How many times have you heard that we need to eat more vegetarian fare to curb Climate Change? Greepeace and even David Suzuki put it in their top ten actions we can take. It seems every green magazine I pick up, every green blog I read, I’m shamed for living as what my body is designed to be, an omnivore. This makes me feel very sad and a little angry. Here’s why:
- The current population of cattle in the US is only marginally more than the numbers the Native Bison (or Buffalo) enjoyed before Europeans arrived: 96 million cattle have replaced most of the estimated 60 to 100 million Bison that existed in the 19th century. How could there be too many cattle now? This is how..
The figures Suzuki and Greenpeace are working from actually reveal what industrial factory farming is using and outputting. The ancient practice of subsistence grass farming is a totally different picture. Much of the resources used for the beef industry are used in the production of grains fed to confined cattle. There is no reason for this except to boost the bottom line of ‘agricorp’ companies. No ruminant should be eating grain or soy. Industrial agriculture only does so because governments subsidise their feed. - It is very easy to throw about grandiose, knee jerk recommendations which get headlines but it is Greenpeace’s very followers who will suffer from living by them. I live in Byron Bay, some call it a vegetarian paradise. Australia’s modern affair with vegetarianism began right here, more than 30 years ago. Looking around me, I witness first hand the ravages such a diet leaves in it’s wake. Young, idealistic 20 somethings may not notice immediately the affects of such a diet. However, coming into their 50s and 60s now, I see many long time vegetarians; exhausted, overwhelmed and caffeine addicted from years of underNourishing themselves. (BTW It takes 140 Litres of water to make enough coffee for one cup. I challenge you to find a vegetarian who isn’t caffeine addicted. I haven’t yet.)
Many lose their creativity and the naturally buoyant, positive attitude which is our birthright. Many wind up, infertile, unmotivated, ineffective and resentful without knowing why. Greenpeace needs robust, energetic, creative people to work with them toward change. Their recommendations threaten to deny them and our Earth of just this. - Grass fed, properly managed animal foods are actually a great way to sequester many billions of metric tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
To be more responsible, Greenpeace should recommend we boycott confined, grain fed animal foods and demand grass fed animal foods. Is that too complicated for our ‘dumbed down’ population?
Some Facts about Grass Fed Meat
- Grazing land comprises more than half the total land surface of the Earth.
- Soil organic carbon is the largest reservoir in interaction with the atmosphere. It contains 82% of terrestrial carbon.
- Forests can be net carbon emitters in their early stages and take many years to reach their sequestration potential
- “An acre of pasture can sequester more carbon than an acre of forest.” We can offset the nations entire emissions, simply by planting more grass either as winter crops or instead of crops. - Dr Chistine Jones of the Carbon Coalition.
- “Soil represents the largest carbon sink over which we have control. Improvements in soil carbon levels could be made in all rural areas, whereas the regions suited to carbon sequestration in plantation timber are limited.” - Dr Christine Jones
- 50% to 66% of the historic carbon loss (42 to 78 gigatons of carbon) was created by the world’s poorly managed, degraded agricultural soils and is therefore ripe to become the world’s greatest carbon sink.
Difference between carbon farming pasture (right) and ordinary pasture: courtesy of the Carbon Farmer’s of Australia Association.
- Introducing carbon credits for grass farmers who manage their grazing so they actually sequester carbon will also help improve water retention and soil erosion issues.
Raising grain-fed cattle is resource-intensive. It takes more than 35 fossil fuel calories to create one calorie of energy from grain-fed meat. A cow must consume about 8 pounds of grain (3.6kg) in order to yield one pound of meat (450gm), grain which is grown with fossil fuels and pesticides. Much of the exorbitant water use in grain feeding CAFOs is for cleaning the tonnes of waste, waste that in grass farming is a vital resource for soil fertility. Why do this when you can just let the cow go on the grass? Answer: corporate ‘bottom line’ industrial farming.
The ‘methane cattle fart’ statistic we hear all the time is taken from the writings of Dr Andrew Moxey, a widely respected economist who exposed modern agriculture’s contribution to emissions. He says “methane from livestock accounts for 20 per cent of green house gas emissions”, but reading just a little further, you’ll find he also says: “nitrous oxide from fertilizer adds up to 26 per cent [and] carbon dioxide from ploughing up grassland is the major contributor…45 per cent“.
What is on the agenda of people who continually misquote Moxey?
What environmentalists are saying is we should eat the grains instead of the cattle. What they don’t realise is neither we nor the cattle need the grains. They don’t realise this because they’ve been indoctrinated into the idea that we can (and should) eat a grain based diet. No mind that our ancestors never did. No mind that following a grain based diet has brought us to the point where 8% of the western population suffer diabetes (this is expected to quadruple by 2050). No mind that by 2020, 80% of all Australian adults and a third of all children will be overweight or obese. 37% of American Children are already overweight and the CDC predict that figure will be 50% by 2020. It also predicts that the generation of children who are currently under 10 years old are unlikely to outlive their parents.
