In order to succeed, you need to be prepared. If you have a cupboard and fridge full of sugar-rich processed and packaged foods then that is what you will grab to eat when you are hungry. We are living in the highest stress environment which means work long hours and we are always ‘on’, and once we are hungry there is no time to prepare good food so we grab the cheapest, nastiest and most unhealthy food around us – the C.R.A.P. foods (Coffee, Refined, Alcoholic or Processed foods).

Fail to plan means you plan to fail

Change your habits now! Clean out your cupboard and fridge and change your environment. You need to alter the environment you are in, such that it serves you rather than poisons you. I know I go on and on about this but it is a fundamental part of getting and staying well. Why are we all so unwell? Our environment is an unhealthy obesogenic (fat and sick-creating) one. The key word here is: Preparation.

How do I start?

There are two distinctly different ways to approach this. The first way to approach change is to introduce the changes slowly, such as getting used to a good solid healthy breakfast and once you have that habit formed after a few weeks, move on to concentrate on creating healthy dinners. Then once you have breakfast and dinner sorted, look at bed times, wake times and changing exercise routines and so on. The second way to approach change is to jump right in and change everything at the same time. Different people will get different results and some may be more ready than others. There is no right or wrong choice here, choose the approach that suits you best.

Tips to get started

• Put aside some time to go through your kitchen completely
• Unpack each item one at a time from your fridge and pantry
• Read the ingredients and ask the question “Is this food healthy?
• If it is mostly sugar, salt, fat, gluten, chemicals, additives, preservatives and names you cannot pronounce, then it needs to be removed
• If it’s healthy, return it to the pantry or fridge
• Fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including quinoa, millet and buckwheat), wholegrains and legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas etc) remain
• Wholegrain pasta is ok as an emergency meal when nothing else is prepared and the kids are starving but ideally gluten-free quinoa, buckwheat or rice
• Snacks – pure muesli bars, unflavoured or naturally seasoned rice crackers or wafers (organic where possible) are a good back-up
• Always ensure you have a large bowl of fruit out in the open where the kids can see it – keep them fresh, rotated and abundant
• Always keep lots of the fresh yummy vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, celery and cucumber
• Throw out commercial sweet treats as you will just eat them when stressed

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

‘Change is not something many of us like. We like things to remain as they are, however, change is inevitable and, indeed, is the one constant and reliable thing we have in our lives. When you embrace it, miracles can happen …’
Jason Shon Bennett

Open your mind, study, learn, research; CHANGE

One of the hardest things for a human being to do is to change and then remain consistent with that change. Change does not always happen as we envision it, and it can be very hard to adjust to it. The big shift in thinking for me came when I realised that the pain of remaining the same was greater than the pain of changing. The pain of having no energy, no breath, regular back pain, cold sores, constipation and bad skin was bad enough for me to change my life.

Change, I discovered, was internal

So I studied. I studied hard. Food, diet, fasting, exercise, flexibility, calories, acid versus alkaline, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, how the body works, traditional diets, the bowels, vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, meat and dairy products, the internal organs, intolerances, food ingredients, additives … the list went on and on. What became very clear to me was that if I really wanted to get well, to get to a level of super-health, then I was going to have to change my behaviour.

I was learning at an astronomical rate and I slowly started making progress with my health.

Step by step, I learned little gems that gave me instant benefits. I went to seminars. I asked healthy people for advice about what they did. I tried different eating regimes such as macrobiotic, vegan, fasting, raw foods and elimination diets, and I found golden rules in each. I devoured books. Over six years, a miracle happened. I cured my body and totally transformed my health and my life. Was it easy? No, it wasn’t, but it was worth it. As the great Spock once said, ‘Change is the essential process of all existence’.

Change is happening to you every day, every hour, every minute, right now while you read this. The only real question to ask yourself is; ‘Is the change I make going to serve me or make me sick and unhappy?’

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

‘You can’t grow or change by doing what you’ve already done. Maintenance doesn’t occur when you do nothing, maintenance is working to fight entropy. Still, most people won’t leave their comfort zones. Why? The answer is simple… It hurts. By definition, what’s it like outside the comfort zone? It’s UN-COMFORTABLE, right? Change is uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s physically painful, but it’s always mentally and emotionally painful, in the form of discipline, sacrifice, uncertainty and fear’
Tom Veneto, International Trainer, Success Coach, Fitness Guru.

