Vegan Men Say What? Human Physiology 101

By Doug Meier*
It seems like half of all Americans are on a diet.  And the other half just gave up on their diets.  The Paleolithic diet was Google’s most searched-for weight loss method in 2013.  This weight loss plan is based on modern foods that mimic the foods consumed by our ancestors during the Paleolitic era.  This was a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture.  This Paleo diet is popularly referred to as the caveman diet or the Stone Age diet.

Meat and other animal products represent the staple foods of modern-day Paleo diets.  In other words, if meat was good for our ancestors, the cavemen, then it must be good for us.  The Paleo diet begs the question, are humans physiologically designed to eat meat?

DR. LEAKEY

Famed paleontologist and anthropologist, Dr. Richard Leakey, does not think that humans are physiologically designed to eat meat.  He states that humans “can't tear flesh by hand.”  Instead, our hands are designed for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Leakey also states that we don’t have the large canine teeth that carnivorous animals possess that allow them to kill animals and devour raw carcasses.  Instead, our blunted teeth are better suited for eating fruits and vegetables.

DR. ROBERTS 

Cardiologist William Roberts is the editor in chief of The American Journal of Cardiology and medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.  Dr. Roberts hails from the cattle state of Texas.  Yet he states that humans are not physiologically designed to eat meat.  He notes that the “evidence is pretty clear” that if you look at the characteristics of carnivores versus herbivores that “it doesn’t take a genius” to see that humans have the characteristics of herbivores. 

Dr. Roberts cites numerous similarities between human beings and herbivores.  For example, humans and herbivores get vitamin C from their diets while carnivores make it internally.  Humans and herbivores sip water while carnivores lap water with their tongues.  Humans and herbivores cool their bodies by perspiring while carnivores pant. 

If Dr. Leakey and Dr. Roberts are not persuasive enough to convince you that humans are not physiologically designed to eat meat, then please read on.

AVERAGE “TRANSIT TIME”

“Transit time” is the period of time from when food enters the mouth until it exits as the other end.  The average transit time for humans is 41 hours.  In contrast, the average transit time for a pure carnivore is just 2.4 hours.  This means that when people eat meat it will putrefy before it exits the body.

INTESTINES

The intestinal tract of a carnivore is short.  It is straight and tubular and only about three times its body length.  In contrast, the human intestinal tract is long and coiled and closer to an herbivore’s intestines which is approximately 12 times its body length.  The long intestinal tract of humans makes digestion slow.  Accordingly, while a carnivore can digest flesh rapidly and excrete the remnants quickly before they putrefy, humans cannot.   The long intestinal tract of humans allows the time necessary to break down and absorb the nutrients from plant foods.

JAW AND THROAT

Our jaw and throat is too narrow for anything but small pieces of food.  We cannot swallow food whole and must chew it finely and mix it with saliva before food will slide down the esophagus.  In contrast, carnivores tear off whole chunks and swallow them whole. 

CHOLESTEROL

Animals that eat meat have an unlimited capacity to process and excrete cholesterol.  For example, a cat could eat egg yolk all day long and would excrete all of it.  It would never suffer from a build up of cholesterol.  However, our livers are like plant eating animals and we have a very limited capacity for cholesterol removal.  Humans were made to consume plant foods which don’t contain cholesterol.  Therefore, we didn’t need a cholesterol-eliminating system.

CONCLUSION 

Our ancestors, the cavemen, also practiced slavery, rape, and cannibalism.  We can now add eating meat to the list of caveman practices from which we have hopefully evolved.

What do Vegan Men Say?  We say, don’t be a caveman.  

*Doug Meier is an attorney that practices in Lakewood, Colorado.  He can be reached at dougmeier@att.net.

Vegan Men Say What? Everything Is Better With Porcine Plasma

I wish I had a nickel for each time I have heard someone say “everything is better with bacon.”   Men especially seem to like their bacon in the morning.  But they have it all wrong.  What they should be saying is “everything is better with porcine plasma.”

