Are Vegetarians Bad for the Environment?
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I’m always reading about people eating less meat in order to reduce their carbon footprint. These people say that the most important thing you can do to help the environment is to go vegetarian.
For example, Kelly Freston wrote this article last year in the Huffington Post: Vegetarian is the New Prius:
Last month, the United Nations published a report on livestock and the environment with a stunning conclusion: “The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.
Seems logical. But is it really true?
I read a great article recently in the spring edition of Wise Traditions (the Weston A. Price Foundation quarterly journal). The article was written by Matthew J. Rales, who has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College in Vermont. He also recently completed an apprenticeship at Joel Salatin’s grass-based Polyface Farm.
This article is so dense and so brilliantly constructed that I can’t do it justice in one post. So I am going to do a series of posts discussing Matthew Rales’ arguments against vegetarianism as pro-environment.
Let’s start with the assertion that vegetarians make that rainforests are being destroyed by livestock.
“Make no mistake; rainforests are not cleared in any drastic measure by independent farmers who want to graze a few steers. They are cleared by United Nations-supported corporate giants under the guise of feeding the world and alleviating poverty — all for the production of more of their patented seed.”
“A recent article in Business Week reports that Brazil alone grows over 25 million acres of soybeans — all of which are genetically engineered. The Wall Street Journal reports that Monsanto’s stock has tripled in the last year due to Brazil’s demand for Roundup Ready soybeans — a genetically engineered plant that can withstand multiple, frequent applications of toxic herbicide.”
“Our society has been conditioned to support a co-opted environmental movement in the name of a chemical-intensive vegetable bypass industry, at the tragic expense of good health to both man and environment via the qualities of grazing animals and their products — meat and milk for people, manure for the soil — none of which we can afford to lose.”
Why are cows being blamed for the destruction of the rainforest? Farmers who raise cows on pasture do not buy soybeans. They do not buy corn. They feed their animals grass and hay.
Clearly, this argument made by the U.N. that raising animals for food is destroying the environment is fallacious. They are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Rales writes:
“The U.N. points its global finger not at bad management practices like feedlots and confinement dairies, but at the cows themselves; not at Monsanto, but at real farmers, who raise livestock in accordance with nature’s principles — on grass.
The U.N.’s accusations ought to be directed at chemical-intensive, industrial CAFO agriculture.”
Back to Kelly Freston’s article on the Huffington Post. The worst, most misleading part of her article are these two sentences:
Recent years have seen an explosion of environmentally-friendly vegetarian foods. Even chains like Ruby Tuesday, Johnny Rockets, and Burger King offer delicious veggie burgers and supermarket refrigerators are lined with heart-healthy creamy soymilk and tasty veggie deli slices.
Environmentally friendly? Burger King?
Let’s take a look at what’s in a BK Veggie Burger:
Vegetables (Mushrooms, Water Chestnuts, Onions, Carrots, Green Bell Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Black Olives), Textured Vegetable Protein (Soy Protein Concentrate, Wheat Gluten, Water for Hydration), Egg Whites, Cooked Brown Rice (Water, Brown Rice), Rolled Oats, Corn Oil, Calcium Caseinate, Soy Sauce (Water, Soybeans, Salt, Wheat), Onion Powder, Corn Starch, Salt, Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy, and Wheat Protein, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavors from non-meat sources, Sugar,Soy Protein Isolate, Spices, Garlic Powder, Dextrose, Jalapeño Pepper Powder, Celery Extract.Contains: Soy, Wheat, Milk and Egg. This is NOT a vegan product. The patty is cooked in the microwave.
I bolded all the processed foods that are contained in that single patty.
With that amount of processing, there is a ton of energy that goes into making that patty. Not to mention all the energy and chemical fertilizers that went into growing all those vegetables and soybeans and oats and rice. Oh, and there are egg whites in there, too. So you have to factor in raising chickens and slaughtering them as well. Plus those chickens were fed corn and soybeans.
And where do you think the corn and soybeans come from that were used to make this BK Veggie Burger? Do you think they came from organic farms tended by environmentally-conscious sustainable farmers?
Not likely. They are most likely genetically modified soybeans from industrial farms.
And where a lot of those industrial farms located? Why, in South America. Where the rainforests used to be.
All right, okay, so maybe you can still be a vegetarian and save the planet. You just won’t eat at Burger King. Maybe you’ll just buy those faux deli meats like Freston recommends at the health food store. Like “Smart Bacon”. After all, they are made from soybeans that are not genetically modified. So you’re safe, right?
Not so fast. What’s in Smart Bacon?
Water, soy protein isolate, wheat gluten, soybean oil, textured soy protein concentrate, textured wheat gluten, less than 2% of: natural smoke flavor, natural flavor (from vegetable sources), grill flavor (from sunflower oil), carrageenan, evaporated cane juice, paprika oleoresin (for flavor & color), potassium chloride, sesame oil, spice extractives, fermented rice flour, tapioca dextrin, citric acid, salt.
Again, I’ve bolded the processed foods. Any idea how much processing goes into some of these ingredients?
Take paprika oleoresin. I looked it up on Wikipedia:
Paprika oleoresin (also known as paprika extract) is an oil soluble extract from the fruits of Capsicum Annum Linn (Indian red chillies), and is primarily used as a colouring and/or flavouring in food products. It is composed of capsaicin, the main flavouring compound giving pungency in higher concentrations, and capsanthin and capsorubin, the main colouring compounds (among other carotenoids).[1]
Extraction is performed by percolation with a variety of solvents, primarily hexane, which are removed prior to use.[2]
Hexane? Where does hexane come from? Wikipedia?
Hexane is produced by the refining of crude oil.
Oh, okay, so Smart Bacon is made with hexane, a refined petroleum product. Gee whiz, how can that be good for the environment? I thought we were trying to reduce our dependency on oil.
So I guess Vegetarian is the New Prius, like Kelly Freston said, seeing how the Prius also requires gasoline.
But let’s get back to that Smart Bacon. What else is in there? TSP — textured soy protein. According to Wikipedia, this is how it’s made:
TSP is made by forming a dough from high nitrogen solubility index (NSI) defatted soy flour with water in a screw-type extruder such as the Wenger and heating with or without steam. The dough is extruded through a die into various possible shapes; granules, flakes, chunks, goulash, steakettes (schnitzle), etc., and dried in an oven.
OK so you have to grow the soybeans then dry them then grind them into flour then defat (?) the flour by extruding it and then heat it with or without steam.
Hmm… not sure how much energy is involved in that process but I do now that anything extruded is made in a factory.
Here’s a picture I found of a soy extruder:
You think that thing needs oil, too? Just like the Prius and the Smart Bacon? Or do you think it runs on solar power?
Anyone want to take a guess — which has a lower impact on the environment: a grass-fed farmer selling meat at the farmer’s market or extruded soy patties from a factory?
