Aye. A few days ago, I watched a documentary called Earthlings that I posted here. I had no idea how much that was going to change me in a short hour and a half.
I knew animals suffered abuse and cruelty in our modern meat system. But knowing it and seeing it, for me, are two entirely different things. The latter is so powerful I could never, ever in my life buy another package of conventional meat.
I've been a vegetarian before. I've contemplated going back many times, too. It's not because I believe consuming small amounts of meat is awful for us. I don't.
But after watching Forks Over Knives a few times, I do believe that the massive quantity of meat and dairy we consume is killing us via obesity, heart disease, diabetes, etc.. I believe that without a shadow of a doubt. You can't read the studies and debate that.
But I do believe God intended for us to eat animals. How much is more up for debate. If I were to guess, I'd say quite rarely just based on the science behind what meat does to our bodies.
Consuming only dairy and eggs is not a solution. These cows and chickens are treated every bit as horribly and most die pretty unthinkable deaths.
Consuming only dairy and eggs is not a solution. These cows and chickens are treated every bit as horribly and most die pretty unthinkable deaths.
So I thought, alright, I'll give up cheap meat. Easy as pie. Done. I'll only buy free-range, grass-fed beef and free-range chickens and cage free eggs and organic milk. Good, right?
Wrong. Completely wrong. I'm quickly losing faith in our food system entirely.
Apparently that's not good enough. I can't say I'm that surprised. Buying from a large organic company has always made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Big companies just do things...worse. They cut corners and they know how to do things as cheaply as possible to ensure maximum profit - unfortunately at the detriment of animals.
Read what PETA uncovers about so-called organic food like milk and eggs and meat here.
I'm fully convinced after a weekend of reading everything I can get my hands on that the only conceivable way of consuming dairy products and meat humanely is to buy from local farmers whose farms you've visited and are free to drop-in on any time. Ones who are not crammed into cages, who are allowed to freely graze on grass, whose beaks are not chopped off, who are not fed a diet of food they were never intended to eat and so on. That is your best shot at guaranteeing your animals lived the best life they can before they became your food.
For me, this knowledge coupled with the convincing information revealed in Forks Over Knives about the dangerous implications of a meat or dairy-based diet on our health, I'm done. I'm done with the dairy industry and I'm done with the meat industry - organic or not. The only way I can feel 100% confident that my money isn't supporting unspeakable abuse of poor, innocent animals is to just quit eating it entirely.
What's cool (and surprising) is what I've learned in just a day about the MANY options for food that are still available to me. I'm BLOWN AWAY by the things I can still eat. Will I miss dairy? Oh my gosh, yes. I am a self-proclaimed milk and cheese junkie.
But I can eat:
And about 396 other recipes I've already pinned!
You can save an average of 100 animals from abuse and death each year if you become vegan. :)
And that, folks, is why I'm now a vegan and plan to never go back!
You should always know your food source- whether you're buying meat or buying a bag of chips. I urge you to check out Weston Price and his research. The book Nourishing Traditions is great. Vegan is not healthy. There has never been a traditional culture that practiced veganism. That means, every culture, however isolated from one another, whatever part of the world, no matter how difficult it was to procure, knew they needed animal foods to procreate and for the village/tribe to survive and thrive. Veganism and it's more popular cousin vegetarianism are the brainchildren of politically correct Puritans and is not based in science or reality. PLUS, Vitamin A and Vitamin B!2 in the TRUE sense can NOT be found from plant based sources. Supplementing with sythetic vitamins is a horrible alternative.
ReplyDeleteThe whole "Fat is bad" thing is a TOTAL myth that was debunked a long time ago. Its not meat/dairy themselves that are causing heart disease and cancer, its the *factory farmed* products, full of hormones, antibiotics (and God knows what else) that are causing the problems. If you look into Weston Price, you will see that NONE of the people he studied had ANY heart conditions (and the majority of what they consumed was animal product)
Just sayin'. Don't buy into all the hype. Animals can be eaten humanely and healthfully. As long as you do your research and KNOW where its coming from
I have studied Weston Price and have read Nourishing Traditions. For the past few years I have practiced the whole "fat is good in its natural form" diet. We switched to whole milk, raw cheese (not brave enough for raw milk), pasture butter, cooking with coconut oil, etc. It didn't make me feel healthier and it certainly didn't cure any of my medical complaints like insomnia, asthma, eczema and depression. My main objective with this diet is that I will never again support the abuse of animals, but a secondary objective is to get healthier and feel better. As I've tried your approach and it didn't work, I'm trying something new now in hopes that it will.