Porcine plasma?  That was my first reaction too.  I’ve mentioned porcine plasma to several friends and family members and none had ever heard of it.  Neither had I until I was reading the Wall Street Journal about two months ago and I came across an article about how millions of young pigs have died in the U.S. in the past year due to a diarrhea virus.  Of course, the focus of the story was about how this will increase the price of pork for consumers. 

But the article also noted that “some researchers say that porcine plasma could be spreading the virus from adult pigs.”  I thought to myself, what the heck is porcine plasma?  So I decided to research porcine plasma and write this article.

Porcine plasma is an ingredient that has been a mainstay of piglet diets in the U.S. for the past 30 years.  Piglets are supposed to get their nutrition from their mothers.  But with factory farming it is more profitable to take the piglets from their mothers and feed them grain instead of their mother’s milk.  The piglets get fatter more quickly and therefore can be slaughtered more quickly.  The mothers can be impregnated again without the need to worry about them feeding their babies.  This translates into more profits.

However, the problem is that piglets are susceptible to disease when they don’t have the nutrition from their mother’s milk.  No worries, porcine plasma solves that problem.  Hog farms found that  porcine plasma provides antibodies to protect young pigs from disease.  But I still haven’t answered the question, what is porcine plasma?

As you might imagine, when pigs are slaughtered there is a lot of blood.  This blood is collected in troughs and then stored in chilled vats.  The plasma is then separated from the blood cells.  The plasma is made into a powder and then this powder is added to the grain that is fed to piglets.  That is porcine plasma.  It is the powdered blood of slaughtered pigs and it is fed to piglets. 

Let that sink in for a few moments.  Baby pigs are eating the blood of adult slaughtered pigs.  Perhaps the blood of an uncle or aunt. 

You might think I am making this up.  But if you have any doubt then simply Google “North American Spray Dried Blood and Plasma Protein Producers.”   It goes by NASDBPP for short.  That’s right, there is a trade organization for porcine plasma producers.  There are five producers in the U.S.—three in Iowa, one in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin.  It is big business.  The mission statement of the NASDBPP states it is “committed to producing safe, high-quality blood products for use in feeds for commercial livestock and companion animals.”  Companion animals?  Of course.  If porcine plasma is good enough for your breakfast bacon it certainly is good enough to feed to your dog or cat.  

But don’t worry.  Because blood products can carry mad cow disease, the FDA has banned the use of cow blood for feed.  But pig and horse blood is okay.  And by the way, it is not only fed to piglets, but also is put in feed for cattle and chickens.  That means that the calf that later became your hamburger and the baby chick that later became a nugget probably also ate porcine plasma.

So what is porcine plasma?  It is a by-product of slaughterhouse waste.  It is powdered blood that is collected from slaughtered animals.  It is fed to the animals that you eat. 

What do vegan men say?  We say that you are what you eat.  If you eat pork or beef or chicken, you are very likely eating porcine plasma.  So next time just order a PPLT sandwich – porcine plasma, lettuce and tomato.  Yum.   

  

*Doug Meier is an attorney that practices in Lakewood, Colorado and writes this monthly column, Vegan Men Say What?

Vegan Men Say What? Guys, If You Have ED It Might Be Your Lucky Day

 A good friend of mine recently passed away from colon cancer. He was only 54.  I was at his bedside the night he passed and his needless death haunts me.  I had known Kelly for almost 20 years and yet I had never done much to encourage him to switch to a plant-based diet.  Kelly’s death caused me to take a deeper look at what is important in my own life.  As part of that self-appraisal and in memory of Kelly I decided I want to encourage my friends and family to live long, healthy and compassionate-filled lives. After all, I don’t want to be golfing by myself when I am 70.  Accordingly, I decided to write a monthly article on topics that perhaps males, my friends and yours, will find relevant to their lives. Thank you to VegansEatWhat.com for including these articles in its monthly newsletter and on its blog.

I must start out this first article by apologizing to my children if they are reading this. No child should read an article on erectile dysfunction (ED) by his or her father. But now that I am in my mid-fifties (okay, slightly more) it seems like a relevant topic for my first article based on all the Viagra, Cialis and Levitra commercials I see on television- and I rarely watch TV. 

