Meatless Monday Musings

As I continue to progress and adapt my very personalized version of Operation: Clean Eating, I have really been unwittingly living a less meat-friendly lifestyle of late.  While Martha encourages Meatless Mondays with helpful recipes that are nutritious, as well as satisfying to just about any palette, Oprah's large group of studio employees embarked on a recent Vegan experience.   I have been gradually elminating more and more animal products from my daily diet without over-thinking it.  My aim is not to become a rigid Vegan or even Vegetarian, but to understand the difference between my body's nutritional needs and that which my environment has programmed into me as necessary to be considered a 'balanced meal'. 

The truth is, humans do not require meat to meet our nutritional needs.  Futhermore, the expansion of my very minimal knowlege on exactly what it is I have been consuming since childhood continues to concern, as well as disturb me.  Do not mistake my intention, it is not oppress myself with any sort of 'law' to abide on the subject of whether to Meat or not to Meat.  Simply put, the American population is consuming far too much animal product (along with our wonderfully refined and low quality processed foods) for healthy living. 

As an individual I really believe if we want to fix the healthcare problem of this country, we truly need to look at our responsibility to ourselves and our future generations to invest in a proactive approach to our wellness and nutrition.  Why should it be a priority to correct something on the back-end that I believe should really be addressed from the origin of the largest percentage of our collective health problems as a nation?  Lowered standards of food guidelines and cost of living a 'whole' food lifestyle is sadly, where those statistics of lower income demographics and high cholesterol, diabetes and heart conditions truly stem from.  I am not proposing some sort of grand idea on how to remedy these social issues.  I would like to provide some logic and information with my little experiment here on how we as individuals can begin to invest in ourselves.
  This may, for some of you, mean a shift in some of your priorities.  I have recently gone through some life lessons (still ongoing) that have afforded me just that, a chance to look at where my perspectives and priorities have been sitting and then compared them to where I feel they should be.  Spiritual, Mental and Physical health are what makes us who we are and I believe that a person's core philosophy really should be consistent in all three areas to really experience what it means to be balanced.

I will be adding some animal free recipes to the mix in future posts.  In the meantime, I encourage you to watch the video below from one of our better grade meat slaughterhouses that allowed Lisa Ling to go inside and see exactly what goes on in a beef plant.  Cargill, a company based out of Colorado is the largest producer of ground beef in the world.  Their standards are higher than most and they are one of the only that allowed an investigative reporter inside to view the entire process. 

Inside a Slaughterhouse

What really stuck out in my mind is the image of the animals just living this stagnant life being fattened up for the sole purpose of our consumption.  This includes chickens, pigs, cows, etc.  Any animal we are consuming at rapid rate will be processed this way  to meet the demand.  I'm not really comfortable with consistently filling my body with the carcass of something that was bred on unnatural foods that it is not in its nature to eat along with hormones and steroids.  I wouldn't put those things directly into my system, why is it any different if I'm eating something pumped with them.  We have this programmed ignorance in us that we tell ourselves "If I don't see it, then it must be poppycock".  Truly we eat so much that is not fit for consumption, and we put it on the tables to feed our families daily.  As I bring recipes I want to continue to keep these things in mind and ensure we talk about options.  I'm not going to stop eating meat, as I believe it is a choice as well as a natural part of our instict to do so.  However, I also believe as with all things, educating yourself is key.  The differences between things like Organic vs. Free Range when it comes to meat are huge, and I don't believe the general advertising and marketing firms out there giving us 80% of our information, along with the media outlets funded by the companies using those firms are providing it.  Its unfortunately, our job to take on the task of researching and learning for one's self.

I will end this little insight with a conversation I had with a close friend recently that I think begs the question "How far removed are we from where our food comes from?"

My pal, who will remain nameless had obviously read a few rantings about my thoughts and feelings towards "Evil Empires" such as McDonald's, Walmart, Home Depot and let's add KFC to the bunch.  He wanted to raise the point that "McDonald's is leading the way for nutritious fast food and that cannot be overlooked."  Let me first start out by saying, I am a believer in Capitalism as an ideal.  Let me also add there is a difference between Capitalism and Greed.  I will leave my politics aside other than to clarify that one point.

To this I say, it is not overlooked nor disputed.  It is, however, a day late more than a few billion dollars short.  McDonald's was exposed for what they are at their core a number of years ago, that is: a major corporation simply concerned with paving the entire world with as many Golden Arches as physically possible while making the highest net profit margin.  Note I said Physically possible, not morally acceptable, nor environmentally or humanely plausible.  I will do business with any company and remain LOYAL as well as promote and recommend them to people in my life based on two very simple criteria:
1) They believe in providing a Quality product to the consumer and hold THEMSELVES to a standard
while also netting a profit.
2) They believe that the treatment of their employees encourages growth and development, and understand  that keeping this in the top 3 company standards will encourage true pride and care of customers.

Simply put, have some kind of moral backbone.  Not religious in nature, but Humans respecting Humans this is what separates us from the animals.  Sadly, if you look at some species of animals, we actually can make a case that we are guilty of being less evolved in this way by our treatment of each other and where we live.

This is the example I provided my friend to really make my point:

  Let's say you have a local Pizza Parlor that you and your family or friends visit weekly for take out.  You know the staff, the owner shakes your hand knows your kid's names and you are a loyal customer who loves Pizza night every Wednesday.  You might even go so far as to say you can call and say, "I'll take the usual today Luigi!"
Now let's say a local news network gets a call from an ex-employee that claims Luigi's Pizzeria cuts their sauce with mothballs, its cost effective and no one seems to be able to taste the difference.  (obviously I have no idea what a mothball tastes like)  The station investigates and does a piece on the practices that have been going on at Luigi's and they are exposed.  What emotions do you think you will feel about Luigi's?  Outrage?  Betrayal?  Dissapointment?  Concern?  Let's take a stroll now 6 months later; Luigi is desperately trying to repair his image and has made major changes to his operation.  He is even using local organic produce and ingredients.  He adopts and "open kitchen" policy and takes walls down so customers can see exactly what is being put into the food he is feeding them.  Are you going to go back to Luigi?  I would say this is a personal choice still and while I believe everyone deserves a second chance, I can honestly say I would not.  This person betrayed my trust, and looked me straight in the eye while he poisoned me and my family to save himself a dollar.  His changes may have come from deep self-reflection, however I don't trust this to be true as he has broken that in our relationship, its just as likely he is simply doing what he needs to do to stay in business.

Luigi doesn't have billions of dollars to spend to repair his image, and dominate the advertising market telling you 'Things Are Better Now'.  Luigi also is a face that I can picture when trying to place responsibility of this misconduct.  Two facts that leave Luigi much less likely to even attempt to regain his image than McDonald's was able to. 

If you haven't seen the documentary which was the True catalyst for the change in not only the Fast Food industry, but also the general American mindset on What Is In Our Food, I highly recommend.  I also want to add that I do not blame McDonald's for the American health crisis, I do stress again that we as Individuals are responsible for ourselves and free to do and eat as we please.  I as an individual choose to take a second look at things before I engage in them and I don't like doing business with McDonald's or their eithical equivilants.  Below are some links if you are interested in getting your proverbial foot wet and really asking "Whats for dinner?"

Super Size Me
The Future of Food
Slaughterhouses and Processing