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Organic: So much more than healthy

2009-08-26T23:28:00.006-04:00

Organic is not just about food. It's a much more expansive way of thinking that embraces cyclical resource use, where waste from one source becomes food for another. It honors natural laws and detests mindless waste, dispersal of toxic chemicals, cheap substitutes, and depleted soil.

All of humanity ate organic food until the twentieth century. Now, we've been on a chemical binge diet for about 80 years (a blink of an eye in planetary history) and what do we have to show for it? We've lost 1/3 of America's topsoil, buried toxic waste everywhere, polluted & depleted water systems, worsened global warming, and exacerbated ailments ranging from cancer to diabetes to obesity.

This is not just hippie blather preaching the tofu way to happiness. I see organic as a philosophy of wholeness, a science of integration, and a crucial way to maintain nature's ingenious, delicate, interdependent web of life. It is a pragmatic state of mind offering real solutions to some of society's worst problems.

Organic backs a sensible farm policy that protects not only farmers, but also the health of all Americans. It can lower health-care costs by eliminating toxic lifestyles and the unnecessary, preventable diseases they cause. It could even help stabilize fuel prices & reduce our dependence of foreign oil by using less fossil fuels & chemicals, and trapping and building carbon in the soil instead of the atmosphere. Organic farming is an absolutely critical WME (weapon of mass enlightenment) in humanity's now-or-never fight against global warming.

I often fear that I am preaching to the choir, an unheard voice in an uncaring world. It takes more than one to make a difference and I can only hope that consumers the world over will vote with their pocketbooks to save the Earth (and their health along with it).
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Breakfast: Strawberries
Lunch: Pasta primavera
Dinner: Vegetarian Chili

Thoughts & Ramblings

2009-08-25T23:13:00.005-04:00

First things first: I received a personal comment from a loyal follower noting that he was very disappointed in my previous post because I simply copy/pasted out of the Time article and did not add my own opinion. My intention was to show that reputable news sources are reporting on this problem and that it's not just something that I'm all wound up about because I have nothing better to do with my time. I apologize for any disappointment my previous post caused. You want my opinion, you get it!

Here are a few of the things I think about often:

1.) I went vegetarian thinking that I would still eat eggs and milk, but I quickly learned that egg laying hens are subject to the worst living conditions of all animals and that dairy cows live unhealthier lives than feedlot cows and are then slaughtered for ground beef. While I'd like to go vegan (no dairy, no eggs), it makes eating out difficult (even in a progressive city that accommodates vegetarians fairly easily). As author Michael Pollan said, "This is what can happen to you when you look. And what you see when you look is the cruelty - and the blindness to cruelty - required to produce eggs that can be sold for 79 cents per dozen." I no longer eat eggs and no longer buy cheese for my house, but I still eat cheese when I eat out and I feel guilty about it afterwards. I picture the cows and the abuse they endure and it makes me extremely sad that I am so selfish that I haven't been able to completely cut out cheese. I am trying, but I will try harder.

2.) More than one person has told me that they fear going vegetarian would upset their parents. I, personally, see no logic in this - a.) my parents support my choices, b.) I'm a grown-ass woman, and c.) why would anyone be so emotional about something as trivial as someone else's eating habits, especially when the eating habit they are adopting is a more responsible one?

However, I do understand that fear of being different or being considered difficult to accommodate is unfortunately a real obstacle to going vegetarian. I struggled with this initially, and even endured some very unexpected badgering from some of my closest friends. (Why people feel the need to defend eating meat, and condemn those who don't, baffles me. Maybe it's a defense mechanism to try to justify their own choice?) But rest assured, most people eventually realize that your eating habits have absolutely no effect on them and it becomes a non-issue.

PS, at family gatherings, either my family will make me a vegetarian option (a meatless lasagna or bean tamales) because they support my choices, or I'll simply eat the sides (Thanksgiving is just as delicious when your plate is loaded with mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, biscuits, and pumpkin pie).

3.) Vegetarianism is not an unreasonable response to the evils that exist in our current industrialized food operation. Yet, there are animals living on farms that contradict the nightmare ones. True, they are but needles in a haystack (literally, 1% humanely raised to 99% inhumanely raised), but their very existence suggests the possibility for change.

Yes, though these animals are raised humanely, they are killed, and as Matthew Scully (author of Dominion, a conservative Christian examination of the treatment of animals) said, "[predation is] the intrinsic evil in nature's design... among the hardest of all things to fathom." So, can I in good conscience eat a happy, sustainably raised chicken? (That's a rhetorical question... for now.)

What I find most wrong with eating meat is the current practice, not the general principle. People who care about animals should be working to ensure that the ones they eat don't suffer, that their deaths are swift and painless, and that they are eaten with the consciousness and respect they deserve.
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Breakfast: Bagel with jelly
Lunch: Veggie sandwich from the deli downstairs: lettuce, tomato, avocado, sprouts, carrots
Diner: "Powerhouse" salad from Chop't, loaded with superfoods: spinach, edamame, broccoli, carrots, dried cranberries, walnuts, sunflower seeds, & a lemon vinaigrette dressing

Time Magazine on "The High Price of Cheap Food"

2009-08-24T21:21:00.005-04:00

Time Magazine has an excellent article this week about America's food crisis. Here are a few excerpts, but be sure to read the full article here.

"Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he'll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That's the state of your bacon — circa 2009."

"The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices. But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans. Those hidden prices are the creeping erosion of our fertile farmland, cages for egg-laying chickens so packed that the birds can't even raise their wings and the scary rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among farm animals. Add to the price tag the acceleration of global warming — our energy-intensive food system uses 19% of U.S. fossil fuels, more than any other sector of the economy."

"And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous. A series of recalls involving contaminated foods this year — including an outbreak of salmonella from tainted peanuts that killed at least eight people and sickened 600 — has consumers rightly worried about the safety of their meals. A food system — from seed to 7‑Eleven — that generates cheap, filling food at the literal expense of healthier produce is also a principal cause of America's obesity epidemic. At a time when the nation is close to a civil war over health-care reform, obesity adds $147 billion a year to our doctor bills."

"With the exhaustion of the soil, the impact of global warming and the inevitably rising price of oil — which will affect everything from fertilizer to supermarket electricity bills — our industrial style of food production will end sooner or later. As the developing world grows richer, hundreds of millions of people will want to shift to the same calorie-heavy, protein-rich diet that has made Americans so unhealthy — demand for meat and poultry worldwide is set to rise 25% by 2015 — but the earth can no longer deliver. Unless Americans radically rethink the way they grow and consume food, they face a future of eroded farmland, hollowed-out countryside, scarier germs, higher health costs — and bland taste. Sustainable food has an élitist reputation, but each of us depends on the soil, animals and plants — and as every farmer knows, if you don't take care of your land, it can't take care of you."

The full article contains more on the impact of corn subsidies, fertilizers & pesticides, the overuse of antibiotics in CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), and the impact to our American farmers. The article also profiles a few farms & businesses (such as Chipotle) that are successfully working to make a difference.

"Organic food continues to cost on average several times more than its conventional counterparts... But not all costs can be measured by a price tag. Once you factor in crop subsidies, ecological damage and what we pay in health-care bills after our fatty, sugary diet makes us sick, conventionally produced food looks a lot pricier."

"What we really need to do is something Americans have never done well, and that's to quit thinking big. We already eat four times as much meat and dairy as the rest of the world, and there's not a nutritionist on the planet who would argue that 24‑oz. steaks and mounds of buttery mashed potatoes are what any person needs to stay alive."

"[W]e have the chance to choose better food three times a day (or more often, if we're particularly hungry). It's true that most of us would prefer not to think too much about where our food comes from or what it's doing to the planet [...] But if there's one difference between industrial agriculture and the emerging alternative, it's that very thing: consciousness."
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Breakfast: cereal & soy milk
Lunch: Chipotle burrito bol, no meat = free guac!
Dinner: General Tso's TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), very yummy

The Dirty Six

2009-08-21T00:40:00.005-04:00

In just one hour in the US, more than 1 million animals are killed for food. Before their slaughter, they endure a life of abuse. Considering that nearly 10 billion animals each year are treated as production units rather than social, intelligent animals, this is the gravest animal welfare problem in the country.

The Humane Society of the United States has identified the six worst animal practices in agribusiness:

1. Battery Cages
In the US, 95% of egg-laying hens are confined to battery cages: small wire enclosures stacked several tiers high, extending down long rows, inside windowless warehouses. These cages offer less space per hen than the area of a single piece of paper. The birds are so cramped that they are unable to spread their wings. While many countries are banning these abusive battery cages, the US still overcrowds 300 million hens in these cruel enclosures.

2. Fast Growth of Birds
More than 9 out of 10 land animals killed for human consumption in the US are chickens. About 9 billion are slaughtered each year. The chicken industry's use of growth-promoting antibiotics has produced birds whose bodies struggle to function and are on the verge of structural collapse. (To put their growth rate into perspective, the University of Arkansas reports that if humans grew as fast as today's chickens, we'd weigh 349 pounds by our second birthday.) Ninety percent of chickens have detectable leg problems and structural deformities. More than 25% suffer from chronic pain due to bone disease.

3. Forced Feeding for Foie Gras
French for "fatty liver," the delicacy known as pate de foie gras is produced from the grossly enlarged liver of a duck or goose. Two to three times a day for several weeks, the birds are force-fed enormous quantities of food through a long pipe thrust down their throats to their stomachs. This deliberate overfeeding causes the birds' livers to swell to as much as ten times their normal size. This impairs liver function, expands their abdomens, and makes movements as simple as standing or walking difficult and painful. Several European countries have banned the force-feeding of birds for foie gras.

4. Gestation Crates and Veal Crates
During their 4-month pregnancies, 60-70% of female pigs in the US are kept in gestation crates: individual metal stalls so small and narrow that the animals can't even turn around or move more than one step forward or backward. Similarly, calves raised for veal are confined in restrictive crates, generally chained by the neck, that prohibit them from turning around. This takes an enormous mental and physical toll on the animals. Both of these practices are being phased out in the EU because of their abusive, inhumane nature, but they are still in use in the US.

5. Long-Distance Transport
Billions of animals endure the rigors of transport around the country. Overcrowded onto trucks that do not provide any protection from very hot and very cold weather, animals travel days without food, water, or rest. The conditions are so stressful that in-transit death is considered common.

6. Electric Stunning of Birds
At the slaughter plant, birds are moved off trucks, dumped from transport crates onto conveyors, and hung upside down by their legs in shackles. Their heads pass though electrified baths of water, intended to immobilize them before their throats are slit. From beginning to end, the entire process is filled with pain & suffering. Federal regulations do not require that birds be rendered insensible before they are slaughtered. The shackling of their legs causes pain, increased in those already suffering from leg disorders (see #2) or broken bones. Electric stunning has been found to be ineffective in consistently inducing unconsciousness.

