Meat 2

So, here I am, with my meat blog #2.

I was a little surprised by the response that the first one received and decided to write a second one to clarify and to list sources for everything that was said in the original blog.

First of all, I would like to mention that  by no means did I mean to stir the pot or cause any kind of controversy.  I have clients who ask me if animal protein is good or bad, and it honestly comes down to how it makes you personally feel.  Some people feel sluggish or have problems digesting when they eat it, others feel grounded and strong, and some people feel the need to eat it seasonally.  The government, media, etc, tends to tell us what we should or shouldn't be eating.  Now we don't even know what to put at the end of our fork!  I think its best for the individual to decide what is good for them.

Now, with that being said, if people decide to eat animal protein, it is wise to buy the highest quality possible.  Some key words to see on the label are:   organic, grass fed, free range, hormone free, and sustainable.  If the quality of the animal protein that one consumes is poor, and filled with antibiotics, steroids, etc,  then they run the risk of causing damage to their health.  Buying cheap meat helps fund factory farms. The more meat people will buy, the more fast food that is consumed, adds to the overcrowding, antibiotic fed, inhumane treatment of animals.

Now, here are the sources from my original blog:

1.  Cloning:   Source link: (most recent)   TAKE ACTION:  Citizens for Health Criticizes FDA Decision to Allow Cloned Foods   Washington, DC, January 15, 2008-

http://www.citizens.org/action-alerts/take-action-citizens-for-health-criticizes-fda-decision-to-allow-cloned-foods

"Today the Food and Drug Administration announced its determination that milk and meat from cloned animals are safe for sale to the public.  In addition, the FDA is requiring no tracking system for clones or labeling of products produced from clones or their offspring."  (If you would like to read more, I encourage you to visit the source link listed above.)

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/cloning

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/dairy

More on cloning from Howard Lyman ( all sources can be found at, www.madcowboy.com):

A little on Howard first......

Howard Lyman is a fourth-generation family farmer in Montana, president and founder of Voice for a Viable Future, and the activist that turned Oprah Winfrey against hamburgers.  He has become a spokesperson for family farmers.  Howard Lyman is co-author of two books, Mad Cowboy:  Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat and No More Bull!:  The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy:  Our Diet

When asked what percentage of commercial meat contains meat from cloned livestock, he reported that as of today, only one thousands of one percent.

2.  Rendering:  "The City of Los Angeles sends 200 tons of euthanized cats and dogs to West Coast Rendering plant every month.  This is just from the city's animal shelters and does not include animals from private veterinarians." -- Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph. D.

more from Howard:

A few questions that were asked, and his reply:  

1.  you were saying that ground up sick animals were being fed to other animals but was banned by the FDA and USDA.  Have they since passed a law against feeding dead animals to cows, pigs, etc, or is this still happening today?

reply:   "USDA only banned feeding cows, sheep and goats back to cows, sheep and goats.  All other forms of dead animal feeding is legal and continues today."

Question 2:  Is it only in the US or all over the world?

Reply:  "Worldwide there are some countries that have banned the feeding of animals to animals, the EU for example."

Question 3:  I wondered if you had any thoughts on the pet food recalls in the recent past.  I am beginning to suspect our pet foods are now being made with GMO's and still being made with perished cats/dogs.  Do you have any information on this?

Reply:  "I believe most pet food sold today is not fit to be served to our companions.  I have information on this issue on my website as well.  Reading the ingredients on the label will show how many dead animals are in the product, if you know what the terminology means that they use to disguise the true source such as "bypass protein" which is dead animal remains."

More sources can be found at www.madcowboy.com

3.  (cheap ham. contains 1000 different cows, 5 different countries. )

http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13057

http://www.answers.com/topic/hamburger

  --A fast food hamburger sold in 1965 and one today might look the same, but 38 years ago the meat from the burger likely came from one cow or steer.  In today's burger, you'll find 1,000 or more pieces of a thousand or more cattle from as many as five different countries ground up into one little hamburger patty.---Eric Schlosser

(mad cow disease)

www.madcowboy.com

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/madcowdisease

(amazon rain forest)

http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0827-brazil.html

4.  slaughterhouse in chino

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/recalled-beef-from-chino-slaughterhouse.html

http://highboldtage.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/recalled-beef-from-chino-slaughterhouse-was-used-in-466-food-products/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/02/18/2008-02-18_bad_beef_sparks_alert_in_school_recall.html

