Wishbones have always been pretty bizarre. I mean, how exactly are your heartfelt wishes all supposed to come true by splitting a greasy bone that you pulled out of the dead animal lying on your table? And, after all, wouldn’t the turkey have wished not to be eaten?

Well, the folks over at Lucky Break Wishbone seem to realize that there are a lot of vegan wishes out there waiting to come true. Thus, they have created a wishbone that is most definitely vegan-friendly—the wishbones are completely synthetic.

So, now there is a cruelty-free option for all of you who still want to take part in this tradition. Just think—by using these wishbones, you can make all sorts of wishes about better treatment for animals.

You could even stick one in the middle of your Tofurky (just make sure no one tries to eat it!). Both the packaging and the wishbones themselves are recyclable and made in the USA.

Enter to Win!
We’re giving five “lucky” people the chance to win a pack of 10 of the wishbones. To win, post a comment below with a wish that you have for animals! (Don’t worry―the whole saying it out loud thing doesn’t really apply, since you are typing it.)

This contest ends on November 13, 2009, and the winners will be chosen and notified the same day. You should also be sure to read the contest terms and conditions and PETA’s privacy policy before you comment—you’re acknowledging that you have read and agreed to both by leaving a comment.

Good luck!

faqs.org / cc

Ever since I wrote about the American Dietetic Association’s updated position paper in support of vegetarianism, I’ve heard from people who really want to go vegetarian or vegan but just aren’t sure how. Others need a little more help convincing their loved ones that veganism is safe and easy.

It’s exciting that so many people are ready to give peas a chance, so to speak! It’s easy being vegan, and the following tips should help get you started—or help you persuade your worrywart friends and relatives that vegan foods are nutritious, delicious, and widely available.

1. Just Veg Out: For optimal health, eat an array of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and all the nutritious foods that can be made from them. Inexpensive, versatile vegan staples, like beans, lentils, leafy greens, rice, pasta, peanut butter, and tofu, can be used in a variety of recipes.

2. Easy Does It: Don’t worry if you’re not a celebrity chef—you don’t have to make elaborate dishes. You can whip up tasty meals with little effort. Try a vegan wrap with hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, sprouts, and shredded carrots. For innovative lunch ideas, see veganlunchbox.blogspot.com.

3. Mocks Rock: Choose veggie burgers rather than hamburgers, soy sausage over pork sausage, and tasty faux chicken instead of chicken flesh. Check out this list of popular mock meats, egg replacers, and dairy-free milks, cheeses, and desserts.

4. Simple Substitutes: Many of the things you likely already eat can easily be “veganized” just by swapping one or two ingredients. For example, you can make manwiches or “meat sauce” with Veggie Burger Crumbles.

5. Accidentally Vegan: Some of the packaged foods you already buy are likely vegan too, even though they aren’t marketed that way. Check out this list of “accidentally vegan” foods.

6. Eat at Moe’s: Many popular chain restaurants, including Johnny Rockets, P.F. Chang’s, and Moe’s Mexican restaurant have vegetarian and vegan options.

7. Ethnic Options: Most Indian, Ethiopian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Middle Eastern restaurants offer a variety of vegan options. Don’t be afraid to try new cuisines!

8. Vacation With Your Values: It’s easy to take your vegetarian diet with you when you go away. Visit www.vegdining.com and www.happycow.net for a list of vegetarian-friendly restaurants at your destination. Many travel books, like the Lonely Planet guides, offer suggestions for vegetarian travelers too.

9. A Good Influence: Whether you’re young and need help convincing your parents that you can get all the nutrients you need from a vegetarian diet or you’re a parent trying to persuade your children to eat healthier, PCRM’s tips and meal ideas can help you out.

10. Vegetarian-Friendly: If your friends and family members don’t share your interest in vegetarianism, join a local vegetarian society, attend vegetarian potlucks or conferences, or simply chat online with other like-minded folks at www.vegsource.com.

Not enough advice? Don’t worry: We have even more tips for making the transition to a vegan diet.

One of my esteemed colleagues sent me this video today. It was so cute that I had to share.

hyscience / cc

The following post was originally posted by PETA Files writer, Alisa Mullins.

Guess what, people: Eating vegetarian food is good for you! If you don’t believe me, just ask the American Dietetic Association (ADA), which had the following to say in its latest position paper on vegetarian diets:

The results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates.

Need more proof? Check out the following recent studies:

• According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, people with type 2 diabetes who consumed 40 grams of soy protein isolate per day for nearly two months saw significant reductions in both their LDL cholesterol and the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol. This is just the latest in a long list of studies showing that soy lowers cholesterol—the FDA even permits companies to boast about the cholesterol-lowering effects of soy on their product labels.

