Best Selling Vegan Products
Here's an interesting opportunity for vegan outreach. Compassion4Animals is organizing a world-wide vegan bake sale. From June 20th to June 28th various vegan groups will hold bake sales. This purpose is to show the general public that vegan baked goods can be just as tasty (or more) as those baked goods prepared with animal products. Jane loves to bake, and since it's just the two of us at home, I often bring things in to work with me. At first, if I mentioned they were vegan goodies, people would pass them up. If I didn't mention it, they would gobble things up and ask for more. Then I'd say, oh those were vegan muffins, and people would be incredulous. Now, everyone knows they're vegan goodies, and everyone knows they taste great.
So I think this bake sale can do wonders. You can find more details at WorldWide Vegan Bake Sale.com.
If you are planning on doing some baking, but aren't sure what to make, we recommend the vegan brownies and vegan banana nut chip muffins from The Joy of Vegan Baking
. And apple pie is always an easy sale. These are the three desserts Jane makes most frequently.
If you can't or don't want to organize an event, but do want to participate, here's where the bakes sales are scheduled. This page will continue to be updated as more events are scheduled, so keep checking back to find something in your area. Or get together with your vegan friends and hold a bake sale of your own. Don't forget to register!
Best Selling Vegan Products
Sometimes we forget that food labels are important. It gets a little tiring reading labels for all our grocery store purchases. After a period of time, we feel we've come to know certain products and feel comfortable buying them, but manufacturers often change their recipes, and the packaging doesn't necessarily reflect this. Luckily many companies are including allergy information in bold at the bottom of their ingredient lists. It usually looks something like this:
Contains: Milk, Peanuts (or wheat, or soy).
So that is our first benchmark. We also rely heavily on the V that stands for Vegan on many food products. We used to look for Kosher or Parve when we first went vegan, but subsequently found out that Kosher ? Vegan... or vegetarian for that matter. If fish is less that 1 2/3% of the finished product, then it is considered "nullified." and not necessarily indicated on the label. Also:
Kosher Parve products are allowed to contain, according to Jewish laws, eggs, honey, and fish. So you still need to READ THE LABEL! In this matter, Jews Kosher does not concur with Hindu and Jain Ahimsa. But still it is a good help for buying processed food. ~ Source: Jiv Daya
Best Selling Vegan Products
I'm attending the Milken Conference this week. Much of it is very interesting, some of it not so much. Eating there is always a bit of a challenge. Steak and chicken tend to be the usual offerings. The snack bars they put out have milk in (no pun intended) them. But I come prepared. I bring my own food and ask for a simple salad at lunch. I've learned to always be prepared. But that isn't what I'd planned on writing about tonight.
One of the panels I attended today was called "Living Longer and Better Through Science, Nutrition and Lifestyle Choices' The speakers were:
- Scott Berns, Co-Founder, Progeria Research Foundation Inc.; Senior Vice President of Chapter Programs, March of Dimes
- Pinchas Cohen, Pediatric Endocrinology Specialist, UCLA Children's Health Center
- Luigi Fontana, Research Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of the Longevity Research Program, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Dr. Fontana's portion of the panel was most interesting to me. He spoke about calorie restriction and longevity. He is currently leading a study which is testing the effects of calorie restriction to find the optimal nutrition for human lifespan. The diet his patients follow consists primarily of a plant-based, low-fat dairy, whole grains, vegetables and other energy-intensive foods. According to Dr. Fontana, the calorie-restricted diet improves all biomarkers for cardiovascular disease compared to a typical American diet. Fontana stressed that calorie-restricted diets must be carefully administered to assure that they are nutritious and meet daily requirements for vitamins and minerals. By this he means that all the refined and processed foods like soft drinks, and sugar, candies, white bread and foods that are packed with partially hydrogenated fat should be avoided.
This to me is the key for anyone. It is important to eat well. Eat the best food you can afford to eat. Eat foods that are nutritionally beneficial. Avoid junk food. And of course, we advocate eating vegan.
Best Selling Vegan Products
If you're in the Los Angeles / Orange County area, Veggie Grill is giving away free sweetheart (sweet potato) fries today, Wednesday, April 22nd, in honor of earth day. Just mention you heard it on KTLA. I heard about it on the news this morning and wanted to get the message out quickly.
We love the Veggie Grill. We've been about four times since discovering it last year. It's a little far from our home, so we don't go that often. Also, it's "fast food" -- but when you're in the mood for that kind of meal, it rocks! Even the omni's we've gone with have really enjoyed the food there.
Here's a link to the Veggie Grill Locations. They have three stores at the moment, two in Irvine and one in El Segundo - close to LAX (with plans to open another store in West Hollywood soon).
And happy Earth Day everyone.
