Trying to Live and Eat Ethically

Recycling: The least good.

At the age of 18, I started to become concerned with eating ethically. A friend of mine and I stumbled upon a website, meat.org that spearheaded our efforts to eat ethically. At the time my only concern was animal cruelty. I didn’t consider other issues like environmental impact; pesticides, soil depletion, fossil fuel use, or human rights. In the past 5 years I have done many foolish things while trying to eat and live ethically; hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. I think the term “ethical” gets thrown around a lot and has become a buzz word. I use it because it’s easier than explaining in detail exactly what I mean and most people understand the idea of “ethical”.

I stopped eating pork at about age 18. An article in Rolling Stone Boss Hog  was released and that was it, no more pork for me. The article was about Smithfield, America’s largest pork processing conglomerate. Boss Hog painted a grim picture of the meat industry. At this point I was completely ignorant of how meat ended up on my plate. The article covered not only the cruel treatment of pigs, but also other issues that I had never considered; pollution, poor treatment of workers, and food safety.

At this point I started eliminating meat from my diet; first chicken and commercial eggs, then beef, then fish. After about a year my main source of protein was protein powder. I still ate meat occasionally though, usually at family or social events. I would like to mention that my beef is with commercial meat; I have no issue with meat from animals that are treated well.

From age 17 to 20 I was mainly focused on minimizing meat consumption. I had not yet considered other factors involved in eating and living ethically. Looking back, it’s amazing how ignorant I was. I completely ignored other aspects like minimizing consumption of consumer goods, fossil fuel use, and thinking that other foods were “ethical”. I did some really silly things too; I ate so much natural peanut butter that I developed an intolerance to it. To this day peanuts still give me horrible stomach pain, flushing of the face, and make me feel hot. Eating half a jar of natural peanut butter a day for months on end wasn’t a good idea.

I moved to California the summer after high school and the tap water at the place I was living tasted awful. So instead of buying a Brita filter pitcher for my drinking water, I would walk about a mile to Rite Aid and buy 8 gallons of distilled water at a time. I drank 2 gallons of water a day, so I did this twice a week. I somehow managed to fit 3 in my backpack, attached one to the back of the pack, and carried the other 4 in my hands. For those of you wondering, that’s 64 lbs of water. The looks people gave me were priceless; even in “the land of fruits and nuts”, people thought I was crazy. The real problem with this was how much plastic I was consuming, 14 gallon jugs a week. There were times the floor of my room was completely covered in water jugs; I was lazy and would go weeks on end without taking the jugs to the recycling bin;. Why did I do this? Why didn’t I just buy a filter pitcher? Looking back I still wonder what in the hell I was thinking.

It took me awhile to realize that other foods were not “ethical”. For a long time I thought that foods other than meat were “ethical”; similar to many vegans’ viewpoint. I did not consider issues in agriculture like water contamination from pesticide and herbicide use, the disappearance of small farmers, food contamination, fossil fuel use, and animal death from farming; birds, vermin, raccoons, etc. Watching Food Inc. helped me realize that none of the foods I was consuming were truly “ethical”. All the foods that I consumed had a negative impact on the environment.

My roommate and I were curious to see how much stuff we consumed; plastic, cardboard, glass, etc. So we went months on end without taking the recycling out. To sit down at the kitchen table was quite a challenge; marching through milk jugs, glass, and cardboard boxes. Sitting at the table was quite comical; we were literally knee high in recycling. I’m really mad that I don’t have pictures of the “pile”, it was impressive as hell. We both tried to minimize our consumerism, but we still had a ton of stuff; the average person just doesn’t realize how much they consume. Whenever the subject of consumerism came up in conversation with friends, family, or classmates: most just don't get it. They either can’t grasp the concept as to why it’s a good idea to minimize consumption or they think it is stupid. It still amazes me that some people don’t even recycle; recycling is the least good that you can do. There’s a reason why recycle is last in “reduce, reuse, recycle”.  It is a shame, but the majority of American’s are totally blind to the idea that the lifestyle they live has a direct impact on the environment. The Story of Stuff is a great film about consumerism; it’s worth taking the time to watch.