Even so the USDA still recommends we continue with the sudden diet change that they initiated post world war II. (Please note the USDA food pyramid is created by the US Department of Agriculture - not the US department of Nutrition nor the US department of Health.) Before their self serving dietary recommendations, humans had never tried to consume 6 servings of grain foods. That’s three sandwiches a day. We couldn’t grow, harvest and process that much grain by hand. Only with the advent of the petrol driven harvest combine and industrial processing (dollars for the new manufacturing giants of the 50s) could we even consider eating this much grain, let alone feed it to our livestock. So why is it now the only other option to vegetarianism?
Why are we so easily hoodwinked?
We’re given two options:
- Eat animals who eat grains
- Eat grains.
Why do we fall for this trick? Why are even the most intelligent and highly educated of us lead to believe these are our only choices? Here’s what I see:
It is very difficult to imagine a lifestyle other than one that is part of and supported by the industrial complex. Industrial agriculture and, sadly, feminism has ushered in a completely new perspective on money, farming and Nourishing our family. A perspective we find it hard to veer from. Building a life around dignified farming, a life where the labour of over half the tribal group - that of the women and to some degree the children - is not quantified by money, is beyond our comprehension. What used to be the asset and province of the family is now quantified by money. Today, we outsource feeding our family, maintaining our health and the even caring for our children. Meanwhile, grandparents are idle or busy entertaining themselves, alone - a phenomenon, never before witnessed by our kind.
Never before have we been so separated from the realities of our condition - so separated, we believe we can subsist in a purely vegetarian system delivered to us by an industrial food chain. We can easily swap messy meat and milk for soy and grain products, conveniently processed, packaged and stored at our local supermarket.
I find it intriguing that environmentalists don’t mention grass farming at all. Don’t they know about it? If non-organic agriculture makes more greenhouse gases than industrial animal farming, why are we not told to go completely organic and eat grass fed animals? Why instead are we fed messages of guilt and denial?
I believe we are seeing Christianity in it’s most obtuse manifestation: a generation of martyrs, suffering the ravages of vegetarianism. Saviours of our innocent Earth, putting her before themselves. Pity it doesn’t work that way. Our new martyrs are only weakening their bodies and their progeny, separating themselves further from agriculture and the land for yet another false doctrine. Martyrs they are but not to the environment, to the soy industry and to grain barons.
We Need Farm Animals
Ask any organic or bio dynamic farmer if they can maintain soil fertility without animal manure.. lots of it. They’ll tell you no. As Mark Purdey, farmer and BSE expert puts it, “If the vegetarian vision is to gain precedence over our global agricultural systems, then chemical and biotech agriculture would boom to make good the shortfall of fertility lost once our livestock were annihilated.”
“The preservation of fertility is the first duty of all that live by the land. Leave the land in a better state than when you took it over.” - George Henderson.
Most urban Westerners have little understanding of the realities of farming. And this is the grain baron’s biggest asset. They now nod smugly at ‘environmental’ messages that scare us into eating more of their product. Heart Disease, Obesity, Cancer and now Global Warming is caused by meat eating? What Tripe. Truth is, the more grass fed meat from small, local farms we eat, the less money they make.
In following USDAs recommendations and indeed Greenpeace’s call to go vego, we can remain separated from the muck and mess of mixed farming. We can continue our sterile food mythology; purity through denial, from the dirty truth that animals must die for our sustenance. And most importantly for grain cartels and their government buddies, we can continue to work a 40 hour week so we can afford to buy their ‘healthy’ breads, tofu and soy yoghurt.. So we can afford to pay rising medical costs which inevitably line the pockets of Big Pharma. The very medical costs which are caused by eating from the industrial food chain.
We are lost in a maze of propaganda, designed to confuse and disempower us, purely for the economic benefit of the few. Unfortunately, environmentalists who recommend vegetarianism are just another group of well meaning individuals who’ve lost connection to the land and a physical experience of balance with her. Lacking this connection and living only in the mind, they have unwittingly become the mouth pieces of selfish agribusiness.
What’s the Alternative?
Luckily, we have all we need to make real changes to improve our footprint and our health and wellbeing. Our alternative can be summed up in one word. Re-localise.
The internet is our best ally and our courage, faith and strong bodies our best tools. Some expectations, personal politics and even some laws are still in our way, but no blockage we can’t remove, together with vision and resolve.
Imagine this:
You live in an urban environment where culture and agriculture have equal value. We’ve redesigned our cities into many small, walled villages so we can reconnect with our community, sharing sunny plazas with our fellow villagers where:
- children play under the watchful eye of the whole community,
- teens hang in semi-private enclaves,
- elders live on the plaza with access to family and carers and large open windows they can watch the village life go by,
- community gardens are shared among villagers
- food preparation, handicrafts, music and art workshops happen every other day, and
- no cars are allowed!
Imagine now, that every member of your village is part of a shared farming arrangement. You own your own animals and employ a farming family to care for your animals; paying them for the next season’s meat (and any other crops) in advance. Your farmer brings your food to you every week or to the marketplace along with other little tidbits you can buy for cash to spice up your larder. There’s no waste and no separation. Taking an active part in ensuring the quality, quantity and price of your food remains stable, you know your animals are treated humanely and cared for in a way that supports and does not degrade the environment. (Farmers who are paid a living wage are unlikely to harm their farmland or their animals and cutting out the many, many middle men in the current system will give them and their animals the standard of living they deserve.)
