Health for life

Weve all been there with our parents – the same ol restaurant, with the same ol menu– because theyre reluctant to try something new, strange, or simply unappealing. And theres nothing intrinsically wrong with that, per se. People like what they like, and odds are, your parents eating habits have been pretty set for decades.

But wouldnt it be nice to try something else for a change?

Convincing your folks to move on to new cuisines and cultures can be a wonderful experience for all involved, and not just because kimchee is awesome. "Ethnic" foods, or foods found outside your traditional cuisine, are frequently:

• Less expensive: When HOTUS and I order Chinese takeout, we can turn $15 into dinner that night and lunch for the office the next day. While not as cheap as home cooking, its darn comparable.
• Healthier: Okay, so the ghee (clarified butter) in Chicken Korma wont put it on the happy side of the Eat This, Not That list, but non-traditional dishes can often pack in vegetables, lean cuts of meat, and healthy oils. Compared especially to most American-style restaurant meals, ethnic food is frequently a lighter choice.
• Educational: By eating foods outside of your customary cultural cuisine, youre exposing yourself to a new world of ingredients, flavor combinations, and styles of preparation, which you can then implement at home.
• Delicious: Mmm. Take two bites of baba ghanoush and call me in the morning.

But then again, were not talking about you here, are we? Were talking about your parents – wonderful people, to be sure, but not necessarily the most daring of eaters. So, how can you get your beloved Ma and Pa to dig into falafel, injera bread, and even sushi (or "bait," as a certain family member calls it)? Try five these strategies:

1) Pay for it. Sometimes, older folks (actually, any folks) simply dont want to blow money on something theyre not sure theyll like. So, pick an inexpensive restaurant and treat em. Think of it as an adventure you dont need hiking boots for.

2) Start at home. Prepping a meal for mom? Throw in a teriyaki side dish or a plate of pierogies. By surrounding a new food with ones she likes, it may seem more approachable.

3) Order a gateway food. Introducing your parents to a mild dish – one with a less-assertive flavor, similar to a recipe they might already love. Pad Thai is way Americanized, but its an effective tool for getting reluctant eaters into more daring Thai Food. For me, lassis and samosas were the gateway dishes to a lot of delicious Indian cuisine.

• SPECIAL NOTE: This can be a way effective strategy for people with an aversion to spice, which was probably the most-cited fear in yesterdays Ask the Internet comments. Feeding your parents a super-mild quesadilla proves to them that all Mexican food isnt a five-alarm chili, which could encourage them to attempt other dishes.

4) Embrace media. This might sound lame (I hope not), but for many folks, seeing a dish in a magazine, on a TV show, or at the movies – when its been styled and served in the best possible light by super-attractive people – can make it seem tremendously appealing. I wonder how many parents wanted an Italian meal after watching Julia Roberts slurp spaghetti in Eat Pray Love? Or how many folks decided Indian food could be super-awesome after 30 minutes of Aartis Party? Or how many moms and dads tried matzoh ball soup for the first time after seeing a glossy photo in Saveur? Probably a lot.

5) Know when to accept defeat. My dad will never, ever, ever develop a love of curry, no matter how many "mmm … slurp … ahhh" sounds I make while eating a big ol bowl of it. And that is totally, 100% fine. Not everyone has similar tastes, and pushing a loved one too hard can (seriously) get pretty annoying. Food should be a joy, not a struggle. Move on.

Opening parents - and anyone, really - up to new cuisines, and as a result, new cultures, is something from which we can all benefit. Happy eating.

