"Journey to Self", published by Ki Publishing, has been nominated as a book of the month by the manager of Watkins Complementary Bookshop in Central London. This world renown book shop supports a thriving international mail order catalogue. "Journey to Self" is currently being translated into Hindi for sale across India.
... It was 1998, on a meditation retreat in Devon called 'Awakening the Heart'. Margaret is meditating when, suddenly, she feels a current of energy that seems to rise up deep from within the spine. It rises to the head and then falls. As a Buddhist for many years Margaret knows that there is nothing to be afraid of in the inner world. She connects fully with what is happening. The experience ends when she releases her feet from her meditation stool and surrenders to what she has called 'THE LIGHT'. ....
Sunday 2nd August, Bolton, Lancashire: The Iron Man is one the toughest triathlons which encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim; followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ends with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon.
Sunday 13th September: The Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity Duathlon is the largest Duathlon in the world, and takes place on the closed roads of Richmond Park, which still has 300 Red Deer and 350 Fallow Deer.
25th to 27th September: Central London. The UKs first "I Can Do It" weekend. ... Interesting but pricey.
27th September at The O2, East London. Sony Ericsson's Run to the Beat is London's Music Half Marathon, now in its second year. Live and recorded music will be scientifically selected and played around the course to boost performance. Based on the research by Dr. Costas Karageorghis, it is said that the effect of music on running can improve half marathon times by up to 20%!
Friday 2nd October to Sunday 4th October at Earls Court in London:
The Flora London Marathon 2010: Each year Ian Moseley volunteers to distribute bottles of water during the London Marathon, usually at stage 17 on the Isle of Dogs. If you want to volunteer contact Ian ( ian@jacyntha.com ) or the Marathon organisers. Other help is welcomed too, but, be warned! Whilst not as gruelling as actually running volunteering at peak times of runners arriving can be very strenuous!
19 months BEFORE London was chosen to host the 2012 Olympic Games, Ian Moseley had his name down to be one of the first volunteer-stewards. 70,000 volunteers (yes, seventy thousand!) volunteers will be needed to help with the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
World Wide Diaries:
July 13th to 18th, 2009: The Minding Animals Conference at The Civic Precinct, Newcastle, Australia.
2nd West African Vegetarian Congress, 29th October to 1st November: Accra, Ghana . Organisers: Mr Emmanuel Eyoh, IVU Africa Regional Coordinator, and Mr Korblah Wisdom, an IVU Africa member from Ghana . Food and accommodation will be free for Congress participants.
1st November: World Vegan Day, there will be a large Vegetarian Parade in Accra town.
12th - 15th November, 2009: China: The Xiamen International Vegetarian Food Fair, at the International Conference and Exhibition Centre. Sponsors include the Xiamen Municipal Government; the Xiamen General Chamber of Commerce; the Xiamen International Chamber of Commerce and the Xiamen Jinhongxin Exhibition Company.
Very informative website that lists all of the "Food Weeks" across the United States, fixed dates each year and variable events. Some UK Food Festivals are also publicised. There are also Food Reference and Book Reviews; History, Trivia, Festivals, Cookery Schools and Recipes.
"Pick Your Own" information covering the US. This site also incorporates information on Unusual Fruits. There are linked websites that cover "Pick Your Own" information in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.
February 2010: Each year, Dr Greger reviews the world’s scientific nutrition literature for groundbreaking developments and compiles key findings into
an annual “Latest in Nutrition” talk.
Australian Vegetarian Society. has recorded the two most recent years, i.e. 2007 and 2008 of these talks on 90-minute DVDs, and he has kindly offered to send copies of these two DVDs by regular mail, not email, plus a copy of his DVD on Bird Flu to any IVU (International Vegetarian Union) member organisations who send him their postal address. That includes you, as readers of The Meeting Point. You can contact Dr Greger at mhg1@cornell.edu and you can subscribe to his free electronic newsletter at drgregersnewsletter@lists.riseup.net February, 2009: Dr Greger published two articles in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. They are available free, full-text at http://www.DrGreger.org/writings.html In March, 2009, Dr Greger appeared on U.S. TV on the comedic Colbert Report. Michael Greger, M.D. is one of the vegetarian world’s best-known medical experts. He is the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States.
The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk. It is based in the United Kingdom. The ANH was initially founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive, and there is now an anti GM food campaign that can be linked from their website.
The British Acupuncture Council. is the UK's main regulatory body for the practice of acupuncture with over 2,800 professionally qualified acupuncturists registered.
West London based "CROC" is an active group of share-holder residents. The leaseholders hope to prevent an unwelcome takeover attempt. The CROC website contains many helpful tips which other leaseholders, unfortunate enough to find themselves in a similar position, might find useful. Don't reinvent wheels! On the CROC website concerned residents explain how to challenge someone who, you suspect, may have "enhanced their own qualifications".
Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and Trading Standards Officers (TSOs) are employed by local Councils (UK Local Government). On these you can find relevant Press Releases and a broader overview of the work of EHOs and TSOs. Environmental Health Officers enforce the quality of hygiene in British food shops and restaurants, and outside London they often oversee farm animal welfare, including abattoir conditions. Outside London, Trading Standards Officers also enforce the farm animal welfare regulations, including slaughter house regulations. TSOs are the starting point for querying mislabelled, or misleading product descriptions, and they investigate, and enforce the law when non-organic food products are passed off as organic, Richmond-upon-Thames being one of the leading prosecutors in this respect. Trading Standards Officers enforce the law on underweight, or out-of-date, food purchases. They verify the quality of awarded qualifications, and whether a person may have "enhanced their own qualifications". TSOs investigate the growing number of web-based university, and qualification-awarding websites, and close down the scams.
