Eating Meat

Every food has its own particular energetic quality, which affects the quality of one's consciousness. For example, eating fruit or vegetables tends to make us feel light cheery, whereas eating a donut is more likely to make us feel heavy and dull. Food has it's own life force, which is part and parcel of its energetic quality. Picking an apple from the tree, and taking a bite, you can taste that amazing freshness and actually feel its vitality as you chew, swallow, and absorb the fruit into your body. When you eat an apple, it will subtly shift the frequency of your consciousness towards that of the tree from which that apple came. If this is true, we should be very careful about how much beef we consume, unless we are comfortable looking, feeling and thinking like a cow. If you're unsure whether you'd like to be more like a cow or an apple tree, consider their lifespans: a cow can live about twenty years; while an apple tree can live to one hundred.

I am not a year-round vegetarian, and I do not believe that everyone should adhere to a strictly vegetarian diet. But before we choose to eat meat, we should at least consider where it comes from, what its energetic quality is, and how much we should eat. I’ve been oscillating back and forth between meat-eating and vegetarianism for fifteen years and when I don't eat meat for more than two years, I begin developing health problems. I also begin developing health problems if I eat meat for more than two or three months out of the year. For some people it may be better to never eat meat. For others, it may be better to eat meat a little more often. Because I have learned to listen to my body, I know what it needs, I know the balance that is right for me. Accordingly, I eat meat for two or three months in the winter, and follow a strict vegetarian diet the rest of the year.

People in developing countries are beginning to realize that they eat too much meat, and as a result, in some countries, up to 15% of people are adopting pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan and raw food diets. For those looking to make such shifts to their diet, you're doing a good thing, but allow me to offer a word of caution: you can be healthy eating an omnivorous diet and you can be healthy eating a vegetarian diet. However, in my experience it’s healthier to be a meat eater with a bad diet than a vegetarian with a bad diet. Years ago as a young man, I wanted to try vegetarianism, but thought it was a bit extreme for me, so I decided to adopt pescatarian diet and allow myself a small amount of seafood. However, even eating fish from time to time, and then increasingly regularly, I started feeling tired and weak. Eventually, began falling ill for weeks at a time, every couple of months. After two and a half years, finally fed up, I decided to go back on a meat-eating diet and I immediately started to feel better.

After over a year as a vegetarian, I was very frustrated to have gone back to a meat-eating

diet. What was I doing wrong, I wondered? I know now that I had jumped headlong into

vegetarianism without having a good understand of the nutrition. Not all the nutrients I had

been getting from meat, were replaced by nutrients from other sources, despite eating fish.

Eventually, I would discover the list of nutrients I needed, but at the time of my initial foray into "alternative" dieting, I thought that it was just a matter of getting enough protein.

I asked a friend who was a vegetarian why he thought I was getting sick, and he said I might not have been getting enough iron. So, after some time, I went back on a vegetarian diet, and took the occasional iron supplement and I felt strong. I even started going to the gym regularly for the first time in my life, and for a few months I continued to feel great...but eventually I started feeling weak, and then I started getting sick. Thus, for the second time, I went back to meat.

In the ten years that have followed, I have been on and off a vegetarian diet, trying to get it

right. Slowly I’ve been able to increase the window of time wherein I can go without meat and feel healthy and strong. For me, I've found that if I'm eating the right foods, it's best to eat a vegetarian diet for ten months at a time. For those ten months, I don't feel weak and I don't fall chronically ill.

I think that part of the reason why I can be healthy on a vegetarian diet for most of the year, is that my gut biome has adapted. However, I'm sure the main reason is that I am more aware of my nutritional requirements and have adapted my diet accordingly. Now, I know that I need to get enough iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12, calcium, iodine, omega 3 fatty acids, as well as the full complement of the nine essential amino acids in order to feel my best while observing a vegetarian diet. I also know and that there are some things I just can't put my finger on that I know my body needs, and that I can only get from eating meat for a window of time every year.

When I made my first foray into vegetarianism, my diet was awful. I ate a lot of processed

food, and a lot of processed carbohydrates like white pasta, potato chips, bread, and sugar.

Instead of incorporating more beans and legumes into my diets, I used eggs and cheese as

my main sources of protein. More critically, I didn’t eat many fruits or vegetables. I had been

eating a bad diet, which included meat, and simply removed the meat. Small wonder I was

sick all the time, being a vegetarian that didn’t eat vegetables.

I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from adhering to a strict vegetarian diet, year round. I think it's commendable and good. Everyone's body is different and it for some people, strict

vegetarian diet may be optimal. For twenty years, I've tried to make it work for me, and so far I have not been able to, even while maintaining an excellent diet full or fruits, vegetables,

beans, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

On paper, you can easily get all the vitamins, minerals and proteins that your body needs from whole-foods, plant sources. If you’re lacking calcium, iron, and zinc, you can get them all from dark leafy greens. You can synthesize your own vitamin A by eating foods with beta carotene, like carrots or sweet-potatoes. You can get iodine from eggs and dairy, for the non-vegan, or from seaweed, lima beans, and iodized table salt. Ground flaxseed and walnuts are both excellent sources of omega fatty acids. Vegetarians can get vitamin D (which is actually a hormone) from 15 minutes of sun exposure daily. B12 can be obtained from eggs and dairy for the vegetarian, but vegans need to take a supplement. The good news is, according to the literature, a B12 supplement is literally the only supplement you need to be a healthy vegan. As for protein, vegetables and grains supply the body with ample amounts of most of the essential amino acids. If anything, vegans and vegetarians are only lacking in the amino acid, lysine, which is plentiful in beans, legumes (especially lentils) and pumpkin seeds.

Does an ideal diet need to include meat or not? I don’t think so. Can the ideal diet include

meat? Depending on the individual, I think it might. Many studies have shown that excess

meat consumption can lead to overweight, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other

illnesses. But the quality and the quantity of the meat is a big factor. If I eat five hot dogs and

six slices of processed lunch meat every day I'm putting myself at high risk for the above

illnesses. On the other hand, if every week, I eat four or five servings of low-fat, grass-fed,

organic beef, I'm probably not going to experience adverse effects to my health.

Just a decade or two ago, the vegetarian diet was a fringe phenomenon, towards which people were very suspicious. People thought it wasn’t possible to get enough protein on a vegetarian diet and that it would necessarily leave you weak and sickly. Now, there are world class bodybuilders, MMA fighters and Ironman triathletes who have embraced strict vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. Clearly, the old fears of the nutritional inadequacy of the vegetarian diet need some re-examination.

I think some people should eat meat, and some people should not. It depend on your unique nutritional needs, but even for those of us that do eat meat, we should be careful about how often we eat it. Later, we'll examine the ethical consequences of eating meat, but strictly from the point of view of nutrition, most omnivores should limit their meat consumption to a few servings a week, unless we want to encourage the health problems down in the long term.