Archive for December, 2009

Compassionate Christmas December 23rd, 2009

I will once again plead for compassion in your holiday meals.  Whether it’s ham, turkey, or roast beef that is usually at the center of your table, this year consider losing the dead carcass for something more merciful. During a holiday season that is about  love, hope, generosity, good will, peace, joy, sacrifice, and religion, we should work to embody the spirit of Christmas, including at our meals.

I confess, I wish religion was more explicit on this subject.  But there were no factory farms in first century Palestine on which to pass judgement.  So, we are left only with His simple and constant theme of mercy, gentleness, and compassion, which we are to emulate.

Be ye, therefore, merciful, as your Father also is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

The Bible may not include an explicit story of livestock fleeing their abusers and taking refuge by His side, but there are more than a few examples of compassion towards animals.

Moses, we are told, was chosen because he rescued a stray lamb: “You who have compassion for a lamb shall now be the shepherd of my people of Israel.”  When Jesus rebukes David for plotting to kill Uriah and steal his wife, he uses a story of a man slaying and eating the beloved ewe of a poor man.  To Balaam, the false teacher, God actually speaks through an animal, the mistreated mule who sees the angel of heaven even before his master, asking “What have I done unto thee that thou hast smitten me these three times?”

The Old Testament has very direct orders, such as, never to yoke an ox and ass together, since the latter would suffer, or never to muzzle an ox when it’s thrashing grain, since it will desire to eat but be unable to.  And how strange, in our age of factory farms, to hear the commandment that even cattle are to be given rest on the Sabbath for “a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

In the story of Christmas, baby Jesus is surrounded by not only Mary & Joseph, shepherds and wisemen, but also there, are the lowly cattle, lamb, and donkey.  They watched the birth of the savior as if they had some stake in the events unfolding and provided “their breath to warm the infant.”  But of course when all the excitement was over, they had to return to their pens, and life as livestock.  Even witnessing the birth of Christ would not give them reprieve from serving man.  But they were there, they are part of the story, and without them, something important and beautiful would be missing.

Recalling these familiar passages, it reminds us of what a radical departure mankind’s outlook on animals has taken. We celebrate a God who loves and cares not only for each person, but also for all creatures. He assures us in his own words that not even a sparrow falls without His knowing.  The God of Israel delights in all that He has made and all creatures sing their Creator’s praises.  Yet, we torture and kill millions of His creatures to celebrate His birthday.  It just doesn’t seem right.

This year, on the day we celebrate the love and compassion of our savior, choose love and compassion.

Here is a fantastic list of vegetarian holiday recipes.
____________________
Breakfast: Bagel & cream cheese
Lunch: Vegetable soup
Dinner: Spaghetti

Related Posts:

1 Comment »


 

Meatless Monday #14: “Chicken” Wraps December 21st, 2009

Inside a totilla, add chickenless tenders, artichoke hearts, cilantro, and tzatziki.

Roll it up & enjoy!

food 004 (3)

I used Lemon Pepper Smart Tenders for these wraps.  I really enjoyed the flavor of them! 

smarttenderslemon

Related Posts:

1 Comment »


 

Vegetarian Athletes: The Baseball Player December 17th, 2009

From espn.com

Spend 10 minutes talking to Pat Neshek, and it becomes obvious he does things his own way and doesn’t care much about what other people think. The Minnesota Twins reliever wields the most unorthodox pitching style in the game. He’ll sometimes ask the bat boy to to get autographs for him from the other team, even from a player he just struck out. Though many other professional athletes have blogs, it’s safe to say his is the only one that prominently features a picture of a pink “My Little Pony” backpack.

So when Neshek decided in January to cut meat out of his diet forever and risk incurring ridicule from teammates and fans — even his manager — it didn’t come as a huge surprise. What was surprising was his reason for changing his diet.

“I read a lot of books about juicing,” Neshek said.

Wait, what?!?

“Yeah, the good juicing!” he quickly explained. “I used to joke about juicing, but it got to the point where people would look at me weird.”

