Will Tuttle Makes World Peace Diet a Free Download

That's right... as many of you know, Dr Will Tuttle is my one of my personal veg heros. As if spreading his knowledge with the world when he wrote his book "The World Peace Diet" wasn't enough, he's now decided to make it available to everyone FREE! That's right.... for a limited time only, you can download the entire book here.

Check out some of his other cool merchandise at http://willtuttle.com/

He will be here in Sarasota speaking on Thursday December 20th. Be sure to check him out!

~ Dill

Food Courts: Fattening Americans as They Shop

CSPI Newsroom

WASHINGTON - Where can you find an order of french fries with almost 1,000 calories, a slice of pizza with a day’s worth of artery-clogging fat, or a cup of coffee with 600 calories?

At just about any shopping mall, airport, sports arena, or other “food court” in the country, according to the April issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter published by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). CSPI gained notoriety as the “Food Police” for revealing the high calorie and fat content of theater popcorn and many other restaurant meals.

The report surveyed a sampling of menu items served at a baker’s dozen leading food-court chains, including Sbarro, The Great Steak & Potato Company, Panda Express, Starbucks Coffee, Mrs. Fields, and TCBY. Their foods are similar to what’s served at many malls around the country. (CSPI obtained most of the nutrition information from the chains themselves, though it analyzed several items.) Some of the offerings are excellent, but others would make a cardiologist’s cash register light up:

Schlotzsky’s Deli’s Large Original sandwich (made with three types each of meat and cheese) has about 1,300 calories, 50 grams of fat (25 of them saturated), and 4,400 milligrams of sodium. For most people, that’s two-thirds of a day’s calories, one day’s artery-clogging saturated fat, and two days’ sodium. Think of it as three McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.

Starbucks’ venti (20-ounce) White Chocolate Mocha made with whole milk has 600 calories and three-quarters of a day’s saturated fat. It’s a milk shake, not a cup of coffee.

Sbarro’s Baked Ziti or one slice of Sausage & Pepperoni Stuffed Pizza has more than 800 calories and an entire day’s worth of saturated fat.

The Great Steak & Potato Company’s large Fresh Cut Fries has more than 900 calories. Add a large Great Steak sandwich and your meal would contain over 2,000 calories, 100 grams (23 teaspoons) of fat, and a day-and-a-half’s worth of saturated fat.

Mrs. Fields’ Peanut Butter Dreambar will give you 670 calories, 21 grams of saturated fat, and 12 teaspoons of sugar. A single Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie with Walnuts has about 300 calories and nine grams of saturated fat — about as much as a 12-ounce sirloin steak.

At TCBY, a large Waffle Cone with yogurt, hot fudge, and M&M’s has 700 calories—about the same as a McDonald’s Big Mac and a small Coke. Gulping down a king-size Strawberry Hulk at Smoothie King will add a whole day’s worth of calories (1,910) and fat (58 grams).
“It’s no wonder that more than half of all Americans are overweight,” says Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist at CSPI. “You can walk into a food court looking for a snack and walk out with a meal’s worth of saturated fat and calories. Most people don’t need an extra 1,000 calories hugging their hips. And all that saturated fat and sodium promote heart disease.

“But if you carefully step through the nutritional mine field, you can actually find some delicious and pretty healthful foods,” Hurley said. Among the best:

Au Bon Pain’s Thai Chicken Sandwich, Honey Smoked Turkey Wrap Sandwich, Pesto Chicken Salad, and Yogurt with Fresh Berries or (or with Granola)

Smoothie King’s small Slim & Trim Smoothies or a Starbucks’ Cappuccino or Caffe Latte with skim milk

Panda Express’ single entree of Chicken with Mushrooms, Chicken with String Beans, or Black Pepper Chicken served with steamed rice

Schlotzsky’s line of Light and Flavorful sandwiches, such as the Pesto Chicken or Dijon Chicken

TCBY’s small cups or cones of frozen yogurt
Hurley said, “Many chains know what’s in the foods they serve. If the menu boards would only list calories next to the price for each item, Americans would have a fighting chance of getting home without gaining pounds.”

Searching for Vegan Brownies Leads me to Veggie Magic, Raw Organic Cafe

Chocolate cravings led me to the new Veggie Magic, Sarasota's only, raw, organic cafe.

Yesterday, I sent out an announcement that Metro would be carrying vegan brownies. Later in the day I was informed "not until Wednesday." With my chocolate hopes high, I was let down to have to wait. Fortunately for me, Jenna Norwood and her super tech savvy self, responded to my plea from her iphone with a heads up that Veggie Magic not only had vegan brownies, but raw vegan brownies. I have to admit this excited me, so I grabbed Raylon and we headed over there.

Although already in their 3rd week open, this was my first visit to the magic land of raw goodness. Since dessert got me out, but dinner was still a priority we decided to buy lots of items to get a real taste for it. We tried the Mediterranean Cous Cous, Carrot Salad, Magic Patties, Chocolate Fudge Cookies, Brownies, and Carrot Cake. Whew!!! Though visually small in size, each item was totally packed with nutrition and flavor. The prices were unbelievably low. It's the kind of meal you can't help but smile the whole time you are eating it. Must be the boys in the back I saw laboring away prepping the next few days food. I asked them if they were putting love in the food, and they said absolutely. I doubt anyone in town cares as much about your nutrition as these folks.

Put this spot on your radar for the quick hunger fix. They have to-go cases, you could run in and run out, if you don't get caught up just standing there smiling. Is Sarasota finally getting hip?

