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[post_content] =>
This month’s theme is nutrition, and I started the series by explaining that, while we have greatly improved humans’ odds of surviving childhood, we haven’t made as much progress in prolonging the lives of older people. Old people tend to die of conditions that are long in the making, and there aren’t many ways to intervene in these processes near the end of life. The biggest value in life extension comes from adopting good habits earlier, such as healthy eating, exercise, and a spiritual or meditative practice.
Last week I compared the body to a car, and asserted that fuel quality isn’t everything. We always hear about what we should and shouldn’t eat, but how our fuel is introduced to the body is as important to our health as the fuel itself. (You can read part one and part two.) Previously, we looked at food preparation and the vital role of the mouth; now let’s travel a bit further down the rabbit hole. (Note: the gastrointestinal tract is not an actual rabbit hole; we do not condone swallowing live rabbits.)
Food goes in your mouth, travels down a tube called the esophagus, and pushes through a ring of muscle known as the lower esophageal sphincter (or LES) to enter your stomach. The LES is vital for keeping the top of your stomach closed, so food doesn’t back up and stomach acid doesn’t burn the lining of your esophagus. When you overfill your stomach, at least four bad things happen – it stretches the stomach, it promotes weight gain, it compromises digestion, and it puts lots of back pressure on the LES.
A stretched stomach is a feature of every overweight person. Fullness of the stomach is not a healthy way to gauge when to stop eating. If you routinely fill your stomach to capacity, it will inevitably expand, and you’ll need to eat more to get that full feeling. There’s a perceptible difference between enough and full, and enough is usually much less than full. Okinawans, known for their longevity, have a cultural practice of eating to just 80% of capacity. At 80% full, you will not be hungry, although you may convince yourself that you are, being used to that full stomach feeling. Undereating promotes longer life.
If the stomach is packed, it’s like an overly full washing machine. The clothes don’t circulate – they just get damp and wrinkly. Likewise, we don’t digest our best when the stomach is filled to capacity. A history of overeating tends to deplete the stomach, which can result in insufficient acid secretion. We need lots of acid to digest food (especially protein, minerals, and vitamin B12), to stimulate emptying of the stomach, to quickly dismantle potential allergens, and to kill bacteria and viruses that may have entered the GI tract. Low stomach acid is very common among older adults. I usually give patients hydrochloric acid in a form called betaine hydrochloride, though I’ve encountered many who have gotten good results from using apple cider vinegar in capsules or taken in some water.
If we frequently cram the stomach, the LES tends to become less competent at staying tightly closed. Especially when combined with shallow breathing, low stomach acid, sitting a lot, frequently wearing a tight belt or seat belt, and having a big belly, the result is acid reflux – AKA heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot more people get acid reflux than in the past. When I began my practice, I didn’t encounter it that much. Now it seems every other patient is on an acid blocking drug. One reason is that portion sizes have increased and mealtimes have gotten shorter and less relaxed, so we eat both more and faster.
Sometimes a person with a history of acid reflux will develop pre-cancerous changes in their esophagus known as Barrett’s Esophagus, and in these cases, an acid blocker might be prudent (though I still recommend fixing the cause of the reflux). For everyone else, they are a bad idea except for occasional use. Over time, all of the functions of stomach acid I mentioned above can be expected to become compromised – nutrient absorption, killing of pathogens, breaking down allergens, etc. We’re already starting to see unusually high rates of uncommon infections in people on these drugs. There are lots of better and more natural approaches for relief, such as d-limonene, which comes from orange peel oil, and soothes and protects the esophagus. But the best thing you can do is to eat less food, do it slowly, prepare it as I explained in the last article, and chew thoroughly. It will not only improve your health, it will also bring you back to specialness that is the ritual of nourishing yourself.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
P.S. After years of teaching people about nutrition, I recently decided to create an online video-based nutrition course called How to Eat. If you’re interested in learning more about nutrition, including both Eastern and Western points of view, I encourage you to check it out. My goal is to have participants gain a lifelong, intuitive understanding of how to feed themselves, and to learn how to eat for optimal energy and weight. You can check it out here.
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[post_content] => I often wish I had time in the treatment room to teach my patients about nutrition. Nutrition is an important issue for a few reasons. First, because we’ve greatly reduced the number of deaths from accidents and infections, most people in developed countries now die from conditions that are influenced by long-term eating habits: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.
