Full Day, Full Log, Full Plant-Based Living: Eggs (the research/mechanisms that link consumption to cancer ), Methionine, Choline, & Angiogenesis
5.14.2020
Yesterday was an interesting swirl of purpose and inner fury, and it’ll shake out to be the first redacted Log I’ve posted. As stated before, the daily documenting is both log and journal, and the latter comes to the forefront when I want to write down discussions that are positive, jangly, illuminating, or frustrating. If the latter involves another soul it won’t be up for all to see (I always made sure to blur those out when these were just on Instragram, but I don’t have the software to do that on my computer).
On the positive end, I succeeded in getting the daily post up early enough that Q and I could go enjoy a super full day. On the mentally clamorous end: I received another loved-one request to cease all this illumination (can’t stop, won’t stop, too many lives to light up & save), and an additional conversation that flared to a declaration that this nutritional information is just opinion.
The line between opinion and fact in common discourse is a personal point of fury. We humans have gotten very comfortable in brushing off new information as opinion, putting our heads in the sand, declaring “Oh they change what is good and bad for us all the time!”, and continuing on with harmful habits.
I previously posted a brilliant interview with Dr. David Katz (on the Nutrition Rounds podcast with Dr. Danielle Belardo) and he goes over this in sweet, scientific, deliciously data-dolloped detail. (“We discuss research methodology in nutrition science, why the world needs to follow a plant predominant diet for both our health and the climate, the pseudo confusion created in the nutrition space, keto debunked and much, much more.”)
It’s my opinion that slaughtering another soul (when you could get all the nutrients you need from plants) is cruel. It’s my opinion that containing animals to cages and depriving them of their natural behaviors is cruel. It’s my opinion that artificially impregnating cows, taking their calves away for slaughter, and confining them to inhumane conditions just so we can consume another species’ breastmilk into adulthood is both cruel and bizarre. It’s my opinion that participation in all of the above, yet still stating that you care about animals or the environment makes you a hypocrite.
What is scientific, categorical, inarguable fact: the Standard American animal-product-dense diet leads to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes; and most importantly: is directly tied to climate change.
Those health-harms are why we stopped eating eggs. We knew plenty of happily raised, environmentally kind, well-loved chickens getting fed all the delicious organic veggies they could ever want; but when we started looking into nutritionally-focused research and learned the mechanisms in play when that egg hits your system, we dropped them out of our diet immediately.
You can keep your head in the sand and say it’s just opinion, but read on if you want: illumination on the mechanisms behind what’s going on at the cellular level when you consume eggs; an explanation of choline, methionine, and angiogenesis; a family thriving on plant-based whole-foods (healthier, stronger, more energetic than ever); and delicious plant-based whole-food family feasting through a day.
Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward.
What inspires me to be down before dawn and typing out these essays? Knowing that so many folks have no idea how their diet is affecting them and the earth. I used to be in the same mindset and eating health-horrible foods, and it is why I am now driven to the point of pure buzz to illuminate as many souls as possible.
The diet best for the environment, is also the best diet for our bodies and we are so far down a rabbit-hole of harmful, comfort-feasting we are perpetuating sickness and throwing economic burden onto our already crumbling health care system.
There is absolutely no time to waste. We all need to wake up and move forward.
Personally important, however, is making sure that writing is sidelined to focus on my family.
Yesterday’s morning writing-break drawing for Q: a spouted flower from the previous day’s drawing.
Plant Based Kiddo Breakfast: black bean brownie (whole-food/no added sugars/nutrient dense), strawberries, oatmilk.
Q and I headed out in the AM to local farm to pick up some plant seedlings and he was able to meet some well-loved chicks.
I guess eggs were in the air yesterday, so information on why we stopped eating them is coming on out today.
Eggs were the last animal product we cut from our diet, and it was for pure nutritional reasons. You can raise chickens with low environmental impact, love them dearly, and feed them all organic foods. We know many chickens raised in such conditions, and we ate their eggs all the livelong day.
We saw no reason to limit eggs from our diet until we watched Game Changers (<—inspiring documentary showing all the folks who’ve become stronger though plant-based whole-foods, cut with interviews with doctors explaining the mechanisms to explain why.) Hearing, learning, seeing the effects of animal products on our endothelial system was a mental blow to the whole family. We’d already cut out meat and cow breastmilk, but we were still eating eggs from our organic CSA.
Never one to trust one source (even if it is multiple doctors within that source) we went off in search of the research and found it was very clear, and the mechanisms were well explained.
Here’s how I explained the endothelial system in a previous post and how it is harmed by animal products:
Your endothelium refers to cells that line the interior surface of your blood vessels. Endothelial cells control the relaxation and contraction of your vascular system, as well as enzymes that control blood clotting, and immune function.
If you think those sound like they are important and critical to your health, you would be correct.
Guess what clogs them up, hardens them, and prevents them from working properly? Animal products.
And this isn’t a many-years-down-the-line situation.They become dysfunctional and harden moments after you eat (<—helpful video) that egg, cow breastmilk byproduct, and animal carcass. If you’re eating them day-in-and-day-out, plaques/streaky fats build up and it gets harder and harder for your cardiovascular system to function properly, because our bodies are not meant to process animal fats and cholesterol.
Did you know that there is startling evidence that our CHILDREN show signs of streaky fats clogging up their arteries? It’s increasing their blood pressure, setting them up for heart disease, and giving them high risk of diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease, etc.
Keep it up and the arteries become so clogged they lead to dementia, Parkinson’s (<—which my grandfather died of, and he was my favorite soul on this earth), and Alzheimer’s.
For TASTE, folks!
