April 2009

GREETINGS

Well, we did all get together at the start-of-March potluck and organize a writing of letters to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for the Meat-Out, but it does not seem that any were published. I really thought that some would be. We will have to decide whether it is worthwhile to keep at it or try harder to organize something more effective next year (or both). Perhaps it would get better results if next year we have some event to publicize and write letters about that as well as why plant-based diets are good and should be considered. Does anyone have any good ideas about a publicity-worthy event that we could do, either for next year’s Meat-Out or for something sooner (like World Vegetarian Day on Oct. 1)? As always, you can bring a good idea to a potluck, or email us at chuckgyver@ aceweb.com, or phone me and Chuck at 414-962-2703 or Jody and David at 414-764-7262.

In any case, our next activity will be the Earth Day events at the Urban Ecology Center. This will be a repeat engagement for us at the Riverside Park site on Saturday, April 18, but in addition, this year for the first time there will also be an Earth Day event at the UEC Washington park site, on the following Saturday, April 25, to which we are eagerly invited. We will need people to help man the tables at both these events. Use the same contact info as in the paragraph above to volunteer.

I’ve long said that the difference between Winter and Spring around here is that in Spring, the blizzards melt right away. Isn’t it great that it’s Spring now?

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, April 5, 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).

Food theme is African foods

The next regular potluck will be on May 3.

Saturday, April 18, 11 AM- 4 PM, tabling at the UEC Earth Day event at Riverside Park, 1500 E. Park Pl. on the east side.

Saturday, April 25, 11:30 AM-4 PM, tabling at the UEC Earth Day event at Washington Park, 1859 N. 40^th St.

Other veg-friendly meetings

The April macrobiotic potluck will be on Sunday, Apr. 19, eating at 5:30 PM, at Annette Gelhar’s house in Glendale, 4678 N. Ironwood Lane, phone 414-967-1951.

The Urban Ecology Center’s April vegetarian potluck is at 6:30 PM on Thursday, April 16 at 1500 E. Park Pl. – bring plate and fork as well as your meatless dish. Phone is 414-964-8505.

To find out about Vegan Meetup’s possible April events, check the Vegan Meetup website.

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

“Diets high in red meat and in processed meat shorten life span not just from cancer and heart disease but from Alzheimer’s, stomach ulcers and an array of other conditions as well, a U.S. National Cancer Institute study has found.”

-- reported on radio, MSN Health and Fitness,

and other news sources on March 24, 2009

“There’s plenty of evidence that both a person’s health – as well as the environment’s – will improve with a simple shift in eating habits away from animal products and highly processed foods to plant products and what might be called ‘real food.’ …From these changes, Americans would reduce the amount of land, water, and chemicals used to produce the food we eat, as well as the incidence of lifestyle diseases linked to unhealthy diets, and greenhouse gases from industrial meat production. All without legislation.”

-- Mark Bittman, NY Times op-ed article, 3/22/09

NEWS

The raising and eating of meat is still bad in all kinds of ways.

A livestock truck wash in Iowa discharged wastewater into a creek that caused a significant fish kill, while a NY Times op-ed piece pointed out that cat, pig, and poultry food use almost half of all fish caught from the wild!

Another op-ed article drew a potential correlation between the overuse of antibiotics in intensive hog-farming and the development and spread of methicillin-resistant staph infections It generated predictable dissension in a subsequent letters column from supporters of the status quo. In a different but closely related item, Wisconsin State Farmer reported on the American Farm Bureau Federation expressing opposition to an effort in Congress to remove and restrict some antibiotics in farm use. (Write to your congresscritters and tell them to support House Resolution 1549/ Senate Resolution 619.) On the other hand, the AFBF is praising legislation aimed at preventing the EPA from imposing a “cow tax” – it is co-sponsored by Sens. John Thune and Charles Schumer, so the same letter to congresscritters could urge them to vote against this Thune-Schumer bill.

HBO aired a rather graphic documentary about a farm-animal-abuse trial which resulted from a Humane Farming Association undercover operation on a hog farm. A Michigan deer farm has been accused of violating a chronic wasting disease quarantine. A new study has found mercury in high fructose corn syrup (not an animal product, of course, but not exactly a natural whole food either). And the USDA has approved a vaccine for cattle against e. coli (they just don’t want to prevent cattle from harboring e. coli in the first place by taking them out of feed lots and putting them on pasture). No wonder a recent national survey showed a rise in consumer safety concerns.

So it was definitely a bit of happy recession news when I heard a radio report that the chicken industry suffered in 2008 due to a decline in people eating out, with the result that it plans to raise fewer chickens for meat in 2009, and charge more for them.

And of course plant foods are still good for you. A Vegetarian Times article on foods rich in antioxidants gave advice for how to maximize those products’ healthiness. Cocoa’s flavonoids, it suggested, are best consumed as dark (not milk) chocolate. Tart cherry juice concentrate, or dried tart cherries, have more goodies than fresh cherries or juice. Artichokes contain antioxidents that protect the liver, enhance circulation and aid digestion, and are best eaten steamed or boiled, since cooking improves the antioxidant profile; kale also should be lightly cooked. Wild blueberries are even better for you than cultivated ones. Tomato products that are concentrated, such as tomato sauce and paste and ketchup, have more cancer-fighting lycopene per bite than a fresh tomato. Since the useful flavonoids in small red beans are water soluble, using the water you soaked or cooked them in improves the nutrition of the recipe. Eat the apple skins. Keep pecans in the fridge or freezer to preserve their vitamin E. And if you go for acai berries, buy flash-frozen ones rather than juices. (A NY Times article pointed out that while acai berries do contain antioxidents, there is no science behind the wilder claims for them.)

