Remembering that Animals Aren't Human

If you watch enough Disney animated films and live with pets that are, inarguably, a part of your family, then you are probably a lot like me, suffering from a major case of anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is the term given to the act of giving human attributes and/or characteristics to animals (or any non-human entities such as plants, deities, etc.). I know I can't help it, I truly believe at times that my dog is being spiteful, or that the hungry birds outside are actually happy when I put out extra seed on my windowsill. 


I grew up adoring The Muppets (furry creatures that walked, talked, sang and did everything I did), and while I visited zoos and farms, and have lived right next to a nature preserve, in all my observation of animals in the wild, or in their natural habitat I would say that those times could probably be described as pseudo-wild, at best. The "wild" animals that I have learned about in my environment are those who have adapted to the herd of cars, have traversed asphalt to gain access to their major food sources: the discarded scraps of their human neighbors. They live with us, they live near us and live off of us... why wouldn't I begin to think that they live like us?


I am playing my role a bit too obtusely, because I know, in my heart of hearts that this is not exactly true and, to be honest, the more and more that I continue my search for sustenance, the more I see and feel the great divide. When, at the beginning of the month, I read a blog about sustainability as a very, very old idea in ..:recycled minds:..: Wade Davis on Sustainability and the Environment , the idea stuck with me. Throughout this month, I have often thought back to the ancient civilizations Mr. Davis spoke about in his talk and then, after watching The Cove, it occurred to me that we should not only learn from ancient civilizations, but also from animals. Animals can teach us to be kinder to our Earth because they are so "un-human." 


So I am learning. 


Then, last night, an article on the Internet caught my eye about animal cruelty. It was especially surprising when I caught the intro:

What's this? Joel Salatin, the most famous organic farmer in America, star of Food, Inc, the Academy Award- nominated polemic against factory farming, is being investigated for animal cruelty? (Full article: Organic crusader shares radical ideas)

How could this be? Joel Salatin was the perceived golden child of the farming community, was he not?! So I read on and found out that he still is. Animal control informed Mr. Salatin that he had a "people problem" - people who, like me, thought about animals in human ways. I am not sure if it was merely the tone of the article, or the tone of Joel Salatin, but it seems that the farmer was all too understanding of this misunderstanding. In fact, he even seems to turn it into a teachable moment, with a touch of humor. After noting that the misunderstanding is from misplaced anthropomorphism, the article continues:

The logical extension of that is the view that animals should not be killed for food. "Those people, they say 'Come on, isn't that really a barbaric act, haven't we evolved past eating animals to a new place of cosmic nirvana'.

"The truth is, everything is eating and being eaten. If you don't believe it, go lie naked in your flower bed for three days and see what gets eaten." (Full article: Organic crusader shares radical ideas)

And, as I read this last statement, I was reminded, once again, that animals aren't human. At it gave me pause. I find myself in a state of disequilibrium on the precipice of truly learning something new. (Disequilibrium, as defined by Piaget in educational psychology: When a child experiences a new event, disequilibrium sets in until he is able to assimilate and accommodate the new information and thus attain equilibrium.) That is literally one of my favorite states to be in... it is very exciting.

What I know:

• Animals are not human
• Animal behavior is quite distinct from human beings
• Humans do have the responsibility of treating animals under their care humanely
• Many animals raised for food in this country (and probably the world) are not treated humanely

Where my disequilibrium lies (I realize some of these questions can not be answered):

• Is it inhumane to eat animals that are raised humanely?
• Is it inhumane to keep pets when there is no one home for most of the day due to work obligations? (My husband and I have spoken about this one a lot.)
• Can beagles be spiteful? (hee... hee... I still suspect this after living with two!)
• What kind of emotions do animals feel?
• Do dolphins experience joy when they surf?
• Will I ever have a turkey-less Thanksgiving?

As in all aspect of life, there are always more questions than answers. My search continues and my learning curve is steep.

5 Habits To Becoming A Healthier Eater

We all want to eat healthier, be healthier and most of all feel healthier as soon as humanly possible. This is a fantastic goal to have, however there are so many things to do to get there that sometimes it seems impossible to figure out where to begin. What I am learning more than anything is that this is a process, so beginning anywhere is a step in the right direction!

Here are five things that I have learned are truly important habits to cultivate on my path to supreme health and wellness:

1. Hydrate Properly 

According to WaterInfo.org, "The human body is more than 60 percent water. Blood is 92 percent water, the brain and muscles are 75 percent water, and bones are about 22 percent water."If we don't do our part to keep up these water levels, our body simply will not operate correctly. The best way to do this? Consume WATER.

