Hallo, vibrant viewers and welcome to another episode of Healthy Living. Every day more and more people are becoming interested in peaceful, healthy vegan and vegetarian diets.Those new to or considering adopting these lifestyles may have questions about the body’s needs in regards to nutrition.
An expert who can address such concerns is vegan dietician-nutritionist Anne-Marie Roy, graduate of Laval University in Québec, Canada and co-author of the best-selling cookbook 『Vegetarians, Not Vegetables!』 which features many delicious vegetarian recipes.
Due to her nutritional expertise Ms. Roy was named official co-spokesperson of the 2009 Eat Well Expo and Living Green event in Montreal and Québec City, which showcased the latest trends in nutrition, organic food and healthy living.Now let’s join our Supreme Master Television correspondent and Ms. Roy.
SupremeMasterTV(f): Well, we are happy to have you with us because you are really an ambassador, I would say, of vegetarianism. You are involved in almost everything that concerns vegetarianism in Québec, and we are very proud to have you with us today to answer all our questions.
HOST: We first asked Ms. Roy about some of the common misconceptions of those unfamiliar with the vegetarian and vegan diets.
Anne-Marie(f): I could say that one of the important elements that make people reluctant to quit the meat is that they are afraid of lacking some nutrients.
I myself am convinced that there are many women who force themselves to continue to eat meat. I think that women are much more ready to become vegetarians, perhaps because they have a greater sensitivity, I don’t know.
If they knew that they wouldn’t lack any iron, that they wouldn’t lack any nutrients, I think that there would be more of them. I say this all the time, that there is a great deficiency among vegetarians; it is a deficiency in illnesses. Vegetarians, it is proven, if you look at all the research that has been done, vegetarians are healthier than non-vegetarians.
If we look at cancer, vegetarians have a much lower risk of developing cancer whether it is hormone-dependent cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer or any form of cancer.
Heart disease is also a lot less common among vegetarians; in general, there is a lot less obesity, fewer kidney problems and fewer intestinal problems.
The health of vegetarians is very good.If we look at epidemiological studies from all over the world, most people in countries where they eat very little meat or no meat are much healthier.
HOST: Halo, vivacious viewers, welcome to today’s
episode of Healthy Living. Last week we met vegan
dietician-nutritionist Anne-Marie Roy of Canada, a graduate of Laval
University in Québec and co-author of the best-selling cookbook
“Vegetarians, Not Vegetables!” which features many delicious vegetarian
recipes. We have the pleasure of featuring Anne-Marie Roy on our show
again and this time she will be providing her insights on how to select
the best foods for our body. But first, Ms. Roy shares with us how she
chose promoting vegetarianism as her mission in life.
Anne-Marie(f):
I have been a vegetarian for almost twenty years. To be precise, in
fact, I became a vegetarian at the end of my studies. I think it was a
few months after I had finished my studies, I stumbled upon the book
“Diet for a New America” and it really hit me. I had just learned in
university that to be healthy we had to eat meat, we had to drink milk
and then in that book, it was completely the opposite. And it was a
revelation for me to see that the animals were really treated in such
an appalling manner. With respect to health, things were in fact hidden
from us. It was really for me the turning point of my career. It was
from that moment on that I said, “Vegetarianism will be my mission. I
will inform people about this subject until I die.”
HOST: We asked Ms. Roy how her peers perceive the vegetarian lifestyle.
Anne-Marie(f):
I meet some of them when I go for training. I gave a conference on
vegetarianism to nutritionists once and there was an awakening of their
conscience, yes. They came to see me afterwards and told me, “Oh, I did
not know the benefits that vegetarianism had on the environment and all
that.”
HOST: Due to her nutritional
expertise Ms. Roy was named official co-spokesperson of the 2009 Eat
Well Expo and Living Green event in Montreal and Québec City, which
showcased the latest trends in nutrition, organic food and healthy
living. At the exhibition Anne-Marie Roy presented a lecture which
featured 10 practical rules to follow when choosing foods. Let’s hear
them now.
Anne-Marie(f):
My first rule, number one: Never, never, a big never, believe what is
written on top of packaging. Are you okay with this? So there are two
things which we can trust: the table of nutritional value, the table of
figures, or the list of ingredients. You know that it is written in
descending order of quantity on a list of ingredients. Everybody knows
this. You know that beta-carotene is very important for health, it
protects the skin. It acts so that we have a beautiful orangey skin.
According to you, are dried orange apricots a good
choice? Those who say “Yes,” raise your hand. Those who say “No,” raise
your hand. We see that there are experts here. The question is how
apricots, which are dried, remain orange during the drying process. The
trick is because they have been treated with sulfites. Sulfites, what
are the consequences of this? Headaches, respiratory problems, hence,
we may feel breathless.
Imagine when people buy this to go hiking in the
mountains, if they feel breathless it is not really a very good idea.
Normally our apricots should always be brown. Those that do not have
sulfites are brown. Never buy orange apricots. Okay.
So rule number two is to avoid additives. How are we
going to find them? Where can we see if there are additives? Is it on
the table of figures or the list of ingredients? The list of
ingredients. We avoid all sulfites, artificial coloring agents,
monosodium glutamate, nitrites, BHA, BHT, artificial flavors, and all
words which you do not understand.
Number three, choose whole
grains. Among the three flours we have here: refined flour, wheat flour
or whole wheat; how many of these flours are whole wheat? Is it zero,
one, or two, or more? Who says zero? Who says there is one? And who
says there are two or more?
When we look at a grain there are always four parts.
We have the bran, the starch, the germ, and protein amino acid. When a
cereal is refined three of these parts are taken away, the three most
important parts. So they remove the bran, the germ, and the protein
amino acid; hence they remove 75 percent of the nutritional value.