So who’s destroying the rainforests? Who’s using up the most energy to produce their foods?
Is it the small farmers raising grass-fed cows and those of us who support them by purchasing grass-fed meat and dairy products directly from the farmer?
Or is it multinational corporations like Monsanto and Burger King and Lightlife Foods (makers of Smart Bacon), and all the veggie-burger-eating vegetarians?
Wake up, folks. Just because you are avoiding meat does not mean you are avoiding factory farms.
If you really want to avoid factory farms, support your local farmer.
PS: We’re having cheeseburgers tonight. Grass-fed beef from Organic Pastures Dairy up in Fresno — where the cows are on pasture all year long.
Sources: Burger King, Lightlife Foods, Wise Traditions 2008, Huffington Post, Soy extruder machine
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14/07/2008 at 5:01 pm Permalink
How true!! People look at us like we are crazy when we tell them we drink whole fat raw milk and go through 5 dozen pastured eggs a week cooked in grass fed butter. They think using low fat salad dressing and low fat cheese is better for your health. We have lost weight and are much healthier since eating according to Nourishing Traditions.
I am a pediatrician and I cringe when I hear parents tell me they are feeding their kids vegetarian. I also try to discourage use of soy formula.
Dianne
14/07/2008 at 5:23 pm Permalink
It is sad. People are so confused about food and the environment and don’t know how to think for themselves. They can’t apply any form of logic to these things and are relying on someone to tell them what to do.
I feel like the vegetarian movement picked up steam because of factory farming – people were able to understand that it’s cruel to raise sick, suffering animals, and that it also isn’t good to eat those animals – and that was a good thing. But the world has changed in the last twenty years and they’re using the same arguments. They haven’t been able to extend the same logic to non-sentient beings like plants and our planet. The whole world suffers with industrial agriculture rendering the vegetarian/environmental argument obsolete.
The ONLY way to improve the environment and our health is to eat more consciously: less and better food produced by small, local farms. I am a person who struggles with the idea of an animal dying for my food but my main priority will always be food production that does not cause suffering, of an animal, the environment or my fellow man.
14/07/2008 at 5:24 pm Permalink
By the way, not ALL vegetarians eat this crap!
14/07/2008 at 5:53 pm Permalink
AAA-men.
14/07/2008 at 7:07 pm Permalink
Hi, Angelique!
I agree with you about everything you said.
I know all vegetarians don’t eat this way. Many do though. They may not eat Smart Bacon or BK Veggie Burgers, but many of them drink soy milk and eat soy products — thinking that it’s healthy and better for the environment.
And all soy products are highly processed and come from factory farms. Plus they put a LOT of sugar in soy milk (rice milk and almond milk too).
I understand what you say too about animals dying. I think the small farmer respects the animals. And how about dairy cows who give us milk, and chickens who give us eggs? They live a good life on small farms. Unlike all those animals in factory farms.
It just really galled me that Kelly Freston was championing the BK Veggie Burger as environmentally correct. It’s sad how people are being misinformed.
14/07/2008 at 7:12 pm Permalink
Vegetarianism allows uninformed people to feel OK about the consistent globalisation of food. Bottom line is no matter if herbivore or omnivore, staying local and organic is the key for a healthy sustainable future for us and our children.
14/07/2008 at 7:14 pm Permalink
AND books like Skinny Bitch speak to the disordered eating masses in convincing them of vegetarianism for the sake of vanity. A misplaced vanity. I know. I used to be one of them and am working diligently to fix this.
14/07/2008 at 7:15 pm Permalink
Hear hear, Noemi! (Or as Seth says, “Me too!!!”)
You said in two sentences what I endeavored to say in way too many paragraphs.
xoxo
14/07/2008 at 7:24 pm Permalink
HAHAHA
UGHHH do not get me started on Skinny Bitch
Actually I am going to read it and post about it — just because I think it is SO WRONG!
PS: Noemi, you are truly a wonderful person. So much heart and passion and authenticity — virtues that so many people in this world are lacking. I treasure you for who you are.
14/07/2008 at 10:43 pm Permalink
I nodded thru your entire post
15/07/2008 at 2:05 am Permalink
Ah *gush*
I’ve learnt SO much from you AM! Keep doing what you do. Truly inspiring!
n
15/07/2008 at 8:34 am Permalink
It should also be noted that it isn’t only vegetarians eating the super processed soy junk. A lot of doctors are telling people who are overweight or have high blood pressure to eat less meat. Those people, instead of cutting back on junk food and eating more vegetables, eat this stuff instead. They choke it down and probably hate every minute of it but think they’re being healthier because the doctor told them so. To me, this is just part of processed food pandemic and has less to do with vegetarianism. But that’s coming from someone who’s been an on and off veggie for ten years and hasn’t eaten junk food since high school.
15/07/2008 at 9:00 am Permalink
Darn – I’m not used to the WordPress system yet. I have to log out to be able to enter in my correct name & website. Anyway, that was me!
15/07/2008 at 9:01 am Permalink
Oh boy – doubly bad, it looks like the first comment didn’t post! I’ll get this right someday…
I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years now. Back when I became a vegetarian, the arguments made in the Huffington Post were good, important, and solid arguments. But now it sounds a little out-dated, to say the least.
I still hold that being a vegetarian can be the least impacting way of eating. For one thing, 10 times the amount of energy is needed to raise cows that you then eat, as opposed to directly eating the grains or other vegetable matter. So theoretically, it requires 10x more land to be a meat eater. In actuality it’s a little more complicated of course, but that’s the gist of it.
Also the methane emissions are an issue. And health issues also led me to vegetarianism – there are many studies (don’t ask me to name one – LOL) that link meat-eating to various health problems. Health issues lead to an overburdened health care system, which leads to more medical products and waste that are not good for the environment. Plus for me on a personal level, I decided a while ago that if I don’t have to eat an animal, I shouldn’t. I like animals, and I think it’s weird to raise animals to eat them. (But that’s me, everyone has their own relationship with food and the planet and everything else.)
I don’t honestly know how a soyburger from Burger King would compare to a beef burger from Burger King. I think the problem with arguments one way or the other is that the people supporting vegetarianism talk about the beef burger and its problems, and the people supporting carnivorism talk about the soy and its problems… but a side-by-side comparison is definitely going to show you the best data.
The soy… am I wrong, or isn’t a lot of soy used to feed pigs for meat? Also, soy is probably added to that Burger King beef burger, too. ; )
Ultimately, though, you’re totally right: what is anyone -vegetarian or carnivore- doing eating at Burger King? I believe that the most environmentally-conscious way of eating is to eat not processed foods. That means no nitrate-infested meats and no whatever soy bacon you mentioned. They’re both problematic.
