Written by PETA
I've been vegan for more than 20 years and thought that was a long time, but Loreen Dinwiddie takes the vegan cake. The Oregon resident, who just celebrated her 108th birthday, went vegan in 1922 and never looked back. Loreen attributes her longevity to "fruits, vegetables, and nuts. It's all there in the Bible." She may be onto something, since studies show that vegans slash their risk of our nation's top killers: heart disease, cancer, strokes, and diabetes.
Watch Loreen in action and see if you don't agree that she deserves our vote for Cutest Vegan Centenarian. Do you know someone who's been vegan as long (or nearly as long) as Loreen? Comment and tell us about it!
Written by Alisa Mullins
Prompted by reports that churchgoers are more prone to obesity than those who don't go to church, PETA wants to help one of the largest churches in West Virginia—the U.S.'s fattest state—become one of the slimmest. PETA is offering Chestnut Ridge Church, a mega-church in Morgantown, vegan ads to place on their pews and a yummy meatless cookout to kick off the church's celebration of life this Easter.
Eating a plant-based diet is the best way to combat obesity as well as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. To "resurrect" your own health this Easter, simply take the Pledge to Be Veg for 30 Days.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Girls in the U.S. are now entering puberty as young as 7 years old. Half of African-American girls and 15 percent of Caucasian girls develop sexually by age 8. That means that young girls' bodies are maturing before a lot of them have even mastered riding a bicycle. Doctors and parents have good reason to be concerned. Early onset of puberty can lead to depression, short stature, stress, early sexual activity, and increased risk of breast cancer.
So what is causing girls to mature too early? Many doctors believe the hormones in meat and dairy products are to blame. Farmers give cows regular doses of growth hormones to make them grow as large as possible as quickly as possible. These hormones remain in the cows' tissues after they are slaughtered and also pass into their milk, and they are, in turn, ingested by people who consume those products.
The best way to avoid hormone overload is to pass on hormone-laden animal products and fill your body with healthy fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Then the only side effects you'll experience are easy weight management and lower risk of cancer, stroke, and heart disease. Not a bad trade-off.
Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum is in danger of being nevermore because of budget cuts. PETA is offering to help fund the museum in exchange for displaying an ad educating people about the other "Red Death": meat.
PETA wants to show visitors that they can prevent a premature burial by going vegan and reducing their risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other deadly diseases. What better way to prevent the fall of the house of Poe than by keeping it and its visitors up and running for a long time to come?
If you've been feeling down lately, it may be time for some personal reflection—on what's in your refrigerator. A new study shows that a diet high in the fats found in meat, butter, and fast food contributes to higher rates of depression. These foods, all of which are consumed in most Western diets, also increase the risk of heart disease, cancer, strokes, and obesity. The researchers found that eating primarily polyunsaturated fats—which are found in vegetable oils, olive oil, and nuts—decreases the risk of depression.
No wonder Popeye was always smiling while he vanquished the bad guys. Order PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit and give yourself—and animals—something to grin about.
Forks Over Knives is not your typical flick about senseless killings and weapons of mass destruction—rather, it's about how people are killing themselves by eating dead animals and heavily processed garbage food.
Spoiler Alert: I don't want to give away the ending—especially since I haven't even seen it yet—but here's a hint: It has something to do with preventing, controlling, and even reversing degenerative diseases by going vegan.
Normally, I'm not crazy about "predictable" movies, but I think I'll make an exception for this one! The film, which features Rip Esselstyn—PETA's favorite vegan Texas firefighter and the author of The Engine 2 Diet—comes out in early March, but you can catch an advance showing in one of the many cities where it's being pre-screened. Take your friends—especially your meat-eating ones—because this movie is a bound to be a true life-changer.
Written by Heather Moore
A new Oxford University study reinforces what we've been saying for some time now: Cutting your meat and dairy intake can improve your health—and quite possibly save your life. Indeed, the report found that even if Britons simply lowered their meat consumption to three servings per week, about 45,000 fewer of them would die each year from heart disease, cancer, and strokes. And that doesn't even take into account the more than 1 billion animals who are killed for food each year in the U.K., most of whom would be spared if the nation's citizens heeded the warnings of the study and cut their intake of meat and dairy products.
Of course, no matter which side of the Atlantic you're on, you don't have to wait for your fellow citizens to go vegetarian en masse—you can improve your own health and save thousands of animals' lives just by switching to a plant-centered (or "-centred," for you Brits) diet. Click here for more on why and how to go vegan.
Written by Jeff Mackey
The ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu is in danger of being eroded by constant tourist traffic, which has prompted PETA to make it the second destination for our plus-size virtual "tourist." Hopefully, his message will help restore this awe-inspiring attraction, which is one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World.":
Vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than their meat- and dairy-consuming counterparts. By shrinking their waists, tourists would also reduce their monumental carbon footprints.
Machu Picchu visitors may soon be taking lighter steps—or will overweight tourists run the Incan landmark into the ground?
Written by Shawna Flavell
We've spoken out against BP, and suggested ways in which each one of us can help save the waterways and the environment. Now, by special request, we've created a new, fun, and in-your-face line of BP-related merchandise that will help fund PETA's work to save wildlife. Now we're giving away our BP T-shirt and coffee mug to two lucky winners (you can also buy the shirt for yourself and all your friends):
Ready to sport this compassionate gear? Tell us what you are doing to reduce your dependency on oil as well as what you would like to say to BP's big wigs if you could sit down and have coffee* with them. The two readers with the most inspiring comments will each score a T-shirt and a coffee mug. The contest ends on June 30, 2010, and we'll pick the winners on July 2, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms of conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting.
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
*Here's a little something to get you in the mood to tell us all about your imaginary coffee date with BP.
As NASA public affairs specialist Stephanie Schierholz took to the stage at Monday's TWTRCON to weigh in on "customer service," animal defenders elsewhere took to their Twitter accounts and took over the #TWTRCON hashtag—specifically weighing in on NASA's plan to fund a misguided, cruel, and wasteful experiment in which dozens of squirrel monkeys would be blasted with harmful space radiation.
Tweets about NASA's radiation experiments started appearing on large projectors flanking the sides of the stage that the conference was using to display tweets about the event. One attendee reported that after the NASA representative responded to the surprise Twitter protest by shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes, curious audience members could be heard tapping on their keyboards for more information about NASA's plans to bankroll the torment of monkeys at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Harvard's McLean Hospital.
Schierholz reportedly muttered, "[M]aybe we're experimenting on monkeys." No, NASA—if caring people have anything to say about it, you won't be. We'll keep tweeting and taking to the streets, the phone lines, and online petitions until your plans for these cruel, senseless experiments are canceled.
Written by Karin Bennett
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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