Second, we have different nutritional challenges today than ever before. For most of human history, people ate to survive and barely had a choice of what to eat – but it was entirely natural and mostly local. Now our choices are dizzying, much of our food is created or processed in factories, and there are all kinds of new unknowns – such as the influence of pesticides, chemicals used in production and packaging, and nonstick coatings on cookware.
Third, in the nutrition conversation, everyone is yelling at once, and most of the participants have no qualifications to give nutritional advice or interpret scientific studies. Thousands of bloggers, journalists, self-styled “bio-hackers,” and medical professionals have an opinion about what people should and shouldn’t eat, save for a very few places that tell you what's proper for you. There’s so much sensationalism and contradiction.
I believe people need a clear, consistent philosophy on nutrition that doesn’t change with every new study.
This inspired me to create an online course called
How to Eat. It teaches traditional wisdom on nutrition, backed by modern science, in a format that’s easy to digest (I couldn’t resist). It’s designed to give someone an understanding of how and what to eat that makes so much sense that there’s no need to memorize anything.
But I’m realistic about modern attention spans, so I know I’m lucky if I’ve kept you reading even this long, and you probably want to know what that title is all about. If I were to distill my nutrition teachings down to one rule, it would be this: Stay conscious while eating.
I used to say the single most important rule was something I learned from one of my nutrition teachers, Dr. Paul Greenbaum: eat food that’s
whole,
pure, and
natural. I still think this is great advice, but now I know that, even following this rule, it’s still possible to eat in a way that isn’t good for you.
I eat pretty cleanly, but a few months ago I started experiencing abdominal bloating. My belly would get as big and tight as a basketball; I could barely walk and was in agonizing pain. I tried some herbs and supplements and started eating only very simple foods, but it barely made a difference. Finally, I stopped eating entirely and the bloating went away, but of course I knew I couldn’t fast forever.
When I did finally eat again, I ate with all my attention. I chewed well and felt into my body and did nothing else at the same time. I just gave
all of my presence to what I was doing. I noticed that my body wanted only about two-thirds as much food as what I expected and that it wanted to be fed that food at a relatively slow pace. Doing this, I digested everything well. I ate the very same foods as before, but had no bloating. I realized then that I had gotten into the bad habit of eating unconsciously. I had forgotten my own teachings, and was eating while working, while driving, and while walking through the house.
It was all better until yesterday. In the mid-afternoon I started to feel the bloating coming on and I realized I had been eating unconsciously again! Sometimes I like to learn things the hard way.
Now obviously you’re not going completely unconscious while eating (if you are, I highly recommend you don’t eat while driving), but we all let our minds stray while eating. Sometimes we’re just daydreaming. Other times our mind is actively engaged in something else, like having a conversation, or reading the news, or playing on our phone, or watching TV.
There are (at least) three good things that happen when we
stay conscious while eating:
1. The eating process tends to work better. We're relaxed, we consume at a healthier pace, the body assimilates it better, and I believe we probably derive more nutritional value from the food.
2. We notice and can respond to the subtle (or not-so-subtle) messages our body is giving us, such as, “I’m not hungry anymore” or “This food is not compatible with me” or “Slow down.” You can learn virtually everything you need to know about how to best feed yourself – both the specific foods and the ideal time and manner to eat them – just by giving all of your attention to the act of eating.
3. We have an amazing opportunity. Truly. I believe that most people may never experience just how profound the act of eating is. This profundity is only available when we give it our full attention. Then we start to get an inkling of it . . .
. . . the complexity of colors, textures, flavors, and nutrients in the food
. . . the incredible sophistication and intelligence of the human body; its ability to extract what it needs from the food and turn it into energy, blood, muscle, bone, and the capacity to remain conscious and sharp
. . . the whole ecology we’re part of – the sun and the almost magical ability of plant cells to turn its light into biological energy; the constructive roles of soil and water; the human labor and the care that was taken to cultivate this food; and the lineage of thousands of generations of plants and animals that were intentionally chosen for the purpose of nourishing us.
When we have an experience of just how special this is – we see ourselves putting the universe into ourselves and being sustained by it and connected to it in the process – eating is no longer just about making the hungry feeling go away or enjoying pleasant tastes. It could be our spiritual practice. It unites us with our environment. And it compels us to consider the impacts of our choices on this beautiful system.
