Happy Healthy Gut (10 page)

“Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of coronary disease of any group in the country. . . . Some people scoff at vegetarians, but they have a fraction of our heart attack rate and
they have only 40 percent of our cancer rate. They outlive other men by about six years now.”
⁹¹

—Dr. William Castelli, M.D.

Contrary to meat, vegetables are
inexpensive.
So are grains, seeds, nuts, and beans. Even if you purchase the very best organic, raw foods from the bulk bin (a bag of organic, raw almonds could run about $20), it’s still cheaper than buying meat in comparison, because the nuts last a long time. That four-pack of chicken breasts that cost you $20 will only last you a couple of meals, right? If you took the money that you spent on that poultry, and purchased the foods that I’m advocating for now, they would last much longer than a couple of meals. Try a couple of weeks! Those $20 almonds sit in my freezer for about a month. Want to compare the price of a salad at your favorite restaurant to a steak? Didn’t think so. Here are ten great tips to help save money when eating a whole, plant-strong diet:

1. Buy bulk. All of your raw seeds, nuts, dried fruit, whole grains, and dried beans can be purchased from the bulk bin. These foods make up a very large portion of a plant-based diet, so all of this in bulk equals tons of savings. Store the nuts and seeds in your freezer to keep them fresh for longer. They taste better this way!
   
2. Buy in season. The vast majority of your produce should be in season, because it’s way cheaper, not to mention healthier. It can be grown locally, so less transport time equals more retained nutrients.
   
3. Although organic is considerably better for you, there are some fruits and vegetables that you can get away with, without having the organic label. Namely, anything that has a peel that is removed before you eat it. Although there are no guarantees that the seed itself was not genetically modified, you can feel good about knowing that pesticide
   sprays did not affect the fruit inside the peel as much as it would have if the peel wasn’t present. (The spray still gets in there sometimes, though.) Avocados, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, melons, coconuts, and mangoes are a few examples of what I’m talking about. Although being sprayed, the peel protects the fruit to a large extent. You can also refer to the “Dirty Dozen” list in chapter ten.
   
4. Grow your own vegetable garden. For the price of a few packets of organic seeds (Martha Stewart’s are around $2.99per packet), and an hour’s worth of weekly maintenance, you can grow your own organic vegetables for months throughout the year. You can spend fifty dollars in seeds, and hope to have loads of free, organic produce, such as beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers, fennel, lettuce, onions, peas, tomatoes, and radishes and from June until October. That’s about ten dollars a month for organic veggies! Then, you can plant again in October, and have different veggies available to you, such as arugula, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, garlic, kale, onions, potatoes, and squash from January to April.
   
5. Only purchase what you can eat. In other words, don’t let spoilable food go to waste—that would literally be composting or garborating your well-earned cash. Instead, try to shop twice a week, and get inventive so that nothing goes to waste. If something is going to spoil, then freeze it, bake with it, or juice it before it can. As a last resort, throw it in your compost and let it live on in a worm sanctuary.
   
6. Hit up the farmer’s markets. You can get loads of fresh, local, in-season produce for much less than grocery store prices. From May until October, farmer’s markets are definitely the way to go. If your community sports a winter farmer’s market, then take advantage of it—you’re lucky.
   
7. U-pick your fruit. In the summertime, visit local u-pick farms. You can get all sorts of berries, apples, pears, apricots,
   peaches, and plums from farms that let you pick your own fruit, and then pay for it at a very discounted price to account for your labour. Also, it’s fun, and a great family outing. Freeze a bunch of it if the quantities you are taking home are too much for your family to eat before it spoils. You can use the frozen fruit for baking, smoothies, or to make homemade popsicles.
   