• In more soy news, an amino acid found in higher concentrations in soy and other vegetable proteins can lower your blood pressure.

• In addition to clogging your arteries, a low-carb diet makes you stupid—at least that’s the conclusion of a recent study at Tufts University in Boston. Scientists there found that young women performed worse on mental acuity tests after just one week on the Atkins diet and other low-carb diets. D’oh—you could’ve aced that chemistry final if only you’d had a V8!

• Speaking of V8, a Mayo Clinic study has found that eating lots of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables may reduce your risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bad news for people who hate broccoli—taking antioxidant supplements doesn’t have the same effect.

• A study at Oxford University backed up these findings and even went a bit further, concluding that vegetarians slashed their risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and other blood cancers by 45 percent.

So, how’s about we mosey on over to VegCooking.com and get started fixing up a mess of cholesterol-lowering, artery-unclogging, cancer risk–slashing, brain-boosting veggies, shall we?

Alanna Risse / cc

Have you ever noticed that a lot of fruits and veggies are shaped like human body parts? Many plant foods, including tomatoes, walnuts, celery, and others look just like certain body parts, and it turns out that their appearance may hold clues to what they can do for you. Check this out:

• Tomatoes have four chambers and are red, just like the heart. Tomatoes are loaded with lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that may be heart-protective.

• Mom was right when she said that carrots are good for your eyesight! Have you ever noticed that a carrot sliced the “round way” looks like a human eye? Science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to the eyes as well as the function of them.

• Walnuts look like little brains, and they are brain food indeed! Walnuts help develop more than three dozen neurotransmitters needed for brain functioning.

• Kidney beans weren’t named that for nothing. They heal our kidneys and help them function.

• Celery, bok choy, and rhubarb resemble bones, and they can help make yours strong. Just like bones, these foods are 23 percent sodium. If we don’t get enough sodium, our bodies pull it from our bones, which can make them weak. These foods can help replenish our skeletal system.

• Avocadoes, eggplants, and pears are shaped like the female cervix and womb, and these foods can work wonders “down under.” Get this: It takes exactly nine months for an avocado to grow from a blossom to a ripened fruit. According to research, eating one avocado a week can help women balance their hormones, shed unwanted baby weight, and even prevent cervical cancer! Guacamole, anyone?

• Figs are loaded with seeds and hang in pairs. Sound like anything else? These sexy fruits increase sperm counts and improve sperm mobility in men, which can help overcome infertility.

• Sweet news for diabetics! Sweet potatoes, which look like the pancreas, can actually help balance diabetics’ glycemic levels.

• Oranges, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits resemble mammary glands and help keep breasts healthy by promoting the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

• Onions look like cells, and they help clear waste from all the body’s cells. The tears we shed while cutting onions even help wash the outer layers of our eyes. The cousin of the onion, garlic, also helps our bodies eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals.

Seems to me these aren’t just coincidences. After all, according to biologists and anthropologists who study our anatomy and our evolutionary history, humans are natural herbivores. So if you want to be your healthiest, pass up meat, eggs, and milk (and the pharmacy!) and head to the produce section instead!

smallbiztechnology / cc

It’s a great time to be vegan. Not only are we saving animals, the environment, and our own lives by eating healthy, nutritious plant-based foods, in general, we’re also saving money at the supermarket.

The prices of meat, milk, cheese, and eggs are rising steadily because of the skyrocketing costs of animal feed. For example, Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, says its hog-raising costs have increased by more than 20 percent in the past year, largely because of the high cost of pig feed. Meat-eaters can expect to foot the bill by paying higher pork prices.

Comparison Shopping: Meat vs. Veggies
Why spend your life’s savings on animal products when you can eat healthy, humane, and inexpensive vegan foods? Some of the most versatile vegan foods—including beans, rice, vegetables, tofu, and pasta—cost relatively little compared to animal products.

According to a 2007 MSN MoneyCentral article, the cheapest cuts of beef, such as ground round, average $3 per pound; boneless chicken breasts cost $3.40 per pound; and canned tuna costs around $2 per pound. In comparison, dried beans and lentils cost less than $1 per pound, and rice is cheaper than $1 per pound. Tofu usually costs less than $2 per pound. Even vegans who buy costlier products like soy sausage and nondairy ice cream can still spend less than people who load up on beef, chicken, and fish.