Charles Darwin once said, ‘It is not the strongest, who survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change’. The food cravings, addictions and preferences you have today for salt, sugar, fat and gluten, were all set yesterday. Just three weeks of eating a changed and improved diet will re-set your taste buds completely. Change can be really hard but to expect change, you first must make the change. Just because you have always done something a certain way, does not mean that you always must do it that way. People smoked for years – should they blindly continue? No. There was terrible racism written into the law – was that acceptable? No. Women were not allowed to vote – should that have remained? Of course not (NZ was the first country in the world that allowed women to vote by the way…).

Change with baby steps

Do not be daunted or put off by the scope of change required. Take baby steps. Use my guidelines and recipes to alter what you eat daily; one new habit at a time. First, get into the routine of a healthy breakfast. Once you have nailed this into a real habit then change to healthy dinners. Work on being well-rested and having a few early nights each week – bed and lights out by 9pm. Then aim at lunch and being prepared through the day. Then add other new habits and changes. You can be very healthy indeed on an intermediate transition diet. There is no rush. Small steps, done well, create life-long and powerful healthy changes in your body. The positive dietary changes are the key; what you leave out of your system and what you put into your system is what will ultimately heal you or kill you.

The hardest thing for most humans to do is change

I have got to the point where my health buds over-ride my taste buds. I do not crave or miss the junk-foods anymore. I feel too good, too sharp and too alive to care. It will take a year for most people to get well and you cannot sprint for a year but you can walk at a steady pace each day for a year. So, approach your health as a consistent daily walk. Do what you can do each day, push yourself and build good habits. What you do – DO WELL. Don’t beat yourself up if you fall over. Just get back up again and keep on walking!

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

• How do we change our bad habits?
• How do we eat less?
• How do we raise our children on better-quality food?
• How do we educate them on what modern junk food does to the human body?
• How do we lower the food-borne illness that is heart disease?
• How do we annihilate the global pandemic that is obesity, which directly leads to preventable diabetes?
• How do we alter our daily lives in a way that we wipe out modern lifestyle cancers such as bowel cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer and prostate cancer?
• What are the simple things that we can all do every day that will make the biggest difference to our health, vitality, ageing, longevity, disease risk and genetic expression?
• How do we regain control over our health to the degree that we are not relying on man-made medications and drugs to prop us up as we age?

It is about attitude and behaviour, not money

We actually know what to do. The science is rigorous, clear, unanimous and signposted by the centenarians. Inspiration, education, support, community and healthy recipes, whilst cutting through the cynicism of ‘It’s all about my genetics’ or ‘I can’t achieve that’ or ‘I have big bones’ or ‘That disease is in my family so I am going to get sick, no matter what I do’… A long healthy life is not actually about money, fame, power or medications. If your health fails, it does not matter how rich you are as no amount of money can buy health. Health must be earned through diet, lifestyle and environmental choices; through investment in healthy habits; through doing what works for the human body. You cannot buy health and longevity with money, you can only buy it through behaviour.

The secret to healthy disease-free longevity is:

1. Changing behaviour
2. Changing daily habits
3. Changing your diet and lifestyle
4. SUSTAINABLY
5. Over time

The keyword here, the scary word, the word that is most confronting, is; change.

The information and recipes on this website will help you support this change.

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

‘You can have every confidence that a feeding regime that results in a slimmer child who matures slowly will produce a healthier, longer-lived adult’
Prevention, October 1973, p. 31 “Eat Less To Live More”.

You control what your children eat

What we as adults and parents serve, eat and enjoy, so this is what our kids eat and enjoy. You must walk the talk and eat well if you want your children to do the same. This is actually backed up by scientific research. Parents can increase the number of fruits and vegetables that their children eat simply by eating more themselves. Kids learn their food habits from their parents. Children as young as two notice what foods their parents are bringing into the house and copy those food choices. Poor eating habits can turn infants who gain too much weight into obese toddlers, with a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Replace the processed sweets with naturally sweet

Evolutionarily, we are wired to prefer sweets and fats because they are quick sources of energy that can enhance survival. The food industry knows this and piles sugar, salt, fat and gluten into everything to keep us hooked on junk-food. These refined foods are addictive and dangerous. There is plenty of natural sugar and fats in wholefoods. Students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake are significantly more likely to achieve better results at school; sleep better; are more emotionally balanced; get sick less often; have much stronger immune systems; get over illness faster, and set themselves up for long-term healthy habits.

