Archive - Mar 12, 2008

I am trying to become a vegetarian. That is not quite true. My wife is not on board, and since she makes many of the meals, I cannot go completely veg. Besides, we often eat at other peoples houses (her parents, mostly) that are carnivores. It would be rude to show up for dinner and say "oh, I don't eat meat any more, I'll just eat the salad, thanks."

Some say "but you need the protein!" They are correct, but we do not need the 16 oz beef patties or what not that we so often eat. Our ancestors ate very little meat, mostly as a special occasion. Meat was a supplement for most of our history, only becoming a huge portion of our diet after settling in cities. Yes, we have been in cities for a long time, but we were nomadic for much longer. Many cultures still think that meat should be limited. Most doctors would agree. According to the food pyramid someone of my age, height, weight, gender, and activity should eat about 7 ounces of meat and beans per day. This includes nuts, seeds, beans, peas and meat. So if I go out and eat a hamburger, there goes my entire meat for the day (I get the half pounders). I can get the protein from those other sources anyway.

I actually prefer nuts and beans anyway. I eat meat mostly because that is what I'm supposed to do. But I like to snack on nutty and seedy things like trail mix. I love a good salad and often put beans on them. I love burritos with beans. Black beans, pintos, red beans and rice, bean soup... yummy!

Many Native American tribes, including my tribe, the Muscogee (I'm not a member as I'm only 1/32nd, but I still consider it my tribe) refer to the three sisters. Corn, beans and squash not only grow well as companion plants, but they provide a well rounded protein, each providing a protein that complements the others. These sisters can be a staple of a very good diet.

Besides the health benefits of eating less meat, as of this writing, the USDA has 13 recalls, all related to meat products. This points to some of the many failures in our farming techniques. For instance, 40% of the pharmaceuticals manufactured goes to veterinary uses, mainly for the meat we eat. So we end up consuming the drugs these poor beasts have been pumped full of. I've also seen the horrid pictures of how they are treated. I do not think that the recalls, drugs, and poor treatment are a valid reason for avoiding meat, but they are a reason for avoiding most meats. Buying organic, humanely treated meat is alright, but that meat is often very expensive. Meat in general is expensive.

As I said, I don't feel that I can remove meat from my diet completely. My wife will continue to make foods with meat. So will my family. I will not turn it down. However, if I am preparing it, or purchasing it, I will choose the meatless variety. I started this new eating habit today. For breakfast I had more normal yogurt (not going vegan) and a bowl of cereal. For lunch, a veggie sandwich. For dinner, home made mac and cheese. I think I'd like a little more veg with the mac and cheese, so when I packed up some leftovers for lunch, I poured in some corn and broccoli.

I have also read that vegetarians live longer, need less sleep, and are generally healthier, with less chance of cancer. I'll try it for a couple months and see how it goes. Oh, and when I'm offered meat, I'll take a smaller helping (none if I can politely do so), and more veggies. I'll let you know how I feel as the time goes on.

One of the best ways for me to make sure I understand something is to write about it. I felt like reading some blogs, and I want to make sure I'm getting the most from them. Besides, it gives a boost to the other bloggers when I respond to them and perhaps some will respond to my growing accounts here. Last night I set my alarm for 5:30. Got up this morning at 4:50, got some blended black cherry yogurt, sat down and started to read some blog entries others had written.

Came across this entry at This Garden is Illegal. Hannah was talking about how the smell of dirt is so attractive. I too love the smell of dirt. Isn't it wonderful? Apparently the smell is due to the bacteria in the soil dying, so we are smelling death! The soil cannot live in wet soil and its death is signal to us that water is near. Oh, the sweet, sweet smell of death!

The next blog I read was How Not to Attack Evolution over at Thinking Christian. I too have gotten into these conversations about creationism and started to theorize with people about it. I don't think there is a problem about speaking about what you don't know, as long as you inform your debate partners that you don't know. I don't know how creationism was done. I believe only God knows that. I don't know if Genesis is to be read literally, or if it is meant to be a more figurative explanation? I have my theories. I believe that God could have created Earth any way He felt. He could have created evolution along with it, if He so felt. I don't know, and I don't see any reason to hide that fact that I'm clueless on the topic when I debate it. But by debating it, I'm doing two things: one, I'm strengthening my own convictions. I need this, as I am only a weak human who can loose his way (and has). two: I get my "opponent" to think about the topic. They may then go on to read more on the topic and come to a far greater understanding than I could ever imagine. Or they may say "ah, he doesn't know anything" and move on. Either way, he thought about the subject, which was my goal. We do need, however, to make sure we respect each other when we debate. As Tom pointed out, if we take an attacking tone, our opponent is far less likely to listen. If we are respectful of their beliefs, we will be far more likely to make at least a little progress with them.

I was curious about a blog I ran across called Top five tips to healthy meal planning. I am trying to get healthy and I thought I might get some good tips from this. It was not what I expected, but the information is still good. Kavit's point is that if you plan your meals in advance, you will be less likely to eat junk instead of healthy. This is a good point. Elizabeth and I do plan our dinners, but we do not plan breakfast or lunch. I know that Elizabeth often skips meals during the day. Perhaps she would be more inclined to eat, if we had those meals planned as well. I also get up most mornings, prepare for my day, go to the fridge to get a lunch to take with me, see nothing I want and head out. Come lunch time, all I have is a little bag of instant oatmeal that has been sitting in my backpack for 3 months and a bag of instant hot chocolate I was given at Christmas. I then head over to one of the many fast food places around the university. I admit that I usually do eat healthy lunches. I will usually have a ham sandwich from Subway, or a Chicken Fajita Burrito with Black Beans from Chipotle. These are fairly healthy meals, but they can get expensive. The sub is not too bad, less than $5.00... less than $4.00 I think. The burrito is more than $5.00 though. If I could prepare my meals ahead of time, I'd save time and a couple bucks a day.

Last I want to talk about a site I've been reading a lot about lately. Steve Pavlina is a bit of an odd duck that has a lot of good things to say about personal development. He took about a year and a half to finish college and the time management techniques he learned during that very busy time he has helpfully posted for us to read. I've read it and am trying to improve my time management. The one thing I have to say though... if you have a partner, you MUST make sure that you are both on the same page. If Elizabeth does not understand what I'm doing, she will fight me on it. This undermines my efforts to get things done. One of the main reasons I lock myself away when I'm working is because I can concentrate and get it done faster. When Elizabeth comes into the room to talk to me, or just to put some scrap of paper into the recycling, it distracts me. I then have to get back into what I was working on, and this is time taken away from the family at the finish. On the other hand, I have to make sure that I actually do get done and have time to spend with the family. If I spend too much time in here, working on things that Elizabeth is not interested in, then I loose that important quality time with her and Emma. I don't want to miss out on my time with them either, so I have to check myself every once in a while and make sure that I'm on track.