A Six Week Experiment

This particular post is the culmination of several months of thought and study. I ask you to read it completely; and if you feel inclined please respond with your thoughts.

A number of months ago I wrote a blog post about vegetarian chili, where I mentioned that I’ve been teetering on the edge of vegetarianism. A week ago Aubrey and I decided to do a six week experiment in Pescetarianism, which is essentially vegetarianism but where you can eat fish. (The pescetarianism was a compromise I made with Aubrey as she told me she’d die before giving up her sea food).  Along with not eating meat we’ve decided to cut out a lot of junk food as well (no soda, no ice cream, no cookies, etc).

The point of this post isn’t to declare our recent decision rather I want to explain my motivations for making this change and that our recent decision isn’t just about meat. There are a several motivating factors behind this recent decision, and I guess they can roughly be divided into three major categories (although I’ll be the first to say these categories aren’t perfect): Health, Responsibility, and Spirituality.  Keep reading and I’ll explain more…

Heath

As I’ve talked to friends of mine who are vegetarian I’m impressed with how much they are doing it because they care about their bodies.  Any dietitian will tell you that a diet that a diet that is high in fibers, vegetables, fruits, grains, etc… is extremely healthy, and that pulling out fatty meats that can be full of cholesterol is a great way to improve ones diet.

Part of my goal of trying out vegetarianism is to move to an all around healthier diet. I’m not going to simply remove meat from my diet and replace it with tofu, rather I’m going to try to restructure my diet to include less starch, processed goods, sweets and include more whole grains, fruits, vegetables. One of the reason I started running was to get in better shape. It does not make sense to try to gain control over my health by doing one thing and then completely neglecting it in other ways. I feel like it is my responsibility to be healthy and to take care of my body and I feel that vegetarianism will help me accomplish this.

Responsibility

The “in word” of the year is “Green”. Companies are slapping “Green” on everything. Two examples of green movements are banks sending out eStatements instead of mailed statements and grocery stores that no longer give out the cheap plastic bags for groceries.  While i’m not entirely convinced these businesses are as concerned about the environment as they are their bottom line these two examples serve to demonstrate how concerned people are lately about their “eco footprint”.

One of the best things people can do to reduce their “footprint” is to stop eating meat, particularly beef. Its has been estimated that it takes ~2,000 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef. Additionally it has been estimated that a beef-cow consumes around 12-15 pounds of grains for each pound of beef produced. Granted not all of the grain consumed by the cow is edible by humans but a non-trivial fraction is. I remember driving through Kansas and seeing hundreds upon hundreds of miles of Corn farms.  I was shocked to find out that a large percentage of the corn grown in the US is used to feed livestock (sorry I couldn’t find the exact numbers). It has also been estimated that over half of the water consumed in California (you know that state with the mega water shortage issues) is used to irrigate pastures that are used for grazing livestock. (sources here). Finally  cows produce 28% percent of the “man-made” greenhouse gas methane (This number comes from the EPA).

Think of the difference we could make on the environment but halting our consumption of beef. Simply reducing the number of cows would,  reduce the global demand for water, reduce the global production and price of corn, reduce the use of pesticides, reduce the synthetic fertilizers and nitrates being put into the land and would cut methane emissions by 28%.  How can we as stewards of our planet think that continuing the current consumption of beef is both sustainable and responsible.

Spirituality

Growing up in the mormon culture I was taught frequently about the importance of our bodies and that God had specified what we should or should not consume.  What strikes me now is that “Mormon Utah” is a very meat and potatoes culture, (it probably has something to do with the pioneer heritage). The Word Of Wisdom, which is the canon on mormon rules of consumption says:

Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.     D&C 89:12-13,15

There are two main things I’d like to point out. One is that animal’s should be used sparingly and that the its pleasing unto God that animals not be used, except in time of winter, cold, or famine.

A lot of debates on vegetarianism and Mormonism stem from the word sparingly. I don’t have a good definition for what constitutes sparing consumption but I have a feeling that eating meat every meal probably doesn’t count.

What I find more interesting is that God is pleased when you chose another food source when they are available. The common factor with winter, cold, and famine is that crop production is low in all these times. So my interpretation of this passage is that when nothing else is available, eating meat is fine but that God is pleased when we respect the lives of animals and chose to eat plants.  Verse 15 clearly states that “these”, or animals, are to only be used in times of famine or excess of hunger.

How is it that Mormonism has deemed it necessary to adhere to parts of the “Word of Wisdom” dealing with “strong” and “hot drinks” while completely ignoring these other parts that make God’s will perfectly clear.

Conclusion

The decision to try vegetarianism (or pescetarianism in Aubrey’s case) has been long coming. I have thought about it long and hard and right now feel like it is a good move for me.  Over the last week or so I have really craved meat. In fact the day after we started my lab went out to an “All You Can Eat Prime Rib” night at the premier steak restaurant in Boston, and I wanted to go.  I am glad that I didn’t.  I can see myself moving away from a mindset of over consumption to one of moral and spiritual responsibility.  I don’t anticipate that the transition is going to be easy but I do not doubt that I will see the benefits of this experiment.

Posted by slayton on September 20, 2009

http://quasicontrol.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/a-six-week-experiment/