Overweight kids are in for a life of challenges

Overweight children have a far higher incidence of heart disease, diabetes, joint and bone problems and often suffer from social issues like low self-esteem and stigmatization. We also know there are clear links with lollies and high sugar foods with anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour later in life. Long term, overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults and more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type II diabetes and then die of heart disease and cancer. At the current rate, without intervention, this generation of children will have a shorter lifespan than their parents. It is that serious. We have 25% of our children in NZ now obese before they are just 5 years old. They are highly likely to be dead in their 40s after being sick most of their short lives. This is a preventable tragedy.

Family Fun

Ask your kids “what vegetables would you like to choose?” when you are shopping. Make it fun for them – an adventure. I push the trolley and send the kids off grabbing things at the supermarket. I involve them in the choice of foods and have real laughs with it. Go apple picking at an orchard or grandma’s house and then bring them home (eating them in the car on the way), then bake a stunning apple crumble. Move more as a family. We often take our kids up an Auckland mountain on a Sunday morning. They absolutely love it. Our TV died 10 years ago and we did not replace it. We watch movies as a family but not TV daily. Too much TV has a devastating effect on kids. Children who watch less TV eat healthier and move far more.

Gratitude

We place a very big deal on gratitude and appreciation to the food chef in our house. If someone has worked hard to make good healthy food then our attitude is to be very thankful indeed. There are many people alive in the world that never get to experience a single meal as good as the ones we eat most days. We have taught our children that they are privileged to be able to eat as well as they do.

So walk the talk yourself, feed your kids well and give them a sense of appreciation for how INCREDIBLY lucky they are to even have the privilege of choice they do.

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

The moment I knew I had made it as a parent was the day Joel burst into tears at dinner because Luke had taken more salad than he had on his plate. That was the heavenly moment every parent craves. My kids have been known to fight over who gets the last serving of vegetable soup or who gets the most spirulina tablets to chew… They will happily eat raw vegetables as snacks (broccoli, cabbage, peas, carrots), vegetable soups for lunch or dinner (pumpkin, potato, vegetable), and green blossom smoothies (apples, lemons, limes and raw spinach/silverbeet/kale blended). Trey and Joel both chew on raw spirulina tablets. People often ask me what my secret is.

Funnily enough, it started out with necessity and then it became a healthy habit. When I started raising children I was barely 21 and I was earning very little money. I was 100% committed to healing my illness and getting healthy so all we ate were healthy foods. We made everything fresh and ate what there was. It was a case of  ‘here is breakfast’ and if there was any ‘I don’t want it’ then I would just say ‘ok, you are obviously not hungry. I will leave it here on the table and when you are hungry you can eat it later’.

They always came back and ate it.

Kids will not starve themselves

Do not be fooled by your kids into thinking they will starve themselves. Often we are victims of ‘too much choice’ rather than ‘if you are hungry then you will eat what you are given’. Kids behave into the environment they are allowed to. All kids are strong-willed and they all want you to lead the way for them. The other trick is to make it fun. I remember once I got really excited about cabbage and was crunching making a loud noise in my youngest boy’s ears. The boys loved this and we were all in hysterics. They have loved raw cabbage ever since. We call soaked oats ‘summer porridge’ as a way of having the kids eat raw oats through the warmer months.

The sad reality for kids

Nearly 70% of New Zealand children are not eating enough fruit and vegetables; they are watching too much TV, barely 40% are getting regular exercise, and by age 20-24, 85% are not eating well. Almost 50% of the calories many kids eat now are from deadly solid fats/added sugars. The good news is that 93% of kids growing vegetables at home or school will eat them and eat better if given the chance. If you compare the internal bacteria of children on the modern diet to African children eating primitive wholefood diets, they are completely different, leading to modern allergies and disease.