You Can Help
Don't support the cruelties endured by these animals.
-Refine your diet by eliminating the most abusive animal products.
-Reduce your consumption of animal products
-Replace animal products in your diet with vegetarian options
-Only consume animal products that are locally and humanely raised (try your local farmers' market)
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Breakfast: English muffin with jelly
Lunch: Veggie sub from Quizno's
Dinner: Cheeseless pizza loaded with spinach, mushrooms, onion, bell peppers, olives, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and garlic

Why Go Veg: Reasons 5-8

2009-08-19T23:03:00.005-04:00

5. You'll save your heart. Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer in the United States, and the standard American diet (SAD) that's laden with saturated fat and cholesterol from meat and dairy is largely to blame. Cardiovascular disease is found in one in nine women aged 45 to 64 and in one in three women over 65. Today, the average American male eating a meat-based diet has a 50 percent chance of dying from heart disease. His risk drops to 15 percent if he cuts out meat; it goes to 4 percent if he cuts out meat, dairy and eggs. Partly responsible is the fact that fruits and vegetables are full of antioxidant nutrients that protect the heart and its arteries. Plus, produce contains no saturated fat or cholesterol. Incidentally, cholesterol levels for vegetarians are 14 percent lower than meat eaters.

6. You'll avoid toxic chemicals. The EPA estimates that nearly 95 percent of pesticide residue in our diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens (PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals (mercury, arsenic; lead, cadmium) that cannot be removed through cooking or freezing. Meat and dairy products are also laced with steroids and hormones.

7. You'll help reduce famine. Right now, 72 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. It takes 15 pounds of feed to get one pound of meat. But if the grain were given directly to people, there would be enough food to feed the entire planet. In addition, using land for animal agriculture is inefficient in terms of maximizing food production. According to the journal Soil and Water, one acre of land could produce 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 30,000 pounds of carrots or just 250 pounds of beef.

8. You'll provide a great role model for your kids. "If you set a good example and feed your children good food, chances are they'll live a longer and healthier life," says Christine Beard, a certified nutrition educator and author of Become a Vegetarian in 5 Easy Steps. "You're also providing a market for vegetarian products and making it more likely that they'll be available for the children."
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Breakfast: Lots of cherries!
Lunch: Asian stir-fry (leftover from dinner last night)
Dinner: Soy chorizo (from Trader Joe's) taco and homemade guacamole

Growing Local Farm Movement

2009-08-10T22:33:00.003-04:00

Last week, CNN reported on the growing local food movement, or Community Supported Agricurture (CSAs). From the article:

[The farmers] describe their farming technique as "beyond organic," saying they use no artificial fertilizers, growth hormones or antibiotics and don't keep their animals penned up.

Life on their property -- where cattle and sheep graze in open fields and chickens follow along to clean up after them -- looks much like the classic image of a family farm. [The Farmers] say they consider themselves healers to both their customers and, according to their Web site, a food system that "had become a machine with little regard for food safety, food taste and animal welfare."

"People are becoming very disconnected from the food system," Liz Young said. "Buying from a local CSA or just shopping at a local farm, you can see where it's coming from. You can talk to the farmers and figure out how the animals or the produce is raised.
...

Members of the nation's handful of meat CSAs, and the thousands of others, offer a list of reasons.

The food is healthier and tastes better, they say. They like supporting their local economy. Eliminating cross-country delivery is better for the environment, as are the sustainable farming techniques the farmers tend to use.

"Being part of a CSA means that I know the first names of the people who are raising the meat I eat," said Andrew Johnson of Kansas City, Missouri, a member of the Parker Farms meat CSA in Richmond, Missouri. "Whereas, with the meat I buy from the grocery store, I don't know where it came from or who raised it."

Others say they appreciate that animals from the usually small family farms don't spend their lives in processing plants, conditions that advocates call inhumane.

Because CSA members deal with the farmers directly, they are able to visit the farms and see exactly how their food is produced. The transparency, they say, creates an incentive for farmers to raise their animals as naturally as possible.
...

"Is it as cheap as the lowest-price chicken in the grocery store? Absolutely not," Tim Young said. "But with our prices and the prices of any sustainable farmer, you've got everything baked in: the cost to the environment, the cost to the health care system, the cost of producing that animal [in a humane way]."

"I don't think it is significant, but if it does end up costing a bit more, it is still important to us to make this a priority," he said. "There are other expenses I am willing to give up rather than give up a safe, trusted food source."
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Breakfast: Bagel with "better than cream cheese" (a non-dairy cream cheese subsitute)
Lunch: Veggie sub with avocado, lettuce, tomato, sprouts, shredded carrots, vinegar & oil
Diner: Burrito with beans, rice, zucchini, squash, peppers & salsa

Meet Your Meat: Pigs

2009-08-09T22:33:00.011-04:00

Back to the basics this week: Meet your meat.

Pigs are often compared to dogs because they are affectionate, loyal, and intelligent. Most people are not familiar with pigs because 97% of pigs in the United States today are on factory farms. People would be surprised to learn that pigs dream, recognize names, play video games better than some primates, and lead social lives of the same complexity as primates. In fact, according to Dr. Donald Broom, Cambridge University professor and former scientific advisor to the Council of Europe, "[Pigs] have the cognative ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly [more so than] three-year-olds." Learn more about the intelligence of pigs.

Pigs on today's farms are denied all of their instincts. Mother pigs (sows) spend the majority of their lives in individual "gestation crates" which are two feet wide, too small for them to even turn around. According to a March 2004 article in the Des Moines Register, "A pregnant sow's biological need to build a nest before having her litter is so great that some sows confined in modern hog buildings will rub their snouts raw on the concrete floor while trying to satisfy the drive."

This deprived environment causes neurotic coping behaviors such as continual bar biting, obsessive pressing on water bottles, and sham chewing (chewing nothing). One slaughterhouse investigator wrote, "what will remain with me forever is the sound of desperate pigs banging their heads against immovable doors and their constant and repeated biting at the prison bars that held them captive. This, I now know, is a sign of mental collapse."

Piglets are taken from their mothers as young as 10 day old and are packed into overcrowed pens until they are sent off for breeding or fattening. Because they are not properly weaned from their mothers, they bite each other's tails, searching for milk. To prevent this problem, piglets' tails are cut off and the ends of their teeth are broken off, both without the use of pain killers.

Just like all other animals in CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), sick pigs are left untreated and either die from illness or are killed by "thumping" (slamming animal's head against the floor until they die), drowning, or standing on their neck. According to a November 2002 article in the New York Times, "Sick pigs, being unproductive 'production units' are clubbed to death on the spot." Approximately 100 million pigs are killed in the US each year. A Washington Post article reported that, "[hogs] are dunked in taks of hot water after they are stunned to soften the hides for skinning. As a result, a botched slaughter condemns some hogs to being scalded and drowned. Secret videotape from an Iowa pork plant shows hogs squealing and kicking as they are being lowered into the water."

According to one slaughter plant worker, "After they left me, the hogs would go up a hundred-foot ramp to a tank where they're dunked in 140° water...Water any hotter than that would take the meat right off their bones...There's no way these animals can bleed out in the few minutes it takes to get up the ramp. By the time they hit the scalding tank, they're still fully conscious and squealing. Happens all the time."

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Breakfast: Cereal with soy milk
Lunch: Falafel pita sandwich
Dinner: Went to a BBQ - veggie burger, pasta salad, cornbread, beans

Meat's Not Green: Water

2009-08-03T21:30:00.001-04:00

Nearly half of the water used in the U.S. is squandered on animal agriculture. Between watering the crops grown to feed farm animals, providing drinking water for billions of animals each year, and cleaning the filthy factory farms, transport trucks, and slaughterhouses, the farmed animal industry places a serious strain on our water supply. According to a special report in Newsweek, “The water that goes into a 1,000-pound steer would float a destroyer.” It takes more than 4,000 gallons of water per day to produce a meat-based diet, but only 300 gallons of water a day are needed to produce a vegetarian diet.

Besides just wasting water, factory farms also pollute it. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, animal factories pollute our waterways more than all other industrial sources combined. The major sources of pollution are from antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feedcrops, sediments from eroded pastures, and animal wastes.

Cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals raised for food produce approximately 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population, except there are no sewage systems to dispose of the waste from factory farms. Much of the millions of pounds of excrement and other bodily waste produced by farmed animals every day in the U.S. is stored in sprawling brown lagoons.

These lagoons often spill over into surrounding waterways and cause massive destruction. In 1995, 25 million gallons of putrid hog urine and feces spilled into a North Carolina river, killing 10-14 million fish. This spill was twice as large in volume as the Exxon-Valdez oil disaster. But, it doesn't take a spill of this magnitude to wreak havoc on the ecosystem. In West Virginia and Maryland, for example, scientists have recently discovered that male fish are growing ovaries, and they suspect that this freakish deformity is the result of factory-farm run-off from drug-laden chicken feces.

Besides the environmental problems caused by farmed animal waste, the dangerous fecal bacteria from farm sewage (including E. coli) can also cause serious illness in humans.

A Scripps Howard synopsis of a Senate Agricultural Committee report on farm pollution issued this warning about animal waste: “...it’s untreated and unsanitary, bubbling with chemicals and diseased... It goes onto the soil and into the water that many people will, ultimately, bathe in and wash their clothes with, and drink. It is poisoning rivers and killing fish and making people sick...Catastrophic cases of pollution, sickness, and death are occurring in areas where livestock operations are concentrated... Every place where the animal factories have located, neighbors have complained of falling sick.”

The EPA reports that chicken, hog, and cattle excrement have polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states yet, amazingly, the federal government continues to allow factory farms to use our rivers as sewers.
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Breakfast: Whole wheat bagel
Lunch: Mango "chicken" (soy chicken subsitute) from Chinese/Thai fusion restaurant
Dinner: Veggie burger

Vegetarian Athletes: The Football Player

2009-07-28T22:40:00.004-04:00

As some of you may know, I am currently training for the Nike Women's Marathon (that's 26.2 miles) in San Francisco, CA on October 18, 2009. This will be my third marathon, first as a vegetarian. Many people are skeptical about the ability of vegetarians to be athletes, but there are a great number of vegetarian athletes who have proven this skepticism to be unwarranted. (See also my post about protein.)

There is an excellent article on espn.com featuring four vegetarian athletes, which I want to share here. The article is rather long, so I will break it up into four sections.

But, before I begin, I will shamelessly plug my fundraising efforts. I am running this marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. Everyone on our team pledges to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. For more information, or to make a tax deductible donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit my Team In Training website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/nikesf09/angiechappell

Ok, back to the topic at hand. From espn.com:

The Football Player

When you're a Pro Bowl tight end, it's difficult to change your routine. Difficult, and maybe crazy. If you're in the midst of a Hall of Fame career, why change anything? As Tony Gonzalez discovered, sometimes change comes to you.

