Build me up buttercup!

One of the Vegan Era Crew has started chemotherapy and so we've been very interested in how the vegan diet can support the body during this time. The usually high-raw vegan diet that we have become accustomed to, is not adequate for putting on the weight and protein that the body needs to handle periods of sickness and excess weightloss. Of course most doctors believe lots of dairy and meat are the key in this situation, so we have been researching ways to put on weight, vegan-style.

According to The Vegetarian Society, "In order to gain weight it is essential to increase the energy content of your diet. Also, in order for your body to make proper use of protein, you must ensure sufficient energy. The most concentrated form of energy in the diet is from fat. If you can tolerate fat then try and increase the fat content of your diet."

Have an Avo: Avocados are creamy and high in calories and nutrients. They are also soft and easy to eat during times when mouth ulcers and other nasty side-effects take hold.

Get Smooth: Smoothies are a great way to add extra protein in the form of a protein powder, and calories with the addition of soy or rice milk, soy yoghurt or ice-cream, nuts, seeds, bananas and even soft silken tofu.

Get Saucy: Have meals with a good sauce, made with pureed fried onions, perhaps with tomatoes or mushrooms. To increase the energy density of sauces use vegan margarine and add soya milk or silken tofu.

Beans: Cooked beans can be added to soups, stews, pies, salads, etc as well as being able to be pureed or used for dips such as hummus.

Soy Soy Soy: All of the over-processed soy products that we usually steer clear of are full of calories and protein. If you are looking to bulk up, delicious products such as Tofutti cream cheese will certainly help!

Go Nutty: Nut butters are a great way to get lots of the good fat and nutrients from nuts in an easily digestible way. Choose raw almond butter, sunflower butter, tahini, or hazelnut butter and add them to crackers, vegetable crudites, salads, deserts, baked goods or have them on toast.

Oily Goodness: Extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, etc are a healthy way to add good fats to the diet.

Rice, Pasta, Gnocchi, sprouted bread, vegan custard and yummy vegan cheese are some of the other things that spring to mind if you are looking to put on weight.

Unfortunately, there are not many vegan meal replacements, such as Sustagen, which offer all of the nutrients that the body needs in a liquid form for times when patients cannot eat. Vega Complete Meal Replacement is a powder that was formulated by a vegan triathlete and is available at www.pureprescriptions.com, but it contains some natural products that pharmacists and oncologists may not agree to.

If you are looking to put on weight as a cancer patient, then there will likely be other challenges that need to be addressed also, such as dry mouth, loss of appetite, sore throat and mouth ulcers, nausea, constipation or diarrhea and loss or change of taste. The most important thing is to get some form of nutrients in to the body each day, so whatever is tolerable and appealing is often the only consideration.

While some of the Crew are enjoying pigging out on all of these vegan delicacies, we are looking forward to the end of treatment when a return to a healthy RAW vegan diet will help to detox the body!!

Here is a lovely recipe for Lemon Poppy Scones to get your taste buds drooling...

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup margarine

1 lemon, zested and juiced

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Cut in margarine until the mixture is the consistency of large grains of sand. I like to use my hands to rub the margarine into the flour. Stir in poppy seeds, lemon zest and lemon juice. Combine the soy milk and water, and gradually stir into the dry ingredients until the batter is moistened, but still thick like biscuit dough. You may not need all of the liquid. Spoon 1/4 cup sized plops of batter onto the greased baking sheet so they are about 3 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes the preheated oven, until golden.

It's All About the Dog!

Hallo Readers,

Have been away in the lush green organic countryside of Northern NSW, enjoying some great vegan restaurants in Lismore and Byron Bay. If you are looking for animal friendly vegan eating, then "Sweet Peas" is a great place in Lismore to eat with a friendly relaxed vibe as well as "Cardamon Pod" in the centre of Byron Bay! We stayed at an eco resort which I read about here on Veganera www.byronecobeachretreat.com where our pooch was allowed to roam freely right behind a dog friendly beach. It's a great place for families with dogs to holiday...so much so that our "Odie" is now officially depressed, after spending a week living right on the beach.

Dogs have feelings...and he really is a very sad city dog this week...just lying around with a look on his face like, I have no beach, I have no sand, I have no sticks, I have no surf, no nothing, my life is over!! This is a dog who gets walked at a leash free 3 km creek bedded park at least once a day, played with in the backyard constantly and pampered to every stretch of the word, but he is just in dog heaven at the beach! When he arrives, he runs up to strangers barking madly in excitement, as if to say, "I AM AT THE BEACH!! CAN YOU SEE ME...I AM AT THE BEACH!!"

