BRISBANE, Australia (PRWEB) February 17, 2015

What exactly is a vegan? What is family life like in a vegan household? Author Sasha Carr came to veganism at the age of 30, gaining a deeper appreciation for animal rights as well as a true understanding of what it means to live healthily. In But Where Do You Get Your Protein?! Healthy Eating the Vegan Way" (published by Xlibris AU), she addresses the questions that people unfamiliar with veganism most commonly ask. This book provides an accessible and credible guide that demystifies veganism.

Addressing some of the most common questions vegans are asked, this book is intended for kids, families and adults alike. There are 13 colorful drawings that provide a beautiful visual representation of a day in the life of a young vegan family, while the rhythm of the text keeps the book light and fun. Carr explains why ethical vegans reject milk and eggs, mentions the health issues associated with eating meat, dairy and eggs and provides examples of yummy, easy, plant-based alternatives for vitamin and mineral needs. She also discusses both the ethical and health reasons for going vegan and raising healthy, compassionate, vegan children.

"It's not only possible to be vegan and raise vegan kids who thrive; it's actually surprisingly doable and incredibly beneficial - for the animals, for our health, for our fellow human beings, for the planet, Carr says. We need to stop exploiting animals for their entire lives for the sake of our stomachs.

A thought-provoking and enlightening read, But Where Do You Get Your Protein?! answers the what, the why and the how of veganism within a family setting: from an animal rights perspective as well as from a health one.

But Where Do You Get Your Protein?! By Sasha Carr Hardcover | 8.5x8.5in | 30 pages | ISBN 9781499010022 Softcover | 8.5x8.5in | 30 pages | ISBN 9781499010046 E-Book | 30 pages | ISBN 9781499010060 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author Born in Townsville, Sasha Carr spent her primary school years on an island in North Queensland. As a young adult, she studied French and Sociology before moving to France where she studied and worked for three years. When she returned home, she got into vet school where she worked hard for a year before becoming a mum and making the life changing decision to be a full time parent. Raising her beautiful boy, a little sister soon followed. After watching the documentary "Earthlings", Carr went from ardent meat and dairy consumer to ethical vegan overnight. That was almost 3 years ago and she hasn't looked back since. Her biggest passions in life these days are her kids and veganism.

Xlibris Publishing Australia, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider dedicated to serving Australian authors. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles.For more information, visit xlibrispublishing.com.au or call 1800 455 039 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisAus on Twitter for the latest news.

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Children's book provides insight into raising kids vegan style

Dining in a vegetarian desert

BY NOELLE ALKHAWAJA | FEBRUARY 17, 2015 5:00 AM

Despite attempts to offer a variety of options at the dining halls, vegetarian students may find themselves at a disadvantage, both health-wise and financially.

I could not survive just eating vegetarian options that were on the menu, University of Iowa senior and vegetarian Chance Lacina said. It seemed like it was just spaghetti or cheese pizza every day.

In the last year, University Housing and Dining has tried to find new menu items and dishes to serve to students.

I would say that we are always looking for different things to serve, said Jill Irvin, the director of University Dining. Its very possible that we have added some vegetarian menu items for this past academic year.

Some options arent openly available and have to be requested at the counter, such as veggie burgers.

According to a 2012 Gallup Poll, around 5 percent of people identify as vegetarian in the United States.

However, dining officials find it challenging to put out menu items with appeal, Irvin said.

The issue at hand, she said, is the difficulty for directors and kitchen staff to prepare healthy, yet tasty, foods in a way that also appeals to students.

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Dining in a vegetarian desert

Organic food is a scam, a friend of mine argued while slurping down his GMO, mass-produced, cheap-junk adult beverage while slouching at the bar one evening. I got to thinking; could there be some validity to my inebriated friends comment? How could food made without known-to-be-toxic ingredients be bad?

General Mills Inc. has experienced a major shift in its market recently thanks to people like you and me who make informed choices about our eating behavior. Profits are slipping for this mega-giant frankenfood corporation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Kellogg Co. and Kraft foods are following suit with poor sales.

Before you crank up the jam-band music in celebration, pay attention to next issue. New Chapter is a company that made some of the best quality whole food supplements available. It offered some great education along with its line of supplements. Like General Mills, New Chapter is going through some changes. It has just been bought by Procter & Gamble.

If you cant beat em, buy em! How else can you control market share? This is just competition 101. Do you really think that the heads of these uber-successful corporations are going to let a few health-food nuts affect profits? No way. They have bills to pay too. Should they lay off thousands of workers just so a few hippies can eat healthier hemp seed granola?

