better way of living. This route to vegetarian health is one that anyone can adopt.

You will find there are various types of vegetables and fruits that can be placed on a vegetarian diet. These vegetables all contribute to the way that your vegetarian nutrition and metabolism can change for the better.

One way that you can find information about vegetarian nutrition is to look at the USDA food pyramid and the vegetarian food pyramid. For vegans there is a pure vegan food pyramid to look at too.

With the help that you can get from the food pyramid you will be able to plan your daily meals in a healthy manner and quantity. This is helpful if you are trying to maintain a healthy and slim looking figure.

The food pyramid is divided into a number of different tiers. Each of these tiers has different foods which have varying amounts of vegetarian nutrition. To get the most from this pyramid you should make sure that you eat only what your body needs.

The top part of the pyramid contains oil, sweets and fats. Below this tier you will find another tier which has been dived into two parts. In one part of this tier you will find a plentiful amount of dairy and cheese products.

These other group will contain foods like meats, fish, dry beans, eggs, poultry, and various types of nuts. Below this tier you will find yet another tier of foods. These foods will provide you with the necessary vegetarian nutrition that you are looking for.

The vegetables that you can find in one part of this tier are cabbages, carrots, broccoli, pumpkins, corn, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplants and many others. With the fruit section you can eat pineapples, papayas, grapes, oranges, bananas and many others.

The final tier will have different cereals, pastas; rice and whole grain bread that you can choose to eat. These foods you can eat as much as you need in order to keep your strength up.

By looking at these different food pyramids you can judge for yourself what the vegetarian nutrition is for the different foods that you select. While these pyramids do provide you with the necessary information they are just guidelines for you to follow when you are looking for the vegetarian nutrition that your body needs.

How to Attain the Vegetarian Nutrition That your Body Needs is from groovy vegetarian

Teddy bears and bean sprouts: The infant and vegetarian nutrition is from groovy vegetarian

Weekend link goes to: ChickandFit.com

http://chickandfit.com/10-reasons-to-eat-apples-dieting-motivation

Great article on the many health benefits of APPLES. I was surprised (but delighted) to read #8.

Apples prevent tooth decay, as the juice can kill around 80% of bacteria in the mouth.

via ChickandFit.com

Wanna be featured here next weekend? Send me your link. Must be veg related. (of course!)

10 Reasons Apples Rock! is from groovy vegetarian

image via The Hot Potato

Below are some cool Sunflower seed fun facts.

1. Sunflower seeds belong to that rare class of foods that are as healthy as they are delish. Due to no cholesterol content and cholesterol-fighting (phytosterols) they’re really good for the heart. In addition to that, they’re rich in fiber, minerals like zinc and calcium, iron for blood and also magnesium, selenium. Oh! and they have very high levels of Vitamins B and E. In fact, sunflower seeds are particularly a GREAT SOURCE OF VITAMIN E.
2. Phytosterol from sunflower seeds is known to make the immune system more robust, flush out toxins and reduce the risk of cancer, while also regulating the level of cholesterol in the blood stream thereby reducing chances of cardiac stroke.
3. The mineral selenium on the other hand acts as a catalyst in apoptosis – the self destructing mechanism of the body that sheds cancerous and abnormal cells growth. It also helps in DNA replication in various body repair mechanisms. Selenium isn’t abundantly available in common food types and the normal human intake of selenium is usually low. Having sunflower seeds, however, provides the body with ample selenium.
4. The scientific name of sunflowers is Helianthus annuus, latin for flower of the sun. Scientifically, sunflower seeds aren’t actually seeds, they belong to the set achenes – edible fruits of flowers in the shape of seeds where the fruit inside does not adhere to the outer covering.
5. Sunflowers grow throughout the year. Each sunflower consists of about 1000 to 2000 seeds and it takes about 3 months for a sunflower to mature. There are three kinds of sunflower seeds – black oil, striped and white. White seeds have not found much commercial use as yet.
6. If you like variety in your snacks then you can choose from a wide range of sunflower seeds – roasted, unroasted, salted, unsalted, with the kernel or without it, spiced, chocolate covered, mint covered, barbecued, honey roasted or sprouted! This healthy delicacy of a snack can be served up in innumerable ways.
7. You can also use sunflower seeds to garnish your salads and main courses, it gels with all kinds of food, bitter, sour, sweet, and salted. Sunflower seeds are also used to make sunflower seed butter, much like peanut better except its a lot more healthier.
8. Most South East Asian countries use sunflower oil to cook (as most of their food is made in oil) because it is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and has a very low risk of cardiac strokes even when used daily. Lots of other countries are following suit these days. Processed sunflower oil is made into margarine’s and used instead of butter. The residual content once the oil is squeezed from the seeds is used as feed for livestock.
9. Speaking of which, birds love sunflower seeds! Planting a few in your garden/farm is the easiest way to attract birds. Sunflower seeds make for good feed for livestock too.

Hope you enjoyed our sunflower seed fun facts, but feel free to share your own in the comment area. Cheers!

9 Fun Facts About Sunflower Seeds is from groovy vegetarian

Top 10 Vegetarian Sources of Calcium

1. Kidney Beans (1 cup has 263 mg of calcium)
2. Black Beans (1 cup has 239 mg)
3. Sesame Butter (1 tablespoon has 154 mg)
4. Tofu (1/2 cup has 125 mg)
5. Almonds (1 oz. has 81.5 mg)
6. Arugula (1 oz. has 44.8 mg)
7. Kelp (1 oz. has 47.0 mg)
8. Brazil Nuts (1 oz. has 44.8 mg)
9. Spinach (1 oz. has 42.8 mg)
10. Chinese Cabbage (1 oz. has 26.0 mg)

It’s really easy to get way more than your daily allowance of Vitamin C with a typical vegetarian diet. Calcium is a bit more challenging, but there’s still a lot of good sources.

The 411 on Calcium

Now that you know WHERE to get it, what is the deal with this mineral? Why do we need it? Well, Calcium is good for strong bone health, healthy muscles, pearly whites, a healthy heart, blood clotting, normal nervous system activity, helps regulate many body functions and some say this dynamite mineral is even good for losing weight. (via MSNBC)

And we need on average 1,000 mg of calcium daily.

Supplements?

I would really like to hear from any readers who are taking a Calcium supplement or pill to make up for any loss. Please share with us below in the comment area.

A big thanks to NutritionData.com for the great nutritional information, and also thanks to TofuForTwo.net for the rocking black bean soup image.

Now stay tuned for our next article, which will cover the top 10 vegetarian sources of Vitamin C, you can follow on Twitter to get our updates.

Top 10 Vegetarian Sources of Calcium is from groovy vegetarian