Episode 61 the Vegetarian Myth Update 1 Don't Feed the Trolls Podcast Nate: Welcome to Don't Feed the Trolls. but Today
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Episode 61 The Vegetarian Myth Update 1 Nate: Welcome to Don’t Feed The Trolls. But today, we’re going to feed them. That’s right, this episode is all about plants versus meat. But first! Matt: But first, Don’t Read the Trolls. That’s right our email segment where we pick one email every week to read, sometimes we don’t. I love when Nate picks them, though, because they’re usually the Bigfoot ones. This one comes from Mike: “Hey guys! I love the podcast. I work nightshifts and keep up to date with your stuff. I wanted to let you know that I didn’t really have much interest in Bigfoot despite living in Canada before listening to your podcast. The first episode peaked my interest, but it was the actual encounter in the second Bigfoot episode that really made me want to look more into it. I found another podcast called “Sas-what?” Which I find very interesting. They tell stories and explore the topic from a skeptic point of view. I just wanted to let you know in case you haven’t heard of it.” Here we are giving promo for another podcast, Nate. “Don’t judge it based on the first episode, you have to give it a couple. Who knows, maybe the host would come on your show for the third Bigfoot episode.” Yeah, we could do that. That would be fun. “I thought at least Nate would find it interesting. And who knows, Matt, you might find it interesting too. Anyways, thanks for the great content to help pass the night. Keep it up. Mike.” Thanks, Mike! Nate: If you don’t know what we’re talking about, we did a couple episodes on Bigfoot. But, no new patrons this week. Matt: No new patrons. Nate: But if you want to support our podcast, you can go to trollspodcast.com, click the donate button. Or you can go to patreon.com/dontfeedthetrolls. And support what we’re doing, we love it. Matt: Yeah, get access to all the cool stuff we have there. Like our Troll Talk episodes, exclusive for our patrons. And a bunch of bonus stuff we’ve posted up there. To our topic of the day. Don’t Feed The Trolls Podcast Episode 61 The Vegetarian Myth Update 2 Nate: So veganism, vegetarianism, versus what? What would the alternative be? Just being a carnivore? Matt: Just carnivore-ism? (laughs) I don’t think people eat exclusively meat. Nate: Cavemen might have eaten exclusively meat. Bear Grylls. Matt: Yeah maybe. (laughs) Bear Grylls. Nate: He’s always cooking something he shot out of a tree. Matt: I mean that’s good for TV too. Nate: Well, it’s the hottest trend. You can read books like The China Study or see movies like Fork Over Knives, Cowspiracy, etc. The main argument is the meat industry is bad for people, humans, the planet, etc. Don’t eat meat, end of story, animal cruelty photos, and you get super guilty. And I can say that I watched all those things and read a lot of that literature. And I went vegetarian for a year. Matt: Wow. What were the movies that kind of stuck out for you? Nate: Fork Over Knives and The China Study. Just kind of like made me think, “Oh, you know, what’s going on?” Matt: What’s The China Study about? Nate: The China Study is kind of like a brief overview of where people get cancer and their diets and they try to make it sound like it’s meat-based. But there’s a lot of factors in there. Matt: So they’re tying cancer to a meat-based diet. Nate: Yeah. Or animal-based diet. Matt: So it could be like eggs or dairy, too? Nate: Yeah. Animal proteins are bad for the body and plant proteins are good for the body. Matt: So, I think you disagree that animal proteins are bad for the body. Nate: I just think it depends. I really feel like the health of the animal is the one important factor because places in China, you don’t know what the animals are eating. You don’t what they’re feeding them. And people think, “Oh yeah, well Don’t Feed The Trolls Podcast Episode 61 The Vegetarian Myth Update 3 you know, we could just feed them genetically modified corn sprayed with Roundup and the meat’s fine. Right? It’s the same thing.” But, there’s a lot of studies to show that, no, you know, like, the leaner the cow – in terms of its eating like fresh, green grass – that’s why the grass fed movement is so big right now. Because there’s lots of science to say that if the cow is healthy, then the meat is healthy. If the cow is unhealthy, then the meat is unhealthy. Matt: So, you watched The China Study and it ties – Nate: Forks Over Knives. Matt: Sorry, that’s the one that made you become a vegetarian. And you’re a vegetarian for a whole year. And then what made you stop being a vegetarian? Nate: I think I just did more research. Didn’t necessarily feel any better. Started having more conversations with people who had animals and read a couple books. Read a book on milk. Yeah, just read different things, and talked to some different people, and kind of realized like, “Oh, there’s this – “ The world of microorganisms is sort of kind of what I got exposed to. The more microorganisms there are in the soil equals benefits of all things that depend on the soil. So like, you want your plants to be growing in a bio-diverse soil. They say that, you know, a lot of soil now is just depleted from minerals and stuff. And that’s why we have a lot of health problems because they just grow the same thing over and over again. And then they spray synthetic chemicals down to try to fertilize the soil. They don’t use the natural – the way that they used to do it is they would rotate crops and they would add cover crops and they would do other things to help the soil get better. So, if you don’t have a good microflora, I guess, in your gut, inside your body, getting that from the soil and from other animal products, then it’s just as bad. So, it’s complicated, honestly. Matt: So, you’re not just anti-meat because, you know, the meat industry is bad. What you’re saying is, there’s a responsible and sustainable way that’s good for the planet to raise animal products and bring them to market. So, I guess it’s understandable that people would respond to a very harmful, industrial farming, industrial meat complex or whatever you want to call it. They would respond to that by saying, “No, we’re going to protest meat altogether because we want to shut you down. We want to do away with this.” Can you understand that stance? Don’t Feed The Trolls Podcast Episode 61 The Vegetarian Myth Update 4 Nate: I don’t know. I guess PETA, PETA’s hard. PETA’s a very, I don’t know. They sort of attack a lot of people. Matt: Yeah, they go after people. I kind of like that about them, I don’t agree with a lot of their views. But I like that they’re spunky. (laughs) Nate: Yeah, I mean I think the thing is, yeah, I’m definitely down on the like Big Ag. Because – Matt: You call it Big Ag. Big Agriculture. Nate: Michaele Weissman said, “You know, cheap food is the devil.” And the reason she says, “Cheap food is the devil,” I think, is because you have to cut corners every step of the way to have cheap food. Which means you have to spray it with pesticides. And you have to spray it with synthetic chemicals. And you have to mass produce it. And you have to mass produce it over and over and over again in the same dirt. And you strip the environment and you strip the soil. And humans ultimately just lose. It’s a lose, lose situation. So, I think Big Ag, Big Agriculture, when it comes to meat, is probably the worst because you have these animals in feed lots crapping corn all over the place. Poop everywhere, and it just runs into the river. So you have a highly concentrated pile of feces. And the cows aren’t healthy. They’re not eating green grass. I guess if you just imagine it, it doesn’t even sound interesting. Or healthy or good or the way that I believe God intended animals to live. Matt: And how we’re supposed to co-exist with nature, right? Not destroy and rape and pillage the earth, but to be a part of the ecosystem and to be a part of – like the pasteurized animals graze. They cut and expose new grass to sunlight, they trample seeds deep into the ground. Nate: Well, pasteurize is different, (laughs) but, pastured. Matt: Pastured, sorry. (laughs) Pastured. My bad. It’s early in the morning if anyone can tell. Nate: That’s funny. Hey, that’s an easy mistake to make. Pasteurized. Matt: Pasteurized, pastured. What is the difference between – pasteurized is what happens to milk, right? Nate: Yeah, Louis Pasteur, I think, is the name of the guy who invented the technology of zapping it to kill bacteria.