Can I Get a Hell Yeah!?

Before we begin this next dialogue, it's important to note that Matthew and I are not vegan and we are not vegetarian. We don't have a label for the changes we've made in our diet but if we adopted one, we'd go with "nutritarian". Nutritarian is a label coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman which describes someone who eats a nutrient dense diet. That means, first and foremost, everyday, we eat the foods available to us that contain the highest amount of nutrients possible. We don't eat animal products on a regular basis anymore. What does 'regular basis' mean? That means we eat less than 3 servings A WEEK of animal product type foods (ie. meat, fish, cheese, milk, eggs) One serving is about the size of the palm of your hand or a deck of playing cards.

We do live in France and we have tried the cheeses, the meats, and the pastries. And they are tasty. But not any better than the meals we prepare at home that are full of gorgeous colors, textures and variant flavors. The way we eat adds an enormous amount of joy to our lives. Our bodies are healthy, strong and fit. We still have fun and are definitely not deprived. Okay, so with that said, on with the post.

High nutrient food for thought:
EnvironmentalHealthReport.com

Kevin: Great. You mentioned global warming, again, and I think we should probably talk about that because it was an added portion of the film, "Eating." What are some of the implications of the way we eat, as related to global warming and the environment?

Mike: It's methane, that's the major thing that's been overlooked. I'm no expert in it, but what I did was summarize what the experts have said. It's hard for people to visualize this, but there are hundreds of millions of cows, and other livestock out there, that emit methane, both through the mouths and their rear ends. It goes into the atmosphere and methane is a powerful heat-trapper, much more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Ruth (not part of the transcript, by the way): So, he's talking about cow farts and cow burps and breaths. That's kinda funny isn't it?

Carbon dioxide will stay in the atmosphere much longer, but methane really traps heat. Studies have shown that, in fact, methane has caused nearly half of the global warming to-date. The number one source of methane is the animals we raise and eventually eat. So, the good thing about methane is that it only stays in the atmosphere for eight years. If people would cut back on their consumption of animal products, you could recycle out very quickly. There could be a more immediate impact on global warming, on cooling. That's not going to happen, but, say, everyone in the world cut back 1/3 of their meat consumption and reduced the livestock accordingly. That could have a major impact on global warming, and quite soon. Whereas carbon dioxide that stays in the atmosphere for so long. It's not going to have such an immediate impact on it and that's what we need is an immediate impact, because we're right there, as they call the tipping point.
-Mike Anderson – Author of DVD film EATING and book, The Rave Diet

And in a related story....(CNN) -- A Belgian city has decided to go "veggie" for a day in an effort to highlight the environmental and health costs of eating meat.

Ruth: "eating meat" means all meat - beef, pork, fish, game and foul.

Stock breeding is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.

The city authorities in Ghent, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Brussels, have declared Thursdays "Veggie Day," (Veggiedag) and are asking residents to get involved and opt for vegetarian meals at least one day a week.

It says Ghent is the first city in Europe to try such a scheme.

According to the city's campaign publicity, eating less meat can help to minimize the ecological footprint of your food because stock breeding has a detrimental impact on the environment.

It points to data from the United Nations which says livestock is responsible for generating around 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

It is also hoped that Veggie Day will have a positive health impact in the fight against diet-related illnesses such as obesity, cancer and diabetes.

On Wednesday organizers provided residents with meat-free recipes and a list of vegetarian restaurants at a "launch party" in the center of the city. Ghent claims to have more vegetarian eateries per inhabitant than Paris, London and Berlin.

The organisers cite UN data arguing that meat production and consumption are to blame for 18% of greenhouse gases – more than cars. "If everyone in Flanders does not eat meat one day a week, we will save as much CO2 in a year as taking half a million cars off the road," said the EVA.
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Ruth: I'll say it again different than I've said it before. If we could come out of our cheeseburger induced happy haze for a minute and feel the true gravity of some of this relevant information being provided to us, we would change.

If the government didn't subsidize industrial meat farming, you would pay somewhere around $90.00 per pound of meat, which would make buying meat cost prohibitive on a regular basis anyway. Doesn't the idea of this make you stop and think?

C'mon people, wake UP!!
The American Diet consists of the following:
51 % Animal products = meat, dairy, fish, foul, game and pork
40 % Packaged and processed - SCARY and DANGEROUS.
4 % Fruits and veggies - HOW SAD IS THIS??!! -
5 % Grains

When you see statistics like this, and you know eating this way ourselves and feeding this diet to our children - who will not outlive their parents if we don't change what we feed them - don't you want to make DRASTIC changes and make them TODAY?
Don't you?

I mean, can we really continue to feel cool and cute going around saying things like "If it moves I'll eat it" or "I just love cheese tooooooo much". I mean really? Is that all we've got? If we're the GREAT AMERICA that we like to go around spewing that we are, we should really think about getting in the game with the big dogs in Belgium and make a MOVE already. Try to save ourselves, our children and the freakin' planet. Let's do this already.

October has pumpkins and pumpkins are delicious and easy to cook.

Potimarron soup = Mini pumpkin soup

INGREDIENTS: Small Pumpkin, white beans (dried), onions, carrots, leeks, spinach or chard (lots and lots of greens)
Directions:
1. Cut the pumpkin in half, clean out the middle and chop into large chunks (don't take off the peelings)
2. Dice the onions, the carrots and the leeks and water sautée them in a large stock pot for a couple of minutes.

3. Add the beans and the pumpkin

4. Cover with water about 3 inches over the top of the veggies and cook until the pumpkin is soft and falls apart and the beans are soft all the way through.

5. Add the spinach/chard/or other leafy green of your choice at the end.
6. Turn off the heat. Let the greens wilt. Mix them in with the soup and serve it up.


Eat it and feel proud. Leave out the salt.
Know that your body, your child's body, and the planet thank you.

Be well little cell.