Readers? Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Fire away.

~~~

If you enjoyed this read, you might also dig:

• Healthy Takeout on a Budget
• Learning to Love Foods You Hate: A How-To Guide for Frugal Eaters
• Serving Sizes and Portion Control: A Primer

1. Using traditional research to detect a "statistically significant" decrease in insurance claims expense is notoriously difficult.

2. Theres scientific statistical proof and then there is a reasonable business assurance.  The latter may be enough for business-minded health insurers.

3. The conclusion is based on published research.  Unpublished "in house" data have convinced many insurers to include the medical home in their covered benefit.  They know something AHRQ doesnt.

4. While medical homes alone may be insufficient to save money, that doesnt mean that medical homes that are part of a package of interventions (value-based purchasing, P4P, vendor-based population health management or an ACO) are unnecessary.

5. While there is no evidence of savings, there is also no consistent evidence of increased cost. That means the quality associated with the medical home represents high value.

That being said, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence Report Technology Assessment on the Patient Centered Medical Home says:

"Based on a combination of good- and fair-quality studies, there is a low strength of evidence that PCMH implementation may lead to lower utilization (inpatient and emergency department) for some subgroups of patients, but this effect was not uniform. Moreover, total costs were not lowered in the reviewed studies.

However, three observational studies specifically designed to test PCMH do report lower inpatient and emergency department utilization among patients in the PCMH program. However, total costs were not statistically different for PCMH and non-PCMH patients in the three studies. None of the clinical trials of functional PCMH interventions had statistically significant differences between intervention and control arms for inpatient or emergency department utilization.

No studies reported statistically significant cost savings among PCMH patients. In fact, when taking into account program costs, two studies, one good-quality trial and one fair-quality observational study, reported greater total costs among intervention patients."

 Image from Wikipedia

Sweet readers!

It’s me, Kris. Hi!

This Sunday, I’m marrying this guy I like, hurricane permitting. And for a few weeks after that, we’re gonna drive around Italy, searching for duomos and large plates of spaghetti. (And wine. Always wine.)

During that time, and Leigh (of Veggie Might fame) will be running CHG. The schedule will stay the same. There’ll just be a slightly different voice behind it – namely, a vegetarian one with cute hair and much better cooking skills.

I really enjoy keeping this blog, and will miss our discussions while Im away. In the meantime, hope y’all have wonderful Septembers, and Ill speak to you soon!

P.S. Oh, yeah! The results of last week’s Ask the Internet are as follows:

36 votes: Tomatoes

26 votes: Onions

19 votes: Leafy greens (Kale, lettuce, collards, etc.)

17 votes: Bell peppers

16 votes: Asparagus, Broccoli

15 votes: Corn, Peas (all kinds), Sweet Potatoes

12 votes: Spinach

11 votes: Carrots, Garlic, Potatoes

10 votes: Mushrooms

9 votes: Cucumbers

8 votes: Brussels sprouts

7 votes: Avocado

6 votes: Zucchini

5 votes: Beets, Eggplant

4 votes: Artichokes, Cauliflower, Green Beans, Winter Squash (Butternut, Kabocha, etc.)

3 votes: Garlic and onions (whole Allium family), Hot peppers, Parsnips

2 votes: Cabbage, Leeks, Lima Beans, Pumpkin

1 vote: Broccoli Rabe, Celery, Edamame, Fennel, Lentils, Okra, Red Cabbage, Romanesco Broccoli, Yellow Squash

Tomatoes, for the win.

As part of its 2010 dietary guidelines released on January 31, the USDA recommended that the average American eat approximately 4.5 cups of produce per day. Broken down a bit more, that’s 2.5 cups of vegetables, and 2 cups of fruit. In a study released days later by the USDA’s Economic Research Service, researchers concluded all 4.5 cups could be purchased for between $2 and $2.50 per day.

Reactions on one major food blog ranged from supportive (“[I] like that they are promoting the fact that eating healthy doesnt have to expensive.”) to skeptical (“Where the hell are they shopping?”) to outright critical (“God, the USDA is full of such bull****”).

While I think the ERS researchers are correct with their $2.50 number (more on that in a minute), some of the skepticism is merited, for three big reasons:

1. They used food prices from 2008. A certain economic meltdown makes those numbers highly suspect today.
2. Among the vegetables counted towards the $2.50 total are white potatoes and corn, starchy foods not exactly known for their vitamins and minerals. Also included is iceberg lettuce, which has the rough nutritional value of licking a rock.
3. Juice is counted as produce, though the USDA itself admits, “Although 100% fruit juice can be part of a healthful diet, it lacks dietary fiber and when consumed in excess can contribute extra calories.”

