Tag Archives: meat

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

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The USDA has a new version of Dietary Guidelines for Americans out. Sorry, TLDR, but the Harvard School of Public Health has a handy summary (along with some criticism). Basically, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains will never go out of style. Sugar will never be in style again.

I think people of my generation and older are still confused about fat. The guidelines say plant-based oils are pretty much A-OK as long as you stay within your calorie limits, but still recommend “lean meats and poultry”, “low fat dairy”, and limiting saturated fat. First, I am confused whether saturated fat is bad for everyone, even those of us with low cholesterol, or whether the USDA assumes we are too stupid to understand nuances and a blanket statement like this will save lives overall (if so, they’re probably right.) Harvard also criticizes USDA for not discouraging processed meat like bacon and ham (but bacon is so good…well, better to think of it as an occasional treat like a candy bar).

Men should limit alcoholic drinks to “no more than two” and women to one (sorry, ladies). By the way, a(n imperial, 16 ounce) pint of 7% alcohol craft beer is not a drink, it is actually almost two. Whereas 1.5 ounces of 40% alcohol liquor is one drink and actually easier to control. I love those craft beers though. Oh, and don’t touch soda – it’s death in a glass.

But you can have 2-3 cups of (black) coffee a day, with no known negative effects.

You can have more salt than I thought (2300 mg/day) if you don’t have any particular risk factors.

Harvard also points out that the science behind the nutritional benefits of all that meat and dairy is not all that strong, while the science behind the environmental risks is strong, and clear, and not mentioned in these guidelines.

Well, this is the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Not the department of get your ass off the couch, go for a jog, and then eat some vegetables. We have an Environmental Protection Agency, but first of all it is not cabinet level, and second of all they don’t regulate agriculture. Nobody regulates the environmental impacts of agriculture! And the meat, sugar, corn (etc.) and food processing industries are massive, have enormously deep pockets, and use them to buy politicians who will keep it this way indefinitely.

meatless Monday, July 4

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Since I’m writing this on July 4, what the hell, I’ll write about burgers today. There is a sustainability connection after all because if more of us were vegetarians, our ecological footprint would be less, and as developing countries not only grow in population, but people shift to eating a lot more meat than they used to, the footprint can grow explosively. Certain traditional nomadic ways of life might get a pass, if they are grazing their animals on natural vegetation on lands that are not suitable for crops. Most of us don’t fall in this category. So, a blog called Meatless Monday provides us with a number of meatless “burger” recipes, plus ideas for grilling veggies. I’m determined to give some of these a shot.

I’m a hypocrite to some extent though – I admire vegetarians and I’ve reduced my meat consumption over the years, but I still like it and find it hard to imagine giving it up entirely. Certainly not eggs and cheese. I also have a policy that if someone cooks something for me, I eat it! If like me you like the idea of being vegetarian for environmental and ethical reasons (and environmental reasons are ethical reasons), but dang it you still like meat, I think the best way to think of it is as a treat – save it for holidays and special occasions, or give yourself a cheat meal once a week. Anyway, just to round out this post here are a few points/links about meat:

  • If you decide to indulge in a pork chop for that special occasion or cheat meal, it is okay to cook it medium rare. This article recounts the horrors of trichinosis, then says it is no longer an issue in the modern world. You should still cook ground meat thoroughly, however.
  • And finally, here are a bunch of recipes for various complicated, creative gourmet burgers.

meat

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Here is the BBC raising the alarm about meat consumption:

Global consumption of meat needs to fall to ensure future demand for food can be met and to help protect the environment, a study says.

Research from two universities estimates greenhouse gases from food production will go up 80% if meat and dairy consumption continues to rise at its current rate.

Meanwhile National Geographic has a long, interesting article about what our ancestors actually ate. The answer: pretty much everything and anything they could get their hands on. Some societies ate a lot of meat while others did not. Some made a big deal of meat, but filled up on a steady diet of twigs and berries in between successful hunts.

In other words, there is no one ideal human diet. Aiello and Leonard say the real hallmark of being human isn’t our taste for meat but our ability to adapt to many habitats—and to be able to combine many different foods to create many healthy diets. Unfortunately the modern Western diet does not appear to be one of them.