Ayurveda and vegetarian or not?

[Guest guest]

Going veg provides more bang for your buck than driving a Prius. ...

 

Dear Dr. Bhate and Michael,

 

You must be familiar with the Blood type and other systems which

identify certain people as natural vegetarians and others as not. We

see also genetic groups have tendencies, such as for easier dairy

digestion or not. The following article (Thank you Michael and

Madhavi) shows even more reason to be vegetarian, yet I know many

including myself for whom it is or has been particularly challenging.

 

We go through phases, sometimes years as vegetarian which is fine if

the stress level is not great and if very careful with herbal and

other dietary supports including EFA3s, and perhaps enough exercise is

also very important? Many swing back the other way to extremes having

depleted the adrenals and other needs. The Budwig flax oil-dairy

combo has been the biggest blessing for me to be comfortably

vegetarian. We would be grateful for your input here.

 

Mike, I've seen these figures before...I think they are real.

Warm Regards;

Ysha

 

Published on Saturday, January 20, 2007

Vegetarian is the New Prius - by Kathy Freston

 

President Herbert Hoover promised " a chicken in every pot and a car in

every garage. " With warnings about global warming reaching feverish

levels, many are having second thoughts about all those cars. It seems

they should instead be worrying about the chickens.

 

Last month, the United Nations published a report on livestock and the

environment with a stunning conclusion: " The livestock sector emerges

as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the

most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to

global. " It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause

of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution,

loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.

 

That's right, global warming. You've probably heard the story:

emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are changing our

climate, and scientists warn of more extreme weather, coastal

flooding, spreading disease, and mass extinctions. It seems that when

you step outside and wonder what happened to winter, you might want to

think about what you had for dinner last night. The U.N. report says

almost a fifth of global warming emissions come from livestock (i.e.,

those chickens Hoover was talking about, plus pigs, cattle, and

others)--that's more emissions than from all of the world's

transportation combined.

 

For a decade now, the image of Leonardo DiCaprio cruising in his

hybrid Toyota Prius has defined the gold standard for

environmentalism. These gas-sipping vehicles became a veritable symbol

of the consumers' power to strike a blow against global warming. Just

think: a car that could cut your vehicle emissions in half - in a

country responsible for 25% of the world's total greenhouse gas

emissions. Federal fuel economy standards languished in Congress, and

average vehicle mileage dropped to its lowest level in decades, but

the Prius showed people that another way is possible. Toyota could not

import the cars fast enough to meet demand.

 

Last year researchers at the University of Chicago took the Prius down

a peg when they turned their attention to another gas guzzling

consumer purchase. They noted that feeding animals for meat, dairy,

and egg production requires growing some ten times as much crops as

we'd need if we just ate pasta primavera, faux chicken nuggets, and

other plant foods.

 

On top of that, we have to transport the animals to slaughterhouses,

slaughter them, refrigerate their carcasses, and distribute their

flesh all across the country. Producing a calorie of meat protein

means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels--and spewing

more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide--as does a

calorie of plant protein.

 

The researchers found that, when it's all added up, the average

American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going

vegetarian than by switching to a Prius.

 

According to the UN report, it gets even worse when we include the

vast quantities of land needed to give us our steak and pork chops.

Animal agriculture takes up an incredible 70% of all agricultural

land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. As a result,

farmed animals are probably the biggest cause of slashing and burning

the world's forests.

 

Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and

feed crops cover much of the remainder. These forests serve as

" sinks, " absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, and burning these

forests releases all the stored carbon dioxide, quantities that exceed

by far the fossil fuel emission of animal agriculture.

 

As if that wasn't bad enough, the real kicker comes when looking at

gases besides carbon dioxide--gases like methane and nitrous oxide,

enormously effective greenhouse gases with 23 and 296 times the

warming power of carbon dioxide, respectively. If carbon dioxide is

responsible for about one-half of human-related greenhouse gas warming

since the industrial revolution, methane and nitrous oxide are

responsible for another one-third. These super-strong gases come

primarily from farmed animals' digestive processes, and from their

manure. In fact, while animal agriculture accounts for 9% of our

carbon dioxide emissions, it emits 37% of our methane, and a whopping

65% of our nitrous oxide.