How much less fossil fuels, pesticides, fertilizers and plastic packaging could we spare our delicate ecology? Is localised, community supported mixed farming an answer to our climate woes? Can we create such a system?
Thanks to online technology, this is completely possible for an inner city community to achieve. Your farm may be hundreds of miles away, but there is no reason you can’t have a cosy relationship with your farmer. Angelic Organics CSA is an excellent example of this. Farmer John communicates with his thousands of subscribers weekly. They even come to the farm on weekends to visit their vegies.
This scenario seems to me way more Nourishing for people and the planet than simply going to the store and buying some Tofu on the way to my job at the car factory.
Reconnecting with farms, busting the nuclear family and relocalising services is possible. But government can’t do it for us. We’ve got to create it ourselves.
If you want to begin creating this reality, have hope, there are others, many others who want it too.
Start by reading this book: How to Build a Village by Claude Lewenz.
Check out the second in the Zeitgeist series.
Join a CSA near you. (There’s one in Perth and one in Brisbane.) Or start one yourself.
To specifically access grass fed animals through CSAs, subscriber to Herdshare.com and please don’t become vegetarian to save on greenhouse emissions, there are so many other, much better ways.
About the Author...
A Super Hero and one of many who have realised their true calling as saviors of humanity, healers of our connection with Nature and creators of Heaven on Earth. The Nourisher's gift is the re-spiritualisation of the 'process of recreation' we call eating. Mother of three Super Heroes in training and wife to her God incarnate, The Nourisher hails from the place of feminine healing, Byron Bay, Australia. She gathers together Life Creators from all over the globe at NourishedMagazine.com.au
Dec 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Some of this looks great–connection to our food and the people who grow it, raise it, and look after the land–BUT, I almost choked when I read the line “busting the nuclear family”. WHY on earth is the “nuclear family” a problem? It doesn’t take “a village” (read: government) to raise a child. It takes a FAMILY. Earlier in the article, you mentioned how sad it is that industrialized humans have already “outsourced caring for our children”. That mention, along with “banning” cars, makes me think that this is not really a movement of people concerned with ALL human beings, but only those willing to join in lockstep with a certain political ideology that espouses having a certain “enlightened” elite dictate what we all should do, for the good of all. I’m disappointed.
Dec 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Valerie, thank you for picking up my innappropriate language. I probably could have chosen a better word like ‘extending’ the nuclear family. It does sound as though I mean destroy all family - what little we have left - and I certainly don’t hope for that.
Also, ‘ban’ cars is a little too strong too. Perhaps relegate cars to travel between villages, not within villages. Claude Lewenz has some wonderful ideas about this. My main attraction being that children are safe to wander the streets which are at most 2 metres wide, conversations can happen in plazas between neighbours without shouting over noisy machines, every thing is within walking distance. Hydra is an excellent example of an ancient village that we could replicate.
I hope you’re not disappointed now. That’s not a good emotion to feel about dreaming up our future.
Dec 4th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Hi Valerie, it’s sad that no sooner had I read your comment about the “fact that the human body was designed to eat meat” (or words to that effect), that once again, there was no empirical evidence to back it up. To retort, i am a vegan, and I don’t drink coffee. You MUST now retract your statement about not knowing one now. There were so many other inaccuracies in your comments, i don’t know where to start. But i will say one thing - vegetariansim does not want to eliminate agriculture, ie remove all cows from the earth. How stupid. We simply don’t need to eat them for our nutrition. Allow them to live, fertilise the land if they must ( not surprisingly, you do not explain how the “other” 50% of the soil not trodden on by agrifarms is fertilised - but it seems to survive), but there is NO consistent, emprirical or NON-agricultural sponsored evidence to support a meat based diet.
Are you truly connected to the earth, or is it just your head stuck in the sand?
One day the world will look back on it’s habit to consume meat with the same disdain we view the smoking advertisements of the 1960’s. It will be hard to believe we ever believed the lie.
sincerely, Mark
Dec 5th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Please Mark, tell us where it says on this page that it is a fact that we are designed to eat meat. What is stated is that we are not designed to live on grains and neither are cows. 10,000 years ago humans began living on grains - to be more clear, slaves of aristocrats lived on grains, aristocrats continued to eat the most expensive foods - animal foods. 10,000 years ago the human brain also shrank. (I believe it was by a figure of 3% but will clarify and give reference when I find it).
“I don’t drink coffee”
I will retract my statement that I don’t know any vegetarian who is not ‘caffeine’ addicted if, indeed, you do not consume black tea, green tea, mate, guarana or chocolate of any sort. I also wonder whether you seek highly sweetened foods for energy.
“vegetariansim does not want to eliminate agriculture”
I certainly hope not, for without agriculture you would starve. If we were to not eat any of the cows we use in your version on agriculture, we would very soon be overrun by cattle. Should we spade them? Or should I ’sin’ for you by eating their babies?
