Diet for a New America: A Video Series

Food Choices
In our Social Responsibility class we watched the series of videos “Diet for a New America” available on You Tube. These videos are based on a book with the same name written by John Robbins, the son of Baskin-Robbins co-founder Irv Robbins.

Trough the videos I learned the connections between our diet, diseases, animal cruelty and environmentalism. It’s impossible to summarize the entire content of the videos but I’m going to point some facts that really shocked me:

* Cholesterol only comes from animal products. * Countries with high consumption of meat have a higher incidence of breast, prostate and colon cancer. Also have more cases of osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes. * You can get all the protein you need by eating vegetables and fruits. * Veal is made by keeping little cows in a cage all their lives. They are not able to move so they don’t develop their muscles, that’s why the meat is so soft. * We feed the cattle over 80% of the corn we grow, and over 95% of the oats. * To feed the cattle you need 12 times the land you use to feed a human being. * One pound of potatoes needs 24 gallons of water to grow; one pound of beef needs 5000 gallons.

This information is important to several areas of our society because the exaggerated consumption of meat and diary products is killing us and our planet. Doctors should give more information to their patients about the relationship between a healthy diet and the possibility of curing diseases as osteoporosis and diabetes. Schools should teach the children the importance of consuming vegetables and fruits as a better source of protein than meat and dairy products.

Many people are worried about the environment but don’t how they can help, eating less meat is a good way to start. The process of producing meat uses huge amounts of land and water. In the supermarket the meat is quite cheap but we are not paying the real cost, the cost of the natural resources we are wasting.

We should all think about our values and analyze if were acting coherently with them in the subject of food. My personal values are responsibility, honesty and respect. I wasn’t acting coherently with them but after learning all the consequences of eating excessive amounts of meat, I’m definitively going to change mi food habits. I wasn’t being responsible because I never thought of the effect my food choices could have on animals and the environment. I wasn’t respecting their rights and I also was being dishonest with myself, I like meat so I was trying to convince myself that I need it in big amounts.

I’m not saying that I’m going to become a vegetarian because that would be a lie, I’m just saying I’m going to be more conscious about what I eat. My personal responsibility with this knowledge is to stop ignoring the facts and start a change in my life. I’m going to reduce the amount of meat and diary products I consume because in that way I’m helping myself, the animals and the environment. I’m working towards the purpose of becoming a better person.