Sitting at home one day in May 2007, Gonzalez suddenly lost all feeling in his face and felt a terrible pain in the back of his head. He initially thought he was having a stroke, but hospital tests confirmed he had Bell's Palsy instead. Many doctors prescribe a diet consisting entirely of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds -- no animal products or processed foods -- as a way to improve digestion and combat the condition. A few months later, Gonzalez got another health scare, when doctors warned him of a low white blood cell count, raising the possibility he had leukemia. In the end, a mix-up with another patient's blood had caused that diagnosis. Still, with two scares in a span of a few months, Gonzalez became more attuned to his health and to what he put into his body.

Not long afterward, Gonzalez was on a cross-country flight when he struck up a conversation with the man next to him in first class. When lunchtime arrived, Gonzalez's seatmate ordered the salad with shrimp, hold the shrimp. Come dessert time, the man turned down the flight attendant's offer of milk to go with his cookies.

"So I asked him, 'Are you a vegetarian?'" Gonzalez recounted. "He said he was a vegan. Not eating meat I could understand, but I asked him why he wouldn't even drink the milk. He said that we're the only animals on Earth who drink milk after being babies."

A few years earlier, or maybe even a few months earlier, Gonzalez might have nodded politely and ended the conversation right there. But that year, he'd started to seriously ponder his long-term health and the dietary choices he was making. The health scares had opened his eyes. But more than that, Gonzalez wondered what life would be like after football. He wanted to stay in shape and live well after his playing days were done.

When the man recommended "The China Study" as a must read, Gonzalez devoured it. The 2005 book by Cornell professor and nutrition researcher T. Colin Campbell claims people who eat mostly plants contract fewer deadly diseases than those who eat mostly animals. The book got its name from diet studies and blood samples drawn from 6,500 men and women in China. Gonzalez has since met with Campbell and now plans to write his own book about dietary choices from the perspective of a 246-pound football star.

For Gonzalez, now 32, getting from Point A to Point B took a great deal of thought and self-doubt. Conventional wisdom held that eating steak and drinking a gallon of milk a day would make you big and strong and prepare you for the rigors of NFL life. Gonzalez followed that path, pounding steaks and milk, as well as pizza, hot dogs and burgers -- whatever it took to pack on the pounds. He especially loved macaroni and cheese, with an emphasis on cheese, piled as high as possible. You couldn't argue with the results. In his first 10 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Gonzalez had made the Pro Bowl eight times, establishing himself as the best tight end in the league.

When he switched to a meatless diet, he wondered whether the move would backfire on him. At first, it looked like it might. In the first few weeks of his new regimen, he lost 10 pounds. His strength quickly dropped, and Gonzalez found himself unable to lift the heavy weights he'd hoisted with ease in the past. Teammates started telling him he looked skinny. "You're going to get your butt kicked" was another common refrain.

"It was a trial by error," he said. "I had to educate myself on how to do it the right way."
After reading up on vegan-friendly recipes, Gonzalez found the right balance. Though he had more than enough money to buy any foods he wanted, Gonzalez still wasn't thrilled with the prospect of spending through the nose on groceries. Instead, his grocery bills stayed about the same, but the check at restaurants got slashed with no $50 porterhouse steaks on his plate. Gonzalez says he now focuses on produce when constructing his meals. He loads up on berries, bananas and mangoes, fresh vegetables and milk alternatives like rice milk or hemp milk, then blends them into what he calls "power smoothies."

He gained back most of his lost weight, settling in around 246 pounds. His strength quickly returned. When the season started, he was shocked at how good he felt. In the fourth quarters of games, he found himself sprinting past tired defenders. He became more alert during team meetings. On the day after a game, he'd skip into the gym, while teammates looked sore, beat up and worn out.

"People were still making fun of me, because I think they wanted to make themselves feel better," Gonzalez explained. "I'd be ordering salad, potatoes, veggies. I think they felt guilty. Unless you've been in a cave, you know what's healthy and what's not healthy. But most of them still keep eating what they've been eating, because they think that's the only way to get enough protein and compete at a high level."

As the season progressed, Gonzalez's numbers picked up. Playing in his 11th season, Gonzalez made 99 catches (the second-highest total of his career), racking up 1,172 yards (the third-highest total of his career). In the previous three seasons, he'd dealt with an arthritic foot that got so bad he could barely walk the day after a game. The foot condition had forced him to give up basketball, a sport Gonzalez loved, having played varsity ball alongside the Sacramento Kings' Shareef Abdur-Rahim at Cal. Coincidence or not, the foot condition improved dramatically over the course of an offseason, to the point that he started hitting the hardwood again. Playing basketball in turn gave Gonzalez another good way to boost his training, which he says helped improve his agility.

More surprising than his improved health, he says, was the reaction of some of his friends, especially ex-players.

D'Marco Farr was a bruising NFL defensive lineman for seven seasons before injuries forced him into early retirement. Seven years after leaving the league, Farr told Gonzalez he still didn't feel 100 percent, carrying extra weight and still suffering from aches and pains. When Gonzalez told him about the changes he'd felt since going vegan, Farr jumped on board. He has since spread the word to other ex-players, including Lincoln Kennedy, a three-time Pro Bowler who retired at well more than 300 pounds.

Gonzalez has become something of a spokesman for healthy eating. When he retires, he wants to travel around the league speaking about the value of healthier diets. He's excited about the prospect of his first book on the subject. Gonzalez wants to reach out to younger players, too. He recently spoke to a group of 300 college football prospects at USC, where he counseled the group not to fall into the trap of scarfing down fatty foods just because that's the norm for aspiring players trying to pack on weight.

"I believe in moderation," he said. "I know this isn't easy. One steak or a chicken dinner once in a while, that's fine. You just have to be smart about it. When you go from eating that way to a vegan diet, you can get into situations where it's like an alcoholic going to a bar: You say you're going to have one drink, and you end up having 10."

Pin Gonzalez down, and he'll concede his new diet hasn't necessarily improved his on-field performance. Science agrees with him on that point: No conclusive studies have proven a vegan or vegetarian diet helps an athlete run faster, jump higher or throw a ball harder or farther. To Gonzalez, making the change was about living healthier and about recognizing there's a life beyond football.

"In this league, you think you're invincible, that you'll last forever," he said. "Then you look at some of the numbers, that the average football player dies young. I'm sure there are other reasons, but eating unhealthy foods and carrying around all that extra weight can't help.

"I realized football's not going to last forever. To me this isn't a diet. It's a complete lifestyle change."
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Breakfast: Whole wheat bagel
Lunch: Leftover Tom Yum Veggie soup - delicious!
Dinner: Chalupas with beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, guac, and salsa verde

The Most Dangerous Job in America

2009-07-27T23:20:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the slow down in posts lately. My life got hectic with a business trip, moving apartments, then vacation, all back to back. But I'm back on track now & hope to pick up the pace on the blog again!

Just last week, the headlines read "Woman Found Dead at McDonald's Food Processing Plant." Although this is a single headline, this is not an isolated incident. Meatpacking is now the most dangerous job in the United States. The injury rate in slaughterhouses is three times higher than the rate in a typical American factory. Every year, more than one-quarter of the meatpacking workers in this country (roughly 40,000 men & women) suffer an injury or work-related illness that requires medical attention beyond first aid. And, there is evidence that the official numbers, reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are an underestimate and that thousands of injuries go unreported.

Lacerations are the most common injury, but meatpacking workers also suffer from tendinitis, back problems, shoulder problems, carpal tunnel syndrome, and trigger finger (a finger becomes frozen in a curled position). The rate of these cumulative trauma injuries is much higher in the meatpacking industry than in any other industry. It is thirty-three times higher than the national average. Slaughterhouse workers make a knife cut every 2 or 3 seconds, adding up to about 10,000 cuts during an 8 hour shift, and placing repetitive pressure on the workers' joints, tendons, and nerves.

The speed of the assembly line is an accurate determinant for the number of injuries at a slaughterhouse. The original meatpacking plants slaughtered about 50 cows an hour. Twenty years ago, plants slaughtered about 175 cows an hour. Today, meatpacking plants slaughter about 400 cows an hour. One former nurse in a meatpacking plant said, "I could always tell the line speed by the number of people with lacerations coming into my office."

Workers desperate not to fall behind (and risk losing their job), are encouraged to take methamphetamine (often sold to them by their supervisors). The widespread use of "crank" in the meatpacking industry only makes an already very dangerous job even riskier.

Because most of the workers in slaughterhouses are recent immigrants, many illegal, they can be fired at any moment, without warning. They may have traveled long distances for this job, could have families to support, and are earning more than they could back home, so there is huge pressure not to complain, and not to report injuries. The annual bonuses for plant supervisors is often based on injury rates.

From a purely economic point of view, injured workers are a drain. They are less productive, so getting rid of them makes sense when there are plenty of available replacements. Injured workers are often given easy, yet unpleasant tasks, their wages are cut, and they are encouraged to quit. This causes non-visible injuries (hand pain, back pain) to go unreported and untreated.
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Breakfast: Lots of cherries!
Lunch: Spinach burrito from California Tortilla (Spinach, black beans, rice, tomato, onion, cilantro)
Dinner: Tom Yum Veggie soup (Thai lemongrass soup full of veggies, including broccoli, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, bean sprouts, those mini corn things, cilantro, and noodles)

Why Go Veg: Reasons 1-4

2009-07-20T18:31:00.012-04:00

Everyone I know asks me why I decided to go vegetarian. I usually ask in return, "How many reasons do you want?" The case for vegetarianism is compelling and hard to dispute. (The only case I've heard for meat is "but I like the taste." I like the taste of cookie dough too, but I don't plan to eat it for every meal.) In a series of posts, I will provide a list of reasons to go vegetarian.

1. You'll live a lot longer. Vegetarians live about seven years longer, and vegans (who eat no animal products) about 15 years longer than meat eaters, according to a study from Loma Linda University. These findings are backed up by the China Health Project (the largest population study on diet and health to date), which found that Chinese people who eat the least amount of fat and animal products have the lowest risks of cancer, heart attack and other chronic degenerative diseases. And a British study that tracked 6,000 vegetarians and 5,000 meat eaters for 12 years found that vegetarians were 40 percent less likely to die from cancer during that time and 20 percent less likely to die from other diseases.

2. You'll help reduce waste and air pollution. Circle 4 Farms in Milford, Utah, which raises 2.5 million pigs every year, creates more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles. And this is just one farm. Each year, the nation's factory farms, collectively produce 2 billion tons of manure, a substance that's rated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the country's top 10 pollutants. And that's not even counting the methane gas released by cows, pigs and poultry (which contributes to the greenhouse effect); the ammonia gases from urine; poison gases that emanate from manure lagoons; toxic chemicals from pesticides; and exhaust from farm equipment used to raise feed for animals.

