Good Vegan and Vegetarian Food

One of life’s great pleasures is going out to eat and trying new restaurants and dishes. This holds true for raw food and vegan restaurants too! There are, believe it or not, more than 5000 natural foods restaurants in the U.S. alone. Predictably many of these restaurants are in major markets and in college towns. You might not live in an area where you can visit a natural foods restaurant regularly, but if you’re traveling, do some research and see where there might be a natural foods place to visit. Here are a few notable restaurants around the country:

Delights of the Garden has gained amazing popularity in Washington, DC, considering that city is a haven of power lunches between lobbyists and the like. It features a cool-looking cafe with raw and cooked vegan favorites.

Arnold’s Way is located outside Philadelphia, PA in the Bucks County town of Lansdale. They have a raw café and also have classes in raw foods preparation.

Au Lac in Fountain Valley, California serves 7-course raw dinners, although you want to call in advance to give the chefs time to prepare.

Café Gratitude has two locations in San Francisco and one in Berkeley.

Quntessence in Manhattan features an all raw menu, all organic, salads, fresh juices, soup, guacamole, essene bread, almond shakes, and more.

Dining in the Raw in Key West, Florida features macrobiotic, vegan and raw foods.

The Organic Garden in Beverly, Massachusetts is a living and raw foods restaurant.

Suzanne’s Vegetarian Bistro in Miami, FL has a daily raw soup on its menu.

Enzyme Express in Anchorage, Alaska is a raw foods restaurant.

Golden Temple in Birmingham, Alabama is a vegetarian restaurant that features a juice bar.

These are just a few raw foods restaurants in some likely (and unlikely!) cities. Many cities have magazines with restaurants listed by categories.

Many of the health benefits derived from a vegetarian diet have to do with creating a healthy environment in the bowels and stomach. Our digestive systems, from prehistory on, were designed to metabolize vegetable matter, more than animal products. Fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts provide the kind of dietary fiber our digestive systems need to function properly. The Western diet that’s high in processed and refined flour and sugar, and in animal products that are laden with hormones and antibiotics, are actually anathema to our insides.

When the digestive system doesn’t function and work as it’s intended to, that leads to opportunistic diseases or changes in the DNA of cells in the stomach and colon. And there are more practical considerations as well. When we don’t get enough of the fiber we need, we incur a host of digestion and elimination problems, such as constipation and hemorrhoids that are a result of straining. These diseases and syndromes are much less evident in a vegetarian population than in a meat-eating population.

Other diseases of the bowel that occur less frequently in a vegetarian population include irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic ulcerative colitis, mostly likely due to the increased fiber content in a vegetarian diet. And of course a diet that’s higher in dietary fiber that comes from a vegetarian diet will decrease the likelihood or risk of colon cancer.

When you consider the risks that come with a diet that includes meat and animal products, and the benefits that come from a vegetarian diet, does the prospect of a steak or burger or bacon really sound that good to you? Doesn’t it at least make sense to reverse the portion sizes and proportions of meats to vegetables and side dishes? In other words, if you must continue to eat meat, then make meat your side dish, or just incidental to your meal, such as in a stir fry. Increasing the proportion of fruits and vegetables in your diet can only be good for you.

As with everything else in nutrition and diet, the health benefits or risks of eating chocolate is a controversial topic. Every new study that comes along seems to throw doubt on the one before. Nowhere is this more true than in discussions of the health risks and possible benefits of eating chocolate. The answer, like much else in nutrition, may lie in considering the amount consumed.

One major reason that chocolate often makes the news is that it does contain a class of phytochemicals called flavonoids, in particular one called epicatechin. Flavonoids are known to have circulatory system benefits. That much is not in dispute. They are antioxidants, which help remove free radicals from the blood stream. Free radicals are charged atoms that can harm cells.

But from that point, opinions diverge. Some argue that the presence of those antioxidants is enough to declare that chocolate does have some health benefits. Others point out that the presence of fat and sugar in chocolate products outweighs the benefits, and that flavonoids are present in other foods, such as vegetables. Those other foods don’t have the high fat and sugar content that chocolate so often does.

Here again, the old pharmacological rule may be helpful. ‘Dosage makes the poison’. Anything is harmful in large enough quantities, even water. It can expand cell membranes to a dangerous degree. In moderate amounts, even fat and sugar are positive benefits.

Complex sugars are to be preferred because they take longer to break down, but simple sugars are still carbohydrates and provide needed energy, without which life would be impossible. Fat, too, in modest amounts performs useful biological functions. It helps regulate certain hormones in the brain and is also a type of carbohydrate that can provide quick, needed energy.

One major form of fat in chocolate is stearic acid, a saturated fat. Those are generally not preferred, since in general they can increase the ‘bad’ type of cholesterol. Though some studies suggest that stearic acid, as found in chocolate, does not contribute to that and in fact may help lower it.

The problem arises when these are consumed in high quantities, which is easy to do when eating a chocolate bar or chocolate ice cream.

But chocolate contains other compounds that can have positive health effects.

Though the amount of caffeine in a chocolate bar is only about 10-30% or less than that found in a cup of coffee, that might actually be a good thing. Low relative amounts of caffeine are known to be healthy.

Tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin, is present in chocolate. Serotonin is a ‘mood-elevating’ neurochemical and anything which combats stress is generally a good thing. Some studies also suggest that chocolate stimulates the release of endorphins, the “runner’s high” biochemical.

Theobromine is found in chocolate and this caffeine-related compound is a mild stimulant. Mild stimulants help keep the mind alert, the body ready for action and contribute to a positive outlook. They are partly responsible for why humans crave chocolate.

While research continues, and the pros and cons will continue to be weighed, consider Aristotle’s view that moderation is the key to well-being. Modern science would probably agree.