An unheralded prospect who pitched at Butler University, Neshek spent four years in the minor leagues, improving at each stop. When he finally cracked the Twins’ roster in 2006, he immediately excelled, using his funky delivery and difficult-to-hit repertoire to mow down hitters. Thrust into a set-up role ahead of closer Joe Nathan last season, he again put up big numbers, ranking as one of the best strikeout arms in the majors.

Like Gonzalez, Neshek was succeeding at his craft, which would make a major change seem like an iffy idea. But after reading a series of books by The Juice Master (also known as U.K. health and nutrition mogul Jason Vale), Neshek began questioning his own nutritional habits. After that came more books. They included scientific tomes such as “The China Study” and disturbing exposés such as “Slaughterhouse.” Before reading those heavier books, Neshek’s wife, who was already a vegetarian, had gobbled up “Skinny Bitch,” a slickly packaged book on vegan diets that also propelled Fielder and his wife to give up meat.

Pat Neshek’s first season on a vegan diet was derailed by injury. Neshek says his sensibilities already leaned in that direction. Eating meat, he felt, wasn’t doing anything for him. As a kid, his dad would often make fresh-squeezed juice for the family, having been swayed by the infomercials of Jay “The Juiceman” Kordich. Living in Florida in 2004, Neshek took advantage of the orange and grapefruit trees in his backyard, making juice for himself both at home and on the road with his portable juicer. Soon he added apples, carrots, spinach and other items to the mix to blend in other nutrients.

“It was at that point when I started noticing how my body reacted to better things going into me,” he said.

Neshek’s diet changed little by little from that point. First, he tried to buy only organic foods. Like Gonzalez, he worried about the cost of shopping for high-end produce and foods, especially at his then-minor league salary.

“To be honest, I’m about as cheap as they come,” Neshek noted. “And I was this way before being a ballplayer! But it’s pretty easy and pretty cheap if you know how to cook. I guess the message in the end is that what you pay for is what you get. If you pay for something with no nutritional value, you are going to feel like garbage.”

His next concern was whether his meals would taste bad.

“But I was wrong,” he said. “The meals were more tasty, so I guess we just kept going.”

Next to go were milk and other dairy products, except cheese. Neshek was in the major leagues by that point, and he phased out red meat. But his decisions didn’t come easily. Neshek had wondered how he’d get the kind of protein, iron, Omega-3 acids and other key nutrients he’d need to survive the long slog of a 162-game season — let alone excel at his sport.

By substituting items such as brown rice and beans, tofu spiced to taste like different meat dishes, and flaxseed oil and various legumes, he found that his body held up even better than expected. Though Neshek admits he’s hardly a demon in the weight room, he has put on seven pounds of lean muscle since switching to his now-vegan diet and a refined workout program last offseason.

He started off this year again by averaging more than a strikeout per inning through 15 games before a torn ulnar collateral ligament knocked him out for the season. Tommy John surgery has an increasingly high success rate for major league pitchers, and Neshek’s optimism won’t hurt as he tries to make his way back in 2009.

That doesn’t mean he should expect to completely avoid ribbing from others in the dugout, though. Neshek says he has gotten some questions from teammates wondering why he went vegan. Most of them have respected his decision, with a few, including fellow pitchers Scott Baker and Dennys Reyes, asking questions in an effort to learn more. Manager Ron Gardenhire, however, is another story.

“At first he liked to kid me about what I was eating,” Neshek said. “One day, he walked over to the food stand in spring training, grabbed a hot dog and started [saying] something like, ‘Mmmm, meat … Don’t you just love meat? … mmmm …’ I looked at him and smiled and said, ‘Meat? I don’t think that hot dog contains much meat, if any.’ He laughed. He’s been the toughest on me, in a good way.”

Related Posts:

2 Comments »


 

Ignorance Is Bliss December 15th, 2009

I hear it over and over again: “I don’t want to know.”

This is an understandable first reaction to learning about the horrors of the industrialized meat industry.  It is difficult to swallow (no pun intended) the fact that something you have been doing your whole life, is fueling such unbelievable cruelty, causing massive environmental destruction, taking years off your life, and frankly, is disgusting (see What’s Really In Your hamburger – look for the bold print).