3. You can put more money in your mutual fund. The economy is down & we're all trying to save some cash. Replacing meat, chicken and fish with vegetables and fruits is estimated to cut food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.

4. You'll give your body a spring cleaning. Giving up meat helps purge the body of toxins (pesticides, environmental pollutants, preservatives) that overload our systems and cause illness. When people begin formal detoxification programs, their first step is to replace meats and dairy products with fruits and vegetables and juices. "These contain phytochemicals that help us detox naturally," says Chris Clark, M.D., medical director of The Raj, an Ayurvedic healing center in Fairfield, Iowa, which specializes in detox programs.
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Breakfast: Cereal and soy milk
Lunch: Avocado sandwich (just like any other sandwich, but with avocado instead of cold cuts)
Dinner: Veggie kabobs (mushrooms, various colored peppers, onion, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and pineapple)

High Quality H2O

2009-07-12T23:25:00.007-04:00

In 2003, Americans alone spent more than $7 billion on bottled water at an average cost of more than $1 a bottle. Is the price of bottled water really worth it?

In 2004, it was discovered that Coca Cola's Dasani water (labeled "pure, still water") was actually just tap water. This uncovered a common practice amongst the bottled water industry. A four year study performed by the National Resources Defense Council, in which researchers tested more than 1,000 samples of 103 brands of bottled water, found that, “an estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle—sometimes further treated, sometimes not.”

In one case, a brand of bottled water advertised as “pure, glacier water,” was found to be taken from a municipal water supply while another brand, flaunted as “spring water,” was pumped from a water source next to a hazardous waste dumping site.

While “purified tap water” is arguably safer and purer than untreated tap water (depending upon the purification methods), a consumer should expect to receive something more than reconstituted tap water for the exceptional prices of bottled water.

Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, while tap water is regulated by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which operates under much stricter regulations. The EPA mandates that municipal water systems must test for harmful microbiological content in water several times a day, while bottled water companies are required to test for these microbes only once a week. Similarly, public water systems are required to test for chemical water contaminants four times as often as bottled water companies. And, due to loopholes in the FDA’s testing policy, a significant number of bottles have undergone almost no regulation or testing.

The National Resources Defense Council found that 18 of 103 bottled water brands tested, contained, “more bacteria than allowed under microbiological-purity guidelines.” Also, about one fifth of the brands tested positive for the presence of synthetic chemicals, such as industrial chemicals and chemicals used in manufacturing plastic like phthalate, a harmful chemical that leaches into bottled water from its plastic container. In addition, bottled water companies are not required to test for cryptosporidium, the chlorine-resistant protozoan that infected more than 400,000 Milwaukee residents in 1993.

Bottled water companies, because they are not under the same accountability standards as municipal water systems, may provide a significantly lower quality of water than the water one typically receives from the tap.

Well, at least bottled water tastes better than tap water, right? Wrong. Obviously, taste is subjective, but in a blind taste test conducted by Showtime, they found that 75% of tested New York City residents actually preferred tap water over bottled water.

And let's not forget the effect of bottled water on the environment. According to a 2001 report of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), roughly 1.5 million tons of plastic are expended each year due to bottled water. And the less obvious effect on the environment is the energy required to manufacture and transport these bottles to market, which uses a significant amount of fossil fuels.

Because tap water is not completely free from contaminants, filtered tap water provides the healthiest & most economical option. Try using a Britta or Pur filter and a Nalgene bottle, for your health, pocketbook, and the environment.

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Breakfast: Bean & soy cheese taco

Lunch: Spinach burrito from California Tortilla

Dinner: Spaghetti

Compassion

2009-07-02T18:44:00.001-04:00

There is an unusual amount of cultural confusion around animals. Half of the dogs in America receive Christmas presents, yet few of us ever pause to consider the life of the pig (easily as intelligent as a dog) that becomes our Christmas ham. At the same time that many of us seem eager to expand the circle of our moral consideration to other species (saving wildlife, for example), in our factory farms we're inflicting more suffering on more animals than at any other time in history.

It is impossible to deny that we owe animals that can feel pain moral consideration, but we have such a strong interest in convincing ourselves that our concern for animals does not require us to stop eating them.

According to the USDA, just under 10 BILLION animals, excluding aquatics, were killed in the US in 2003 through factory farming. The USDA does not track aquatic animals, but estimates that the number of slaughtered sea animals exceeds the number of slaughtered land animals.

Of the 10 billion killed animals, 868 million (8.7%) died due to disease, malnutrition, injury, suffocation, stress, culling (deliberately removing animals because of "undesirable" characteristics), or other factory farming ailments, before reaching slaughter. Egg-laying hens experience the highest rate of non-slaughter deaths, at a staggering 64%, due to the practice of deliberately suffocating all males at birth (because the males don't lay eggs).

These are mind-boggling numbers, yet so few people make a conscious connection between the meat on their plate and the slaughterhouses. At your next meal, consider the suffering endured by the animal you are about to eat. And consider that you have a choice.

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian." -Paul McCartney

"I'm no shrinking violet. I played hockey until half of my teeth were knocked down my throat. And I'm extremely competitive on the tennis court... But that experience at the slaughterhouse overwhelmed me. When I walked out of there, I knew all the physiological, economic, and ecological arguments supporting vegetarianism, but it was the firsthand experience of man's cruelty to animals that laid the real groundwork for my commitment to vegetarianism." -Peter Burwash, champion tennis player

A veteran USDA meat inspector from Texas describes what he has seen: "Cattle dragged and choked... knocking 'em four, five, ten times. Every now and then when they're stunned they come back to life, and they're up there agonizing. They're supposed to be re-stunned but sometimes they aren't and they'll go through the skinning process alive. I've worked in four large [slaughterhouses] and a bunch of small ones. They're all the same. If people were to see this, they'd probably feel really bad about it. But in a packing house everybody gets so used to it that it doesn't mean anything." -Slaughterhouse, 1997
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Breakfast: Bagel with "Better Than Cream Cheese," a non-dairy cream cheese substitute
Lunch: Pasta with pesto
Dinner: Veggie pot pie

Potatoes

2009-06-26T21:02:00.000-04:00

Americans consume more potatoes than any other food behind dairy products and wheat flour. In 1960, the typical american ate 81 lbs of fresh potatoes and 4 lbs of frozen french fries in one year. Today, we eat 49 lbs of fresh potatoes and 30 lbs of frozen french fries per year. 90% of these fries are from fast food restaurants. French Fries are the most widely sold fast food item in the US.

McDonalds switched from fresh to frozen fries in 1965. Customers didn't notice a difference in the taste, and this cut out the labor of peeling and cutting potatoes, making fries one of the most profitable items on the menu (far more than hamburgers). Fast food restaurants purchase frozen french fries at about 30 cents per pound, then sell them for about $6 per pound. Only three companies control 80% of the market for frozen french fries. These three companies compete heavily for fast food chain contracts which, to the benefit fast food chains, lowers their prices, making french fries even more profitable.

Since 1980, the number of potatoes grown in Idaho has nearly doubled. The huge rise in supply has caused significant drops in price, severely affecting potato farmers. Of every $1.50 spent on a large order of fench fries at a fast food restaurant, only about 2 cents goes to the farmer who grew the potatoes. In the past 25 years, Idaho has lost about half of its potato farmers, but the amount of land for potato farms, and number of potatoes produced, has increased. Family farms continue to fold as corporate farms grow and stretch for thousands of acres. Today there are only about 1100 potato farmers left in Idaho - few enough to fit in a high school auditorium.
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Breakfast: English muffin
Lunch: Microwavable pasta bowl
Dinner: An artichoke (my favorite!) & salad
This is a bit more complicated that what I do, but here's some instructions on how to cook and eat an artichoke (I completely skip steps 1-3, I steam it without a steaming basket-just place it in about 1 inch of water, I don't add stuff to the water, and I dip it in melted butter with garlic.)

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

2009-06-23T21:03:00.002-04:00

The only son of the founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire, John Robbins was groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps, but chose to walk away from Baskin-Robbins and the immense wealth it represented to "...pursue the deeper American Dream...the dream of a society at peace with its conscience because it respects and lives in harmony with all life forms. A dream of a society that is truly healthy, practicing a wise and compassionate stewardship of a balanced ecosystem."

John Robbins' many bestsellers include Healthy At 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World’s Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples. Widely recognized as one of the world's leading experts on the dietary link with the environment and health, John’s work has been the subject of cover stories and feature articles throughout the national media. His life and work have also been featured in an hour long PBS special titled Diet For A New America.

John's awards include the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, and the Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award.

His life is dedicated to creating an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on this planet.

Fast Food Facts

2009-06-21T17:45:00.002-04:00

In 1970, Americans spent $6 billion on fast food. In 2001, we spent $110 billion. Americans spend more money on fast food than on higher education, new cars, personal computers, or computer software. We spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and music, combined. On any given day, about one-quarter of the adult population visits a fast food restaurant.

In 1968, McDonald's had about 1,000 restaurants. Today it has over 31,000 and opens almost 2,000 new ones a year. An estimated one out of every eight workers in the US has at some point been employed by McDonald's. The company hires 1 million people annually, more than any other American organization, private or public.

McDonald's is the nation's largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes, and the second largest purchaser of chicken. The McDonald's Corporation is the largest owner of retail property in the world. McDonald's spends more money on advertising and marketing than any other brand and has replaced Coca-Cola as the world's most famous brand. McDonald's operates more playgrounds than any other private entity in the US and is one of the largest distributors of toys.

The restaurant industry is America's largest private employer, yet it pays some of the lowest wages. The 3.5 million fast food workers are by far the largest group of minimum wage earners in the US. The only Americans who consistently earn lower hourly wages are migrant farm workers.

In 1975, about one-third of American mothers worked outside the home. Today about two-thirds are employed. The entry of so many women into the workforce has greatly increased the demand for "traditional housewife" services including cooking, cleaning, and child care. A generation ago, three-quarters of the money used to buy food in the US was spent to prepare meals at home. Today, half of the money used to buy food in the US is spent at restaurants(mainly fast food).

In the 1950's, a hamburger and french fries became the quintessential American meal, thanks to the promotional efforts of the fast food industry. The typical American now consumes approximately three hamburgers and four orders of french fries every week. What we eat has changed more in the last forty years than in the previous forty thousand.

The steady barrage of fast food ads, full of thick, juicy burgers and long, golden fries, never mention where these foods come from or what they contain. Much of the taste and aroma of fast food is now manufactured at a series of large chemical plants off the New Jersey Turnpike. The potato fields, processing plants, ranches, and slaughterhouses show the effects of fast food on our nation's rural life, environment, and workers.