You can consume water by drinking it or eating it. Fruits, vegetables and even meats (just like us!) contain water. Keep in mind the more you cook something, the greater the chance you are cooking the water out, but for the most part, if what you are eating was actually alive at some point in its existence, you will be getting some water out of it.

There is plenty advice all over the Internet concerning how much water one should drink in a day, but I learned of one approach that made sense to me because it was not a one-size-fits-all approach. It was based on weight - you should consume half of your body weight in ounces. In other words, I weigh about 150lbs right now, so, dividing that by 2 gives me 75. Therefore, I should consume about 75 ounces of water per day (that's drinking + eating!!).

Here is the bad news: caffeine is a diuretic. According to the WellnessBreakRadio.com podcast for every cup of a caffeinated beverage you drink, you must drink TWO cups of water, just to make up for the lost water. I thought this was a very good rule of thumb as I am always left thirsty after drinking caffeinated beverages.
(Beginning to see how vital water is? You don't even know the half of it! Here's another post about how precious water really is.)

2. Eat Your Veggies

Forget Skittles - this is where you can really "taste the rainbow"! As soon as I stopped thinking of vegetables as an afterthought, and, instead, started thinking about vegetables first I felt a complete shift in the types of meals I was preparing and eating. I wanted to try different things, different colors, different textures in my meals.

Of course, having a weekly Farmer's Market helps with creativity - you cook what is available, even if you never tried it before - but even if that is not a possibility, try experimenting on your own. If you don't know where to start, maybe just go for colors - pick a color palate for your dinner plate. Once you've selected your color and then your vegetable, there are a number of resources on the Internet to help you with finding recipes

• Food.com is one of my favorites, with recipes being shared from people just like you and me from all over the Internet
• Foodista is also quite expansive, aiming to be the largest food encyclopedia on the Internet, or 
• if you want a virtual recipe search engine, try SuperCook  where you type in the ingredients you have and it will spit back recipes from all over the Internet that can be made with them. 

If, on the other hand, you prefer a cookbook, then I highly recommend the one that showed me the path to yummy vegetable preparation and consumption, my veggie bible,  Jack Bishop's Vegetables Every Day.(Here are two posts filled with my über-joy after finding Jack Bishop's book: Searching for Sustenance: Jack Bishop is my New Hero! and Searching for Sustenance: From Pod to Plate).

3. Watch Out for Bad Oil!

This is another tip I picked up from WellnessBreakRadio.com from one of their guests: buy oil in dark glass bottles or containers that do not allow the light to permeate them. Essentially, Olive Oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oils are touted as having multiple health benefits because they are live oils. They are not supposed to be exposed to light. While you may know this, and you may keep your oil stored in a cupboard like I do, what about all those hours, days, weeks on the grocery store shelves under the fluorescent lighting? It is a simple enough fix, the next time you need oil, just look for a different package - they are there (oil in a tin, for example).

4. Think Raw

Hopefully, since my first tip,  this idea has already started to creep into your mind. The Raw Diet movement is gaining momentum all of the time and while I think it is unlikely that I will convert to a completely raw diet, the benefits of eating raw can not be denied. The fruits and vegetables of this earth are packed with the vitamins and minerals our bodies crave. Left alone and eaten raw we can consume these benefits in their purest and most potent state.

One of the reasons we cook things is so that we can ensure that all bacteria is killed. We know that works, however, the cooking also kills off some of the benefits as well. I am no fan of bacteria, and I do like the richness of flavor that cooking often brings, but one habit I have begun to cultivate is thinking  more about where I can fit raw into my daily eating schedule - more fruits, salads, snacks, et. cetera. Once you make something a focus of thought, action isn't too far behind. So start thinking about it -  

• How can you eat raw? Full time, one meal, snacks and sides only?
• What are you willing to eat raw? Fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.  
• Where will you fit it into your eating? I try to get three fruits a day (I keep forgetting this one, so I am lucky if I get two). I make my own trail mix as a snack. Also, I am trying to make salads with every dinner.

