Get Your Protein from Plant Based Foods

Did you know that Olympic track and field super star Carl Lewis quit eating animal products when he was training for the Olympics? He says that he is still a vegetarian to this day. Watch Carl in this short interview video:

If you like to eat animal products, you are not alone. I grew up in a Southern home in the United States and it was part of our culture to eat animal products at just about every meal. My family was just going along with the mainstream concept that you needed to eat meat to be strong. Fortunately, there is plenty of protein available in plant based foods and vegetarians have known this fact for years.

The way I moved away from eating animal products was a gradual process. I cut out red meat first. I had read too many articles on the internet about mad cow disease and dead animals being ground up and given as feed to other animals.

The next thing I did was cut out eating dark chicken and turkey meat. I ate white chicken breast or turkey breast only for about 3 months. In the meantime, I began learning how to eat vegetarian and vegan foods that looked similar to what the animal dishes looked like. I have an extensive blog with a Healthy Living section that is full of such recipes. Please share these recipes with people you know.

Great Tasting Meals without the Animal Fat

By 2006, I decided to no longer put any animal products in my mouth. I have not had to worry about or deal with excess weight since then. My weight has been steady for many years now even though I am almost 10 years older when I started gradually eliminating animal products from my diet.

A couple of other motivations for me included watching some videos of how animals are slaughtered and learning that pigs have such thick skin that there is only one gland that excretes waste. Scientifically speaking, pigs can carry many harmful organisms on them which can transmit to humans, diseases like trichinosis, Taenia solium, cysticercosis, and brucellosis. Pigs are found to be having many parasitic worms in their digestive tract which can be transferred to the humans either by air or by pork. Hence, pigs are said to be unclean. Here is a video that should make you leave pork alone for the rest of your life.

Did you know that Dr. Colin Campbell did an exhaustive study that followed the rapid increase in the diseases of cancer, diabetes, and obesity in China when the people began eating more animal products? You can access much information from this website and there is a book available.

China Study

With the growth of the world’s population exceeding 7 billion people recently, the ability for the world to feed and sustain all of the people is becoming a large issue. It takes much more land to ranch cattle than it takes to grow vegetables. When we eat vegetables and plant based foods, we get the protein directly and not through the animal. I know I would rather have the nutrients straight from the source.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine published an article recently about how the huge surge in demand for animal products cannot be sustained.

“Western Diet Unsustainable for Planet”

“The more animal products people consume, the less likely we are to feed future generations, according to a new study from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment. Globally, meat and dairy consumption is expected to increase by 68 and 57 percent, respectively, by 2030. Increased demand for animal products stems not only from population growth, but from increasing affluence among the world’s population, which has shifted from grain-based diets to animal-based diets (meat, dairy products, and eggs).

Production of animal products requires more land and resources than plant-based foods, and now 75 percent of all agricultural land is used for animal production. The negative consequences of consuming more animal products affect the environment and future food availability, as well as world health. Greater animal product consumption is associated with increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.”

Cassidy ES, West PC, Gerber JS, Foley JA. Redefining agricultural yields: from tonnes to people nourished per hectare.Environ Res Lett. 2013;8:1-8.