Become a Sustainavore!

Eat for your health, the planet, and your values.

Become a Sustainavore!

Eat for your health, the planet, and your values.

Should Sustainability Be Part of US Dietary Guidelines?

Recently, I received an email from Food Democracy Now urging me to tell President Obama to support the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s recommendation to include sustainability and issue clear guidance for reduced consumption of animal products and more plant-based foods in the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines.

What is your definition of sustainable?

foodIn theory, including sustainability in the Dietary Guidelines (the food pyramid) is a fantastic idea. The problem is when you start to define sustainability in regards to food. My husband and I manage a small-scale farm where participate in the National Organic Program in raising vegetables and berries and we raise chickens, sheep, goats and pigs according to the principles of the Federal Organic Standards. To me, “sustainable” means farming in a way that requires as little input and has the least impact on the land as possible. The broader sense of “sustainable food” includes other aspects of the business including: producing safe and nutritious food, paying workers a fair wage and treating them with dignity, humane treatment of animals, protecting the wild habitats and preserving biodiversity, financially sustainability , and educates our future generation.

Here is a paragraph from the sample letter provided by Food Democracy Now:

“How food is produced also has a big impact on public health and the environment. More sustainable and humane food production methods that do not rely on the routine use of antibiotics, hormones, chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides are better for the environment and public health.”

The above statement sounds great, except the letter also says this:

“There is a strong body of scientific evidence showing that a diet with less meat and more plant-based foods is better for our health and the health of the planet.” (no scientific citations provided)

The Food Democracy Now blog post about this topic goes onto say:

“The science is clear: a diet with less factory-farmed meat and more sustainable plant-based foods is better for our health, our pocketbooks and the planet. And eating more locally- and organically-produced foods — from both plant and animal sources — is even better” (no scientific citations provided)

The truth is, there are no randomized control or double-blind, placebo-controlled trials comparing a “healthy” (no processed foods) plant-based diet to a similar diet with the addition of sustainably-produced meat. The only studies that exist compare vegetarian or vegan diets to a standard american diet (i.e. junk food). When you compare someone who eats fast food, soda, fries and burgers to someone who eats lots of kale you will find the person eating the kale generally has better cholesterol and other markers. There needs to be several well designed studies on diets void of processed foods with sustainably-raised meat and ones without, over a series of years, in order to prove that meat alone is the culprit to our growing obesity and other health epidemics.

The nutritional argument for eating sustainably raised meat: 

Meat is more satiating (1) and bioavailable as a protein than plants to humans (2). Yes, your heart can beat if you do not have meat in your diet, but animal protein is a far more absorbable protein to humans. In addition, in order to derive the same amount of protein from animal products, you have to eat many more calories of plant based foods (3). With the overconsumption of calories and specifically carbohydrates causing so many health problems across America, it makes sense not to push a diet that has excess calories.

Plants are also laking in key nutrients, which must be supplemented by individuals consuming a plant-based diet. I know many readers are going to comment on this post saying that they lost lots of weight and feel amazing once they turned vegan. Yes, I agree that temporarily you can feel fantastic, and for most people, their cholesterol and other blood markers will show great improvement. However, consider what you’re cutting out when doing a plant-based cleanse diet: the processed foods, sugars, and possibly a lot of alcohol that you consumed when you were eating your old diet. Once these nutritionally-void foods are removed, it’s easy to feel good. After some time though, your body’s need for protein growers stronger. Your body can start to lose muscle tissue and health problems start to arise. Anemia, Vitamin D, B12, Calcium and other mineral deficiencies can also arise from a diet lacking animal-based protein.

