SoulVeggie

50 Ways to Lose Your Ticker

Wow... here's a "vegan" blogger going "whole hog" on promoting added fat  (a nutritionally useless non-food, Vegenaise) in your diet, by having the dietary callousness to list 50 ways to add fat to what you eat, labeling this effort "creative and yummy, " and in effect, demonstrating a stunning complete obliviousness to the many heath issues that have been shown to be problematic with all that added fat:

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/11/fifty-yummy-uses-for-vegenaise-spread.html

Sure, let's ignore 20 years of peer-reviewed research regarding added fat & heart disease, as well as the American Heart Association's recommendations regarding added fat.  After all, you're being "creative" and this is all "yummy."  Right?

How bad is this?  Vegenaise is 9 grams of canola oil fat per tablespoon (about a half a day's worth of fat from the guy's who've reversed heart disease, Ornish and Esselstyn) and one sixth a day's worth of fat as advised by the American Heart Association.  Kat lists fifty ways to ADD FAT (Vegenaise) to your food...  Obesity, heart disease, and a host of physical disorders plague society, and she's is advocating adding more fat to your diet 'cause it tastes good.

My favorite is:  "50. Eat it with a Spoon..."

That's not funny.  It's sad.  To Kathy, all that matters is that it "tastes good," regardless of the impact that added fat can have on your cardiovascular system, brain (Altzheimer's,), pancreas (diabetes), and overall health (obesity).  Added fat-related disorders are bankrupting health care and destroying the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people, and she gleefully advocates adding "vegan mayo" to oatmeal cereal for breakfast (#46), yogurt (#14),  as a dip for tempeh (#21), with pancakes, (#36), and in sorbet (#37).

Check it out.  It doesn't get more ignorant than this.  Another "must see" post by probably the most nutritionally misleading and myopic "vegan" blogger on the Internet.  And she has the audacity to egotistically self-proclaim her ideas on adding fat to everything but drinking water as "uber-creative."  Yeah, right.

I suggest that "uber-oblivious" might be a more accurate description.  "Uber-deluded" a close second.

Anyway, have a "healthy happy life."  Ignore Kathy's advice at "Healthy Happy Life."  You'll live longer, happier, and with greater chanes of avoiding Heart Disease, Altzheimer's, Obesity, and Diabetes.  After all, can someone really take the advice of a fat addicted blogger who recommends putting vegan mayo in sorbet seriously?

"A Vegan Zombie's Vegan Twinkie'

In a short article about how Woody Harrelson, while acting in his new movie, "Zombieland," insisted on vegan twinkies made from corn with no sugar.  Says Woody:

"I'm not a Twinkie lover. I don't do sugar or dairy either. When we finally shot my Twinkie-eating scene in the movie, they had to give me a specially made mock Twinkie made of corn meal. It could spur a healthy Twinkie revolution."

The author of the article then recommends a vegan twinkie recipe from Schmoofood & Vegan Lunchbox (here).  How unfortunate.  I've blogged about the clever author of Vegan Lunchbox years ago when it started out, but in recent times I stopped reading her blog for the most part when she was praising "Pringles."

Anyway, I checked out the "Schmooed Food" twinkie recipe and did the math:  28 grams of vegan olive oil/shortening/margarine fat per twinkie, and a whopping 52 grams of sugar per serving.  Oh, and there's 7 grams of saturated fat per twinkie.

Put into perspective:  Ornish & Esselstyn (who've reversed heart disease) recommend between 14 and 24 grams of fat per day (around 10% of your total calories), the Feds no more than 60 grams of fat per day.  Regarding sugar:  the American Heart Association recommends no more than 37 grams of sugar PER DAY for an ADULT man, and no more than 16 grams of saturated fat per day for an adult woman.

Wow... a day's worth of useless added non-real food fat, a half day's worth of saturated fat, and over a day's worth of sugar in ONE "healthy" vegan twinkie.  Now imagine the physiological effect on a child's body.  Reminds me of some dialogue from the 1984 movie version of "Ghostbusters:"

"Dr. Egon Spengler: I'm worried, Ray. All my readings point to something big on the horizon.