You might be asking why I titled this article “Guys, If You Have ED it Might be Your Lucky Day.” That is because from the onset of symptoms of erectile dysfunction to the first manifestation of coronary artery disease (heart attack, serious arrhythmia, or sudden cardiac arrest) there is on average only 2-5 years. 67% of men who suffer a heart attack had the onset of erectile dysfunction about 3 years earlier. Not all men have ED as a warning—they have a heart attack first. The lucky ones are the men who develop ED first because they have a warning that the clock is ticking.

Approximately 45% of men in the USA over the age of 40 suffer from ED. The advent of ED is associated with a 50-fold increase in heart attack risk in men 40-49 years old. Companies have built billion dollar businesses around pills for erectile dysfunction. While these medications work well to maintain erections, they only mitigate the symptoms. They do nothing for the underlying cause. The solution is on your plate not in the form of pills. Companies have built billion dollar businesses around pills for erectile dysfunction. While these medications work well to maintain erections, they only mitigate the symptoms. They do nothing for the underlying cause. The solution is on your plate not in the form of pills.

Coronary artery disease and erectile dysfunction are different manifestations of the same disease—atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a disorder that destroys all our arteries with inflammation, calcification and thrombosis. It is caused by plaque from fatty foods such as meat and dairy and gradually accumulates inside the arteries impeding blood flow. ED often manifests itself before coronary artery disease because the penile arteries are only half the size of the coronary arteries. The same amount of plaque will narrow the penile arteries more significantly than the coronary arteries. The organs connected to the smaller arteries manifest symptoms first. 

In summary, decreased penile artery blood flow accurately predicts the onset of coronary artery disease. The good news is that we can listen to the warning signs and reverse the process that underlies both atherosclerosis and ED.

A study published in 2011 involving hundreds of men with ED showed that dietary changes had a significantly greater effect on reversing ED than the taking of statins. Those taking statins had a zero difference in improvements compared to the placebo group. On the other hand, almost 50% of the men who changed to a plant-based diet regained normal sexual function within only 2 years. Plant-based foods shown to improve erectile dysfunction and decrease blood pressure and cholesterol are watermelon, papaya, grapes, apples, onions, arugula, rhubarb, kale swiss chard, spinach, beets, pistachio nuts, pine nuts, peanuts, walnuts, and almonds. Oats, wheat germ, garlic and green teas will also improve ED. In addition to improving ED, numerous studies by doctors such as Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn prove with certainty that a vegan diet will prevent and even reverse coronary artery disease.

Please don’t eat a burger with blue cheese and then reach for the blue pill. It is only masking a larger problem than ED.  Instead, consider a plant-based diet.

Doug E.  Meier

5/1/14

Doug is an attorney who practices in Colorado.  He ate a vegetarian diet for many years prior to changing to vegan in January, 2013.    

Real Men Can't Be Vegan? -- Let's Change A Myth!

VegansEatWhat? is pleased to again welcome author and activist Gabrielle Allen!

This morning, I came across the Facebook exchanges of two women, who have recently committed to a vegan lifestyle, discussing why it is impossible to raise their sons as vegans.  It occurred to me that this wasn’t the first time I had been privy to similar discussions.  Just last week, my friend Jennifer told me that she would have no problem going vegetarian, but she could never bring her husband, a meat and potatoes guy, on board.  Typically, the dialogues go far beyond the whole protein thing and how men, and certainly growing boys, can only get enough by consuming a large, juicy chunk of meat.  Essentially, none of these women felt comfortable to push a plant-based diet on the males in their lives.  Their daughters, yes, without a questions, but boys as vegans... hmmm?  Their argument against it?  Not only are males genetically predisposed to crave animal protein, sending boys to school with a Tofurkey sandwich and a tupperware filled with carrots and kale could open them up to ridicule.  So why go there?

Theoretically, moral conception has always equated women with compassion, care and welfare, while men, in general, have been viewed... well, you know, as the tough ones, the warriors, the hunters, the stabilizers.  If we are to believe certain advertising messages-- take the spot for BK’s Big King Sandwich or Wendy’s T-Rex Burger--there is just something so inherently sexy and manly about a guy biting into a six-patty-stacked bacon burger. 