With that in mind, for the huge majority of us who don’t live in food deserts, is it still feasible to pay $2.50 for 4.5 cups of produce per day? How? And going one step further, is it possible to purchase a variety thereof? Because anyone can buy seven bananas for $2, but cramming in spinach, yams, berries, and pluots gets a little harder.

My answer to each question is a resounding, “Heck yeah, but you have to do some legwork, first.” To that end, here are some suggestions to keep costs down, and nutrition way, way up.

Buy in season and on sale. These two occurrences frequently coincide, since supermarkets have to move surpluses of in-season fruits and vegetables before they rot. So, pay attention to produce calendars, hunt for bargains at farmer’s markets, and look out for circular sales in larger grocery stores. To wit: I recently scored a 5-lb. bag of gigantic navel oranges (13 in all) for $4.97 at my local Foodtown. That’s $0.38 per orange, which comes out to more than 1 cup of fruit.

Buy whole. Not cut up, drenched in cheese, or (sorry) pulped into juice. Whole fruits and vegetables are almost always cheaper and higher in nutrients than those that have been doctored. The perfect example? The humble carrot. A pound of whole carrots at my old supermarket was $0.89. ($0.66 on sale.) A pound of baby carrots, which are actually regular-sized carrots run through a peeling/whacking machine, cost $1.50. Prep them anyway you like once you’re home, but buy ‘em big before then.

Buy generic, or with coupons if you can nail a better price. While this might not apply to fresh fruits and vegetables, generic frozen and canned produce is generally a big bargain. In studies, many shoppers cant tell the difference between house and name brands, and frequently, the foods are cut and packaged in the same buildings. HOWEVER: if you have dynamite coupons, or can pair coupons with sales, name brands could be the bigger bargain. Do the math and see where you end up.

Buy fresh or frozen first, then canned. Then juice, I guess. While the USDA claims there’s no consistent price advantage of one over the other, I find A) (tomatoes excepted) fresh and frozen produce tastes better than canned, B) fresh and frozen produce is often sold/frozen at the height of growing season, giving it a bigger nutritional impact, and C) canned mushrooms are the devil. (Seriously. You can tell a good pizza joint by whether or not their mushrooms are fresh.) As for dried fruits, try purchasing them in a bulk food store or ethnic market, since theyre ludicrously expensive in many big chains. If juice is a necessity (you have children, for example), buying 100% fruit juice is best, and even then, not if you have to sacrifice other means of packing in the produce.

Find a happy medium between big nutrition and big savings. Though tasty and inexpensive, potatoes are somewhat lacking in the nutrient department. On the flip side, berries are powerhouses of vitamins and minerals, but often prohibitively pricey. Don’t forgo either extreme entirely (since a world without blueberries isn’t a world worth living in), but concentrate most of your cash on the guys in the middle. Cruciferae, leafy greens, root vegetables, citrus fruits, stone fruits, and melons are among the many options, and compromise is the name of the game.

Buy from the secret bin. Shoppers will often shy away from lightly bruised fruit, slightly limp broccoli, or salad close to its sell-by date. Their loss becomes your gain, since supermarkets will sell these products at a steep discount. Hidden at the back of many grocery stores is that shelf, which can be summed up thusly: Looks Iffy, Tastes Fine.  Go to it. Learn it. Love it. (Of course, dont buy rotted produce from it. Thats silly.)

Buy from multiple markets if you can swing it. Supermarkets within the same general area will frequently offer competing deals to lure customers in the door. In my old neighborhood ("Back in St. Olaf…"), one store would offer a 3/$5 deal on berries, while the place down the street promoted stone fruit for $0.99/lb. Purchasing from both promised variety, as well as big savings. Even if theres not a second market near you, the occasional trip to Trader Joes or CostCo. (which rarely have sales, but keep their prices consistently reasonable), can mean more produce at a lesser cost.

Before you finish up this article with a, “Harrumph! I knew all this already, and I still can’t afford 4.5 cups of produce on $2.50 per day,” check out the edible cup equivalents in the ERS study. These numbers, averaged across the nation, probably figure more importantly than retail price per pound, since they don’t include inedible parts of produce (corn husks, plum pits, etc.). Here are some examples - mean costs per cup, according to their 2/11 study:


So, 4.5 cups - a cup each of kale, sweet potatoes, navel orange, and pears, plus a half-cup of tomatoes – can be purchased for a grand total of $2.16. As mentioned, these prices have probably gone up since 2008, but A) please note we still saved $0.34, and B) some caul shopping should net you much better deals.

Honestly, everything I just wrote/everything you need to know can be found in two documents, both of which merit further study:

• The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010
• How Much Do Fruits and Vegetables Cost?

Readers, did I miss anything? Do you think its possible to get 4.5 cups of produce for $2.50 a day? Any tips? Let er rip.