“the other 50%”
Only 30% of the planet are forests. 25% of the 37% which is agricultural are pastureland - natural and man made. Since this article is not about hunter gathering, it’s not worth mentioning the perfect ecological balance that exists in native forests between plants, animals and humans. It’s true that agriculture is a poor replacement for nature’s abundance although Bio dynamic and permaculture are more reminiscent of nature’s law. I challenge you though, Mark, to take your philosophy to it’s obvious and logical conclusion and try to exist outside the industrial complex for more than one week. There’s a way you could have a go at hunter gatherer existence: Dreamtime Walkabouts. I’ll be taking my family for the Solstices Walkabouts from now on. We may meet. Don’t worry, there’s a couple of vegetarians that come and subsist quite happily on yams, fruit and native watercress. I’ll be eating the wallaby, witchety grubs, fish and goanna though.
“there is NO consistent, emprirical or NON-agricultural sponsored evidence”
There is much consistent evidence in anthropological study and even medical science pre world war two. It was actually Big Agriculture who twarted and misused the work of researchers such as Weston A Price who’s message did not align with their agenda. ie. vegetable oils, margarine, processed grains (especially processed cereals) and soy foods are big business and should be recommended as part of a healthy diet.
The point of this article is to show, that yet again, the interests of corporate agriculture out weigh the interests of human health and, in fact, our Earth’s ecology. You are being hoodwinked into believing your imbalanced food choices are pure and free of harm to the planet. They are not. Why is no one asking the Native peoples of the world what’s best for health and the environment? After all, they took care of her for many thousands of years quite well. I believe we’re not asking them because we can’t make slaves of hunter gathering nomadic tribes. There is no evidence, what so ever, even when it was sought, that any native population of the Earth ever ate a Vegan diet.
I notice, Mark, you are not subscribed to this comment stream. Are you one of those vegans who troll through the internet searching for posts to do with meat so you can push your agenda?
Dec 5th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Hello Mark
So far I’ve met no vegan who could say yes to this question. Do you know of any vegan child that has grown up to have their own vegan child?
I have joined a new playgroup, 4 vegan families ( my daughter and I are the only meat and dairy eaters ) with lots of children. These families were keen to meet with me ( very welcome despite my food choices ) knowing that I’d healed my own teeth after finding the work of Dr Price, because their children all have tooth decay, one poor child at 5 has almost no teeth left. These families feed their children the best organic wholefoods, no soft drink and processed crap so its not food quality. They’ve all been breastfed too. Families that feed their kids crap in a meat / dairy based diet have better teeth!
Decay began in some of these kids as babies. This is extreme. What are your thought’s and how are your teeth?
My meat and dairy eating daughter 3, stands out among this group, she has strong white teeth, glowing skin, never has snot or a cough and doesn’t cling to me.
Dec 6th, 2008 at 8:43 am
stumbled upon this article and its at the same time shockingly ignorant and profoundly enlightening.
First of all, pedantic rants about other people’s dietary choices is pointless. People are built differently and have different needs. FYI the 2nd largest nation in the world, India, is predominantly vegetarian.
Its true that many young vegetarians are malnourished. This is because they omit meat but continue eating processed food. Take a look at the writings of Anne Wigmore for some enlightening information about vegetarianism and nutrition.
I salute your call for grass fed farming but please try not to alienate your readers with ignorance .
Dec 7th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I for one would love to see a vegetarian on a Weston Price based diet. High in raw milk and its products, kefir, eggs, sea vegetables, properly fermented veggies and grains, kombucha type drinks and plenty of bee products.
Living as well in the Byron area, the diet of many vegetarian and vegan friends seems to consist of mainly fruits, veggies (many raw), grains, soy milk, coffee, supplements, and herbal teas. The long term results of which strongly deter me from a veggie or vegan lifestyle.
I also applaud the Nourisher for her bravery on tackling and giving her opinion on quite a volatile subject for many. But she has a huge point about Agricorp and the dominance of the grain based industry and diet, and the harm it causes to all concerned. The world will never be vegetarian based on the mainstream diet of today’s vegetarians. People will need and crave meat, especially pregnant women. Grass fed is the way to go to save the planet. Well done Nourisher!
Dec 7th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Nathaniel
Anne Wigmore, promotes vegan raw foods. How can Anne’s words be so powerful when she never built her own children on such a diet. Unless there’s a healthy second or third generation there’s no proof that such a diet is nutrient dense enough to support long term health. Our body can borrow from its own stores for some time when it isn’t recieveing all the nutrients it needs. Our indigenous groups were free from disease, mental illness, decay and even child birth was easy and they enjoyed this for thousands of years!
We’re experimenting at our children’s expense when we take such a huge detour like veganism.
