Study Shows Multivitamin Use Reduces Cancer Risk

Although at least a third of all U.S adults take a daily multivitamin supplement, there has been some question as to whether there are any benefits for healthy people who are not vitamin deficient.  A study presented on The Journal of the American Medical Association's website now indicates that daily use of a multivitamin could modestly reduce the occurrence of total cancer.

Beginning in 1997 and lasting through June 1, 2011,the study followed 14,641 male physicians (initially aged 50 and over) who participated in the randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial.  The results showed     a significant though modest reduction in total cancer for middle aged and older men taking a daily multivitamin supplement.

Multivitamin Use Linked To Lowered Cancer Risk

Don't Sit Down...And If You Do, Get Up!

One hour spent watching TV reduces your life expectancy by 21.8 minutes, regardless of whether you exercise or not.

People who spend the most time sitting down have a relative risk increase of 112 percent for developing diabetes, 147 percent for cardiovascular disease, and 49 percent for dying prematurely, regardless of whether you exercise or not.

These are the results of two separate reports by the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study and the journal Diabetologia.  Apparently, it is the sedentary behavior which causes the health impact.  Even those who exercise on a regular basis are not immune from the ill effects of sedentary behavior.  A lot of jobs today involve sitting in front of a computer and a lot of people spend their leisure time sitting in front of a television.  The way to combat these effects are to simply cut down on the amount of time you spend watching TV and to get out of that chair as much as possible and move around to increase the number of skeletal muscle contractions in the very large muscles of your lower limbs.

Don't stop exercising, just focus on moving more during the rest of the time you're not exercising.

Get Up.  Get Out.  Don't Sit.

Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread

This is basically the same recipe as the Whole Wheat Bread recipe but a little wetter.  Reusing the same container and the scrapings from previous dough mixtures leads to the signature sour dough taste.

2 cups slightly warm water

3 tsp dry yeast
2 tbsp whole flax meal

1/2 tsp ginger

4 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp sea salt

Mix ingredients well in a bowl with a wooden spoon or something similar.

Place dough in a covered container with the cover left slightly ajar to prevent it being air tight and set aside to rise for 2 or 3 hours.

Put container in the refrigerator and leave for one to two weeks.

Remove dough, form into a loaf shape, and place in a bread pan lined with non – stick foil or parchment paper and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour while preheating oven to 375°.

Bake for about 50 minutes and let cool on a wire rack for about an hour. Bread will slice better if refrigerated for a few hours first.

Do not wash the container that stored the refrigerated dough. Keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to make more dough and then scrape what was left in the container into your new batch of dough. This will cause the new batch and subsequent batches of dough to take on a great sourdough flavor.

Italian Sausage The Vegan Way

Vegan Italian Sausage

This recipe tastes great on pizza or sandwiches made from homemade bread and topped with Tomato Sauce, peppers, and onions.

Two 15.5 oz cans of garbanzo beans (chick peas) rinsed and drained.

One boiled potato, skinned

3 oz red wine

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp fennel seed

¼ tsp black pepper

½ tsp coriander

1 tsp oregano

¼ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp caraway seed

3 tbsp Grape Nuts

4 tbsp Whole Wheat flour

¼ cup water

Preheat oven to 350°.

Using a potato masher, mash the beans and the potato together into a paste.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the paste.

Mix everything together well.

Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions and form into patties or links as preferred.

Bake on a parchment paper covered baking sheet for 40 minutes and let cool.

A Delicious Sandwich Spread

Bean Spread

This is so simple but so delicious and versatile.

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas), rinsed and drained

Sauer's Original Barbecue Sauce (or your low sugar/no oil favorite)

Mt. Olive no sugar added sweet relish

Place beans in food processor, add 2 rounded tbsp of relish and about a 3 second squirt of barbecue sauce.

Run until you have a smooth spread.

Use on bread as a sandwich spread or as a topping for baked sliced potatoes, etc.

Best Vegan Burger Ever!