The harsh reality is YOU have to lead the way

The only other advice I will give on this subject is that if you want your kids to eat better, then you have to eat better. It starts with you. If you are genuinely walking the talk, enjoying raw fresh fruits and vegetables, then they will too. You have to change your diet first. The reason our children will eat lots of fresh raw fruits and vegetables is because Tracey and I eat lots of fresh raw fruits and vegetables. Your kids will enjoy tasty, healthy vegetarian meals if they are exposed to them by you – one awesomely delicious meal at a time.

Explain to your children why vegetables are important as all kids want to be healthy, strong, fast and fit. The more you educate your kids – the more they want to eat well.

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

With regards to kids’ food, it’s not too late to change your kids’ taste buds. It may take a bit of time but the trick is to make small changes so they don’t even notice. Try adding chunks of cucumber, some carrot sticks or slices of raw capsicum, cherry tomatoes, avocado slices or chunks, broccoli, cauliflower or freshly chopped/grated corn off the cob, onto a plate when you know they are hungry. Always offer the vegetables first. We have always given our kids raw vegetables at afternoon tea time as that is when they are ravenous and they gobble them all up without a 2nd thought or complaint.

Your kids can change at any age

The more exposure your children get to fresh vegetables and fruit, the more normal it will become. Remember, I ate crap foods until I was 20 and then I changed, so if I can change then you can and your kids can. Children usually love all kinds of fruit so keep a variety around as these are rich in antioxidants, high in fibre, are very filling and are amongst the most powerful anti-cancer foods anywhere on the planet.

As long as you are feeding your children a good variety of locally-grown and in-season fruits and vegetables; a mixed bag of different grains such as brown rice, oats and rye; a selection of the super legumes such as lentils, all types of beans and chickpeas; superfood seeds that are packed with essential fatty acids like quinoa, buckwheat, millet, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds; nuts of all kinds from almonds to walnuts to Brazil nuts to cashews; and avoiding all the processed sugary rubbish such as soft drinks, potato chips, cakes, lollies, burgers, pizza, cheese, ice-creams and more (most of the time), then you will do fine.

Raising vegetarian kids is so easy now!

Vegetarianism among kids is very widespread now. The American Dietetic Association says “Vegetarian kids and teenagers take in less cholesterol, saturated fat and total fat and eat more fruits, vegetables and fibre”. Do not be worried about iron, calcium or protein either, as a healthy and balanced plant-based wholefood diet will deliver plenty of all of these nutrients. Serious and significant studies have found that iron levels in children and teenagers being raised on plant-based wholefood diets were actually higher or similar as compared to meat-eating kids¹-². They said, “Anemia does not appear to be more common in vegetarians…” 

What your kids need the most is locally-grown vegetation

Our brain and most of our bodily functions run on glucose – from carbohydrates like vegetables. The thing that is not discussed much in Western countries such as NZ, Australia, the UK or the USA, is that most of the world’s population has traditionally been very low-level meat-eaters. The American Dietetic Association notes that “most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets”. I gave up red meat and dairy foods over 30 years ago and I am doing just fine. I have raised all my children without meat and they are all fine as well (and they are a mixture of blood types). In fact they are all fit and healthy athletes with my kids amongst the tallest, fastest and strongest in their classes, whether it is Joel (sprinting, soccer), Luke (soccer, running), Tove (soccer, one of the best at the school for long-distance running, volleyball, basketball) or Trey (Guinness World Record holder at 21, now at 28, a personal trainer able to do super-flexible yoga poses, handstands and who loves rock climbing…).

Be relaxed and walk the talk

The bottom line is that you control 80% of what your kids eat so what you eat at home is what they will eat at home. What you buy at the supermarket is what they will eat the most of. Babies fed home-cooked food are more likely to eat fruit and vegetables when they are older. Infants weaned on homemade meals develop a taste for what is good for them by the age of seven. What you provide for the three main meals is the most important. They will always buy crap when they are out with friends and there is no stopping that (nor should there be, as treats at the local store are fun!).

The 80-20 rule is the one to follow. Ensure they eat well for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you have done your job as a parent.

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

Below is a comprehensive record of all the references mentioned in our articles, these are in alphabetical order by the article title.

