Favorites of the week.

Vegetarian maybe?

I'm thinking about taking the plunge and becoming a vegetarian. The more and more I think about it, the more I think I may do it.

Yes, I already know I'm a weirdo that drives a hybrid and eats organic, so this would be another thing to add to my list of weirdness.

I'm not opposed to eating milk. I'm not one of the PETA weirdos (I guess "weirdo" is my word of the night). I just really don't like meat. Any meat I eat is DRENCHED in sauce...and today, even my favorite fast food (and the only fast food I eat), Chickfila, seemed disgusting to me. I've never been a huge meat person. I can't cook it...it freaks me out. Every time I try to make chicken, I cry because it grosses me out so much. I don't think it would really be much of a change for me since I very rarely eat meat anyways. It wouldn't be difficult for cooking for Cody either. He cooks all the meat, and it's like 1-2 times a week, so I can just eat pasta or something those nights (yum...my favorite). I don't ever crave meat, and only eat it if I *have to* (aka when Cody demands meat ;). I haven't officially decided to do this, but I'm leaning in this direction.

Eating organic and local is SO important. I understand that the term "organic" should be applied loosely. Not all things labeled organic use the best processing methods, and there are some great foods that are NOT labeled organic. "Organic" is a government term, thus with all things, there are politics with the label. I get that. However, my term for organic is not necessarily the same as the government's. My definition for organic is ethically sourced, free of hormones/pesticides/etc, and natural (be careful with this term, though). I did a presentation on organic food in college. The following is some of my notes from my powerpoint. They're long, so if you have the time and want to be educated on eating organic meat, have fun reading. :) I hope it helps at least one of you start eating organic. :)

¡“Knowing more about how the food we buy is produced might shake otherwise heedless consumers and get them asking questions about many conventional food-growing methods. Maybe they would want to know just what kind of food and antibiotics were pumped into the animals that end up as beef steaks, pork chops, and chicken tenders on our tables. or perhaps they would be interested to learn which pesticide was sprayed on their fruits and vegetables, along with its potential health effects. Cheaper at the checkout might not seem like such a bargain if the longer-term consequences were more readily apparent.” –Gary Hirshberg, Food Inc.

Antibiotics: Factory farmers typically mix low does of antibiotics into animals’ feed and water to promote their growth and to preempt outbreaks of disease in the overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 70% of all antimicrobials used in the US are fed to livestock. This accounts for 25 million pounds of antibiotics annually, more the eight times the amount used to treat disease in humans. This creates a major public health issue. Bacteria exposed to continuous, low-level antibiotics can become resistant. They then spawn new bacteria with the antibiotic resistance. For example, almost all strains of staph infections in the US are resistant to penicillin, and many are resistant to newer drugs as well.

Mad Cow Disease: Animal feed has long been used as a vehicle for disposing of everything from road kill to “offal,” such as brains, spinal cords, and intestines. Mad Cow Disease is spread when cattle eat nervous system tissues, such as the brain and spinal cord, or other infected animals. People who ate such tissue can contract variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which causes dementia and ultimately death. Keeping mad cow disease out of the food supply is particularly important because consumers cannot protect themselves by cooking the meat of by any other type of disinfection. The US has identified 3 cases since December 2003. In 1997 the FDA instituted a “feed ban” to prevent to spread of the disease. However, this ban still allowed for risky practices. For example, poultry litter (the waste found on the floors of poultry barns) which may contain cattle protein because regulations allow for feeding cattle tissue to poultry. Cattle blood can be fed to calves in milk replacer- the formula that most calves receive instead of their mother’s milk. Food processing and restaurant plate waste, which could contain cattle tissue can still be fed to cattle. When mad cow disease was discovered in the US, the FDA had the opportunity to ban these potential sources of the disease from cattle feed, but they instead proposed a weaker set of rules that only restricted some tissues from older cattle. In 2006 the FDA decided to scale back testing for mad cow disease. Now only 40,000 cows are tested, which is only one tenth of the previous number of cows tested in 2005. This limited testing program effectively leaves consumers unprotected.

E. Coli: Cattle and other animals with hooves are uniquely suited to eat grass. However, in factory farm feedlots, they eat mostly corn and soybeans for the last few months of their lives. These starchy grains increase their growth rate and make their meat more tender- a process called “finishing.” However, scientists point to human health risks associated with the grain-based diet of “modern” cattle. A researcher from Cornell University found that cattle fed hay for the five days before slaughter had dramatically lower levels of acid-resistant E. coli bacteria in their feces than cattle fed corn or soybeans. E. coli live in the cattle’s intestinal tract, so feces that escape during slaughter can lead to the bacteria contaminating the meat. Vegetables can also be contaminated by E. coli if manure is used to fertilize crops without composting it first, or if water used to irrigate or clean the crops contains animal waste. The 2006 contaminated spinach offers a dramatic examples of how animal waste can impact animals.

