Austin, Texas: Most Vegan-Friendly City In The U.S.

Sir Paul McCartney will present city officials with PETA’s Most Vegan-Friendly City in the U.S. award.  McCartney wrote, “The influx of forward-thinking musicians and techies, the thriving university, and the food trucks all over the city run by young veg-friendly hipsters have made Austin the absolute cutting-edge place for green eating.”

New Study: Swap Mushrooms For Meat And Lose Weight

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Weight Management Center released the findings of a year-long clinical trial that found when obese participants swapped one cup of white button mushrooms for a serving of red meat they lost weight and lost body fat.

“We chose to study mushrooms both because of their nutritional qualities, and because they make a good meat replacement.  They have essentially no calories and zero fat, plus several micronutrients.”

Tips For Cooking Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa

Cultivated in the Andes for over 5,000 years, quinoa has been called the “mother grain” and “the gold of the Incas.” (It’s technically not a grain but a seed, but it is used in virtually the same ways as other whole grains.)

Today, the popularity of quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is growing steadily as people discover its pleasant nutty taste.  Here are some helpful hints in preparing my favorite superfood…!

Study Finds Subway Just as Unhealthy as McDonald’s

Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles found that despite claims to the contrary, Subway is just as unhealthy as the oft-reviled golden arches of McDonald’s—which long had the most locations in the country of any fast-food chain until Subway surpassed it in 2011.

Young people consumed an average of 1,038 calories at McDonald’s. They consumed an average of 955 calories at Subway—a statistically insignificant difference from McDonald’s. The Institute of Medicine recommends that students consume no more than 850 calories in school lunches.

Chipotle Makes Tofu Available At More Locations

The tofu dish is called “sofritas.”  It was first rolled out in Northern California, and now it hits Southern California Chipotle menus June 3. The name comes from sofrito, the Spanish word for the combination of aromatic ingredients that have been cut into small pieces, such as onion, garlic and peppers. 

VEGAN DAILY FACTOID: Chlorella

• A single-celled, water-grown micro-algae, chlorella is widely known as a powerful “superfood” supplement with extraordinary nutrient density. It is believed to have been around for eons (that means billions of years!)
• One of the few edible species of water-grown algae, chlorella is full of chlorophyll. It contains all of the B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, amino acids, magnesium, iron, trace minerals, carbohydrates and a higher amount of protein (more than 50%) than meat, per grams of weight.
• One of the main uses of chlorella is to detoxify, or cleanse, the body.  Chlorella cleanses the blood and optimizes oxygen into the blood. It alkalizes the body, correcting a state of acidosis, in which most disease thrives.