Second Vege Expo

Sunday morning September 28, with daylight saving beginning that morning, was an early start for us as we loaded the final necessities for what was to be a full day at the second World Vegetarian Day Expo in Christchurch city.

At 10.00am, the official opening time, the flow of people started and remained steady for the whole day. Over 4000 people visited the expo—double last year's attendance.

We held a large booth, presenting vegetarian materials and information. healthbites was offered to the public and over 140 people signed up to receive this on a regular basis, many wanting to know when the next health and cooking series would commence. One lady pleaded for a series in Timaru to help them.

We presented two recipes in the demonstration area for the day, one at 10.30am and another at 2.30pm, and a half hour presentation on the Benefits of Vegetarian Diet at 1,00pm. All were well attended and the Christian perspective was put forth unashamedly.

It seems apparent from reports that Christchurch is the vegetarian capital here in New Zealand. The expos certainly seem to be popular and many people search out a better diet and lifestyle for a variety of reasons. One topic of concern which often arises, is that people are now aware of the increasing risk of disease being passed on to humans. It is becoming obvious that the risk is not only from consuming the actual carcass, but also from eating products from animals.

Mad Cow Prions In Milk

Our Firm Foundation, June 2008.
Prions cause mad cow disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans). According to the December 2006 PloS ONE (Public Library of Science), prion proteins have been found in off-the-shelf and fresh milk in Switzerland, whether it was organic or non-organic, pasteurised normally or longer at ultrahigh temperatures. Prions were also found in human, sheep and goat milk. “Transmission from food to people is of great concern.”

Technology in the past was not able to detect prions in milk, but now advances make it possible. The same scenario occurred with bovine leukaemia viruses. The “prevailing opinion” used to be that “the presence of this virus in our food supply was not a public health hazard. However, in 2003 researchers reported finding evidence of infection with bovine leukaemia viruses in 74% of people tested by using more modern technology.”

“You should assume cow's milk off-the-shelf contains infectious agents (prions, viruses, and microbes)… There is no risk in avoiding cow's milk—it provides no nutrients, specifically calcium and protein, which could not be better obtained from plant sources.”¹
~1. John McDougall, MD, www.drmcdougall.com, March 2008.

As these products become more unsafe to consume, a healthy option is to drop all animal products out of the diet completely and examine the benefits of a vegan diet carefully. We would highly recommend to take a balanced and intelligent approach when stepping out in the vegan diet and lifestyle, but there is now good information available to help.

Cow’s Milk Alternatives

“For children who are weaned—and for adults as well—there is now an abundance of milk-like products on the market that are suitable to use on breakfast cereals and deserts. More and more in recent years, supermarkets have increased their supplies of soy milk products, many brands now available, along with many flavours. Other plant-based milk alternatives such as oats, potato, rice and almonds milks are becoming more readily available also. With an awareness of diseases and personal allergies on the increase, these milk alternatives have increased in popularity and many have been amazed at how nutritious and satisfying some of these beverages are.

“The culmination of my extensive research on the subject of milk is that there is absolutely no reason why an adult human should feel that they need the milk of another speices for health. All the nutrients we need can be obtained withougth resorting to dairy foods - and we can avoid a host of problems by shunning this harmful group of foods.”

I challenge you now. Take a bold step and determine to do something that will likely make a significant difference to your health, and for the health of your family. Determine that by your influence and example, you will help others to break free of a disease-bearing product line - even if you feel perfectly healthy today. Visit your local supermarket or health food store and pick up a sample of several soy, nut or other plant-based milk alternatives, and embark on a new habit of dairy-free living. With a determination to change your lifestyle for the better, you will be surprised at how tasty today’s alternatives are, and you will know that you are following a course calculated to improve your own health, and the health of others around you.”

~Based on Proof Positive, Dr Neil Nedley, page 251-253