Best Vegan Burger Ever

This is the best vegan burger I have ever eaten and it tastes great no matter how you serve it.  My favorite way is to top it with Spicy Vegan Chili, tomato slices, and mustard.

The best way to make this is to use a crock pot and throw all the ingredients on top of each other and then cook on low for 5 hours. You can also throw everything into a pot in order, bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat to medium low and simmer covered for 40 minutes.  The crock pot method makes everything more of a paste which is better for forming the burger patties.

Ingredients

1 cup Basmati brown rice

1 3/4 cup water

1/4 cup hot sauce (Tabasco, etc.)

1/4 onion

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp cilantro

1 whole bell pepper, chopped

2 small or 1 large jalapeno pepper chopped (or 1 banana pepper)

4 mushrooms, sliced

1 15.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas

1 tsp crushed red pepper

After cooking at low heat in the crock pot for 5 hours or the alternate covered pot method, add 1 cup of corn meal and 1 cup of whole wheat flour to the mixture and stir thoroughly.

Let cool so you don't burn your hands and then grab handfuls and form into large patties and place the patties on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.

You should end up with 9 - 12 large patties.

Preheat the oven to 350° and bake the patties for about 55 minutes.

You can either serve them immediately or let the baking sheet cool on a wire rack and then wrap and freeze the patties individually for later use.

Spicy Vegan Chili

Spicy Vegan Chili

This chili is a little bit spicy but tastes great on sandwiches, rice, or as a pizza topping.

40 oz tomato juice

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1 small onion chopped

4 - 15.5 oz cans rinsed and drained kidney beans (mash 2 of the cans with a potato masher or all 4 if using the chili as a sandwich topping).

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cilantro

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tbsp hot sauce (Tabasco, Frank's Redhot, etc.)

Simmer for 2 hours over medium low heat.

Serve over rice, baked potatoes, bean burgers, etc.

High Intensity Interval Training Is Not A New Idea

Researchers at Colorado State University recently released a study showing that short bursts of high intensity  sprinting on exercise bikes can burn 200 calories a day more.  Subjects pedaled as fast as they could against high resistance during 5 separate 30 second periods interspersed with periods of 4 minutes of slow pedaling with little resistance.  This 2.5 minutes of high intensity training during the approximately 25 minutes of total workout time led to an average calorie burn of 200 more per day than on non workout days.  Kyle Sevits says that doing this workout a couple of times a week could help in weight maintenance.  The extra calories burned daily would offset the pound or two gained yearly by most Americans.
High intensity interval training is not a new idea.  A 1996 study by Izumi Tabata resulted in the Tabata method of workout.  This involves 4 minute sessions where an exercise is performed at high intensity for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest to complete one interval.  A total of 8 intervals are done to total 4 minutes.  Many combinations of exercises can be structured into this format but the benefits are a shorter exercise period despite greater aerobic and anaerobic gains.  The key is that all exercises must be done at a high intensity to reap the rewards.

Do Those Exercises Correctly!

In 4 Exercises You're Doing Wrong At The Gym, Philadelphia trainer Brian Maher explains the proper technique for four common exercises.

1. In the lunge, keep your step long enough to avoid having your knee go over your toes and don't lean forward.
2. Align your hands with your shoulders and keep them even with your chest when doing push-ups.  Keep your body straight from your head to your knees to keep your hips from sagging.
3. Keep your eyes on a spot directly above you while doing crunches and contract your abs to lift your back and shoulders off the ground.  This reduces the chance of straining you neck.
4. Half of the benefit of bench pressing is lowering the weight back down so don't use so much weight that you slam the weight down against your chest instead of bringing it down slowly.

Why Steve-O Went Vegan

Steve-O Glover, a big part of the Jackass TV series and movie franchise, is living part of his life a little less dangerously lately.
Comedian Steve-O: Why I Went Vegan

77 Year Old Vegan Bodybuilder

77 year old bodybuilder Jim Morris tells frugivore about becoming a vegan and how it has impacted his health.

Black Male Vegan: 77 Year Old Bodybuilder Jim Morris Proves Vegans Can Be Muscular & Healthy