So, if you do just one thing to intervene in your nutrition routine, I recommend that it’s this. When you eat, give the act all of your attention. If you can’t give it all of your attention, then eat minimally and slowly, or wait until a time when you
can give it your attention. Then tell me what happens.
Love,
Peter
Learn more about the 'How To Eat' online course
[post_title] => The Single Most Important Rule for Good Nutrition
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[post_content] => It’s almost time for the Thanksgiving feast, and I know many people feel it’s a challenge to avoid gorging themselves and feeling guilty. So I’d like to offer some thoughts on the subject, along with a great recipe for a vegetarian gravy that’s (somewhat) healthier than the usual stuff but every bit as delectable.
This recipe came originally from my wife Briana’s grandfather John Moore, passed down by her dad, also John Moore, to her, and by association to me. There’s something special about following these family recipes – even if they change over time. At the start, deliciousness was the only guiding principle. Then Briana wanted to make it vegetarian, and I wanted to make the flavor a bit more complex and add some spices that might even help to balance digestive-overwhelm.
First let’s talk about overeating and feeling guilty. I’ve written about this in the past, and I’ll say it again: the single most healthful change a person can make to how they eat is to stay fully present during the act of eating.
More than keto or intermittent fasting or veganism or any other diet, being totally engaged and conscious while eating will automatically change how you eat, what you eat, and how you feel afterwards. Furthermore, it will teach you what does and doesn’t work for your body, and it will add a whole new dimension of depth and connection to the act of nourishing yourself. I’ve known people to spontaneously abandon unhealthy behaviors like gambling and codependent relationships when they became more awake to their nutrition and allowed themselves to experience all facets of that process – being both the loving giver and the grateful receiver of their own loving care.
I know there’s going to be good conversation and an abundance of excellent food. Staying conscious while eating doesn’t mean you can’t have it all. In fact, you’ll actually have a more fulfilling experience of all of it – both the food and the company – if you stay present. It might take twice as long to eat half as much food, but you’ll be able to walk away from the table rather than hobbling.
Now for the recipe. As it’s presented below, it contains gluten and dairy, but it can easily be modified to have neither.
Ingredients:
- Butter – ¾ to 1 cup (a stick of butter is a half cup) – or ghee, or coconut oil, or vegan butter substitute
- Onion – half to whole, depending on how much you like onion – finely diced
- Mushrooms (optional) – any kind, though I prefer crimini or another variety that isn’t chewy – approximately 1 cup, finely diced
- Garlic – 5 cloves, crushed
- Flour (normal or gluten-free) – ¾ cup to 1 cup – roughly the same amount of flour as the amount of butter you used
- Vegetable broth – 4 cups (have a few more cups on hand). I like the Better Than Bouillon Organic Vegetable Base and Organic Mushroom Base, and I often mix the two together. It comes in a glass jar and one jar makes many cups of broth, so it’s tasty, compact in your fridge, and eco-friendly.
- Soy sauce or tamari (gluten free soy sauce) – 4 tablespoons
- Worcestershire sauce (optional) – 1 to 2 teaspoons – note, it usually contains anchovies
- Rosemary, chopped – approximately 1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried
- Sage, chopped – approximately 1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried
- Fresh ginger – finely grated – approximately 1 tablespoon
- Nutritional yeast (optional) – 1 to 2 tablespoons
- Good quality salt and black pepper
Directions:
In a large deep pan over medium heat, sautee the onion, mushroom (if using), and garlic in the butter (or butter alternative) until it begins to brown (about 5 minutes).
Slowly add the flour, soy sauce or tamari, nutritional yeast (if using), and worcestershire sauce (if using). Work it with a spoon or spatula to form a smooth paste. Stir occasionally, allow it to become evenly browned.
Gradually add the broth, using a whisk or hand blender to blend it with the flour paste.
Add the ginger, sage, and rosemary, bring to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer, and simmer low for about 5 minutes.
At this point the gravy should be delicious and an ideal consistency.
If you need to thin it, add more broth or (if you don’t want to make it more salty) hot water.
If you want to thicken it, add more flour to a small amount of broth in a bowl and whisk or hand blend to make smooth, then add and continue to whisk into the gravy until the desired consistency is achieved. If it’s much too thin, this could also be achieved with corn starch or arrowroot powder – mix 1 tablespoon at a time in a small amount of water or broth until dissolved, then add to the gravy and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly. Repeat as necessary to thicken further.
If you want to give it more kick, add extra ginger, garlic, black pepper, or crushed red pepper.
If it’s not salty enough, add either more salt, or (if it needs more body altogether) add more soy sauce or tamari.
If it lacks body, you may add additional nutritional yeast, a little powdered clove, or a pinch of garam masala.
Serve abundantly over virtually everything or drink by the glass. If you make this gravy I’d love to know how it turns out – along with whatever of your own modifications made it even better! And if you experiment with eating mindfully, I would love to know what’s different about the eating process and how you feel afterwards. Also, when you practice mindful eating, what obstacles do you encounter?
Be well,
Peter
[post_title] => Mind-Blowingly Good Vegetarian Gravy – and How to Leave the Table Feeling Good
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This month’s theme is nutrition, and I started the series by explaining that, while we have greatly improved humans’ odds of surviving childhood, we haven’t made as much progress in prolonging the lives of older people. Old people tend to die of conditions that are long in the making, and there aren’t many ways to intervene in these processes near the end of life. The biggest value in life extension comes from adopting good habits earlier, such as healthy eating, exercise, and a spiritual or meditative practice.
Last week I compared the body to a car, and asserted that fuel quality isn’t everything. We always hear about what we should and shouldn’t eat, but how our fuel is introduced to the body is as important to our health as the fuel itself. (You can read part one and part two.) Previously, we looked at food preparation and the vital role of the mouth; now let’s travel a bit further down the rabbit hole. (Note: the gastrointestinal tract is not an actual rabbit hole; we do not condone swallowing live rabbits.)
Food goes in your mouth, travels down a tube called the esophagus, and pushes through a ring of muscle known as the lower esophageal sphincter (or LES) to enter your stomach. The LES is vital for keeping the top of your stomach closed, so food doesn’t back up and stomach acid doesn’t burn the lining of your esophagus. When you overfill your stomach, at least four bad things happen – it stretches the stomach, it promotes weight gain, it compromises digestion, and it puts lots of back pressure on the LES.
A stretched stomach is a feature of every overweight person. Fullness of the stomach is not a healthy way to gauge when to stop eating. If you routinely fill your stomach to capacity, it will inevitably expand, and you’ll need to eat more to get that full feeling. There’s a perceptible difference between enough and full, and enough is usually much less than full. Okinawans, known for their longevity, have a cultural practice of eating to just 80% of capacity. At 80% full, you will not be hungry, although you may convince yourself that you are, being used to that full stomach feeling. Undereating promotes longer life.
If the stomach is packed, it’s like an overly full washing machine. The clothes don’t circulate – they just get damp and wrinkly. Likewise, we don’t digest our best when the stomach is filled to capacity. A history of overeating tends to deplete the stomach, which can result in insufficient acid secretion. We need lots of acid to digest food (especially protein, minerals, and vitamin B12), to stimulate emptying of the stomach, to quickly dismantle potential allergens, and to kill bacteria and viruses that may have entered the GI tract. Low stomach acid is very common among older adults. I usually give patients hydrochloric acid in a form called betaine hydrochloride, though I’ve encountered many who have gotten good results from using apple cider vinegar in capsules or taken in some water.
If we frequently cram the stomach, the LES tends to become less competent at staying tightly closed. Especially when combined with shallow breathing, low stomach acid, sitting a lot, frequently wearing a tight belt or seat belt, and having a big belly, the result is acid reflux – AKA heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot more people get acid reflux than in the past. When I began my practice, I didn’t encounter it that much. Now it seems every other patient is on an acid blocking drug. One reason is that portion sizes have increased and mealtimes have gotten shorter and less relaxed, so we eat both more and faster.
Sometimes a person with a history of acid reflux will develop pre-cancerous changes in their esophagus known as Barrett’s Esophagus, and in these cases, an acid blocker might be prudent (though I still recommend fixing the cause of the reflux). For everyone else, they are a bad idea except for occasional use. Over time, all of the functions of stomach acid I mentioned above can be expected to become compromised – nutrient absorption, killing of pathogens, breaking down allergens, etc. We’re already starting to see unusually high rates of uncommon infections in people on these drugs. There are lots of better and more natural approaches for relief, such as d-limonene, which comes from orange peel oil, and soothes and protects the esophagus. But the best thing you can do is to eat less food, do it slowly, prepare it as I explained in the last article, and chew thoroughly. It will not only improve your health, it will also bring you back to specialness that is the ritual of nourishing yourself.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
P.S. After years of teaching people about nutrition, I recently decided to create an online video-based nutrition course called How to Eat. If you’re interested in learning more about nutrition, including both Eastern and Western points of view, I encourage you to check it out. My goal is to have participants gain a lifelong, intuitive understanding of how to feed themselves, and to learn how to eat for optimal energy and weight. You can check it out here.
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Seems the moral of the story is balance. As you stated “One of those impacts is that meat production – in the prevailing manner and scale – is devastating to the planet.” When did extremism become the health fad? All veggies, all meat, all fat? You speak often of balance in emotion and physicality. It appears to me this too should be practiced in our food consumption.
Wow this is an amazing article! This sums up so much of my own inquires and journey around eating meat. In my ideal world (and in my heart) I would love to be a vegetarian and not eat animals. I look into the eyes of my dog, Honey every day and think how could I feel so much love for this animal but turn my head to the killing and suffering of other animals happening so people like me can eat meat? But I’m allergic to eggs and dairy, so vegetarian automatically means vegan for me. And I’ve found myself to be someone who’s health suffers when I go this route. I’ve also wondered if I’m just not “doing vegan right” and if there’s more that I can experiment with along those lines….Looking forward to the next article.
Thank you for this. I have followed a similar trajectory. Last spring I began eating meat after many years. I noticed an immediate increase in energy and focus. I believe my body NEEDS animal protien. I make a point to only eat locally sourced, humanely raised meats. In addition to being more humane they really do pack more of an energy boost for me. I am now needing to “come out” to my vegetarian and vegan friends.
My mother was put on a strict vegan diet by her doctor, in her fifties for her cholesterol and heart health. Cardiovascular disease runs in my family with my grandfather, her father, dying at age 40 from a massive heart attack. He was otherwise fit and slim- it was a shock to everyone. I feel that I have no choice but to give up meat. I wish I was one of the lucky ones with great genes but meat has been linked to increased cholesterol, blood pressure, and clogged arteries. So that needs to be addressed, too. Especially for the many with family history. There is a book, I can’t remember what it’s called, that actually argues cardiovascular disease is a food borne illness due to aninal consumption. I’d like an article that looks at that side of subject if possible.
I don’t think it is acceptable to treat large herbivores who know pain and fear like we do. In fact, I cringe inwardly every time I see a cattle truck in the highway. It is also a tragedy to the environment. I personally will not go back to meat eating.
I, too, do not like meat; taste, texture or especially the ground meat and the chance of chewing on something that doesn’t feel like meat – yuck. Because of that, I became a vegetarian over 20 years ago. Not being educated enough and having support from family at home – I gained weight, found if difficult to plan meals besides pasta “something” – I failed to continue vegetarian.
Now, five years ago I really researched, was educated on the animal cruelty in the agriculture industry. I went vegetarian which still included egg and dairy. I still did not feel good about eating egg and dairy, I became vegan. I never really liked eggs or cheese anyway. When I stopped dairy my bloating went away and my stomach flattened. I assumed to be lactose intolerant. I felt so good, lost 30 lbs, looked younger and healthy, and also took the right supplements. I ate foods I enjoyed. I thought I would never change my lifestyle.
Well things changed again. A new relationship, where they consume A LOT of dairy, sweets, and some meat. I now again eat some cheese and some dairy. Each time I feel physically terrible; bloated, heavy and I also feel bad just knowing I renigged on my own morals about cruelty. Now, I at least got them to compromise to pescatarian meals.
In the end, I am going back to vegan regardless. I enjoy that the best. By body responds the best. Some folks just do better on certain diets.
Thank you for your article. I am looking forward to your pros and cons opinion next week.
I was a vegetarian for years in the late 80’s and early 90’s because of the ethical ramifications. When I became pregnant with my first child, I craved meat to the point of distraction. After a month of these cravings, I caved. I look at it this way, my body knows what it needs in order to function. Does me craving that cream filled donut constitute a need? No because it is fleeting. I was craving meat so intensely that I could not concentrate. I felt guilty for doing it but knew it was a necessary evil at that time, or at least I thought so. After birth, I returned to vegetarianism and breastfeed successfully. My oldest two daughters are vegetarians now with their two younger sisters starting on the path now and I follow basically a Mediterranean lifestyle. I do eat some meats on the rare occasion but rarely. It’s what works for me and my family. Maybe we all need to just do what works for us, our families and our lifestyles in order to be happy and healthy.
If you do choose to eat meat, there are local, sustainable options. When eating out, you may not have these options. Ask where your ingredients come from. Choose vegetarian if that feels like the best option.
Once, I asked a server where the fish was from. The reply: Sysco.
Thanks for this article. My journey as a vegetarian started at 19, shunning meat simply because our butcher, at the time, convinced my roommate and it was far more cost effective for us on college budgets to buy a whole side of an animal and have him dole it out to us when we wanted it. After consuming All that meat over a period of a couple of months, we simply turned our back on meat, having essentially overdosed on it. Next it became a bit of a crusade for me, then a “religious” and health decision that resulted in raising four children, now adults, all vegetarians. Of the four, two now eat meat, one remains a vegetarian, and one is a vigilanté vegan. I have remained a lacto-ovo vegetarian at 70, have enjoyed good health ( including fast and sometimes miraculous healing), upon occasion order the chicken special without the chicken ( with less perplexed looks from wait staff than years ago), and, having read about the studies on the longevity and healthy lifestyle of the Japanese and Seventh Day Adventist who are/were vegetarians, probably will remain one.
It would be disingenuous of me to not share my experience and ever growing thoughts on the subject.
To keep it brief, every choice has an impact. Agricultural based fueling is not without negative impacts on the environment, social justice, and the human body. I was a vegetarian for twenty years, and some of those years I followed a rigorous vegan diet and lifestyle. When pregnant, my body overrode my brain based choices. Meat and animal products were mandated by my body and the creation of another human being. I was horrified to discover what my body and growing child demanded for fuel. I gave in to what my body demonstrated as prefered sources of protein.
In the past two years, I witnessed three relatives perish and pass while on meatless diets. All three were brutal deaths.
And, now, journeying out of my fertility years, returning to consuming meat has saved me from disorganized thinking and physical manifestations of exhaustion and other dysfunctional coping that are fuel related.
I am disturbed by the idea that the conversation offered appears to be without mention of the overall impacts of fueling the population as a whole. I would suggest that population impacts the environment in a more rigorous manner than meat consumption. There is no escape from the impact of food sources and the best we may do is be mindful in our practice of living.
Good point, feeding the masses is a large part of the problem. Furthermore mass agricultural practices are as harmful to the environment as mass meat production.
This is an interesting and confusing conundrum that it seems many people are facing right now. I am looking forward to the next installment. There seems to be conflicting information about whether meat (and animal products in general) are good for you, bad for you, or if it’s more about balance. I do wonder however, if meat raised in a more natural, humane way (pastured, grass-fed, cage-free, etc) is better for us than regular mass-produced meat…it’s certainly better for the livestock animals. This possibility is something I don’t really see much in this sort of discussion.
I always knew that someday I would becomes a vegatarian. During my ministry training, I heard the inner prompt and knew that it was time. I have always “heard” animals so it was a logical next step on my path. As a professional intuitive and practicing shaman, it is essential to my peace that I am in harmony with nature.
After 17 years, I did the Virgin Diet and found that my inflammation was the result of eggs and dairy. It was shocking to discover how deeply my soul, spirit and intuition were impacted by the change to veganism. I could “smell” how animal products were affecting people. Thankfully, I learned to turn that awareness down! However, I can still “feel” how someone’s diet impacts their vibration.
I have decided that my life cannot be dependent upon the death or suffering of animals.
We still have a long way to go before our food production positively impacts the earth. I am dedicated to organic plant sources. If the animals are honored, a vegatarian diet is an honorable path. However, I cannot comprehend how humans can justify eating animals at this point in our evolution.
If we are to heal this plant and actualize our true potential, we will need to increase our vibrational awareness and harmonize our individual frequencies.
I understand that there are many sides to every story♡
Very interesting topic. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it. Pardon me whilst I ramble a bit. 🙂
I didn’t like meat very much as a kid and became vegetarian around the mid-90’s after I couldn’t keep meat down during my pregnancies. But I often cooked meat for my ex-husband and kids, I just didn’t put it on my plate or ate a very small serving. Getting my family to let go of the meat after “declaring” I was vegetarian caused a lot of stress, and the pediatrician fussed at me, even though I was providing other proteins for my kids. Then we moved to Japan. You’re very right about the Asian attitude toward meat being a wealth thing, rather than a health or animal-compassion thing. While living there, I chose to return to eating meat for a few reasons.
