I think that last week I jumped the gun a bit. I was so excited to start using my new blog schedule to make posts, that I didn't really give a good overview of why I was going to be posting on said topics! I apologize. So let me rewind for a minute and explain the why I am dedicating a post once a week to FOOD!
A couple months ago my brother told me to watch "
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret" on Netflix. I read an overview of "Cowspiracy" and thought it sounded interesting and planned on watching it at some point. Before I even had a chance to mention it to my husband, I found him watching it one night while I was working! I came in at the very end of the movie. My husband was a bit in awe and told me that if the facts stated in Cowspiracy are indeed true, we should really consider making some changes to our eating habits. If an environmental movie moved him that much, than I certainly needed to make time to watch it! The next evening after the kids were put to bed, I turned it on. My husband stopped what he was doing to watch it again! I was also moved and inspired to make some changes to our diet. One of the quotes that resonated the most was,
"You can't call yourself and environmentalist and still eat meat." I do consider myself an environmentalist of sorts, a conservative one. I love nature and the environment. By education and career, I am a steward of the land, a Landscape Architect. My career took on a much sought after sustainable twist when I began working for
Williams Creek Consulting, an ecological engineering and design firm in 2006. Now aware of the environmental impacts of consuming beef, pork, chicken, fish, dairy and egg products, what were we going to do???
As a lifelong omnivore who believes that God gave us animals for our use and consumption, how could I suddenly make a drastic switch to a vegan lifestyle??? It is evident that as a population, we have over-exploited the use and consumption of certain animals, namely, cows, pigs and chickens. I care about and feel responsible for the land that God has also given to us for our use. But these practices are destroying the world quickly! We aren't taking care of God's creation living this way! After completing some research with the help of a vegan friend, I came across a phrase that I felt comfortable with applying to the dietary changes that my family and I were going to be implementing. We are going to practice "Sustainable Eating".
Sustainable Eating, as I have defined it, is minimizing meat, dairy and egg consumption. I say minimizing because for now, we are still emptying our freezer of previously purchased meat and using up the rest of our dairy based foods, parmesan cheese, ranch dressing, etc and eggs. I do not intend to purchase any more beef, pork, chicken or seafood from the grocery store. Nor do I intend to buy much dairy or eggs. For the most part we will be following a vegan diet, yet we are not vegan. I can't even promise that we are going to be following a 100% vegetarian diet.
Here are my reasons for not wanting to be labeled as vegan or even vegetarian. In my opinion, animals were put on the earth for our use and consumption (if desired). Maybe my family will begin hunting deer, wild turkeys, geese and ducks during specific hunting seasons in order to have meat. Currently we do not have any of the proper equipment for that sport, but I am open to the idea. We live on a small lake that is filled with catfish. My oldest son was introduced to fishing at four years old. He has been hooked ever since! This summer we even kept all the big catfish that he caught over a two day period and then my husband, filleted them and cooked them up for us! It was more than enough for one meal for a family of five. Yum! If he catches fish of a substantial size, we will keep them and eat them. A friend of mine,
Fox Trail Apiary, keeps bees and they bottle the honey and sell it. Honey has many health benefits and I love it and when purchasing from my friend, it is local! At family functions, where the menu is out of our control, we will not demand a non-meat option and maybe we will even eat what has already been purchased and prepared for us. If given a vegetarian or vegan option, we will chose those. I still have three young children at home who are very used to drinking organic 2% milk with their meals. At this point in their lives, I do not want to remove that completely, even though I know realize that cows and all milk producing creatures (humans included) were designed to create milk for their own offspring and no other creatures! And travelling with three small kids is difficult enough, let alone trying to find vegan or vegetarian options at fast food restaurants. I'm not going to make them eat pounds of french fries just because they are vegan.
So what have we done in the first month or so of transitioning to Sustainable Eating? We have cut our milk consumption in half, if not more! We went from drinking about 4 gallons of 2% organic milk every week to about 2 gallons! We are using Almond Milk in cereal, smoothies, baking, cooking, etc. I have not purchased lunch meat or sandwich cheese. Thankfully, my oldest son has been preferring peanut butter and jelly every day and my younger two have accepted that for school lunches as well. We are eating lots of vegetables and grains for our meals. Meals primarily consist of beans, quinoa or rice, other vegetables and seasonsings. We are buying calcium fortified orange juice, low sugar organic juice drinks, vegan cream cheese, sour cream and butter, dry beans of all types (because it is cheaper to buy dry beans and prepare them yourself than cans and cans of prepared beans) and breads without dairy and egg. We continue to eat lots of nuts, fruit and vegetables. And I have bought but yet have to experiment with Chia Seeds. My children didn't really like the coconut milk yogurt, but maybe over time they will. Organic yogurt was a staple in their daily meals!
Sustainable Eating is making me get creative with meals and try new things! My Monday FOOD! posts will go through sustainable eating tips and tricks that I have found and will showcase recipes that my family has enjoyed. By spreading the word about the over-exploitation of farm animals leading to the destruction of our environment and modifying my family's diet and sharing our experiences, I hope that many of you will consider making some changes too. It is something that we have to do if we want to provide a healthy environment for our future generations. (And I haven't even touched on the health benefits of following a diet like this!)
I'd like to hear from you! What can you do to help your family eat more sustainably?
Check out the Cowspiracy Facts.
To help you get started making some dietary changes, check out The Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine.
