I just found a great article on the benefits of fruits and veggies, written by David H. Murdock, who is chairman and owner of the Dole Food Company. Here’s a link to the article, and here’s an excerpt:
I copied and pasted that from the print version of the article, and all those links came with it – they seem to go to nutrition articles on Dole, so I won’t strip them out.
This guy is 86 years old! I want to be like him when I’m 86! Heck, I want to be like him now. I’m 34, and I’m pretty sure this guy’s body is in much better shape than mine. What an inspiration! Check out the article, because there’s also a great chart listing different produce and their benefits. I’ve printed it out to stick on the fridge for ideas.
Woody Harrelson is a raw foodist and environmental activist. He runs a website with his wife called Voice Yourself: Transforming the World Together. I was reading People the other day, and noticed that he attended Salma Hayek’s wedding, which featured foie gras and veal on the menu. I wondered how that went over. What does he eat at events like that? What would you think if you were a committed vegan and your good friend served what basically amounts to food from some of the cruelest sources imaginable?
I was surprised how sickened I was by the menu. I’m not even a vegan yet, I still stray off the path on a fairly regular basis, but I try to mitigate the damage as much as I can, and I actively work toward learning to cook vegan foods so that eventually my diet is animal-free. The idea of serving foie gras and veal, at your wedding…..it just takes such an amazing lack of compassion. Does Salma Hayek have a pet? What if someone force-fed the pet and then ground up its liver for a fancy party? Would she find that disconcerting in any way?
It’s amazing to me how the treatment of animals is something that most people just won’t look at. Foie gras and veal – these things are, for Salma and her ilk, not examples of cruelty, or even food – they’re symbols of class. Her menu was a sign of her new status; who cares about animal cruelty when you’re marrying 16.5 billion dollars? Hell, grind up a few orphans for the wedding! They have so much money they don’t have to care about something as silly as a few ducks or calves. They’re elevated above that, and their food is a way of displaying that.
So if I continue going vegan, will I end up with a bad beard and a burgeoning hip-hop career?
I can’t imagine this is real. It has to be a hoax. As most of you (okay, none of you) know, I’ve been in love with the Phoenix boys since I was a wee girl. And this just seems like something Joaquin would do as a joke. It has to be a joke. Please say it’s a joke.
It is hilarious as all hell, I can tell you that. Almost too painful to watch in spots, but if you’re a fan of David Letterman, and I am, then you will remember why he’s so good at his job. He can make even this look good.
Joan Pick lives in England, is 67 years old, a former scientist and member of Mensa, and runs wherever she needs to go. She hasn’t been in a car in years. She’s been living on raw food for ages, which I’m guessing accounts for her energy and her glow. Look at those rosy cheeks, and that smile! It’s those last two I’m most charmed with – the idea of never getting in a car again feels more limiting than it does eco-friendly, but I understand where she’s coming from. She also uses her cast-iron pans as hand weights for exercise, and she spends a lot of time hula-hooping!
She follows a raw vegetarian diet. “I had done studies of the food industry – the beef industry and the destruction of the rainforest to fuel it,” she says. “I was at a Mensa dinner, with a vegetarian …” She doesn’t continue this thought. “I’ve always been a natural fatty … I had tried every diet in the book, so I decided to try a raw-food vegetarian diet.” When was the last time she ate a cooked meal? “I don’t know, I can’t remember.” Doesn’t she miss it? A nice bowl of soup, a roast dinner? “Of course not. There’s no mess. Have you seen what I eat?” We go into her kitchen, where the cupboards are bare. She opens a large tub full of mixed seeds and nuts, which forms the basis of her diet, along with fruit and wheatgerm. “It’s very easy to live like this. I couldn’t imagine living any other way now,” she says.
No pills, not even aspirin, and certainly no supplements ever enter my mouth — everything I need comes from my fish-vegetarian diet, which incorporates 30-40 different kinds of fruit and vegetables every week. Even though I am Chairman and Owner of Dole Food Company, I do most of my own grocery shopping, and even took Oprah on an impromptu trip to Costco, in a day that included bike riding, exercise in the gym, and juicing vegetables in the kitchen. Oprah marveled at how much I eat, and yet never gain a pound. In fact, I expend a lot of energy in my 50-60 minutes of cardio and strength training every day. Plus there’s the fact that fruit and vegetables tend to be lower in calories, but higher in filling fiber and other nutrients that help you feel satisfied.