ReplyDeleteI encourage you to watch Forks Over Knives and read any of the numerous studies that prove the health benefits of removing animal products from your diet. Vegetarians and vegans live longer, have much lower rates of obesity, lower rates of heart disease, lower cholesterol and lower rates of cancer. If it were a diet that could not sustain humans, it would have ceased to exist a long time ago.
It is actually quite science-based. The current "dairy & meat is good for you!" ploy fed us by the government is something I just don't buy into. The corrupt government doesn't get to tell me how to eat.
It doesn't make sense that we should be drinking cow's milk. It doesn't make any logical sense. As a Christian, I do believe God intended us to eat meat if we wanted, but I feel quite strongly that it's not a necessity and in the quantity and form we eat it today, it is literally killing us. The only doctors in this country who have successfully reversed heart disease without medicine have done so with a whole foods, plants-based diet.
I do agree that animals can *probably* be eaten humanely as long as you have a farm close enough to you with farmers who allow you to drop-in anytime and disclose all their practices (so that you can ensure their animals get no grains and are allowed to graze freely) and who butcher their own animals. That's difficult to find and not readily available for everyone. Not to mention usually exorbitantly expensive.
I appreciate the dialogue but do disagree. :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor your reading if you might be interested, the science behind veganism/vegetarianism:
ReplyDeletehttp://engine2diet.com/~engine2/usrfiles/files/publishedstudies/prevention/dean-ornish-mostly-plants.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian_nutrition
http://www.tcolincampbell.org/courses-resources/article/abolishing-heart-disease/?tx_ttnews[backPid]=76&cHash=775dda775b
I find this to be particularly interesting and telling: "Norway was one of several western European nations occupied by Nazi Germany during the conflict between 1939 through 1945. The Germans removed all animal livestock from these occupied countries. The native population subsisted on whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit. Almost immediately death from heart attacks and strokes in Norway plummeted. With the cessation of hostilities in 1945 animal products became available as well as an immediate return to the prewar levels of deaths from these illnesses."
Also, to dispute you: "Rural China, the Papua Highlanders of New Guinea, central Africans and the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico adhere to plant based nutrition and are spared this galloping epidemic which is a disease of affluence."
http://www.cancerproject.org/diet_cancer/facts/foods_prevention.php
http://www.cancerproject.org/diet_cancer/facts/meat.php
http://engine2diet.com/~engine2/usrfiles/files/publishedstudies/obesity/comparative-effects-of-3-diets.pdf
As for B12, many vegetarians and vegans use nutritional yeast as a replacement for cheese and to spice food up, which has lots of B12. It's a highly recommended food for vegetarians for this reason. There is also the option of fortified milks like rice milk or soy milk which has B12. I do agree with you that supplements are not really good options for vitamins and have even proven to be damaging in certain studies. As for vitamin A, you get plenty of that from plants. The only other vitamin you *can* be deficient in when practicing veganism/vegetarianism is Vitamin D, which we should be getting from the sun during regular exercise.
I found a really informative explanation of vitamin B12 and vegans/vegetarians but I can't find it at the moment...will post later when I can find it again.
The process of fortification is exactly that- a PROCESS. WHen you drink things that are "fortified" with nutrients, they are injected with synthetic nutrients. Not whole food nutrients. So when you drink 'Vitamin D fortified milk" or "Calcium fortified orange juice" your body isnt receiving any benefit from those nutrients, in fact its been shown that the synthetic versions of those vitamins are doing more harm than they are good.
ReplyDeleteAs far as vitamin A goes, there's a common misperception that you can get your Vitamin A from beta carotene-rich foods. However, you cannot rely on beta carotene to be formed into vitamin A. Most people, but particularly small children, the elderly and those suffering from thyroid disorders cannot make that conversion AT ALL. Among those people who can actually make that conversion, you have to take in 16 to 23 units more beta carotene to make 1 unit of vitamin A. The body is grossly inefficient in making this conversion and plant foods do not contain true vitamin A.
Also, I understand Vitamin D comes from the sun, but what about those people who live in climates where its dark/gloomy all winter? Or snowing outside? Its totally impossible to get sufficient Vitamin D from the sun alone, depending on where you live. And even where I live.. in sunny CA, 90 something percent of people are Vitamin D deficient!!