Veggie Magic - 4428 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, FL 34233
Open Mon-Saturday 11am-8pm 941-377-6209

Cenral Florida VegFest Review

On November 17th 2007, in honor of World Farm Animals Day, the Vegetarians of Central Florida put on a massive community sponsored event – Veg Fest 2007. Among the supporters participants were big organizations like Whole Foods Market and Vegetarian Times, community groups like Animal Activists of Central Florida and Florida Voices for Animals, and local businesses like Dandelion Communitea Café, and the Girls Gone Green.

With speakers, cooking demos, food, and live music all day it promised to be a day full of information, education, entertainment, and most importantly, compassion.

To see if it delivered, roving reporters and sneaky insiders from VegSarasota attended, and with complete lack of discretion we made ourselves known to all. With the cloud cover threatening early on, there was no time to delay in absorbing lots of good vibes (and vegan brownies).

First up to speak was expert nutritionist and registered dietician George Eisman. Eisman is considered one of the nation's
foremost educators on vegetarian nutrition.



Eisman spoke about the effects of food choices on health. Including books by Jane Plant, and a revised version of his Vegetarian Nutrition course book which has the tests removed and a new 10-page section added

After taking a brief break during the Q & A to dash over to the Crystal Springs booth for a refill on water and to the Dandelion booth for some breakfast, which was hearty Chili with vegan cheddar and chips, we got back to hear Paul Shapiro speak.


Campaign Director for Humane Society of United States, Paul Shapiro.

Even without his projector, Shapiro was able to share a fresh and optimistic view on the status of farmed animals in the US. citing recent successes in legislation in Arizona & Florida.

Paul is currently working on a major campaign in California to ban Gestation Crates and Battery Cages.

It’s about that time that brain says “Chili breakfast is over, must find more vegan treats! Let’s move!”

But before we could get very far, a friend pointed out this interesting T-shirt.



Lots of interesting activist clothing was spotted throughout the day. Our favorite Vegan T-shirt, many types of group oriented shirts, and definitely the most bold one we’ve ever seen, pictured here.

Ok, back to the food finding - are you detecting a theme here? Vegans love to eat! After all, what would any festival be without indulging on some cruelty free junk food? Luckily, we found a group which seemed to be solely dedicated to helping us achieve this aim. After grabbing a great cup of freshly roasted coffee at the Z-Café booth (where they were also serving hot food including vegan crab cakes) we found the mecca.

Food Not Bombs of Orlando was there giving away all kinds of free food, including some of the drippiest chocolatiest brownies in town. They also had soups & stews, but who wants that when you can have free peanut butter cookies?

Notice the cool shirt as well!


As we roamed around we encountered a plethora of friendly faces, holistic practitioners, and dedicated activists. Several prominent figures from the movement were in attendance as well. Some, like Gene Baur and Lauren Ornelas were there to speak. It was great to see people opening their hearts and minds to animals in new ways. At the same time it was great seeing the light bulb come on as folks connected issues such as environmental protection to the overall issues of veganism and animal rights.

Many vendors were there donating body work including yoga, cranial release, massage, and reflexology. VegSarasota couldn’t resist the temptation of free reflexology of the feet, especially after walking around for a couple of hours. We chose the booth of Alternatives Gateway after getting a recommendation by another Sarasota resident in attendance. They got an A+ and got us back on our feet, literally. It was gracious of them to donate all of their services for a great cause. Although there was no mandatory fee, we were glad to donate some money to them for a wonderfully refreshing and rejuvenating foot massage.



We stopped by a few other booths as we continued to stroll around the beautiful park setting. Some worth mentioning are the Girls Gone Green, who supplied delightful Emcee services to the event, Larabar who was giving out handfuls of free samples, and ARFF where we got to meet and chat with Nick Atwood, another speaker of the day. Fortuitously and by chance alone, VegSarasota ended up at the amplified music stage just in time to catch some music. This terrific trio was composed simply of a violinist, cellist, and a guitarist. From these seemingly simple youngsters sprang a set of music that was immediately impressive. Turns out, this was none other than the group The String Theory. We’d heard of them, but until today, hadn’t heard them, but we are glad we did. The trio on stage, lead by a pretty amazing and passionate vocalist delivered several songs to a captivated audience. The only way it could have been better is if they’d had a CD for sale. It was after this, in the early afternoon, that it began to sprinkle. We took the opportune shade of the speakers tent to catch some of Gene Baur’s talk.


Gene Baur – President and Co-founder of Farm Sanctuary.

Definitely the heavy hitter of presenters, this goliath in the animal activism arena from San Jose delivered an articulate speech on changing hearts and minds about animals and food. His talk was punctuated by extremely graphic depictions of the horrific conditions and processing which farmed animals routinely experience. He covered deeply connected topics like workers rights, war and violence, compassion, and awakening understanding. Take away activist tip – ‘The best way to start a discussion with someone regarding animal welfare is to ask them a question that is nonthreatening’.

So as promised, tasty smelling cooking demonstrations, great reflexology and massage, environmentally friendly vendors of all varieties, good live music (acoustic, amplified, and spoken word), good crowd energy, and mostly good weather made the event a tremendous success. With any luck, a small portion of the people who attended will begin to make some changes in their lifestyles, having learned a truth or two that is new to them. Unfortunately, the afternoon showers continued dampen the crowd, but all in all it was fortunate that the day was so packed with passion. Please check out some of the links and use the concept displayed in this photo as an indication that no matter where you are in life and on your educational journey, there is room for growth.



Special thanks to Larry Rumbough the rest of the hardworking team.