Winston Zeddemore: What do you mean, big?

Dr. Egon Spengler: Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's reading, it would be a Twinkie thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

Winston Zeddemore: That's a big Twinkie."

Fitting too, that one actually "injects" the filling into the twinkies.  That's not unlike injecting sugar and fat into your cardiovascular system when you eat one.  And It's ironic that the standard definition of the Hebrew term "shmoe" is essentially a "stupid" person.  But regardless, there's just no way I'd ever eat this schlock, vegan or not.  It's a nutritional short-range missile with multiple warheads of fat, saturated fat, and sugar.  Best to avoid it's negative impact on your body and target instead, real food.

[BONUS: check out the excellent summary article concerning oil, it's impact on your body, and cited articles, at the "Happy Healthy Longer Life" blog.  For a graphic of a real vegan zoombie, click here.]

[NOTE 10/16/09:  Happy Healthy Longer Life Blog link fixed... apologies!]

A "Mighty O" Heart Attack

A usually interesting vegan blogger today was praising "Mighty O Donuts" in Seatte.  To quote the blogger:

"Their donuts are all vegan and organic. Because there are no animal derived ingredients they are cholesterol free. Mighty O's are made locally, right in the shop and contain no trans fats, artificial colorings or ingredients and are calorie free."

Well, let's glom the nutritional numbers see if we can figure out what the little kid shown in her photo is actually eating.  Sure, it's going to be essentially flour, fat, oil, and sugar (that's what's in a donut).  I'm guessing it's the "peanut sprinkles" chocoloco (BTW: most of the other donuts are much HIGHER in the numbers below).  They don't note the fat content of the peanut sprinkles.

Here's the numbers and percentages for a 2,000 calorie a day grown ADULT:

FAT:  16 grams (almost a third of the total fat for an adult for a day a la Federalists, essentially full-day for Esselstyn and Ornish (who've reversed heart disease:  14 to 24 grams of fat per day)

SAT FAT:  7 grams (about 35% of what the American Health Association recommends for AN ADULT)

SUGAR:  16 grams of sugar (a little under half what the AHA recommends daily for ADULT MEN)

Wonderful.  At least, as the website notes so loudly, that their donuts are "organic," "clean," "non-gmo," and contains "nothing artificial.  After all, we wouldn't want a dirty heart attack.  What the are doing might sound noble ('environmental," "free trade," yadda yadda yadda...), but in reality they are making and selling a highly addictive and decidedly unhealthy VEGAN processed food fat, sugar, and oil delivery vehicles.

...and some wonder why are kids are showing such high obseity and Type II Diabetes rates!  It ain't just because the're not vegan, kiddos.  It's the glazed or sprinkled ticking nutritional time bombs served with a smile.  But, since the saturated fat can feed Altzheimer's, maybe they'll forget about it later.

Here's the company's "core values" (no direct link, badly designed Flash navigation):

• "Respect for individuals, community, and culture" (but we don't care if our products are nutritionally useless and promote heart disease, diabetes, Altzheimer's and obesity)
• "Respect for nature and the environment" (except for your cardiocascular system)
• "Recognize that continual improvement is necessary for our growth and existence.  Be innovative."  (...find new ways to package fat, sugar, salt, and flour, with a high profit margin, to sell to taste addicts)
• "Preserve modesty as an essential tenant to serve others" (WTF? Well, maybe it's "clean" modesty)
• "Be truthful.  Recognize that our success is based on more than profits." (that's true!  It's based on selling fat and sugar-ladden flour products with nano-nutritional value that significantly increase the odds for a shorter life span, while feeding the buyer's addictions)

It's also ironic 'cause they list a ton of artificial food-like ingredients they are avoiding and even include a link to a webpage about "Food Additives" that can cause cancer.  Pity they've missed the heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and Altzheimer's potential from their "natural" ingredients (oil is natural?  I've yet to see an "olive oil" well.).