The fast food chains stand on top of a huge food-industrial complex that has gained control of American agriculture. During the 1980's, large corporations were allowed to dominate one commodity market after another, causing farmers and cattle ranchers to lose their independence and essentially become hired hands for these agribusiness giants, or else be forced off their land. Family farms are a thing of the past, replaced by gigantic corporate farms. The hardy, independent farmers, whom Thomas Jefferson considered the bedrock of American democracy, are a vanishing breed. The US now has more prison inmates than full-time farmers.

The fast food industry's vast purchasing power and demand for uniform product caused fundamental changes in how cattle is raised, slaughtered, and processed into ground beef. These changes made meatpacking, once a highly skilled, highly paid occupation, the most dangerous job in the US, performed by armies of unskilled, poor, transient immigrants, whose injuries go unrecorded and uncompensated.

These changes also introduced deadly pathogens, such as E. coli, but the federal government lacks the power to recall contaminated, potentially lethal meat. Again and again, meat industry lobbyists have obstructed this authority with help from their allies in Congress.

Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day, unaware of the subtle and not so subtle ramifications of their purchases, because it has been so carefully designed to taste good, to be convenient, and to come cheap. But the real price never appears on the menu.
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Breakfast: Egg McMuffin... JUST KIDDING! Bagel with veggie spread.
Lunch: Went to a BBQ & ate the sides: beans, potato salad, cole slaw, corn, salad, bread, and Blue Bell Ice Cream (yep, imported from Texas!!) mmm.
Dinner: Sandwich with broccoli rabe and provolone (from Taylor's on H Street - delicious and Philly themed!)

Rules And Regulations

2009-06-16T21:29:00.005-04:00

To address a question I received...

How can the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) possibly allow crap-filled meat to enter the market?

Well, the meat industry is regulated by the USDA (US Department of Agriculture), not the FDA. And unfortunately, the USDA is operating under a conflicted mission: to promote the sale of American beef on behalf of U.S. meat producers and, at the same time, guarantee its safety.

The USDA is also a very incestuous organization, employing former meat and dairy executives, then expecting them to regulate their former co-workers, friends, and cash cows (pun intended). In a 2004 article, “The Cow Jumped Over the USDA.,” Eric Schlosser wrote that, “you’d have a hard time finding a federal agency more completely dominated by the industry it was created to regulate.”

Even worse, the USDA has a "voluntary recall" policy in which the Federal Government does not have the authority to recall meat. Yes, you read that right. Our government can recall everything from car parts to toys, but not tainted meat. Instead, the USDA can make a recommendation to a supplier that its meat should be recalled and the supplier must recall its own product - and just how often do you think that happens?

Oh, and don't forget that the USDA is severely underfunded. Even if they wanted to uphold legitimate safety standards, they are unable to provide enough inspectors to thoroughly check all of the meat-packing plants, and they're using out-dated technologies to test for contaminations.

Coincidentally, there a food safety bill going through Congress right now which would give the FDA the authority to recall meat. Obviously, the meat industry is against it.

Colin Woodall, executive director of legislative affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said "meat producers are concerned about the precedent this bill could set in giving the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over the industry, which is currently watched over by the Department of Agriculture." The cattlemen’s group takes issue with mandatory recalls and says voluntary recalls work better. "The industry worries that the bill would require government inspectors on farms," Woodall said. We can only hope!!

“There is no need to have FDA inspectors come on farms or cattle operations,” Woodall said. “There are too many other processes and steps between the time it leaves the farm and gets to the consumer, including the way the consumer handles the product when they get it home. It would give a false sense of security to the consumer.” A false sense of security is what we already have. What we need now is some real security, starting with FDA inspectors in our meat-packing plants.

Dave Warner, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, said his group has a number of concerns about the legislation, with on-farm inspections being among the top. “FDA doesn’t not have the personnel, and it doesn’t have the expertise,” he said. Ya, I'm sure he's very concerned about the personnel issues at the FDA.

The meat industry makes VERY LARGE campaign contributions to Congressmen which, unfortunately for us, have been paying off for them. We'll see what happens this time...
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Breakfast: We had a "waffle-fest" at work this morning!
Lunch: Chipotle burrito bowl. If you get it meatless, you get FREE GUAC!
Dinner: Spaghetti and meatless-meatballs (from Trader Joe's)

Meat's Not Green

2009-06-11T22:51:00.003-04:00

To most people, "going green" means recycling, switching to energy-efficient light bulbs, using cloth grocery bags, and carpooling. What most people don't know is that eating vegetarian is just about the greenest thing you can do.

The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook states that “refusing meat” is “the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.” Researchers at the University of Chicago found that going vegan is more effective in countering climate change than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius.

A 2006 United Nations report summarized the devastation caused by the meat industry by calling it "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." The report revealed that the “livestock sector” generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, trains, ships, and planes in the world combined.

The livestock sector is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide and the single largest source of both methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Nitrous oxide is considerably more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. According to the U.N., the meat, egg, and dairy industries account for a staggering 65% of nitrous oxide emissions.

Environmental Defense estimates that, “If every American had one meat-free meal per week, it would be the same as taking more than 5 million cars off our roads. Having one meat-free day per week would be the same as taking 8 million cars off American roads.”

Just like the rest of the green initiative, every little bit helps! Consider something like a Meatless Monday to help our environment (and your health, and the animals).

Future posts coming about the destruction the meat industry causes to our air, land, and sea.
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Breakfast: Strawberries
Lunch: Salad bar at Harris Teeter
Dinner: Tacos with soy chorizo (best item ever sold at Trader Joe's!), cilantro, soy cheese, salsa verde, and delicious tortillas from San Antonio

Meet Your Meat: Cows

2009-06-11T21:05:00.004-04:00

This video pretty much sums it up - please watch it:

One thing the video leaves out is how we've even turned something as simple as feeding the cows into an act of abuse and cruelty. For more on what we feed our cows and how it makes them sick, see my posts Feeding Our Food (Part 1) and Feeding Our Food (Part 2).

The unimaginable treatment of these animals is enough to make me quit meat, but on top of that, I am flat out disguted by the fact that the beef we buy comes from sick, diseased, unhealthy animals that are raised in manure up to their ankles. I mean, that's just gross.
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Breakfast: English Muffin with spray butter, which blatently violates my advice to Eat Food
Lunch: Microwavable brown rice & veggie bowl
Dinner: Pasta with zucchini, tomato, garlic, fresh parsley, pine nuts, and olive oil

What's Really In Your Hamburger

2009-06-10T17:37:00.004-04:00

In the early 1900's hamburgers had a reputation similar to hot dogs: tainted, unsafe to eat, food for the poor, sold only at carnivals (not in restaurants), made from old meat, laced with preservatives. In the 1920's, White Castle, the nation's first hamburger chain, worked extremely hard to reverse this image, even naming their chain something that sounded pure. The 1950's and the rise of drive-ins and fast food restaurants is when the hamburger's image really turned. The fast food industry marketed hamburgers as an ideal meal for children - convenient, inexpensive, hand-held, easy to chew. By the early 1990's, the average American ate 3 hamburgers per week, more than 2/3 of these were from fast food restaurants. Thanks to some excellent marketing tactics, the hamburger had become America's national meal.

Although the reputation surrounding hamburgers has changed, their actual content has not. So, here's the truth about what's really in ground beef.

First, lose that image of a huge, brown, beef steer because the majority of ground beef comes from dairy cows that can no longer milk. Dairy cattle can live as long as 40 years, but most are slaughtered at the age of 4, when their milk output starts to decline. The stresses of industrial milk production makes these cows even more unhealthy than cattle from large feedlots and they are more likely to be diseased and riddled with antibiotic residues. Secondly, ground beef is largely responsible for the roughly 200,000 people that are sickened every year by foodborne diseases. The nontheraputic use of antibiotics in livestock feedlots has fueled pathogen mutation and the huge feedlots, slaughterhouses, and meat packing plants have proven to be an extremely efficient way to spread diseases.

The literature on the causes of food poising is full of scientific terms (colifom levels, aerobic plate counts, sorbitol, etc), but the bottom line behind why eating a hamburger can make you sick is: There is shit in the meat.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli) is a mutation of a bacterium found abundantly in the human digestive system, but this mutated version attacks the lining of the intestine, causing diarrhea, abdominal cramps, possibly vomiting and fever. In 4% of E. coli cases, the toxins enter the bloodstream causing kidney failure, anemia, internal bleeding, seizures, neurological damage, or strokes, leading to permanent disabilities (like blindness or brain damage), or death. E. coli is now the leading cause of kidney failure among children in the US. (Children ages 7-13 eat more hamburgers than any other age group.)

E. coli was first isolated in 1982 and has received a large amount of public attention in the past 2 decades because of the significant number of cases. Efforts to eradicate E. coli have failed because of its resistance to acid, salt, and chlorine, its ability to live in fresh water or seawater, its ability to live on kitchen countertops for days, or in moist environments for weeks, its ability to withstand freezing and withstand temperatures up to 160 degrees, and its ability to spread easily - through stool.

People have been infected by drinking contaminated water, swimming in contaminated water (even at water parks), crawling on a contaminated carpet, and most commonly by eating contaminated ground beef. Outbreaks have also been caused by contaminated vegetables, fruits, and milk - all of which most likely came in contact with cattle manure, although the pathogen can also be spread by feces of deer, dogs, horses, flies, and humans (person to person transmission accounts for a significant portion of E. coli cases).

The way our meat is processed has created an ideal way for pathogens like E. coli to spread. The feedlots are essentially manure recirculation plants. Not only do the animals live amid pools of manure, but they are also fed manure. In Arkansas alone, nearly 3 million pounds of chicken manure are fed to cattle per year. (See also Feeding Our Food.)

The slaughterhouses and meat grinders only spread the contaminations further. As the hide is pulled off the animal by machine, if the hide was not cleaned properly, chunks of dirt and manure will fall from it onto the meat. When the stomach & intestines are removed, if it is not done properly, the contents will spill out onto the meat and the table. With the quick assembly line and the unskilled workers, manure spillage occurs in about 1 in 5 carcasses. A single gut splatter can quickly spread as hundreds of carcasses quickly move down the line. A contaminated knife will spread germs to everything it touches and the overworked, often illiterate slaughterhouse workers do not always practice stellar hygiene. Meat that falls onto the ground (where, by the way, factory workers are known to urinate - after all, there are large drains for the blood) is picked up and placed back on the conveyor belt.

The odds of contamination grow exponentially in ground beef because beef from many animals is mixed together, increasing the chance of an infected animal being part of each hamburger. A single hamburger contains meat from dozens or even hundreds of different animals. A single cow infected with E. coli can contaminate 32,000 pounds of ground beef. A USDA study found that 78.6% of the tested ground beef contained microbes that are spread primarily by fecal matter.

Anyone bringing raw ground beef into their home should consider it a biohazard. A study by Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, found that due to beef and poultry contamination, the average American sink contains more fecal matter than the average American toilet. According to Gerba, "you'd be better off eating a carrot stick that fell in your toilet than one that fell in your sink."