The folks at General Mills are no dummies either. They need to compete with P&G for market share. They have shareholders to answer to, just like every one of these publicly traded companies that run everything. They just bought Annies Inc. to the tune of $820 million. This was a great, small company that made organic foods found at your local grocery mega corporation store. Do you think that corporate brass will change some of the practices of these smaller companies? Do you think that this will affect the quality of these products?

If big companies notice they are losing market share to a smaller company on any item, they have a few strategies to fix the problem. They can buy the company and bury it. They can just bury it with legal slander or great marketing without buying it. They will buy the company for the brand name and force the company to change the quality to make it profitable for the new owner. Big companies will force distributors not to carry competing products. Its just another day in big business.

A New Chapter co-founder was delighted to appeal to General Mills, and labeled it as a dream come true, according to Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and editor of NaturalNews.com.

So selling out a $100 million company to the absolute enemy is OK if its for enough money? This is only after youve made $100 million ripping on the very giant food corporations to which you are selling out. I wish somebody would pay me millions to give up; even a couple grand would suffice. I am not above bribery and/or extortion. We all like to think that we would not sell out. Its easy to sit here and criticize, but at least Ill admit that I would do it too.

The point is that if you think that you can trust organic food producers, think again. If you want something done right, do it yourself. You can control the quality of your food if you really want to its just easier to open a box of organic mac and cheese and talk yourself into feeling good about it. Its not organic thats the scam, my friend, its the delivery mechanism thats the problem.

We can blame everyone else for everything, but what are we actually doing about it? Not much at all, regretfully. The only way to beat super-intelligent, highly trained, extremely greedy, ego-driven, corporate entrepreneur types that run the worlds economic system is to drop out.

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Wells column: Corporations are taking over your 'health' food

Organic food is a scam, a friend of mine argued while slurping down his GMO, mass-produced, cheap-junk adult beverage while slouching at the bar one evening. I got to thinking; could there be some validity to my inebriated friends comment? How could food made without known-to-be-toxic ingredients be bad?

General Mills Inc. has experienced a major shift in its market recently thanks to people like you and me who make informed choices about our eating behavior. Profits are slipping for this mega-giant frankenfood corporation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Kellogg Co. and Kraft foods are following suit with poor sales.

Before you crank up the jam-band music in celebration, pay attention to next issue. New Chapter is a company that made some of the best quality whole food supplements available. It offered some great education along with its line of supplements. Like General Mills, New Chapter is going through some changes. It has just been bought by Procter & Gamble.

If you cant beat em, buy em! How else can you control market share? This is just competition 101. Do you really think that the heads of these uber-successful corporations are going to let a few health-food nuts affect profits? No way. They have bills to pay too. Should they lay off thousands of workers just so a few hippies can eat healthier hemp seed granola?

The folks at General Mills are no dummies either. They need to compete with P&G for market share. They have shareholders to answer to, just like every one of these publicly traded companies that run everything. They just bought Annies Inc. to the tune of $820 million. This was a great, small company that made organic foods found at your local grocery mega corporation store. Do you think that corporate brass will change some of the practices of these smaller companies? Do you think that this will affect the quality of these products?

If big companies notice they are losing market share to a smaller company on any item, they have a few strategies to fix the problem. They can buy the company and bury it. They can just bury it with legal slander or great marketing without buying it. They will buy the company for the brand name and force the company to change the quality to make it profitable for the new owner. Big companies will force distributors not to carry competing products. Its just another day in big business.

A New Chapter co-founder was delighted to appeal to General Mills, and labeled it as a dream come true, according to Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and editor of NaturalNews.com.

So selling out a $100 million company to the absolute enemy is OK if its for enough money? This is only after youve made $100 million ripping on the very giant food corporations to which you are selling out. I wish somebody would pay me millions to give up; even a couple grand would suffice. I am not above bribery and/or extortion. We all like to think that we would not sell out. Its easy to sit here and criticize, but at least Ill admit that I would do it too.

The point is that if you think that you can trust organic food producers, think again. If you want something done right, do it yourself. You can control the quality of your food if you really want to its just easier to open a box of organic mac and cheese and talk yourself into feeling good about it. Its not organic thats the scam, my friend, its the delivery mechanism thats the problem.

We can blame everyone else for everything, but what are we actually doing about it? Not much at all, regretfully. The only way to beat super-intelligent, highly trained, extremely greedy, ego-driven, corporate entrepreneur types that run the worlds economic system is to drop out.

