Do fish feel? The story of Bubo.

Dr. Bubo - The friendliest fish

This is Bubo, he is 10 years old


The story of Bubo:

10 years ago, as a child, Lukas wanted a fish . He got one. However, he went abroad and left the fish behind at his parents house. They took care of him as they could, but he was rather lonely and isolated... When we moved to Lithuania in Oct 2016, we took him to our place, cleaned his home and he was placed right next to my working station. I've never lived with a fish before, and I knew close to nothing (specially based on personal experience) about fish... As he was right next to me, I watched him and started to adore his peculiar way of existence... I noticed how he is searching, moving stuff around, playing, sleeping on his side, cleaning his home, hiding stuff, watching me back :)
And I started to realize, how wonderful beings fish are.

As we became vegans 3 years ago, both Lukas and me started to see animals from a different perspective... We always loved them, but never really "noticed" them... never really saw all species as individuals. Cats and dogs... maybe, but fish? Or pigs, or chicken?

As I sat next to this amazing creature, I started to bond with him... First, I learned that he has no name... :( So, I named him Bubo... Dr. Bubo.
Second, I could not resist, so put my hand into his aquarium, just because I wanted to connect with him, but he was very afraid... But day after day, week after week, his curiosity got stronger... and he started to get closer and closer to my hand. Until he started to cuddle :) First I was very-very soft and super gentle with him, but then I also became a bit braver, and started to massage him, tickle him, play with him :) He loved it... Came back again and again, and sometimes I "stayed" in his place for like 30 min straight just to stroke him (he practically fell a sleep in my hand)...
Now I know which spots he likes, and we have a routine of playing a kind of "chasing game" :)

What I have found amazing, are two things:
1. He can actually notice the difference between my hand (and voice) and my boyfriends,
2. And he REMEMBERS! He has long term memory! No kiddin'! We left for 10 days and when I came back, he was cuddling to my hand like crazy :D I love him <3

It proved me again: we know so LITTLE about animals, their personality their peculiarities their sentience!

I dont think Bubo is a special case, but more like an other proof that no matter what animals we are,  we all deserve to live and be loved.

**** If you like this video, pls consider to stop eating fish... you might just eat a fish like Bubo.****

13 Problems with grandma's cow's milk

This blog post is based on our own personal experiences.
Lukas grew up on a small family farm which I am also assisting on in the last 1.5 years. What you will read below was not easy for us to share, but there are simply too many people (I used to be one of them) with a romantic idea of grandma's farm and the practices of a "traditional" milking of a cow.
We recommend this post not just for city-people, but anyone with an nostalgically dreamy vision of small farms.

1.  The cows usually artificially and forcefully inseminated each year (normally by a guy with a long glove. OR with more "natural" ways: Either grandma' is keeping a bull, which is rather food demanding and not common OR she is having a bull transported each year and waits until they fall in love. Both of these options can be very unsustainable and expensive for grandma's farm.)

2. The cows have to be pregnant (for 9 months) and give birth each year in order to produce milk, as all mammal-mothers. They are NOT magical creatures that lactate without a baby :(.

3. In order for grandma to get the milk from the mother cow, sooner or later she needs to separate the calf from the mother. This (I saw with my own eyes) is hard emotionally for the baby and the mom as well (both can cry for weeks). Cows are herd animals and they would stay with their offspring for a long time.






4. There is a 50% chance that the calf will be male or female: the calves are taken away and either sold as meat (if male, as bulls have no use on grandma's farm) or raised for the same purpose as the mother (if female and IF there is space and resources to keep an other cow)



5. The cows' lifespans are significantly shortened due to this intensive pregnancy-birth routine. (yes, even on grandma's farm)




6. Yes, cows will continue giving milk if grandma is milking them, but they do not NEED to be milked. Normally, their own babies, the calves, would wean for up to 1-2 years. After that their milk production would slow down and stop naturally.



7. Dairy is still highly inefficient comparing the amount of land, water and food cows consume compared to plants. (From a personal experience, we know it's unbelievable how much a cow would eat, compared to humans during winter. AND not only animal-based food can survive winter... grains, legumes, root vegetables, potatoes, and other starchy food can be stored over winter to provide food for the cold days. ---> Now this food is given to the animals...)

8. Cows raised free range also contribute significantly towards the generation of GH (Green House) gases.

9. Even though raised on a small farm, cows are often on chains or restricted otherwise (as grandma might have no space, energy or time to run after the cows when she wants to take their milk).





