Stupendous summary of the news regarding this recall.
The last sentence in your post will get the heads shaking of the meat-eaters. I know of not one who thinks a meat-free diet can be enjoyable, until they come to dinner at my house. It is like some sort of denial-mode that kicks in when you mention life without gristle.

Thanks NV!

And you’re right. The boyfriend doesn’t complain a bit about what I feed him (I refuse to prepare any kind of dead critter), but he loves to eat meat. I can’t figure out why. It’s going to take a heart attack to really alter his behavior, I’m sure.

OK, so asking vegetarians this is strange, but….does organic meat (or milk) have less BGH in it? Or is “organic” still a catch all phrase that means “probably not fatal as far as we know”?

Jim, certified 100% organic beef and dairy products are required to be hormone free (http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/NOP/standards/prodhandreg.html). It should be safe(r) to consume certified organic cow products, which is why some “health” vegetarians have recently started eating sustainably-grown (ha), grass-fed, organic beef. It’s been a bit of a controversy among vegetarian groups, particularly since so many of us are vegetarian for a combination of health and ethical reasons. We don’t like to lose anyone from the team.

Swaying a bit form the topic..

“Health” vegetarian? Either you are vegetarian or you are not vegetarian. I am tired of all of this “pseudo” vegetarian such as “flexatarians”, if you eat fish you aren’t vegetarian, if you eat a full-vegetarian diet six days of the week but on one day a week you eat a whole chicken and a can of beef tripe then you are not vegetarian! By the very definition of “vegetarian” you are not one!

While I appreciate anyone making strides to improve their diet, health and/or their ethical and environmental impacts don’t call yourself something that you are clearly not.

Reminds me of a lady I talked to at Whole Foods one day who said she was vegan but ate pork for protein. WHAT?!?

NV, I’m with you on the nomenclature thing in no small part because I’m tired of being asked if I eat chicken and fish when I say I’m a vegetarian. No!

But what I meant are the (now former) vegetarians who became vegetarians for health reasons, not because they had an issue with eating meat other than it was unhealthy.

I agree with Nashveggie on the nomenclature issue. I haven’t eaten a land animal since 1990, but I don’t call myself vegetarian. BTW … I’ve known many vegetarians who eat horrible diets. Tons of breads, pasta, starches, cereals, pastries and are quite unhealthy. For me, I think wild caught fish, veggies, fruits and nuts are a whole lot healthier than eating a vegetarian diet that leans heavily on pasta, grains and cereals. (…and I have the fitness, body weight and blood work to prove it)

William hits on an important point in the “health vegetarian” discussion, that vegetarian does not necessarily equal healthy, and that a certain amount of variety is important whether you eat meat or not. Eating nothing but steak is probably unhealthy, as is eating nothing but starches as William mentions. Vegetarian doesn’t necessarily imply a specific diet and level of healthiness, nor does being a non-vegetarian.

Being a vegan I can assure you that one can be unhealthy and be a vegan. However I can also say that a properly maintained vegan diet can and is healthier than a meat-eater’s diet.

I love vegetables and meat, together or separate. One of the really huge problems for people who eat crappy diets is lack of awareness and access to decent plant foods. And, if you are on a small income or public assistance, it’s not likely you’ve got money to buy organic or even high quality produce. Dairy product prices have gone through the roof (cottage cheese costs 50% more than it did last year (and most other dairy is similar).

I just had a bowl of stew. It had shrimp, chicken, kielbasa and italian sausage in it. It also had onions, sundried tomatoes, carrots, ’shrooms and black beans. Yeah, I could have made a broth with some kombu and miso, but I really like the tastes of the stew I made.

Like I told William at his blog, I’m pretty sure I’m going to die, no matter what. I been living this way for 58 years, the only thing that would make me change? If I got pregnant.

As a parent, I gotta just say- This is yet another reason I force my kid to begrudgingly take a packed lunch daily.

As a former vegetarian, when I was a veggie I read tons about the food industry and you can pretty much find reasons that most of what we consume is pretty nasty. As a result, I try to watch my health, but I eat what I want.