The environmental reason to eat sustainably-raised meat:

Contrary to what most urban, disconnected-from-nature folks think, you absolutely NEED animals to grow vegetables in a sustainable way. You need their blood, bones, and poop to feed the soil. The only alternative is to use chemical fertilizers, which end up in the water, poisoning our rivers and lakes. On a conventional vegetable farm, chemical herbicides are also used. These have devastating effects on butterflies, bees, songbirds, frogs, and countless other animals. Additionally, large mono-cropped fields of grains and vegetables destroy the habitat of numerous animals, leaving them nowhere else to build nests or find their optimal foods. This is the main problem with GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms). The GMO plants are resistant to many of the harsh chemicals so farmers can liberally spray toxic chemicals without damaging their crop. The result is damage to everything else: the weeds, the soil, the insects, the birds, the frogs, and because these large doses of chemicals invisibly wind up on the unblemished crop, we unknowingly consume them in large quantities. Chemicals like glyphosate have been shown in studies to contribute numerous poor health outcomes. (4)(5)(6)

The argument that Food Democracy Now makes in the letter is to eat a more plant-based diet. The problem with this is that they do not define what type of farming these plants are supposed to come from. A diet rich in mono cropped, GMO grains and vegetables is not a sustainable one for the environment or for our health.

Farming is a natural system. We need both plants and animals to produce healthy food. Our bodies also need both plants and animal based inputs in order to thrive. We need more REAL FOOD. The argument to eat a more plant-based diet in order to be more sustainable is based on false logic.

The moral issue:

I need to address the moral issue of “killing”, as this always comes up when I post articles like this. I really do understand why people are so conflicted when it comes to avoiding meat for moral reasons. What many folks don’t realize is that many animals are still dying to provide a plant-based diet. When you consider the “The Least Harm Principle”, and add up all of the insects, field mice, birds, bunnies and frogs killed by intensive crop production, billions of small animals have to die in order to feed the world this way. Even if their blood does not end up in your bag of flour or head of lettuce, you can not divorce yourself from the system that brought the food to you. If the goal is to have the least number of deaths involved with your dinner plate, then consuming a large herbivore that was raised in a sustainable way is the moral choice. Read a longer post on this topic here.

wheat

The elephant in the room:

What most people who like to argue against eating meat are ignoring is that the real problem with The Standard American Diet  is our heavy reliance on high carbohydrate, hyper-palatable processed foods laden with chemicals, added sugars and fake fats. Consider all of the resources required to produce these packaged foods. From the production to the processing, packaging to marketing, processed foods are the biggest threat to our sustainability. Why not make a suggestion to the Obama administration to reduce our dependence of processed foods in favor of real foods?

The way we’re headed, the food pyramid could end up looking like this:

Food-Pyramid

If price is the issue, something to consider is how much Americans are spending outside the home on food. We spend 1/2 our food budget at food that we don’t even make ourselves:

food-prices_fig07

And when we do go to the grocery store, we’re not spending our money on healthy food. Also note that we’re spending LESS of our grocery dollar on meats (down from 31.5% to 21.5%).  Processed foods and sweet however, have increased dramatically in recent years:

Screen Shot 2015-03-23 at 10.20.41 AM

 

Let’s take a look at some price comparisons of common foods and beverages that American consume on a regular basis:

Average price of a Snickers Bar (in 2012) $1.04 per 2.07 oz.

That’s $.50 cents an ounce.

chocolate isolated

 

Average price of a 16oz bag of potato chips $4.26

That’s $ .27 per ounce

potato_chips_s1

 

 

Average price of 1 liter (33.8oz) wine $12.09

That’s $ .36 per ounce

wine

 

Average price of 1lb of chocolate chip cookies $3.49 

That’s $ .22 per ounce

cookie

 

Average price of a Venti Starbucks Caramel Macchiato $4.65

That’s $ .23 per ounce

caramel_machiato_1280__25568.1307631302.1280.1280

Average price of 1 lb organic broccoli $2.12

That’s $ .13 per ounce

broccoli

 

Average price of 1 lb organic carrots $1.02

That’s $ .06 per ounce

carrots1Average price of a 5 lb bag of organic red potatoes $4.99

That’s $ .06 per ounce

87750005

 

What about meat?

