Tonight on CBC Newsworld: Frankensteer
I am looking forward to watching this documentary tonight; I hope it will give some insight on exactly how contaminated our Canadian meat is, rather than the US-centric versions of Franken-meat described in books like Fast Food Nation (which I highly recommend everyone read, since it just gets you to reconsider what you put in your mouth, and why…)
Still, a lot of people assume that as a yoga instructor I MUST be vegetarian, but I am not… Being vegetarian was something I did for a short while immediately after reading Fast Food Nation when I was shell-shocked by how contaminated the meat we eat daily often is (and I had food poisoning twice last summer!)… But I really do believe as humans, we are meant to eat a wide variety of foods, both plants and animals. We have our place in the food chain, as does every other species. In spite of that – not all meat is the same, and unfortunately it is becoming apparent that the most easy-to-obtain & afford meat is the most dangerous… It has changed the way I grocery shop & what type of meats I will eat, the better for my health.
Ultimately, it’s better to KNOW and make an informed decision about how you choose to fuel your body & activities, eh?
How was the show?
Comment by J Dodd — June 6, 2007 @ 11:52 am
It was interesting, and good. I believe in KNOWING the truth about simple everyday choices – right down to the foods that we eat, so that every time I eat something, I can honestly say I made the choice to put that in my body & enjoy (or suffer) the consequences of that food. I think too many people honestly do not want to know the truth about the foods they eat, and want to trust the government and businesses to be sure foods that taste good are also healthy and that the many diseases we suffer are not directly related to the foods we eat.
While watching the documentary my stomach was a hard, uncomfortable knot. Don’t read any further if you want to keep hiding in the belief that the meat you eat & feed your children is healthy.
According to Frankensteer (I tend to believe the details of a documentary more so than advertising), and books and movies like “Go Further” and “Fast Food Nation”, the terrible, uncomfortable, bottom line is: THERE IS SHIT IN THE MEAT (especially ground beef).
Overall, beef is at least as bad in Canada as in the USA. They try to “clean” the shit from the meat by irradiating the hamburger patties (a.k.a. “cold pasteurization”, which doesn’t sound as bad as radiation cleaning).
I had food poisoning twice last summer and my whole life has changed – you don’t always get over it as soon as the vomiting is done – there are ongoing symptoms that can affect your internal organs and basic systems for years later. As a result of that “fun” experience, I educated myself about the food that I eat – I now NEVER eat grocery store meat. Period. Restaurant meat is dangerous too, but they have something to lose when children die (remember Jack in The Box?). When people die from grocery store meat, especially hamburger meat, the grocery stores are not held accountable and furthermore, they are not required to warn the public about tainted meat they know they have sold (in case it might still be in your fridge/freezer).
When it comes to processing chickens and cows into the food that we buy from the grocery store, the main problem is the shear volume of meat we North Americans eat every day. We demand cheap, plentiful meat. We really shouldn’t, because we simply don’t need to eat that much meat every day.
As a result of our cultural of demand, agribusiness is forced to process the animals more quickly. This means that every cow is injected with a hormone to make it grow more quickly – the most common hormone used in Canadian beef is a combination hormone combined with one illegal in Europe because it is a proven carcinogen (it causes cancer in humans, most often breast cancer). These same cows who would be naturally vegetarian, grazing on a variety of grasses, are then switched to a diet of 98% grain (CARBS!) and cow blood to make them fat more quickly. We all know the problem with over-using antibiotics, right? Well, 50% of the volume of antibiotics used in Canada every year is in our cows – some of which definitely remains in the meat we eat and then affects our own bodies’ immune system abilities….
Finally, the “line speed” at the processing plant is faster every year, and since the entire industry is all about money, they pay people less and less every year to “process” the cows into the meat that is sold to fast food restaurants and grocery stores, school lunch programs and the armed forces… It is insanely dirty, with fecal matter, brain, spinal cord & stomach contents, etc often contaminating every piece of meat and every piece of equipment in the processing plant.
Feel sick? Grossed out? This is how I feel every time I think about eating at a fast food restaurant or when I pass by the meat isle at the grocery store. I still love to eat yummy ground beef, steaks, and roast chicken, but now I enjoy it with NO GUILT because I only eat the organic meats…
Remember this feeling the next time you’re planning a backyard BBQ with friends. Clean meat costs more. Period. If you can’t afford to pay three times as much for meat every week, try eating only one THIRD of the amount of meat, but organic. You’ll still pay the same amount in total, but won’t have to worry about poisons, contaminations, diseases, etc.
There are many ORGANIC Butchers and grocers in Toronto and throughout Canada – the meat they provide you is lower-fat (better for you!), raised on a diet of organic grasses, no hormones, antibiotics or other animal by-products in its food. The organic cows are NOT processed at a fast speed with thousands of other cows touching all the same equipment every day, but in a much smaller location – so they can control the cleanliness of processing and packaging the meat, which won’t require radiation treatment to clean.
BEST OF ALL, ORGANIC MEAT TASTES SO GOOD! Remember how GOOD ground beef or a BBQ steak tasted 30 years ago? I do (I was just a kid, living on an organic farm) and have been searching for years for that same taste – the only place I’ve found it has been in the organic chicken and beef.
SO Yummy! No cancer. ; )
If you think you’re ready to try the feeling of freedom that comes with eating yummy organic meat… here are a few links to Organic butchers in Toronto (I found them on a simple google search “Toronto Organic Meat Butcher”):
http://www.thehealthybutcher.com
http://www.berettaorganics.com
http://www.hungryholloworganics.com
Comment by Yoga For Golfers — June 6, 2007 @ 5:59 pm