Lifestyle Hub

Danish Dolphin Slaughter

I received an email recently from a friend with widely circulated photos of a horrific dolphin slaughter in the Faroe Islands of Denmark. (The Faroe Islands, located about 250 miles north of Scotland, are about half way between Denmark and Iceland, in other words, they are one very inhospitable place, freezing cold, about as different from Hawaii as one can imagine.)

Boiling crabs to death; don’t be squeamish!

A couple of recent articles dated December 23, 2009 in the Taste section of the Honolulu Advertiser were truly gruesome, brutal, and stomach turning; they were about how to prepare live crabs for eating. They contained horrifyingly graphic and detailed explanations of how to kill a crab, how to cook it, how to break its legs, crack off its back, etc. These articles were shocking – the writer advises, “Boiling crabs isn't difficult. And don't be squeamish. Unless you're a vegetarian, something always dies for your dinner.”

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our customers, team members, vendors, and blog readers. I hope your Christmas Day is a wonderful day for you and and your loved ones.

E. Coli infections; subsidized by the government?

E. Coli infections in humans are on the rise. One of the most pervasive food borne illnesses that causes many illnesses and deaths annually, Escherichia coli (E. coli) contamination is responsible for more than 20,000 infections and 200 deaths each year in the United States. This relatively recent phenomenon begs the question: what’s causing it?

More about Tasty Bite

On December 11, 2009 I blogged to share the great news, and to congratulate Tasty Bite, a delicious Indian, Thai and Pan-Asian ready to eat packaged food company, on their recent decision to discontinue the only flavor they had in their product line with animal products in it – a product that contained fish sauce. I mistakenly identified the discontinued product as containing beef, when in fact it actually contained fish sauce, not beef. I apologize for the error and any misunderstandings or wrong impressions it may have caused regarding this excellent company.

"A vegetarian diet is a positive source of pleasure"

A friend of mine sent me an email today sharing some of her thoughts about a plant based diet and suggested I might like to post it on my blog; so here it is:

Global warming; caused by too many people?

A recent editorial column in the Honolulu Advertiser made an extremely controversial point you don’t often hear – which is that the real problem causing global warming is that there are too many people in the world, and the world's population is continuing to grow making the problem worse.

Thus the columnist suggested that one way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to implement widespread birth control, i.e. make contraceptives and abortion widely available to women around the world, especially in developing countries which are experiencing rapid population growth.

Rat killers punishable by up to 3 years in prison

There has been a lot of press about the televised killing and eating of a rat on a British reality show filmed in the Australian bush; and the two people involved are potentially facing up to three years in prison. This is interesting. Now, could someone please explain to me why someone can be imprisoned for up to three years for killing and eating a rat, but there is no penalty whatsoever for anyone involved in the slaughter of over 10 billion animals a year in the US alone? I simply just don’t get it, am I missing something?

Pouring on the fat

On September 1st, 2009, I blogged about a New York City advertising campaign about "pouring on the fat", that likened drinking soda to drinking fat (i.e. body fat), that had a graphic and rather gross poster. A friend of mine recently sent me a link to a television commercial that was also run in the same campaign. Now this is really gross! It is not recommended viewing for the faint of heart, but please take a look anyway. After watching this if you drink soda you will likely drink less, and if you don't drink soda you can feel real good about that choice.

Americans with diabetes to double to 44 million

A recent study predicts that the number of Americans with diabetes will double in the next 25 years to a staggering 44 million, leading to annual health care spending on diabetes of an even more staggering $336 billion. Diabetes is linked to obesity, poor diet, and lack of exercise - the modern American diet, full of highly processed and sugar-laden “food” is the main culprit. The answer to this devastating epidemic is simple, and common sense; people need to eat healthy organic and natural foods, and get regular exercise.