Funneling Food Through Farmed Animals: Wastefulness at Its Worst
Farmed animals are fed more than 70 percent of the grains grown in the U.S. It takes 4.5 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of chicken meat and 7.3 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of pork. Approximately 700 calories worth of feed are needed to produce just one 100-calorie piece of beef.

It is more efficient and economical to eat grains and soybeans—and all the foods that can be made from them—directly rather then feeding them to farmed animals so that we can eat those animals. Around 1.4 billion people could be fed with the grain and soybeans fed to U.S. cattle alone. A 2002 E Magazine article estimated that the amount of feed needed to produce just one 8-ounce steak would fill 45 to 50 bowls with cooked cereal grains.

Vegans Save Money and Lives
Everyone makes different food choices, so there’s no guarantee that you’ll save big if you buy vegan foods, but wholesome plant foods are fairly cost-effective. If you factor in all the money you save on hospital bills, medications, and weight-loss plans by avoiding unhealthy, artery-clogging animal products, you’ll see why a vegan diet is downright economical.

Of course, the most important savings of all can’t be put in a bank—each vegan saves more than 100 animals every year! If you haven’t already gone vegan, why not order a free copy of PETA’s “Vegetarian Starter Kit” right now?

Order a free vegetarian
starter kit today!

I already knew that a vegan diet is healthful and nutritionally adequate and can help prevent and treat certain diseases, but it’s a big coup when the American Dietetic Association (ADA) says so too!

Now, the ADA has long said that vegetarian and vegan diets are appropriate for every stage of the life-cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence—and for athletes—but just recently, the ADA updated its position paper in support of vegetarianism. Among other things, the paper explains that healthy, plant-based diets can prevent—and even reverse—many life-threatening diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

The ADA also points out that well-planned (not just Oreos, pop tarts, and French fries, obviously) vegetarian diets can meet the recommendations for protein, n-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, and vitamins D and B12, as well as other essential nutrients. (If you want some basic healthy-eating tips, check out my blog, A Vegan’s Guide to Good Nutrition.)

Best yet, the ADA predicts that the number of vegetarians in the U.S. will increase over the next decade. Yay! If you’re one of the people who haven’t gone vegetarian yet, what are you waiting for? Seriously—you don’t have any excuses! Our “Vegetarian Starter Kit” will help get you started in the right direction.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz has done it again: The bestselling author and star of The Post Punk Kitchen has put together 175 animal-free recipes for your mouth’s enjoyment. Her latest book, Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up for—From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes, has everything you’ll need to wow your cohorts after a late night of partying, create the perfect brunch spread for a special occasion, or just spoil that vegan tummy of yours.

Isa has filled this cookbook with the most mouthwatering brunch recipes we’ve ever seen. Your curiosity will definitely get the best of you, since you’ll be trying every recipe to find out if Isa’s food taste as good as it looks (it does!). Isa’s thrown in anything and everything you could possibly crave, from pumpkin French toast and cocoa raspberry muffins to lemon pepper tofu and scrambled tortillas.

For your chance to win a copy of the book, complete the form below by August 21. Five lucky winners will be chosen at random and notified by August 27.

This contest has now ended.

If the Veg Cooking Blog’s recent contest for the ice cream recipe book The Vegan Scoop left you thinking, “Who wants ice cream with jalapeños in it?” or “I prefer alcohol in a cocktail, not in my ice cream, thank you,” then we have a new ice cream contest that is perfect for you.

Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love is the kid-friendly ice cream recipe book that has something for everyone. It contains more than 200 recipes for completely dairy-free ice creams and frozen treats that are made from natural ingredients. Sure, there are some gourmet flavors, but the real stars of this cookbook are the traditional ice cream flavors that can be used in pies, cakes, sundaes, shakes, and more!

Now is your chance to win one of five free copies of Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love!

To enter, just tell us which classic ice cream flavor is your favorite and why:

a) Chocolate
b) Vanilla
c) Strawberry
d) Neapolitan
e) Other

The contest ends on July 20, and five winners will be chosen at random by July 24. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you’re agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

This contest has now ended.

PETA recently became partners with the online information hub for women: Divine Caroline.

Divine Caroline is a lifestyle site for women, by women. It is fueled by stories, information, and the personal experiences of experts and everyday people.

We will be posting our articles there as well as continuing to post on PETA Living, but on our Divine Caroline page, you will also be able to check out our product reviews and other helpful ways to share animal-friendly tips and information.
Divine Caroline is free to join, read, write, start forums, and pass things along to your friends. Check out our profile, and if you have your own already, become our friend!