Dec 7th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
what a great article, it brings my personal experiences into perspective, my focus has always been to better the health of our magnificent planet earth. I was a vegetarian for 8 years and in my mind I felt it was my only option in an attempt to live cruelty free. I did all I could to be strong as a vego, I had access to and sourced superfoods from all over the world, each supplement assuring me it would give me better health and more energy. I coped with this lifestyle for many years feeling like I would soon find the balance and be more active. Then then I got chronic diarhrea and heameroids and I still persisted for 12 months with my body in great discomfort but my mind believing being vego was the answer, also the vegetarian friends I talked too said they had diarhrea and accepted it. I felt depleted and decided I wanted to feel strong, that was my turning point. I started to cook organic, free range chicken broth and within a month my digestion had settled down, my doctor was shocked (my immune system was too weak for medication) I began to focus on the traditional foods (like my grandpa ate, he is 85 and loving life) I now source all of my food locally (within 50km) and I get to talk to the farmers about how they farm, I can see how healthy the farmers are and I buy from them direct- seeing the true power of every dollar I spend!! I feel that my ecological footprint has dropped quite a significant amount now that I am eating grass fed, healthy local animals and so has the amount of food I eat. My poo’s are solid, regular and pleasant. I have 3 jobs that I love, go to the gym 4 days a week and feel great in my body and mind. Many thanks
Also I love life without a car, it feels so much more relaxed and I feel content with the choices I am making for myself and our beautiful planet, I would love to live in a village like the one described, maybe than I could bring a child into the world and know the future generations will have a great place to live.
Dec 8th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Interesting comment about India largely vegetarian population bu Nathaniel..I do not have any statisitics, neither do I speak from the perspective of an Indian, but that does not give any credibility to vegetarianism in my opinion!
Many,many of India’s vegetarians are lacto ovo vegetarians..they eat eggs and dairy. Yet many Indians are malnourished. Again, I have no facts or figures but what I am trying to express is my support for eating traditional meat based diets. I am not criticizing those Indians that make a choice to be vegetarian .
Dec 8th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
India is not predominantly vegetarian.
“Though no country in the world is as strongly associated with vegetarianism as India, a number of recent studies have purported to establish that by far the greater majority of Indians are non-vegetarians. The history of vegetarianism in India begins not with the Aryans, as is commonly believed by Hindus, but in the aftermath of the introduction of Buddhism and Jainism in the sixth century BCE. Though orthodox Hindus are shocked to hear it, the early Aryans were almost certainly beef-eaters” - UCLA Paper.
This is interesting too:
“In 1977, the Marxist historian R. S. Sharma, then Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Delhi University, published his textbook, Ancient India. He wrote that the ancient Aryans were beef-eaters… He maintained that long after agriculture had commenced, the practice of beef-eating continued among certain classes of people, especially “artisans and agricultural labourers”. Sharma had said nothing exceptional, and the weight of much Indological scholarship was behind his work; even the staunchly Hindu nationalist writer, K. M. Munshi, had once noted, without a trace of embarrassment, that “in spite of Jainism and Buddhism, fish and meat, not excluding beef, were consumed extensively by the people.” Yet Sharma’s remarks were construed as conveying his advocacy of non-vegetarianism, and particularly beef-eating; and so Sharma was charged with deliberately offending the sentiments of orthodox Hindus among whom the consumption of beef cannot be contemplated. A local Hindu leader demanded the “immediate banning of Prof. R. S. Sharma’s Ancient India” for his references to beef-eating in Vedic India. While more than ably defended by professional historians and much of the print media, Professor Sharma’s supporters appear not to have understood that the anxieties his remarks had raised were not to be resolved solely by recourse to an ‘objective’ and ‘scientific’ history. It is often a thin line that divides Hindus from Indian Muslims, and a beef-eating Hindu, by virtue of the transgression implied in the act, can be inferred to have become akin to a Muslim. If a circumcised penis remained one of the few ways to distinguish Hindu and Muslim men during the horrendous killings accompanying the partition, the all-consuming anxiety over beef-eating is better understood. Where substantive differences are minimal, and certainly subservient to common cultural practices, symbols are the preeminent way in which differences are exaggerated in order to permit the drawing of boundaries.”
Vegetarianism is a cultural difference, as the previous vegetarian commentators keep stating. When culture, like religion, is questioned, the proponents of that culture go to war. That’s the nature of ego.
I too made such vehement statements against meat eating and clung to my culture as a vegetarian….until I could no longer stand being so very sick and so very tired. Now 10 years later, fully healed, fully functional and incredibly well Nourished, I will never be hoodwinked again by what my mind wants me to believe about my perfect body.
Dec 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I am bemused by the trend to grain fed meat. Particularly the Kobe beef thing. I also recently ate at a steak place in Sydney where the steak was $90 ridiculous. Anyway grass fed tastes better every time. I’ve just returned form the USA and most of the meat there is grain fed, apart from hamburger and it’s all really bland.
Dec 31st, 2008 at 12:34 am
Most people do not want to hear that going vegan is better for your health. This would mean that they have to stop enjoying the tasty food they love so much. This is too hard for most and they are not ready to hear the truth. Veganism is better for the environment - 18% OF THE GREENHOUSES GASSES ARE DUE TO FACTORY FARMING, not to mention the animals use 8% of the world’s water.