Fat: According to a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, beef and milk produced from cattle raised entirely on pasture (where they ate only grass) have higher levels of beneficial fats, including omega-3 fatty acids (which is VERY important), which may prevent heart disease and stengthen the immune system. The study also found that meat from grass-fed cattle was lower in total fat than meat from feedlot-raised cattle.

Hormones: With the approval of the FDA and USDA, factory farms in the US use hormones and antibiotics to promote growth and milk production in beef and dairy cattle. Regulations do prohibit the use of hormones in pigs and poultry. This restriction does not apply to antibiotic use in these animals. An estimated two thirds of all US cattle raised for slaughter are injected with growth hormones. 6 different hormones are used on beef cattle. Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is a genetically engineered, artificial growth hormone injected into dairy cattle to increase their milk production by anywhere from 8-17%. The FDA approved rBGH in 1993, based solely on an unpublished study submitted by Monsanto. Approximately 22% of all dairy cows in the US are injected with the hormone, but 54% of large herds (500 animals+), such as those found on factory farms, use rBGH. Its use has increased bacterial udder infections in cows by 25% thereby increasing the need for antibiotics to treat the infections. In addition, the milk from cows injected with rBGH has higher levels of another hormone called insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Elevated levels of IGF-1 in humans have been linked to colon and breast cancer. Researchers believe there may be an association between the increase in twin births over the past thirty years and elevated levels of IGF-1 in humans.

Disease: Hundreds of thousands of birds are breathing, urinating, and defecating in the close quarters of factory-style poultry farms. These conditions give viruses and bacteria limitless opportunities to mutate and spread. This is a very real concern given the presence of avian flu in many parts of the world. These large-scale facilities rely on truckloads of feed and supplies that arrive every day, providing a way for the disease to spread.

Contamination: Raising thousands of animals together in crowded conditions generates lots of manure and urine. For example, a dairy farm with 2,500 cows produces as much waste as a city of 411,000 people. The livestock waste is not treated but rather washes out of the confinement buildings into large cesspools, or lagoons. In feedlots, open lots where thousands of cattle wait and fatten up before slaughter, the animals often stand in their own waste before it is washed away. The cattle often have some water-splashed manure remaining on their hides when they go to slaughter. This presents the risk of contamination of the meat from viruses and bacteria.

10 million land animals are killed for food per hour in the US.

Battery Cages: Approximately 95% of egg-laying hens are confined in tiny, barren cages- stacked several tiers high and extending down long rows in windowless warehouses. These cages offer less space per hen than the area of a single sheet of paper. US egg producers still overcrowd about 300 million hens in these cages. If you are going to eat chicken, EAT CAGE-FREE/FREE-RANGE! ALWAYS!

Fast Growth of Birds: The chicken industry’s selective breeding for fast-growing animals and use of growth-promoting antibiotics have produced brids whose bodies struggle to function and are on the verge of structural collapse. To put this growth rate into perspective, the University of Arkansas reports that if humans grew as fast as today’s chickens, we’d weigh 349 pounds by our 2^nd birthday.

Forced Feeding for Foie Grass: Foie grass is French for “Fatty Liver,” and is a delicacy produced from the grossly enlarged liver of a duck or goose. 2-3 times daily for several weeks, birds raised for foie grass are force-fed enormous quantities of food through a long pipe thrust down their throats into their stomachs. This deliberate overfeeding causes the birds’ livers to swell as much as ten times their normal size, seriously impairing liver function, expanding their abdomens, and making movements as simple as standing or walking difficult and painful.

Gestation Crates and Veal Crates: 60-70% of female pigs are kept in gestation crates in the US. They are individual metal stalls that are so small and narrow that the animal can’t even turn around. Similarly, most calves raised for veal are confined in restrictive crates- generally chained by the neck. The frustration of natural behaviors takes an enormous mental and physical toll on the animals.

Long-Distance Transport: Billions of farm animals must endure the rigors of transport each year in the US. In-transit death is considered common.

Electric Stunning of Birds: Federal regulations do not require that chickens, turkeys, and other birds be rendered insensible to pain before they are slaughtered. At the slaughter plant, birds are moved off the trucks, dumped from transport crates onto conveyors, and hung upside down by their legs in shackles. Their heads pass through electrified baths of water, intended to immobilize them before their throats are slits.

The "Dirty Dozen" - foods with the most pesticides:

Apples

Celery

Cherries

Peaches

Bell Peppers

Nectarines

Strawberries

Lettuce

Carrots

Pears

Grapes

Kale