But ignoring it only fuels the problem.

“We must take sides.  Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.  Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” -Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize winning author

Everyone is upset by seeing animal abuse.  You know it is wrong.  But let’s get real:  By continuing to eat conventionally processed meat, you are financing some of the worst animal abuse you can imagine.  You are making a choice to support this cruelty and you are giving them your money to continue it.

Once you know the truth about our factory farms, you have a moral obligation to react.  This may not mean immediately going vegan, but certainly doing nothing is wrong.

Every snowflake in an avalanche pleads ‘not guilty’ but we all are.

How you can make a difference:
Don’t ignore the problem.  Be aware of it and make choices accordingly.  Choose eggplant parmesan over chicken or veal parm, choose veggie pizza instead of peperoni, choose bean chalupas instead of beef tacos, and when you do choose meat, choose locally raised, free-range, organic meat.  Try doing a Meatless Monday every week (or a meatless Tuesday, or meatless lunches on M,W, F).  Be conscious of the issues and of the implications of your choices.
____________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Miso soup (vegetarian, of course… no sardines used in this one)
Dinner: Stuffed portobello mushrooms and potatoes with carrots.

Related Posts:

No Comments »


 

Meatless Monday #13: Better Than Chipotle Burrito December 14th, 2009

Honestly. 

Fill a jumbo tortilla with your choices of the following:
Mexican rice
black beans
corn kernels
spinach (cooked from frozen, or fresh)
cheese or soy cheese
cilantro
avocado or guacamole
salsa or tabasco

Tuck in the ends, roll it up & wrap with foil to hold it closed.
This burrito turned out so delicious!

food 024

food 025

____________________
This post is in support of the Meatless Monday campaign.

Related Posts:

3 Comments »


 

Downed Pigs December 11th, 2009

“Downed” animals are animals that can not stand on their own.  One of the most rampant forms of animal abuse is trying to force downed animals to stand by jabbing, kicking, shooting with high powered hoses, prodding with electric rods, poking in the eyes, and ramming them with forklifts.  Many of these animals are brutally dragged into the slaughterhouse and many others are are just left to die, some piled atop one another for hours or even days without food, water, or care.

The USDA banned the slaughter of downed cows because downed animals have a much higher likelihood of being diseased (duh!).  However, the loopholes in this ban are so huge that some cattle (those that go down after arriving at the slaughterhouse) and ALL other types of downed animals end up on our plates. 

I’ll say again what I’ve said many times before:  This is what you’re eating!  Diseased, dirty animals that can’t even stand on their own legs. 

See also Downed Cows

Related Posts:

No Comments »


 

A Tale of Two Cattle December 10th, 2009

How did your hamburger get to your plate — and what did it eat along the way?
The journey of beef illustrates the great American food chain

ORGANIC (1% of all cattle)
This is the way all beef used to be raised — and how some people still imagine it is.
Bill Niman tends a small herd with one of the lightest hands in the business and produces what Bay Area chefs swear is unparalleled beef
Diet: Grass
Niman’s cows eat only grass, along with a smattering of hay. That’s the normal diet for cattle. Their rumen, a digestive organ, can break down grasses we’d find inedible
Supplements: None
Niman gives no supplements whatsoever to his cattle — no drugs, no hormones, no additives. That’s not ironclad for organic beef — some companies might use antimicrobials — but generally the animals are supplement-free
Environmental Impact: Living with the Land
To prevent his ranch from becoming overgrazed, Niman shifts his cattle around the land, ensuring that the grass has time to recover between feedings. The result is a surprisingly low-impact hamburger, since grass doesn’t need chemical fertilizer to grow and its presence helps prevent soil erosion. There’s no need to clean up manure — with Niman’s low cattle density, the waste just fertilizes the land
Human Impact: The Omega Effect
Beef has a bad rep among nutritionists, but that might be partly unfair for grass-fed steaks. According to research from the University of California, grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids than conventional beef

