A Few Things Most People Don’t Know About Food

On a past trip, I was sitting at a restaurant counter in Savannah, Georgia having dinner, and chatting with the stranger sitting next to me. He was going on-and-on about climate change and fossil fuels as he took another bite of his cheeseburger.

Whether climate change is real, or not, is not what this post is about. It’s about factual evidence you can begin to integrate into daily life that could make the world you live in better, and you healthier. I want to quickly present A Few Things Most People Don’t Know About Food, and how it plays a part in the health of our planet. This data is taken from a man I respect. His name is J. Morris Hicks, and he uses his blog, Healthy Eating Healthy World to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

Here are a few facts from his Bite-Size Blog #6

7 Things Most People Don’t Know About FOOD

• Did you know that on average, per calorie, it takes over ten times as much land, water and energy to produce meat, dairy and eggs than it does plant-based foods.
• Did you know that the standard allowance for factory farm milk is 200 million pus cells per quart of milk. Of course, here in the State of Texas, where everything is bigger, our state allowance is 342 million pus cells per quart. Some “health-nuts” believe this is why dairy products are one of the greatest contributors to inflammation in the human body
• Did you know that if everyone tried to eat our typical western diet, there would be only enough land in the entire world to feed 3 billion people. The other 4 billion people would starve.
• Did you know that half the world’s population depends on fossil underground aquifers, the kind that can’t be replenished. (We can live without eating for a few months, but only a few days without water).
• Did you know that by switching from an omnivorous diet to eating mostly plants that you can save $2,000 to $5,000 per year, per person.
• Did you know that potatoes alone have just the right amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates to sustain human life indefinitely. We don’t NEED to eat ANY animal products.
• If you eat the typical western diet quantity of meat, dairy and eggs, did you know that the animal manure required to produce just what YOU eat, would fill NINE pick-up trucks per year. Did you know that most of this manure now ends up in our water supply.

Thoughts on Solutions

• If you’re not already a vegetarian, it can be pretty frightening to start “cold turkey” as the saying goes. Try integrating Meatless Monday into your week. Meatless Monday is now active in 36 countries. their website has hundreds of ideas to help you get started. Did you know portobello mushrooms and eggplant are two wonderful meat substitutes to add to a dish. They soak up spices to lend any flavor, even a smoky meat flavor, and have the same “chew” satisfaction as meat.
• Check out the book, Healthy Eating Healthy World by J. Morris Hicks, and sign up for his Bite-Size Blog.
• Daily meat eating was never the norm for our ancestors. They ate what they killed or what they farmed. Meat was a Sunday Treat or saved for Celebratory Events, and in most cases, Blessed. The human body is not meant to eat a sausage-bacon biscuit for breakfast, a chicken-something for lunch and swing through the drive-in for the dinner cheeseburger.
• Finally, if you can’t give up animal products totally, begin to think about where your sources come from. Are they coming from factory farms? Did you know that the standard allowance for factory farm milk is 200 million pus cells per quart of milk. Of course, here in the State of Texas, where everything is bigger, our state allowance is 342 million pus cells per quart. Yep, you’re reading this correctly. The reason so many pus cells exist in factory farmed dairy is because most cows are so over-worked their udders are infected. Here’s a helpful, short article written by Charlotte Gerson of www.Gerson.org and published on Food Matters.

To quell her grief when her toy business ended, Phebe dove into Science classes. Thinking that busying her mind with something so foreign would take her thoughts away from the business she missed. After several years of classes in Biology, MicroBiology, Chemistry and Genetics, she realized how wonderful the body is. In an effort to bring quality and vitality to her life and her husband Mac, she turned to culinary. Today, Phebe is certified through Matthew Kenney Academy in the Art of Raw Vegan Cuisine, she worked at The Tree of Life Center in Patagonia, Arizona as kitchen staff and in the Sprout House growing micro-greens. Phebe also completed her Plant-Based Certification from eCornell and the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies. Want to be a positive contributor to climate change…begin to adopt a Plant-Based Diet.

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