It is better for your health - read The China Study if you are not convinced - by T. Colin Campbell. Look at people over in Asia who do not eat our rich Western diet - they don’t have the diseases we do. It’s as simple as that. Besides, why on Earth would we be put here to have to be dependant on cow’s milk? We need our own mothers milk and when we’re done breast feeding, we don’t need any more. Most Americans think they need so much protein, but we are a nation of a excess problem, not deficiency. Our mother’s milk was 5% protein and we now eat an average of 35% a day. Animal protein is a cancer stimulator.
And if you don’t want to change for the environment or your health, do it for the animals sake. Grass fed or not, you think they want to get killed for your double cheeseburger?
Jan 2nd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Elle
it would be beneficial to you ( and your unborn, born children ) to check out this link, an old Nourished Blog
http://nourishedmagazine.com.au/blog/articles/ancient-dietary-wisdom-for-tomorrows-children
on Dr Weston A Price. This mans outstanding work is Nourished Mag’s foundation.
You cannot get true vit A and K2 from plant foods, these fat soluble vitamins are needed for proper mineral assimilation, muscle growth and much more. There are also B vitamins you can’t get from plant foods such as B12. The vegan societies very own websites even encourage vegan pregnant women to supplement with B12, why would they do this if we were designed to be vegan? Also, it promotes dangerous processed foods such as soy sausages and nuttalex margarine! What you eat right now will effect your unborn child and almost every vegan child I have met has rotting teeth, much lowered immunity and poorer development. My meat / dairy eating daughter has rarely cought a cold, never had medication in her life and is so smart and strong with perfect white teeth at 3 years old. She truly stands out among the vegan kids. What you preach is dangerous.
Many of us here at Nourished were once vegan so we know it doesn’t work. I feel better than I have in my whole life, I know I was designed to eat meat, no doubt about it. I just wish it didn’t take me so long to work it out.
You can’t help the world if you are sick and deteriorating.
Animals are just as important as plants. Life is life regardless.
Is there anyone out there that knows of any vegan child that has grown up to have their own vegan child? Anyone?
Jan 8th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Cathy,
I don’t need to meet children who are vegans (although I’ve seen plenty healthy ones). I can feel and see positive changes in my own body since I’ve gone vegan. I’m not sure what kids you are around that have teeth that are rotting out, but maybe they are eating too much sugar? Obviously, there can be unhealthy vegans. They could be eating a diet of french fries and kool aid.
You are doing a diservice to your child by serving it meat and dairy. I encourage you to become more educated on the subject. REading The China Study will be a good place to start. Well read people no longer believe that we need meat or dairy to meet our dietary needs and be healthy. A vegan’s chance of getting a disease from B12 diffiency is less than one in a million, while 910,000 Americans die of heart disease each year, which is caused mainly by eating the rich western diet (meats, cheeses, etc.)
So, it seems we are both going to stick to our beliefs here. We can just agree to disagree. I sure do feel good about my decision. It is helping my health, the environment and the 24 million animals needlessly slaughtered each day in our country. I am not sick and deteriorating. But with no water, land or clean air left, it won’t matter either way.
Jan 8th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Hi Elle,
The china study is an interesting reference to use in support of a vegan diet. T. Colin Campbell grew up eating raw milk/cream and meat on the farm he was raised upon. He got the best of what these foods could offer, and was able to develop into a strong adult as a result. T. Colin Campbell bases his recommendations for a vegan diet to children and growing adults based upon how he feels in his own body. A fair statement considering he feels relatively ok, and was raised on a completely different diet to that he’s recommending.
China is a very interesting paradox. Modern Chinese indeed eat the foods T. Colin Campbell proposed create health and vitality- yet the Chinese people actually eating these foods are far from enjoying their birth right of strong healthy body’s. Perhaps reading a few reviews on the book from sources other than those supporting veganism might provide you with the other side of the argument. Traditional Chinese enjoyed a staple diet of seafood and pork- and those are the populations studied in Campbell’s book. The book is not really about the China Study at all because so little of its pages are devoted to the study, and people are basing their health on such material.
Most vegans feel amazing once they change their diet- and feeling so good makes the arguments for eating meat totally ridiculous to them. So I can totally understand why vegan’s who feel good, want to defend their way of eating. Being in control of what one eats is a very empowering experience. And holding moral high ground over others by choosing to eat in a way that’s superior to health and the planet, is another form of empowerment. Yet the science to back up a vegan diet just isn’t concrete enough to warrant such superiority. Further more most who fair well on a vegan diet have an underlying digestive issue that hasn’t been addressed- which is preventing them from feeling energized and healthy when eating meat based foods. A big health concern with a vegan diet is the lack of cholesterol consumed.
Once a person can no longer convert cholesterol from their high carbohydrate diet into the cholesterol needed by their body (a period of time between 6 & 20 years) their body becomes so depleted of digestive enzymes that this process can no longer be maintained. Disease follows. The body very efficiently produces cholesterol from animal products. Cholesterol is needed for hormonal health, especially during the growth and development in the womb.