No nutritional benefit whatsoever. For the taste sensation of carcass, cow breastmilk , & embryo—and to the detriment of the whole earth— despite all the available/healthier alternatives, we are continuing to do this to our bodies and the bodies of our children!
Could you understand why I would become passionately vocal about this? Why it would set my brain to flame when people talk down to us as if we are ignorant, but they speak harmful/outdated fiction? I am flush with research and data because I spend my free-time continuously learning all that can be learned on the topic; and I do this because I feel empathetically compelled —despite the emotional minefield of food and culture— to inform and heal as many souls as possible. There are more enjoyable things I could be doing with my time, but to me it is unconscionable to sit back and watch the world burn, arteries clog, and animals suffer needlessly without remark, especially when so many people just don’t know. What makes it especially absurd, is that we come from family histories riddled with heart disease (<—#1 cause of death in America, and totally preventable/reversible with diet), autoimmune disorders (<—my mother died of sarcoidosis, it is spread through the family tree, and that link is from the Foundation of Sarcoidosis Research illuminating that her diet perpetuated her swift decline), dementia, Parkinson’s, ETC; so here we are doing exactly what is recommended to be healthiest for us all (and the earth).
Watch this video illuminating how the US Department of Agriculture states that it is ILLEGAL for the egg industry to say that eggs are nutritious or safe.
I was asked yesterday why we don’t eat eggs. I offered the above information and it was brushed off as opinion.
I’m already saving myself the damage of them, so the only benefit I get from relaying the following is that maybe it will help some of you move away from these harmful foods. There’s no denying that they are tasty, but there are many other foods out there that are just as delicious and not harming you and your kin.
If you needed some more reasons than all of the ones listed above, here’s a few more illuminations on why you want to avoid eating another creature’s embryos:
Eggs are full of dietary cholesterol, and dietary cholesterol is tied to cancer. Here are some studies reflecting this:
“Role of Cholesterol in the Development and Progression of Breast Cancer”
“Cholesterol and Prostate Cancer”
“Serum cholesterol and risk of high-grade prostate cancer: results from the REDUCE study”
“Cholesterol metabolism and colon cancer”
"Serum High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol, Metabolic Profile, and Breast Cancer Risk"
Eggs are full of choline. Choline is essential in moderation (ie from plant sources), but it is abundant in embryos and the increased consumption is tied to cancer:
“Choline intake and risk of lethal prostate cancer: incidence and survival”
Eggs are full of methionine, an essential amino acid that like choline would be fine in moderation, but once you start eating concentrated forms of it you run the risk of cancer:
“The Role of Methionine in Cancer Growth and Control”
“Clinical Studies of Methionine-Restricted Diets for Cancer Patients”
“Methionine metabolism in health and cancer: a nexus of diet and precision medicine”
“How a dietary change might boost cancer therapy”
“Mechanism behind metabolic vulnerability of some breast cancers”
Understand that I amplify this information out of scientific fact and love. It’s my dearest hope, that people wake up and save their bodies —and this earth— from the daily harm we throw at both for the simple standstill of comfort and taste.
Guess what tastes delicious and will fill your body, soul, and the earth with health? Plant-Based Whole Foods
Plant-Based Whole-Food Lunch: arugula, stoneground polenta, balsamic tomatoes, homemade/oil-free pesto, and pine nuts.
What’s just as tasty as ice cream, easy enough to make in a minute, and spares your body/the earth from unnecessary damage? Nice Cream.
Fueled up with plant-based power foods, Q and I headed outside and spent the whole afternoon in the yard.
”Mama! I tied this knot myself! Look how I can climb up now!” **runs over in horror to check security / finds it is expertly done**
Every spring I spend an undocumented amount of hours delicately digging up errant forget-me-nots and replanting them to safer spots to avoid the mower.
My Ian-requested project was to unearth the stones behind all that grass so that mowing will be easier.
A replanted section of forget-me-nots.
Seen in the background (red sweatshirt on the ground): the peninsula I’d be working on all afternoon.
While I was working on digging up the stone perimeter, cutting back overgrown grass, digging up and replanting forget-me-nots, and putting everything back together; Q helped move stones across the yard to the stone pile. <3
The carrot at the end of that physical activity was that he could have some of the ginger-green smoothie I’d fixed up.
”Treat” yourself with health, not disease. If you have kiddos in your care: especially so. They watch what we do and will learn our habits. I want my cub to live a long life free of pain, so I avoid inflammatory junk and give him plant-based whole-foods.
Before
After
I erroneously thought I’d get this whole peninsula done and vastly underestimated the amount of work involved in clearing those stones. To the left, you can see what I will be accomplishing today. :-)
After <3
Important in every day: play & love.
Also important: appreciating small moments and free joy.
Way up in that tree is the first oriole I’ve spotted this season. Below, the sound of Q filling Ian’s ears with narration. In my ear (through my phone): the voice of my sweet father catching me up on his day, while I’m surrounded by sunshine and birdsong.
What Ian is working on: trying to remove all those blades of overgrown grass from what is supposed to be a flower garden (put in by the previous garden-master owners). This is something we’ve wanted to accomplish for the last 2 years, but have never had time to do so.
Plant-Based Family Feast: buffalo hempeh, sautéed kale with garlic, braised carrots, quick-pickled cabbage, and easy avocado.
Plant-Based Whole-Foods: good ‘til the last lick of the bowl. :-)
After a day that was oddly egg-centric, it was rather kizmit that the night’s reading would solidify the science behind our choice.
Here’s another illuminating section from Undo It (by Dr. Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish) explaining the oxidative stress associated with animal products and explaining angiogenesis.
Want some more research on angiogenesis? Here you go:
