The farm-to-table philosophy has been mostly about knowing where food was grown. For meat, that meant knowing if your chickens were caged and if your beef was grass fed.

But with the revival of the butcher shop, some young people are undertaking the largely lost art of butchering as a stronger way to connect with their food.

For 24-year-old Andrew Plotsky of Washington, D.C., that meant leaving his job as a barista in a snobby coffee shop to learn the process of raising an animal, slaughtering it and butchering it for a meal.

“I had a romantic idea of the way I thought animals should and could be processed,” he tells The Salt. He says he was attracted to the small scale tradition of a whole community having its hands involved in the raising of animals for food. “I wanted to be a part of that process,” he says. “Somehow, that manifested in pig slaughter.”

Long gone is the idea that only chefs care about the provenance of the meat they cook. Now, the notion of knowing a piece of meat’s history seems to be trickling into the mainstream. Who raised it? Who killed it? How did it die? Who butchered it? It was questions like these that led Plotsky across the country.

The former vegan went to Vashon Island., Wa. to learn the butcher trade from Brandon and Lauren Sheard. His goal was to document the process for about a week and half. He ended up staying for two years.

“I had been preparing myself intellectually for years,” he says. “The immediacy of taking life was difficult at first. It’s still something I’m figuring out how to rationalize.”

Pigs are first shot with a rifle to stun them. Then their throats are cut to let them bleed out. “The moment of silence before the shot is taken was difficult,” Plotsky says. “It came out of fear that the pig would suffer.”

By killing the animal himself, Plotsky says he strengthens his bond to that animal, as well as the food it provides, the ground it lived on, and the family and friends he shares the meal with.

Though killing the animal weighs heavy on Plotsky’s heart, carving the precise cuts from the pig weighs heavy because of its physical size. He has to wrestle the carcass and take awkward positions to make sure he gets exact cuts. “There’s a steep learning curve,” he says.

As a pork butcher, Plotsky typically uses a bone saw, a cleaver, a boning knife and another sharp knife to “break down” a pig. Each side of the pig will get cut into quarters: the shoulder, the leg, the loin and the belly. Using geographical markers, such as the sternum and vertebrae, butchers locate exactly where to slice first. For the leg quarter, it’s one vertebra up from the curve near the bottom of the spine.

Two years later, the butcher and filmmaker is still working at the farm and documenting the process with the Sheards for others to see. He says he finds the work enriching because he’s present for the whole process — something he hopes more consumers can connect with through his agrarian videos.

It seems to be working, too. “I see the ‘hipification’ of butchery in urban areas like Brooklyn and San Francisco,” he says. “It’s a good thing.”

His favorite cut of a pig? The trotter, or the foot. “If you have a trotter on a plate, you should feel blessed and not say ‘Ew,’” he says. “They’re kind of everything a chicken wing dreams of being.”

Andrew Plotsky’s film on pork butchery. Caution: Some images may be graphic for some viewers.

On The Anatomy Of Thrift: Side Butchery from farmrun on Vimeo.

Source: NPR

I came across this blog post today linked to from the Weston A. Price Foundations Facebook page. While I think in some ways their argument is a little simplistic. (e.g. The argument that, “It’s what we have always done”. The same could be said of slavery and foot binding, after all.) Although, generally I think it puts the issue out there in a pretty nice way.

From: Real Food Dudes

Several years ago, after having to drive for too long behind a truck full of stinking, squealing pigs being delivered for slaughter, I gave up eating meat. I’d been harboring a growing distaste for the ugliness that can be industrial agriculture, but the real issue was a long-suppressed sympathy for its — or really, my — victims. Even screaming, reeking pigs, or maybe especially screaming, reeking pigs, can evoke stark pity as they tumble along in a truck to their deaths.

If you think about it, and it’s much simpler not to, it can be hard to justify other beings suffering pain, fear and death so that we can enjoy their flesh. In particular, given our many connections to animals, not least of all the fact that we are ourselves animals, it can give a person pause to realize that our most frequent contact with these kin might just be the devouring of them.

My entry into what seemed the moral high ground, though, was surprisingly unpleasant. I felt embattled not only by a bizarrely intense lust for chicken but nightmares in which I would be eating a gorgeous, rare steak — I could distinctly taste the savory drippings — from which I awoke in a panic, until I realized that I had been carnivorous only in my imagination.

Temptations and trials were everywhere. The most surprising turned out to be the realization that I couldn’t actually explain to myself or anyone else why killing an animal was any worse than killing the many plants I was now eating.

Surely, I’d thought, science can defend the obvious, that slaughterhouse carnage is wrong in a way that harvesting a field of lettuces or, say, mowing the lawn is not. But instead, it began to seem that formulating a truly rational rationale for not eating animals, at least while consuming all sorts of other organisms, was difficult, maybe even impossible.

Before you hit “send” on your hate mail, let me say this. Different people have different reasons for the choices they make about what to kill or have killed for them to eat. Perhaps there isn’t any choice more personal or less subject to rationality or the judgment of others. It’s just that as far as I was concerned, if eating a tofu dog was as much a crime against life as eating bratwurst, then pass the bratwurst, please.

So what really are the differences between animals and plants? There are plenty. The cells of plants, and not animals, for example, harbor chloroplasts, tiny green organelles that can turn the energy of light into sugar. Almost none of these differences, however, seem to matter to any of us trying to figure out what to eat.

The differences that do seem to matter are things like the fact that plants don’t have nerves or brains. They cannot, we therefore conclude, feel pain. In other words, the differences that matter are those that prove that plants do not suffer as we do. Here the lack of a face on plants becomes important, too, faces being requisite to humans as proof not only that one is dealing with an actual individual being, but that it is an individual capable of suffering.

Animals, on the other hand — and not just close evolutionary relations like chimps and gorillas, but species further afield, mammals like cows and pigs — can experience what pretty much anyone would agree is pain and suffering. If attacked, these animals will look agonized, scream, struggle and run as fast as they can. Obviously, if we don’t kill any of these animals to eat them, all that suffering is avoided.

Meanwhile, whether you pluck a leaf or slice a trunk, a plant neither grimaces nor cries out. Plants don’t seem to mind being killed, at least as far as we can see. But that may be exactly the difficulty.

Unlike a lowing, running cow, a plant’s reactions to attack are much harder for us to detect. But just like a chicken running around without its head, the body of a corn plant torn from the soil or sliced into pieces struggles to save itself, just as vigorously and just as uselessly, if much less obviously to the human ear and eye.

Source: NY  Times

Let’s start with grains. From a blood sugar perspective grains will cause an insulin reaction, so I recommend that people pay attention to how much they have, measure the grams of carbs, and learn what a serving size is, or just limit them. I’m going to assume that you know that refined grains are a complete waste of time. But the myth is that we have to eat grains, and that we think we can digest them. Let me explain.

Grains, nuts and seeds, just like soy, contain a number of “anti-nutrients” that need to be dealt before they become digestible. Think about a bird eating a seed — the seed is designed to survive the digestive track of the bird, so that it can live to sprout another day. Those protections are also present when you eat those grains, nuts and seeds. Just like soy (and legumes and seeds in general), all grains contain phytic acid in the hull of the seeds, and phytic acid combines with calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, and especially zinc, preventing their absorption in the digestive tract. Other anti-nutrients include enzyme inhibitors (inhibiting trypsin and chymotrypsin) which puts stress on the pancreas and inhibits digestion. There are also tannins which can irritate the system, along with gluten and other related difficult-to-digest proteins that can cause digestive problems, and lead to over 40 different diseases. We had a patient with multiple sclerosis reduce her symptoms to zero by finding out she had Celiac disease.

Anti-nutrients are there to protect the seed — they prevent sprouting until the time is right. What we forget is that animals that nourish themselves on plants and grains have longer, slower digestive tracts, with some having multiple stomachs for digestion. Those plants, grains and seeds want moisture, warmth, time and slight acidity to sprout, and imitating that is what will allow you to eat grains and legumes (soy excluded), extract the nutrients from them, and not have them cause short and long-term damage. All traditional cultures eating grains either fermented or soaked them. So what should you do to your rice, granola, oats, beans, and your wheat for homemade bread?

Soak your legumes, grains and seeds overnight in water with a little whey or other acid-like lemon. Make sure you don’t eat them raw — cook your grains, even just a little, to reduce the anti-nutrients. Heat alone will not negate these compounds (although the very high heat used to extrude grains to make cereals will damage the nutrients completely and make the proteins into poisonous compounds) but some heat has to be used. Add a little whey, vinegar, lemon juice, kefir or yogurt to provide the acidity to activate phytases and break down some of the anti-nutrients. For great suggestions on this, read “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon Morel, who provides recipes and explains why the traditional methods of preparation prevented many of the nutritional problems we see today.

Another “myth” about food is that being vegetarian is healthier. I am not, in any way, against vegetarianism from a philosophical point of view — my only qualm with it is that many, if not most, vegetarians, and to a greater extent, vegans, are damaging their health due to a lack of knowledge about nutrition.

Take the grains I just wrote about — vegetarians tend to be the worst offenders in terms of carbohydrate intake. The staple of many vegetarian diets is, in all honesty, not vegetables, but rather foods like pastas, beans, breads, and grains. If someone is trying to be “healthy,” those might be whole grains, but for most people, it’s a mix at best. I see insulin-resistant vegetarians all the time in my practice, and they got there because their thoughts are that if they’re eating whole grains, it must be OK. Did you know that a serving size of rice is one-third of a cup? cooked? Do you know anyone who is eating that small of a serving? I don’t. Nor are those grains, nuts and seeds being properly prepared to prevent the problems mentioned above.

Soy is another minefield. People, and vegetarians in particular, have been told that eating soy is healthy, and it cannot be said more emphatically that it is not. As one of the most genetically modified foods grown, soy for that reason alone should be avoided – indigestibility, phytoestrogens, and link to hypothyroidism are just a few of the many reasons that it should not be a staple in anyone’s diet (fermented soy excepted). My article in AT’s January 2011 edition titled, “Food Myths: Bamboozled by the Soy Hype” discusses the drawbacks of soy in detail.

Another big myth is that vegetarians can get all their nutrients from plant products. Fat-soluble vitamin A is a good example. Assuming someone has all the enzymes necessary in the correct amounts to cause a conversion from beta-carotene to vitamin A (a certain percentage always will not), one would have to eat two cups of cooked kale, two cups of carrots, or one cup of sweet potatoes per day versus the one serving per week of liver, or the half teaspoon of cod liver oil that provides the same amount. The conversion rate is not 1:1 but, depending on an individual, anywhere between 2.4 and 20.2, which explains why a study involving pregnant Indonesian women who were fed enough carotenes for three times the recommended amount of vitamin A (according to WHO), had a large amount of them suffering from vitamin A deficiency.

Vitamin D, associated with sunshine and cod liver oil, has been shown again and again to protect against cancer, prevent autoimmune diseases, increase bone density — the list goes on and on. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the form most effective for humans, although a vegetarian form of vitamin D2 has been found in mushrooms exposed to UV light. Vitamin D2, however, appears to be five to 10 times less effective at supporting good nutritional status, and had been linked to abnormal calcification of the kidneys and arteries. That’s the form added to soy and rice milk.

Vitamin B12 is often very deficient in vegetarians and while the end result of B12 deficiency is pernicious anemia and irreversible nervous system damage, other conditions manifest earlier, most often neurological problems like numbness, pins-and-needles sensations, memory loss, irrational anger, and psychological conditions like dementia, depression and OCD. President Kennedy was quoted as saying that he never would have become president without vitamin B12 injections to deal with many of his illnesses.

Vegetarian references often state that one can get adequate vitamin B12 from plant sources, but that’s incorrect — sources like spirulina and seaweed contain analogs of B12 (called cobamides) that actually block the B12 receptors and prevents absorption of the real B12. High intake of folic acid (from green leafy vegetables) can also mask B12 deficiency and it’s for that reason that it’s best to take B12 and folic acid together. The food sources of B12 are almost exclusively in the animal products of shellfish, liver (these are the best sources), meat, fish, milk and eggs. Unfortunately, eggs also contain a substance that blocks vitamin B12 absorption, leaving only milk as a good source of B12 for vegetarians (although pasteurization deforms the milk proteins that aid in absorption). And vitamin B12 deficiency is rampant — as early as 1974, it was found that 92 percent of vegans, 64 percent of lactovegetarians, 47 percent of lacto-ovo vegetarians, and 20 percent of semi-vegetarians had blood levels below normal (meaning, below the low range that marks pernicious anemia).

Some others that shouldn’t be ignored: vitamin B6 in plant form is ineffective without B2, which is found in animal products, essential fatty acids from plant forms are more vulnerable to oxidation and increase omega-6 inflammation, vitamin K2, which only comes from animal products and natto, amino acids like carnitine, taurine, glycine, creatine, zinc — the list is long.

There is not enough space to write about other potential deficiencies.

It might be best said in the words of one of my patients, “I completely agree with the philosophy of being vegetarian; it’s just that I’m unwilling to sacrifice my health over it.” It’s with that thought that, if you wanted to find a middle ground, it would be great to incorporate eggs, and butter, and full-fat cheeses. Adding seafood would be huge. You just want to make sure of a couple of things: that your food is organic and nutrient-dense, that it’s local if you can get it (for example, vitamin C in broccoli is lost in seven days, so it might not have much if it’s been shipped), that it’s non-GMO, that your meat is also nutrient-dense, meaning it’s grass-fed, pasture-raised or wild-farmed. There is definitely a way to eat responsibly and attain optimal health in order to prevent the scourge of health issues from the typical American diet. It’s just a matter of educating yourself and your patients.

Source:

While the traditional foods movement seems to focus heavily on the inclusion of high-quality, pasture-raised meat and dairy products and is, indeed, a largely animal food-based diet, that doesn’t meant that it offers no guidance or dietary wisdom for vegetarians.  Indeed, there’s a lot that vegetarians can glean from the traditional foods movement and, in many ways, the practices advocated by traditional foods enthusiasts and organizations like the Weston A Price Foundation and the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation might prove even more important for vegetarians and vegans who rely on grains and legumes for much of their foods.  From soaking and souring grains and legumes to fermenting veggies and eating healthy fats, here’s five things that vegetarians can learn from the traditional foods movement.

1. To soak, sour or sprout grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and beans.

Grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes often make up the foundation of a vegetarian or vegan diet.  For this reason, it’s critical that vegans and vegetarians learn to prepare these foods to reap the greatest nutritional reward from them.  To prevent premature sprouting until conditions for plant growth are optimal, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and beans are potent sources of antinutrients which include phytate and enzyme inhibitors.  These antinutrients cause reduced mineral absorption and reduced ability to properly digest foods.  Since vegans and vegetarians forgo mineral-rich meats and bone broths, deriving much of their mineral intake from plant-based sources, one of the most significant and beneficial actions an adherent to a plant-based diet can take to maximize nutrient intake would be to soak, sour or sprout all their grains, nuts, beans, legumes and seeds – a traditional practice that renders the nutrients in these foods more bioavailable¹.

Sprouting, soaking and fermenting grains, nuts, beans, seeds and legumes activates the enzyme phytase which neutralizes phytate, and these traditional processes help to free up minerals otherwise bound in a raw, untreated state.  Indeed, once phytate has been adequately degraded, legumes can become good sources of both iron and zinc².  The simple act of sprouting and roasting oats, or malting, before preparing a breakfast porridge has been shown to increase zinc absorption by 55% and iron by 47%³.  Sprouting mung beans followed by a simple fermentation increases the absorbable iron by over 70% compared to the untreated bean⁴.  Simply choosing to bake whole grain sourdough bread over regular whole grain bread not only reduced antinutrient content, but significantly increases the availability of magnesium⁵.  Incidentally the process of souring grains as required in sourdough bread appears to naturally increase the levels of folate by as much as three-fold¹³.

In a plant-based, vegetarian or vegan diet you miss out on animal foods as a dense source of minerals, for this reason you can do your body a favor by making sure to properly prepare grains, nuts, beans, seeds and legumes to maximize the availability of iron, zinc, magnesium and other minerals. Read more about soaking grains, beans and legumes.

2. To only consume traditionally fermented soy products and with iodine-rich companion foods.

For many vegans and vegetarians, soy and soy foods make up a base of the diet: soy milks and yogurt, tofu, texturized vegetable protein, soybean oil, soy-based protein powder, cooked soy beans and other soy foods. Unfortunately, soy foods, much like all beans, are a potent source of antinutrients.  Soy’s potent isoflavones can also interfere with human endocrine function, particularly the function of the thyroid and reproductive health of both men and women and may have broader implications for the population as a whole⁷.  Properly prepared through traditional means of fermentation (note that soaking and germinating on their own prove inadequate), as in traditional soy sauce and tempeh can reduce phytates found in soy almost completely.  Also, by serving small condiment-sized portions of soy foods with traditional iodine-rich accompaniments like seaweed, one may help counteract soy’s antithyroid properties.

3. To eat healthy fats, including monounsaturated and saturated fats.

Fat plays an enormous role in health and well-being and the  traditional foods movement focuses heavily on the liberal use of fat, particularly animal fats and this may rub some vegetarians and vegans the wrong way, particularly those who adhere to a low-fat vegetarian diet or attempt to adhere to a no-fat vegetarian diet.  Fats help us to absorb vitamins and offer other health benefits as well.  In a recent study, women who ate the most fat (particularly saturated and monounsaturated fat) suffered from fewer signs of aging than those who ate the least⁸.  A look into history will illustrate that peoples who consumed their unprocessed, native, traditional foods enjoyed good health⁹ and that their diets ranged upwards of 80% of fat by calorie¹⁰.  Moreover, vegetarians should remember that while they should continue to consume vegetables liberally, a recent Swedish study indicates that fruit and vegetable consumption is linked to a reduction in the risk of heart disease only when combined with a diet rich in full-fat dairy¹¹.  Whether a vegetarian feels dairy meets his or her needs or preferences, we could all do with making sure to consume healthy, wholesome traditional fats.  Healthy fats that are suitable for vegans may include unrefined olive oil (see sources), unrefined coconut oil, ethically and sustainably harvested palm kernel oil, almond and other cold-pressed and unrefined nut oils while a vegetarian might also include butter and ghee (see sources).

4. To learn how to culture vegetables and make naturally fermented probiotic beverages.

Meat and animal foods are rich sources of B vitamins, particularly vitamin B12 which is not found in plant-based foods with the exception of fermented and cultured foods and beverages.  For this reason vegetarians and vegans are at risk of B vitamin deficiency; indeed a 2002 study analyzing the B12 status of vegetarians found that more than 60% of vegetarians suffered from stage III B12 deficiency¹². Fermentation of vegetables and beverages, as in the case of kombucha and water kefir, can provide B vitamins though reports of B12 in fermented foods are largely unreliable so vegetarians and vegans should not rely on kombucha, water kefir, sauerkraut and other fermented foods as a source of B12; however, they do present an excellent source of other B vitamins.

Nutritional yeast, which is not strictly a traditional food, can be a source of vitamin B12 as well as other B vitamins and is also produced through fermentation.  Incidentally, it is a source of free glutamic acid and those sensitive to MSG might do well to avoid it altogether.

Beyond the benefit B vitamins, fermented foods and beverages present an excellent source of beneficial bacteria and live food enzymes.  Beneficial bacteria work in conjunction with the immune system, keeping the body alert, healthy and keep pathogens at bay¹⁵, and may even show promise in alleviating inflammation in the gut¹⁶.

5. To find a source of raw, enzyme-rich protein and eat it every day.

In populations adhering to their traditional, native diets, people consumed at least some form of raw, enzyme-rich protein every day.  For many people this meant eating meat, milk, eggs, butter, cream, fish or roe raw and for traditional foods enthusiasts who drink raw milk liberally.  While the thought of eating raw meat or egg yolks may turn a  vegetarian’s stomach, one might, instead, choose to eat fresh sprouts – while the protein offered in fresh sprouts is minor by comparison to that offered in fresh meat, it still offers an opportunity to consume an enzyme- and vitamin-rich food daily.  Sprouted mung beans are a popular traditional food in Asia.  For vegetarians who aren’t opposed to the inclusion of some animal foods in their diet, raw egg yolk from pastured hens mixed into a salad dressing or mayonnaise offers a great source of vitamin-rich, raw protein and fat as well as fresh butter, milk and cream.

1. Hotz, et al. Traditional food-processing and preparation techniques to enhance the bioavailability of micro-nutrients in plant-based diets. Journal of Nutrition. April 2007.  2. Sandberg. Bioavailability of minerals in legumes. British Journal of Nutrition. December 2002. 3. Larsson, et al. Improved zinc and iron absorption from breakfast meals containing malted oats with reduced phytate content. British Journal of Nutrition. November 1996. 4. 5. Lopez, et al. New data on the bioavailability of bread magnesium. Magnesium Research. December 2004. 7. Doerge, et al. Goitrogenic and estrogenic activity of soy isoflavones. Environmental Health Perspectives. June 2002. 8. Nagata et al. Association of dietry fat, vegetables and antioxidant micrnutrients with skin ageing in Japanese women. British Journal of Nutrition. January 2010. 9.  Price. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. (6th Edition) Keats Publishing. 2003. 10. Cordain. Saturated Fat Consumption in Ancestral Human Diets. Phytochemicals: Nutrient-gene Interaction. 11. Holmberg et al. Food Choices and Coronary Heart Disease: A Population Based Cohort Study of Rural Swedish Men with 12 Years of Follow-up. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. October 2009. 12. Herrmann & Geisel. Vegetarian lifestyle and monitoring of vitamin B-12 status. International Journal of Clinical Chemistry. December 2002. 13. Kariluoto, et al. Effects of yeasts and bacteria on the levels of folates in rye sourdoughs. February 2006. 15. Gorska. Probiotic bacteria in the human gastrointestinal tract as a factor stimulating the immune system. 2009. 16. Isolauri, et al. Probiotics effects on immunity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  February, 2001.

1. Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)

Found in the meat and milk of grass-fed ruminants, like cows, Conjugated Linoleic Acid or CLA is a potent nutrient. Researchers are just beginning to understand the mechanisms behind the potent and positive health effects traditional peoples have enjoyed since the days of hunting and gathering.   CLA is known as a potent antioxidant and anti-carcinogen.   CLA has shown promise in the treatment of various cancers.   Research conducted at the University of Alberta in Canada, Dartmouth Medical Center and elsewhere   indicates that CLA shows promise in the fight against breast cancer. [1. Lipids. 2009 Mar 6.], [2. Nutr Cancer.2009;61(1):114-22]   Further, CLA even could be valuable in the treatment of brain cancer due to its ability to prevent the development of new malignant tumors as well as inhibit the growth of existing tumors. [3. Brain Res. 2008 Jun 5;1213:35-40. Epub 2008 Feb 16.]

2. Iron

Red meat is a rich source of iron; better yet, it’s a rich source of the most easily absorbed iron: heme iron.   Heme iron is very readily and easily absorbed.   Contrasted with red meat plant sources of iron, like lentils, offer non-heme iron which is poorly absorbed.   Iron is critical to health because, when properly absorbed, it assists the blood’s hemoglobin in carrying oxygen to the body’s cells.   Low iron may lead to fatigue, headaches and dizziness.   Women of child-bearing age, infants and children are most likely to be deficient due to their increased level of need for iron. Red meat should be considered especially important for women–particularly during and after menstruation when the loss of blood brings down iron levels.

3. Stearic Acid

Stearic acid is a saturated fat found in beef and other meats.   Despite the current and prevalent thought that saturated fats cause an elevation in cholesterol, research indicates that stearic acid actually lowers LDL cholesterol [4. Lipids. 2005 Dec;40(12):1201-5.]

4. Protein

Red meat is an easy source of complete protein.   Protein is essential to the human diet not only because it provides energy, but also because it is critical to the growth and repair of cells.   Every cell in the human body contains protein including the antibody cells of the immune system which protect the body against pathogens.   Red meat is an easy to prepare complete protein containing the full spectrum of amino acids.

5. Zinc

The mineral zinc plays an important role in human health.   It is essential for immune system function and can combat the effects of premature aging due to its anti-inflammatory properties. [5. Genes Nutr. 2008 Jul;3(2):61-75.]   Zinc also plays an important role in skin health, particularly in healing from afflictions like acne and eczema.   Zinc deficiency is linked to skin disorders like dermatitis. [6. Orv Hetil. 2004 May 9;145(19):1007-10.

7. Vitamin A

The suet and tallow of grass-fed animals is rich in vitamin A - including both retinol and beta-carotene.   Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin noted for its positive effects on health.   Vitamin A promotes fertility, good vision and immunity.   Inadequate maternal intake of vitamin A prior to and during pregnancy has been linked to birth defects. Retinol or pre-formed vitamin A is essential to properly functioning immune and endocrine systems while beta-carotene is a potent anti-carcinogen due it is powerful antioxidant activity.   The fat from grass-fed cows, lambs and bison is rich in these nutrients--greatly more so than the fat of conventionally fed animals from concentration animal feed operations (CAFOs and feedlots).   The naturally occurring beta-carotene found in abundance among the wild grasses of pastures and plains feed the animals naturally.   Some of this beta-carotene is transformed into retinol in the fat, while some of it remains as beta-carotene.   Red meat and the fat of grass-grazing animals provides a good source of this powerful and essential nutrient.

8. EPA

Similarly, the fat from naturally fed cows and other ruminants contains significant amounts of EPA.   EPA is also found in oily, ocean-going fish.   This omega-3 fatty acid is essential for cognitive function and emotional health and is only naturally available from animal food sources.   EPA is known for its many health benefits including protection from cardiovascular disease, cognitive function and emotional well-being.   Intake of EPA has been proven effective time and time again in the treatment and prevention of heart disease, and regular, daily intake of EPA from diet alone "would be expected to significantly reduce deaths from coronary heart disease." [8. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2008 Dec;10(6):503-9.] While DHA, another notable nutrient found naturally in combination with EPA, is known primarily for its positive effects on brain and cognitive development, EPA is known for its positive effects on mood and emotional well-being.   Combinations of these two omega-3 fatty acids have shown remarkable benefits in treating ADHD/ADD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism and even dyslexia. [9. Altern Med Rev. 2007 Sep;12(3):207-27.] Low levels of EPA have been linked with the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.   [10. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Sep;88(3):714-21.]   Grass-finished meat represents an excellent source for EPA due to its favorable omega 3 to omega 5 fatty acid ratio.   Grass-finished meat offers an omega 3 to omega 6 ratio of approximately 1 part omega-3 fatty acids to 2 parts omega-6 fatty acids; by contrast, conventionally fed cows produce meat with a much less favorable ratio and are lacking in the vital nutrient EPA.

9. Mono-unsaturated Fat

Beef fat is comprised of approximately 35% monounsaturated fat.   The consumption of monounsaturated fats are linked to a reduction in LDL cholesterol and an increase in HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol)–particularly among insulin-resistant individuals. [11. J Am Coll Nutr. 2007 Oct;26(5):434-44.]

10. Tradition

Traditionally, red meat has comprised an important element of the human diet.   Consider the venison that nourished Europeans, the bison that nourished the Native Americans or the lamb and mutton that provided sustenance for the nomads of the Middle East: all of these foods provide value to the diet including wholesome fats, vital protein, minerals and vitamins.   Red meat has been part of the human diet for millennia – yet the people who consumed it didn’t suffer from cancers or heart disease or other diseases of industrialization; rather, they benefited from its many positive and essential nutrients.   If it nourished your ancestors, it can nourish you too.   Take care to purchase only grass-finished meats which offer the very best nutritional profile.

Source: NourishedKitchen.com

March 13th, while speaking in the auditorium at the 15th Annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair, Lierre Kieth was assaulted by pie throwing goons. The 3 pies were laced with hot pepper and therefor had an effect similar to pepper spray, blinding the author for a time. The painful attack was was carried out by three masked, militant vegans unhappy with the substance of the authors new book, The Vegetarian Myth.

The tactic of throwing pies to illustrate distaste is an old one. First made popular by Aron Kay in the 70′s, the tactic made a comeback in the 90′s when adopted by The Biotic Baking Brigade.

Introduction to The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith at Bound Together Bookstore, June 13, 2009

See also: Let Them Eat Meat

Read the militant vegan view at:  Veg*n Antagonist Lierre Keith Pied in the Face at 2010 SF Anarchist Bookfair (IndyBay)

Updated: 3/14 at 7:31 am <Thanks for the info David and Robnoxious>

From: New York Times

I stopped eating pork about eight years ago, after a scientist happened to mention that the animal whose teeth most closely resemble our own is the pig. Unable to shake the image of a perky little pig flashing me a brilliant George Clooney smile, I decided it was easier to forgo the Christmas ham. A couple of years later, I gave up on all mammalian meat, period. I still eat fish and poultry, however and pour eggnog in my coffee. My dietary decisions are arbitrary and inconsistent, and when friends ask why I’m willing to try the duck but not the lamb, I don’t have a good answer. Food choices are often like that: difficult to articulate yet strongly held. And lately, debates over food choices have flared with particular vehemence.

In his new book, “Eating Animals,” the novelist Jonathan Safran Foer describes his gradual transformation from omnivorous, oblivious slacker who “waffled among any number of diets” to “committed vegetarian.” Last month, Gary Steiner, a philosopher at Bucknell University, argued on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times that people should strive to be “strict ethical vegans” like himself, avoiding all products derived from animals, including wool and silk. Killing animals for human food and finery is nothing less than “outright murder,” he said, Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “eternal Treblinka.”

But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to “committed vegetarians” and “strong ethical vegans,” we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze. It’s time for a green revolution, a reseeding of our stubborn animal minds.

When plant biologists speak of their subjects, they use active verbs and vivid images. Plants “forage” for resources like light and soil nutrients and “anticipate” rough spots and opportunities. By analyzing the ratio of red light and far red light falling on their leaves, for example, they can sense the presence of other chlorophyllated competitors nearby and try to grow the other way. Their roots ride the underground “rhizosphere” and engage in cross-cultural and microbial trade.

“Plants are not static or silly,” said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. “They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk” through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. “These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals,” Dr. Hilker said.

Plants can’t run away from a threat but they can stand their ground. “They are very good at avoiding getting eaten,” said Linda Walling of the University of California, Riverside. “It’s an unusual situation where insects can overcome those defenses.” At the smallest nip to its leaves, specialized cells on the plant’s surface release chemicals to irritate the predator or sticky goo to entrap it. Genes in the plant’s DNA are activated to wage systemwide chemical warfare, the plant’s version of an immune response. We need terpenes, alkaloids, phenolics — let’s move.

“I’m amazed at how fast some of these things happen,” said Consuelo M. De Moraes ofPennsylvania State University. Dr. De Moraes and her colleagues did labeling experiments to clock a plant’s systemic response time and found that, in less than 20 minutes from the moment the caterpillar had begun feeding on its leaves, the plant had plucked carbon from the air and forged defensive compounds from scratch.

Just because we humans can’t hear them doesn’t mean plants don’t howl. Some of the compounds that plants generate in response to insect mastication — their feedback, you might say — are volatile chemicals that serve as cries for help. Such airborne alarm calls have been shown to attract both large predatory insects like dragon flies, which delight in caterpillar meat, and tiny parasitic insects, which can infect a caterpillar and destroy it from within.

“Animal foods like meat, liver, butter, whole milk and eggs contain ten to one hundred times more vitamins and minerals than plant foods,” says Fallon Morell. “Plant foods add variety and interest to the human diet but in most circumstances do not qualify as ‘nutrient-dense’ foods.”

Read More at: WHOLE FOODS PROMOTES MILITANT VEGETARIAN AGENDA Has the Upscale Market Outlived Its Usefulness? (Weston A Price Foundation)