Transcend your taste bud's addiction to fat, sugar, and salt... transform them into discriminators of REAL food, and not such deep-fried or baked sugar, fat, and flour nutritionally vapid nonsense as "Might O" Donuts.

That's PRESERVING LIFE... and being seriously RESPECTFUL to your body and to those people that love you.  Your health is based on more than taste... And that's the recognizable truth.

Whole Foods Lunchbox Program: Whole Foods Bull$hit

This is a wonderful example of a vegan blogger's absurdity regarding veganism, corporate PR, and nutrition (http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com --  she won't allow links from my blog to hers and re-directs them (that's how proud she is of her work), which, if you think about it, is pretty stupid.  Why wouldn't she want people to read her posts?).

In this post, http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/09/whole-foods-healthy-school-lunch-video.html, she promotes the Whole Foods Lunchbox Program and a video contest.  A classic Corporate PR attempt to spin Whole Foods stuff into healthy meals for kids.  And yet, she promotes it.  WTF?  Here's the link to their recipes (the sub-links sometimes don't have URLs):

"Does your child's school need a healthy lunch revolution? Well you're in luck because Whole Foods is sponsoring the Healthy School Lunch Video Contest featuring Chef Ann Cooper, "The Renegade Lunch Lady". The contest is all a part of their "School Lunch Revolution" campaign currently underway. "  (words of wisdom from Kathy)

Here's the catch:  check out the link to their website.  NOTHING under vegetarian yet (guess they were too busy).  Here's the recommended "cheeseburger" recipe link, and there's nothing without dairy in the "calcium" recipes menu option.  There's also no recipes under "Fruit" (guess that's a toughie).  Most of the Whole Grain recipes involve dairy, and or meat.  Oh, it's got a "great" section on "Red Meat" recipes.  And ALL the category "protein" recipes contain meat.  Whole Foods ain't got beans?

Way to go Kathy!!  Whole Foods is promoting largely meat and dairy based lunches for kids, and you in turn, probably without bothering to look at their website, are doing the same.

And you have the nerve to call yourself a "happy, healthy vegan."  You're promoting an unhealthy meat and dairy-based lunch program that is anything but lucky.  It encourages obesity, cancers, diabetes, and heart disease.  And in children...

What is lucky, is maybe some people will read this and realize that this kind of lack of basic research into nutrition, content, ingredients, and the demonstrable adherence to whatever a product's company says on their website without analysis, isn't doing anyone any good.  Digital fluff, nutritional hype.

IMHO, promoting a meat and dairy-based lunch program, as a self-proclaimed vegan, is hypocritical.  And, again, imho, you should be ashamed.

Reason #2: A Food Nazi Recommends "Go Max Go" Again

I posted about the fat in "Go Max Go" vegan candy bars awhile back (here), was called a "Food Nazi."  Today, the American Heart Association released sugar intake daily recommendations that provide evidence for considering "Go Max Go" vegan candy bars a DOUBLE hit on your cardiovascular system.  My original post was about the very high added oil/fat content in these products.  Now, we know that it's also the sugar content that is threatening to our health.

The stodgy and conservative A.H.A. recommends no more than 100 calories from sugar per day for women, 150 calories per day for men.  Here's some translations of note (primary source):

1) 1 gram of sugar is 4 calories
2) 1 teaspoon of sugar contains around 15 or 16 calories (4.2 grams of sugar)
3) 8 teaspoons of sugar (like, one 12 oz. can of soda) is 33 grams (around 130 calories)
4) 8 teaspoons of sugar is a little over 2.5 Tablespoons of sugar  (1/2 cup of sugar)

AHA recommendations:  max daily of 37.5 grams of sugar for men, 25 grams for women

"Go Max Go" candy bars:

JokerZ:  22 grams of sugar  (close to a day's worth for a woman)
Twilight:  29 grams of sugar  (over a day's worth for a woman)
Buccaneer:  33 grams of sugar  (over a day's worth for a woman and close to that of a man)
Mahalo:  18 grams of sugar

So, if you want an extremely high-fat high-sugar nutritionally useless vegan "treat" that has potential impact on you manifesting obesity, Type II Diabetes, and/or Heart Disease, I highly recommend "Go Max Go" candy bars.  They are very effective fat and sugar delivery vehicles, and the most important bonus, they taste gud!