That’s not all. They add chlorine, so that the flour becomes white.
After adding chlorine, they call it wheat flour. If it is not written
“whole” it’s white flour. Therefore, wheat flour is not whole wheat.
And here, when we see unbleached flour, it means the three elements
were removed, and chlorine was not added. Unbleached flours and wheat
flours are white flours; they are refined, poor flours.
HOST: When we return, Ms.
Anne-Marie Roy will provide the rest of her tips on how to select
healthy food products. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.
Welcome
back to Healthy Living here on Supreme Master Television. Today’s
program features Anne-Marie Roy, a well-regarded vegan
dietician-nutritionist from Québec, Canada.
At the 2009 Eat Well Expo and Living Green event in Montreal, Ms.
Roy gave a lecture with 10 simple rules for selecting wholesome foods.
We have heard three thus far; let us now hear the rest!
Anne-Marie(f):
Rule number four, we avoid bad fats. Fat quality, where do we see this?
On the table of figures or on the list of ingredients? The list of
ingredients. The table of figures does not really give us an indication
on the fat quality, or very little. What we don’t really want to find
in our product is trans-fats. How do we know if there are trans-fats?
It is labeled “shortening” or hydrogenated oil.
HOST: The fifth rule is to avoid refined sugars.
Anne-Marie(f):
Now, we are going to explain what sugar is. Where can we see the
quality of sugars? On the table of figures or the list of ingredients?
The list of ingredients. White sugar, what is it? It is produced from
cane. And there, they treat it with lime. They purify it with carbonic
nitrite and sulfuric nitrite. They bleach it with sodium sulfate. They
clear it with bone char; this is the bones of cows heated at 1,200
degrees Celsius. They dry it out with some isopropyl alcohol, which is
rubbing alcohol. They also dry it out with sodium acetate and finally,
they re-whiten it again. That's what white sugar is.
Sucralose,
Splenda, what is it? It is white sugar mixed with atoms of chlorine.
They call this chlorinated sugar. It is even more transformed than
white sugar. And fructose certainly does not come from fruits, but
comes from syrup of corn, which has been genetically modified. The
by-products of corn are usually genetically modified, therefore, when
you see fructose it is GMO (genetically modified organism).In addition,
what is particular about fructose is that it is difficult to control
our appetite when eating it. Then in the long term, this leads us to
problems with being overweight.What we do not want on a list of
ingredients: sugar, sucralose, fructose, corn syrup, soft brown sugar,
which is white sugar re-colored with molasses, or anything that has the
“ose” ending. What we want is good quality sugars, maple syrup,
concentrated fruit juice, fruit purees, and things like that.
HOST: Watching salt intake is the sixth rule.
Anne-Marie(f):
Excessive sodium, where would you see this? The table of figures.
Normally, daily recommendations state that less than 2,300 milligrams
of sodium should be taken. And also, less than 2,300 calories should be
eaten on average every day. Do you see a connection between the two?
One by one. So we can stick to an easy rule: “When we look at food, it
has to have sodium, equal or less than the number of calories.”
HOST: The seventh rule concerns fats.
Anne-Marie(f):
Where can we see the amount of fat on a label? Is it on the table of
figures or on the list of ingredients? The table of figures.
Then
the rule is: the calories of from our food during the day should not
should not exceed more than 25 percent in fat. Thus, not more than 25
percent of our calories should be fat.
HOST: The eighth rule is to avoid excess calorie intake.
Anne-Marie(f):
So, where are we going to see the excess calories on packaging, the
figures or the ingredients? The figures. Harvest Crunch (brand cereal)
contains more calories than the Gruau (brand porridge). If we take 100
grams of porridge, there are 63 calories in 100 grams of porridge. In
Harvest Crunch, there are 475 (calories); that means seven times more.
For the same bowl, you have seven times more calories.
So the
rule: studies show that if we eat to satisfy our appetite, we will
never get fat if we fill our stomachs with foods which have fewer
calories than their weight. Fewer calories than their weight. We are
going to do a small test. Here, we have 87 grams, 80 calories. That
means that this food helps to maintain, or to lose weight. In this
category here, we have vegetables, fruits that are all lower than 100
calories for 100 grams.
HOST: Anne-Marie’s rule number nine is to not purchase genetically modified foods.
Anne-Marie(f):
Where do we find GMO (genetically modified organisms)in our
supermarkets? Soy products if they are not organic. The soya is
genetically modified when you see “soy lecithin,” “soy flour,” or “soy
oil.” If it is not organic, it is GMO. Corn, not fresh corn on the cob,
but all the by-products of corn are genetically modified. When you see
corn starch, corn flour, corn crisps, they are genetically modified.
The fructose, we said earlier, it is made from genetically modified
corn. So, our corn flakes are made with genetically modified corn
flour. And there is canola oil which is also genetically modified. Do
not forget. When it is organic, it is not GMO.
HOST: The final rule is to choose organic foods.
Anne-Marie(f):
Plants produce dozens and even hundreds of substances to protect itself
from insects, competitive plants, weeds, mushrooms, fungi, and viruses.
So, it has a kind of system of protection. And look how well it is
made. When we eat what the plant produces to protect itself, that
protects us. So this is one of the very good reasons why we have to eat
organic and it is the last rule about eating: always eat as much
organic as possible.
HOST: We would like to convey our appreciation to
Anne-Marie Roy for her promotion of the vegan and vegetarian diets and
for her welcome advice on choosing healthful foods. May her message of
how to eat compassionately spread across Canada and beyond.
Thank you for joining us on today’s episode of Healthy Living. Next
up is Science and Spirituality, after Noteworthy News. May your life be
blessed with peace, love and light from Heaven!
For more information on Anne-Marie Roy, please visit
www.annemarieroy.com