Eating a well-balanced diet composed of food made from wholesome ingredients that are sourced from places you know – this is what I believe is the most important thing. If you can manage, it’s even better try to source those ingredients from organic, sustainable systems that give back to the environment and preserve biodiversity (ie, there are many types of cows and chickens out there – try an heirloom breed; and there are many kinds of carrots, too!).
15/07/2008 at 9:09 am Permalink
Oh, I should add one more thing… people who aren’t vegetarians do tend to think that we all eat soy regularly for protein. But the truth is that there are thousands of ways to consume protein. I only eat soy when I grab a few soy beans from the garden. Legumes, whole grains, vegetables… a whole host of other ingredients are at our disposal at a local, sustainable level.
I guess I’m saying this because this is a good discussion to have, and generalizations like “Vegetarianism allows uninformed people to feel OK about the consistent globalisation of food” are not very helpful in my opinion. Getting defensive and taking sides in this matter is -I think- not the point. The point is rather to get to the bottom of what is really sustainable.
15/07/2008 at 9:29 am Permalink
Hi, Angelique. I think you are a rarity! Most people eat a lot more junk than you do.
Plus you are lacto-ovo, right? So you don’t drink soy milk. And you eat ice cream and yogurt and stuff, right?
Maybe I should have said VEGANS instead of vegetarians. I think the vegans rely on soy and those processed products a lot more than lacto-ovos.
15/07/2008 at 9:31 am Permalink
Hi, there, Melinda!
What a thoughtful and well-reasoned comment!
I agree with a lot of what you say but disagree with some things.
I have much to say in response. I’m under deadline right now but please check back — I will respond by tonight or tomorrow.
Hugs -
Ann Marie
15/07/2008 at 11:00 am Permalink
I thought it was to end animal cruelty..
http://www.naturesgrasp.com
15/07/2008 at 11:05 am Permalink
Hi, Dassin,
I am 100% all for ending animal cruelty which is why I only buy meat and dairy and eggs from farmers who raise them on pasture.
I also try to buy everything organic (or not sprayed at least) — when we spray crops, it hurts and kills animals and insects (rabbits, etc.).
15/07/2008 at 11:17 am Permalink
AM, you are such a brilliant writer, your post should be in a magazine! You should write an article for Nourishing Traditions! Wondeful post.
15/07/2008 at 11:48 am Permalink
fabulous post, i am learning so much from you blog, thanks so much!
15/07/2008 at 3:00 pm Permalink
I was waiting for someone to bring up the ethical issue with factory raised meat. Of course its cruel. That’s why local, sustainably grown is key. And orgs like PETA are actually awful in their plight and more damaging IMO. So many terror-like tactics in “making their point”. And they also have Pam Anderson-Lee-Rock-whatever so it has to be sketchy.
Ugh.
15/07/2008 at 3:24 pm Permalink
LOL! She is their spokesperson?
16/07/2008 at 4:17 pm Permalink
You’re right, I am definitely different than a lot of vegetarians. I have met quite a few that don’t even eat vegetables! Regardless, the problem I have with denouncing vegetarians outright is that I feel the veggie movement has raised people’s awareness and consciousness about the treatment of animals and what they put in their body.
There are more people eating meat as junk than eating good meat, and those people are looking for an excuse to keep eating it. Saying “vegetarians are unhealthy and you need to eat more meat!” is the excuse they’re looking for. It oversimplifies the issue and misses an opportunity to (further) educate people on the difference between food and junk AND enlighten people on the issue of animal abuse.
By the way, the Humane Society is tirelessly fighting for animals to be raised in a healthier, more humane way. They have sensible messaging, incredible marketing and a mainstream reach. I encourage anyone concerned about the welfare of animals to support them: http://www.hsus.org/.
16/07/2008 at 8:44 pm Permalink
Angelique,
You are right that vegetarians have raised public consciousness and that is a good thing.
And I agree with you about the humane society.
16/07/2008 at 9:17 pm Permalink
Hi, Melinda!
First off I want to say that I do respect vegetarians very much. I used to be one.
I think we are overall in agreement about most things.
I think vegetarians are well-intentioned but ultimately it is not a sustainable solution. Sure, if *some* people eat vegetarian, that would work okay. But people need to eat meat in order to maintain a truly sustainable farming system. Or at least — SOME people need to eat meat. Going all vegetarian/vegan is not sustainable.
I really need to write a whole post about this and I’m going to. But for now — let me just give you the abbreviated version.
I disagree with you that eating vegetarian is the least impactful way of eating. The reason I say this is because you cannot separate the two — vegetarian farming and farming that is works in tandem with farm animals.
Growing nutritious fruits and vegetables requires fertilizer in order to fortify the soil. The best fertilizer is manure from animals.
We are hearing about all of these vegetables (spinach, tomatoes) being contaminated with E. coli. Even organic vegetables!
Why is this happening? I believe that it is because the “Big Organic” companies are using manure from factory farms. They need the manure to grow healthy nutritious produce — but this is the manure they have access to (since the vast majority of manure is coming from factory farms).
This is just one reason I think it is more sustainable to NOT be a vegetarian and instead to eat meat from grass-fed animals. We need to support these farmers.
That said, I think you can be a vegetarian and support those farmers. A lacto-ovo vegetarian. You can buy your milk, cheese, butter, cream, and eggs from small local grass-based farmers.
But I think it is absolutely not environmentally sound to just eat vegetables and grains — I think that is ultimately not sustainable for the planet.
Anyway that is just one reason. There are others. Which I will be posting about.
We agree on Burger King — it’s ridiculous for anyone to eat there. Which is why I was so shocked by that article in the Huffington Post.
The pork I buy, by the way, is from a local farmer and he does not feed his pigs soy.
I have lots of posts to do about why I believe vegetarianism puts you at risk for nutritional deficiencies. There’s a lot of confusing information out there, I know. But I will just post the facts that I have read.
I think you can get by on a vegetarian diet just fine — especially if you eat lots of eggs, cheese, and butter. Or eat seafood, especially shellfish occasionally. But I do not think a vegetarian diet is safe or healthy for growing children or pregnant or nursing mothers (unless they are eating a lot of raw dairy and/or shellfish).
I do not think the vegan diet is healthy for anyone.
Anyway, more on that in an upcoming post.
I will discuss the methane issue in an upcoming post as well.
Thanks again for your comments. We’ll continue to discuss this — obviously these are very important issues for all of us.
Ann Marie
18/07/2008 at 10:38 am Permalink
I very much disagree with you regarding your rich Table Fare; maybe being born middle class, or even poor is way better than having Adults, kids, & even toddlers consuming Mussels, seafoods, duck, etc. – which is something that will introduce countless bacteria & pathogens into your Gut & Mucosa walls! I happen to be a Vegan & have been a Seventh-day Adventist vegetarian for more than 38 of my 58 years.
