Plant-Based Eating Is About Choosing To
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Copyright 2016 by Ryan D. Andrews [email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the the author. In other words, don’t copy any of my work, sell it for profit, or pass it off as your own. That would be wrong. But you already knew that. The suggestions recommended in this book are not intended as a substitute for any dietary regimen prescribed by your doctor. As with any nutritional intervention, you should obtain your doctor’s approval before beginning. Further, and preferably, your physician should perform an overall assessment of your health and readiness. Ryan D. Andrews hereby disclaims any liability or loss in connection with the use of this guide and advice herein. 1 “One of the greatest opportunities to live our values - or betray them - lies in the food we put on our plates.” ― Jonathan Safran Foer 2 3 “Go too long without it on this earth and you leavin’ it Americans wastin’ it on some leisure shit And other nations be desperately seekin’ it” -New World Water by Mos Def I remember listening to the song New World Water by Mos Def back in 1999. As a rap fan, I quickly realized this wasn’t your typical rap fare. He wasn’t talking about bling, booty, or Cristal. He was talking about being responsible with water. Yes, water. The song challenged me. It was different. And listening to it felt right. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was craving betterment. I was waiting for someone to open my eyes to more important issues. I’m no Mos Def. But one of my goals with this book is to challenge you to betterment. I want to raise your awareness about the effect of your daily food choices. That’s it. No hidden motives. We all know that our food choices matter, but too often we forget why. It’s not just about dropping a few pounds and getting swole for tank top season (although that can occur as a byproduct of eating a certain way). It’s about ALL the other stuff. What we eat influences everything (seriously, everything). The repercussions of our dietary decisions extend far beyond selfies or the bathroom scale. While I don’t have all the answers (and never will), I’ve devoted my life to figuring out a better way to approach our three daily meals. And I think I’m on the right track. Here’s what I've learned so far... 4 “How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans’ well-being than any other human activity. The food industry is the largest sector of our economy; food touches everything from our health to the environment, climate change, economic inequality and the federal budget.” -Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Ricardo Salvador, Olivier De Schutter (Washington Post - November 2014) I had an epiphany in 2004. And because I’ve only had a few epiphanies in my life, I remember it pretty clearly. I was taking an ethics in research class during graduate school, and we were learning about using animals in research. I didn’t feel comfortable harming animals for extraneous research, and I was discussing this with a lab assistant. “So ... do you eat meat?” she asked. “Sure,” I said, shrugging. “Well, you’re harming animals every day then,” she pointed out. And that was it for me. I decided right then that I wanted no part in contributing to animal harm, and I haven’t eaten meat since (and this was after several years of eating about one pound of it per day1). I began to think: what if I learn more about where food comes from and how it influences the planet? So that’s what I did. I learned a lot of stuff. I learned that our current approach to eating isn’t working. We’ve hit a dead end. We’re eating ourselves into illness. We’re eating a diet that encourages animal suffering. We’re eating the earth’s resources into depletion. 1 I was a competitive bodybuilder for about six years and my diet was built around chicken, steak, eggs, fish, cottage cheese, and whey protein powder. Those were my staples. My diet was animal-food-centric. One pound of meat, a dozen eggs (10 whites and 2 whole), and cottage cheese straight from the container was my daily fare. Heck, my roommate and I even built a pyramid in our college apartment with empty whey protein jugs. 5 Some of us ignore these realities related to our daily food choices. Which we’re entitled to do. We can ignore what we want to ignore. But ignoring reality doesn’t make it a non-reality. When we ignore the deeper realities around how our daily food choices influence the environment, farmworker welfare, and animal welfare -- we’ll be blinded to the ultimate solutions. Instead, we’ll distract ourselves with surface level fixes. We download dieting apps, calorie trackers, and cut carbs or fat in an effort to solve a much deeper problem. Until we reconnect with food and where it comes from, and develop a deeper respect for it, I don’t believe we’ll see any measurable shift in societal health and weight. I relate it to marriage. Downloading an app to remind you to compliment your partner or reading a book about how to communicate better in relationships might be helpful, but at the foundation, if you don’t respect your partner, you’re probably going to run into problems. And this is where we stand with food --- we don’t respect it. It’s my contention that if we address the deeper realities and solutions instead of distracting ourselves with surface level fixes (which often can lead to more problems), a byproduct of our dedication to a cause greater than ourselves can be a healthier body. There's nothing wrong with changes rooted in self-interest (e.g. wanting to have six-pack abs or massive biceps). That’s how I first became interested in nutrition. However, I also recognize that a healthy hobby can turn into a destructive habit that creates blinders to other important issues in the world. How we look in the mirror or perform athletically can most definitely be part of why we change our eating, but if it’s the only focus, we probably won’t see any big societal shifts in health. We need to think bigger. ● A survey of 246 self-identified vegan eaters found that those who ate the diet for ethical reasons were more likely to follow the diet for a longer period of time. ● Researchers have found that when people identify “bigger-than-self” goals2, they feel more hopeful, curious, caring, grateful, inspired, and excited. 2 Think of bigger-than-self goals as juicier, meatier sources of motivation. (Well, maybe “meatier” isn’t the appropriate term here, but you know what I mean). 6 ● Researchers have also found that when people focus exclusively on “self-focused” goals, there’s a good chance they’ll feel more confused, anxious, angry, envious, and lonely. Which points to something powerful: When a cause is bigger than us, we’re more likely to tap into a deep well of motivation that allows us to follow through with our goals long-term. Let’s think bigger Let’s eat in a way that acknowledges the critical realities we face and gets us thinking bigger. A Guide to Plant-Based Eating is about choosing to: ● Eat more minimally processed plant foods ● Eat less animal products and highly processed foods ● Waste less food ● Take time to prepare more food and learn about where it comes from ● Spend more on organic and/or local food ● Support companies that promote working conditions that are humane/safe ● Basically, consider our bigger-than-self values If, as a society, we collectively make these choices, I believe things will finally start to shift in a positive direction. In the following pages, I will highlight 8 realities that I believe are preventing us from moving forward, both in terms of individual health, as well as the health of our planet. 7 Reality #1. We don’t eat enough beans I have bad news, and I have really bad news. First, the bad news. Each person in the U.S. will only eat about 7 pounds of beans this year. Now the really bad news. Each person in the U.S. will also eat about 216 pounds of meat/fish. If this seems out of balance, that’s because it is. Beans are inexpensive and tasty. They also have a low potential of foodborne illness, and can reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Additionally, beans are good for the environment: Producing 1 kg of protein from beans requires nine times less fuel than producing 1 kg of protein from beef. Furthermore, they don’t require much irrigation, and growing them improves land quality as they help to fix nitrogen into the soil. I don’t know about you, but for the first 20 years of my life, I ate beans about four times per year: Three times at Taco Bell, and once at the summer family reunion picnic (the heap of baked beans next to my hot dog and burger). Now I eat at least one type of bean nearly every day. Think about how you might be able to include more beans in your diet.