E magazine responded to the peanut salmonella scare by running a story on nut butters other than peanut: almond butter (good for the bones), sunflower seed butter (helps immune system function), hemp butter (omega-3 fatty acids: you do not need fish oil!), and hazelnut butter (full of vitamins and minerals).

Speaking of nuts, a Prevention article on best grocery choices of different products rated popcorn a good snack, peanuts better, and almonds best. In other aisles, romaine lettuce rated good, watercress better, and spinach best. And raisins were considered good for dried fruit, dried apricots better, and figs best.

A different Prevention article named four “supernutrients” as calcium (which helps burn fat and preserve bones), vitamin D (bone preservation and immune system function), omega-3 fatty acids (fat-burning, blood sugar control, and nervous system function), and fiber (aids digestion and blood sugar stability). Dietary sources of calcium include dairy products but also dark green leafy vegetables, white beans, and calcium-fortified dairy substitutes. Vitamin D is best gotten by going out in the sun from late March through late September in Wisconsin, and taking a supplement in Fall and Winter – my Traditional Chinese Medicine healer recommends at least 2000 IU per day. Many dairy and dairy-substitute products are vitamin D supplemented. Omega-3 sources include walnuts, flax seeds and their oil, hemp seeds and their oil, dark green leafy vegetables, and enriched eggs if you eat them. And fiber of course is supplied by whole grains, fresh produce, and beans.

Speaking of green leafies, Vegetarian Times recommended watercress in soups, salads, and sandwiches as a source of iron, B vitamins, vitamins C and E and other useful antioxidents, while Organic Gardening suggested arugula as a tasty, spicy source of fiber, calcium, and vitamins A, C, and K.

According to Prevention, milk drunk after a workout aids recovery and the building of lean muscle. (Milk is of course vegetarian but not vegan – but dairy substitutes were not even looked at in the study, so we do not know if they would have the same effect.)

Finally, another NY Times article reported on two recent studies which suggest that people who drink either red or white wine in moderation may be less likely to develop one type of rare esophageal cancer – which is odd, since alcohol actually raises the risk of other forms of esophageal cancer. Clearly, there are still mysteries out there.

CONNECTIONS

As noted above, there are some interesting moves in Congress at this time that would affect livestock raising, for better or worse. On the good side, it would put a huge crimp on factory farming and its evils if antibiotic use in agriculture were severely restricted, as HR1549 and S619 would do. On the other hand, it would encourage cattle raising if the EPA is prevented by the Thune-Schumer bill from taxing cattle’s greenhouse gas emissions. Write a letter to your congresscritters, or simply phone the Capitol Switchboard and ask for each of them in turn: 800-828-0498 or 202-225-3121.

DIALOG

Food issues in general, including vegetarianism, have been in the news lately. There was the recent announcement, from which our first quote was taken, of a huge study that just ended, and which found a clear correlation between eating red and processed meats and being likelier to die younger of all sorts of ailments. There was a New York Times op-ed from which our second quote was taken that discussed eating whole real foods, preferably local, whether organic or not, as opposed to junk food – and eating more plants and less animals. There was the news that a piece of the south lawn of the White House is becoming an organic garden, along with interviews with Michelle Obama describing how she became aware of the need to feed her family less take-out and more vegetables. The New York Times food section introduced an occasional column on vegetarian cooking. The Whole Foods magazine ran an article on eating to make the world a better place; its suggestions were avoiding excess packaging, avoiding high fructose corn syrup, getting fair trade coffee, choosing locally grown, and – here it is – “Consider vegetarianism or incorporate more meatless meals into your diet.” Even the new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who in the past has favored biotech/ industrial agriculture, is creating an organic “people’s garden” outside his new headquarters – reportedly the expectation of a first grandchild has gotten him thinking in a new direction.

It must be noted that this is all primarily about reconsidering American dietary patterns as a whole, rather than being specifically about vegetarianism. And yet it is very hopeful indeed that this more mainstream discussion actually is clearly incorporating vegetarianism, or at least the suggestion that we should all eat less animals and more plants. It seems that the V word is no longer either taboo or a mere target for derision: recommendations to at least consider eating less meat are starting to be seriously considered in the mainstream.

Did we ever think we would live to see the day?

Gandhi once said, “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” It’s starting to look as if we’re working through stage three.

We are still far from the goal of making some level of a plant-based diet the norm. The article I read about the HBO program on hog abuse quoted a farmer in the courtroom gallery who was sympathetic to the accused abusers on the grounds that “We can’t all eat lettuce.” (Um, yes we can.) The agribusiness livestock industry is deeply entrenched, and has deep pockets, and will not give up its place at the table without a fight, while many Americans still want – and think they “need” – their meat.

Yet there is a whole new credibility to going meatless, and this is a very hopeful development. Chuck can remember, only 27 years ago, when he first went vegan and his boss spoke to him about the dangers of such a diet. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and eating less or no meat is understood by many to be the healthier choice. So there is now an opportunity to really start convincing a large majority of Americans and Western-diet-eaters to drop their meat consumption to low or none. It is an opportunity that we must act to seize.