February 2008

GREETINGS

At the January potluck, we discussed the next PreThanksgiving Feast; and the consensus was to return to Wil-O-Way Underwood for it next November, and to apply for the Saturday evening right away. Everyone seemed to agree that it was a very pleasant site – plus it has plans to upgrade its kitchen.

I opined in the last issue that, as global warming and climate change finally get public attention, it would be appropriate for us vegetarians to raise our voices and point out that if people switch to eating less or no animal products, that could greatly reduce the greenhouse gases that are put into the atmosphere by livestock. After I wrote that, I got the January Outpost Exchange, in which I saw an ad for a roundtable discussion on Thursday, January 31 at the UWM Student Union, organized by a group called Focus the Nation; it aims to get people nationwide involved in addressing global warming and solutions thereto. Events and sessions will run from 8 or 9 AM until 3 PM, and there will be tabling as well; I am trying to connect with someone so that MARV can table there. And I think that the more of us who attend, the likelier we are to be able to bring the issue of livestock raising in to the discussion, and the more credibility we’ll have. Get in touch with me if you also want to go and want to coordinate with me: my phone number is (414) 962-2703, and my email is chuckgyver@aceweb.com.

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, Feb. 3, 5 PM, regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot).

Presentation will be “Blender Mania.”

Other veg-friendly potlucks

The February macrobiotic potluck will be at Roberta Forman’s place on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 5 PM at 500 W. Bender, Unit 67; park in the “visitor parking” areas. Phone (414) 967-2580.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” –motto of Michael Pollan’s new book, In Defense of Food: an eater’s manifesto

“Scientists may disagree about what’s so good about eating plants – Is it the antioxidents in them? The fiber? The omega-3 fatty acids? – but they do agree that plants are probably really good for you, and certainly can’t hurt. In all my interviews with nutrition experts, the benefits of a plant-based diet provided the only point of universal consensus.”

NEWS

There were all kinds of news this month about various problems with eating various meats.

The New York Times did front-page stories about fish and overfishing: one described how European factory trawlers and other high-tech fishing boats have so overfished Europe’s waters that they now have proceeded to the coasts of Africa, taking so much of the fish stocks there that African coastal villages of traditional successful subsistence fishers are now in crisis, and their erstwhile inhabitants are flooding into Europe looking for ways to make a living. Another article revealed that many of the fish in European markets were caught illegally, contrary to rules set up to try to sustain fisheries. A third article looked at Chinese farmed fish, and the dubiousness of their claims of improved safety. An editorial concluded the series by recommending that the World Trade Organization do something about the fish situation while there remain any fish in the seas at all. If you need further reasons not to eat fish, consider: a phone call to the radio show “Dr. Zorba Pastor on Your Health,” in which a caller described having bought “fresh” farm-raised tilapia in the U.S., which had been imported from Ecuador, and found that it smelled not like fish but like bleach; and a news report of unsafe levels of mercury in sushi tuna.

In other news, the FDA declared meat and milk from cloned animals to be safe (which might be more trustworthy if they hadn’t also declared bioengineered food safe too). And the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service is increasing the number of raw ground beef samples it tests for e. coli (suggesting that the problem is really bad). And there was quite a bit of bird flu news: the disease was found at a British swan reserve and in Bangladesh, where over 19,000 chickens were killed at one government farm (!); in Egypt, 4 women died of it. The NY Times Science section article on bird flu called it “A Pandemic That Wasn’t But Might Be.”

In addition, animal foods continue to be bad for one’s health. A small but interesting study compared Atkins, South Beach, and Ornish diets and found that while the vegetarian Ornish was best at reducing bad LDL cholesterol, meat-heavy Atkins was worst in that it reduced blood vessel dilation and increasing inflammation. A different study found that calcium from milk or supplements increased the risk of prostate cancer, while calcium from plant foods was shown to have a potential protective effect. Processed meats and dairy products were found in another study to be associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer. And a comprehensive survey report from the American Cancer Institute and World Cancer Research Fund identified even small amounts of red and processed meat with increased cancer risk.

Sometimes, though, it is not meat that is a problem: Prevention ran an item on a study which found that eating lots of white flour and sugary foods correlated with higher rates of age-related macular degeneration, while eating whole grains and avoiding sugary sweets was protective. In a similar vein, a recent NIH study found that eating plenty of whole grains reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes. It’s not just eating plant foods that’s good for you, but eating certain kinds!