The same year as the “pile” I lived in a not so nice part of town and would frequently walk to the gym or grocery store instead of driving. The problem with this is that people driving by would frequently throw things, scream, honk, or when it was raining swerve into puddles to make sure I got soaked. On my walks I always questioned myself, “Why in the hell am I walking? I have a car!” Despite the problems that came along with walking, I’m still glad that I walked.

I have done some crazy things; I was unrealistic, obsessive, and rigid in my pursuit of being “ethical”. The stress and frustration that I inflicted upon myself was unnecessary. I ask myself, “Why do I even bother?”  Seeing how most other folks live, I realize that I’m pissing into the wind. It took me some time to realize why I do the things that I do; It’s for a little peace of mind. Trying to minimize my impact on the environment doesn’t make me feel good. NOT trying is the issue; I would hate myself if I didn’t at least put forth some effort. 

“ The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. ”

— Lily Tomlin

The Rat

A close match to what "the Rat" looked like. 

My last semester of college I lived in a dump of a house; it was a rental in a college town. The roof leaked, there was water damage, and was in disrepair. But it was cheap, and I was only going to be living there for a few months.

One problem though, there was a rat. This wasn’t just any rat either. He was a monster; the biggest rat I have ever seen. I would guess that he was the size of a small opossum. I don’t know what he was eating but damn.

We couldn’t catch him either. The cage didn’t work; he managed to eat all the food without tripping it. The spring-loaded traps didn’t work, glue traps didn’t work, and the steel snare didn’t work! He ripped it off the wall! An exterminator set poisonous food out, that failed too.

One of my roommates battled with the rat just about every night. He would get home in the evening, would start cooking dinner, and the rat would come out for the food. He would chase the rat with a broom handle, but the rat stood his ground trying to get the food. When in the house, I stayed in my room with the door closed, but I could hear him cussing and swearing and the banging of the broom handle against the floor and cupboards at dinner time lol. I was too grossed out to cook; I kept all my food in the refrigerator.

I only saw the rat on one occasion. I had just walked in the back door one night and there he was. I was terrified and jumped up onto the counter. He didn’t seem to be too worried about me as he nonchalantly scampered off.  I couldn’t wait to get out of that house.

I did move out of the house prematurely, but it wasn’t because of the rat. The leaking roof allowed black mold to start growing, and I developed epiglottitis. I’m lucky it didn’t kill me.

I don’t know what happened to the rat, but I suspect that he’s doing well wherever he is.  

I'm Jealous!

Free Oranges!

I am always thinking about my future, and what I want to do with myself. Yesterday I was talking with a friend of my uncle’s; he has an orange grove and a large garden on about 4 acres of land. He grows many different types of citrus, lemons, tangerines, grape fruit, and navel oranges. He also has blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes. His property is in southeastern Louisiana and is able to grow food year round. In addition to everything he grows in spring and summer, in the fall he plants broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and garlic.

I'm quite envious of his setup. One day I hope to be able to do something similar. Although I think I will raise animals as well; chickens, a few goats, and maybe a Belgian blue just for fun. 

I don’t plan on being able to do this for awhile though; I don’t plan on settling down and living in one place for a few years. 

A Belgian Blue. 

Can't Win if You Don't Play!

There was a long line of people buying Power Ball tickets today for the 100 million jackpot at the gas station I stopped at.

A quote from a professor I had came to mind regarding his thoughts on the lottery,

 "Voluntary taxation for the mathematically inept."

Getting High from Raw Cheese.

A few years back I sat down to a lunch of raw cheese and grapes, and before I knew it I was as high as a kite. Within a few minutes of eating the cheese my entire body was buzzing, I felt as if I was floating in the air, and I felt so relaxed and at peace. After two or three hours I ended up on the floor rubbing my body into the carpet like a dog because I felt so itchy. I did manage to walk to class that evening somehow; first time I went to class high, I swear.

