RSS$ Where the Mouth Is
It’s time to start looking at our diets and their implications honestly. Our excessive consumption of meat isn’t just costing us our health, but our environment, as well. To top off the list of grievances, factory farming is one of the leading direct and indirect causes of air pollution in the world. Deforestation in the name of meat production, combined with noxious gases sent into the air by concentrated livestock, creates terrible air pollution. Not only do feedlots and factory farms smell terrible, they give off huge amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide! The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that livestock production is responsible for a full fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases, which is more than transportation contributes. So, while we might find it easier save on gas, skipping the meat is a much better idea for the environment.
No one is asking Americans to give up their long-standing meat consumption, nor is anyone trying to turn us all into vegans. All we need to do is cut back to make a difference. We can focus meals around grain, bean and vegetable dishes, with meat flavoring or small pieces of meat on the side. Extracting meat from a few meals a week will make a difference. According to Environmental Defense Fund, if every American skipped just one meal of chicken every week, we’d the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads. This isn’t asking a lot, it’s just asking us for a little self control – something Americans are notoriously lack. But the natural world is practically begging us to do right by our fellow creatures, and our world. If we continue to eat meat at the pace we now do, our health and our planet will suffer for it.
22 Comments, Comment or Ping
Malia
I have great news! I am going to go green for 2 weeks. 14 days! Don’t get too happy, cuz after that I’m going to Arnie Morton’s for my B-day! But I just wanted you to know that I care about yall and I will do my part to save the world………Muah!
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TROUBLMan reply on June 23, 2008 10:47 am:
That’s dope. The post informed me enough to consider it, but you inspired me enough to enact some of the ideas offered to help our environment. Like I said before, being black makes me genetically predisposed to chicken (preferably fried chicken). Still, I’m also a self-proclaimed tree hugger. If helping my environment means giving up a few meals with meat per week than I’m going to do it. And, I’m going to encourage my friend to do the same. It’s great how an article can create a totally new consciousness for a brotha. I’m never to proud to learn.
Thanks Lag!
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TemperTemper
Malia - you are amazing.
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Malia reply on June 24, 2008 11:13 am:
Just an update. I have a headache and I’m kind of grouchy today. I told you I would go thru withdrawels…..
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BlessedNMyStress reply on June 24, 2008 12:49 pm:
Beans, peanuts and veggies replace the nutrients, etc. that your body is missing from not eating meat. Try them to help curb the headaches. It’s like someone going cold turkey from coffee. Chocolate (caffeine) helps to ease the withdrawal.
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Malia reply on June 24, 2008 1:06 pm:
Are you a tree hugger too? Yea, I’m sick of veggies already. I need some beans and rice, that sounds good…..some fettucine alfredo and garlic bread…thata’s what I’m making tonight.
It’s funny because now that I am sanctioned from it all I can think of is food! I’ve been inventing meals for the next 13 days in my mind:
1) vegetarian lasagna & garlic bread
baked ricotta & parmesean loaf
2) 3 cheese omelette
3) pasta salad & sourdough bread
4) curry w/ peas and mushrooms in cream sauce
5) stuffed bell peppers
6) grilled cheese sandwich
7) focaccia pizza
10) ceasar salad
11) brocoli rice caserolecheese
12) vegie jambalaya
13) chili rice caserole
I’m hungy……
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BlessedNMyStress reply on June 24, 2008 1:12 pm:
LOL!! No I’m not a tree hugger, I’m just a picky eater. I used to do the Daniel Fast the beginning of the year, but now have incorporated it into my daily eating.
What can you eat? I’ll give you some tips.
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Malia reply on June 24, 2008 1:15 pm:
Well, the whole thing started with these cattle factories, so I think it’s just red meat….but I took it one further and said I would try to go green for 14 days, I’m only on day 2
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BlessedNMyStress reply on June 24, 2008 1:24 pm:
You’re doing just fine. The hardest part is the mental part which I think is where you are now.
That’s where my roommate struggled at the beginning of the year until he lost 10lbs in the first month. He had fissure issues as well which he hasn’t had a problem with since or, UNTIL he went to work in PA and started eating like he used to.
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Nicole reply on June 24, 2008 2:30 pm:
If you have some kind of protein with each meal, you shold be fine.
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Misha reply on June 24, 2008 2:38 pm:
What’s the Daniel Fast?
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BlessedNMyStress reply on June 24, 2008 2:40 pm:
The concept of a Daniel fast comes from Daniel 1:8-14, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.”
The background of the “Daniel fast” is that Daniel and his three friends had been “deported” to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians had conquered Judah (2 Kings 24:13-14). Daniel and his three friends were put into the Babylonian court servant “training program.” Part of the program was learning Babylonian customs, beliefs, laws, and practices. The eating habits of the Babylonians were not in complete agreement with the Mosaic law. As a result, Daniel asked if he and his three friends could be excused from eating the meat (which was likely sacrificed to Babylonian false gods and idols).
So, a Daniel fast is eating only fruits and vegetables for a certain amount of time, abstaining from meat products. Some people use a Daniel fast as a dieting method. Some people use a Daniel fast instead of fasting from food entirely. The Bible nowhere commands believers to observe a Daniel fast. As a result, it is a matter of Christian freedom whether to observe a Daniel fast. Please also see our article on Christian fasting.
For more information on the Daniel fast, we recommend http://DanielFast.wordpress.com.
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Malia reply on June 24, 2008 2:44 pm:
Now I’ve done the Esther fast—no food or drink for 3 days…but 21 days w/ no meat???? It’s no bread as well, right? Nah….I’m good. Daniel can keep that all to himself!
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BlessedNMyStress reply on June 24, 2008 2:51 pm:
ROTFLOLOLOLOL! !!! It’s not as bad as you think
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Malia reply on June 24, 2008 3:08 pm:
LOL!!!! Okay, I’ll take your word for it!
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BlessedNMyStress reply on June 24, 2008 3:09 pm:
LOL!!! A LOT of the recipes you posted I use . . . I switched from regular pasta to veggie pasta (Wacky Mac) made with whole grain (non bleached) flour and veggies. Brown rice, all the spices and seasonings you can find (except salt which I never used much of in the first place.)
The tomato scare messed me up though because I bought (yes, and ate) roma tomatoes the week they issued the recall. Sick as a dog and couldn’t figure out why when all I was eating was salad.
Lag reply on June 24, 2008 2:35 pm:
That all sounds SO delicious! I had an egg/pepper/cheese burrito for lunch. Yum!
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Malia reply on June 24, 2008 2:42 pm:
YUM!!!!! That sounds sooooo good Lag!!!! What are you doin’ to me?!?!?! LOL
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TemperTemper
We believe in you! Hang in there, girl - it’s just the detox process.
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Malia reply on June 24, 2008 11:23 am:
Ahaaaa…so you knew about this? See, I should’ve known saving the world would come with a headache…lol. I hope it passes. But I di eat some nuts and mushrooms have that have meaty texture so I’ll have ahuge salad for lunch!
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Q.
y’all got that.. i can’t live w/out my bacon!! i’m too little to be eating like a meerkat.. i need my meat.. now, i’d rather we eat like they do in other countries where they have smaller portions, cuz we eat like fat kings here, and KNOW we are going to have leftovers.. we’re fat.. point blank..
but since i’m still skinny, i’m going to do my job by not allowing those that don’t need the extra meat to partake in it.. so i feel that i’m fighting obesity and diabetes for all my peoples!! pile on the bacon!!
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