THE RANT:  going vegan doesn't mean that using vegan "crappy food products" instead of the original "non-vegan crappy food products" is better for all animals.  The animal not being saved, exchanging one taste addiction for another, is the human animal.

Something to think about the next time you read a recipe with 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of olive oil or Earth "Balance," and/or tablespoons of Tamari.  Added fat, sugar, and salt are the "unholy trio."   We vegans can, without knowing it, kill ourselves by what we eat by ignoring the "trio" just as efficiently and unknowingly as the omnivores doing the same.  The only difference is that they increase their odds of disease by ingesting animal products and less fresh produce, and as a vegan, you can decrease the odds, but if you pay attention to added fat, salt, and sugar, you can drastically reduce those odds.

Just because a product is vegan, doesn't mean it's healthy.  You newbies out there have a unique opportunity: this knowledge is readably available through the Internet, demonstrated by Science in recent years (known by such as Esselstyn, Ornish, Barnard, and McDougall for decades), and you lucky b*st*rds can take advantage of this early in life, extend your life, and enhance the quality of your later life... believe me, it's worth the initial effort.

All you need is a little discipline and will power to re-calibrate your tastebuds and food desires.  The same abilities you used to become vegan in the first place.  Reject what vegan and non-vegan companies would have you buy to fullfill your addiction, increase their profits, and instead, reboot your tastes. 

"GO" for "MAXimum"  health and optimal nutrition:  stop buying and consuming unhealthy vegan products.  Your heart, pancreas, brain, libido, and body, will thank you, and serve you even better.

Myth: "Food Must Taste Good" & A Healthy Chips Alternative

A vegan blogger posted the phrase "Food Must Taste Good" today, which was her lead-in to reviewing a bunch of "Food Must Taste Good" chip products (mostly vegan junk food).

She praised the hell outta them, and used a lot of buzz phrases from their website, "no trans-fats," yadda yadda... and even though they are baked, it's important to realize that they are essentially spices, refined flour, and added fat.  She calls them healthy, but never mentioned the nutritional content, which is available on their website (amazing how far they reach to find some way to extol their products..."kosher?"). 

LIke, what's the fat grams total per serving? (6... that's high... a third to a fourth recommended daily fat by Esselstynn and Ornish)  What's the sodium content?  You write they are a good source of dietary fiber?  Says who? (oh, the website does...  must be true... refined grain flours are a wonderful source of fiber, right?)  But then she acknowledges that: "I’m hopelessly in love with them."

Yeah, right. But didn't meat, cheese, and eggs used to "taste good?"

The "food must taste good" mantra is a god-send for food companies that make a financial killing by biologically killing us through convincing us that refined flour, salt, fat, and in other cases, sugar, are "real food."  If anything, the past few decades have shown how the food industry's mastery of what we get addicted too is surpassed only the tobacco industry and various other drug dealers.  Obesity, hypertension, heart disease, and type II diabetes.  The real fruits of their marketing research and laboratories.  The pinnacle of the "agricultural revolution."

But then, they know all too well that sugar, salt, and fat are addictive.  That's why they put them into just about every processed food product.  We pay extra for their diminishing the nutritional value of real food and increasing it's addictive effects.  We threaten our health and screw up our internal biochemistry in consuming their frankenfoods, but "HEY!  IT TASTES GOOD!!!"

