Trey Smith
If you really want to make the nation healthier, you have to declare war on American agriculture in general and meat in particular. There are mountains of persuasive research that indicate a plant-based diet is far, far healthier than the meat-based model.Not only is the Bad Food business a powerful lobby in our nation's capitol, but they, along with folks in the advertizing biz, are damn convincing too! They have convinced Americans that eating poorly is a fricking virtue! That's why so many of us are plump and "virtuous."
Studies have found that a little meat is better for you than a lot, no meat is better than a little, and a vegan diet — no meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products (in others words, 90 percent of the farm economy) — is best of all.
Good luck trying to sell that one. The Bad Food lobby is one of the most powerful in Washington, up there with guns and oil. Any suggestion that our toxic agricultural industry is less than noble will bring instant political extinction. (Can you imagine a politician trying to win Iowa on a vegan platform? A gay atheist would have a better chance.)
~ from Vegan Confessions by Donald Kaul ~
For years, I have wanted to take the final step in my dietary evolution; I want to go vegan. What's stopping me, you ask? Milk!
When I was young, the dairy industry flooded the airwaves with ads about the wholesomeness of cow's milk. Even The Cowsills drank milk! Heck, milk was as American as apple pie!
These ads stuck in my brain and, in time, I became a milk addict. I drank milk by the bucketful. I drank milk at EVERY meal and often gulped down a large glass of the white stuff at snack time. Even worse, I was drinking whole milk with all its nasty saturated fat.
Is it any wonder I was a fat little boy?
As I entered my teens and became more concerned with my growing obesity, I decided that other foods were the culprits. In the summer between 8th and 9th grade, I put myself on a milk diet. I lost nearly 50 pounds by drinking gallons of milk and only one real meal per day. While my outsides looked much leaner, I still wonder what I did to my insides.
As an adult, I've slowly weaned myself down the dairy fat chart. The switch from whole milk to 2% was a challenge that took several years to accomplish. In time, I went from 2% to 1% and then, about 7 years ago, I made it all the way down to skim (fat-free) milk.
But the last hurdle -- from skim milk to no milk -- is proving to be the toughest challenge of all! Not only do I like to drink milk, but I love low or no-fat yogurt too. It is one of the constituent ingredients in my daily berry smoothies (along with fat-free frozen yogurt). If not for my addiction to dairy products -- and it IS an addiction -- I would have become a vegan long ago.
Whats wrong with dairy? Milk is a whole food and is full of nutrients. We even drink it from our mothers tit as infants! If you really want to stop drinking it though, have you tried soy or rice milk?
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the notion all meat is bad, at least from a health perspective. Fish is a very healthy meat. Populations with fish based diets have very low rates of heart disease and have the longest lifespans. I want to try to replace more of the meat in my diet with fish, but like all guilty pleasures, I'd still love a steak once in a while.
Mothers produce milk for their young. A mother cow produces milk for her calves, not for humans or porcupines. A human mother produces milk for her progeny, not calves or kangaroos. To equate the two milk-like products as being the same thing is...well...a bit disingenuous.
DeleteI question whether a vegan diet is always the best. I've been reading quite a bit about diets (as I need to lose weight and strive for better health) and am going to try a moderate paleolithic diet. It makes sense to examine what we evolved to eat, plus listen to our bodies. Some diets work more for some people than others. Vegan doesn't work for a lot of people. The thing to avoid, no matter what path you choose, is superiority and self-righteousness. The idea that "my way is the only pure, ethical way" is what all of us can fall into if we are not careful.
ReplyDeleteSomeone who recently left veganism behind:
From Strict Vegetarian to Conflicted, Relaxed, Maybe-Not-A Vegetarian. http://syracuseinseattle.blogspot.com/2012/04/from-strict-vegetarian-to-conflicted.html
A blog to consider:
An ex-vegan on veganism, by Rhys Southan. http://letthemeatmeat.com/