So what’s the deal? How did eating raw cheese have such an effect? It turns out there are some exotic peptide hormones in milk; most people don’t ever experience the effects of these peptides as they are destroyed during pasteurization. Casomorphins were probably the main culprit in my accidental pipe dream; they bind to opioid receptors in the brain and are similar to opium and morphine. Casomorphins are formed by our digestion of casein protein which is found in milk and the primary protein found in cheese. Casomorphins also cause histamine release, hence my itchiness.

So why are these peptides in milk? The opioid peptides seem to promote nursing in young mammals; they make you feel good and are addictive.

If you have never consumed raw dairy or plan on consuming a large quantity of dairy, raw or pasteurized, be aware that there may be some unintended consequences.

 Interestingly, consuming dairy can also lower blood pressure. The digestion of certain milk proteins results in the formation of peptides that inhibit ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) which results in lowered blood pressure.

“Recent research has shown that enzymatic digestion of casein and whey proteins generate peptides that have the ability to inhibit ACE. The best known ACE-inhibitory peptides, Val-Pro-Pro (VPP) and Ile-Pro-Pro (IPP)”

-from dairyscience.info/index.php

http://www.dairyscience.info/index.php/exploitation-of-anti-microbial-proteins/111-milk-protein-derived-bioactive-peptides.html?showall=&start=3

A few more links if you’re interested:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1374738

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casomorphin

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/137/3/825S.full

A very informative website on all things dairy: http://www.dairyscience.info/index.php

He's definitely high

I'm goin back to the floor!

This is the straw that broke the camel’s back; I hurt my lower back again! I was at the gym, using the leg press, and I apparently went into lumbar kyphosis, rounding of the low back, and sure enough my lower back started killing me as soon as I stood up. I’ve hurt my back many times before, and I’m sure that I’ll be fine in a few days.

Why is this the straw that broke the camel’s back? For the last 3 weeks I’ve been sleeping on a mattress, and I’ve had enough. I’m going back to the floor. I started sleeping on the floor this past summer and fell in love with it. The only downside is that it kills my shoulders, but it completely eliminated all of my back pain; quite the double edged sword. I typically sleep on my side so there’s always pressure on my shoulders which causes me pain throughout the day. But shoulder pain be damned, I’ll take shoulder pain any day over back pain. I’ve had back issues for awhile; bulging discs in my cervical and thoracic spine that cause occasional numbness and pain in my hands and arms, and I’ve had low back pain for years.

Why does sleeping on a mattress cause back pain? Lying on such a soft surface allows my vertebrae to expand and take up fluid during the night. This is the reason why you’re taller in the morning. Try it, measure your height when you get out of bed in the morning and then again before you go to bed. I’m about half an inch shorter by the end of the day. I literally can’t bend over in the morning if I slept on a mattress the night before, and it takes hours for my back to feel normal. I have zero back issues when I sleep on the floor. I hop off the floor and am good to go for the day.

If you have back or neck pain, why not try it? I’ll admit, the first night sucked, and I don’t think I slept at all. It took about three days to get comfortable with sleeping on the floor. I suppose I should clarify, I do not sleep directly on the floor; I sleep on a yoga mat on a floor with carpet. I don’t need the yoga mat anymore though; a blanket on a floor with carpet is quite comfy for me.

Be prepared to take shit from everyone though. People will think that you are insane. On one occasion my roommate’s girlfriend checked out my sleeping area, a yoga mat in a closest, and was absolutely shocked; non-stop laughter ensued. My family thinks I’m crazy for it, but what else is new? For whatever reason people have a hard time imagining not sleeping on a mattress.

John Durant wrote about this awhile back on his site, check it out:

http://www.hunter-gatherer.com/blog/sleepover-experiments-sleeping-floor

Side note: If you’re a young bachelor like myself, good luck bringing young ladies home! lol. It’s probably best to go to their place. Kudos if you pull it off though!