Average retail price of grass-fed ground beef $7.69

That’s $ .48 per ounce

(That’s less per ounce than a snickers bar)

Cow_Pix_fo_Website.161133832

When considering the food pyramid, it would be fantastic if all of us in the “Real Food” movement made it our common goal to suggest Americans shift away from nutrient-poor, highly palatable junk convenience foods. Whether you choose to eat a plant based diet or not, we should all agree that Americans need is to learn how to cook again, and reduce our reliance on factory-produced food of all kinds. I urge Food Democracy Now to reword their letter, shifting the attention from vilifying our meat consumption to access to REAL FOOD, grown in a sustainable way.

For More Information:

Time Magazine Article – Simon Fairlie: How Eating Meat Can Save the Planet

Red Meat: Part of a Healthy Diet? by Robb Wolf

Red Meat: It Does a Body Good by Chris Kresser

Why You Should Think Twice About Vegetarian and Vegan Diets by Chris Kresser

Books

The Grazing Revolution: A Radical Plan to Save the Earth, by Allan Savory

Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production, by Nicolette Hahn Niman

Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbably Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth, by Judith D. Schwartz

The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability, by Lierre Keith

The Homegrown Paleo Cookbook: Over 100 Delicious, Gluten-Free, Farm-to-Table Recipes, and a Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Healthy Food by Diana Rodgers (that’s me!)

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26 thoughts on “Should Sustainability Be Part of US Dietary Guidelines?”

  1. Wow, well put Diana. Thanks for sharing. If the food pyramid does look like that way i will probably start throwing things…but I wouldn’t be surprised 🙁 We need to get your cookbook out there to all those meat naysayers!

  2. potatoe chips and candy bars is your food pyramid. you people are wacky .
    i will keep eating meat eggs fruits and veges . enjoy the candy and diabetes

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  4. Jennifer Monique

    Great article! Very well written and cited, I love that you are helping to shed light on this issue-too many people are misinformed and misguided in my opinion. I hope that this article will help those people to help themselves and our world!
    P.S. I LOVE your cookbook! (Paleo Lunches and Breakfasts on the Go)

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  7. Your prices for organic foodstuffs are way, way low compared to what I pay. Of course, I’m Canadian, but still… 4.99 will get me 2 lbs of organic potatoes, less than half. Carrots from California… 3.99 for 2 lbs. Sigh.

    1. Yes, I linked to the source of the national average retail price for the US because obviously prices fluctuate across the country and in other countries. Still though, potatoes and carrots are cheaper than candy bars by far.

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  9. “Farming is a
    natural system.” Wait wat. Isn’t farming the opposite of paleo? Ok I’ll ignore that one. Go on. “We need both plants and animals to produce healthy food. Our
    bodies also need both plants and animal based inputs in order to thrive. We
    need more REAL FOOD. The argument to eat a more plant-based diet in order to be
    more sustainable is based on false logic.”

    It’s not false logic, the idea that sustainability guidelines should be a part of government dietary guidelines is based on the premise that the earth is facing a massive problem in climate change, and American diets play a large role in the carbon emissions driving that problem.

    Animals require
    agricultural inputs, which is an inefficient process when humans can skip the animal and go straight for the
    agricultural input as well (put aside the health argument, that is irrelevant here – this is about environmental sustainability). By making animals convert agriculture,
    you’re putting a much bigger strain on the environment.

    1. Farming is not the opposite of paleo. Paleo is NOT a reenactment. Plus, I’m not even talking about paleo in this post, I’m talking about real food and natural systems. I agree that the earth is facing massive problems regarding climate change and that American diets play a large role in the carbon emissions BUT I argue that not all animal agriculture systems destroy the environment. What you’re not admitting is that agriculture requires animal inputs. Soil needs manure, blood and bones of animals in order to produce vegetables, unless you want to use petroleum based fertilizers. We all can agree that CAFO animals are not good, but there are alternatives. If these organizations are interested in the environment, it is irresponsible to advocate “eating plant based” without admitting that most of the vegetable agriculture going on uses GMOs and harsh chemicals. There is also the fact that many people have a really difficult time digesting plant based proteins. I’m arguing for a return to sustainable plant AND animal agriculture.