10. Unfortunately, no matter that the cows are loved and named, when the cow(-s) cannot produce enough milk anymore (maybe they are used for a couple of years longer then on a industrial farm), grandma sends them away to the same slaughterhouse as industrial farm cows are slain in.

11. The hardest thing about grandma's farm is that she does not know any better. We experienced it ourselves... However, we calculated that a farm could survive, be sufficient and sustainable if it would grow only plants for food. So it seems, even for grandma, it is about habits, learned behavior and traditions.

12. Even on grandma's farm animals can get sick and need medication. All that goes into their milk which we then drink.

13. Depends on where grandma's farm is located, if it's a cold country, animals are locked up and restrained in barns for the cold months (sometimes for 5-6 months). That can cause sickness and frustration for the animals.

We all love our grandmas and we are not here to judge of our love for them. 

But old traditions are not always morally right. 

Növényi fehérje: A teljes értékű fehérje forrásokról

A teljes értékű fehérje forrásokról

Amikor szóba jön a növényi alapú étrend, a leggyakrabban felmerülő kérdés: de honnan szerezzük be a fehérjét?!

A kérdés logikus: Van fehérje a növényekben?

Az első és legfontosabb, amit tisztáznunk kell, hogy a mi is a fehérje. A fehérjék aminosavak lineáris polimereiből felépülő szerves makromolekulák. A fehérjék kialakításában a 20 féle „proteinogén” (fehérjealkotó) aminosav vesz részt. A húsz fehérjealkotó aminosav közül 9-et "esszenciális aminosavaknak” nevezünk. Ezek nélkülözhetetlenek a szervezetünk számára, mert a testünk nem képes önállóan előállítani őket. Így külső forrásokból kell hozzájuk jutnunk - legegyszerűbben élelmiszer formájában. A fehérjék fontos biológiai szerepét jellemzi, hogy minden sejtben lejátszódó folyamatban részt vesznek

Ha egy ételben mind a 9 esszenciális aminosav megtalálható, akkor nevezzük azt teljes értékű fehérje forrásnak vagy összetett proteinnek.

Köztudott, hogy az állati izomszövet összetett fehérjeforrás, azonban mennyit tuduk a növényi alapú fehérje forrásokról?

Minden növényben található fehérje, vagy hogy pontosak legyünk: minden növényben megtalálhatók az aminosav-építőelemek.

Gyakran hivatkoznak arra, hogy a növényi alapú ételek “hiányosak”, azaz nem mind a 9 aminosav van jelen elegendő mennyiségben bennük*.

Mielőtt azonban túl hamar vonnánk le messzemenő következtetéseket, fontos tisztázni, hogy ezek az összetevők (ételek) nem kevésbé értékesek attól, hogy “nem teljes” proteinek. Ugyanis végtelenül egyszerű “összegyűjteni” a teljes spektrumát az alapvető aminosavaknak, még a legegyszerűbb zöldség-hüvelyes vagy gyümölcs-gabonaféle kombinációval is (erre lesznek példák a késöbbiekben).

Emellett vannak olyan növényi alapú élelmiszerek, amelyekről ma már tudjuk, hogy komplex fehérjeforrások (a hivatkozások között megtalálhatók az erre vonatkozó, elmúlt évek részletes összetétel-elemzés vizsgálatainak eredményei *).

Még egy fontos aspektusa az úgynevezett "aminosav-kombinációnak" (azaz mikor különböző “nem-teljes” protein forrású ételeket párosítunk): a párosításnak nem kell ugyanabban az időben történnie! A nap folyamán bármikor lehet enni a különböző gyümölcsöket, zöldségeket, gabonaféléket, hüvelyeseket, magvakat és a dióféléket. A testünk fogja elvégezni a munkát, hogy összekapcsolja őket. Ezek az aminosavak olyanok, mint építőkövek, a test tudja, hogy mit és mikor kell használni, hogy az ember számára szükséges fehérjét felépítsék.

Azonban, mint már említettük, vannak olyan növényi alapú ételek, amelyek teljes értékű fehérje források/ összetett proteinek.

Itt a lista a növényi alapú, komplex / teljes fehérjetartalmú ételekről:

* Quinoa

* Amaranth

* Hajdina

* Kendermag

* Chia mag

* Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (alga)

* Spirulina

Példaként, az alábbi képen látható a Quinoa összetétel elemzése:

(Látható, mind a 9 esszenciális aminosav jelen van benne)

A második felmerülő kérdés: mennyi fehérjére van szükségünk?

