Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It! (25 page)
Read Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It! Online
Authors: Kris Carr,Rory Freedman (Preface),Dean Ornish M.D. (Foreword)
Tags: #Nutrition, #Motivational & Inspirational, #Health & Fitness, #Diets, #Medical, #General, #Women - Health and hygiene, #Health, #Diet Therapy, #Self-Help, #Vegetarianism, #Women
Overcrowded chickens
Our nation’s factory farms confine millions of breeding pigs in gestation crates—2-footwide individual metal cages barely bigger than their bodies—for nearly their entire four-month pregnancies. These intelligent, sociable animals suffer terribly, and they develop crippling joint disorders and lameness from the cramped conditions.
There are other practices in industrial agriculture that violate our basic values about proper care of animals. Foie gras producers force-feed ducks and geese so severely that the animals’ livers swell to ten times their normal size, inducing a disease state as a normal production practice. Chickens and turkeys constitute 95 percent of all animals slaughtered for food in America, yet the USDA exempts them from the minimal standards of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
Despite industry claims that it adheres to humane practices, we’ve seen a steady stream of undercover investigations pull the curtain back on sickening and unacceptable abuses: In California, downed cows tormented to get them to stand. In Ohio, pigs killed by execution-style hanging. Turkeys kicked, punched, and stomped on in West Virginia. Pigs beaten with blunt instruments in North Carolina. Egg-laying hens thrown into trash cans to die a slow, painful death in Maine. Still more egg-laying hens impaled on cage wires in California.
Pigs in gestation crates
Of course, it’s not only common sense that says such abuse is wrong. Independent science on animal welfare also buttresses the case for reform. For example, the prestigious Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production—a disinterested panel that included former Kansas governor John Carlin, former US secretary of agriculture Dan Glickman, farm animal researchers, veterinarians, and ranchers—extensively studied the issue for two and a half years. The commissioners reviewed the body of scientific literature on the topic and unanimously concluded that battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates should be phased out.
Concern about animal welfare is ascendant. If current trends are an indicator, cultural and political circumstances are breaking in the direction of concern for farm animals. When I became vegan in 1985, finding vegan food was a chore and the term itself was, to say the least, unfamiliar. Today it’s part of the American lexicon, and supermarkets, restaurants, and other food outlets often offer vegan fare. Books like
Skinny Bitch
and
The Engine 2 Diet
enjoy a vast
popular audience, especially with young people, and especially girls and women.
Nearly four hundred universities have opted to switch some or all of their egg purchasing away from battery cage operators. And an increasing number of major retailers are moving away from the most abusive animal products, like foie gras and battery cage eggs.
While just a decade ago our movement was in a preregulation period with regard to farm animal welfare, there’s been steady progress in the direction of reform. Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maine, and Oregon have passed laws, either through state legislatures or citizen initiatives, phasing out certain kinds of intensive confinement.
In a November 2008 election, California voters passed in a landslide vote the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which phases out battery cages, veal crates, and gestation crates. It was the most popular citizen ballot initiative in California’s history, attracting nearly 64 percent of the vote and a raft of media attention—exposure that further embeds the idea of farm animal welfare into the public consciousness.
There is no more important thing we can do for animals than start conscious eating. With 10 billion animals raised for food, it is the biggest form of animal use of all. From World War II until very recently, the situation has grown increasingly harsh for animals, and it’s just now starting to turn around. We all need to be part of the solution. Don’t leave it up to anyone else. You have the power to help animals, and also to spread the word, urging others to abstain from eating meat, eggs, and dairy, to reduce intake of animal products, or at least to stop purchasing products from factory farms. All animals deserve respect and moral consideration, including farm animals.
Downer cows on the their way to slaughter
Veal calves
Wayne Pacelle
is president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. He is cofounder and former chairman of Humane USA, a nonpartisan organization that works to elect humaneminded candidates to political office.
Photos courtesy of Farm Sanctuary and the Humane Society
MAKE THE CONNECTION
Ninety-nine percent
of the animal products we consume come from factory farms. I know it’s hard to look at these horrors. Paul McCartney once said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”
Today some farmers are following more sustainable methods of raising beef cattle, poultry and other Beings. They treat their animals more humanely (though they still end up at the same slaughterhouses). Their meat is very expensive, easily three times or more costly than industrial raised flesh. Small farms, like the one I grew up next to, don’t receive government subsidies. You’re paying for healthy livestock without the dangerous shortcuts and drugs.
If after all you’ve learned, you still want to include some meat and dairy in your diet, research a local organic producer. Keep in mind that just because the label says “free range,” “organic,” “natural,” or “grass-fed” doesn’t mean the animals were treated well. If suffering matters to you, limit the amount of nonindustrial animals you eat or buy meat with the Certified Humane Raised and Handled food label. It’s the only program in the United States dedicated to improving the welfare of farm animals from birth through slaughter.
Perhaps you’re still having a hard time with these issues. You may even be angry or agitated at the suggestion to consider animal welfare when preparing your dinner. The compassion lightbulb really turned on for me when I thought about our dog Lola (the best rescue pooch ever!). She has a Christmas stocking. Lola knows more words than some of the kids I taught at NYU. Pigs are no less intelligent, emotional, or social creatures. Calves are sensitive and playful. Chickens love to gossip with their friends. And all mothers love their babies. Let’s take feminism to the next level and stand beside
all
our sisters, including those with fur and feathers. If we could make the connection between our pets and our plates, we’d respect these Beings more. At the very least, we would demand better conditions for them, and we would grant them a swift and painless death.
Lola, rescued a day before scheduled euthanization
The aforementioned Meatless Monday campaign, in association with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, provides lots of recipes, nutritional guidelines, and cooking tips on the Web site
www.meatlessmonday.com
. Just remember the Crazy Sexy pH nuggets you learned in chapter 2 and stack your plate with more alkaline chow.
My brilliant friend Kathy Freston has this advice for folks who can’t bear to live without certain meaty pleasures: “If you just can’t give up one particular animal product, that’s okay. Give up all of the other ones instead. A friend told me that he loves burgers too much to give them up; I suggested that he give up all animal products except burgers. Some of my friends can’t give up ice cream or cream in their coffee or whatever—so give up everything but that. That’s a huge step forward, and I suspect that after eating mostly vegetarian for a while, you’ll decide that those burgers or that ice cream aren’t so tasty anymore.”
SOY AS A MEAT PROTEIN SUBSTITUTE
There are lots of meat stand–ins
on the market today, many of which are made from beans, grains, and veggies, and especially soy. However, you’ll notice that when I talk about soy consumption, I generally accompany my recommendations with the words
in moderation
. Studies in Asian communities show that the health benefits of soy come from condiment-size portions of fermented soy foods. While soy is high in protein (in fact, it’s a complete protein), tastes yummy, and is less expensive than meat, most of the soy we eat is processed, genetically modified, heavily sprayed, and supersized. As much as possible, eat soy in its natural form.
Choice one: Soybeans and edamame. If you consume tofu, keep it to small amounts and buy organic brands (you can even find sprouted varieties).
Choice two: Fermented soy—tempeh, natto, and miso. Fermented foods have a probiotic effect and are the easiest forms for your body to digest and absorb. The fermentation process also helps to neutralize the high levels of phytic acids (which may block the absorption of minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron). See chapter 8 for more info about fabulous fermented goodies.