5.  (food poisening) 76 million am. food pois.  5, 000 die from something they ate.

http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13057

Over the past quarter century, Schlosser says America has seen a "huge" increase in food borne illnesses, and "this is connected to the centralization and industrialization of our food systems that serve the fast food chains."  The author and investigative journalist cited government figures that 76 million Americans suffered food poisoning last year; 325,000 were hospitalized because of food poisening; and that 5,000 Americans "were killed by something they ate."  This gigantic system has played a leading role in making big outbreaks possible.  It used to be that if you got your food from a small butcher shop or processing plant, there was a limit to how big an outbreak could be.  But today, when one plant produces 1 million pounds of ground beef and ships it throughout the United States and overseas, the potential for widespread contamination is huge.--

6.  livestock..  125, 000 live in one pen, fed growth hormones, etc

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/animalwelfare

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/antibiotics

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/factoryfarming

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/slaughterhousesandprocessing

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/feed

www.sustainabletable.org/issues/rBGH

7.  growth hormones/steroids in the ear

www.madcowboy.com

www.sustainabletable.org/issues (click on above links..)

even my father knows how harmful this can be as it makes any heifer he wants to keep back in the herd sterile!

8.  chickens antibiotics /grain

www.sustainabletable.org/issues  (click on above links)

www.madcowboy.com

9.  fish--deformities

http://www.trout.forprod.vt.edu/fishpubs/lemly1999_04.pdf

http://www.biology-online.org/articles/selenium_insidious_persistent_toxin.html

www.madcowboy.com

10.  one major feedlot produces more waste than 5 major cities put together

http://www.webofcreation.org/Earth%20Problems/water.htm

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Health/Cogs_Machine_FFN.html

11.  cancer, sterile men, etc.

http://sexualhealth.e-healthsource.com/index.php?p=news1&id=603160

http://marcussharpe.com/diet.shtml

www.sustainabletable.org/issues

www.madcowboy.com

Question given to Howard Lyman:

What are the most common health problems proven to be linked to the chemicals and hormones used in commercial meat?  

His reply:  "Cancer has been shown to be directly related to the chemicals in meat."

12.  chemical farming, mistreatment of animals, how it has changed food.

www.sustainabletable.org/issues          (click on any of the links to the left)

Another great website to visit is   www.themeatrix.com  (cartoon form, describing how factory farms came about)

Meat. maybe some chicken.

Wow, I have been wanting to write about meat for quite some time now, there may be a second, third, fourth meat post, depends on how much I get done here.

People wonder if eating animal protein is good or bad for them.  It really boils down to how you personally  feel after you eat it, AND the quality of the animal.  Yes, you need to know your cow, or at least the farmer if you want to eat meat and/or chicken.

Here's some facts:

1.  Cloned cows are out in supermarkets and they are not required to say on the package if you are eating test tube beef or not.  Super gross I know, but thought I would start with that one.

2.  200 tons of dogs and cats per MONTH (from Los Angeles alone) are being ground up and turned into food for cattle.

3.  one "cheap" hamburger contains pieces of 1000 different cows from 5 different countries.  And keep in mind, we do import beef.  The amazon isn't being chopped down for wood, its to make way for more cattle grazing.   Also keep in  mind that MAD COW DISEASE still exists.  And it is still killing people.   That specific disease can be transferred by blood.  

4.  There is a slaughterhouse in Chino CA, that has machines scoop up cows who are dead or barely alive, swimming in e coil, salmonella, etc,  they toss them into a bin that grinds them up and that is the beef that feeds the National School Lunch Program.

5.  76 million Americans get food poisoning.  5,000 Americans die from something they ate.

6.  125,000 cattle "live" in one pen in major livestocks.  all fed genetically modified feed.  Living in each others manure.  THAT is where cheap hamburgers come from.  

7.  They are given growth hormones, aka steroids..  These are usually injected into their ears, and these are the same STEROIDS that have been banned from US athletes.

8.  Chickens are fed grain with antibiotics and arsenic in it.  

9.  EVEN  FISH for goodness sake are found with extreme deformities, from hormones and water pollution from the runoffs from nearby feedlots.