Guess I won’t be letting my daughter buy lunch on Friday (hamburger day)! FWIW, 4/5 days she takes a lunch from home. But her favorite day to buy lunch is Fridays when they usually have hamburger/cheeseburger on the menu.

Lesley rgarding your comment about those who have recently started eating sustainably-grown (ha), grass-fed, organic beef, there is a method of raising animals for food that is substantially more sustainable than conventional methods. You might check out a talk by Michael Pollan at www.ted.com where he talks a little about how it works. (As a vegan that will not be the most interesting part for you, but you’ll enjoy it.)

In my vegan past I had a 2 vol set of cookbooks (sadly now long gone) that were filled with recipes of balanced diet from cheeses, beans and grains to ensure sufficient proteins, fiber, amino acids, etc.

Democommie, I can feel your arteries hardening from here. It sounds really good, too.

William–I call those people “Breadatarians” and “Pastatarians”–people I think are too lazy to eat a decent meal regardless of whether it has animal products in it or not. They’d be eating nothing but chicken tenders and hamburgers if they weren’t eating just pasta and bread.

Rachel–vegetarian diets are much healthier than omnivorous diets–so long as the “veg” is included in the diet. I see your point, but the evidence indicates that a balanced vegetarian diet is much healthier than a balanced omivorous diet.

Democommie–plenty of people have lived very long lives eating all sorts of meat. Though most of those people didn’t eat the complete garbage that passes for meat these days.

Jim…

In my vegan past I had a 2 vol set of cookbooks (sadly now long gone) that were filled with recipes of balanced diet from cheeses, beans and grains to ensure sufficient proteins, fiber, amino acids, etc.

A vegan cookbook would have no cheese included as an ingredient.

L Norris–and now I know why that, even though we qualified for me to have a free lunch when I was in school, my mom made me carry my lunch every day. She’s been a nutrition stickler all my life. It used to really annoy me, but not any more.

Malia–they did remove the meat in question, but I gotta wonder why J likes school hamburgers. I remember even when I was a kid thinking those things were horrible. They always smelled funny to me. Now, the pizza rectangles…that’s another story.

Jim–I’m not a vegan, just a vegetarian (I eat some dairy and some products that contain eggs). I appreciate the “sustainable meat” movement and what they’re doing to help, but using land to grow cows instead of to grow food is still terribly inefficient. As I tell people, with my diet, I cut out the middle-cow.

Lesley- Glad to see it paid off. I try to explain to my 5 year old why he has to eat healthy cereal instead of the kind with toys in it, but he just doesn’t want to hear “You’ll be happier and healthier and live longer”. He’s just thinking “My mom stinks.” I do smile when he orders water to drink at a restaurant though. It’s a good thing.

Lesley, I’m just objecting to absolutes, since most people’s diets aren’t standardized or ideal. It’s a nitpicky side effect of spending too much time reading medical research.

Rachel–gotcha. I do know plenty of “vegetarians” who pretty much eat nothing but pasta and white bread. They’re not exactly our best ambassadors.

I do know plenty of “vegetarians” who pretty much eat nothing but pasta and white bread.

Garbage in, garbage out.

As an athlete, I’ve found it’s actually easier to keep my weight down and a higher strength level by adding fish to an otherwise vegetarian diet. I’ve been vegan but it is hard to find vegetable sources of concentrated protein that are low in fat, carbs and calories. By eating fish, you can get the concentrated protein without the bad fats of land animals and are more satisfied with less food. However, you do have to eat selectively, some fish species like certain tunas and salmons are high in contaminents. As said, I haven’t eaten beef, pig, lamb, poultry or land animals for 18 yrs because it’s the wrong kind of fat, and for other reasons stated above.

And, I also want to add that middle age adults that are NOT athletes, often over estmate their need for protein in their diet.

… eating more meat than necessary

I’m on the democommie meal plan these days. Wake up, thaw out dentures, eat banana and granola, drink tea. Shiver for a few hours (shivering burns lots of calories–just don’t overdo it) work, eat dinner go to bed. Went from 216 to about 198 and I still haven’t boiled the neighbor’s dog.