Real food should be FIRST, as nutritious and as unadulterated as possible.  THEN, if it tastes good, it's a double-win for you, your body, your life, and society in general.  Real food doesn't come packaged in foil bags.  Think about it:  why are there so many types and brands of chips?  Because they are CHEAP to make in bulk, are comprised of generally inferior ingredients that might resemble food at some point in their life cycle, and they are addictive... helluva business (and profit margin).  Make it cheaply, sell it higher, and as a bonus, it's naturally addictive.  Added sugar, added fat, and added salt:  the deadly trifecta.

For healthy corn tortilla chips, cut up corn tortillas, sprinkle with cumin or paprika, arrange on no-stick cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees until crisp (around 5 minutes, depending upon your oven).

Try them with homemade salsa, you'll be in love with them, be avoiding the useless added fat and salt, and truly be a heart happy herbivore!

Homestyle Heart Attack Pot Pie & A Healthy Alternative

Just glommed a vegan "healthy happy Homestyle Tofu Pot Pie" recipe blogged (at http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/)  yesterday.  As busy as I am (harvesting, digging, fencing, etc.), a quick "fat fact check" on this "killer" recipe was in order.  Here's the ingredients with significant fat in them:

1/4 cup oil:  8 grams sat fat or 48 gram fat
1 block (10 oz) extra firm tofu:  about 13 grams fat
4 T olive oil:  8 grams sat fat or 48 gram fat
1 cup full-fat soy milk:  .5 grams sat fat or 4 grams fat
3 T vegenaise:  3 grams sat fat or 27 grams fat

Total:  140 grams of fat  (around 20 grams of saturated fat).

At 4 servings (avg. for a 9" pot pie):  that's at least 35 grams of fat PER SERVING.  Unbelievable.  Remember, the entire Denny's Grand Slam breakfast is around 50 grams of fat (14 grams saturated).  This recipe has, per serving, has about 2/3rds the TOTAL fat content of the entire Grand Slam Breakfast.

Why does this matter?  Well, the guys who've reversed (and in theory, prevent) heart disease (Esselstyn & Ornish), and Barnard (who's reversed Type II diabetes with diet) recommend 14 to 20 grams of fat total PER DAY.  The Feds recommend around 60 grams of fat per (25% of a 2,000 calorie a day diet).  So, that tofu pot pie has over half the daily fat recommended by the Feds in ONE serving or over 1 1/2 times the recommended fat by the three good doctors on the high end.

You can read about the amazing impact just ONE high fat meal can have on your cardiovascular system, for 6 hours, here (courtesy Rip Esselstyn, vegan firefighter).

Please be kind to your cardiovascular system and pancreas.  Avoid the "Homestyle Heart Attack Pot Pie" and instead, try this neat and clever "Savory Swiss Chard Pie" from the always amazing Susan Voisin:
(http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/06/savory-swiss-chard-pie.html)

... it's a fine low-fat vegan pot pie (you could easily use other vegetables), it has less than 3 grams of fat per serving (the tofu pot pie has over 10 times that per serving), and significantly less saturated fat.

Now that's a Happy Heart-Healthy Recipe for a Longer Life!

[ADDENDUM:  08/09/09:  2300 est.:  It's amazing.... said blogger above just bashed a recipe (http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/08/my-review-of-melissas-ten-dollar.html -- Kathy's so proud of her posts that she prevents my blog from linking to them) from some cable food network show as being unhealthy, too fatty, etc.  Surprisingly enough, the per serving of the the torte recipe she complained about (35 grams of fat) is the SAME amount of fat grams per serving of the recipe for "Homestyle Tofu Pot Pie" she posted yesterday.

That blogger also seems to still think that "saturated fat" is the only significant issue regarding health.  For a read on issues about fat, check out a previous post I made summarizing the issues:

http://soulveggie.blogs.com/my_weblog/2009/01/15-reasons-to-avoid-vegetable-oils.html

I do think that if one is going to come down on a recipe for having too much fat, then you probably, from a credibility standpoint, shouldn't post a recipe with the same numbers the day before.  That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

Furthermore, we need to realize, even as vegans, that added oil/fat is wrong, and it's not food... real food... the sooner we get past this taste addiction, the better.  You can have it as a vegan or non-vegan, and that's what altogether too many vegans don't realize.'  But, despite what some people say, you CAN "reset" your taste receptors to not desire fat if you want to.  It takes several weeks, been there, done that.