Egy átlagos embernek körülbelül napi 0.6 – 1 g fehérjére van szüksége test-kilogramonként (pl: egy 55 kg súlyú nőnek, aki naponta 30 percnél kevesebbet mozog aktívan, 0.8 grammal számolva naponta kb. 44 g proteinre van szüksége.) A szakirodalom ettől eltérő mennyiséget javasol, megerőltető vagy atletikus sportolás, illetve terhesség esetén. Egy átlagos testalkatú embernek naponta, és mintegy 1500-2000 kalóriával kell ezt a proteinigényt bevinnie.

Azonban, végülis nem “amonosavakat” meg ”nyomelemeket” eszünk, hanem ételt! Így azt kell megnéznünk, hogy étellel be lehet e vinni az ajánlott protein mennyiséget:

Az alábbi linken megtalálható, milyen változatos módon lehet szervezetünk testfehérje igényét pótolni. És sokkal könnyebb, mint gondolnánk! (a link angolul van)

https://cronometer.com/

Az alábbi az én példám alapján készült: nő, 170 cm, 55 kg, 0,8 g fehérje/test kilogrammal számolva. Mint látható, kevesebb mint 1000 kalóriával már majdnem elértem a napi 44 g fehérjeszükségletemet! Fontos megjegyeznem, hogy kb. napi 1800 kalóriát fogyasztok, az alábbi példa csupán azt szemlélteti, milyen könnyen elérheti az ember a napi fehérjeszükségletét.

A listán szereplő ételek magyarul, fentről lefelé olvasva:

Őrölt lenmag (kitűnő fehérje és Omega3 zsírsav forrás)

Egyszerű fehér rizs

Zabkása

Főtt bab

Teljes kiőrlésű kenyér

Mogyóróvaj

Nyers spenótlevél

Egyszerű szójatej

* Fontos megértenünk, hogy minden növényi alapanyag/élelmiszer tartalmazza mind a 9 esszenciális zsírsavat, de a legtöbbet azért nem nevezik teljes, illetve összetett fehérjeforrásnak, mert a bennük lévő, rendelkezésre álló aminosavak mennyisége nagyon kicsi. Amennyiben például úgy döntene, hogy a napi fehérje pótlását csak főtt krumpliból szeretné fedezni, meg kellene ennie 3kg-ot ahhoz, hogy "összegyűjtse" megfelelő mennyiségben az összes esszenciális aminosavat.

Ezen a linken megnézhető az összes élelmiszer tápanyag összetételét:

https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/

Felhasznált irodalom és hivatkozások:

https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6587?n1=%7BQv%3D1%7D&fgcd=&man=&lfacet=&count=&max=&sort=&qlookup=&offset=&format=Full&new=&measureby=&Qv=1&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=

Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets: 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/

http://nutritionstudies.org/top-10-plant-based-research-and-news-stories-of-2015/

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/02/06/get-your-protein-from-plants-not-meat-if-you-want-to-be-healthier-according-to-these-scientists/

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/

https://www.nutrasciencelabs.com/blog/4-myths-about-plant-based-protein/

https://www.forksoverknives.com/the-myth-of-complementary-protein/

Stanford University: Food and Health course

https://www.coursera.org/learn/food-and-health

https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feh%C3%A9rje

Complex/ Complete plant proteins

When it comes to a plant based diet, the question always arises... But how about protein???

Is there protein in plants? 

First and foremost, we must clarify, protein is not a singular substance. It is built from various amino acids. There are 20 different amino acids. From these 20, there are 9 which we call 'essential amino acids'. They are essential as our bodies cannot produce them so we have to get them from external sources, from food.

If all 9 essential amino acids are found in one ingredient, we call it a complex or complete protein source.

It is common knowledge that animal muscle tissue is a complex protein source, however how much do we know about plant based protein? 

All plants have protein in them or to be precise, all have amino-acid building blocks.
But most of them are 'incomplete' (i.e. not all 9 amino acids are present in sufficient amount in one plant*). However, before we jump to the conclusion that they are less valuable (as they are incomplete), we must stress that, it is quite easy to collect the full spectrum of the essential amino-acids, even from the simplest combinations of vegetables and legumes or fruits and cereals! Also there are some plant based foods, which are now known to be complex protein sources (after a conduction of careful and detailed composition analyses over recent years*).

What is also very important to know is that this so called "combination of amino acids", does not have to occur in the same time, you can eat the different fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, and nuts over the course of the day. Your body will do the job to combine them. They are like building blocks, your body knows what to use to build human protein. 