Other issues in the news involved liquids, with San Francisco’s mayor proposing a fee on sales of sugary soft drinks, and a significant water-sharing pact being signed by several western states, who are facing water shortfalls due to increased population just when rainfall and winter snowpack are being decreased by climate shifts. And Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine announced their success in ending ads that suggested drinking milk could help with weight loss.

Meanwhile, plant foods are generally still good for you.

Another Prevention item reported that scientists found a second compound in citrus peels which helps prevent the growth of cancer cells, and therefore recommends using the colored parts of well-washed (or organic!) citrus rinds as an addition to soups, baked goods, yogurt, or tea.

This is timely in the sense that citrus fruits are in season now, as well as other winter-keeper types of vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, cabbages, apples, and winter squash.

The Whole Foods magazine pointed out again that red wine is high in healthful antioxidents, and that moderate consumption may have positive effects on the cardiovascular system. Another of its articles reminded readers of the many healthful properties of garlic in warding off colds and possibly even cancer, keeping arteries flexible, reducing homocysteine levels, fighting fungus and bad bacteria, clearing congestion and even (as oil applied topically) for soothing earaches. Tastes good too. Use garlic both in cooked foods and as a raw ingredient to get all its different benefits.

Prevention ran a whole article on beans, titled “Nature’s Perfect Food.” It pointed out that beans are full of fiber, loaded with protein, and also provide many nutrients that people often don’t get enough of, such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium; in addition, brightly colored beans like red and black beans, pintos, and kidneys have very high levels of antioxidents. No wonder people who eat lots of them tend to be thinner than those who don’t, and at lower risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and breast and colon cancers. Tips included using canned beans if necessary to cut down cooking times, looking for low sodium cans, and seeking vegetarian versions of, for example, refried beans.

Another article spotlighted five foods that contain healthful monounsaturated fats, and can therefore be used (in appropriate amounts) in weightloss and belly-fat-loss diets. They are nuts and seeds, vegetable oils, especially olive and safflower, avocados, chocolate (dark only), and olives.

E Magazine ran an article about neglected whole grains, and the healthfulness and tastiness of bringing millet, quinoa, barley, buckwheat, and rye back into the diet. Recommendations for using them included in soups and stews and under stir-fires, as breakfast cereals, and as a substitute for rice or potato side dishes.

BOOK REVIEW

In Defense of Food: an eater’s manifesto, by Michael Pollan, New York: Penguin Press, 2008

Michael Pollan is not exactly a vegetarian, although I did hear him say that he’s gotten so picky about what meat he’ll eat that while traveling, for example on his current book-selling tour, he does go veg for the duration. But he is fully aware of the problems involved in eating animal foods, and even though he doesn’t call on everyone to go completely vegetarian he does unequivocally advocate a plant-based diet. (At one point he quotes Thomas Jefferson’s suggestion that meat be treated as a “’condiment for the vegetables.’”) He is also a good and knowledgeable journalist who has written astutely about the American food scene, what’s wrong with it, and what people should do to eat well.

In his newest book, In Defense of Food, Pollan starts by identifying the tendency of modern scientists and nutritionists (and in their wake, journalists) to try to isolate and study individual nutrients in foods as good or bad guys. He identifies several problems with this: it misleads us into thinking of foods as delivery vehicles for nutrients instead of as food, into thinking that we understand everything about what makes a food good to eat, and thus allows the food industry to manipulate, package, and advertise concoctions that are highly processed nonfoods as sources of nutrients, which enriches industry but makes whoever eats this way fat and sick. And it ignores the possibility that the healthiness of many foods may lie in the food and the cultural context in which it’s eaten rather than individual nutrients: foods may in fact be more than the sum of their parts (even if we actually knew all the parts).

He details the unhealthiness of the modern Western diet of refined flour, chemicalized agriculture, shrunken variety in the number of crops used (especially the trend from leaves to seeds), and the drift into eating lots of low-quality calories mindlessly instead of smaller amounts of well-prepared food shared leisurely with friends and family.

Finally, he suggests guidelines for getting back to good eating, including: don’t eat anything someone’s great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize; avoid food products containing unfamiliar or unpronounceable ingredients or high-fructose corn syrup; avoid products that make health claims; eat mostly plants, especially leaves; if you do eat animal foods, eat from animals that ate only plants, especially leaves; eat a wide variety of well-grown food from healthy soils (think organic); eat wild foods when possible (like the weeds purslane and lamb’s quarters); eat cultural foods in the ways that they are traditionally eaten (slowly, in company, at a table); have a glass of wine with dinner; don’t eat too much.