10.  One major feedlot produces more waste than 5 major cities put together.

11.  One has to wonder WHY so many college men are sterile, why woman have such a hard time conceiving....why cancer is affecting so many people.

12.  The chicken mcnugget has been around for only 30 years or so.  ALOT has changed in 30 years.  The dawn of chemical farming and the way we treat our animals has changed our food quality dramatically.  and not only our food quality. but the air we breathe, the ground we walk on, and the water we drink--it affects EVERTHING.

Now, I am not advocating vegetarianism, or veganism, I believe that each person is very individual and has different needs.  Some may need beef or chicken in their lives.  However I  do think that we consume too much of it, and the quality that we are consuming can sometimes be very very poor.  

So, if you want to eat animal protein, I say get to know your animal.  Make sure the life it had was a good one, for health and humane reasons.  Its great if you can know what type of farm it came from, or if that is impossible, check for free range, or organic on the label.

Or start small.  Don't get hamburgers from fast food places!  (That is a whole other blog....)

Here is a great website to check out: www.themeatrix.com

Books to enjoy.....The Mad Cowboy, Fast Food Nation

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I have been wanting to unload all this for a long time!

-Christina

The joy of eating? Are you kidding me?

Yeah, thats what I thought as I watched a Sara Lee truck whiz by on the freeway.  It had images of peanut  butter and jelly sandwiches, ice cream sundaes, and other junk, along with a child with crumbs all over her face.  The slogan, "The Joy of Eating" was written on the truck.  

I had just finished performing at a kids party, where all the kids wanted to throw imaginary candy into our imaginary boat, and then I get to see this company contributing to the madness?  AHHHHHHH!  No good.  

I feel bad for kids. They get slammed with fast food, junk food, processed food, crappity crap food every five seconds while watching cartoons.  All the new technology makes them want to sit inside and stare at a computer rather than play outdoors.  

Right now, 20 % of kids are overweight, this will triple in the next decade, there are teenagers having heart attacks and getting triple bypass surgery, 1 out of 4 will develop diabetes, 1 out of 2 will develop diabetes because of weight, type II diabetes is more common than type I, clinical depression among obese children equals to chemotherapy. If things don't improve, if children are not introduced to foods that are healthy and give them energy, then we might see a  time when the parents outlive their children.  

It seems that is would make sense if there were pictures of fruits and veggies on a truck with a slogan "The Joy of Eating"....but that is not what sells and makes the big bucks.  What Sara Lee's truck should say is "The Joy of Diabetes" because that is what is happening, and they are contributing to the madness.

Beets

I have no idea why I am starting off this blog with a post on beets, but oh well, here goes.

I used to hate, hate, hate beets. I thought that they were a form of punishment as a kid.  However, now that I am skilled in the ways of beets, I have found that they can be quite tasty.  There are red beets and golden beets, and if you have never tried a golden beet, well I recommend you head to the store pronto.  

Now, here's the cool thing, if you crave sweets, then you might want to try adding these to your diet.  Call me crazy, but this works.  Your body naturally craves sweet stuff so you might as well give it what it wants!  Yes, you may be thinking that ice cream or candy is what your body wants when you crave sweet goodness, but beets are not going to give you the up and down blood sugar mood swings or put any potential extra junk in the trunk.

Here are some other cool things that beets do:  strengthens the heart, improves circulation, purifies the blood, and helps out the liver!

Now you can steam the suckers, or, my favorite, throw them in the oven!  Baking them naturally increases their sweet flavor.

Here is one EASY (seriously) recipe to try:  

Buy some red and golden beets

preheat oven to 400 degrees

Skin beets and then cut up into random shapes or slice thin.

throw some extra virgin olive oil in pan, cookie sheet, whatever you have....

throw beets into pan, put into oven, and leave in for anywhere from 30 min to 45 min.  I say this because if you slice them thin, they will cook faster, and if you cut them into different shapes and sizes, then they will definitely need longer to cook. (I like mine a little on the burnt side)

Enjoy!

Side note about beets......especially about the red ones.....if you look in the toilet the next day at your number 2 and become a little concerned from seeing red stuff, don't worry, you are not dying, that is just the beets!  hee hee.  Wish someone would have told me sooner, I thought I didn't have much longer to live when it happened to me the first time!

take care!