Save the Planet; wean yourself off meat
 

spamtrap1888 wrote:
> A Moose in Love > wrote:
>
>> The authors of the article To Fix the Climate, Take Meat off the Menu
>> contend €” using evidence from studies by the United Nations Food and
>> Agriculture Organization and other informed sources €” that the huge
>> resources that go into raising animals to be eaten (water, grains,
>> specialist care, etc.) could otherwise be used to feed humans, and
>> that practice makes no sense.
>
> I know no humans who would thrive on an all-grain diet. Grains are
> cheap bulk.

Do not confuse economic necessity with health issues. Health goes down
when populations shift to higher grain diets. But civilization started
when grain farming was invented. People were less healthy but their
were settled and the population was able to grow to much larger. Now it
would be a matter of feeding so many people we can't afford the
healthier approach of meat and vegitables but have to rely on feeding
humans animal fodder just to keep away mass starvation.

> In contrast, meat animals -- especially the noble chicken
> -- thrive on grains.

Chickens get fat on grain. Not the same thing as thriving. Ruminants
thrive on grain in some sense. They get fat on grains. Ruminants are
evolved to eat grass - grain plus the rest of the plant. Cows, sheep,
goats.

> Offal is still food -- recipes for
> non-muscle meat need to be popularized. I never see even tongues or
> hearts at the supermarket.

I like liver and tongue. I see tongue at local ethnic markets now.

>> Id also read of a similar huge improvement in Britons health during
>> the war, due to severe rationing, and a swing away from a meat-based
>> diet to a more vegetarian one.
>
> Consider instead how rats' lives were prolonged on near-starvation
> diets and you will see it was likely low calories and not low meat
> that improved their health.

Actually it's low carb more than just low calorie. Plus there's one
animo acid methione that is correlated with slowed aging when it's
reduced.

>> I first heard him interviewed on CBC Radio and was very impressed by
>> the logic and simplicity of his message. Meat isnt good for us, and
>> plants are. Processed foods (€œfoodlike substances€�) are only
>> marginally healthy. We may eat small portions of meat occasionally,
>> but so much of our diet really ought to be all the wonderful things
>> that we can eat from the plant world.
>
> This describes Chinese food exactly. Based on rice, with the addition
> of vegetables and a little meat.

And low total calorie. Keep total caloires low and eating high carb
never has a chance to cause damage. How many people can voluntarily eat
low calorie food when surrounded by a sea of inexpensive food.

> The irony of failing to realize that our N. Am. meat-eating tradition
> has stood us well for 150 years and far longer, back when we used our
> bodies. The 50s brought us near-universal automobile ownership, along
> with the goggle box. Video games and personal computers arrived during
> the 1980s; the smart phone in the early 2000s. But sure, blame meat.

During the winter meat and root veggies. During the summer meat and
fresh low carb veggies. The bread or starch course was always to fill
up because the meat and veggies were always limited.