CONVENTIONAL (99% of all cattle)
The vast majority of all American cattle start off on open ranges, but that’s where the similarity to their organic cousins ends. They’re shifted after a few months to the tight quarters of an industrial feedlot, to be fattened up as fast as possible
Diet: Grass and corn
Conventional cattle feed off grass pasture for the first several months, but at the feedlot, they’re switched to a heavily corn-based diet, which makes them gain weight faster but also makes them get sick more easily
Supplements: Chemicals
In part to help them survive the crowded conditions of feedlots, where infections can spread fast, conventional cattle are given antibiotics in their feed, and sometimes growth hormones, bloods and fats
Environmental Impact: Waste
A 1,000-head feedlot produces up to 280 tons of manure a week, and the smell can be powerful. All that feed corn requires millions of tons of fertilizer and, ultimately, a lot of petroleum
Human Impact: Fat Attack
Feeding corn to cattle for the last several months of their lives doesn’t just get them fatter faster; it also changes the quality of the beef. Corn helps produce that marbled taste many of us love, but it can result in beef that is higher in fat — helping to fuel the obesity epidemic
____________________
Breakfast: Cereal & soy milk
Lunch: Mushroom ravioli
Dinner: Veggie burger (from the frozen aisle)

Related Posts:

1 Comment »


 

Meatless Monday #12: Stuffed Shells December 7th, 2009

Tofu and spinach stuffed shells, to be exact.  I subsituted tofu for the traditional ricotta to make these both healthier & kinder.

Boil the shells (they will grow in size).
Cook the spinach.  Can use fresh or frozen. 
Once the spinach is cooked, add crumbled firm tofu.  Mix.
Fill the shells with the spinach & tofu mixture.
Cover the filled shells with marinara sauce.
Top with cheese (like mozarella or soy mozarella).

Pre-sauce pictures:

StuffedShells1 StuffedShells2

Related Posts:

No Comments »


 

Plant Welfare December 2nd, 2009

“I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.”  -A. Whitney Brown

More times than I find amusing, I’ve been asked, “But what about killing plants? How do you know they don’t feel pain too?” 

So, for those of you who are truly concerned about the well-being of plants…

Given our current scientific understanding, plants do not appear to experience pain. Pain, as we know it and observe it in other beings (mammals, reptiles, and fish) comes from a nervous system, and more specifically, from nerve cells called nociceptors.  These nociceptors send a message through the nervous system to the brain, which is interpreted as pain. 

Plants do not have a nervous system, they do not have nociceptors, and they don’t have a brain.
(Neither do insects, which is a topic outside the scope of this blog, but certainly an interesting factoid.)

However, if plants do feel “pain”, it is a very different type of pain than what animals experience.  And if you are concerned that eating plants contributes to the abundance of abuse in our food system, adopting a vegan diet would cause much less pain and suffering for both animals and plants.  The animals raised for meat, milk, and eggs eat many times more plants than the entire human population. 

Eighty percent of the corn grown in the US and 95% of oats grown in the US are eaten by livestock.  Sixteen pounds of grain and soybeans are required to produce one pound of beef.  Millions of acres of forests are cleared to grow food for livestock.

And if you simply can not bear to harm anything living, be it animal or plant, you can just live off twinkies, which I’m pretty sure contain only synthetic ingredients*. 

*Actually, twinkies contain:
Enriched Wheat Flour (enriched with iron and B vitamins), Sugar, Corn Syrup, Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Vegetable and/or Animal Shortening (containing one or more of partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed or canola oil, and beef fat), Dextrose, Whole Eggs, Modified Corn Starch, Cellulose Gum, Whey, Leavenings (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate), Salt, Cornstarch, Corn Flour, Corn Syrup Solids, Mono and Diglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Polysorbate 60, Dextrin, Calcium Caseinate, Sodium Stearol Lactylate, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulphate, Natural and Artificial Flavours, Caramel Colour, Sorbic Acid (to retain freshness), Colour added (yellow 5, red 40)

____________________
Breakfast: Trail mix
Lunch: Leftover risotto and mashed potatoes
Dinner: Green curry tofu and vegetables

1 Comment »