~~~

If this article interested you, you might also enjoy:

• 10 Cheap Ways to Simplify Food Shopping
• The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy
• 10 Foods You Should Always Splurge On

Sweet readers! I missed last week’s links due to fun family things/receiving the most awesome meat thermometer in history. Subsequently, this week’s links are bigger than anything, up to and including certain Guatemalan sinkholes. Buckle up!

1) Forbes: Snake Oil in Your Snacks - Foods masquerading as drugs have become a $160 billion business.
Have you ever bought bread because it says “OMEGA 3!” on the package? Or yogurt that claims to help your immune system? Yeah, me too. But this spectacular article on the largely unsubstantiated health claims made by food manufacturers might convince you to shelve those products permanently. Absolutely required reading.

2) Men’s Health: 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010
Jaw dropping! The amount of sugar in one Dairy Queen Moolatte is roughly equal to that found in one dozen Bavarian Crème Dunkin Donuts. (Note: As is my understanding, these aren’t the caloric equivalents, in which other ingredients factor, but the sugar equivalents. It’s an important distinction.) (Still pretty shocking, though.)

3) Deadspin: The Public Humiliation Diet – a How-To
Hilarious dude’s take on a 60-pound weight loss. Surprising how many strategies line up with what’s proven to work (weigh yourself, eat quality sweets, etc.) Due warning: obscenity abounds, but it’s for a good cause.

4) Seattle Times: An unemployed restaurant critic finds a different kind of culinary satisfaction
He used to have a $1300/monthly expense account for restaurants. Now he’s on food stamps, happy with whatever comes his way. Ed Murrieta’s story is alternately moving, sympathetic, and lately, disturbingly relatable.

5) Jezebel: Famous Foodie Has a Problem with Feminists
Love Jez, hate this piece. Pollan might have a somewhat unrealistic view of a working class family’s day-to-day existence. (The guy teaches at Berkeley. What do you want?) But it’s glib, sensationalist, and dangerously misleading to interpret his message as, “Get back in the kitchen, broads!” Painting him as a lady hater misses the forest for the dang trees.

6) Get Rich Slowly: Get Your Kitchen Gadgets for Less at Your Local Restaurant Supply Store
Fortunately, NYC is crammed wall-to-wall with these things, where you can buy whisks, graters, knives, and pots for a fraction of what you would at Crate and Barrel. (Not to be confused with Cracker Barrel.) Checking your ‘hood for one will be worth the research.

7) Wise Bread: Bargain Shopping at Whole Foods – 12 Strategies for Success
Whole Paycheck (note: Whole Foods) is intimidating to a lot of us (note: everybody), but WB (note: Wise Bread, not Warner Brothers) has some excellent pointers (note: devious tips) on how to buy there without losing your shirt (note: Whole Foods does not actually hold topless contests).

8) stonesoup: How to Stock a Minimalist Pantry
A.k.a. What to Do With Your Kitchen When Space and Time are More Limited Than You’d Like. Eat your heart out, Bittman. (P.S. Obsessed with this blog lately. Look around if you get the chance.)

9) Chow: When Are Cheap Eats Too Cheap?
Apparently, there’s a lower limit to what fast food joints can charge for their goods. Because when you offer a double cheeseburger for less than $1, it’s not profitable anymore. Incidentally, what goes into a double cheeseburger that costs less than a buck? Do we really want to know?

10) Slashfood: The Bad Tip Follow-Up
What Can I Get You Folks, about restaurant etiquette, is Slashfood’s best recurring feature. Last week, it tackled The Bad Tip: should a waiter ever ask a customer why he got stiffed? I say … no, but I can be convinced otherwise.


HONORABLE MENTION

The Atlantic: Cheap Chickens and Industry Fat Cats
Think what you will about the immigration debate, but: the reason many of us can afford decent food at all is because illegals work tirelessly to give it to us for negligible money and zero benefits, while corporate interests make millions off of their backs and our paychecks. Wanna fix things? Start with the Chairman of the Board, who buys golden toilets while the rest of us scrounge for coupons.