Since the oncoming of the Fluoridation of our water, a lot of us Vegetarirans & Vegans have been prone to Candida Albicans infestation, which may be something that was seen coming, prior to dumping it. We the plant-eaters have more sensitive systems, whereas the Carnivore and the omnivore has more crud built-in, esp. on a highly versatile diet as most of your Rich folk eat.
I see you have commented on a lot of interesting and versatile amounts of of a variety of recipes, which is all well and good, but Life & Health is not all comprized in the Bread as someone wise Once said (i.e. Christ) e.g. the multiplicity and/or versatility of items, but by Every Word tha Proceedeth Out of the Mouth of God — as much as that purity that Diet Fare that ensued Out of the Garden of Creation.
You, all of high meat diet consumers, are heavily propped up by Candida which is a Fungal (both Animal & vegetable world) Infestation that is Very prevalent in the Carnivorous’s Large Intestine, then it rises to the rest of the body, and can be highly deleterious and desensetizing, Morally as well as Spiritually, making the system encrust all over with it, like scaffolding & shield surrounding you everywhere;
That is the Real Reason why New Vegetarians & Vegans, or those people who are not digesting &/or properly processing Seeds, Nuts, & the like, as you related the story of that Vegan woman with 2 young daughters with lots of cavities> YOU MUST FIRST DETOX THE CANDIDA ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, YOU CANNOT JUST JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON OF VEGETARIANISM AND/OR VEGANISM!
The Gunk & Muck that you had prior to turning over to a Vegan, is such that it must be cleansed and/or properly disposed of & well scoured off, wiped off with Chlorophyll, because it will stay & possibly even grow into a Clump/Yarn & accumulate, and sorely inclict you as you Do Not Assimilate these Seeds & Nuts (which must be washed in lukewarm saline water in order to remove fungi, and possibly even ensuing mold & mildew if they were not properly packaged, stored!)
Drinking cold green shakes, unsweetened, with some org.oil, will do much to alleviate that prevalent Candida problem, & Irradiate the system with Sun-ray energy, the super healer, thus wiping manifold pathogens off of your Gut/Mucosa, since the onslaught & mendatory Fluoridation days of the early 80′s, a by-product of nuclear energy, and highly desensetizing & toxic to the Human system (as well as animal I am sure!).
That’s why Vegans & Vegetarians are not faring as well as let’s say in the 70′s, because of all this dumping of toxic Fluoride & other mediums into our drinking water. Seventh-Day Adventists are amongst the 4 healthiest groups in the world even today, at less than 50% of their members following a vegetarian diet, as opposed to 80% of us, being vegetarians in the 60′s & 70′s.
FYI Did you know that Serbian-American Nikola TESLA, of which I am one, The World’s Greatest Inventor, was a Vegetarian for the last 55 yrs. of his 67-year Productive inventor’s life?
Do you know that no meat-eater could ever have invented the Mind-Boggling inventions, even though he was sponsored and/or financially backed by Edison, Westinghouse, Ford & J. P. Morgan, Namely, no Car! (Model T for Tesla), no AC/DC, nor Gramophone, No Telephone, No Motion Picture Camera, No X-ray tech, No Improved Telescope & Microscope, no Light Bulb, No TV, No Radio, No Plane, No Helicopter, No Jet Engine, No Computer, ad infinitum.
When this Man died, on Our Serbian Christian Orthodox Christmas Day (Why?), he left 36 crates-full of Future Inventions, which were promptly lifted by the Secret Service & the Pentagon, which included, Cell Phones, the Wireless & Remote-Control technology, GPS, Star Wars & other satellites included, the Loptop, th Digital, Super Conductors, Color TV (as he initially only sold Black & White), an a myriad of other discoveries.
Pls. check Tesla conspiracies on the Internet, and you might see some for yourself.
So pls. do not blog irresponsibly about meat & carnivorous regimens, as they make me puke.
Fast get to detox your systems with green shakes & juices, and see if you don’t reach that Nirvana state or next to it! Meat eaters make good Consumers, and we the Vegan lot, when super detoxed & purified make the Best Producers of all Mothers & the like.
I wish you all well & Godspeed!
Affectionately,
Sandra (Roksanda)
Kosmajac
18/07/2008 at 4:00 pm Permalink
Hi, Sandra, thanks for commenting.
All humans have a variety of bacteria in the digestive tract.; we must have this bacteria in order to remain healthy. We cannot live without it.
Candida overgrowth is not actually caused by eating animal products. And correcting a candida overgrowth is best done by avoiding grains and sugars and consuming probiotics (often dairy cultures) not by “green shakes and juices”.
Also, being a vegan can be just as expensive as eating our “rich Table Fare”.
“So pls. do not blog irresponsibly about meat & carnivorous regimens, as they make me puke.”
I am sorry that you don’t like my blog and it makes you feel sick. However, the good news is, you don’t have to read it.
Good luck to you!
18/07/2008 at 10:25 pm Permalink
Why always attacking the vegans and vegetarians? Do you feel threatened somehow? I don’t disagree with everything you say in your article, I just don’t understand why you’re so self-righteously anti-veg in so many of your blogs.
I am vegetarian (and I don’t attack meat-eaters who are most of the people I know) and know for a fact I am healthier for it. I don’t buy smart bacon or other fake meats and it is ignorant for you to assume that all vegetarians do. I try to buy as fresh and as minimally processed as possible. There are also plenty of non-veg items at the grocers that are as full of chemicals that are consumed by omnivores, but you seem bent on proving your point that “vegetarians are bad” rather than engaging in an honest discussion or research.
We don’t all fit into the same little box. There are many different reasons why one chooses to go veg, there are healthy vegs and junk-food eating vegs. Some do it for the environment, some for religious reasons, some for animal rights, some for improved health and some for all of the above. And we’re not all wrong.
Of course, this is your blog and you are entitled to your opinion but just because you drank the Weston Price Koolaid does not make you an expert on health and nutrition. You are obviously clueless about the many benefits of following a mostly plant based diet but you want to make sure to make anyone who does look like a quack.
Don’t worry, I won’t be back as I don’t want to read or disturb your narrowly held world views any further.
18/07/2008 at 10:55 pm Permalink
“I don’t buy smart bacon or other fake meats and it is ignorant for you to assume that all vegetarians do.”
No, I do not assume that. Read the post again. I was responding to advice given by Kelly Freston in her Huffington Post article. She is the one who recommended that people eat that way for the environment. I was responding to that.
“Of course, this is your blog and you are entitled to your opinion but just because you drank the Weston Price Koolaid does not make you an expert on health and nutrition. You are obviously clueless about the many benefits of following a mostly plant based diet but you want to make sure to make anyone who does look like a quack.
