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Green Living 101: Eating green as a vegan
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This is the first in a series of articles on Green Living 101. This article is on eating green as a vegan. Many people are unaware that our food production is extremely energy intensive, especially production involving animals. This article focuses on eating green for a vegan and the perspective of a man who has been a vegan for over 30 years. Michael Haughey explains why he feels veganism is important not only for the environment but for the lingering ethical and health consequences of consuming animal flesh.
Being vegan (eats no meat, dairy, or eggs) is very important to Haughey and he has been a vegan since 1973. Haughey is an engineer who works in the green building industry and is quite knowledgeable on energy issues. He has been a consultant on several of the Clean Energy 101 articles for this examiner (See articles on solar & wind, nuclear, hydropower & hydrogen, fossil fuels, and geothermal & bio fuels.) Plus, he has studied and read many resources on veganism and its health benefits.
On special occasions Haughey will eat eggs and dairy, but very rarely does he eat fish and never eats other meats. He became a vegan for ethical and environmental reasons. Haughey jokingly adds in our conversation, at a local coffee house, that “meat eaters” should be the American Indian name for “short life.” He states that humans do not require that much protein to lead a healthy life. He continues that we can get all the protein we need from fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes, and adds that the human body wastes a great deal of energy to break down muscle tissue (meat).
Recent studies support his claim on the negative health impacts from eating meat. One such study was from Cambridge University comparing the differences of what our ancestors ate, wild game, and what Americans now eat, factory farm animals. The nutritive value of wild game far outweighs the nutritive value of corn fed beef. This directly correlates to human health in this country. Comparisons with other countries like Japan, who have much lower rates of disease and high rates of longevity, can be directly connected to their rice, vegetable, and fish diets. Even the Journal of American Medical Association found that Americans eat far more saturated fats from consuming meat, which can lead to heart disease. An example of saturated food fats impact on the human body was found in Aaron Spurlock’s 2004 documentary called Supersize Me. Spurlock ate fast food for 30 days and caused damage to his liver, gained weight (fat), and increased his unhealthy cholesterol levels. His doctor pleaded to stop eating the super saturated fast food before the 30 days were up to prevent further serious health effects.
Haughey opposes raising and killing animals for the sole purpose of human consumption. He adds that raising meat in factory farms has increased the cruelties against livestock bred in these huge farms. These farms pack as many animals into a small space as possible to produce the greatest amount of meat and money. These animals are not grazing on rolling green pastures or scampering among the meadows. Factory farm animals live in confined places, where they are fed hormones, genetically modified corn products, antibiotics, and many other items one can barely fathom an animal could possibly digest. (Be sure to read the labels and research into farm practices (organic, free range, etc.) when purchasing foods.)
Americans can give thanks to Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture under the Nixon administration, for providing cheap food to the public by allowing the U.S. taxpayers to pay farm subsidies for farmers to grow nothing but corn and soybeans. Our tax dollars are not growing the sweet corn on the cob we lather in butter and salt, but a corn that farmers won’t even eat. (Cows have difficulty digesting corn over long periods of time. They have evolved to eat grasses, not just grains.)
Americans consume this corn through a manmade chemical process that turns it into corn sweeteners and food starches. We also eat the corn fed animals that are sold in our grocery stores (pork, chicken, beef). According to the acclaimed 2007 documentary King Korn, the corn grown and paid for by American tax dollars is grown to produce the highest starch content, which turns into fat in animals, including humans. This leads to diabetes and other diseases. The higher starches for livestock feed equates to fatter animals for human consumption. Haughey adds that the monoculture of growing only one crop also depletes the soil of nutrients and minerals to grow healthy and nutritious food. Is quantity more important than the quality of food in this country?
The environmental considerations are vast in eating meat,. Animal waste in factory farms are of a major concern to the public. Feedlots and other factory farms spend a great deal to manage livestock waste. However these wastes, when not managed properly, can end up polluting ground water or flow off the land as runoff heading downstream to your neighborhood.
Other concerns are on the energy used to raise meat, which includes the time for the average cow to become a burger (approximately one year). According to Haughey he states that it can take ten times the energy and resources to raise meat than to raise fruits and vegetables. Meat production requires food, water, veterinarian care, and space (including public lands for grazing). After cattle are grown, they are transported by large trucks (the ones you follow in the middle of the night on the highway with the aroma of cow manure wafting through the air). The cows end up at feed lots (usually smelled long before they are seen with the acrid aroma of ammonia). Cattle are relocated to these lots far from the farms where they were born and raised. This is where they are fattened up and can barely move by design. The animals are then sent to meat packing plants to be butchered. The meat is either packaged or sent as a slab of meat to the grocers to be cut and individually packaged. This is the production of meat and it consumes a great deal of energy used in transportation, feed, and processing.
While Haughey is a vegan he also stresses the importance of eating organic foods. He trusts Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers more than he trusts Whole Foods, or the other grocers for quality organic foods. He relates his reasoning behind Vitamin Cottage being locally owned and managed where Whole Foods is not. He also purchases produce from local farmers’ markets and he grows his own.
He was asked how life has been the past 30 years as an organic vegan and he adds that it has become much easier to find organic foods than in the past. However, it can be a bit more difficult to find these types of foods in certain regions of the country with high saturated fat diets.
Haughey wants to eventually eat only raw food, which he states is the healthiest diet. The reason he is working towards this goal is because foods that are cooked (including canned fruits and vegetables) lose nutrients at a temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit. He explains that cooking kills enzymes to help promote digestion to convert raw materials into usable foods. He stresses never to microwave foods, as “it explodes the cells”.
Haughey also avoids fast food “like the plague”. He believes that fast food restaurants have negative physical and community health effects. He continues that fast food restaurants have “zero variety”. He would like to see more locally owned businesses and restaurants planned in communities. His suggestion to the City of Westminster is to turn the mall into a shopping district consisting of unique locally owned and managed shops, much like the Cherry Creek North area as a model.
Haughey’s advice for those considering veganism is to always read the labels. Read the ingredients on food products. Pick products that have a short list of ingredients, which are identifiable to the common American, and are preferably organic, but all natural is fine as well. He continues to suggest Vitamin Cottage as the best grocer for organic products over the larger chains.
He also suggests that it’s easy to be vegan but that the hardest part is peer pressure to eat meat, dairy, and eggs. His advice is to go “cold turkey” (not eating turkeys of course) not to eat any meat and become a vegetarian. In order to become vegan, substitute soy and rice milk products for dairy products.
Haughey believes that all organic foods contain no genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). Organic foods are not allowed to have GMOs, but organic growers and consumers are concerned about GMO contamination and the lack of mandatory labeling of GMO foods. (This examiner will be taking a closer look at GMOs in a feature article next month, where she will be interviewing an expert in this field.)
Haughey recommends the following publications for considering this vegan lifestyle: Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe’, the magazine Vegetarian Times, Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, the magazine The Ecologist published in Great Britain, and any books by Gary Null.
Becoming a vegan is an environmental, ethical, and healthy lifestyle to consider for anyone who truly has a desire to live green.
Looking for a vegan and/or an organic meal in Colorado? Check out these resources:
Organic and vegetarian/vegan restaurants
Organic travel links: http://organictravel.com/listings.shtml
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