Go Cruelty free website launched

cruelty free: products that do not have the finished product or the ingredients tested on animals, nor do the suppliers of those ingredients test them on animals.

A fantastic site for those of us who want to buy cruelty free products has been launched. Called Go Cruelty Free.

You can search by country including the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, Singapore, Ireland, India and South Africa. In some countries brands are only available online. You can also search by either cosmetics & personal care or household products.

How replacing meat in dishes can help you slim

These days, people are being warned to cut down on their meat consumption for health reasons.

Those who eat meat are more likely to –

• Develop heart disease (meat is full of fat that hardens the arteries)
• Be obese as many types of meat are high in calories
• Get bowel cancer – the long time it takes for meat to digest has been blamed for this

If you’re looking to lose some weight and get healthier, replacing meat in recipes with some vegetarian substitutes can really help.

Soya mince is ideal for shepherd’s pie and is much lower in calories than the beef that’s usually used as mince. Soya chunks can also be used in casseroles.

You can get Quorn in a number of different foods including sausages (why not have them with your sausage and mash), mince, sausage rolls, fillets and meat balls. Like Soya, it’s also lower in calories than its meaty equivalents. It also contains no cholesterol. Quorn is one of the tastiest vegetarian foods that there is.

As it contains egg, it is not suitable for vegans.

Click on the picture to find out more -

To see how many less calories you’ll consume if you use Quorn in certain dishes instead of meat click here
http://blog.quorn.co.uk/2011/01/calculate-the-benefits-of-cooking-with-quorn-ingredients

Example, if you use Quorn instead of beef to make spaghetti bolognaise, you will save almost 100 calories.

If you live in the UK, why not have a Celebration Roast from Redwood Foods instead of your normal roast? It’s made from wheat protein and in the package you get a meat free turkey roast, and sausages wrapped on vegetarian ham. And, don't forget the gravy and roasted potatoes!

Click on the picture for more details -

Why not ditch the chicken and ham slices for the companies tasty Cheatin' Range? They have ham style, pepperoni style, chicken style, beef style and garlic sausage style and they are all lower in calories than their meat alternatives!

Note - all of Redwood's range contain NO egg, no GMO, no artificial flavorings and colorings and NO cholesterol. They're suitable for vegans. If you live in the USA or Canada, you can buy similar products that contain wheat protein.

Say NO to Cosmetics testing in Europe

The European Union was meant to ban all new animal tested cosmetics by 2013. But, you can't trust those politicians. After pressure from comsetics testing companies (they have loads of cash) they are deciding whether to extend the deadline.

This deadline could be a year, two years, or even ten years. During that time many more animals will die in non-essential experiments conducted by vivisectors who if they did the same thing to their own pets would be locked up in prison.

If you want to see the European ban come in in 2013 as should be happening, click on the No to Animal Testing to go to the online petition.

Get your family and friends to sign it. Remember with little steps we can all make a difference.

6 Reasons I’m going dairy free

After finding out about the cruelty that goes into milk production, I have gone dairy free. This means no more milk, no more margarine and spreads containing milk, and definitely no milk chocolate.

There are other reasons I am shunning milk –

1. Despite what we keep being told, milk is not good for you. In fact, consuming it gives you a higher risk of osteoarthritis and breast cancer. In Asian where most people don’t eat dairy, the rates of both conditions are much, much lower than in the West where dairy is a part of people’s everyday diets.
2. Have you ever woken up with phlegm? That horrible thick sludgy stuff in your throat that’s often green? Then dairy may be to blame
3. Despite consuming more milk that most other countries in the world, the USA and the UK have high rates of osteoarthritis. Much higher than Asian where dairy is not part of their diet. How can that be when we keep on being told we need milk for strong bones? Maybe there’s something in milk that isn’t good for bones.
4. We have sky high rates of breast cancer in the USA and the UK too than countries that don’t drink milk.
5. Humans are only meant to drink their own mother’s milk, not another species. Drinking milk is weird.
6. The dairy industry is a cruel one. Did you know in the UK alone, 100,000 calves (yes, that's babies are killed every year) for no other reason than they are male and don't produce milk? VIVA (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) have a campaign right now exposing the cruelty that goes into making Cadbury's chocolate. They have a Facebook page. Read more about them their milk myths campaign here

Could milk be making you ill?

Could that bloated feeling you get after eating be down to lactose intolerance? Lactose intolerance is when the body cannot break down the sugars in cow’s milk.

Note – lactose intolerance is not to be confused with a milk allergy. A milk allergy can result in an Anaphylactic shock and can kill. If you have an extreme, adverse reaction to milk, seek immediate medical treatment.

It’s estimated that 40 percent of the world’s population retain the ability to digest lactose (the sugar that’s in milk) after childhood. Some ethnic groups are more susceptible that others. This is usually people who don’t typically have dairy (foods containing milk in their diets).

Symptoms of lactose intolerance include –

• An upset stomach
• Stomach cramps
• Wind
• Diarrhoea
• Nausea

Tip – If you think you have lactose intolerance, try removing dairy from your diet and see if you feel any better.

Remember, many things contain milk. This includes –

1. Cheese.
2. Many brands of crisps (chips in the USA), including ones you might not think of like Walkers smoky bacon.
3. Margarine.
4. Cakes, especially ones with cream.
5. Cereal bars.
6. Trifle.
7. Many dark chocolates.
8. Sauces, especially pasta sauces.

Milk has also been linked with a high rate of breast cancer and osteoarthritis in the West.

Are your makeup brushes made of fur?

