Does any country eat more meat than US?

Once upon a time, I went vegan, for a four year period, as an experiment in personal health. It was a rewarding and eye-opening experience. During that time, I read avidly on different types of dietary systems, and learned a lot about the corporate profit-driven so-called food that most of us consume on a daily basis – processed crap, with little nutritional value – that is essentially killing us. It is no wonder why America is the fattest country in the world; and in spite of having the most advanced medical technology, we are some of the sickest people in the world as well. Our overall healthcare system is not very effective or unbiased when it comes to educating people. Instead, we are treated like consumers, with dollar signs on our heads, so that every food and healthcare-related company can essentially say “what can we get out of this family or person? what can we sell them at the highest possible price and profit margins, and convince them that it’s great product or service?” Believe me, I’ve been working inside the belly of the beast, as a marketing professional, for 16+ years now. And this is exactly the conversation that happens. Very few business people really care about their customers, no matter what tag lines they say, or “thank you” letters they post on their websites.

Coming back to the need for meat, is it an addiction? Or have we simply been programmed to believe “you have to get your protein” through meats? How do we measure the quality of meat that we consume at restaurants, or even what’s available at the grocery store? Do we really need as much as we consume?

Although I did “switch back” to a non-vegetarian diet in 2006, I still do value the concept of “meat fasts”, limiting types or quantity of meats and pure vegetarian diets altogether. From my own four-year experience, I can tell you that energetically and health-wise, I was in great shape and suffered no negative side effects from cutting meat (and dairy) out of my life. Of course, it’s hard to do a fully formal, objective analysis on oneself, as far as measuring vitals and organ functioning; but those studies have been done with large groups of vegetarians, and the results are fairly clear. Vegetarians experience less illness and organ failure, and generally live longer lives. John Robbins elucidates these arguments in The Food Revolution, Healthy at 100 and Diet for a New America. I highly recommend all three books, starting with The Food Revolution, which was a big-time eye-opener for me, and others whom I shared it with. If you watched the movie Food Inc., The Food Revolution goes deeper into those same topics – if you haven’t, I highly recommend you watch it!

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which is a show about a chef who transformed the school lunch programs across the UK, and is now starring in his own reality show (which airs on ABC) about doing the same in the US. Of course, he meets significant resistance from entrenched interests and basically lazy people, who are beyond the point of no return.

I’m not making any arguments here. This isn’t about vegetarians vs. meat-eaters – I’ve been both, and think that one can lead very healthy and very unhealthy lives on both sides of that fence.  The main goal is to raise the reader’s awareness on the following topics:

1. You are what you eat.  What you put in your body has a huge impact on your physical health as well as your moods and mental well-being.
2. Super-Sizing.  The value of portion control and conscious shopping choices.  Avoid emotional over-eating.
3. Factory Farming.  Watch Food Inc and read The Food Revolution for a shocking, eye-opening look at the lengths that corporations, with complete approval from our complicit government, will go to for the sake of profit maximization, at your family’s expense.  The most alarming common practices by these ruthless conglomerates involve the treatment of animals, use of antibiotics, steroids, GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and meat processing.
4. Corporate Media Bias, Advertising and Mind Control.  Very few food companies have a vested interest in your personal health.  They will generally sell you whatever they can convince you is good enough to buy.  Great packaging and “well-known” brands don’t mean much in terms of nutritional quality.  Yes, media, ad agencies and paid nutritionists are all part of the game as well.

If you’re not already on this path, of being a highly vigilant food consumer, that is not afraid to experiment with new dietary programs in order to see what makes you feel your best, consider this a call to action.  There are many ways to take charge of your own personal health plan, starting with doing some research and questioning mainstream sources of dietary advice, which are 99% of the time, paid corporate interests that have little care for people.  This is not to say that all food companies are bad – absolutely not – and there are ways to gage how ethical food producers are.  Here is a quick checklist that can get or keep you on the right track:

• Essentially, the more transparent companies are about their entire supply chain, the better.  Live webcams into every aspect of the supply chain – something I haven’t seen yet – would be the ultimate level of transparency.
• Farmer’s markets are generally better than supermarkets.  Personally knowing your farmer(s) or food providers, which is virtually impossible for those of us living in metropolitan cities like New York, would be great.
• Paying attention to Social Media related to particular food brands.  I’m not talking about company-driven games and contests; but what other educated consumers are saying about those brands and their products.
• Organic and Non-GMO foods are generally better than alternatives, especially when it comes to meats and vegetables.  Get those pesticides and hormones out of your system!
• Speaking to a dietician or nutritionist is not a bad idea.
• While calorie counting is not a full-proof health strategy (since it counts quantity, not quality), using a personal health mobile app to help you monitor your eating choices and limits is useful.

Related articles

• A Small Triumph in the Food Industry Fight – No More Pink Slime! (cleanfoodexperiment.wordpress.com)
• Dutch scientists grow test tube hamburgers (leftperspectives.com)
• Jack in the Box’s Bacon Shake is Vegetarian…Not Healthy (treehugger.com)
• When Vegetarians Must Eat Meat, Ctd (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)

Gaddafi’s

This (OWS movement) is a call to (political and spiritual) consciousness. As a Spiritually oriented person, I feel impelled to pray, meditate and do other activities that raise my Consciousness, thereby developing my internal world. “Prayer and action” said a wise Sufi sheik. We cannot leave this world to the devices of those who only know the mundane (materialistic) life. This is why OWS is very timely and relevant. To be spiritually and politically active simultaneously is a healthy way of being, and provides a positive force in the world, which impacts one’s own life as well as that of others.