Eating traditionally made tofu helps prevent breast cancer

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3. Ganry O. Phytoestrogen and breast cancer prevention. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2002;11:519–22.
4. ‘Scientists Untangle the Soy-Breast Cancer Paradox’ By Christopher Wanjek, LiveScience, February 1, 2017.
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Fermented Indonesian superfood found to lower cholesterol and help prevent heart attacks

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7. Tonstad, S., Jaceldo-Siegl, K., Messina, M., Haddad, E., & Fraser, G. E. (2016, June). The association between soya consumption and serum thyroid-stimulating hormone concentrations in the Adventist Health Study-2. Public Health Nutrition, 19(8), 1464–1470. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/association-between-soya-consumption-and-serum-thyroidstimulating-hormone-concentrations-in-the-adventist-health-study2/6363E77480EA431223E8ECB472D75AA0/core-reader#
8. Uses of soy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ncsoy.org/media-resources/uses-of-soybeans/
9. Influence of dietary patterns on the risk of acute myocardial infarction in China population: the INTERHEART China study Chin Med J (Engl). 2013 Feb;126(3):464-70. Guo J1, Li W, Wang Y, Chen T, Teo K, Liu LS, Yusuf S; INTERHEART China study investigators. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23422108
10. Mark J Messina, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 70, Issue 3, 1 September 1999, Pages 439s–450s, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/70.3.439s
11. Bawa, A. S., & Anilakumar, K. R. (2013, December). Genetically modified foods: Safety, risks and public concerns—a review. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 50(6), 1035–1046. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3791249/
12. Frequently asked questions on genetically modified foods. (2014, May). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-technology/faq-genetically-modified-food/en/
13. Recent trends in GE adoption. (2017, July 12). Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/adoption-of-genetically-engineered-crops-in-the-us/recent-trends-in-ge-adoption.aspx

Co-Managing Director extraordinaire Jesse Chalmers talks about the benefits of paying our employees (our family, our whanau) a Living Wage. Watch the video here

We are passionate here at Zenzo about the world and our over-riding ‘social enterprise’ values are always a deep empathy for our planet and all the people on it while leaving the world in better shape than how we found it. Our values and culture are committed to making a difference to the world through genuine love and caring for all life.  We use fairness and support with our people, to guide our decisions and processes, looking to encourage personal growth and welcoming human interdependency with each other. We welcome more plant-based meals being eaten by Kiwis every day!

Switching to a plant-based diet can help fight climate change according to a major United Nations report released today. Here’s what some of the top scientists, along with Greenpeace New Zealand and Beef and Lamb New Zealand, had to say about the findings

One News Report

Claire Turnbull is often featured on TVNZ Breakfast and today she is talking about the range of options available for vegetarians and vegans featuring our amazingly delicious Tonzu and Zenzo range! Check it out by clicking below!

TVNZ Claire Turnbull on Breakfast

‘As far back as 1990, in my book Conscious Eating, I cite research suggesting that animal flesh (being at the top of the food chain) contained approximately 15 times more toxins than vegetables. Root vegetables had four times more than leafy vegetables. Cow’s milk had about 5–6 times more toxins than leafy vegetables. Depleted uranium is somewhere in estimate of 15–30 times greater in milk and in water than in plants. Eating higher on the food chain (milk, meat, chicken, and fish) is definitely exposing people to a higher level of toxins, which of course is worse if cooked’
Dr Gabriel Cousens, MD, MD (H), Diplomat Ayurveda, Diplomat Board of American Holistic Health, Holistic Physician and Scientist with papers published in Biochemical and Biophysics Journal, as edited from an open published letter, USA, January 2011.

Sprayed vegetables and fruits are better than sprayed ‘anything else’

The super antioxidant disease-preventing secondary metabolites, the unique fibres, carotenoids, polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids are all only available in vegetables. Eating more fruits and vegetables is the best way to counteract any damage from pesticides. Vegetables are packed with the most powerful protection you can get so it is always better to be eating more of them — organic or not. You can always back up your vitamin C and antioxidant requirements with a daily intake of home-grown sprouts. A $70 initial investment in your garden will yield $600 in food for a year. Growing your own sprouts triples that return.

Five key points regarding produce

Almost all foods tested have chemical residues so continue to eat lots of all kinds of vegetables. They are the best foods available and the most protective against all cancers.

