THE BIG THOUGHT IN THIS LITTLE POST: There's no such thing as eating without doing harm; something has to die for you to be able to eat.
This post aims to explore both the Health and Humanitarian aspects of eating meat.
..the fundamental assumption underlying the diet wars, and most nutrition research—that there is one perfect diet that works best for every single person—is ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT.
Eating MEAT.
It's an incredibly polarizing subject that no one seems to agree on. When looking at this topic, there are two main areas of consideration:
1 - HEALTH: Meat can be part of a healthy diet versus it's the devil and will kill you.
2 - HUMANITARIAN: Animals are here to provide us with food versus we can't eat cute little animals.
CAVEAT: Before I go any further, let me say that I'm not here trying to convince anyone of anything; I'm here to review the issue for myself as a way to make peace with the fact that I do eat meat.
Making peace with eating meat is something I had to do because my preference would be not to; from a humanitarian perspective, I would rather not eat animals.
But after a lifetime of experimenting with different diets
(which led to 30-years binge-eating as I became ever-more confused about what I should and shouldn't be eating) I've concluded that
I don't feel physically well on a
high-carbohydrate diet.
And (drum roll please)...
Not eating meat = a high-carbohydrate diet.
INFORMATIVE TANGENT: Vegetarian proteins are plant-based: legumes (beans, lentils, etc), nuts, grains, and seeds.
Those foods are all very high in carbohydrates, and unfortunately not equally high in proteins.
Also, the proteins contained in plant-foods are incomplete (meaning they don't contain all nine of the essential amino acids that humans need to get from food), as opposed to the complete proteins found in animal foods.
There are those (vegetarian, vegans) who would then argue about how much protein we actually need (debatable), or point out that if you combine plant-proteins correctly, then you can still get your all of your essential amino acids from food.
Here's my thought on all of that: intellectual arguments don't matter when it comes to nutrition; "How do you feel?" is the only question that matters because it's the one aspect of nutrition no one can argue with.
No one knows what it's like to live in your body, therefore no one can tell anyone else what foods make them feel good or bad.
Knowing that I feel better eating animal sources of protein is what led me to explore both the Health and Humanitarian aspects of eating meat. I needed to know how I would need to alter my thinking and my habits to make eating animals ok.
That's the perspective I'm coming from; an omnivore who feels better eating meat. (I also have a diploma in Holistic Nutrition with a specialization in Sports Fitness Nutrition.*)
All that being said, on with the show.
HEALTH
Nutrition is relatively simple, actually. It boils down to a few basic rules: don’t eat too many calories, or too few; consume sufficient protein and essential fats; obtain the vitamins and minerals you need; and avoid pathogens like E. coli and toxins like mercury or lead.
Beyond that, we know relatively little with complete certainty. Read that sentence again, please.
We think that if eating too much of something is BAD, then eating none of it must be GOOD.
According to author
Jason Bussell, a lot of people report feeling better when they give up meat; they feel lighter and more energetic, and have better bowel movements.
He says it's likely because those people were eating too much meat, which is why they feel better initially.
But with time, as they work off the imbalances caused by excess meat, they begin to develop blood deficiencies
(
e.g. B12) which most of them never attribute to their vegetarianism. They think
“I gave up meat 10 years ago, why should I just be having this problem now?”
Bussell points out that food changes can take a long time to play out.
I've tried a lot of different diets throughout my life, and that includes vegetarianism. (Alright, very nearly; I never fully gave up meat.)
I didn't notice feeling better though; I felt bloated from all the legumes I was eating, my sugar cravings went through the roof, and needing to avoid certain foods caused a lot of stress as I focused intensely on not eating those foods.
(Which only fuelled my diet-obsessed, binge-brain.)
Although I had never been a big meat-eater
(I had a lot of digestive issues that made it difficult to digest animal protein) not having the option to eat meat if I wanted to was challenging.
But after I sorted out my
digestive issues (low stomach-acid chief among them), I went back to eating meat daily.
I felt better physically, but emotionally I still wasn't ok with my meat-eating ways because of the humanitarian aspect.
So do red and processed meats actually cause cancer or not? We don’t know, and we will probably never get a more definitive answer, because a clinical trial testing this proposition is unlikely ever to be done. Confusion reigns.