1) I wanted to fully enjoy my experience living in Japan, so I wanted to try things like sushi, sashimi, takoyaki, nikuyaki, donkatsu, etc. A big chunk of cultural texture is lost if you’re unwilling to eat local foods when you travel, attend festivals, or visit friends.
2) I wanted to respect my Japanese hosts and be a grateful guest, rather than a picky eater. One of the reasons people started to look sideways at vegetarians in the 90’s in America is because it turned into a religion … because everything in American culture comes down to politics and religion, which is why we are SO divided. Vegans preached at carnivores about being disgusting, and carnivores mocked vegetarians for being “crunchy” tree-huggers, etc. I didn’t want to be “that American” if I was offered sushi. Because I saw plenty of scrunched-up “ick” faces on other Americans while living in Japan, and once a group of tourists even loudly complained about Japanese food while on a Japanese tour bus. I know the bus driver and tour guide understood them. More Japanese people understand English than can speak it well, so there was no way they didn’t hear that. It’s just RUDE.
3) I was in a place where availability was different. Seaweed was abundant, but things like nutritional yeast … not so much. Soy milk is a very different thing in Japan, too. And while my Nihongo reading skills were okay, examining labels to make sure there was no animal product in something became a tedious, difficult labor. Either I had to order and pay more for shipping American foods overseas, or I learned to cook something without the American “health food” ingredients.
4) Going back to family issues … I gave up. It was too much stress. I decided that, like with my Japanese friends and contacts, putting food preferences before relationships was wrong.
Returning to meat didn’t mean I ate it every night. I still wasn’t crazy about it. I served meat dishes only once a week or had it only when we ate out. My sensei and friend and I discussed this once because she was surprised to hear I was a vegetarian in the States, and she didn’t understand American meat consumption in the first place. She said she was shocked to see how much meat some of her other American friends consumed. She held out her hand, palm open, and pointed to it, saying something like, “A chicken breast this big can feed a Japanese family of four. Yet Americans eat one chicken breast each … at every meal!” She was genuinely astonished and confused. And after being vegetarian and going back to meat, I realized I consumed meat probably a lot like how she would have cooked it. One or two chicken breasts is more than enough to add to a stir-fry or soup or curry because the rest of the meal is loaded with veggies and rice.
I now cook meat maybe once every few weeks, and it may last me for a few meals because I live alone these days. But it almost always is a small part of a variety dish (soups, stews, etc.). Otherwise, I love nuts and beans and drink almond and soy milks. I eat eggs. I even bought some takoyaki from Uwajimaya on my last trip to Seattle. 🙂 But it’s very difficult for me to eat a slab of meat as such all by itself because I just don’t like it that much.
Also, my Japanese friend said that Buddhist monks don’t eat meat because of their high regard for life, and, historically, butchers used to be considered very low-class in Japanese society when Buddhism had a lot of influence over the government for that same reason. (Mixing religion and politics tends to influence a civilization’s social status hierarchy. So if the religion has dietary restrictions, which then become law, people outside of that religion become viewed as lower class, and might risk breaking the law by choosing to eat differently.) … But that’s definitely not the case nowadays. In modern Japan, meat is both viewed as a luxury treat and more commonly consumed. Eggs and seafood are consumed more regularly for protein, then chicken and pork, with beef being on top of the list. But they eat more western foods now, too. So fast food, spaghetti dinners, and French pastries are loved, but are often adjusted to Japanese tastes, like McDonald’s offering a tsuki-mi burger during Moon Viewing season in late summer (this is a chicken patty with a moon-like fried egg, teriyaki sauce, and lettuce), or pizza being served with sea urchins. 🙂 All countries alter foreign foods to suit their local palettes, but western foods (fast food in particular) are closely tied to increased meat consumption in Japan. (And, sadly, rising rates of obesity.)