Agriculture really is the main carbon emitting culprit. There’s some really interesting stats you can read up on from the carbon coalition website. Confinement feed lots do release an enormous amount of carbon into the atmosphere- yet conventional and organically grown crops using tilling methods release twice as much as feed lots. Knowing the source of your grain, which is a staple in vegan diets, and knowing for sure that no carbon is being released by the farmers methods of production is something I would be very interested in hearing a vegan add to their “meat is ruining the planet” argument. FYI about 5 million small animals are killed during the harvesting of grain each year in the US alone. So the blood of animals is truly on all our hands.
Grass fed dairy and meat farming builds top soil, which actually sequesters carbon from the atmosphere! In order to build soil you need animal manure, so animals need to be a part of this process in order for sequestation to occur. Putting all meat into the same basket is exactly the point of this article. There needs to be a major shift in the industry for the sake of everyone’s health.
Elle, no one’s saying you’re a bad person or prospective mother. There’s just so much good science out there now supporting the importance of fat soluble vitamins A,D,K2 & E and their absolute necessity for the optimal growth and development of a baby and recovery for mother after.
Hope this ignites further inquiry. You seem like an intelligent person truly wanting to best by your family and the planet.
Alana :-)
Jan 10th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Elle,
While it is true that 18% of GHG are due to factory farmed cattle, this is not what anyone here is promoting or advocating. Feedlot cattle are fed grain and so, not only is the production of this meat bad for the environment, the meat itself is not healthy for human consumption.
Pastured cattle on the other hand actually vastly increases the soil’s carbon content via carbon sequestration (which pulls CO2 out of the air and puts carbon in the soil and O2 in the air).
People in Asia, however generalised this statement is, may not eat “our rich Western diet”, but again nobody here is advocating to eat what “our rich Western diet” has come to stand for,. i.e. white sugar, white flour, meat produced from feeding animals food that is not designed for them, pasteurised milk and milk products and denatured and tocix vegetable oils and margerines. This is a very poor diet and indeed is unhealthy and causes a vast array of modern “western” diseases.
I am sure we weren’t put here to depend on cows milk either, but after thousands of years we have learnt to herd cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, horses and other animals and have started drinking their milk, perhaps out of pure desperation for nourishment. After years and years of doing some of us evolved to be lactose tolerant and tribes and nations evolved around their raw and fermented dairy products. We have become to rely and thrive on them and their great benefits to our bodies. Raw milk is completely different to what you commonly buy in the supermarket as pasteurised and homogenised, which truly is bad for you. Studies have been done in which calves have been fed pasteurised cows milk and while many of them did very poorly on it, many of them even died.
I used to be a vegan and vegetarian for many years because of “ethical” reasons, campaigning for the animals rights and I am horrified at how animals are being treated in mass-meat production factories. It is unethical, immoral and terribly sad that these places exist. We, ourselves, are working on being an example of ethically raised pastured meat, treated with respect and kindness. We see our little herd of cattle in the pasture and are grateful to them. Sure, they don’t want to die to be eaten by us, but neither do the all the animals that are being killed when the rain forrests are cleared (emitting vast amounts of CO2), the ground is poisoned with acidic fertiliser, which destroys microbes and earthworms (and emits vast amounts of CO2) sprayed with herbicides and pesticides (What is a pest, if not an animal that we deem unwanted?), the land being thrashed and the fertility destroyed by harrowing and plowing as a direct consequence of feeding vegetarians.
There is a great little book “Quarterly Essay: Now or Never” by a very insightful paleontologist, mammalogist and global warming activist, called Tim Flannery, who also wrote “The Weathermakers” and was called Australian of the year in 2008 for his insights. It is an eye opening read I would recommend to anyone claiming that we weren’t designed to eat meat.
Kindly, Nina.
Jan 11th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Hi Elle
I’ve never known any vegan’s that eat french fries or drink kool aid. The vegan children I am talking about that have decaying teeth are fed the highest quality of foods. Junk food is not the cause of the decay. These children were also full term breast fed. A vegan child I know at 6 yo has teeth decayed to the gum line. This child is also first born to parents that eat only organic/biodynamic wholefoods except there was sugar in their diets. The effort these families go through to feed their children is enormous and they are trying very hard to solve the problem of decay. Its those fat soluble vitamins that are missing, A,D and K2 without these our bodies can’t assimilate minerals from our food properly.
A vegan friend of mine explained to me recently that her families teeth were worse than those kids of meat eating coke drinking families. Her children ate mostly healthy organic wholefoods vegan but recently have added raw milk and cod liver oil to their diets out of desperation.
Organic whole foods including meat and dairy ( raw milk ) are certainly benefitting my daughter, she is truly thriving and it stands out.
We are all trying to do what is best for our children, ourselves, animals and our environment.
I hope I didn’t offend you in my last post, I didn’t mean to do that. In my vegan friends I see similar signs of nutritional deficiencies happening which I experienced myself. People tried to tell me my vegan diet was hurting me but I always got very defensive and frightened them off.
We eventually work it out for ourselves but maybe with internet and groups like Nourished we’ll solve these problems more sooner than later.
