August 2022 Newsletter
Posted on August 10, 2022
FOOD IS CLIMATE
Plant-based meat returns 11x mission reduction of electric cars, Boston consulting says
Are you an entrepreneur looking to help decarbonize an industry in order to combat global warming? You might want to start with the food industry, in order to get the most bang for your buck. The Boston Consulting Group, a major consulting firm, has calculated that every $1 invested in plant-based meat reduces seven times more emissions than $1 invested in green building, and 11 times more than zero-emission cars.
She gave up diabetes, cholesterol medicine, lost 80 lbs on vegan diet Now she teaches others the benefits of plant based eating.
Shayda Soleymani, daughter of a Persian reporter and businesswoman who emigrated to the United States as a single Mom, grew up from the age of seven in Southern California. She did not have a weight problem as a child. In her early twenties, she was a competitive swimmer in college, and all the hours of swimming helped keep her at her optimal weight. In her late twenties, she occasionally put on five or ten pounds, then would diet to take them off—nothing out of the ordinary. She hovered at around 130-135 pounds.
Continued at the end of the newsletter.
Why Europe is getting so hot
Heat waves in Europe are occurring more often, and with more intensity, than perhaps any other region of the globe. Many reasons have been proposed, from changes in the jet stream, to changes in wind patterns, to changes in ocean currents.
SEE applauds Rep. Raskin and 31 colleagues in push for federal facilities to provide vegetarian options
In late July, Sustainable Earth Eating Exec Dir Jane DeMarines issued a press release applauding Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and 31 House members in urging the While House to encourage all federal facilities offer vegetarian entrees in their cafeterias.
Growth in Vegetarian—1/3 of Americans are reducing meat, dairy consumption
As a former federal government employee, DeMarines, and a 20- year vegan/vegetarian recognizes the benefits to Planet Earth in providing the growing population of vegetarians (surveys show 30% of population are headed there) wholesome non-meat entrees. In addition, meat and dairy are recognized as potential contributors to heart disease and certain types of cancer, according to physician’s groups. Raskin’s statement mentions both the health benefits and cutting greenhouse gas emissions that animal agriculture contributes to the environment. DeMarines says she hopes President Biden will act swiftly in adopting such a powerful and healthful measure for federal cafeterias, military bases, museums and national parks.
Why the west keeps burning
From “controlled burns” that get out of control, to felled power lines, to the inadvertent consequences of fire suppression techniques, human activities are linked to the devastating rash of fires in the West.
The rise of billion-dollar disasters
Tropical Storm Fred and its aftermath became merely one of the 20 “billion-dollar” weather and climate disasters tracked by the U.S. government last year — a collection of calamities that cost the nation an estimated $145 billion and killed nearly 700 people, according to the Washington Post. They are not slowing down,” said Adam Smith, the U.S. government’s lead scientist for analyzing billion-dollar disasters. This mounting toll, which scientists and government officials say is driven in part because the world is warming, is forcing hard questions about who bears the burden of paying for them and how the nation can better prepare for what lies ahead.
While weather disasters strike the United States every year, the numbers show that summer is proving prone to some of the most costly annual disasters, including powerful hurricanes, seemingly endless droughts, sprawling wildfires and torrential rainstorms that fuel the sort of flooding St. Louis and eastern Kentucky have recently endured.
Hurricane Harvey costs $148.8 billion, Hurricane Ida $78.7 billion — Over the past two years, two catastrophic events — Hurricane Ida and Hurricane Laura — together caused more than $200 billion in damage and killed at least 138 people. During summer, many communities have had to deal with compound disasters in rapid succession. Parts of California have seen wildfires followed by heavy rain and mudslides.
Continued… Shayda cured her health issues going vegan
It was in her early thirties that her weight problems began. She had gone into the mortgage business, and spent long days sitting at a desk. Slowly her weight started creeping up, to around 140-145 pounds. She would diet to lose weight, then often gain back more than she lost. By the age of 37, she weighed 165 pounds, and went to see a prominent doctor who specialized in weight management. Instead of offering nutritional advice, he gave her prepackaged foods and shakes, and told her that it would take “herculean efforts” for her to lose weight and maintain the weight loss.
This assessment, Shayda says, “gutted me to the very core.” Since the doctor had effectively informed her that there was little she could do, she began to give up. She became depressed, and indulged in all the wrong, high calorie density foods without any control.
By her mid-forties, Shayda hit 200 pounds, and tried trendy diets like Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem. By the age of fifty, she reached 240 pounds. She would cry into the mirror, thinking, “What the hell has happened to me?” Still, she kept exercising as much as she could. She bought clothes in bigger and bigger sizes, and wore dark clothing. She took a trip to Utah for a week-long, plant based retreat sponsored by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, taking along her reluctant mother, who was also struggling with her weight. She gained a lot of good information, but didn’t return home with a practical understanding of how to change her eating habits.
It was at a health conference in Los Angeles that she met Chef AJ and the trainer John Pierre. She resonated with both of them, and went to a Chef AJ cooking demo. From Chef AJ, she learned how to eat “to the left of the red line”—in other words, how to eat foods that are not calorically dense. She was excited to learn that she could eat until she was satisfied, and didn’t have to go hungry in order to lose weight. From John Pierre, she learned lessons about mental focus, nutrition, and compassion towards herself, along with exercise techniques.
She lost about 80 pounds in her first year of a low-fat, whole foods, vegan diet, and the next 35 pounds came off more slowly. She got down to around 125, and has maintained that weight now for almost eleven years. She also was able to toss her medications for pre-diabetes, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Her mother joined heron the weight-loss journey, and lost 80 pounds.
Today, Shayda has a website, Healthy Cooking With Shayda, and does health and weight-loss webinars. She has also started a Healthy Cooking With Shayda YouTube channel to teach others how to make healthy, delicious meals.
By Glen Merzer, SEE Director of Research.