Don’t worry, I won’t be back as I don’t want to read or disturb your narrowly held world views any further.”
I won’t worry. You are not my audience.
I never claimed to be an expert on health and nutrition. I am learning as I go.
I used to be a vegetarian myself but I have learned since then that there are healthier ways to eat.
I do think you can be a vegetarian and still be healthy — if you are drinking milk and eating butter and eggs and cheese. And/or eating shellfish occasionally.
There are no traditional vegan societies that were healthy that I know of. If you know of one, please make me aware.
You seem to be very anti-WAPF but you don’t seem to know much about Dr. Weston Price or his research. Have you read his book?
19/07/2008 at 12:25 am Permalink
I’m not anti-anything…just my knee-jerk reaction to the many misinformed anti-vegetarian sentiments on your blog.
Yes, I have read his book and been to the website which also has a slight anti-veg bent. I respectfully disagree with much of it but I do agree that if one is to eat meat that it is best from local natural farmers. I have also read a great many other books on health and nutrition and read the scientific studies which they cite rather than rely on one source of information.
I am a very healthy vegetarian-nearly vegan. I know from experience my health would suffer if I were to consume dairy, eggs and cheese regularly. I also know it’s not for everyone but I do feel it is the healthiest and most ethical diet.
You keep going on about traditional vegan societies as if there is anything traditional about the American diet. We are overly focused on meat and protein in our society thanks to the rise of factory farming which made it more accessible, not because this is the way we always ate.
The Asian people who follow their traditional plant&starch based diets are renowned for the low rates of heart disease and cancers…until they start adopting Western eating habits.
There are many other examples if you’re really interested and you will find them in the resources I posted on the other blog.
19/07/2008 at 12:46 am Permalink
http://www.energygrid.com/health/2002/06ap-stephenbyrnes.html
19/07/2008 at 4:48 pm Permalink
Vegan/vegetarian, or a traditional diet? My two cents:
I was raised macrobiotic. I was healthier in many ways then my friends because we ate fermented foods and no sugar or processed food. When I was a teenager we started eating butter and raised our own cow for beef and chicken for eggs. This was because my brother seemed to be deficient in some vitamins and would eat as much meat as he could get his hands on.
I used a lot of soy milk, and although I was healthy in comparison, I was fairly low energy as a teenager and have suffered from terrible menstrual cramps since the age of 11. In college I switched to a pretty much vegetarian and vegan diet (lots of soy milk), became extremely tired, and developed debilitating ovarian cysts. Needless to say I was confused because I should have been so healthy.
Since transitioning to a traditional diet, I have more energy and feel healthier and happier then I have since I was a teenager. I don’t have cysts and my cramps are (slowly) getting less painful.
I enjoy eating and cooking a lot more and I don’t feel guilty when I eat something that my body is telling me I need.
That’s my experience!
19/07/2008 at 5:01 pm Permalink
Hi, Kate,
That is really interesting — it makes sense that the soy milk would mess up your hormones. You were probably also eating a low-fat diet as a vegan, huh? I think eating good saturated fats really helps your hormones.
How long were you a vegan and how long have you been eating traditional foods?
I have been eating more fat since I’ve been eating traditional foods — for 9 months now. And I definitely notice that my cramping is much less painful.
Also, the sensitivity and pain I had all the time in my teeth and gums has also disappeared.
Ann Marie
19/07/2008 at 5:38 pm Permalink
Yes I definitely think the saturated fat helps with hormones!
I was probably almost a vegan for a couple of years as a kid. As a teenager and in my early twenties I ate meat, but no milk, and very little butter, cheese, and hardly any eggs. Definitely low-fat. I’ve always craved meat, so I’ve eaten it in moderation except for maybe a year during college. I always felt like I should be a veg, but could never quite do it. I’ve been eating WAPF style for about 8 months, and for about a year before that I started eating higher fat and protein after reading the books “the Diet Cure” and Schwarzbein Principle”. I’ve always made sure to eat whole, unprocessed foods, but I feel so great eating this way. It feels so natural and satisfying, and I love drinking milk without feeling guilty!
What made you decide tostart eating this way?
19/07/2008 at 8:21 pm Permalink
Hi, Kate,
Thanks for sharing your story.
I had never heard of WAPF — until after my baby was born.
My Great Uncle Roy who is in his 80s sent me the link to the website, when we read on my blog that I had to start supplementing with formula (I could not produce enough breast milk).
He sent me the link to warn me about using soy formula. The more I read, the more I agreed with. And I started buying raw milk and making raw milk formula — instead of commercial formula. Within 2 weeks, her cradle cap disappeared.
I’m really grateful to my Uncle Roy for sending me the link. And I am really grateful to the WAPF for all the research they have done and all the outreach and education that they do.
20/07/2008 at 7:30 am Permalink
Hi, Christine,
It’s good that you read the book – and it’s fine that you disagree. Opinions based on ignorance are never good — but if you took the time to read it and you disagree, that’s an educated decision and I respect that.
Just to respond to a couple of your points:
“You keep going on about traditional vegan societies as if there is anything traditional about the American diet. We are overly focused on meat and protein in our society thanks to the rise of factory farming which made it more accessible, not because this is the way we always ate.”
Not sure how you came to that conclusion. If anything, traditional peoples ate more meat and dairy and animal fats. If they could afford it, they ate it. A lot of traditional people kept chickens and dairy cows or goats so they would have eggs and milk and butter. Or they fished. Or they hunted. But in most traditional societies (see Dr. Price’s book), they did not eat very many vegetables or grains at all.
The reason the New York Stock Exchange is called that is because livestock was so valuable. And Americans were called Yankees because of their love of cheese (it comes from the Dutch Jan Kase — John Cheese).
So I think it’s inaccurate to say that modern factory farming is the cause of an increase of meat eating.
If you read this article,
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/sad_changes_american_standard.html
it talks about a cookbook published in 1895 — prior to modern factory farming.
“There is hardly a recipe in the collection that does not contain butter, cream, eggs or lard, beginning with the soup chapter and ending with the substantial array of desserts. Most meat recipes call for gravy made with drippings, and occasionally with added cream. Vegetable recipes include asparagus dressed in cream, four versions of cabbage in a cream sauce, corn and eggplant fritters fried in lard, potato balls fried in “good drippings” and parsnips fried in bacon fat.”
People are eating a lot less meat and dairy and today actually — milk consumption has gone down, as has the consumption of beef, cream, and eggs. And people used to eat a lot more animal fat prior to the 1980s. McDonalds fries used to be cooked in beef tallow — and now all restaurant foods are fried in soybean and vegetable oil. That is a huge decrease in the consumption of animal foods.
You had another comment I wanted to address…
“The Asian people who follow their traditional plant&starch based diets are renowned for the low rates of heart disease and cancers…until they start adopting Western eating habits.