Thanks for the recommendations- I've actually watched Forks Over Knives, Food Inc, Food Matters, King Corn, probably almost every food documentary out there. I actually used to be a veggie, and when my son turned 1, thought I would push that lifestyle on him too. But quickly realized its impossible to get the same nutrients from plant foods that you can get from animal foods and so we started to incorportate small amounts of animal products into our diet. I'm not a hardcore WAP follower, nor do I think that its IMPOSSIBLE to be healthy on a vegetarian diet, but I think for children, a nursing mom or a pregnant mom, vegan diets are dangerous and you will be hard pressed to find any doctor who supports that (we see a naturopath, homeopath, chiropractor and I've yet to find someone who supports vegan living as a truly healthy lifestyle). I will completely agree that the typical American consumes WAY too much meat, and the meat most of them typically consume is a heart attack waiting to happen. I don't, however, believe the theory that ALL meat (or animal product) is killing people and causing cancer, diabetes, heart attacks and all the other things they're trying to claim. NONE of the people Weston Price studied had any of those ailments you listed. The major problem comes in when we consume the factory farmed meats and low quality animal products that you find in the regular stores.
Finding a source for truly pastured meat is not impossible. I live in Los Angeles and there are NO farms close by me. I did countless hours of research and finally found several co-ops that weren't advertised (and order from farms that are a few hours away), several companies who sell at farmer's markets etc. I know in rural towns, its probably much easier to find a local farmer than it is in a big city like mine. We are able to obtain truly pastured chicken/eggs, grassfed beef, raw milk (and dairy products) and none of the animals are fed corn, soy or wheat... and we've made the trek to a few of the farms just to see how the animals are raised. So, although it would probably take a lot of effort to find something like that- its possible and costs are not always exorbitant. For a family of 3, we used to live on food stamps and a budget of about $200 extra for food... and were still able to eat like that.
Another problem that comes up with a lot of vegan/vegetarian diets is that so many of them replace the meat with grains/beans/legumes. I'm sure since you've read Nourishing Traditions, then you know all about the issues with phytic acid. So now, not only are they lacking nutrients because they've eliminated all animal prodcuts, but the nutrients they ARE consuming, are being blocked because of the phytic acid from the grains (unless they're properly soaked). There's a whole myriad of issues.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think its awesome that you're advocating for compassionate living- and hats off to you for doing what you feel is best for you and your family! This is mainly for other people who read your blog- there ARE ways to consume animal products and be healthy. And unless you are a SUPER dedicated vegetarian/vegan who does TONS of research(like you do) then its impossible to obtain all the nutrients you need from plant foods alone. I find that the majority of veggies think that vitamin supplementation is the solution to the problem, and its SO not. I heard vitamins once described as 'expensive piss'- good analogy.
We'll have to TOTALLY disagree on vitamins and nutrients. Every last study I've read on vegetarianism/veganism maintains the same fact: any responsible vegan/vegetarian can get all necessary nutrients. Much easier for many people than trying to find OR being able to afford a truly healthy meat is to become a vegan.
ReplyDeleteI respect your decision to eat meat and appreciate that you take such strides to make sure your animals are treated well. Kudos to you, because most people don't do that!
Until good meat is readily available, the responsible and best diet the average American can maintain is one without meat. The average person simply cannot afford the price that much of this meat fetches. In some parts of the country and for some people, they're able to get it pretty reasonably (I have a source for $3.00/lb), but many friends have found the cheapest ground meat they can get is $9.00/lb. Yikes! If people don't recognize they have another option that is HEALTHY and BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, they will continue to buy the cheapest meat they can afford, which adds to the problem.
Additionally, the amount of grain fed to US livestock each year is enough to feed roughly 800 million people. Even if you account for the increased grain that all the current meat eaters need to eat, we're talking feeding A LOT of starving men, women and children in the world. Not to mention the pollution created by livestock.
I think the best and most complete study I have ever seen or read comes from The China Study. Have you read that? I think it would be incredibly difficult to maintain that any other diet is as good for you as a whole foods, plant-based diet after reading that book, which is NOT an opinion piece. It is a piece based on science.
As for the phytic acid debate, there is no scientific evidence to support this. Though I soaked my flour for a short period of time (you can even search this blog to find my old posts about it), I found the process so incredibly tedious, the results not very tasty and found no health benefit whatsoever, so I stopped. The more I researched, the more I felt that it was a theory, not a fact, that we need to soak our grains.
