I have been working on various improvements to making whole oat porridge.  Now it is time to put the suggestions out.

We should only add salt at the end of the cooking.  Doing it earlier seems to change the way the porridge finishes up.  I use natural sea salt; I find the iodised salt takes away from the good flavour.

Go to the porridge recipe page to see the three alternative methods that we use.  Our preferred one is oven cooking, but each method produces distinctly different flavours.

Without question whole oat porridge is the very best of all breakfast cereals and making it is easy.

Research has shown that if we think of ourselves as being younger we will live healthier and longer.  

It is important that we we dress, behave and socialise as our "living age".  

I suggest a living age of our actual age reduced by 20%; for me it is working splendidly.

Below is a table to help establish your new living age.  

Enjoy the challenge and enjoy the extra life you will gain.

I am coming to the conclusion that modern medicine is a fear based practice.

Many months ago a chest scan was called for, with nothing to show for it other than “perhaps you should have a thyroid scan”.  The results are back “You have two nodules on your thyroid”.  My questions in regard to their danger were basically answered with the response “You now need a biopsy”. 

This news sent me to Google to discover that there is a 10% chance of something malignant hiding there, and if I combine this knowledge with the fact that my diet is inhibiting the growth of unwanted cells, I calculate the chance of discovering a malignant cancer to be lower than the stated potential for a false positive to be found.  Not sufficient to persuade me to go further down the track.

However the mental effect is more insidious.  Western medicine leaves us with more fear than hope. The hope is that if a problem exists, pharmaceuticals and surgery will alleviate it.   The fear is that to achieve this goal, we are  likely to be subjected to physical abuse and pharmaceutical side effects, with no promise of reversing the condition. 

Proponents of a strict plant based whole food diet leave me with a much more confident attitude and I am aided in this with the assistance of a trusted practitioner of Chinese medicine, who is now treating my problem without side effects or intervention. My mental condition is now fully repaired and I can return to my sense of complete well-being.

The following assertions are all correct, however even if you believe only some of them, you should still reconsider consider your attitude towards milk and milk products.

Milk consists primarily of white blood cells accumulated in the mammary gland for the survival and sustenance of an infant.  The accumulation of white blood cells anywhere else in a body is called puss.

Milk is an unnatural food. Humans have only been drinking milk for a little over 2000 years and until recently in small numbers.  Commensurate with the growth of milk consumption has been the escalation of non-communicable chronic diseases.

Humans are not designed to drink cows’ milk. We are the only species in the world who choose to imbibe the mammary excretions of another species.  

A lot of people can't drink milk.  Lactose intolerance is an affliction of well over half the world’s population, but still they are all encouraged and sometimes shamed into drinking milk.  People who are lactose intolerant can’t eat or drink milk and have no requirement to do so other than peer pressure and marketing. One in ten people are allergic to milk.

Milk is high in calories and saturated fat. Milk has about the same calorie load as soft drinks; a large proportion of milk is lactose and lactose is still a sugar.  A glass of milk can have the same saturated fat count as a pot of chips.  Weight gain occurs when you eat more animal based food than your body needs, unused energy being stored as body fat. Milk can cause obesity.

Milk is high in animal proteins.  All animal proteins are associated with the early onset of many of the debilitating diseases prevalent in the western world.  One of the prime milk proteins is casein, the most relevant chemical carcinogen ever identified.  Plants provide humans with all the protein they require.

Milk products cause cancer.  Children fed a diet high in milk have a significant risk of colorectal cancer in adulthood.  People of all ages eating dairy products maintain a significant risk of enhancing the development of existing cancer cells.  New Zealand has one of the highest incidents of breast cancer in the world and one of the highest milk consumptions. 

Milk can carry undesirable chemicals. Mass-produced milk comes from cows, farmed in very large numbers, where extensive use is made of antibiotics and many other management enhancing drugs. 

Milk is dirty. Many herds carry viral infections such as bovine leucosis and bovine immunodeficiency; there is growing evidence of the danger of cross-infection of such diseases to humans.
 
Milk products increase the risk of heart disease.  This is now well proven in many studies.  Whilst high fat is known to increase the risk of heart disease, high protein is now discovered to be even more dangerous for the onset of heart and vascular diseases as well as cancers. 

Milk can lead to asthma.  New Zealand has one of the highest incidents of asthma in the world, and one of the highest milk consumptions.  Infants with milk allergies are more likely to develop asthma later in life.
Milk can cause arthritis.  Many sufferers have been fully alleviated from arthritic pain once they have removed all milk products from their diet.

Milk causes mucus.  When milk drinking began to be popular in China, soldiers were only selected from villages that did not drink it, as milk drinkers were identified as being “with phlem”, an apt description coined 1500 years ago.

Milk weakens bones.  As milk passes through the intestine it changes from alkaline to acid, forcing the calcium from bones to be released, and depleting bone strength, to bring the body’s pH back to normal.  New Zealand has one of the highest incidents of broken hips in the world, and one of the highest milk consumptions. 
Milk is not a good source of calcium.  Many vegetables offer a better and more complete source of calcium, after all cows get all their calcium from vegetation. 

Mild causes colic, particularly amongst those who are lactose intolerant or have milk allergies. 
Toddlers shouldn’t drink cow’s milk.  There are too many risks and all essential elements can be found in plant based foods.  

Milk carries a narcotic, designed by nature to maintain the interest of the new born to keep seeking milk.  This same narcotic is what makes it so hard for cheese lovers to give it up.

Milk products are as dangerous to our health as tobacco and should carry a warning “This product can kill you”.
  
Milk production is polluting.  Vast amounts of energy, pollutants and water are expended and disposed in the production of milk, leaving the land, water and consumers in a poorer state.

The dairy industry knows all of the above faults and risks but spends inordinate time and money in obfuscating the facts in order to sell more of this dangerous poison and pollutant.

By placing so much emphasis on the production of animal protein and fats, New Zealand is at risk of being perceived as no more ethical than a cigarette company.  

My thanks to Fonterra for providing a comprehensive list under the heading, “Myths about dairy”, and from which I drew my inspiration.

Watch Dr McDougal on Milk 

Our local paper had two adjacent articles; one in regard to farmer’s obstinacy in reducing their environmental damage; the other in regard to the growing problems of arthritis.

In fact milk is the root cause of both.

Farmers are either loath to admit to, or are oblivious of, the long term health damage , including arthritis, from consuming milk products, as they are to the long term damage to soil and water.  In both cases, reparation costs to this and future generations will be enormous.

Dairying’s environmental damage is mostly evident or well known.  Milk’s damage to our health is a well-kept secret, but the scientific evidence as to its cause of so many of our costly ailments, including arthritis, is well established.  

Dairy farmers cannot remain aloof from the costs they are incurring.  Nor should they ignore the growing trend towards milk free diets for both health and environmental care.

It was very exciting to read about a chef in Blenheim recognising the growing trend towards veganism. There will be many battles fought before vegans are main stream, but health and environmental factors will prevail in the end.

Read the article here

I have just modified the page Reasons for becoming vegan.  The list of reasons continues to grow.  

The reasons for not becoming a vegan is quite short and the reasons are becoming harder to accept.

What puzzles me is the attitude of many who appear to refuse to even contemplate making the change to veganism, let alone studying the science behind the reasons.  

While I fully accept that everyone has the right to choose what they eat, I would truly like to hear some comments from carnists as to why they don't wish to become vegan, in particular if they have a reason that is not already listed.