SoulVeggie

Mad Cowboy Newsletter, Official Pizza, & Free Cookbook Giveaway

The latest Mad Cowboy Newsletter was posted shortly before Memorial Day weekend.  You can read the entire issue at this address:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/message/96

Note:  I've posted the Official Mad Cowboy Pizza recipes (& photos) and there's a free giveway of my cookbook, "Heart Healthy Pizza" detailed in this edition of the newsletter.

Here's the Intro & Table of Contents:

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Howdy! Welcome to the 73rd issue of the Mad Cowboy Newsletter!

In this special issue, we have two contests! The periodic Vegan Mind-Bender Contest (for a year's subscription of VegNews), and today, a free giveaway of the very 1st vegan pizza cookbook: "Heart Healthy Pizza." There's also a link to where you can view the Official Mad Cowboy Pizza recipe, obtain more information about this book, and order an autographed copy of same.

Reading further, learn about some new and very large studies indicating that consumption of red meat not only increases mortality from degenerative diseases, but from strokes as well. There's information on a unique court case where the judge is assessing liability for potential damage to the Earth's atmosphere for future generations, the environmental impact of eating shrimp vs. beef, the brewing eco-storm, continued warnings about too much salt, and take action against the collective evils of Monsanto.

Moving onward, among other matters, you can contact the FDA about animal testing, see the difference between PR spending between the Meat Industry and Veg-related Organizations, know about the controversial "Vegan is Love" book, how to be vegan inexpensively, FARM's mobile activism, and how to be a hero by what you eat.

And don't miss our "Vegan Digital Media Theater" featuring video of Dr. Esselstyn, President Clinton, vegan ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek, and others of note.

... as always, a tip of the hat to our new subscribers: y'all can browse/search through past issues at the Mad Cowboy Newsletter Archives at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/

Best regards, Mark   MC editor/webmaster

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00: Quote(s) from Howard
01: The Vegan Mind-Bender Contest Winner/Challenge!
02: Mad Cowboy Pizza Recipe & Heart Healthy Pizza Book Giveaway Contest
03: Mad Cow Info Round-Up
04: Red Meat=Mortality=Strokes, Hold the Salt
05: Judging the Atmosphere, Shrimp vs. Beef, Eco-Storm, Evil Monsanto
06: Vegan Digital Media Theater
07: Tell FDA No Testing, Meat vs Veg Ad$$, Mobile Activist Video
08: "Vegan is Love," Cheaply Vegan, Be a Hero by What You Eat
09: Quick Bytes
10: Closing Thoughts

Dr. Greger's Review of "Heart Healthy Pizza"

You can read the full review of the 1st Vegan Pizza Cookbook here.  An excerpt:

"Although it might seem arrogant and pretentious to call these the "most nutritious pizzas in the world," one would be hard pressed to think of any others that would be as healthy and beneficial to one's diet.  Mark takes full advantage of the abundance of phytochemicals in fresh vegetables and whole grains in these recipes to raise the bar on vegan cooking and demonstrates a unique and creative approach to making one of the most popular foods in the American diet not only a nutritious experience, but a enjoyable and tasty one as well.

Both vegans and non-vegans should check out "Heart Healthy Pizza."  As improbably as it might seem, pizza can truly be a healthy food!"

There's also some photos of a vegetable pizza I made last night with a "Millet, Sunflower Seed, Mustard, Horseradish" topping sauce.  Woof!

"Michael Greger, M.D., is a physician, author, and internationally recognized professional speaker on a number of important public health issues.Currently Dr. Greger proudly serves as the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States.  His recent scientific publications in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, Critical Reviews in Microbiology, Family & Community Health, and the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition, and Public Health explore the public health implications of industrialized animal agriculture.  Dr. Greger is also licensed as a general practitioner specializing in clinical nutrition and was a founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He was featured on the Healthy Living Channel promoting his latest nutrition DVDs and honored to teach part of Dr. T. Colin Campbell's esteemed nutrition course at Cornell University."

Olives in Olive Oil & Iron Chef vs. Vegan Chef - Pt. 1 of 2

Recently, I've been wondering how many olives are in a tablespoon of olive oil.  Having followed a no-added oil plant-based lifestyle (more accurate than "diet") for over 5 years now (since interviewing Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn), it's something I hadn't considered until I happened to see Ms. "Lean into Everything Veganish Quantumly" on Charlie Rose talk about all the "surrounding fiber" lost with refined sugar and carbohydrates.  Normally, I take anything she says somewhat skeptically (in her most recent book, she's still pushing the "8 glasses of water a day" myth, despite it having been debunked many times).

Whatever.  I remember something I'd read about all the minerals, fibers, etc., being stripped away when producing free oils (processed vegetable oils):

"Chemically speaking, free oils are chains of carbon found in a purified state.  Extraction processes have removed all of the other ingredients of the whole food.  Thus, free oils are no longer intermixed with the naturally-designed and balanced environment of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and ten thousand other chemicals found originally in the plants.  Free-oils are not food..." (Dr. McDougall, (Source).

Ironic that Ms. Leanfully advocates the use of free oils in her recipes (and recommended pantry).  But, moving onward, the question of how many olives are in a tablespoon of olive oil intrigued me.  I found an answer than I think is reasonable, being as olives come in many sizes.  The following website has guessed around 44 olives per tablespoon of olive oil (Source).  I'll go with 40 olives as my working number.

So, what does this mean?  Well, when you put a tablespoon of olive oil into your skillet, you are putting the equivalent of 40 olives "stripped" of accompany minerals and other chemicals designed to help you absorb and properly metabolize the oil from those 40 olives.  Can you imagine 40 olives in your stir-fry?

Wow.  No room for veggies!  Continuing with the math: 2 TBL of olive oil (80 olives), 4 TBL. of olive oil in 1/4 cup (160 olives), 8 TBL. of olive oil in 1/2 cup (320 olives), and 16 TBL. of olive oil in 1 cup (a whopping 640 olives).

I saw a recipe the other day for a vegan pizza that called for a bag of Daiya cheese (8 oz.).  That amounts to 48 grams of fat (2 to 3 times the daily limit Esselstyn recommends, almost 3/4 the daily fat recommended by the Feds, and 80% the daily saturated fat).

But wait, there's more. The fat in Daiya comes from oil (safflower, and/or coconut (high in trans-fat), and/or canola), and these free oils have about the same amount of fat per tablespoon: around 14 grams each.  Let's extrapolate what that would mean in terms of olives, if olive oil was used:  the equivalent of 160 olives on that pizza (someone else can work out how many seeds for safflower or canola oil... start with 50 lbs. of rapeseed to make 2.65 gal. canola oil).

Would anyone put 160 olives on a pizza?  How about 80 olives (2 TBL of olive oil) for a single serving of salad dressing?  Yet, I see both vegan and non-vegans use apply olive oil with complete abandon in all kinds of food preparations.

Actually, using the olives might be healthier than using just the oil!  But seriously, this oil issue is one of the primary reasons I wrote: "Heart Healthy Pizza."  There had to be a better way of enjoying pizza other than adding pure fat in the guise of faux cheese.  Whenever you see a tablespoon of oil, think:  40 olives (or the equivalent).

Anyway, this pontification went on longer than expected, so it's now Part 1 of 2 posts on this topic.  In the next post I'll relate it all to a short exchange I had online recently with a well-known Iron Chef as well as from seeing a nouveaux Vegan Chef on the Today Show last week and reading the recipe he demonstrated (Chef Tal will also be mentioned).  Stay tuned!