However, as we mentioned above, there are some plants which are complete.

Here is the list of plant based, complex/ complete protein foods:

* Quinoa

* Amaranth

* Buckwheat

* Hemp seeds

* Chia

* Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (algae)

* Spirulina

As an example, the composition analysis of quinoa:

(as you may see, all 9 essential amino acids are present in reasonable amounts)

The second question arises... How much protein (complete) do we need?

An average person needs around 0.6-1g protein per body kg each day and around 1500-2000 kilo calories. 
And as we can see, there are plenty of ways to have your protein covered. And its is much easier then you may think. 

You can track/ test your intake as well on: https://cronometer.com/

This is an example of me - female, 170 cm, 55 kg, calculating with 0.8 g protein per body kg - as you can see by ONLY consuming below 1000 calories I already reached my daily needs of app. 40g of protein! Note, I consume around 1800 calories a day, this example below wanted to represent, that I can easily reach my daily protein needs.

* It is important to understand that all plant foods contain the 9 essential fatty acids (FAs) but most are not referred to as full/complex protein sources as the amounts of available FAs are very small. For example, should you choose to fulfill your daily FA norm by eating only boiled potatoes, you would have to eat 3kg of the goodies to "collect" all FAs. You can check out the nutritional profiles of all foods here: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/

Please do dive in to these references:

Stanford University: Food and Health course

https://www.coursera.org/learn/food-and-health

https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6587?n1=%7BQv%3D1%7D&fgcd=&man=&lfacet=&count=&max=&sort=&qlookup=&offset=&format=Full&new=&measureby=&Qv=1&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=

Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/

http://nutritionstudies.org/top-10-plant-based-research-and-news-stories-of-2015/

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/02/06/get-your-protein-from-plants-not-meat-if-you-want-to-be-healthier-according-to-these-scientists/

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/

https://www.nutrasciencelabs.com/blog/4-myths-about-plant-based-protein/

https://www.forksoverknives.com/the-myth-of-complementary-protein/

Benefits of Milk?

Calcium is important. But is milk the only or even the best source of it?

It’s not news that calcium is key for healthy bones. Getting enough calcium from childhood through adulthood helps build bones up and then helps slow the loss of bone tissue as we age. It’s not clear, though, whether we need as much calcium as is generally recommended, and it’s also not clear whether dairy products are really the best source of calcium for most people.

From a scientific and health point of view, one thing is clear for sure: milk is NOT the only source. There are plenty plant based sources of calcium and "worse case" scenario, there are always fortified plant milks if you are not a big fan of kale or spinach.

But how about the source? The actual source of milk... the cow? How come we believe that something which nature designed for a baby calf to grow from 30 kg to 500kg in 6 months is meant for us to consume? Cow's milk is designed for the calf to grow fast. And not a single living creature drinks milk after infancy on this planet, specially not another mammal's breast milk... Our body doesn't need dairy.

There are so many flaws with milk that it is hard to even list up. Starting by the simple fact that as is the case with all mammals, mother cows lactate after giving birth, so each year they are impregnated and their babies are taken away (it is not propaganda, this is how the business works), as they would drink the milk, which we want for ourselves. So we take the male baby calves away and keep them alive for 1-24 weeks then sold as veal... their little bodies all of a sudden become "veal". Or in an even worse scenario, the female calves take over their moms' jobs, becoming milking machines.

Cows would live around 20 years, but in the dairy industry their bodies wear out due to the extensive milking and repetitive impregnation. Their "production" slows down after 4-5 years, so they are sent to slaughter. To die, as they've just become useless for the industry.

As our consumption grew, our needs did too - the dairy industry responded by forcing cows to give more and more milk. They needed more cows and more milk. This of course jeopardized the whole "old fashioned" way of keeping cows. No more grass, no more old grandmas milking away. Confinement, medicine, antibiotics and machines to milk. This, of course, goes all in the milk. The puss for infections (there is even an official limit of how much puss is still allowed in milk), blood, medication and of course the naturally occurring growth hormones (which grow calves in 6 months).

If you are truly interested what is wrong with milk, I advise you to make your own research. Watch some documentaries, articles, TED talks and presentations.