5. Read Labels

Food shopping is filled with reading. You are reading your circular, you are reading the price tags, you are reading your coupons... well, I am here to add to your reading list, if you haven't started doing this already: start reading your labels. If you are a beginner, I recommend you just start taking a mental inventory of certain ingredients and nutritional facts:

• high fructose corn syrup (Princeton University study on HFCS)
• soy (article on GM soy plus an article from VeganHealth.org "Is it safe to eat soy?")
• sugar or ingredients that end with "-ose" (article "Is Eating Sugar Really That Bad For Us?")
• aspartame (Wikipedia article on the Aspartame Controversy, so you can make your own call)
• sodium content (Mayo Clinic on sodium)
• monosodium glutamate or MSG (article from Natural News)

Once you see how much of this you are consuming, you can decide, for your own health, which foods need to go and which you can keep (in moderation).

If you have passed this beginning level of label reading, then perhaps it is time you start looking for organic and certified humane products. I recently wrote a post about my own experience with these labels and how even they, too, need to be read carefully in Searching for Sustenance: Greenwashing - Am I a Victim?.


Pick one of these five habits to start to cultivate today. Some are easier than others, but over the next couple of weeks you should at least have tried out all five. Good luck, welcome to the journey, I hope your search for sustenance brings you to a healthier tomorrow!

Greenwashing - Am I a Victim?

I finally found out the name of thing I have been fearing in this search for sustenance: greenwashing.To put it in my terms, this is a company or organization pretending to be greener than it actually is (see Sourcewatch for a much more in depth and "official" definition). This has been something I have always worried about in my search, but as of late, I have to say, it was really starting to haunt me. I have had this nagging question in my mind about the labels I trust and whether or not I have become lax and allowed the label to mean everything to me.

I Am Beginning To Have Trust Issues

It began about a week or so ago when I went shopping and I was looking for my Certified Humane eggs in Stop N Shop. They weren't there. I guess they were sold out or something, but this was the second week in a row this had happened and I began to wonder... why can I find organic eggs, but not certified humane? Why is everyone always talking about "organic" but never talking about "humane"? AM I BEING SWINDLED HERE?

I wondered...

                       it festered...

An Ally Emerges

And then I found a blog last night entitled: Why I Am Not Enthralled By "Organic" I thought to myself, "Here is someone having the same issue I am, but with the Organic labeling of products!" The timing of this couldn't have been better. (This like-minded soul recommended the film Bananas! as an exemplar of some greenwashing caught in the act.) On my trip to my now unfamiliar King Kullen yesterday I became a bit inquisitive about the "certified organic" foods as well.

Issue 1: Plastic Produce?
 
First of all, I was in the produce section and I was confused because all of the organic produce was packaged. Maybe I have gotten too used to my weekly trips to the Farmer's Markets (I will miss them when they are gone!), but is this normal? I like to touch my produce before I buy it, it is part of my selection process.

 Issue 2: The Non-Committal Berries

Secondly, and I am just remembering this now, I was a little bit confused by the strawberry situation: both the organic and non-organic strawberries were distributed by Driscoll farms - why not just do all organic? How did they suddenly decide what part of their farm would be dedicated to organic berries? Is Driscoll a company that practices greenwashing? I could go on here, but I hope to do some research to find out these answers.

Issue 3: Unseasonal Fruit

Thirdly, I can still see where the traps lie if you don't shop smart. One package caught my eye and, at first, I did not know what it was until I looked closer. It was a package of kiwis, in October (nearly November), in New York! So I looked even closer to answer the question: where did these come from? The answer: New Zealand. Now I don't know much about shipping fresh fruit, but can these kiwis from New Zealand still be considered fresh? And a scarier question - were these kiwis exposed to some sort of preservative to help them make the trip? Is that allowed?


My Great Question

It is clear to me that no label is going to be exactly what I want it to be. So I can not afford to become lax in my shopping routine. I must always remember to ask myself, Is this what I value in my food?

And to be able to answer that I have to continue to answer my greatest question of all:

What do I value in my food?

This is my great question, because it is still developing, and maybe always will be (which is why I always have to ask it!). 

Some Of My Answers

So after reading the Organic blog, I recognized that my lack in faith in my labels was well-founded, because I forgot something I knew innately at the beginning of this search: trust nothing at face-value because I always feared big-business, or agribusiness getting their clutches in the labeling process. I also feared something that I now know is called greenwashing. Either way, the lesson is the same stay knowledgeable - educate yourself. Get down and dirty with ins and outs of the labels; what do they really mean.  