Regarding the ‘mundane life’, the point is that most of us who live in modern cities (like New York City) have quite active lives, socially and professionally.  We have our hobbies, educational pursuits, family lives and career ambitions to occupy our time.  Occupy Wall Street is about creating space for political, social and spiritual Consciousness.  Separation of church and state may have worked to induce a more seamless capitalist system of markets, but it has in the process (BY DESIGN) stripped away the essential moral fibers that keep any system in check, holding them to the light of ethical scrutiny.  We (in the West, and the US especially) have been induced and enticed by these dark forces of disintegration, which have fragmented people and systems, piece by piece.  Every man, woman and child for themselves.  It is a devious (and brilliant) plan that has worked for many years, working its black magic by infiltrating our institutions of government, media, religion, education and when necessary, military (brute force) to carry out the program.

The fact that we all have these busy, engaging lives is PART OF THE PLAN.  Keep us all distracted and part of the Paid, Upper end of the Pyramid scheme, so that we won’t say anything about the abuses happening ‘under the table’, at the bottom of the food chain.  We, the 99%, are conspirators in this Ponzi Scheme, as we all aspire to “move up” the ranks, even if that means stepping on someone else’s throat to do so.  ”Nice guys finish last”, remember how we’ve been taught those precious, Machiavellian lessons?  Have you checked into your hard drive (unconscious memory) recently, to see what kind of cultural messaging is still deeply embedded?

Would re-integration of church and state solve our problems? No. Modern day religious institutions, for the most part, are complicit in the big scheme. They do not carry the Essence of true Spirituality, in the vision of the Prophets, peace be upon all 124,000 of them, who appeared during equally troubling times in human history to bring light to human fallacy. In our lifetimes, we don’t have those beams of light to guide us away from error – if we did, we would be too busy to take notice anyway!  Even for those of us who have partially ‘woken up’ from our unconscious slumber, as did Neo in the Matrix, and harbor serious doubts in our hearts about how our society is being run, the question remains – will we stand up for real change?  Well, thank God, a movement has started, which is inspiring people to WAKE UP, not go back to sleep and take up real, transformative action.  The ideas being discussed at OWS are as practical and humanistic as what those messengers brought to humanity years ago.  Read the words of any Prophet, and you will find the seeds of democratic, ethical human affairs in them.  From land and wealth distribution, to systems of governance, to how we should spend our time, to human relations, it was all laid out, from the Highest Source.  And we, on a collective level, have not been following it recently (for at least the past 50 years of humanity).

This brings to mind the importance of the 1%, at the top of the food chain.  Leaders of nations and major organizations are the key holders and most influential stakeholders of that group.  Their decisions carry the most weight for the direction of humanity, which is why we cannot sit back neutrally (ref. Zinn) and just mind our own business.  YES, we need to develop or own internal worlds, in the midst of whatever chaos is going on outside – that is the #1 priority in my opinion, and what I hold to in my own life.  But once we have attained a relatively high level of awareness, the next priority, as Plato urged in The Republic, is to take it to the streets, our own communities, and become active citizens and helpers of mankind.  We have to either throw out the 1% or transform them, as we transform ourselves not to be passive sheep, in a herd that is currently en route to nowhere.  Ruthless, profit (only) seeking, corporations and laws that enable them to continue pillaging Mother Earth, have to be stopped.  How long can we put profits (of the 1%) over people (99%)?  Seeing the reality of what is happening and letting it sink in – really hit the heart – can bring about all kinds of emotions, from sadness to rage.  Anger, as Deepak Chopra said recently about the Occupy Wall Street movement, is being channeled into Awareness, which is why these protests are peaceful.  OWS is a thoughtful, creative and powerful response to years of abuse and manipulation.  As Naomi Klein said recently on OWS, “this is the most important thing in the world right now”.  The 1% is having trouble with this, trying hard to find some targets (“who is the leader?”) and vulnerabilities, so that the other 90% who are not aware of the charade yet, or at least not mad enough to speak up about it, don’t catch wind of what is going on.  That is why we’re seeing some belligerent responses, and intimidation tactics [ie. think of bullying, mace-spraying police forces].  Let’s keep it peaceful, but no less energetic and emotionally charged.  Being angry is justified.  Channeling that emotion into thoughtful action and service of humanity is the greatest challenge of our time.  And the time to embrace that challenge is upon us.

Related articles

• Occupy Wall Street’s dilemma: are the police part of the 99%? | Ari Paul (guardian.co.uk)
• Occupy Wall Street News Update of the Day (thedailywh.at)
• Adrienne Parks: Bullying Part Deux: Occupy Wall Street and the Gay Movement (huffingtonpost.com)
• Jim Sleeper: Behind the Snarking About OWS (huffingtonpost.com)
• Deepak Chopra: Only Spirituality can Solve the Problems of the World (aquariuschannelings.com)