There are many other examples if you’re really interested and you will find them in the resources I posted on the other blog.”
The Chinese have traditionally eaten pork, ducks, chickens and geese, sheep, and horses. They traditionally cooked with lard.
Thai people traditionally ate a lot of fish, fowl, and other animals, and fried food in lard.
The Japanese have always eaten a diet of primarily fish and seafoods. They do eat a lot of rice, too, but they eat an equal amount of fish. They eat beef, pork and fowl, too.
Vietnamese, Koreans, etc. All eat meat and animal products — and have always done so.
The Japanese have been known for their low rate of breast and other cancers, as you say, however they eat a lot of fish (about 1/2 pound per day). I would not say that is a diet that is primarily based on plants and starch. There is a lot of research showing that it is the iodine in all the fish and seaweed they eat that is protecting them from cancer.
21/07/2008 at 3:03 pm Permalink
I feel you’ve made up your mind about this, so it doesn’t make sense for me to continue on for long. But please take into account that people who have diet deficiencies as vegetarians generally have not paid enough attention to the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids they are taking in. And that while you decided not to stay a vegetarian for health reasons – and you feel better – I have had VAST improvements in my own health since becoming a vegetarian.
(I should note that I do eat eggs and milk products, always local and organic from sustainable farms. This is partly for the amino acids and vitamins, but largely because being vegan was really difficult to do in a healthy, sustainable way. Not impossible – but very difficult.)
The e.coli problems in tomatoes and spinach – those are, as you say, from factory farms. But we both agree that the big factory farms – both animal farms and produce farms – are not good for our society. And thus they don’t really have anything to do with being a vegetarian or not, as these are not sustainable systems.
I agree that supporting sustainable farms is necessary, but I don’t agree that you have to be a carnivore to support them. There are many ways to obtain that manure and use it in a sustainable system: 1. supplement it with compost; 2. Rotate crops; 3. interplant crops; 4. plant cover crops; 3. obtain manure from sustainably raised cows and chickens – which can be dairy cows and egg-laying chickens (not just ones you eat); 4. obtain manure from working ranch animals – horses, cows, chickens, goats, etc..
To read the strong opinions of meat-eaters has been eye-opening for me. It’s also funny, because I think vegetarians get a bad wrap for being so vocal about their lifestyles, while meat eaters are truly MUCH more vocal.
Ultimately though, I really believe that those of us trying to eat sustainably should probably be working together rather than becoming divided. Because you and I are much, much, much more alike in our eating patterns than we are like the average American.
21/07/2008 at 3:04 pm Permalink
A few typos in there, but you get my drift. ; )
21/07/2008 at 3:59 pm Permalink
Hi, Melinda,
Thanks for your thoughtful (as always!) comment.
The reason I wrote this post was to make the point that just by making the choice to become a vegetarian, does NOT mean you are automatically helping the environment. Avoiding eating meat and animal products does not necessarily mean that you are doing any thing for the environment.
And yet that is what we hear all the time — just eat less meat, and so forth.
But what you are doing actually makes sense. Trying to buy local and from local farmers.
Anyway that was my point — just that Kelly Freston and her argument about the Prius and eating BK Veggie burgers is all wrong.
As far as nutritional deficiencies, I think if you eat plenty of butter and cream and eggs, you should be fine. Esp. if you can eat shellfish every once in a while.
However, eating a low-fat vegetarian diet can cause a lot of health problems. And eating a vegan diet is absolutely not healthy — for anyone but most especially children.
Soy is also very bad for you — unless it is fermented and eaten in small quantities.
I’m going to post more on this topic. I have a lot of sources and data.
And you are right — we are more alike than we are different. And we do need to pull together.
I just wish people would stop blaming eat meaters and cows!
Ann Marie
21/07/2008 at 4:00 pm Permalink
Eat meaters. Hahaha! You know what I meant.
04/08/2008 at 10:07 am Permalink
Your use of wikipedia destroys the whole argument. Wikipedia is not a reliable source because numerous people with unclear background checks place comments and info. Secondly feeding animals less plants and vegetation just for their milk and eggs can relieve pain and suffering. If you doubt pain and suffering occurs to these animals then you are delusional and require more info. I believe its not that people aren’t informed that its better to be a vegetarian or vegan, its that they don’t have the fortitude to become one.
04/08/2008 at 10:39 am Permalink
While I agree, Wikipedia is not always a good source, that does not destroy the whole argument. I have other sources.
Paprika oleoresin is made with hexane. That is a fact.
Here are some other sites where this fact is stated:
http://www.occidentalfoods.com/paprikaOleoresin.htm
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/3378/capsaicinarticle20.htm
http://chemicalland21.com/lifescience/foco/PAPRIKA%20OLEORESIN.htm
As far as how TSP is produced, again that is a fact. If you want sources, I’ll go get more.
I agree with you that the animals do suffer in the industrial system. Which is why I buy all my meat and dairy products from local farmers who are raising the animals humanely and sustainably.
Good luck to you.
08/09/2008 at 3:12 pm Permalink
I was a de facto (by marriage) vegetarian for 7 years. I only rarely ate meat. We were also involved in animal rights organizations. So we had a large group of vegetarian/vegan friends.
My ex-wife and several of our vegetarian/vegan friends were in poor physical condition. A couple were severely overweight and others were just weak/frequently sick. There were a few that would forego meat for processed foods, but most were traditional ovo/lacto vegetarians.
I laughed out loud when I read the comment about watching your vitamins from Melinda. I remember being on a trip with 2 of these friends, and watching them consume handfuls of vitamins (pills) several times a day. I’m talking about 10-20 pills with every meal. Nevertheless, one half of this couple was constantly in and out of the hospital with intestinal problems. Finally, she was advised by a doctor to start eating fish/meat. Within a year most all of her medical problems were gone.
I’ve never been a big fan of vitamin supplements. I think in most cases you should adjust your diet rather than taking a fistfuls of pills.
I think the studies we’ve seen over the last few years regarding low carb diets only bolster the idea that we should eat a ‘traditional’ diet. One study followed people who were on Atkins and The American Heart Association diets for five years. At the end of that 5 years, not only had the people who were on the low carb diet lost more weight, but they also had lower cholesterol and fewer cardiac problems. People on low carb diets tend to eat more meat.
I’m not anti-vegetarian, just giving my observations.
The key is eating locally grown. Be it meat or veggies.
BTW-The last time I saw my ex-wife she had dropped over 100 pounds, and was actually in terrific shape. She had been working out daily, and what was the big change in her diet? A more traditional diet including beef, poultry, and fish.
08/09/2008 at 7:25 pm Permalink
Great comment, Matt!