Casual Kitchen: How to Master the Last Minute Meal
It’s 6pm. You’re hungry. You don’t know what to make for dinner. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?

Chow
Babies in Bars
Hey Stranger, Help Me Start a Business
Refrigeration Reformation - What should stay cold, colder, and coldest in your fridge
Link #1: Sweet Home Alabama, anyone?
Link #2: How to fund food startups.
Link #3: Learn to arrange your fridge for maximum efficiency.

Food Politics
The Bisphenol A saga heats up
Dismal Reports on Dietary Supplements
Food Politics: The Slaughterhouse Problem
Link #1: More on the canned goods controversy, and a neat tutorial from Slashfood on how to avoid the stuff.
Link #2: News flash! Gingko biloba, St. John’s Wort, and other supplements are more useless than a cotton spork.
Link #3: Problem - we have a lot of humanely-raised animals, and no place to make them into meat.

Jezebel: Your Fetus Can Taste Your Food
Ooo! Neat! A study found that, “Infants whose mothers ate a lot of fruit during pregnancy are more accepting of fruit when it is introduced to them during weaning.” Subsequently, eating produce during gestation could mean your baby will dig healthy foods.

The Kitchn: Bring Back Home Ec?
Come for the post, stay for the 76 comments. (Note: I took Home Ec in high school, learned very little, but think we need it anyway. Howzabout you?)

Low-Calorie Diet: 4 Healthy Foods You Thought Were Junk
Oh, beef jerky. You complete me.

Man vs. Debt: Eating Yourself Into Debt
If you’re wondering how much bad food can ultimately cost you, this should inform/give you a heart attack.

Money Saving Mom
Being Frugal in a High Cost of Living Area
Play the Drugstore Game
Link #1: Live in the big city without going broke! Read this!
Link #2: Good reminder why shopping at CVS, Walgreens, etc. can mean big savings.

Neatorama: Figs and Wasps
Do you really want to know about the wasps that live inside figs? Yes and no. On one hand, EEK! On the other hand, they need each other to survive. No harm, no foul.

New York Post: Crooks to cooks - Rikers has Top Chef con-test
Love this story about young inmates training to cook in a professional setting. The best rehab.

New York Times
Digital Meal Planning
Their Future, Made By Hand
Link #1: Nice review of the Emealz online meal planning system, which looks like it might be worth the dough.
Link #2: We’re here! We’re unemployed! We’re making you an empanada!

Politics of the Plate: Regional, Not Local, Sourcing May be the Solution to Our Broken Food System
Think local, eat regional. Makes sense.

Serious Eats
10 Tips to Take to the Farmers’ Market
How to Make Risotto
Studies Continue to Prove: Nuts, in Moderation, Are Really Good For You
Link #1: More tips for your weekly jaunt.
Link #2: surprisingly healthy, always impressive.
Link #3: Mmm … psmashios.

stonesoup: The Number 1 Mistake of New Vegetarians and How to Avoid it
In short: you gotta plan for this, yo.


AND ALSO

Serious Eats: A Pint With David Flaherty, Terroir/Hearth
This is my friend Dave! He is awesome.

Epic Win FTW: ATTACK!
Heh. Heh heh. Heeeeeee. Hee hee hee. Heh.


Thank you so much for visiting Cheap Healthy Good! (We appreciate it muchly). If you’d like to further support CHG, subscribe to our RSS feed! Or become a Facebook friend! Or check out our Twitter! Or buy something inexpensive, yet fulfilling via that Amazon store (on the left)! Bookmarking sites and links are nice, too. Viva la France!

We live in a busy world. As much as we want to be able to stick to our normal gym schedule, life throws us scheduling curve balls: an emergency staff meeting, playing the chauffeur to and from soccer practice, that girl you met at the gym asks you to catch dinner tonight. These things happen. In order to stay faithful to your fitness goals, here are five quick fixes when time isnt on your side. Use these when youre in a pinch but still want to kick your endorphins into high gear.