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Breakfast: Cereal with soy milk
Lunch: Bean burrito at Anita's Mexican restaurant
Dinner: Avocado sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and Italian dressing, french fries on the side

Who's Hogging Our Antibiotics?

2009-06-08T20:35:00.011-04:00

A new ad campaign in DC's metro trains informs the public about the nontheraputic use of antibiotics in our CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations). The ads say that 70% of human antibiotics are fed to livestock, promoting antibiotic-resistant bacterial mutations that can be dangerous to humans. Antibiotic-resistant infections cost the U.S. health care system at least $4 to $5 billion per year and they are harder to treat, require multiple treatments, longer hospital stays, and other interventions before finally being eliminated.

About this ad campaign

How nontheraputic feeding of antibiotics to livestock threatens our health

I found this on the US Food Policy Blog.
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Breakfast: Bagel with jelly
Lunch: Veggie sandwich from Harris Teeter, added tofurkey
Dinner: Pasta with spaghetti sauce and mushroom turnovers (frozen from Trader Joe's)

Home On The Range

2009-06-07T16:02:00.008-04:00

Cowboys, ranchers, and farmers are American icons, symbols of freedom, independence, self-reliance, and hard work. But, the American rancher is a disappearing breed. In the past 20 years, over 500,000 ranchers sold off their livestock and quit the business. The remaining 800,000 are struggling to survive. The hard-working ranchers idealized in cowboy legends are likely to go broke today.

We live in a new era, where ranchers and farmers are more often portrayed as ignorant, racist, economic parasites, and despoilers of the land. In 1959, eight of our nation's top ten TV shows were westerns. The networks ran 35 westerns in prime time every week. That American ideal is now a distant past.

Many factors have contributed to the downfall of the American rancher, including the rise of the fast food industry, the lack of government regulations on agribusiness, unethical practices by agribusiness firms, and increasing urban development.

The growth of the fast food industry changed the face of the meat packing industry by encouraging consolidation. In 1968, McDonald's (the nation's largest purchaser of beef) bought its beef from 175 local suppliers. By 1970, seeking to achieve product uniformity, McDonald's reduced its suppliers down to five. In 1970, the top four meat packing firms slaughtered 21% of our cattle, but in the 1980's the Reagan administration allowed the meat packing firms to merge without any antitrust enforcement, and today the top four meat packers (ConAgra, IBP, Excel, and National Beef) slaughter 84% of our cattle. (Farmers are not allowed to slaughter their own cattle, per USDA regulations. Cattle are raised by independent ranchers, then auctioned off to slaughterhouses for processing.)

The four major meat packers control about 20% of the live cattle in the US. When the prices of cattle start to rise, the meat packers can flood the market with their own supplies to drive prices back down. Over the last 20 years, the rancher's share of every retail dollar spent on beef has fallen from $0.63 to $0.46.

Cattle ranchers worry that beef industry is deliberately being restructured along the lines of the poultry industry and they do not want to end up like chicken farmers who are virtually powerless, trapped by debt and unfair contracts to large processors. The poultry industry was also transformed in 1980's by a series of mergers. Only eight chicken processors control about 2/3 of US market.

The idea that agribusiness executives secretly talk on the phone with their competitors to set prices and divide up the market, is not just a conspiracy theory. Three executives from Archer Daniels Midland, a supplier of livestock feed additives, were sent to federal prison in 1999 for precisely this. Over a 3.5 year period, Archer Daniels Midland & their conspirators overcharged farmers as much as $180 million for feed additives through a massive price-fixing scheme.

Unfortunately, ranchers are afraid to testify against large companies for fear of retaliation & economic ruin. In 1996, Mike Callicrate, a cattleman from Kansas, testified before the USDA against the large meat packers, who promptly stopped buying his cattle. Callicrate is now an activist for ranchers, speaking at congressional hearings, and joining class action lawsuits against the large meat packers. Callicrate says that he refuses to "make the transition to slavery quietly."

Ranchers have also fallen victim to the advice of agribusiness firms to give their cattle growth hormones. Cattle are much bigger today, so fewer are sold, and most can not be exported to the European Union where bovine growth hormones have been banned.

In some areas, like Colorado, ranchers face threats unrelated to cattle prices. In the last 20 yrs, Colorado has lost 1.5 million acres of land to development. Between population growth and the growing number of vacation homes, land costs have skyrocketed, making it impossible for ranchers to expand their operations. Plus, inheritance taxes can claim more than half of a cattle ranch's land value. Even if a family manages to operate its ranch profitably, handing it down to the next generation may require selling off large chunks of land, diminishing its productive capacity. The median age of Colorado ranchers is 55. Ranchland in Colorado is now diminishing at the rate of 90,000 acres per year.

As our ranchers' traditional way of life is destroyed, so is their livelihood. The suicide rate among ranchers in the US is three times higher than the national average. Osha Gray Davidson states in his book Broken Heartland, "To fail several generations of relatives... to see yourself as the one weak link in a strong chain... is a terrible, and for some, an unbearable burden."

Our current industrialized food system is not only a nightmare for our animals, our health, and our environment, but it is also destroying our hard-working farmers and the ideals of the American west.
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Brunch: Sopes without cheese or sour cream (or meat, obviously)

Dinner: Veggie spring rolls, tofu lettuce wraps, veggie pad thai

Meet Your Meat: Chickens and Turkeys

2009-06-02T21:33:00.020-04:00

Chickens and turkeys are by far the most abused animals on the planet. They are crammed into dark, windowless, overcrowded sheds with as many as 40,000 birds per shed. These sheds are filthy with excrement and reek of ammonia.

A writer for The New Yorker visited a chicken shed and wrote, “I was almost knocked to the ground by the overpowering smell of feces and ammonia. My eyes burned and so did my lungs, and I could neither see nor breathe…. There must have been 30,000 chickens sitting silently on the floor in front of me... living in nearly total darkness, and they would spend every minute of their lives that way.”

These conditions cause the chickens and turkeys to develop chronic respiratory diseases, bronchitis, weakened immune systems, "ammonia burn" a painful eye infection, and open, untreated, infected sores and wounds.

(Yes, turkeys and chickens like this are processed for slaughter... mmm.)

Not only is the floor of the shed covered in excrement, but it is also littered with dead bird corpses. The birds that don't die from diseases cause by filth, or heart attacks caused by the gross weight gain, can die from starvation. Because chickens and turkeys are genetically manipulated and fed huge quantities of antibiotics to promote abnormally fast and large growth, often their legs cripple under their immense weight. The crippled animals can not stand or walk to get food or water. By the age of 6 weeks, 90% of broiler chickens are so obese they can not walk.

Chickens and turkeys are handled very violently. They are roughly grabbed by their legs, necks, wings, and slung into crates, or slammed onto the ground. They are kicked, and stomped on, then left to suffer with broken legs or wings.

Plus, birds are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, so they have no federal legal protections. At slaughter, chickens and turkeys are shackled upside down by their fragile legs. Their throats are slit while they are still fully conscious, they are then immersed into a pot of scalding water to remove the feathers. Many are still alive when they are scalded to death. Every year, 9 billion (with a 'b') chickens and 300 million turkeys are killed for food in the US.

If you eat chicken and turkey, you can watch this:

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Breakfast: Fruit leather and string cheese.

Lunch: Veggie Delight sub from Subway.

Dinner: Stir Fry. Just toss in ANY veggies you like (squash, zucchini, broccoli, bell peppers, onion, tomoato, water chestnuts, spinach, those little corn things, even pineapple, just to name a few) and add soy sauce, or teriyaki sauce, or any type of marinade, it doesn't even have to be Asian, just something you like!

Eat Food

2009-05-29T17:29:00.007-04:00

It sounds easy, right? But, it's increasingly harder as our grocery stores continue to fill up with edible-food-like-substances. We are continually drawn in by the "no trans fat margarine" and the "low fat, omega fortified cheese," but it's a pretty good rule of thumb that products with health claims on the packaging indicate that it's not real food. All of these food-like-creations just cause confusion about one of the most basic fundamentals of life: what to eat. (PS - No other animal needs professional help to decide what to eat!)

Between the nutritionists, food manufacturers, food marketers, and even journalists, there are a lot of people who have a lot to gain from the latest health craze (just think of all the buzz around carbs, trans fats, omega 3's, antioxidants). In fact, it's an industry that thrives not only on change, but also on consumer confusion.

Ironically, the professionalization of nutritionism didn't make us healthier, it made us significantly unhealthier and significantly fatter. In fact, 4 of the top 10 causes of death in the US are chronic diseases that are linked to diet: coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer. (These diseases remain rare in areas where people don't eat the way we do.)

Due to food industrialization, instead of fresh fruits & vegetables, westerners are consuming highly processed substances, refined grains, chemicals used to raise plants & animals (who are raised in huge monocultures), an abundance of cheap sugar & fat calories, and all on a base of 3 staple crops: corn, wheat, and soy.

Human populations have thrived on a variety of diets: high fat, low fat, high carb, all meat, all plant, so we know that the human animal can adapt to different diets, but the western diet is not one of them. Yet, instead of returning to the basics (real food), we continue to tinker with the processed stuff by lowering the fat, raising the fiber, adding omega-3's, removing saturated fats, etc, etc, etc.

In the 1960's, the height of food industrialization, it was nearly impossible to buy vegetable or meat without chemicals, but today we have a choice. And, this choice has real consequences to our health, to our environment, and to our animals. (It just so happens that the best ethical and environmental choices are also the best for our health.) The more eaters who vote with their fork for real food, the more commonplace it will become. So, eat food!
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Breakfast: Peaches & cream oatmeal
Lunch: Tomato soup, crackers, and sliced cucumber
Dinner: Veggie burger (from the frozen aisle) and salad

Downed Cows

2009-05-26T20:43:00.011-04:00

In February 2008, the USDA ordered the largest beef recall in US history - 143 million pounds of beef. The recall came 3 weeks after the Humane Society exposed the cattle abuse at a plant that supplies meat to 36 states and over 100,000 schools. Unfortunately, the recall included beef dated back to February 2006, so most had already been consumed. But, why would eating abused beef even effect our health?

Because the most common form of cattle abuse is forcing "downed" cows to stand for slaughter. It is against USDA regulations to slaughter an animal that can not stand on its own because the inability of the animal to stand indicates an unhealthy animal and downer animals have a higher likelihood of E. coli and Mad Cow Disease. But the slaughterhouses do not want to lose money on these sick animals, so they kick them, ram them with forklifts, jab them in the eyes, and shock them with electric prods, to try to force them to stand.

The exposed incident in February of 2008, unfortunately, is representative of a rampant practice in the industry. Not only is this routine cruel, but it is also dangerous to our health. As the meat industry has consolidated, larger plants process more animals than ever before. Plus, old dairy cattle (used for ground beef) are more prone to disease, and one sick cow can contaminate thousands of pounds of hamburger. A contamination in a single plant can effect consumers all across the country.

