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.
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:
Banana Chocolate Chip Pretzel Smoothie
Berry Almond Bliss Steel-Cut Oatmeal
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
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ReplyDeleteThe 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.
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!
ReplyDeleteWe 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!
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