This link is to the list of individual contacts for administrative sections of the Food Standards Agency. These include the Allergy and Food Intolerance Research group and the Vegetarian and Vegan Labelling section.
With the "Credit Crunch" the number of FOOD FRAUDS are likely to increase. The (British) Food Standards Agency has set up a special food fraud hotline to gather information on known or suspected fraudulent activity in the sale or marketing of food. Many such frauds will additionally have international ramifications.
Japanese Journal of Clinical Nutrition meets on Wednesday afternoons. tel.+ 44 (0)1372 372348. There is also an active local homeopathy group in nearby Epsom.
On 15th December, 2008 in London, a Bottled Water Legislation Seminar was held as part of the continuing commitment to engage with producers and local authorities to support practical understanding of food law.
This "world clock" charts the incidence of disease, and is constantly updated with information on world population, births, deaths illness patterns. In particular, it documents vividly the rise of the numbers of sufferers of diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular illness.
Many health conscious people in the U.S. have turned to vegetarianism because of the American Dietetic Association's 1997 recognition of the preventative effects of vegetarian diets.
Acidosis appears to trigger a muscle-wasting response. Researchers looked at links between measures of lean body mass and diets relatively high in potassium-rich, alkaline-residue producing fruits and vegetables. Such diets could help neutralize acidosis. Foods can be considered alkaline or acidic based on the residues they produce in the body, rather than whether they are alkaline or acidic themselves. For example, acidic grapefruits are metabolized to alkaline residues.
Fruit and vegetables contain essential vitamins, minerals and fibre that are key to good health, and, a newly released study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) -funded scientists suggests plant foods may also help preserve muscle mass in older men and women. The study was led by physician and nutrition specialist Bess Dawson-Hughes at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, Mass.
The typical American diet is rich in protein, cereal grains and other acid-producing foods. In general, such diets generate tiny amounts of acid each day. With aging, a mild but slowly increasing metabolic "acidosis" develops, according to the researchers.
Directory of American Alternative Medicine Clinics. e.mail: Atkinson_Patty@bmwplanet.com . Call: 00 1 206-600-6530. You might find be able to access it through the US Interlibrary Loan Scheme (ILLiad).
The (US) Association for Holistic Health, incorporating the Chronicle of Holistic Health and The Foundation of the Healthcare of the Future . GSPI, POB 8381, Delray Beach, FL 33482, USA.
Using this helpful feature you enter a food, a food combination or drink into the "Search a Term" box. Use the singular of the search word - e.g. USE bilberry NOT "bilberries". Click "nutrition value", and the nutritional breakdown is displayed, just as it would be on a product label.
The George Mateljan Foundation is a non-profit organization without commercial influences. The purpose is to provide FREE, unbiased scientific information about nutrient-rich foods.
freegan.info (NO www.) is a US-based collective for alternative living.
MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers), P.O. Box 541688, Dallas, TX75354-1688, USA. 1-800-438-6233. In the US over 5,000 young people are killed each year in this manner.
Non-Profit Directory CD contains more than 85,000 Non-Profit
Organizations and Foundations located in the United States and Canada. Fully searchable. There is a wealth of information to either finance your next project, or team up with other organizations through Non-Profit Name; clickable URLS to their website, and a full description of their activities and objectives. To order please call: 00 1 450-224-9275: CD costs around US$150.
This 84 minute Australian-made film was released in December 2008. A Delicate Balance can be viewed on-line at a cost of US$4.95 per viewing. It documents the latest discoveries of some of the most prominent experts on nutrition in the world. Over 50 years of research is skilfully woven into what feels like a detective unravelling the mysteries behind the disease epidemic which has struck affluent countries with a vengeance. Disease has been escalating over the last 50 years resulting in 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women being diagnosed with cancer. There are selected full screen showings in most Australian universities, and some US ones during 2009.
The CCLEF, the Commonwealth Countries League Education Fund changes lives through Education and Friendship.
Ghana : East Africa's first Vegetarian/Vegan Library opened in May 2008. It is in the premises of Assase Pa, Ghana’s original vegetarian restaurant based in Accra. The "green oasis" atmosphere, and the beautifully restored building in the middle of Accra make the Library an attractive centre for learning.
People for Animals organise a scheme through which you can arrange to adopt an unwanted dog in India.
Seedballs as an environmental weapon have recently been "invented" in Japan!
A vegetarian magazine has just been launched in Japan. The publisher and editor-in-chief is vegetarian. She wants to raise awareness and to foster an environment for veg-related businesses, but realizes that it will take a while for this kind of magazine to become profitable in Japan.
Professor Dr. Mitsuru Kakimoto, the President of the Japan Vegetarian Society, has a research paper in the prestigious Japanese Journal of Clinical Nutrition, No. 4 (2009), entitled "Vegetarianism and Vegetarian Diets - History and Types". Nowadays almost all international airlines that arrive at, and depart from Japan's airports, offer vegetarian options for the airline meals, so one can say that vegetarian food is world food! ... The author discusses the various types of vegetarians, and explains that the IVU's definition of vegetarian includes vegans, lacto vegetarians and lacto-ovo vegetarians. The next issue of the Japanese Journal of Clinical Nutrition will carry an article on vegetarian diets in hospitals.
Portugal: Dr. M. Rodrigues Pereira is an HIV activist, founder and former President of ABRACO (Portugal's first HIV/AIDS Non Government Organisation or NGO). He has been HIV POSITIVE for over 18 years.
"Vegetarian Dogs Singapore" is a Facebook Group for Vegetarian Dogs and Their Human Friends! Despite “Singapore” being in the group’s name, it is open to vegetarian dog anywhere, and is run by Pauline Vegemight .