8. Avoid highly processed vegetarian fare and meat alternatives, if you can. They are not as good for you, and they cost more. Items like canned beans are a more inexpensive way to go if you’re looking for something fast and nutritious. You can use them to make veggie chili, veggie tacos, burritos, soups, and throw them on salads. They are a cheap, yet invaluable source of fiber and protein-a must for a vegetarian diet. Just make sure that you buy cans of food that are labelled “BPA Free.” (BPA is an acronym for Bisphenol A, which is chemical compound found in hard plastics and the coatings of aluminum food cans. It has officially been deemed a toxic substance in Canada since 2010,
   ⁹²
   and has been removed from items such as baby bottles and toddler sippy cups in the United States since 2012.
   ⁹³
   )
   
9. Sprout your own sprouts, and grow your own herbs. I used to buy sprouts and herbs every week when I picked up my produce . . . not anymore! When I figured out how ridiculously easy it is to do these things myself, I never looked back. You can have your own sprouts in three to seven days, and fresh herbs are totally different than the ones you purchase. Plus, they make your kitchen smell amazing!
   
10. Shop sales. Keep a constant eye out for sales on things like nut butters, almond or brown rice milk, and any supplements you are taking (like digestive enzymes or probiotics), organic teas, fair-trade dark chocolate, or any yummy snack that you have become fond of. Try and buy your pantry staples this way, and you’ll save a lot of money.
    

“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.”
⁹⁴

—Anna Lappe, author, educator,
sustainable food advocate

If you are still feeling as if a healthier diet could cost you more, ask yourself how much you would pay to rid yourself of digestive unease. Tell yourself that you are investing in your health, and better quality of life, and that you’re worth every penny. If ever there was a time to eat a whole food, plant-based diet, it’s now. Spend your time and money on being the healthiest, hottest you that you can be, not on substandard food products that make you sick.

“About 2,000 pounds of grains must be supplied to livestock in order to produce enough meat and other livestock products to support a person for a year, whereas 400 pounds of grain eaten directly will support a person for a year. Thus, a given quantity of grain eaten directly will feed 5 times as many people as it will if it is eaten indirectly by humans in the form of livestock products.”
⁹⁵

—M.E. Ensminger, PhD

It’s a little mind-boggling to read the above statistics and realize that by choosing to eat certain foods, you are affecting the ability of others to either eat more or less; people you have never met and probably never will. By avoiding factory-farmed meat, you are reducing the insane amount of grain (particularly corn and soy), and clean water used every year to feed and water livestock, and hopefully place it back into the mouths of hungry people everywhere. I find this reason to forgo animal products such an amazing incentive.

This subject also has to do with the improvement of digestive health that we would all be taking part in by giving up substandard
meat, produced by substandard farms. By taking a stand against factory-farmed meat production by avoiding these animal products, you are not only doing your own body a favor, but you are also silently demonstrating for the bodies of those who need that water the most.

In 2010, there were 925 million people who were hungry on our planet.
⁹⁶
That number has only gotten bigger, and will continue to grow. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) say this:

“There is more than enough food in the world to feed the entire human population. So why are . . . people still going hungry? Our meat-based diet is largely to blame. We funnel huge amounts of grain, soybeans, and corn through all the animals we use for food instead of feeding starving humans. If we stopped intensively breeding farmed animals and grew crops to feed humans instead, we could easily feed everyone on the planet with healthy and affordable vegetarian foods.”
⁹⁷

“Vegans, whether they eat local or imported food, can boast that their diets use 90% less energy than the average American’s . . . ”
⁹⁸

—Peter Ladner,
The Urban Food Revolution

By switching to a plant-based diet, you are inadvertently participating in the single most important thing you can do for our planet. It’s pretty amazing, and ridiculously easy.

If you are someone who is diligent about upgrading your compact fluorescents to LCDs, recycling your newspapers, composting your organic food remnants, driving a hybrid vehicle or carpooling, using green cleaning products, collecting rainwater for reuse in the garden, keeping a keen eye on your family’s water consumption, and/or donating unused or unwanted food to your local food bank, then listen up: going vegetarian will do way more for the environment than all of those things
combined
.

