Obesity and The First Law of the Jungle

Check out my first blog on onegreenplanet.org

Obesity has to be viewed through many lenses.

The first is "the population lens". We have to understand that weight gain is happening to almost everyone around the world. It's happening because we are biologically programmed to consume food when it is available to us and the food that is now available is more plentiful and energy-dense then ever before in history.

Read more here. 

Vegetron in the works: Software Engineer Wanted!

Wanted: a capable and passionate, software-engineer co-founder  

There is an urgent need to change the way people eat 

Global meat consumption is skyrocketing and so too are the epidemics of obesity and other chronic diseases caused by a meat-centric diet.

To what extent can the internet and the emerging tools of social-gaming help? That's the question I'm exploring in my latest project: vegetron.com.

Vegetron helps people master vegan meals and healthy living

Vegetron is for the vegan-curious and vegan-savvy folks who want to improve their health and do something good for the world at the same time. Vegetron will help people master the basic food and lifestyle skills needed to thrive in the modern meat-centric world.

Fun and easy

Our goal is to make the process of learning (and sharing your own knowledge) about food and lifestyle more fun, more social and more effective. Designing game and social layers into the experience can help us do just that.

The ideal dev partner

Vegetron has enormous potential, in part because it is tackling an extremely challenging problem. So I'm looking for a partner who's skilled at transforming an idea into it a tangible product, realizing there will be many hurdles to jump over along the way.

I seek a talented software engineer who shares a passion for improving health and making the world a better place, who understands the world of game mechanics and dynamics and appreciates human-centered design. Ideally, you live near enough to or in San Francisco and are available to start working part-time now and full-time in January.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in joining our team, please contact me at: mbermanmd@gmail.com 

My NAVS 2011 Talk

I promised I'd share slides from my talks at this year's NAVS Summerfest. Here's the first talk - a background primer on the internet, the importance of social networks, how ideas spread, and why online social games are the next hottest trend... And why the vegan movements needs to jump all over online social gaming.  

Vegan Social Gaming Talk

Soy Concerns?

I get asked about Soy a lot. Is it safe?  

The short answer is yes.

• Assuming you don't have a soy allergy, moderate consumption of soy is likely to improve your health rather than diminish it. 
• As with most foods, highly processed varieties of soy are probably less healthful than less processed varieties. 
• And just as common sense would dictate, basing your diet exclusively on soy is not the best idea, mostly because it will crowd out a large variety of health promoting fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains and other legumes.

If you're interested in this topic, I strongly suggest this great post by vegan dietitian Jack Norris,RD who does a wonderful job summing up studies addressing the potential harm from eating soy.