I didn't want to feel disenchanted anymore about things I have chosen to trust, so I decided to re-educate myself as to why I selected to trust these labels and see if I still agree. Here's what I found:

• I trust Certified Humane products.  After reviewing their standards and even read an article fighting for and against certified humane product labels, I remembered why this label became so important to me. Temple Grandin. I was at an education conference a couple of years ago when I saw this book for sale called, Animals Make Us Human it had nothing to do with my teaching, but everything to do with my life - I had three dogs at the time and had just given up my cat due to my husband's allergy. When I bought the book the seller pointed to a room behind me and said, "The author is giving a talk right in there now. You can have her sign it." It had been a long day, I was on my way out so I said, "No thanks," confused as to why she would be giving a talk at an education conference. Oh! If I could turn back time! The book was amazing, Dr. Grandin is even more amazing (I can't believe I haven't blogged about her before), and I learned about humane slaughter of cattle. Oxymoron, you say? Well, meat is still a reality in my house - I am working hard on my husband, but he has forgotten the horrors of Food, Inc. So if I am buying meat and animal products, they will be certified humane.
• I need Organic Certification to guard against GMOs. While there still may be loop holes in the organic certification process, it still guards against this one giant nightmare. Another blog I read last night, Natural Corn? made a very good argument for organics as well as avoiding high fructose corn syrup (which we Riveras are on the bandwagon for also!). This "Natural Mom" had a very informative blog with a recommended viewing of Fresh, a movie I have yet to see - so it is on my to-watch list!
• I like to buy local produce. I am still not sure how I would prioritize this in a supermarket given the option of locally grown or organic, but I do know that I do prefer to get my produce from the farmer's market than the grocery store. I need opinions/information on this one - am I being greenwashed at the farmer's market if I am buying produce that is not necessarily certified organic? Is this just as bad as going straight to the supermarket and buying non-organic? Let me know what you think or know about this topic!

So, in the end, it is basically an old lesson learned a-new for me here: be vigilant, read your labels carefully and then research what those labels mean.

Taking Action

In this blog I have written a lot about food choices I have made personally, what I have learned about the food industry through some media at my fingertips (books, movies, web sites, et cetera), but I am not sure I have written enough about taking action.

I was born in 1976, I was a child of the eighties, took on high school and college in the nineties and stepped into my career on the cusp of the new millennium. I will not venture to say that the society around me was not steeped in great changes, amazing innovations and sweeping culture shifts, however, I do believe something really quite important might have been missing and maybe still is. Where is this generation's sense of power?

I learned of the battles my grandparents and great grandparents went through to become Americans, I learned of women getting the right to vote, the battle over prohibition, the civil rights movement - I learned all of these things not only from my teachers, but from my family - they lived in these times, they made things happen. They embraced the American spirit and took action when things needed changing - they sat-in, or marched, or petitioned or rallied - and the powers that be had to listen because the actions and the voices of the many were cacophonous.That is the American way to make change, that is how we take action -we the people get organized and speak our piece loud enough to be heard. We, as Americans, have the right to speak of our discontent and work in a civil manner to make things better. I sometimes fear that branching out into the world wide web has ripped out our grass-roots.

I would like to plant some grass seeds with my blog and help out some organizations that I think are doing a fantastic job of getting the word out in terms of saving our sustenance. It is high time we gather together as our American rights allow us to to fight what I believe to be the great battle of my generation: the people vs. Big Business.

• Food & Water Watch - This is my #1 go to source for news related to my sustenance. I have added their RSS feed to this blog for their "Take Action" page so you can check in on whatever particular court case, petition or issue needs your support at the moment. If you do nothing else, join their mailing list.
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC) - An environmental group that also has a large "Take Action" section of their web site to keep you up to date on their current cases and issues being brought before congress.
• Certified Humane - I am always popping this site up on my iPhone on the way to the grocery store to make sure I am buying the right brand eggs and chicken because, along with their "Take Action" section they also have a nice link for you to "Find Stores" around you that sell "Certified Humane" products.
• The Center for Food Safety - Another great site I have written about before (this is where we got our shopping list for avoiding GMOs!), that has the "True Food Network" which is always looking for more support for their causes in the great food fight.

*Note: all of these sites have facebook pages as well, if that simplifies your screen time.

Here's the deal... at some point we are all going to have to admit that something has gone horribly wrong with our food selections. The food I am exposed to when shopping is not the same that my mother or grandmothers were exposed to - we can blame video games, computers, television and whatever other screen time you can add up for the increasing obesity rates in this country, but that is only ONE PIECE to this puzzle - we should not allow agribusiness to  shield our eyes from the truth for the sakes of their pockets! It is time to take action. It is time to become more knowledgeable. It is time to stop accepting and start QUESTIONING so we can LEARN the TRUTH.

P.S. - If you have a favorite "taking action" site you'd like me to know about, please add it in the comments section! Thanks!