People become frightened of his excitement mistaking him for a viscous hound, understandably not realising he is trying to tell them only of his fortune! After he calms down from the mere arrival, he then finds the biggest stick he can possibly find, and digs it around in the sand, carries it to the water, pushes it back out to the sand...over and over! When my partner surfs, he is not sure who he likes the most, so he runs between myself and my book and the edge of the water...of course "Bottom Feeder" as Odie and I like to refer to my partner, both know he loves me the most, however we like to humour "BF" into the illusion that he may be "Top Dog."

Enough said of my little family idiosyncrasies, here is a new recipe for the week for you all to enjoy. It is a vegan pooch recipe this week, that my Odie loves.

1 cup cooked Brown rice

1 Grated carrot

1 flower Broccoli cut up very small

1 fat clove of garlic

1 can (400gms) bortelli beans, or chick peas, or lentils

1 zucchini grated

handful fresh basil

1/2 cup pinenuts

Smash pinenuts, garlic and basil in a mortor and pestal. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and warm in a frypan.

Lightly fry broccoli and carrot until soft, drain beans in collander then add beans and raw zucchini. Mix around and add rice at the end. Serve in your animal friends bowl with a blessing of love!! hehe

It's all about the dog!!

Over and Out

Renata

Super frugal living

The Vegan Era Crew came across this sweet blog today called New Dress A Day.

Marisa will be going a whole year without doing any traditional clothes shopping. From the blog:

"So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins. This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress in People’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.

Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already. So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.

One person’s trash is becoming my treasure this year.

365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…"

There are people all over the world taking pledges like this and even taking it one step further and going without buying a thing! We are always inspired by people taking steps to reduce their impact on our beautiful world.

A man taking it a big step further is vegan Irishman, Mark Boyle who lives without MONEY. He began his money-free challenge "simply as a means to a more connected, respectful, loving and gentle way of life." He is the founder of the Freecommony Community and has just released his first book called The Moneyless Man which is available from Amazon.com. The moneyless man believes that issues such as environmental destruction, resource wars, factory farms, sweatshop labour are all related.

"I believe the fact that we no longer see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect is the factor that unites these problems. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now means we're completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering embodied in the 'stuff ' we buy. Very few people actually want to cause suffering others; most just don't have any idea that they directly are. The tool that has enables this separation is money, especially in its globalised format."

While the Vegan Era Crew are not making any dramatic pledges, these stories remind us to live more consciously and frugally in this world. Be Love; Be Peace; Be Vegan. Save Our Home.

Giving Love

The Vegan Era CREW loves to give, and share lots of Love and Happiness with the world. On our journeys out and about in the world - we come across many beautiful people. It is so Lovely to meet all our new friends.

For our Lovely friends we like to show our appreciation. The CREW spend the night in the kitchen creating little gifts of food. They are similar to that of Bliss Balls - but ours a totally Vegan, filled with Love, Peace and Happiness.

We had the pleasure of having so many of our new friends hanging with us, coming back for more and more. It was so great to see.

People were actually coming to find us wanting more and more. They even said they would buy them from us because they were totally amazing. What made it even more amazing was the fact that they were Vegan. They couldn't believe their ears.

It brings the Vegan Era CREW so pleasure to make people happy. It warms our little hearts.

Each week the Vegan Era CREW will be out and about not only spreading the word of leading a Compassionate, Earth Loving Vegan Message to the world - we will also be there with our little balls of Love.

So when you see us out in the world - come and find us and grab a Vegan Bliss Ball and hang out. See you all soon.

Here is a little recipe that should help you out.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Almond meal (what is left over from the milk)
1/3 cup RAW cocoa powder
Handful of big beautiful green grapes
1 Cup sultana's or medjool dates
2 Cups shredded coconut (for dusting)
Agave nectar (if you want more sweetness)

Directions: This is a little different as we are adding some grapes, but they add so much more extra sweetness. Plus, it enables you to add or not add agave nectar depending on how sweet you like it. Pretty easy method - just add all the ingredients to the food processor and blend away. Though, we have found that when you add the almond meal then the cocoa powder first - it tends to not cause as much 'dust' when you let the food processor work its magic. Do check the consistancy of the mixture. You want it to be a moist, but not wet or hard. If you find that it is too hard, add some more grapes - they work wonders in adding a natural sweetness liquid. If too wet, don't be afraid to add some shredded coconut in. This helps to bind it all together. Lay a foundation of shredded coconut on a table, or plate. With a dessert spoon, scoop enough to fill and roll a ball in your hands. Once ball is complete, dust in coconut. You may wish to have a bowl of water and perhaps a dry cloth in case things get sticky later on