When people ask me what I eat the conversations take very different directions. Depending on who is asking or where they are on the nutrition spectrum, I sometimes just tell them that I try my best to eat real food, nothing processed. If the conversation continues, I realize that we sometimes have conflicting ideas as to what makes something "food." And I'm sure if I had talked to myself about five years ago I also would have had different answers.
My definition of food is anything that is not in a box or does not need a label to describe what it is. For the most part, all of my food will spoil in about one to two weeks (sometimes shorter). Other than whole grains that I buy from the bulk bins of my local health food supermarket, I need to refrigerate or freeze most of my food. Some things are in glass jars or cans, but not much. That's not to say I haven't eaten a rice cracker here or there, but I don't call that real food and try not to let it surpass much more than 5-10% of what I eat in a week.
Once I figured out what was real food and what was not I started to look even closer at my diet. And about this time I started my online program with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and began listening to experts on over 100 dietary theories.
One huge subject that I have been tackling for about a year is meat. Personally, I think it's the most complex issue when it comes to food choices due to the fact that you need to consider not only health matters, but also issues of morality and ethics. And the production of meat also takes a huge toll on our environment, so there's another log on the fire.
I'm currently reading The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. Peter Singer is seen as one of the most influential philosophers of our time and I can see why. After just a few pages I am in the process of making some big changes in what is purchased with our family's money. I plan to share some of what I read in the coming weeks and add it to the discussion on the role meat will play in our future meals.
First change, and this is a no brainer for me: I do not and will NEVER eat veal. And this is one thing that I urge anyone reading this to consider. If you are going to eat veal, please read below. If you can still order it after knowing this, then by all means do so, food is a personal choice. But in my mind, no one needs veal to survive and it's inhumane:
The calf is taken from its mother immediately after birth, made anemic, denied roughage or any food that will promote muscle. They are never allowed to walk (to keep them tender) and are kept in stalls so narrow that they cannot turn around.
That's a simple choice for me. I've actually never had veal because I always knew they were babies and my maternal instincts didn't feel right about it. But I feel so strongly about this that I'm actually going to start sharing this with anyone who I think orders veal at a restaurant. This news actually became public in the 1970s and since then veal consumption went down 75%. I hope that in my lifetime the consumption of veal just goes away for good. I have begged the Hubs to not order veal EVER at a restaurant. He promises he won't, but can't promise that if a client or customer offers him some that he will be "rude" (his words, not mine) and reject it. Baby steps for everyone I guess. But I'm happy he will at least not proactively order it.
I've never been much of an activist and I have always believed in the sort of "circle of life" mentality when it comes to eating meat. But there's a line in the book that really struck me and it's changed how I am looking at this. Peter Cheeke, a professor of animal science wrote:
"For modern animal agriculture, the less the consumer knows about what's happening before the meat his the plate, the better... One of the best things modern animal agriculture has going for it is that most people in the developed countries are several generations removed from the farm and haven't a clue how animals are raised and processed."
When I started talking to The Hubs a bit about this, he quickly interrupted me and told me that he didn't want to know anything because he wanted to continue to eat meat. And I totally get this, I used to be like this. Personally, I don't think I could handle watching any animal get killed, even if it was raised in the most humane and sustainable conditions. BUT, I just can't turn a blind eye anymore to the way modern, commercial agriculture raises and processes its meat. And there are humane and sustainable options out there.
I look forward to sharing the rest of this book. I promise not to get too graphic. I hope that in reading this blog you'll discover a few things:
1) Americans eat way too much meat.
2) We do not need copious amounts of meat to be healthy.
3) Commercial meat is not a very healthy choice.
4) There are humane and sustainable farms out there that care for their animals and process them in a much more ethical way.
5) Many foods have protein and your diet can be rich and flavorful without all of that meat.
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