Nevertheless, I’m going to stick my neck out and assert that [the] risk ratio...[is] so minimal that it might not matter that much whether you eat red / processed meats versus some other protein source, like chicken.
HUMANITARIAN
Summer: We're here protesting the existence of a state-sponsored police force that protects industrialized animal farming and the mass murder of millions of animals every year.
John: You ever plow a field, Summer? To plant the quinoa or sorghum or whatever the hell it is you eat. You kill everything on the ground and under it. You kill every snake, every frog, every mouse, mole, vole, worm, quail... You kill them all. So, I guess the only real question is: how cute does an animal have to be before you care if it dies to feed you?
As for the humanitarian argument, I believe that God loves carrots too. Every living thing has a life force and works to stay alive and reproduce.
That carrot would prefer to continue to live to a ripe old age in the ground rather than being plucked from its home and diced into my salad.
For anything to live and grow, something must be sacrificed. Everything eats something.
It is not possible to do no harm and stay alive and healthy so that is not the goal. The goal is to be mindful and thankful for everything that had to die to support our lives.
"How cute does an animal have to be before you care if it dies to feed you?"
Where do we draw the line between the lives which are worth sacrificing and those that are not?
That's a debate I'm not going to touch with a ten-foot pole.
"God loves carrots too."
I couldn't have put it better myself, so I'm not even going to try... But I will point out that this brings us back to the question "Where do we draw the line between the lives which are worth sacrificing and those that are not?"
Is the life of a carrot worth less than that of a fish?
If so, why?
How can we weigh the worthiness of one life versus another?
Isn't doing so akin to "playing God"?
And so I come back to my key point:
"How Do You Feel?" is the only health question that matters, because it's the one aspect of nutrition that
no one can argue with.
How you feel is how you feel, and no amount of intellectual knowledge can alter feelings.
Which is why I will say again: I'm not here trying to convince anyone of anything. If you feel better not eating meat - physically or morally - then don't eat meat.
I just happen to feel better if I eat animal sources of protein, so then it becomes an issue of - as much as is possible - getting sustainably-sourced meat, preferably not factory-farmed, (just because I eat meat doesn't mean that I think animals should suffer), and then being "mindful and thankful for everything that had to die to support our lives."
"Everything eats something" therefore the question becomes "What do I feel good about eating?"
That's a personal question no one can answer for you.
Nothing is so good that it should be taken all the time, and very few things are so bad that they need to be avoided like the plague.
The dose makes the poison.
The only argument I have ever consistently heard come out of vegans' mouth is your weakest one and it's this one, You wouldn't You wouldn't You wouldn't eat meat if you had to kill it yourself.
You wouldn't eat meat if you had to kill it yourself.
I wouldn't wear clothes if I had to make them myself.
Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=daniel-sloss-live-shows-2018&episode=s01e02
The only argument I have ever consistently heard come out of vegans' mouth is your weakest one and it's this one, You wouldn't You wouldn't You wouldn't eat meat if you had to kill it yourself.
You wouldn't eat meat if you had to kill it yourself.
I wouldn't wear clothes if I had to make them myself.
What does my laziness have to do with any of this?
Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=daniel-sloss-live-shows-2018&episode=s01e02
The only argument I have ever consistently heard come out of vegans' mouth is your weakest one and it's this one, You wouldn't You wouldn't You wouldn't eat meat if you had to kill it yourself.
You wouldn't eat meat if you had to kill it yourself.
I wouldn't wear clothes if I had to make them myself.
Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=daniel-sloss-live-shows-2018&episode=s
We evolved as omnivores; ergo, most of us can probably find excellent health as omnivores.
Peter Attia - Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
*Although I have a diploma in Holistic Nutrition with a specialization in Sports Fitness Nutrition, I'm not a doctor. Always seek the advice of your physician before undertaking a new health care regimen. I only offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for better health. In the event you use any of this information for yourself, I do not assume responsibility for your actions.
For more on how to give yourself complete and total permission to eat anything you want, click ⭐ here ⭐ to get my guide on how to Quit Binge Eating — yours FREE with subscription to my site.
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