The positive health-giving benefits that vegetables and plant-based wholefoods have, is much stronger than small amounts of chemical residues. Nearly 95% of the pesticide residue in the typical modern diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. Try to get as many fresh fruits and vegetables from your grandma’s backyard. If you can’t do this, grow your own. Or grow a small crop and swap your parsley for your neighbour’s apples. Or carefully choose your own at farmers’ markets or wholefood health stores. You can remove the pesticide and herbicide residue on your fruit and vegetables by using the cleaning solution below.

Remove the chemical residues yourself

Fruits and vegetables are the cornerstones of a good healthy diet. Washing fresh produce in water can reduce levels of some pesticides but it does not eliminate them. The best options are to grow the food you can (depending on the circumstances in your life), buy organic food when you can, eat a varied, local, plant-based wholefood diet, and lastly, wash all sprayed produce with a natural fruit and vegetable wash to remove the residue.

Fruit and vegetable wash to remove chemical spray residues

1 cup water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

Here is another massive summary of research (released and compiled as a meta-analysis – a collection of various different studies and research project results), that defines again how powerful plant-based diets are – be they vegetarian, vegan, plant-based or very low-level meat diets. As I have recommended for the last 30 years, the science is now catching up on a near-weekly basis.

The objective of this ‘multiple health outcomes: a systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies’, according to the authors, was ‘to clarify the association between vegetarian, vegan diets, risk factors for chronic diseases, risk of all-cause mortality, incidence and mortality from cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, total cancer and specific type of cancer (colorectal, breast, prostate and lung), through meta-analysis.’

And they certainly did just that…

The method they used was a comprehensive independent analysis of published Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, The Cochrane Library and Google Scholar research papers. The results were stunning and conclusive over 86 cross-sectional and 10 cohort prospective studies.

This is almost 100 independent studies, showing that plant-based diets extend healthy longevity, protect against disease and save lives.

The authors wrote ‘The overall analysis among cross-sectional studies reported significant reduced levels of body mass index, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and glucose levels in vegetarians versus omnivores. With regard to prospective cohort studies, the analysis showed a significant reduced risk of incidence and/or mortality from ischemic heart disease and incidence of total cancer.’

What is the bottom line?

The conclusion they came to was ‘a significant protective effect of a vegetarian type diet versus the incidence and/or mortality from ischemic heart disease and incidence from total cancer.’

Exact conclusions?

The authors wrote ‘This comprehensive meta-analysis reports a significant protective effect of a vegetarian diet versus the incidence and/or mortality from ischemic heart disease (−25%) and incidence from total cancer (−8%). Vegan diet conferred a significant reduced risk (−15%) of incidence from total cancer’.

This is serious, significant, immediate and game-changing if you think about it.

Eat a plant-based wholefood diet.

That means mostly or all plants; mostly or all wholefoods.

An apple instead of an apple juice.

Brown rice instead of white rice.

Whole whet instead of white flour.

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

In the 1800s, Austrian Dr Ignaz Semmelweiss advocated hand washing between patients to keep hospitals clean and hygienic. He was branded a disgrace by the medical profession. A large number of surgeries were complicated by infection, there was a high risk of death due to poor hygiene practices and hospitals earned a reputation as death houses. However, once hand washing was widely accepted, death rates for infectious diseases in hospital wards dropped by 90%. Initially though, this radical idea was greeted with scepticism, ridiculed for being extreme and was ignored by most doctors of the day.

‘Cancer should not be a death sentence anywhere in the world as there are proven ways to prevent and cure many cancers’
Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, Russia.

Eat more plants, eat less meat

The authors of many large and peer-reviewed meta-analysis study projects covering millions of people studied from all across the world, have commented that, ‘eating far more plants and far less meat’, is one of the key steps for health and longevity. The groups and the studies include the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), the International 2013 GBD Study, the 2010 Heart and Stroke Statistics report as published by the American Heart Association (as compiled by an international consortium of nearly 500 scientists from 187 countries globally), the Harvard School of Public Health, the most comprehensive report ever issued on cancer: the 351-page World Cancer Report as issued by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the WHO.