    2. I’m not sure how farming is the opposite of paleo. Cows eating grass (which we can’t eat) is a great way for cows to eat and for humans to get bioavailable protein. Growing massive grain and other mono-cropped plants is NOT a fantastic strategy when most of the planet is not suitable to plant-based agriculture. Many animals can graze on marginal land which can not support vast mono-cropping.

      1. Massive grain and mono-cropped plants might not be a fantastic strategy, but we have 7 billion+ people to feed. Yes, topsoil erosion is a massive problem, but so is the impact of raising cows across the world – it is simply too input intensive (fine, pretend grassland can be redeveloped everywhere, but you still have a water problem) to be massively scaled up sustainably.

        1. There are other animals like camels and goats that may be more suitable to arid climates. Water is an issue with irrigation as well, so this indeed is an issue, but when you have animals grazing land (and pooping) the land holds water better so there is less runoff when it rains. Monocropping and removing grazing animals actually destroys soils because there is no addition of animal poop to help build the soil and no grazing means the grass is less stimulated to grow. Allan Savory’s ted talk addresses this issue – also check out Cows Save the Planet and Defending Beef.

          1. Plants consume significantly less water than animals – making irrigation a feasible solution to water shortages. It doesn’t matter if land holds water well “when it rains”, because in much of the world it doesn’t rain enough – water has to be transported in from elsewhere. Regarding Allan Savory, I have not seen evidence that his ideas are scalable, and actually there is evidence to quite the contrary.
            http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2013/04/allan_savory_s_ted_talk_is_wrong_and_the_benefits_of_holistic_grazing_have.html

          2. Yes, that slate article was definitely out to poke holes in his talk, which did leave out certain information because it was a 10 minute talk. I’ll ask the folks at Savory for their reply, since there were no comments allowed on that post for some reason. Yes, a plant does consume less water than an animal, but there is also a lot of water wasted when you irrigate via evaporation. You also have to eat a ton more plants to get the same nutrients you can get from an animal. It definitely does matter if soil holds water well in my mind. I can see the difference on our farm between muck soil and sandy loam. If you try to irrigate something growing in the desert vs something growing in a richer soil, anyone can come to the conclusion that you’ll lose more water in a desert. It seems that you are pretty wedded to the idea that animals are not a good choice for the environment. Best of luck as I know I will not change your mind.

          3. Correction – I just read the comments to that article which completely back me up. Please refer to the comments in that slate article.

          4. Thanks for engaging with me! For clarification, my mind can certainly be changed, scientific evidence trumps theory for me. I think my primary difficulty with the argument against including sustainability in the dietary guidelines is simply that there is not enough evidence that you can scale meat production sustainably. I certainly think all factory-farming should be eradicated and switched to sustainable grazing, but I have trouble believing that that would result in *more* meat production than the present. Thus, I am of the mindset that a net reduction in meat consumption (from factory farms) would yield a more sustainable path forward for the planet. (This also doesn’t mean I think grain consumption should necessarily increase substantially either, I still think the fundamental tenets of eating real unprocessed food with only moderate grains yields best health outcomes).

          5. Regarding scale: In the 1500’s there were 30 – 60 million bison that lived in North America. http://www.fws.gov/bisonrange/timeline.htm

            Today, there are 40 million cattle between in the beef and dairy industries. Monsanto definitely has more money than the grass-fed beef industry to fund studies, so unfortunately there just aren’t the types of studies in existence.

            Meat is more nutrient dense, more bioavailable as a protein source, and more satiating than other macronutrients. I’m not saying we should eat “all meat” but saying that we need to cut down to be more environmental when people are not addressing the fact that there are more sustainable methods is flawed logic in my mind. They are also saying to eat more “fruits and vegetables” when those too are not grown in a very sustainable way.

            We also need to seriously move away from chicken production which is considered “healthy” and “clean” but is actually incredibly dirty.

            One last point is that there is a 50% food waste issue. We’re fat, sick, and need a big change – just trying to move things forward in the best way.

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