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The corporate takeover of health food

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ), an organic food and farming nonprofit, is offering an Organic Vegetable Production Workshop. This full-day workshop will be taught by Al Johnson, a professional instructor and experienced organic gardener, on Saturday, March 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Merrill Creek Reservoir Visitors Center, 34 Merrill Creek Road in Washington.

Whether an organic gardening "newbie" or an experienced gardener, NOFA-NJ's Organic Vegetable Production Workshop will provide time-tested production information as well as opportunities to discuss specific questions about your garden. Learn why garden placement is so important, how to improve the "less than great" New Jersey soils, and how to plan, prepare and plant a garden. Where there are gardens, there are weeds, diseases and pests, and discover how to manage these challenges using tested methodologies for every kind of crop and critter.

Pack a lunch. Registration fee is $45 for NOFA-NJ members and $55 for non-members; pre-registration is required.

For more information and to register, call Connie at 908-371-1111 or visit http://www.nofanj.org

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Organic Vegetable Production Workshop slated for March 21 in Washington

The US Department of Agriculture has approved the commercialization of the first genetically modified apples despite efforts by GMO critics and the organic food industry to block the fruit.

Okanagan plans to market the apples as Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden. Both varieties have been modified so that they still look fresh even after being sliced or bruised.

Neal Carter, president of Okanagan, said that the USDA approval was a monumental occasion.

It is the biggest milestone yet for us and we cant wait until theyre available for consumers, Carter said.

But the news of the approval of the apples hasnt been met with complete acceptance. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) petitioned the USDA to deny approval, saying that the genetic changes could be harmful to humans and that pesticide levels on the apples could be excessive.

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US approves Canadian GMO apples for commercial debut

All is good in the land of organic milk and honey once again.

Whole Foods Market stock has returned with a vengeance, climbing to near all-time highs after turning in its second strong earnings report in a row last Wednesday. Earnings per share of $0.46 beat expectations by a penny, and sales improved 10% to $4.67 billion as same-stores sales rose 4.5%, better than 3.1% in the previous period.To date in the current quarter, comps are up 5.1% as the momentum seems to be gaining.

Just a few months ago, analysts were decrying the end of Whole Foods' organic empire due to competition fromthe likes ofTrader Joe's, Wal-Mart , and Kroger , all of which have expanded into Whole Foods' territory. The retailer is no longer alone in the organic food space it pioneered, but it's found a way to get back to stable growth once again. Let's take a look at what the high-end grocer is doing right.

Lowering prices Facing competition from the low-priced big-box chains, the company long mocked as "Whole Paycheck" has responded as you might think it would. It lowered prices, primarily on produce, showing off its curb appeal. Whole Foods has generally rejected the standard supermarket strategy of luring customers in with discounts or a "loss leader," but cutting prices on produce, a staple product and a key differentiator against companies like Wal-Mart, seems like a smart way to drive traffic. Once in the store, those customers are more likely to spend on higher-margin items like prepared foods and luxury brands.

Founder and co-CEO John Mackey explained the strategy, saying,"Our value focus is on perishables, where we see opportunities to broaden our selection of products at entry-level price points. We are encouraged by the pricing experiments we are running in several markets, and if results continue to be positive, we expect to expand our test to more markets during the year."

The numbers proved that the decision to lower prices, which the company made last year, is helping to boost sales without sacrificing margins too much, as profits improved 5.7% in the quarter.

Reinforcing the brand Whole Foods launched its first national advertising campaign last year, called "Values Matter." The company ran TV commercials and ads on magazines and billboards showing images of livestock and bucolic farmsin an attempt to reinforce the brand's commitment to humanely and sustainably raised food, local farms, and fair labor practices.

The underlying message seems to be that Wal-Mart may be selling organic food, but the retail giant is vastly different from Whole Foods, which has been committed to natural and organic food since its inception. That's what it does because that's who it is, not because that's what consumers are demanding suddenly. In fact, the organic movement exists in large part because of Whole Foods. Co-CEO Walter Robb explained, "Natural and organic products are increasingly available, yet no one offers the shopping experience we offer. We hold the idea of 'food' to a higher standard."

While it's difficult to directly connect the improved performance with the ad campaign, as it often is with any form of marketing, the social media response to the campaign was strong, and it seemed to remind viewers how Whole Foods is different from would-be competitors.

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How Whole Foods Market, Inc. Got Its Groove Back