A wonderful and detailed presentation by M.D. Michael Greger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VRLzaaLzqY

A very interesting study on the connection between milk and osteoporosis:

Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a 12-year prospective study

RESULTS:

We found no evidence that higher intakes of milk or calcium from food sources reduce fracture incidence. Women who drank two or more glasses of milk per day had relative risks of 1.45 for hip fracture (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.87, 2.43) and 1.05 for forearm fracture (95% CI = 0.88, 1.25) when compared with women consuming one glass or less per week. Likewise, higher intakes of total dietary calcium or calcium from dairy foods were not associated with decreased risk of hip or forearm fracture.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9224182

All dairy products are originated from milk. Naturally they change some of their characteristic overtime as they are fermented, "rotted", pasteurized, etc. But the origin is the same, milk, breast milk.

In the today's modern world where most of our knowledge is moderated and reinforced by powerful corporations/ industries and by a myth which the media helps to spread day-by-day, its hard to get a "proper discussion or debate" over milk, and dairy products.

I can only invite you to make a critical thinking of your own. What is milk? It is the breast milk of an animal, right? When did you drink human breast milk? Probably from your mom as you were a baby. When did you finish weening? Maybe between 6 month and 1 year? Right, somewhere that time. Good. Our body is designed as all other mammals to ween on our moms breast milk to get a strong start. There is no other animal on the whole world who drinks breast milk after infancy... No wonder the third of the population is lactose intolerant. As our ability to digest milk (specially a completely other animal's breast milk) was and is not present in many people. However of course many can digest it, but on what price? Cows milk is designed to grow a calf 10x of his/ her size in 6 month, it is full with natural growth hormones and fats. Its perfect fuel for the little cow, and a "perfect" recipe for us to get fat.

And what is more important. at least for me, as I want to believe I am a compassionate person full with empathy towards non-human and human animals and our one and only beautiful planet.... The ethics behind the story. The shear reality, what is happening in the dairy industry, which I saw with my own eyes. Something you cannot just walk away from and pretend never happened...

I was not a vegetarian or a vegan, just a curious person, with an open mind and a big big amount of critical thinking. So off I went and saw, what is the real price of milk. There is noting outstanding or illegal what I have found out. Standard industry practices. I saw in a big scale and tiny farm scale. The procedure is the same:

• The mother cow is forcefully impregnated by a human arm and a big amount off bull sperm. (I wont describe now how they get the sperm)
• As they constantly milk the mother cow, she is giving milk while she is pregnant, there is around a 2 month of non-milking period each year.
• The cow bears her child for 9 month, then gives birth. This gives a boost to her milk production.
• The industry takes the baby away instantly (on the first day), small farms tend to leave the baby there for 2-3 month, but controlling how much milk the baby can drink.
• As you may realized from the previous point, these babies are separated for a sole purpose of stopping them from drinking their own mom's milk (as we humans wants to have it), and the male calves sole purpose are to arrive to our world and became "veal". They are normally killed between the 1st and 24th week. We are talking about, babies which are going to be slaughtered. The female calves might get "lucky", and follow their moms path.
• Watch the video and read the article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2152608/Baby-calves-shot-C4-documentary-People-right-complain-dont-inform-food.html
• For me personally, the game changer was, when I saw and heard as a mother cow cries after her baby (as the baby been dragged away). This just killed a part of my soul. This is the cruelest thing on the whole world! Taking a baby from its mom??? How dare we? How dare we?? And yes, cows are deep, social individuals who cares and morn after their babies.
• This is one of the soft videos of separation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaqR9V4XkXA
• And of course as soon as the milk production drops (around 4-years) the hard working moms go to slaughter as well.

"It's not natural for humans to drink cow's milk. Humans milk is for humans. Cow's milk is for calves. You have no more need of cow's milk than you do rats milk, horses milk or elephant's milk. Cow's milk is a high fat fluid exquisitely designed to turn a 65 lb baby calf into a 400 lb cow. That's what cow's milk is for!"

--Dr Michael Klaper MD

"Bringing someone into life for the sole purpose of killing it? Where's the innovation in that? We're paying businesses for such moral crimes every day. Animals are being produced like some sort of objects on a conveyor belt... they are dying per billion each year. If the world would go vegan, we would stop forcefully impregnate them so they would stop reproducing, in 20 years we would have much less of these animals, and non of them would be suffering or used. They would live in reservations, live as far as possible from us who made their lives and their babies lives a living hell."

-- PhD Lukas Jasiunas

A book recommendations:

And some food for thoughts:

Vegan cat gets a new toy!

We've added a banana for scale so that everyone could see how big plant-eating cats are. 

So many to taste!

I guess one thing that surprised us the most once we moved to Lithuania was the wide choice of plant-based milks! It's hard to even force yourself to make homemade milk these days when there's all of these bad boys waiting in the shop..  Plus, ain't nobody got time for all that nut-milking...