As the number of contamination outbreaks has increased, our animal health and food safety inspection system has declined. In a nutshell, there are not enough inspectors, and the inspectors are not equipped with adequate detection technology. The USDA has a lack of protection for whistleblower inspectors and slaughterhouse employees, and even has a history of disciplining whistleblowers. And, perhaps most detrimental to our health, the USDA relies on the meat processors, instead of federal inspectors, to control the sampling of meat products to detect contamination.
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Breakfast: none
Lunch: Panini with mushrooms, spinach, tomato, onion, and hummus
Dinner: Veggie dogs (leftovers from Memorial Day weekend BBQs)
PS - Love this! http://www.veggiedogcontest.com/

NutraSweet Not So Sweet

2009-05-21T15:09:00.012-04:00

The FDA has approved the use of 5 artificial sweeteners, but none is as controversial as the approval of aspartame, more commonly known as NutraSweet or Equal. NutraSweet is in all diet sodas, diet drinks (including diet juices and Crystal Light), and most diet foods. Equal is the sweetener in the blue packet.

There are countless books, articles, web sites, and documentaries on the reasons why aspartame should not be consumed. Some site medical studies while others base their claims on industry-related conspiracies. Either way, I certainly don't want to be involved with this stuff!

Medical Studies
The strongest case against aspartame is the evidence linking it to brain tumors. There is overwhelming evidence that aspartame causes brain tumors in animals (from rats to monkeys), and many scientists believe it is linked to the growing number of brain tumors today.

There is additional evidence that these symptoms can be related to aspartame: headache, dizziness, change in mood, vomiting or nausea, abdominal pain and cramps, change in vision, diarrhea, seizures/convulsions, memory loss, and fatigue.

Along with these symptoms, links to aspartame are made for fibromyyalgia, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, tinnitus, joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, and various cancers.

Industry Conspiracies
With very strong medical evidence indicating the dangers of aspartame, how the heck did it ever get approved by the FDA? Well, this gets long and complicated, so I'll try to break it down as simply as possible.

Basically, what happened was, back in 1965, someone from the pharmaceutical company GD Searle was working on an ulcer drug when he spilled some on his hand and licked it off, discovering it was sweet.

In 1970, one of the first tests was conducted on aspartame. It was a 52 week study on 7 monkeys. Five of them had seizures and one died of cardiac arrest. Also in 1970, a study showed that oral intake of aspartic acid (an ingredient of aspartame) could cause brain tumors in mice. In 1971, Searle re-created the mice/brain tumor study arriving the same results themselves. Yet, knowing these results, in 1973 Searle applied to the FDA to use NutraSweet as a food-additive sweetener.

Of all the initial studies on the safety of aspartame, about half of them were funded by NutraSweet-related funds (soda companies, diet food companies, etc) and the other half were independently funded (medical researchers, universities, etc). One hundred percent of the industry-funded research attested to aspartame's safety, whereas 92% of the independently funded research identified a problem. However, Searle only presented the favorable findings to the FDA and gained approval for the limited use of aspartame in dry foods in 1974.

Shortly after this, reports and studies surfaced that linked aspartame to brain tumors and petitions against aspartame were filed. The FDA hired an independent research group to review the Searle studies, but required Searle to pay for this group. So, here is an independent group that makes money by being hired to do studies - why would it be critical of a potential new customer?

The safety controversy continued and in 1977 the FDA recommended, to US attorney Samuel Skinner, that a grand jury investigate Searle for fraud and deletion, manipulation, & falsification of records. Suddenly, Samuel Skinner began employment discussions with Searle's law firm.

The US justice department urged Samuel Skinner to proceed with the grand jury, pointing out that the statute of limitations would soon expire. Samuel Skinner withdrew from the Searle case, took a position with Searle's law firm, and US assistant attorney William Conlon was assigned to the investigation. William Conlon let the statute of limitations expire on the case and 15 months later was also hired by Searle's law firm.

The common denominator for all of this as money. Searle allegedly promised high paying jobs to FDA employees who approved aspartame. Eight of the key FDA decision makers in the approval process for aspartame ended up working for NutraSweet-using companies (soft drinks, etc).

In 1980, the FDA's Public Board of Inquiry voted unanimously to reject the use of aspartame until further studies were conducted on its safety.

The day after Ronald Reagan was sworn into office (1981), he eliminated the power of the current FDA Commissioner and one month later, appointed a new FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes. The fast action on Reagan's part is assumed to be linked to the fact that Donald Rumsfeld was the president of GD Searle at the time.

In 1981, Searle re-applied for the approval of aspartame. Three of the five FDA scientists on the approval board advised against the approval of aspartame, but the new FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, assigned one more panel member to the case, causing a 3-3 split on the decision. Then Arthur Hull Hayes himself overruled the Public Board of Inquiry and approved aspartame for use.

In 1983, the FDA approved the use of aspartame in carbonated beverages. Under charges of improprieties, Hayes left the FDA and was hired as a consultant for $1000 a day by Searle's PR firm.

Further controversy ensued when Searle made a "business deal" with a member of the UK's equivalent of the FDA. This individual single-handedly approved the use of aspartame in the UK, inciting debate, but the decision was not revoked. There were no studies done in the UK. Approval in the US and UK ok-ed the use of aspartame for the rest of the world.

And that's the story, folks!

For more information, visit:
http://www.dorway.com/
http://www.sweetpoison.com/
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Breakfast: Microwavable breakfast wrap, from the frozen aisle, filled with tofu scramble, fakin bacon, and vegan cheese. And it doesn't taste like cardboard, I swear!
Lunch: Cheese enchiladas at Anita's New Mexico Style Mexican Restaurant
Dinner: Asian peanut-ginger noodles, ready-made from Trader Joe's

Tweet Me!

2009-05-18T11:46:00.007-04:00

It was suggested by multiple people that I post my blog updates to twitter for easier following. I've never tweeted before, but I'm going to try it out. All you twitterers can subscribe to me here: http://twitter.com/angiechappell.

Also, I keep getting asked, "If you don't eat meat, then what do you eat?" Well, I eat EVERYTHING ELSE! Our culture teaches us that meat must be the main dish at every meal, so it is hard for us to even conceive of an alternative. There are many other cultures around the world that eat heavily vegetarian diets and they seem to find plenty of options. To help give us Americans some ideas for meatless meals, I will begin to list what I ate (or plan to eat) that day at the bottom of each post. Just don't judge me for not eating breakfast.
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Breakfast: A few pieces of cantaloupe
Lunch: Leftover gnocchi (it's like pasta, but made from potato) from Maggiano's... mmm.
Dinner: Tacos made with either black beans or meatless crumbles (found in your frozen aisle), topped with all the fixin's (lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, salsa verde, cheese). Lucky for me, I have some authentic hand-made tortillas from San Antonio (HEB Central Market) stockpiled in my freezer :)

Buzz Words

2009-05-16T19:13:00.011-04:00

It is difficult to reject industrialized farming practices when we don't understand what we're buying. The educated consumer can put their money where their values lie.

Organic - Certainly this is the biggest buzz word in the supermarket today, yet most people don't even know what it means. Most basically, 'organic' means that fruits & veggies were grown without pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation, and that meat, dairy, and eggs are from animals that were not given antibiotics, growth hormones, or "animal protein products."

However, not all organics are created equal. The USDA (who wants their farmers to profit) has 3 official categories of 'organic':

- 100% Organic - All ingredients were raised/harvested in a fully organic way

- Organic - Made with at least 95% organic ingredients

- Made With Organic Ingredients - Made with at least 70% organic ingredients and restrictions on the remaining 30%, including no genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

It is important to realize that 'organic' does NOT indicate grass-fed or free-range. Organic meat, eggs, and dairy sold at large-scale suppliers (like Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, HEB, etc) are most often fed a diet of organic corn and raised in CAFO-like conditions (many animals crammed into a small space, etc).

At the beginning of the organic movement, organic was hyped as better for the environment, however this is now hotly debated. Most research suggests that organic agriculture has marginally lower carbon emissions than conventional methods, but the results depend on the crop, the soils, and the skill of the farmer.

The quality of organic foods over conventional foods is another debated issue. Some studies have shown that organic foods contain higher levels of vitamins and nutrients, but there are also claims that this is not true.

Grass-Fed - This one, at its basics, is fairly self-explanatory: the animal is fed grass, not corn. Because the animal is eating what it was designed to eat, the meat and dairy products produced from grass-fed animals is healthier for you. There is no debate about this. It has less total fat, less saturated fat, less cholesterol, and fewer calories. It is richer in antioxidants including vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C, and richer in healthy fats including omega-3 fatty acids.

However, 'grass-fed' does NOT indicate 'organic'. These animals could still be treated with antibiotics, hormones, or may be eating grass treated with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. At local farmers' markets, this is generally not the case, but at grocery stores, check for both 'grass-fed' and 'organic' labels just to be sure. The USDA is currently working on official regulations for 'grass-fed' product labeling.

Vegetarian-fed - Indicates that the animal was not fed rendered "animal protein products." This does NOT indicate 'organic' nor 'grass-fed'.

Natural - One of the biggest marketing ploys out there. Many people associate 'natural' with 'organic' or 'grass-fed'. Don't fall for it! Most 'natural' products do not contain synthetic ingredients, but there are no regulations on what can be labeled 'natural,' they're just trying to leech on to the organic movement by confusing consumers.

Free Range/Cage-Free - Another deceiving term. Do not be fooled into thinking these animals live on an open field. The USDA does not have any regulations on 'free range' labeling, except with regards to poultry. The official USDA regulations on 'free range' poultry state that the chickens must have "access to the outdoors" to be labeled free range. Unfortunately, this leads to farmers having a small door in their chicken coop, that they admit is kept closed for the beginning of the chicken's life and only opened after the chickens are used to being crammed in the hen house, so they don't even try to go outside once it's opened. And this is labeled 'free-range.' Similarly, 'cage-free' may indicate a lack of wire mesh, but the animals are still crammed far too many to a coop.

For beef, pork, and other non-poultry, there is absolutely no criteria, and the USDA relies "upon producer testimonials to support the accuracy of these claims." Uh, right. Once again, claims of free-range and cage-free are much more believable at a local farmer's market, than in the grocery store.

Buyers beware.

Feeding Our Food (Part 2)

2009-05-15T12:00:00.017-04:00

Let me just remind you where we left off: discussing the meal that is served up in CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), where most of our farm animals are raised.

That meal, in case you've forgotten, consists of corn, soy, antibiotics, hormones, meat from other animals (including diseased animals), bits of feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, manure, chicken litter, and plastic.

I discussed corn and soy in the previous post. Now on to the rest.