1. Maximize Your Lunch Break

Most of us have a little bit of a reprieve during the day: those precious minutes we call our lunch break.  If you know that you wont have the time to make it to the gym today, use your lunch break to your advantage--you can maximize your down time while still giving your body the fuel it needs with an energy or protein bar, meal replacement, or protein shake. Many companies have on-site fitness facilities that can be used to get a full gym workout in. And when in doubt, take a walk around the neighborhood.


2. Watch Your Waistline

As important as exercise is to reaching your fitness goals, theres a second half to that equation: healthy eating. And unfortunately the office is where most of us throw that part out the window. If youre like me, your office is surrounded by delicious, but not always healthy, meal choices. And sometimes youre skipping a gym date for a fancy dinner date instead. Dont sabotage yourself. If you know you arent making the gym today, opt for food options that will help your goals: power foods like avocados, lean meats and other lean proteins, and good carbs like fruit.

3. Back to Basics

Hershel Walker, the great Heisman trophy-winning football player, Olympic bobsledder, and Mixed Martial Artist, chiseled his physique in three steps without really having to step into the gym: push-ups, sit-ups, and sprints. Try this: in between commercials on your favorite primetime program, perform twenty push-ups and sit-ups each. Repeat for all commercials in a one-hour programming block. Its the TV workout. And it will help you stay on track even when you cant get to the gym.

4. Make-Up Day

Every working man and woman values the two days at the end of the week like they were made of solid gold. But, if you skipped a gym day this week, use your weekend to make It up. You dont have to forgo your weekend either. Take a mountain biking trip, go for a hike, hit the beach for a fun run or some kayaking action. You can still enjoy your day off while getting that workout in.

5. Dont Beat Yourself Up

Remember, if you miss a day or two, its not the end of the world. Many times we need that rest. Just remember that its important to not get off track, because that can derail your fitness goals. If you skip a day, just work that much harder the next time youre in the gym.
_http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/5-quick-fixes-when-you-cant-get-to-the-gym.html

What do I want for dinner... lamb or anemia?

Let me first say this.  I have nothing against vegans or vegetarians; I respect everyones dietary choices.  I have a lot of friends who are vegan/vegetarian, and, aside from the occasional accusation that I murder animals (kidding), we get along just fine.  They eat their veggie burgers, I eat my grass-fed beef burgers; they run their marathons, I do my Crossfit; they poke fun at Dr. Oz, and I, well, poke fun at Dr. Oz.  See... were not so different after all.  Having said that though, based on my research I cant imagine a situation where I would recommend a vegan diet to anyone.  Thats vegan, not vegetarian.  Vegetarians typically eat dairy and eggs, vegans dont eat any animal products.  Its the vegans Im talking about here (although some of this applies to both) .  So without further ado, here are 5 reasons why I dont like veganism.


1.  Humans are not herbivores.
This myth just wont go away.  Every once in a while I get this argument from some fool trying to justify a vegan diet as the best diet on the planet.  It typically sounds like this... "You know some people think humans are carnivores, but theyre not.  Theyre herbivores."  Theres so much wrong with this, I dont even know where to begin.  Okay first of all, nobody thinks humans are carnivores.  Were clearly not.  But were not herbivores either.  This argument completely neglects the fact there is another option:  an omnivore, which eats both plants and animal foods.  Humans are most definitely biological omnivores.  Just look at our teeth... mostly flat like herbivores (think about a cows teeth) but with a few canines like carnivores (think of a cat).  Then theres our digestive system... its definitely nothing like that of an herbivore.  Heres a picture of a cows digestive tract:



You can see here that a cow, designed to eat grass, has four stomachs (not to mention the spacious interior and giant cecum).  If youre counting, thats three more than we humans have, and those extra stomachs serve to ferment fibrous plant material for digestion and absorption.  Humans dont have this ability, which is why insoluble fiber goes through our guts undigested.  What humans do have, however, is the ability to produce HCl, aka stomach acid, to break down protein from animal products.  Cows and other herbivores do not.  I wont go into detail about any carnivorous digestive systems, like that of a cat, but I will just say this:  I had to dissect cats many times in Anatomy lab.  I can tell you first hand that their digestive system looks very similar to ours.  Heres some evidence, courtesy of catlas.