It works, and will help keep your heart working, too.

New Surgeon General: Do as I Say (Not as I Do)

Obama just announced his pick for Surgeon General, and I've this nagging concern about her appointment.  Sure, she's got an impressive resume of achievements, motivation, compassion, and intelligence.  But, and I'm probably going to take some heat for this, is this enough?

"The president praised her [Dr. Regina Benjamin] as a "relentless promoter of prevention and wellness," and a New York Times profile of her work in Bayou La Batre called her an "angel in a white coat." She even won a prestigious "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation last year. There's no question she's an accomplished doctor familiar with the struggles of the poor and disadvantaged."  (from here).

Her role is to be the "Nation's Doctor."   Clearly she's qualified, has the chops to do this, and well.   So what's bugs me?

Dr. Benjamin, with all due respect, you are appear to be severely overweight.  Have seen the photos.  You've two, almost three, chins.  In your role as Surgeon General, you'll probably wail against obesity, the faux food that people consume that promote obesity and resulting related "diseases:"  heart, diabetes, Altzheimer's, cancer... and I've no doubt that you'll push hard to get the need for US citizens to eat heathy, exercise, and get healthy (and also, thereby reducing the incredible cost these "metabolic disorders" bring upon our economy, let alone, the personal & emotional impact upon individuals and families).  You'll also push for universal heath care, and I won't go into the irony of this in that those non-vegans are such an unnecessary burden on the health care "system."

But, Dr. Benjamin, again, with all due respect, what level of credibility does a significantly overweight (and as such, person of higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, Altzheimer's, and cancer) have with just "words?"  How can it be that you are so brilliant, so insightful, so caring, so giving, that you cannot find the discipline, personal will power, and self-examination to maintain a reasonable BMI?  You are a gifted doctor from a State (Alabama) that has an abysmal level of obesity and corresponding or related physical disorders.  Couldn't you muster the intestinal fortitude to keep your weight at a reasonably healthy level?  Can't you be "relentless" in "preventing" your own odds of dis-health in the future by dropping that weight?

Sure, one can "know the wisdom," "pontificate the wisdom," and not "follow the wisdom."  We are, after all, not perfect.  But then, isn't someone obese advising others to eat healthy, exercise, loose the excess weight, and live longer, not unlike an alcoholic lecturing on the evils of alcohol?  For what it's worth, when I see a 'fat' chef, I question the value/wisdom/nature/credibility of his/her "culinary skills."  If you are making healthy meals, you should, imho, be (and at least, appear) healthy.

Anyway, Dr. Benjamin, I sincerely do wish you well in your tenure and hope that you do great good in your role as largely a spokesperson for real health.  I also hope that you consider setting an example:  losing your excess and unhealthy body mass.  That would truly have a powerful positive inspiring impact, underscore the seriousness of your concerns,  and amplify the value, importance, and gravity, of your vital messages.  After all, aren't these your true goals?

...and better yet, why not go low-fat vegan?... and it'll be easy, effective, permanent, and have greater personal and social consequences than just personal or collective health.  The research is in, and the conclusions are obvious. 

One doesn't have to be a "genius" to understand, accept, embrace, and promote them.

Low-Calorie Diet May Extend Life in Primates

"A long-awaited study of aging in rhesus monkeys suggests, with some reservations, that people could in principle fend off the usual diseases of old age and considerably extend their life span by following a special diet.  Known as caloric restriction, the diet has all the normal healthy ingredients but contains 30 percent fewer calories than usual. Mice kept on such a diet from birth have long been known to live up to 40 percent longer than comparison mice fed normally.

Would the same be true in people? More than 20 years ago, two studies of rhesus monkeys were begun to see if primates responded to caloric restriction the same way that rodents did. Since rhesus monkeys live an average of 27 years and a maximum of 40, these are experiments that require patience.