Yet, by now we know that vegetarianism / veganism is not just reserved for women, but for all those who want to support the wellbeing and rights of animals, and the protection of our social and ecological environment.  So why would we not want to raise our sons as compassionate vegans?  Why not educate our brothers, boyfriends and husbands about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle?

True, even 21st century society is much slower in accepting a male’s rejection of a good, hearty slab of beef than a woman’s. But does that mean men are programmed to crave meat? Consider all the male athletes who have joined the ranks of ex-carnivores, believing that a vegetarian or vegan diet not only makes them healthier but enhances their athletic performance.  Former Seattle Seahawks guard Deuce Lutui, runner and Olympic Gold Medal winner Carl Lewis, and Alexey Voyevoda, the Russian arm-wrestling bobsledder built like a hulk, are just a few.  Certainly, we have all heard about Bill Clinton switching over to a (mostly) plant-based diet and just recently, former vice president Al Gore also announced that he has taken up a vegan diet.

The motivation to give up animal products may differ for many of us.  Some do it to save the planet; think greenhouse gases.  Some do it to live a longer, healthier life; and others do it because they find it morally unethical to slaughter and consume sentient beings.

My own family adapted a plant-based diet for the latter reason.  Incidentally, my husband decided to switch from a vegetarian to a vegan status several years before I did.  As an executive for a publicly traded company, he travels a lot and frequently attends business dinners, many of them held, of course, in steak houses!  You can imagine the discussion that ensues when my husband orders a salad or pasta dish sans cheese, and “leave out the bacon or meatballs, please.”  Or, when he requests the chef to prepare a specialty plate consisting of grilled vegetables while everyone else goes for the fresh lobster or filet mignon.  Both of my daughters’ long-term boyfriends are committed to a vegan lifestyle.  Now, they weren’t in the beginning, but once the relationship evolved, they joined first out of respect and later out of conviction.  Take my daughter Elisa’s fiance, Barry!  He grew up on his parents’ farm in Cork, Ireland.  They are fourth or fifth generation dairy and sheep farmers.  Of course, it took a bit of time for his family to get used to the idea that he’d pass up a bowl of steaming lamb stew in favor of a veggie sandwich.  This July we’ll be celebrating Elisa’s and Barry’s wedding in Galway, Ireland with an all vegan menu. 

The way I see it, we are not just a family who adopted a new way of life, we are advocates too.  Advocates for the animals, advocates for our planet and advocates for the health and well-being of those we care for.  So why not ask your son, your spouse, well, yeah, your daughter or sister, if she is not yet on board, to give veganism a try.  Start with Meat-Free Mondays and see how it goes.  No excuses! 

For me, veganism is similar to my religion, and while I respect anyone’s belief, I still make it a point of inviting them to my church!

Gabrielle Allen is a Colorado vegan and former marketing director and community relations manager for a national bookstore.  She currently devotes her time to writing and animal rights activism.

Summer Cooking Ideas That Will Put You In The Soup

By Mark W. Reinhardt

After last winter’s “Polar Vortex” everyone I know is grumpy, and asking the question: “When do we get spring? When do we get summer?? What ever happened to good old global warming???” Okay, so that’s three questions, but the answer to all of them is that hot weather is coming—you can pretty much bet on it. (I say “pretty much” because there was one year—1816—when summer never came. You can look it up. But I digress…)

Let’s just assume for a moment that climate change hasn’t totally hosed us, that this year won’t be anything like 1816, and that those stifling days of summer are right around the corner. If that’s the case, you’ll want to be ready for the season with light and tasty foods that will make your family and friends think you fussed over them and went to a lot of trouble. But, of course, you don’t want to go to a lot of trouble.

The purpose of this article, and those to follow, is to give you some new ideas for summertime foods. These ideas will range from tiny variations on familiar foods, to whole new bizarre ideas. There will be lots of hints, a few recipes, and lots of stuff to roll your eyes and shake your head at.

We’re going to start with soups. Not just any soups, but cold soups. Cold soups are not only better for summer, but they have a lot more panache than hot soups. Hot soups are boring. Cold soups are fancy. Cold soups can be served on the “veranda” with real china and silver and a white tablecloth. You can even serve them in little bowls set inside of big bowls filled with ice. Everyone will think you’re Martha Stewart.