Meat from same and other species, diseased animals, feathers, hair, skin, hooves, and blood
Another way to fatten the animals as quickly as possible is to add so-called "protein suppliments" their feed, which comes in the form of "animal protein products." This is another ingenious way for CAFOs to cut their costs: feed the carcasses of slaughtered animals back to the feeding animals. I am not making this up people.

The spread of Mad Cow Disease was a direct result of this practice. The US government has since put restrictions on the parts of cattle that can be fed back to cattle. Cows can no longer be fed cow brains, spinal cords and other central nervous system tissues, but they can still be fed cow blood and other cow parts. Plus, cows can be fed rendered pigs, chickens, and turkeys that have been fed cow brains, spinal cords, and nervous systems.

In addition to inducing cannibalism, animal feed can also legally contain road kill, dead horses, and euthanized cats and dogs. Seriously, I am not making this up.

There are plenty of resources on this subject. Here is one: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0128-03.htm

Manure and Other Animal Waste
It is common practice to add cattle manure, swine waste, and poultry litter to the feed as additional "animal protein products." Not only can this waste contain antibiotics and hormones that were fed to the animals, but it can also come from animals that ate rendered cow parts, and then be fed to cows, possibly enabling the spread of Mad Cow Disease. The litter served up as food is allowed to contain contain dirt, rocks, sand, wood, and other such contaminants. Another link, just in case you still don't believe me: http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/chicken-litter-animal-feed.htm

Plastics
Many animals need roughage to move food through their digestive systems, but since they are not receiving the necessary fiber from their corn-based diet, CAFOs use plastic pellets to simulate plant-based roughage.

Antibiotics and Hormones
Antibiotics and hormones are used to speed the fattening of the animals and to combat the health effects of a corn based diet and of very cramped, unsanitary conditions (where diseases thrive and spread quickly). Traces of these drugs can be found in the meat humans consume. And not only that, but traces of these drugs can also be found in vegetables that are fertilized with manure from drugged animals. And on top of that, human water sources have been contaminated with these drugs due to feedlot water runoff. Some of the antibiotics commonly used to control parasites and promote growth contain arsenic, a known human carcenogen.

Another serious issue is that these antibiotics are always added to the feed and water. This practice of "nontherapeutic use of antibiotics" speeds up the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is a public health problem that costs the US economy billions of dollars each year.

What You Can Do
As an informed consumer, you have the power to express your disdain in these practices. Remember, your money talks! Some options:

- Try plant based alternatives (veggie burgers, etc)

- Choose grass fed beef, pork, poultry, eggs, and dairy

- Look for "vegetarian fed" labels (no rendered animal parts were fed back to these animals)

- Purchase certified organic products

- Buy meat, eggs, and dairy products from local farmers' markets (these are not products of CAFOs)

NOTE: There is a difference between "organic", "grass-fed", "vegetarian-fed", and "local" - will discuss each of these soon!

Feeding Our Food (Part 1)

2009-05-13T12:22:00.022-04:00

When we think of farm animals, we picture cows eating grass on the pasture, pigs rolling in mud troughs, and chickens pecking at the ground for grubs. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near reality. In fact, most of our farm animals are not raised on farms at all. Instead, they are raised in Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, which are essentially just huge meat factories. This may be hard to believe, but in the US, only four companies produce 81% of cows, 73% of sheep, 57% of pigs and 50% of chickens!

Just like any other factory, the goal of these CAFOs is to reduce costs and increase profits. There are many ways they do this, including using the cheapest feed possible, and fattening the animals for slaughter as quickly as possible.

Therefore, the meals served up in the CAFOs are the cheapest, most fattening dish available: a mixture of corn, soy, antibiotics, hormones, meat from other animals (including diseased animals), bits of feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, manure, chicken litter, and plastic. By now you probably think I'm exaggerating, but I assure you I am not. All of these are legal feedlot ingredients, demonstrating that our system has lost sight of the appropriate way to raise livestock.

In order to keep this post from turning into a novel, I'll address the base of the feedlot meal, the corn and soy, in this post, then will follow up on the other appetizing ingredients in the next post.

Corn and Soy
Because of a series of events (including government farm subsidies, which will be discussed in a later post), corn and soy became incredibly cheap and therefore became the base of CAFO feed. Livestock consumes 60% of the corn and 47% of the soy produced in the US.

Just like humans, animals are healthiest when they eat the correct diet. That diet is not corn. Let's just take cows as an example (similar principle for pigs, chicken, turkeys, etc): Cows are ruminants, which is a type of animal with a digestive system designed to process grass. Ruminants have four-chambered stomachs and digest their food by eating it, then regurgitating it, and eating it again. The regurgitated, re-eaten food is processed in the section of the stomach called the 'rumen'.

When a cow eats corn, or anything else its digestive tract is not designed to handle, it creates digestive problems. A low fiber (all corn, no grass) diet causes fermentation acids to accumulate in the rumen and this acid buildup causes ulcers, which can also lead to infections and abscesses in the liver (not to mention excessive indigestion and drooling/frothing).

Additionally, grains accumulate in the cow's intestines, because they are not digested properly, and cause growth of E. coli in the digestive tract (you know that stuff that can kill you if you don't cook your hamburger well enough), as well as an overgrowth of a bacteria that causes "Sudden Death Syndrome" in feedlot cattle.

But instead of switching the cows back to a diet of grass (which would raise costs), CAFOs just pump the feed full of antibiotics to try to lessen the effects of the corn diet, which further alters the natural internals of the cow's digestive system.

Not only is corn a cheap meal, but it is also a fattening one because of the way it is digested and fermented in a cow's digestive system. Prior to CAFOs, steers were 4-5 years old at slaughter. Today, they are 14-16 months. You can't take a beef calf from a birth weight of 80 pounds to slaughter weight of 1,200 pounds in a little more than a year on grass. It takes enormous quantities of corn, protein (feeding animals to animals), and growth hormones.

A corn based diet is not just unhealthy for the cows, but it is also unhealthy for the humans eating those cows. Besides the significant increase in E. coli, corn fed cows develop a marbled flesh, which is saturated fat woven into their muscles. And because the USDA is out to protect the farmers (not the consumers), their beef grading system is set up to reward this intra-muscular fat marbling with a "Grade A" stamp.

Food of the Pharaohs

2009-05-12T15:55:00.016-04:00

I just got back from Egypt where the local cuisine was delicious! My favorite was Koshare which is a bowl of rice, noodles, lentils, carmelized onions, crushed tomatoes, and hot sauce.

I also enjoyed Fuul, which is a crushed up bean (similar to refried beans) served in a pita-like bread. And Fateer, which is a pastry-like dough stuffed with cheese and veggies (and/or meat), kind-of like an Egyptian pizza. Fresh-squeezed juices including mango, strawberry, and even banana juice, are available at all the restaurants and at juice shops, like the one below. In addition to the traditional Egyptian dishes mentioned above, the local cuisine had a heavy Mediterranean influence (after all, Egypt is on the Mediterranean sea), including hummus, babaganoush, yogurt, falafel, and other Mediterranean classics.

And of course, I could find all the basics I was used to, from pizzas and pastas to burgers and fries.

Chew On This

2009-05-01T09:39:00.003-04:00

I'm going out of the country for 10 days and will not be posting while I'm gone, but stay tuned for the next edition!

In the meantime, chew on this:

The FDA allows 30 insect fragments and one rodent hair per 100 grams of peanut butter* (one jar is 400-500 grams).

Worcestershire sauce, the popular steak sauce, is made from dissolved anchovies. The anchovies are soaked in vinegar until they have completely melted. The sauce contains the bones and all.

In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes.

Since Hindus don't eat beef, the McDonald's in New Delhi makes its burgers with mutton (sheep).

Celery has "negative calories". It takes more calories to digest a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

On average, it takes 345 squirts from a cow’s udder to yield one gallon of milk.

The diet now followed by the original actor who played Ronald McDonald in McDonald's child-oriented commercials: Vegetarian.

*For a full list of the amounts of rodent filth, insect filth, mold, and mammalian excreta allowed by the FDA, see http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html.

The Great Protein Myth

2009-04-30T13:14:00.011-04:00

The first question I always get after telling someone I'm a vegetarian is, "But how do you get enough protein?" The idea that meat is the only source of protein is a myth that has been ridiculously perpetuated through our culture (thanks in part to the USDA, who protects their beef farmers... more on that in a future post). The way Americans talk about protein, you'd think protein deficiency was the numer one health risk. PS - it's not. In fact, it's not even on the list of ailments doctors are worried about in any country where basic caloric needs are being met. You'd have to be suffering from starvation (or be on a really terrible crash diet) to acquire a protein deficiency, but at that point, protein deficiency probably wouldn't be your biggest risk.

Instead, what doctors are concerned about is an intake of too much protein. Humans only need 10-15% of their calories to come from protein , but the average American consumes twice this ammount daily. (Pregnant women and athletes need slightly more, but I'm not talking about people who go to the gym once a day, I'm talking about professional athletes who work out as a job.)

So, why is excess protein harmful? Because your body can store excess carbohydrates and fats, but not protein. The excess protein gets converted into either fat or acid. To try to neutralize this excess acid, your kidneys leech calcium from your bones, stressing the kidneys and putting you at a higher risk of osteoperosis. (Coincidence that the highest rates of osteoperosis are in the most-meat-eating countries? No.)

What about the high protein diets, like Atkins? As your kidneys furiously try to rid the body of excess protein, you lose a significant amount of water which shows up on the scale as weight loss.

But, I still haven't answered the question of how I, as a vegetarian, get my protein. Of course we all know that beans contain protein (23-54% calories from protein), but so do just about all other unrefined foods including: lettuce (34%), broccoli (45%), spinach (49%), cauliflower (40%), celery (21%), potatoes (11%), grains (8-31%), nuts and seeds (8-21%), and even fruits (5-8%). It would be near impossible to not get enough protein.

There is also a myth floating around out there that plant proteins are "incomplete" proteins. Proteins are made up of amino acids. There are 8 "essential" amino acids that we must get from our food because our body can not produce them on its own. While it's true that meat contains all 8 of these essential amino acids, so do plants. Some plants may be lower or higher in different types of amino acids, but no plants are missing any of them. So, just by not eating the exact same thing over and over, all of them are acquired in ample amounts.

Knowledge Is Power

2009-04-29T13:56:00.009-04:00

We live in a culture obsessed with food, yet we know so little about what we eat. We are so far removed from the source (the actual cows, or fields of grain) that of course we never consider where the Big Mac we're gobbling down came from, or what it contains.

My naive quest for the perfect diet led me into a world that had never before crossed my mind. As I learned more and more about where my food comes from, I became more and more fascinated with this process, of which consumers are so unaware.

I think it is important to know what you are putting into your body (and what your hard-earned money is paying for), so I am starting this blog to share information about the food we are consuming.