Jan 11th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Alana and Nina I really enjoyed reading your posts, thanks heaps!
Nina your Jersey milk was so delicious, Nina and Sian drank the whole bottle yesterday! Thanks again.
Jan 18th, 2009 at 9:33 am
In places like China and Africa, millions of children grow up eating plant based diets. I don’t think they have tooth decay there. I would guess that you are seeing a rare case of dental problems in the circle of friends you have. It’s just plain science. The studies are out there. Vegan diet is the healthiest choice.
Jan 20th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Some time ago I asked one of my vegan friends in an e mail, who’s 2 yo’s boys teeth were browning, if she knew of any vegan children with good teeth? My friend answered a few days later with “No” and that she thought this was very worrying but still now, about 5 months later they are still vegan, trying very hard to fix the problem in a vegan diet. Since then I have met many vegan’s in my new play group and I can see it for myself. It is very sad.
Elle, if veganism was healthy these Kids would be an example of that health and they aren’t. My daughter is the example of good health. Maybe you could come join us next time we all gather for play group? Do you live anywhere near Castlemaine? This way you can see for yourself the difference between Nina and the vegan children.
This is not just a rare case of dental problems because any case of decay in the first set of teeth is extreme. Only under absolute extreme conditions will decay surface in the first set of teeth. Veganism, with its good intentions is robbing these children of a healthy.
Elle, how long have you been vegan?
Jan 20th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
generally once a culture adopts a grain based diet the level of decay increases dramatically. This has been demonstrated time and time again in history.
Read the various reviews on the china diet study if you want more information on how biased some of the study was.
Jan 20th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Hi Elle, I live in Asia and eat Chinese food all the time it is not vegan at all, most people who eat traditional Chinese food eat things like soups made from bone broths (fish and chicken.) they even put bone broth in porridge for breakfast. They do not waste anything here. The supermarkets are full of meat, seafood, chicken, duck, pork (very popular) and also they sell the bones, fish heads, and livers, gizzards pig fat (for lard) etc. When you see a plate of vegetables here you can be assured it was cooked in a bone broth or lard :) For instance Prawn Noodle Soup (one of my favourites) is made with fish stock, from fish bones and heads, then you boil the prawns and shell them, then the shells along with the prawn heads are mashed in a wok and fried in lard with garlic and ginger then added to the broth. After cooking the whole thing is strained, then you add rice noodles and the prawns and some greens - it’s awesome and nothing is wasted! adding a little coconut milk also makes it a rich soup (for any-one who was thinking of trying this.)
I remember when some-one found photos of a factory worker in china on their iPhone. Every-one was talking about how pretty she was and on one forums I noticed the comment “Wow, she must have a great dental plan” - I responded “duh, thats what you teeth look like when you eat natural whole foods your whole life.”
Jan 21st, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I’m half way through reading the ‘Ringing Cedars of Russia’ books, based on a woman called ‘Anastasia’, who lives in the Siberian forest.
She is described as being a very beautiful, intelligent, psychic, evolved woman with incredible mental and physical powers. Naturally I have been very interested in what she eats. On the surface it appears to be a raw vegan based diet. Cedar nuts, berries, herbs, grasses, dried mushrooms.. However she also consumes bee products and refers a lot to ‘living water’ and ‘living air’. She calls bottled mineral water ‘dead’ water. And the air we breathe as ‘dead’. She drinks her ‘living’ water from a forest lake (which I assume is full of lots of friendly bacteria), and makes many references to the pollen in the air, (living air) and breathing it in directly. She also eats her food immediately after picking it. She talks about the food’s ‘life-force’ or ethers, and how after 15 minutes of being picked, this life-force is gone. Every morning she swims in the lake, and then shakes the cedar trees so pollen falls all over her body and is rubbed and absorbed through the skin.
I would be extremely interested to know if K2 can somehow be formed from ‘alive’ plants, friendly bacteria and pollen (both of plant and bee variety). It is the only difference in her diet compared to many vegans I know or have read about. She thrives on it as does her very healthy son, which she gave birth to with joy and no pain.
Regardless of whether ‘Anastasia’ is a fictional character or not, I am intrigued by her diet, as it goes beyond what most vegans/vegetarians consume, and how they consume it. Perhaps the difference is that most vegans have no choice but to consume ‘dead’ water, ‘dead’ air, and cannot eat their veggies within 15 min of being picked. Who knows?
Got me thinking though. :-)
Jan 24th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
for an interesting rebuttal to the China Study check out this link
http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/China-Study.html
Jan 27th, 2009 at 8:09 am
I realize that people in China eat SOME meat and dairy. It is a small part of the meal, where we in America are eating it as the main course three times a day!!!!!! Small amounts of meat and dairy are fine (the bodies immune system can recover from this). But most people are consuming mass amounts of animal products and the results are evident in our state of our health.
I have been vegan for 1 year and my mother has for 22 years - and mamy others that I know have been for years - no problems. Practically all of the people who are eating the typical american diet are taking prescription drugs and well on their way (if not there already) to getting sick and fat. Why would I base my eating choices on some group of children? I can read and study the facts on my own.