Okay, done with long ramble. 🙂 I usually don’t have much to say, and you probably don’t need any more feedback on Asian nutrition habits; I enrolled with your on-line nutrition course a couple of years ago, and loved it. I just suspect my experiences with going from a vegetarian American food culture to a meat-eating Asian food culture will confirm much of what you say for this discussion. If not, I’m curious about where it differs. Either way, I look forward to hearing more. ^_^
I don’t think that it is possible to humanely raise animals who are killed for their meat. I think that people are kidding themselves by saying that the manner in which a sentient being is raised makes the difference. The being is eventually murdered for his or her body. End of story. That’s why I don’t eat meat. I will take a b-12 and any other vitamin necessary to protect my health, but I consider it a moral responsibility to be a vegetarian/vegan.
Dr. Peter,
I too am confused on this, a proclaimed vegetarian at 10, scant meat eater again at 15. Whole 30 survivor and was a straight carnivor. I am matriculated in acupuncture school, which brings up a whole new set of “rules”. But I think the problem is with the system- the over production, the disconnect from how our food gets to our plate. Also the extensive noise around what and when and how we should eat with the excessive new diet, widget, or trend is exhausting. I appreciate your forum to discuss this.
I have to agree with you that a part of the problem is the disconnect from how our food gets to our plate. I may be shunned by many people posting on this blog, but I have chosen to live a lifestyle that brings me up close and personal to the food I am eating. I have a large garden and preserve as much food as I can in addition to hunting animals. It has been a life changing experience for me to get into hunting and I believe that being able to kill the animal I plan to eat brings a whole new meaning to fueling my body. My boyfriend and I have a goal to only eat hunted meat and participate as little as possible in purchasing meat from factory farms. My body suffers without meat and in the act of spending months in search of an animal I become in tune with what it means to harvest one and use it to fuel my body.
On another note, I believe that vegan and vegetarian diets may be just as bad for the environment as a meat based one. Typically these diets include or require unique foods/supplements that are from far away places and cannot be produced locally. The amount of energy it takes to produce and transport these products can be astronomical. Possibly eating whatever foods can be locally grown might be the best option if the environment is the focus for your food choices. I look forward to further discussion on this topic, thank you Peter Borten
Next month (early Feb.) I will be 78 years old, and I have been a vegetarian / sometimes pescetarian since the early ’70’s (1972, I believe). The reason I stopped eating meat was when I lived in Malibu, CA, and rode through Topanga Canyon to go to work in “the valley) as a sales rep. for Amtrak. Every morning when I drove across the mountain, I passed this little “hippie” farm, with lots of animals running around, and they had a big, huge sign up that said, “Love animals; don’t eat them”. For a while, it would make me angry every time I saw that sign. Then one morning I asked myself, “Why do I get so angry every time I read that sign?!” It then became clear to me that it was because I had a guilty conscience for eating meat. I knew I loved all animals, not just dogs and cats, so when I took a look at what happens to these animals when they are killed, that did it for me. I became a vegetarian and haven’t had meat since, except for some seafood, and ya know what? I haven’t missed it at all! Back then, it was harder because the restaurants didn’t offer many vegetarian options, but now it is so easy, as there are many other choices on menus other than meat entrees. I try not to eat too many diary products, but cheese is just one of those things I can’t give up. Now though, I look at the cheeses in the markets, and many are marked as having vegetarian rennet (Tillamook in the NW, for one example, and most cheeses are labeled now if they are non-meat rennet). Also, when I buy eggs, Zupan’s, Whole Foods and probably some other markets offer eggs that are not just “cage free”, but are free range (at a higher price of course, but worth it). I have never had any health problems in all those years because of being a vegetarian. I think it is up to each individual for the choices they make, but I am at a comfort level being vegetarian/part pechetarian. I have very high respect for people who are totally vegan; I’m just not there, yet. I will say to all vegetarians and vegans, there was a GREAT cookbook out years ago, called “The Cookbook For People Who Love Animals”. I have had that book for DECADES, and it is still one of my favorite books. I look at it more as a book of poetry rather than a cookbook. It is a statement of love, peace, and higher consciousness” to quote the Vancouver Island Vegetarian Assoc.). It is still out there under used books (Powell’s City of Books, for example). All through the book there are poem, quotes and essays from famous vegetarians such Henry David Thoreau, Saint Francis, Leonardo sa Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi, Henry W. Longfellow, Tagore, Count Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, and many more. It is so inspiring; a really lovely book, and I think all vegetarians and vegans would love it. Thank you, Dr. Peter Borten, for you interesting and inspiring articles. Wishing everyone the best!
P.S.: Ooops! Please excuse the typo errors; also a mistake on age (I’ll be 76, not 78). Thanks!
Tricia