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WINTER: Plenty of reasons for vegging out

By Mary Winter, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 4, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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If you've ever considered eliminating meat from your diet - or cutting back - now might be a good time to experiment.

Caveat: I'm not a nutritionist, and you should consult your doctor before making such a drastic move. And I'm sorry if you love 'cue, as we all do, and you polished off an entire side of beef at your July 4 party and find this offensive.

Two big reasons to ease up on the meat:

* It will help fight global warming. Livestock production - cattle, mainly - contributes more greenhouse gases to the environment than all forms of transportation combined, according to a 2006 U.N. study.

Credible sources now say the best single thing one person can do to reduce global warming is to quit eating meat.

* It could extend and improve your quality of life.

Three other things to consider: Going meatless might lower your grocery bill. You might drop a few pounds. Finally, if you believe livestock animals are sentient and suffer pain, forgoing flesh is definitely karma in the bank.

Here's some new research on the subject. National Geographic writer Dan Buettner spent seven years traveling the world, looking for places that have the happiest and longest-lived old people. He found four cultures, which he describes in his new book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest.

One is Sardinia, Italy. The others are Okinawa, Japan; the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, Calif.

In a recent interview on National Public Radio, Buettner said one of the most impressive individuals he met was 104- year-old Giovanni Sannai, who lives on the island of Sardinia.

"He was out chopping wood at 9 in the morning," Buettner told NPR. "He started his day with a glass of wine, and there was a steady parade of people coming by to ask his advice. That is one of the characteristics of the Sardinian Blue Zone - the older you get, the more celebrated you are." The capper: Buettner challenged the old man to arm wrestle, "and he beat me."

The one Blue Zone in the United States is a community of Seventh-day Adventists 60 miles outside Los Angeles. Women there live on average nine years longer than the norm in America, and men enjoy an extra 11 years, according to a National Institutes of Health study.

Buettner credits their longevity in part to their plant-based diet, as prescribed in the book of Genesis. Also, Adventists strictly observe the Sabbath on Saturday and totally unwind. Plus, Buettner says, the Adventists' tightknit community provides ample social support.

On the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, the main diet is black beans, fruit and corn. Okinawans also eat a largely plant- based diet.

Buettner told NPR that, in general, the healthy old people he found "didn't take any supplements or pills or wine extracts. They tended to live in houses and environments that nudged them into bursts of physical activity in kind of an effortless way. Okinawans sat on the floor; Scandinavians lived in vertical houses; the Costa Ricans had gardens. So they were doing little things all day long that added up significantly over the years and the decades."

If you're still not sold on cutting back on meat, consider this: Raising cattle takes huge amounts of resources - water, petroleum and pesticides to grow the grain to feed the cattle and even more resources to process and transport the finished product. The combined effect is a big contribution to global warming.

I've written before that my late grandfather raised corn and cattle for a living. My late grandmother served meat at most meals, if not every meal, and both of them lived well past 80. So I don't come from some elitist view that says meat eaters are morally or physically inferior.

But times change. The days of easy water and easy oil are gone.

Figuring out what will replace them is frightening, but also exciting.

Sometimes you gotta shake things up. Once in a while, make it a soy burger instead of beef. Peanut butter instead of turkey.

And lest we forget, wine is always on the menu. Wine is plant-based.

Those old guys in Sardinia drink two glasses a day.

Cheers.

mwinte@aol.com

Comments

  • July 4, 2008

    11:38 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Brix57 writes:

    Meat is NOT the underlying factor in any of these so called "blue zones". If anyone can see it, it is a sense of community. Something that is clearly lost as most rely upon the media to give a sense of community.
    The writer certainly has a bias toward meat eaters and espousing a "plant based" diet towards what end? To live longer? Why? To satisfy her christian ideals? Is that why she spent so much time on a particular sect of christians?
    Red wine is NOT part of the diet of Okinawa, nor of Costa Rica, nor that of some sect in California. Please, get just a bit more real in what you write as there are people that see you have no experience in what you say.

  • July 5, 2008

    12:51 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    arby writes:

    Mary,
    This is the 2nd article you have written condemning meat eating. You presented a problem both times but you have not presented a solution. If everyone took your advise you could take credit for ruining not only the economy of Colorado but the whole midwest from Saskatoon to San Antonio. Good job

    Look at your feet, your purse, your leather jacket, etc. Where do you think those items came from? Duh.

    Go grab a burger and relax. While you're munching. Think. It couldn't hurt.

  • July 6, 2008

    11:29 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    DJ writes:

    Sounds like both of you, Brix57 & Arby, need to take a moment, breathe, exhale then re-read Mary’s article. She states at the beginning that she’s not in a position to be giving diet advice and to consult you doctor before you make changes. Also, she states her information sources very clearly so if you don’t believe something in her article, go to the stated sources with your “beef” and quit spewing your venom at Mary. I don’t see how five sentences is “so much time” on a particular Christian sect. Her comments regarding that sect as well as Genesis are taken directly from Mr. Buettner’s book. The article only mentions the Sardinians drinking wine, not the other groups. Really, re-read the article. She’s not espousing a meat-free diet for everyone tomorrow. She’s presenting information about how beef production has changed (that’s not opinion, that’s fact). She’s asking people to think about how that change negatively affects their lives. She's presenting CUTTING BACK on beef consumption as a POSSIBLE SOLUTION. I don’t understand why you’re both so angry. Maybe it’s because you eat too much read meat. No, I’m not a vegetarian but I do eat lots of vegetables. And where do you get off making the assumption that Mary has a leather purse and shoes?!

  • July 7, 2008

    3:33 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    carlindenver writes:

    Okay now: first of all, it is obvious to all of us that let's eliminate cattle. Biggest enviornmental villian. Next, move everyone really close to an ocean or sea. Give all of us room for a garden and nearby open woodlands. Now, protein. You think the people in Okinawa, Costa Rica, Sardinia and even Loma Linda might be getting their protein from seafood?? Chopping firewood? Let's replace our furnaces for fireplaces. Think the climate these folks live in might be considered subtropical? Thanks Mary you are a font of useful information.