I especially like this part of what you wrote:
“I think the studies we’ve seen over the last few years regarding low carb diets only bolster the idea that we should eat a ‘traditional’ diet. One study followed people who were on Atkins and The American Heart Association diets for five years. At the end of that 5 years, not only had the people who were on the low carb diet lost more weight, but they also had lower cholesterol and fewer cardiac problems. People on low carb diets tend to eat more meat.”
We’ve been eating this way for almost a year now and I can really feel a difference when we eat processed foods or even just unsoaked grains. Last night we went out to dinner and had a small amount of bread and pastry with the meal (we also ate lobster, foie gras, antelope, and pork LOL!). My husband had digestive issues immediately. I was just a little constipated. I know it was from the bread. That always happens to me when I eat breads that are not naturally leavened.
I used to be a lacto-ovo vegetarian too and as a matter of course you do end up eating lots and lots of grains. And most people have never heard of the tradtional methods for soaking and fermenting grains. I know I never did before I read “Nourishing Traditions” last year.
Ann Marie
26/10/2008 at 6:16 pm Permalink
Dear Ann Marie,
Congratulations on a very popular blog. Much of what you say makes a lot of sense. I absolutely agree that we should eat local and organic and support small farmers. I also agree we should avoid processed foods. I do not agree that people should eat the volumes of meat and dairy that you and the Weston A Price Foundation recommends. It would result in more land being converted to pasture and more animals generally being reared, which we know results in climate change due to the methane emitted by cows and sheep. This is indisputable.
I don’t know about the US, but here in the UK we don’t have the space for all the intensively raised animals to graze. People have to cut down on their meat and dairy consumption.
On another point, let’s remember that a massive NINETY per cent of soy is fed to animal raised for meat in Europe and China. So there really are not any grounds to blame vegetarians and vegans for causing deforestation in Latin America. Clearing for cattle ranching and growing soy are the top causes of deforestation in the Amazon. So, number one culprit is the meat eater. I agree, this doesn’t apply to people who eat meat from animal raised locally on grass only. But please be a little more hasty before pointing your finger at vegetarians and vegans – even if their diet does contain some soy, their impact on this issue is truly minimal.
I also agree with you that large quantities of soy in the diet is not healthy. However, I do believe it is healthier than meat and dairy. There’s a vast array of research which shows that meat and dairy causes heart disease and cancer. I know the Weston A Price Foundation say differently, but some of their claims conflict almost all other studies and really are quite frightening. WAPF exists to promote meat and dairy, that is obvious, so you really must be careful before you take everything they say as absolute truth.
I’m afraid I cannot take any of your comments about animal welfare seriously considering you recently ate lobster, who are boiled alive, and foie gras, which probably causes more suffering than any other form of farming.
As you may have guessed, I am vegan. I am the perfect weight and seldom ill. When a cold goes around the office usually I am the only one not to get it. I also have many vegan friends, many of whom take part in extremely strenuous sports and have even represented England in international tournaments. My partner has an 11 year old daughter who has been vegan since birth. She is top of her class and recently won an award for swimming. Yes, vegans can be unhealthy, just as meat eaters can. Please just try to be a little more open-minded and try not to attack vegetarians and vegans at every opportunity.
http://www.ethicaleating.org.uk
26/10/2008 at 7:20 pm Permalink
Hey AM, question for you: would you consider doing a blog in which you address ECONOMIC factors that are clearly at work here?
I know you’re doing a book on the subject – homemaking things, preserving, cloth diapering, etc. All of these things are wonderful and ought to be promoted as money-saving life tips.
But regarding vegetarianism, might you have room here to consider the fact that for people who cannot afford it, going veg might be a healthier option than eating meat? Grass-fed, organic beef/poultry is incredibly expensive. So is wild salmon. (Farmed US tilapia is a good alternative, as it’s cheap and safe, though unfortunately not as full of good fats.) Shellfish even moreso. If one is poor, it may well come down to eating or paying rent. So for those who haven’t the means, it might well be better to be a healthy whole-foods vegetarian than a factory-farmed meat eater.
I think we just really need to be careful about making blanket statements regarding people’s eating habits. Carnivore or herbivore, we all have the opportunity to make sustainable eating choices. And they don’t necessarily have to contain any one product – chicken OR carrots.
26/10/2008 at 9:11 pm Permalink
Ah Kim! You said what I meant to say earlier! What concerns me most about the Weston A Price Foundation’s goal of promoting a diet high in animal products is that few people can afford organic, free range meats and dairy, so all they will achieve is higher consumption of products from factory farmed animals – something we all want to avoid!
27/10/2008 at 6:07 am Permalink
Sophie
IN Denmark the organic dairy (=free range) is very common
– 25-30 % of all dairy sold.! Organic milk is not much more expensive that regular milk. a difference in 2o cent or so pr liter.
so follwing WAP does not mean that you HAVE to have more factory farming !
I am another x vegetarian ( and vegan ) WAP follower
- who has benefited from switching to WAP.
- but I do think you can be a healthy lacto ovo vegetarian – however find it hard to imagine a healthy agriculture without animals.
28/10/2008 at 11:04 am Permalink
Hi, Sophie, thanks for your very thoughtful post.
I actually don’t think most vegetarians are bad for the environment. It’s all the highly processed veggie food that’s bad. Like soy milk.
I don’t feel bad about killing animals for food as long as they are raised humanely.
You are incorrect that the Weston A. Price Foundation exists to promote meat and dairy. Have you read Dr. Weston Price’s book? That is the reason they exist.
There were a few native cultures Dr. Price studied who were vegetarian or close to vegetarian. However they did eat dairy products and eggs. The Swiss people he studied only ate meat around once a week but they ate lots of dairy products.
I think you can absolutely be healthy eating mostly fish or dairy products and eggs. But I do not think you can be optimally healthy without those things.
28/10/2008 at 11:09 am Permalink
Hi, Kim,
I agree with you — meat is expensive. And yes, you can be very healthy eating mostly eggs and dairy instead of meat.
I was amazed to find wild salmon at Costco recently for only $2.45/pound. Cheaper than grass-fed hamburger.
Eating shellfish a couple of times a month provides more nutrients than eating grass-fed beef every day.
I also think that if someone is poor and wants to eat better, it would be very smart to get some chickens if at all possible. It costs very little to keep chickens and they give you so much food!
Another thing one can do is get a goat or a cow. You need more pasture for a cow but you don’t need much for a goat.
I think there is a big diff between chicken and carrots though. Carrots are nice but I really think it’s important to try to incorporate nutrient dense foods and foods with fat-soluble activators if you want to stay healthy.
So eat those carrots with butter!
28/10/2008 at 11:10 am Permalink
Henriette, that is so wonderful. I think we are going to start to see changes like this in America too. There is a real movement happening here!
28/10/2008 at 4:43 pm Permalink
“So following WAP does not mean you have to have more factory farming.”