Point made, humans are most definitely not herbivores.  We have the teeth of both herbivores and carnivores, and our digestive machinery is closer to carnivorous than herbivorous.  We are fully equipped to digest and assimilate animal foods.  Theres more to this argument of course, and if youre interested I recommend this article, written BY A VEGETARIAN, explaining the fact that humans are indeed omnivores.  So seriously, cut the herbivore shit.  It just makes you look uneducated.


2.  Avoiding animal products will not save the environment.
Another common argument to support a vegan diet is the environmental impact.  Vegans argue that producing meat is a highly wasteful and environmentally damaging process, and theyre sort of on to something.  Conventionally farmed meat is indeed a disaster for the environment.  Now Ill admit Im no expert on the topic, but it doesnt take a genius to see why.  We have to grow all of this corn and grain (in and of itself an environmentally damaging process), just to feed the cattle to make them fat, just to eventually feed ourselves.  So its not difficult to see a solution in there... just feed the corn and grains to ourselves, dont waste it on the cattle. 

But again, this argument has holes... it says nothing about naturally raised livestock, like grass-fed beef.  The production of grass-fed beef is exponentially less input-intensive; all you really need is cows and an open field, and a place for shelter.  In addition, cattle grazing can actually have a positive impact on the land and can help rejuvenate the nutrients within the soil.  Not to mention the vastly improved quality of life for the cows, compared to a factory-farmed life.  As I hinted at before, growing corn, wheat, and other grains isnt exactly environmentally friendly either.  Clearing land to grow annual crops like grains destroys entire ecosystems.  That means animals die because youve destroyed their natural habitat.  So dont think youre saving animal lives by going vegan; thats just not the case.  Then theres also the extensive use of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides on these mass-produced grains and the impact that has on the environment.  And the depletion of nutrients in the soil over years and years of intensive grain agriculture.  Its not exactly a pretty picture.  Not pretty like the one vegans will try to sell you.  Producing grains does more to destroy the environment than to save it.


3.  Avoiding animal foods doesnt save animal lives.
I may have jumped the gun with this one in the previous section, but heres a more in depth explanation.  As Ive been told a million times...  "If I dont eat meat, I wont be contributing to the death of innocent animal lives."  Well I admire your compassion, but I think we need a biology lesson here.  Death is what makes the world go round.  There is no life without death, and there is no death without life.  Rabbits eat grass and vegetation, wolves eat rabbits, bears eat wolves, hawks scavenge these animal remains, and bugs in the soil recycle the nutrients from said remains.  Its just how biology works.  You cannot separate the ecology of plants and animals; they work together to balance an ecosystem.  When you clear land to grow massive amounts of corn, youre destroying the former ecosystem, which was likely full of all kinds of cute squirrels and mice.  Its a mass homicide!  When you spray these massive fields of corn with herbicides and insecticides, killing EVERYTHING but the corn itself and polluting the air... mass homicide!  No matter how you slice it, whatever you choose to eat, something is dying to feed you.  This is just one of those times when the human capacity for emotion gets in the way of the realities of biology.  I know death is sad.  But without it, you wouldnt have life, so thank those that died to provide you life and get on with it.  And no Im not talking about Jesus.  But thank him too if you want, although hes probably sick of being thanked at this point.

Oh and one more important point... we use animals for much more than just food.  Heres a quote from a Weston A. Price Foundation article that sums it up quite nicely:  "Cows are slaughtered not only to put steak on the table, but to obtain components used in soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, plastics, pharmaceuticals, waxes (as in candles and crayons), modern building materials and hydraulic brake fluid for airplanes. The membrane that vibrates in your telephone contains beef gelatin. So to avoid hypocrisy, vegetarians need to also rain from using anything made of plastic, talking on the telephone, flying in airplanes, letting their kids use crayons, and living or working in modern buildings."  Good luck.


4.  The people most likely to adopt a vegan diet are the same people who need animal products the most.
This is perhaps the most unfortunate part of this issue.  To me its obvious that the people most attracted to veganism are young females.  Probably due to socialization and this new age "everybodys a winner" mentality were teaching our kids these days, girls seem more likely to have compassion for these cute, poor little animals that were all killing and eating.  But we need to grow up.  Ethical issues aside, we humans have nutritional requirements that simply cannot be ignored.  And one of the most important nutrients for maintaining health, especially in young women, is iron.