“Food production, processing, and delivery are the greatest threats to environmental health.”
⁹⁹

—Brendan Brazier,
The Thrive Diet

In terms of environmental activism, most people who are even semi-conscious about what is happening to our planet are willing to step up and help, even in small ways. For example, I personally do not know anyone who doesn’t recycle their water bottles and newspapers. We all know recycling is a good alternative to just throwing things in the garbage, so we all generally participate in that one aspect of environmentalism. There are millions of people who are making more sustainable choices, and feel as though they should. Some choices cost little (such as the price for recycling bags), and some are larger (like the price tag on a hybrid vehicle).

Going vegetarian can have the largest environmental impact, without costing you a dime.
¹⁰⁰
In fact, it saves you, and our healthcare system, a lot of dough. Even eliminating half the meat from your diet can have a hugely positive impact on your health, our environment, and your pocketbook. Start slowly if you need to, eating meat only every other day, and notice the change it makes to your insides and your grocery bill. You won’t notice the immediate difference that it has on the environment, save for the decrease in food packaging in your garbage bags, but it’s definitely there. Here’s PETA’s opinion: “A recent United Nations report concluded that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. And the U.N. is not alone in its analysis. Researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that switching from a standard American diet to a vegan diet is more effective in the fight against climate change than switching from a standard American car to a hybrid. And a German study conducted in 2008 concluded that a meat-eater’s diet is responsible for more than seven times as much greenhouse-gas emissions as a vegan’s diet is. The verdict is in: If you
care about the environment, one of the single most effective things that you can do to save it is to adopt a vegan diet.”
¹⁰¹

By adopting a plant-based diet, you will make significant steps in repairing your digestive tract and general health. We have absolutely proven that such a diet is very low in trans-fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories, and incredibly high in essential nutrients, fiber, oxygen, vitamins, minerals, and availability. Plus, it’s great for the environment, it’s cheaper, it’s cleaner, and more. Read on, future veggie lovers, read on . . .

There are many problems that arise from both the treatment of animals in most factory farms, as well as the conditions of these farms in general, that I feel directly relate to human health, and more specifically, digestive unease. This section is going to make a case for adopting a stricter vegetarian diet, or at the very least for purchasing your food animals from local, family-owned, organic farms by shedding some light on why factory-farmed animals are simply not as good for you, or your gut.

“The
eat with care
ethic didn’t become obsolete over time, but died suddenly. It was killed, actually.”
¹⁰²

—Jonathan Safran Foer,
Eating Animals

Factory-Farms versus Smaller, Family-Run Farms

I have been living in British Columbia’s fertile Fraser Valley since the mid-1990s, but I’ve only recently become amazed at just how many farms are within a thirty-minute radius of my house. I know that the area is well-known for being an agricultural epicenter, but when I really started to pay attention to all of the farm buildings, I was astounded. It’s easy to recognize traditional-looking farms. There are rolling pastures, fences, little barns for the animals to shelter themselves in, and of course, the animals themselves are typically clearly visible.

What I have more recently become aware of is just how many farms don’t look like farms. These types of operations are easier to spot, now that I know what I’m looking for. To be specific, they are very long, metal buildings; usually two or three of them in a row. There is no sign of actual animals, and often an offensive smell associated with them because of the severe overcrowding that occurs within.

A viable alternative to purchasing and consuming factory-farmed animal products, is to purchase your meat and eggs (and possibly dairy) from a family-run, organic farm. (Visit www.eatwild.com to find one near you—the website offers locations throughout the United States and Canada.)

Exactly nine minutes from my front door is one such farm. The owners of Sumas Mountain Farms
¹⁰³
work their own land and care for their own animals, along with the help of their children. The farm is organic, SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) certified, and grass-fed and “finished.” In essence, this means that besides the organic health benefit to consumers, and the SPCA approved care that their animals are given, animals from this particular farm are allowed to graze naturally, on organic pasture, for their entire lives. The farm also keeps chickens, turkeys and pigs. Their breeds are heritage, which means that their animals have never had their genes manipulated like 99% of today’s farmed animals. The owners even transport their own animals to slaughter, to make sure that they are fed and properly hydrated while they wait, unlike the other conventionally-farmed animals there. They also put down hay for them to provide comfort and familiarity. They do this for the sole purpose of being humane to the animals that they have cared for since birth.