But the good news is that you don’t have to be Ms. Stewart to make this stuff. The basic recipe, which is real easy, is this:

·         In a soup pot sauté a diced onion and a couple of cloves of garlic in olive oil until tender

·         Add whatever chopped seasonal vegetable looks tasty

·         Cover with vegetable broth

·         Add whatever herbs you like

·         Simmer until the vegetables are cooked

·         Cool then Blend

·        Add soy milk (or whatever milk of choice) to taste

·         Chill thoroughly

It couldn’t be simpler, and there’s almost no way it won’t be delicious. Here are a few more tips:

·         Take advantage of fresh, in-season vegetables
· If you add a diced potato and cook it with the vegetables it will add additional body and creaminess

·         What herbs you choose aren’t hugely important. I like rosemary and thyme together. Oregano, thyme and basil are great if you want an Italian taste. Herb blends like “Herbes de Provence” are always fine. Of course, always choose fresh if possible. Use lots more fresh herbs than dried.

·         If you don’t already have one, buy a plunge blender. They make quick work of blended soups, and you can use them for your breakfast shakes in the mornings.  Use the blender to achieve desired texture.  Some people like their soup very smooth while others like the texture small chunks of vegetables provide.   

Want a recipe as an example? Asparagus is great in cold soups, and it just happens to be at its lowest price in years.

Cold Asparagus Soup

 Ingredients:

·         1 bunch (about a pound) of fresh asparagus with the ends broken off and discarded

·         1 onion (chopped)

·         2 cloves garlic (chopped)

·         2 T Extra Virgin (“Just like me!”) Olive Oil

·         1 medium potato (cubed)

·         1 T Better than Bouillon veggie bouillon paste (or use bouillon cubes) in 3 cups of water (or 3 C canned vegetable broth)

·         2 t dried dill (or lots more fresh dill, chopped)

·         1/2 C Soy milk (more if you like your soup very creamy)

Preparation:

·         Break up the asparagus, setting aside about 1/2 of the tips.  In a medium pot sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until tender

·         Toss in the potato, asparagus,vegetable broth and dill (the veggies should be barely covered by the broth)

·         Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender

·         Remove from heat, let cool a bit, and  blend.  Stir in soy milk and chill thoroughly. 

·         Serve with fresh ground pepper and with the reserved asparagus tips chopped and floating on top (…a classy little touch, don’t you think?)

You can use this same recipe all summer, varying the vegetables (zucchini, cauliflower, corn, carrots, whatever), herbs, and everything else to your heart’s desire.

“Okay,” you say, “that’s all well and good, but I want something more creative; something that everyone will say is the best cold summer soup they’ve had, at least since the non-summer of 1816.”

All right, if you insist. Here’s a recipe that I got third-hand off the Internet. (Someone had attributed the original recipe to Paula Deen, but it’s really not her kind of thing.) I’ve made some changes.

Thai Red Curry Soup

Ingredients:

·         1 medium sweet onion, chopped

Thai Red Curry Soup

·         3 tablespoons  vegetable oil

·         2  garlic cloves minced

·         1/2  teaspoon cumin seeds

·         28-ounce (or 2  14-oz.) can diced tomatoes

·         2 tablespoons red curry paste

·         2  14-ounce cans vegetable stock

·         14-ounce can coconut milk

·         1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

·         Limes

·         Fresh cilantro, chopped

Preparation:

·         Sauté the onion, garlic and cumin seeds in the olive oil until the onion is tender

·         Add tomatoes and red curry paste and simmer for 10 minutes

·         Add vegetable stock, coconut milk, and brown sugar and simmer for another 10 minutes or more until tomatoes are softened

·         Let cool slightly and blend well

·         Chill thoroughly, and serve with a wedge of lime and topped with chopped cilantro.

Flavors will blend nicely if made a day or two in advance.

Ah spring. Ah summer. Serve some cold soup, some warm bread, and you have a meal. …Unless, of course, you want to make some other warm-weather treats. We’ll look at some of those next time.

Mark is an attorney, author and long-time vegan.