 

It's a little hard to take in when thinking of a small chick hatching

from her fragile egg. How can an animal, so seemingly insignificant

against the vastness of the earth, give off so much greenhouse gas as

to change the global climate? The answer is in their sheer numbers.

The United States alone slaughters more than 10 billion land animals

every year, all to sustain a meat-ravenous culture that can barely

conceive of a time not long ago when " a chicken in every pot " was

considered a luxury. Land animals raised for food make up a staggering

20% of the entire land animal biomass of the earth. We are eating our

planet to death.

 

What we're seeing is just the beginning, too. Meat consumption has

increased five-fold in the past fifty years, and is expected to double

again in the next fifty.

 

It sounds like a lot of bad news, but in fact it's quite the opposite.

It means we have a powerful new weapon to use in addressing the most

serious environmental crisis ever to face humanity. The Prius was an

important step forward, but how often are people in the market for a

new car? Now that we know a greener diet is even more effective than a

greener car, we can make a difference at every single meal, simply by

leaving the animals off of our plates. Who would have thought: what's

good for our health is also good for the health of the planet!

 

Going veg provides more bang for your buck than driving a Prius. Plus,

that bang comes a lot faster. The Prius cuts emissions of carbon

dioxide,which spreads its warming effect slowly over a century. A big

chunk of the problem with farmed animals, on the other hand, is

methane, a gas which cycles out of the atmosphere in just a decade.

That means less meat consumption quickly translates into a cooler

planet.

 

Not just a cooler planet, also a cleaner one. Animal agriculture

accounts for most of the water consumed in this country, emits

two-thirds of the world's acid-rain-causing ammonia, and it the

world's largest source of water pollution--killing entire river and

marine ecosystems, destroying coral reefs, and of course, making

people sick. Try to imagine the prodigious volumes of manure churned

out by modern American farms: 5 million tons a day, more than a

hundred times that of the human population, and far more than our land

can possibly absorb. The acres and acres of cesspools stretching over

much of our countryside, polluting the air and contaminating our

water, make the Exxon Valdez oil spill look minor in comparison. All

of which we can fix surprisingly easily, just by putting down our

chicken wings and reaching for a veggie burger.

 

Doing so has never been easier. Recent years have seen an explosion of

environmentally-friendly vegetarian foods. Even chains like Ruby

Tuesday, Johnny Rockets, and Burger King offer delicious veggie

burgers and supermarket refrigerators are lined with heart-healthy

creamy soymilk and tasty veggie deli slices. Vegetarian foods have

become staples at environmental gatherings, and garnered celebrity

advocates like Bill

 

Maher, Alec Baldwin, Paul McCartney, and of course Leonardo DiCaprio.

Just as the Prius showed us that we each have in our hands the power

to make a difference against a problem that endangers the future of

humanity, going vegetarian gives us a new way to dramatically reduce

our dangerous emissions that is even more effective, easier to do,

more accessible to everyone and certainly goes better with french fries.

 

Ever-rising temperatures, melting ice caps, spreading tropical

diseases,stronger hurricanes... So, what are you do doing for dinner

tonight? Check out www.VegCooking.com for great ideas, free recipes,

meal plans, and more! Check out the environmental section of

www.GoVeg.com for a lot more information about the harmful effect of

meat-eating on the environment.

 

Kathy Freston is a self-help author and personal growth and

spirituality counselor. She is the author of Expect a Miracle: Seven

Spiritual Steps to Finding the Right Relationship. Her CDs offering

guided meditation have been featured in W, Self, and Mode. Kathy and

her husband, Tom Freston,divide their time between New York and Los

Angeles.

 

Michael Dick MA

Dhanvantari Ayurveda Center

2092 Bonisle Circle

Palm Beach Gardens, Fl 33418

561-844-2581

www.ayurveda-florida.com www.ayurveda-west-palm.com