Iron is the backbone of hemoglobin, which is responsible for transporting oxygen in blood.  Without sufficient iron, oxygen transport is impaired, and we develop iron-deficiency anemia.  Symptoms include chronic fatigue, muscle weakness, shortness of breath... exactly what you would expect when your body is having trouble transporting oxygen.  And since women bleed every month (hence, they lose iron), they have a significantly higher requirement for the stuff.  Women ages 19-50 need 18 mg/day.  For comparison, men ages 19-50 only need 8 mg/day.  According to this paper, women are 6-10 times more likely to develop iron deficiency anemia than men!


The problem with vegan diets is that they almost assuredly are deficient in iron.  All of the best sources of iron are from animal products:  clams, oysters, organ meats, red meat, etc.  Youll find some in plant foods as well, like beans and leafy green vegetables, but the type found in plant foods is poorly absorbed.  Sure, its possible to get enough iron from plants.  Just not easy, especially if youre bleeding some out every month.  In addition to iron, there are some other things like vitamin B12 (completely absent from plant foods) and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (youll have to eat algae) that will be nearly impossible to get enough of on a vegan diet.  A little grass-fed meat would take care of all three... easy solution right?


5.  Veganism is a very recent phonomenon.
Enter the evolutionary perspective.  Humans have been around on this planet for at least 2.5 million years at this point.  For the vast majority of that time period, we have been eating like the omnivores that we are, consuming both plant and animal foods.  Now think about that... 2.5 million years eating animals and plants... theres no question that we as a species are designed to be omnivores. Now, according to Wikipedia, the first recorded individual eating a vegan diet was Dr. William Lambe in 1806.  Thats 200 years ago.  In other words, vegan diets have been around for 0.008% of our human history.  Thats only 10 generations or so, and with only a tiny proportion of us choosing to eat this way.  So looking at this from an evolutionary biology perspective, how in holy hell is an herbivorous diet the best way to go for an omnivorous animal??  Its not.  Its just not.

Heres an example of the importance of animal foods, based on the wisdom of traditional cultures.  Since we cant go back in time and study past hunter-gatherers, these modern societies still living as foragers offer us some insight into what it was like.  In the 1920s when Weston A. Price traveled the world to study these indigenous cultures, he fully expected to find a vegan or vegetarian society out there.  He even expected those societies to be the healthiest on earth.  To his surprise though, such a society did not exist; every tribe he found consumed both animal and plant foods.  The closest to vegan was in the South Sea Islands of southeast Asia.  He found that when the people on the interior of the islands faced the possibility of losing access to animal foods and going vegan, they instead opted for cannibalism. According to Price, "the livers and other organs of their enemies from the coast provided the much needed chemicals which were requisite to supplement the plant foods."  Gross?  Yes.  But also very telling of the nutritional shortcomings of a vegan diet.  I just hope this doesnt start a new diet fad...



Alrighty, there it is, 5 reasons I dont like veganism.  Actually I can think of a few more, but this post is too long as it is.  I guess that means Ill have to do a volume 2 at some point!  If I offended anyone, Im sorry Im not sorry.  Im not trying to put anybody down... just laying out the facts as I see them.  Oh, and in all seriousness, dont go eating other peoples livers.  Dont do anything to others you wouldnt want done to you, thats what my mama says.

Sweet readers, this one was born of a backyard barbecue conversation. It got unexpectedly (and excitedly) in-depth, and it could help to determine future content of the blog (especially recipes).

Q: What are your top five favorite vegetables, and why?

A: Seems like an easy question, right? But my list took awhile. Eventually I came up with:

1. Sweet potatoes. The candy of the earth.
2. Red bell peppers. So versatile, so delicious.
3. Tomatoes. In any form, any time.
4. Swiss Chard/Kale. Who knew leafy greens could be so tasty?
5. Onions. Is there food that exists without them?

Eggplant would have been #6. I dont care for radishes (which is why you almost never see them here), and cauliflower has to be pretty heavily doctored for me to dig in.

And with that, I throw it to you. I wonder what will win? We can even post the results on Friday.

Want to ask the interweb a question? Post one in the comment section, or write to Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com. Then, tune in next Tuesday for an answer/several answers from the good people of the World Wide Net.