‘When these patients commit to plant-based nutrition, they can not only halt but they can arrest and on occasion there will be significant evidence of disease reversal. It’s getting to the point where it will be unconscionable for patients with cardiovascular disease not to be informed that this option exists’
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Retired Heart Surgeon, Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, January 2013.

‘This research is staggering and shows clear evidence that regular meat consumption contributes substantially to premature death. By simply replacing meat with other foods, 10% of male deaths and 8% of female deaths could be prevented’
Dr Frank Hu, Harvard School of Public Health, USA, commenting on the 28-year study covering 120,000 people, March 2013.

The World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research had independent scientists at Imperial College in London review all the 1012 ‘cancer and diet’ studies in the medical literature. This was the most comprehensive, evidence-based research on cancer and diet ever undertaken. Following that, another Independent Expert Panel reviewed the results and made judgements. What did they recommend? ‘Consume a plant-based diet. On meat, the clear message that comes out of our report is that red and processed meat increases risk of bowel cancer and that people who want to reduce their risk should consider cutting down the amount they eat’.

Teresa Nightingale, General Manager of WCRF said, ‘Many people feel confused about cancer prevention because it can seem like a new study is published every week that suggests that a new substance either causes or prevents cancer. But this takes the latest scientific findings and adds them to the existing body of evidence in a way that ensures our advice takes the latest research into account. This means people can be confident that our recommendations are up-to-date as well as being the most evidence-based information on cancer prevention available anywhere in the world. This latest report shows that there is enough evidence to recommend that people can reduce their bowel cancer risk by consuming less red and processed meat and alcohol, having more foods containing fibre, and by maintaining a healthy weight and being regularly physically active. This report confirms that bowel cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancer and we estimate that about 43% of bowel cancers cases in the UK could be prevented through these sorts of changes. That is about 17,000 cases every year’¹⁶

The combination of eating a plant-based wholefood diet, making lifestyle changes and regular intelligent fasting is the most powerful thing I have seen, witnessed, done, followed, experienced and been a part of — ever. There are studies going back 100 years involving millions of people from all over the world on this subject. They all say the same thing. Eat better, eat less and change what you do every day.

Simple isn’t it?

Why are we not doing it?

Simple changes will probably add a few decades of wonderful health and vitality to your life, and may just save your life.

However, the process requires (wait for it, take a deep breath, hold on!); changing our attitude and our behaviour.

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com

Good quality vegetables are essential to life and they should form the biggest part of the diet. Eating and ingesting a wide variety of vegetable nutrients gives you a strong gastrointestinal and immune system, a powerful heart, improved eyesight, a protected brain, increased fat-loss and weight-management and a far lower risk of almost every disease known. There are thousands of vegetable nutrients that build and add to these benefits and protection.

The health benefits of eating a plant-based wholefoods diet

• Helps slow various aspects of the ageing process
• Improves the cardiovascular system
• Scavenges the free radicals that cause devastating internal damage
• Improves our natural detoxification processes
• Reverses and removes the lipid peroxidation of rancid fat
• Prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol building up in the arteries
• Reduces the incidence of age-related macular degeneration
• Counteracts inflammation of body tissues
• Protects the skin from sun damage
• Protects your genetic code from corruption
• Contributes to a far lower overall risk of disease including cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity and cognitive decline

Some tips to help your transition to a plant-based diet

1. Eat 40% vegetables and the rest mainly plant-based food 
2. Eat 5 servings of raw fruit and 10 servings of vegetables daily 
3. Plan meals where vegetables are the main event, not the side dish
4. Have a main salad (not a side salad), then add your protein
5. When making steamed vegetables, have them cover the bottom of the plate and drizzle a tasty sauce on top of them. Then add the extras
6. Eating your salad with good quality salad dressing or avocado means you absorb the fat-soluble carotenoids more effectively 
7. Make a 100% vegetable soup and then add a little protein in at the end if required
8. Raw cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots or cucumbers are all great snacks. Eaten raw, they are packed with living nutrition and the chewing slows down the possibility of overeating, as you get full earlier 
9. Dip your celery stalks into tahini to get a massive hit of calcium, potassium and many other bone-building nutrients

Vegetables are the single most important life-extending foods. Eat more, eat them now and learn to love them!

Written by Jason Shon Bennett from jasonshonbennett.com