I appreciate your opinions and do truly enjoy the healthy debate. :)
Yes, also have read China Study. However, I've found a lot of the information to be flawed and lot of it to be skewed. I'm not on my regular laptop right now, but as soon as I am, I can post a good artcile that kind of "debunks" the China Study, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteI agree the results of soaking are not always so tasty! But tedious? We soak flour for pancakes/waffles- put it in the bowl the night before, mix the rest of the ignredients in the next morning for breakfast. Doesnt take any longer than making a batch of regular pancakes.
Phytate has been labeled by the WHO as the main cause of anemia in many countries, so to say that there is no science behind that is simply not true. And i'm sure you might've noticed that the amount of gluten/wheat 'sensitivies' has been on the rise over the last few years as more and more people realize how much damage grains are doing to their guts, (plus the fact that we no longer soak our grains like traditional cultures used to do.) Check out GAPS diet too, if you havent already. There's some good info in there. Here's an article that cites some good sources at the bottom, for further reading. The phytic acid issue is not just some junk someone made up, its very real. http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/09/phytic-acid-in-grains-and-legumes.html
Side note, I totally agree with you that a vegetarian diet is definitely better than a diet of conventional meat. Actually, starving yourself would probably be better than eating the conventional meat!!
Chels, you absolutely can get enough of everything and be vegan. Remember I was vegan for 8 months when I was nursing Bee and I've been a vegetarian otherwise for (as you know) 20 years.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of terrible, but I don't even take prenatals - not when I was pregnant this last time *or* the past year I've been nursing and we're still fine! Gosh, I sound like a crusty hippy.
Anyway, Stella is routinely checked for iron levels and I am occasionally too. We're all good. I could stand to lose about 5 pounds and Stella is a little chunk, so it's not like we're starving over here. Bee was a chunk too during the grand age of veganism in our house.
You'll not only be just fine, but better off! Congrats and good luck!
WORD! Thanks! You're my go-to gal for this stuff!
DeleteI've read that article, anonymous, and like I said, done my own research (lots of it) and don't believe it for myself. Perhaps some people (those who have gluten sensitivities) are unable to handle the phytic acid (or whatever else they might be reacting to) while those like me don't have problems. You can see how I feel about it (for myself, not discrediting that some people are more sensitive to gluten/grains) here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chelseasaidso.com/2010/04/bread-is-enemy.html
I would like to read the article you mention that debunks China Study, because I have yet to find anything that does. My doctor and my midwife, both natural, put a lot of emphasis on diet. My midwife was a vegan and has no problems with me adopting this diet during pregnancy. I've done a lot of research and have a stack of papers in front of me that outlines what I should be eating during pregnancy to ensure I'm getting enough of everything. In the end, this baby is going to be MUCH better off than my previous eating ways of a few days ago, when I never took into account how many of each food group I was getting or my vitamins and nutrients.
We are super lucky in that we have a huge local food movement. We are able to buy our meat from many small local farms that are totlly open to visiters at any time (whithin reason, I don't think they want 2 am visits).
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of issues with the fruit, chocolate and coffee industries as well. Mainly really unethical labour practices. We only buy fair trade coffee and chocolate, and try to buy only Canadian fruit (and there isn't a lot of variety there, haha). My boyfriend is vegetarian, so it's easier for us to buy local meat, since I am the only one eating it and it's usually only once a week.
The fruit is the thougher one for me, my little lady sometimes only wants a banana, and the ones in our grocery store don't come from North America, I crack sometimes and buy them, but I am always racked with guilt.
Erin, I'd love to read literature about the fruit and particularly why you only buy Canadian fruit. I know of the coffee and chocolate issues and try to only buy fair trade, but have never heard anything about fruit.
ReplyDeleteI live in Canada, which is why I buy Canadian, I am also happy to buy US fruit, but choose Canadian when I can. I'll dig up some information about the fruit and get back to you =)
ReplyDeleteThis is a good one, it talks about how the workers are sprayed with pesticides while they are picking - they don't first ask the workers to leave the fields. There are also many children working in fruit picking. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,ECU,,45cc342f2,0.html
ReplyDeleteThis is another good one - it talks about how widespread child labour is in agriculture. Another thing I've heard, but am not 100% about, but Canada and the US both have laws about migrant workers, where they can legally have pickers come in from other countries who make the minimum wage in their country, not ours. So buying North American fruit may not be the answer, I have to assume that in our own countries the work conditions are at least fair, but I should really read up more on it. I think it's hard to get 100% cruelty free food, unfortunately.
http://www.bananalink.org.uk/webfm_send/11
Thanks Erin! Will look at all this today!
ReplyDelete