Not if you’re in DENMARK, no. But if you’re in the US, you’re looking at a completely different, and frankly much more complicated, agricultural infrastructure that would have to be turned entirely on its head. (Not that it shouldn’t be. It should. I’m just noting.)
I think what you’re advocating, AM, is fundamentally important TO the transformation of said infrastructure, and that’s for people to start growing their own food – both vegetable AND animal. I’m terrified of raising animals, as I don’t know diddly about it, but I envy those with enough courage to try, and am happy to give them my business!
Back to the original point, though, if you’re going to compare apples to apples and compare junk-food-eating vegetarians with junk-food-eating meat eaters, the meat eaters lose every time because they support CAFOs, and there are few things on this planet that are more foul than those. I think instead of going after vegetarians, then, what will be more productive for ALL of us sustainable-practice advocates to do is not to champion one eating habit over the other as an absolute (though, OBVIOUSLY, you’ve found what works for you, it happens to work for me too, and we both enjoy recommending it to people, which is cool), but to stress practice over product. If you cannot get grass-fed beef, then don’t eat beef! If you cannot afford wild salmon (man, I wish I had a Costco near me; I’m still a little incredulous at that price you quoted), don’t eat color-enhanced salmon! Choose what is sustainable over any other factor, I think. If that makes a WAPF diet impossible for you, so be it – modify it however you can, but I don’t think the latter should ever be allowed to subjugate the former.
(PS – My carrots are not ever without my good Amish butter! But if I didn’t have access to raw butter or KerryGold, I’d do without it, you know? Same for eggs – though I think now pastured eggs are becoming more and more common. Thank goodness.)
31/10/2008 at 5:08 pm Permalink
Hi, Kim,
I agree, junk-food eating vegetarians are better than junk-food eating meat eaters.
However, a lot of “junk-food” eating vegetarians do not think that what they are eating is really junk. They don’t see a problem with soy milk and soy patties and so on. Which is why I wrote this post.
I wrote it because I so often see people online saying that you should eat less meat to help the environment.
I agree with you though — instead of blaming vegetarians or vegetarians blaming meat eaters, we should all come together and support sustainable local food and small farms.
This is why I think the local food movement is so great. A lot of people are eating locally for the environment — and by doing that they are also by default eating grass-fed beef and pastured eggs because that is what they get locally.
That said, I think it is more important to get real raw milk than it is to drink local milk. I will not buy pasteurized milk. My milk comes from Organic Pastures which is not exactly local (Fresno is over 200 miles from LA). It might be possible to get pasteurized milk that is from a farm that is closer to me, but I won’t buy it.
And yeah, KerryGold is a great example. They are in Ireland! But the butter is from grass-fed cows.
Tough decisions for sure. Do you go with local butter that is from confinement cows — or import butter from Ireland or from the Amish?
I obviously don’t have all the answers but I certainly do agree with you that we need to make more folks aware of these issues.
20/05/2009 at 12:33 pm Permalink
Kudos for suggesting that grass fed and small local farms are the way to go. Thought I’d still point out besides methane, the cows are releasing their waste into the ground. As an example, one dairy farm with 2,500 cows produces as much waste as a city with around 300,000 residents. This untreated sewage goes directly into the ground. I didn’t spend a lot of time searching for cows that are used for food, but it would make sense that the statistics are similar.
Also, soymilk isn’t highly processed. I make my own soymilk a few times a month. I soak soybeans overnight and add them to the soymilk maker with a bit of salt, water, and 1 tsp of sugar. 20 minutes later I have soymilk when the beans are ground cooked in the water. I’ve got no reason to believe store bought soymilk is not made in a similar manner.
I’ll agree that many soy faux meats are highly processed and that they are not the healthiest food or the most environmentally friendly. Though many manufacturers of organic soy products use alternative fuels to run their factory like wind and solar. Also any product labeled organic does not use hexane in the processing.
As a healthy vegan for over 7 years, I can say that it is possible to eat a varied diet and do just fine. Soy is not a staple in my house. I also drink almond, rice, and hemp milks which I generally make from scratch as well. Lentils and beans provide plenty of protein. I bet you didn’t know that grains and vegetables also contain protein. Rice has protein content as does broccoli, mushrooms and most everything else we eat.
20/05/2009 at 2:26 pm Permalink
Alex -
Thanks for your comment.
Unfortunately there has never been a group of people in all of history who ate a vegan diet and survived.
There are concerns with vegans getting enough B12, iodine, and vitamin D. You can get your vitamin D and iodine levels checked pretty cheaply, and there are supplements you can take of course.
Also you should know that there are many health risks associated with eating unfermented soy. It is a goitrogen and blocks iodine uptake which is bad for the thyroid, breasts, and ovaries (it can cause cysts and cancer).
“For adults, just 30 mg of soy isoflavones per day is the amount found to have a negative impact on thyroid function. This amount of soy isoflavones is found in just 5-8 ounces of soy milk.” Source: http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/soydangers.htm
Unfermented soy is also full of phytic acid which blocks mineral absorption. Additionally it is extremely estrogenic and can cause hormonal problems.
Here’s more info:
http://www.naturalnews.com/022630.html
Good luck to you!
12/01/2010 at 10:01 am Permalink
All I know is, the vegans/vegetarians or whatever they call themselves are a royal pain in the ass. Put on a bbq and you have to go out and buy a piece of fish just for them or some vege burgers etc to cater for one or two out of twenty others. And they are demented with the belief they are making a difference when we all know they aren’t.
But it’s like telling a Christian that God doesn’t exist. Blank stares followed by factless heresay. And these ‘vegans’ drive cars and wear leather shoes and buy tinned fallaffel and ‘organic’ soy vomit made from soy farmed on an industrial scale. The wildlife destroyed and the animals and energy needed to sustain their dementia would have to be more than a normal human on a healthy meat and veg diet that maybe grows the odd vege or two.
In a perfect world all vegans would have already been shot and turned to pig meal but alas we have to deal with them in our own way. I just chose to ignore them.
Nice site by the way
21/04/2010 at 7:00 pm Permalink
Just to mention it: Kelly Freston did NOT say that Burger Kind was healthy.
Quote:
Recent years have seen an explosion of environmentally-friendly vegetarian foods. Even chains like Ruby Tuesday, Johnny Rockets, and Burger King offer delicious veggie burgers and supermarket refrigerators are lined with heart-healthy creamy soymilk and tasty veggie deli slices.
Basically, there are lots of vegetarian foods that are good for the environment. And even chains that aren’t environmentally friendly still have vegetarian foods.
And to Rick: Vegans don’t wear leather. Vegans aren’t vegetarians, either. Vegetarians don’t eat meat. Vegans don’t eat or wear or use anything that came from an animal, hurting it or not. Vegans creep me out, I am a vegetarian though.