We all know that cosmetics can be tested on animals, resulting in cruel experiments.

But were you also aware that your favourite makeup brushes may contain animal hair and even, would you believe it, fur?

Here are some facts –

1. Make up brushes can be made of horse hair. This hair comes from horses that are slaughtered first.
2. Squirrels are also hunted for their hair. This ends up in makeup brushes.
3. Mink and sable brushes come from these animals that are killed for their fur.
4. Goat hair is also used. The goats are shorn like sheep, but often the people doing it are paid by the amount of hair they can get and this can lead to goats being sheared so quickly that they sustain cuts, gouges and other injuries.
5. Brushes made with animal hair and fur, often cause skin irritation. Synthetic materials are kinder to the skin.
6. There are companies that don’t use animal by-products in their makeup brushes. They include The Body Shop, Urban Decay, Origins Natural Resources and Hard Candy. 

Tip - The more expensive the make up you buy, the more likely that the brush supplied with the product is made of fur.

6 Ways to be kinder to animals (without going vegetarian)

Not everyone is cut out to be vegetarian or vegan. Some people just can’t live without eating meat, or don’t think they should.

If that applies to you it doesn’t mean you can’t do your bit to make the world a kinder place for animals.

1. Don’t bet on or attend the Grand National. Between 2000 and 2011, 20 horses have died on the world famous Grand National course at Aintree in Liverpool in the UK.
2. Don’t eat Foie gras. If there wasn’t a demand for this ‘French delicacy’ ducks and geese wouldn’t be force-fed until their livers smell to several times their natural size. Imagine how painful that must be.
3. Eat free range wherever you can. This doesn’t guarantee that animals have lived a better standard of life than their caged counterparts, but there is more change than they haven’t lived their lives out in cramped cages in dark sheds.
4. Don’t buy fur. There is NO humane way to produce fur. Animals die in agony, without any pain relief. And it’s not just wild animals that suffer that fate: in China, dogs and cats are killed for their fur. Most of that fur finds its way to the USA and the UK.
5. Consider adopting a retired greyhound. Many greyhounds who don’t make the grade are killed. Animal rescue centres have the ones who are lucky enough to be given away.
6. Don’t get Botox. Every batch of Botox is tested on animals because it is treated like a medicine. Yet whilst medicine is essential, having a wrinkly free forehead is not. And, let’s face it, it never looks natural.

It's arrived...my book cover

The cover for my book has been finalised and I am so excited as this is a topic I feel so passionate about.

I choose the white bunny because sadly albino rabbits are the most experiemented on as they have very poor quality tear ducts, which means they can't wash away irritants with tears like humans can.

White tabbits are also the sign of cruelty free as many products that are not tested on animals and that do not test the ingredients on animals carry the logo.

The book is aimed at people from America, Canada and the UK and offers tips on how to live a kinder life. It will be on sale in these countries and others.

What do you think?

The book will be available in all good book shops and on Amazon. It will be published in 2012.

Thanks go to my publisher for being so patient.

The Great Milk Myth

For decades, the British government has spent millions on countless campaigns to promote milk or ‘the white stuff’ as they called it in one campaign as something that is vital to being healthy. They’ve used pop stars like Atomic Kitten and model Nell McAndrew.

In America, the ‘Got milk’ campaign has used everyone from The Simpsons, to Batman and Spongebob SquarePants to try and get more people to drink milk.

Whilst the campaigns may differ they have one common message – milk is good for you.

But is that really true?

Recent news that a new strain of the superbug MRSA has been found in British cow’s milk and in people in both the UK and Denmark would suggest that it’s not. You can find out more about the story here http://uk.news.yahoo.com/mrsa-superbug-found-cows-milk-scientists-220746838.html 

Fact - In Western countries where dairy consumption is high like Britain, there is a higher rate of breast cancer that most other countries in the world. In fact, one in twelve women in the UK will get breast cancer. This is said to be linked to milk consumption.

Fact – In countries where they don’t drink milk like China and Japan, the rates of breast cancer in women are very low.

This isn’t the first research that’s shown that milk might not be as good for you as you’re led to believe.

Scientist Professor Jane Plant believes that avoiding milk is the key to beating breast cancer.

Read more about her here - http://www.rense.com/general35/av.htm

There are a lot of things said about milk that are simply not true. Here are some of the most common -

Myth - humans are meant to drink milk.

Wrong – humans are the only mammals that drink other mammals’ milk. If it were natural other animals would drink other animals’ milk too.

Myth – Cows exist to produce milk for humans. To do that is natural.

Wrong - animals produce milk to feed their babies not humans. Nor is it natural that in order to increase the amount of milk produced, cows have their young taken away from them and are pumped full of steroids.

Myth – milk involves no animal cruelty.

Wrong – dairy cows taken away from their young so that humans can drink milk. What could be crueller? Many of the throwaway young end up in veal crates where they are deprived of light, companionship and space and then slaughtered.

Myth - it’s the best source of calcium.

Wrong – people in non-dairy consuming get more than enough calcium without eating dairy products or drinking milk. They get their calcium from green leafy veg like broccoli, cabbage, chick peas, baked beans and olives.

Ask yourself this, if milk is such a good provider of calcium which is essential for strong bones, then why do Westerners have the highest rate of osteoporosis (brittle bones) in the world?

Alternatives to milk –

Soy milk (this can be sweetened or unsweetened or flavoured). My favourite is banana. I put that on my cereal.

Flax milk

Rice milk

Coconut milk

Nut milks  

Hemp milk