The results from one of the two studies, conducted by a team led by Ricki J. Colman and Richard Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin, were reported on Thursday in Science. The researchers say that now, 20 years after the experiment began, the monkeys are showing many beneficial signs of caloric resistance, including significantly less diabetes, cancer, and heart and brain disease. “These data demonstrate that caloric restriction slows aging in a primate species,” they conclude."

[Full article here and below.  Yet another reason to go low-fat vegan, and also avoid such nutritional absurdities (see last post) as organic 300 calorie high-saturated fat vegan chocolate bars, vegan recipes with cups of coconut milk, cups of oil, with really fatty faux cheeses or fake mayo.  Get with it, people.  Master your addictions to taste and live longer.  You gave up meat, dairy, and eggs... don't stop now... finish the race to real health.]

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NADD - Nutritional Attention Deficit Disorder

Here's a post from a vegan blogger criticizing a SoyJoy Bar (http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/06/soy-joy-bars-butter-eggs-cheese-joy.html)  --- she's so proud of her posts that she prevents me from linking to them here) has having too much saturated fat (3.5 grams, 6 grams of total fat) for one serving.  Normally, I'd praise this insightful conclusion.  Here's an excerpt:

"Soy is Joy. I applaud SoyJoy's plight to bring high quality whole ground soy bean to the mass markets of people. But there is a lot of confusion and propaganda from their marketing. I will bet a lot of people eat these bars thinking, wow I'm being so healthy right now. But 3.5 grams of saturated fat from one tiny bar is not so healthy. "

However, a few weeks later, she's promoting Newman's Organic chocolate bars (http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/07/newmans-signature-series-chocolate.html) , and the vegan version that "tastes so good" weighs in at, yup, 16 grams of saturated fat (28 grams of fat total, almost FIVE times that of the SoyJoy Bar) a single serving:

"For the most health benefits, go with the 70% Super Dark Chocolate flavor. Super Dark ingredients: Organic Dark Chocolate (organic chocolate liquor*, organic evaporated cane juice, organic cocoa butter*, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], organic vanilla). Bars are around 300 calories. When it comes to chocolate, this is some of the good stuff."

WFT? If you ask me, possible signs of "nutritional attention deficit disorder".  Contrast 28 grams of fat (and 330 calories) in a single serving chocolate bar with the 14 to 20 grams of fat per day TOTAL recommended by Drs. Esselstyn and Ornish (the only people to successfully reverse heart disease, and Dr. Neals Barnard (has reversed diabetes through low-fat vegan diet).  Here's 15 Reasons to Avoid Added Fat (and all referenced).

Guess a bigger more unhealthy high chocolate bar with really minimal nutritional value at all & a helluva lot of saturated fat (but it tastes good!!) from a company that's donated a lot of money to charities (but not enough to cover the health care costs of eating their products), is better than any tiny more nutritious one.

Personally, I find this kind of dietary casuistry upsetting, and further evidence that one should take anything this blogger writes about with a pillar of salt.  She appears to play a bit fast'n'free with the term "health."

ADDENDUM:  after posting the above, a friend pointed out that I cited a study awhile back about chocolate and its impact on cardiovascular health.  There have been other studies about chocolate and blood vessel inflammation, I haven't spent much time on that issue.  However, the dangers to the heart from saturated fat and the ability of a low-fat vegan diet to reverse (and in theory) prevent heart disease have involved a considerable amount more people (and age ranges) and twenty years of peer-reviewed research from two independent researchers. 

Furthermore, as I noted in the other post, the impact of added fat to the elasticity of your arteries has been measured many times, and I seriously doubt that the chocolate in the bar mentioned above would cancel out both the total fat and saturated fat issues.  I consider a chocolate bar, as the ingredients described above, still essentially devoid of useful nutrition.  A lot of sugar, cocoa, cocoa butter, and taste stuff.  Hardly a whole food, just a sweet food-like product that feeds an addiction to sweets.