The Environment and Our Health

There is an ongoing dialogue between the Paleo-diet people and the Vegan people of our country. The paleo people say the more meat that you eat, the healthier you will be. They will have bone broth and beef liver for dinner.

The vegans say “meat is bad for you”, and they will serve meals with sprouts and beands and say this is the best for you.

Most likely the answer will be somewhere in between. And there will be an ongoing dialogue between the two camps for a long time to come.

However recently a most powerful movie has come out called cowspiracy. I just watched it over this holiday weekend and it really change my perspective on the Paleo diet. What will happen to our planet and our children if we keep eating lots of meat?

It turns out that farmed animals consume a much greater supply of the available water than humans do. In addition the digestive gasses the animals produce are a much bigger part of pollution on our planet than gasoline.

Here are a few quotes from the movie:

“Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation.” [1]

“Livestock is responsible for 65% of all emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas 296x more destructive than carbon dioxide and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years.”

[2]

And these 2 quotes are the ones that really shocked me the most.

“Agriculture is responsible for 80–90% of US water consumption.” [3]

“2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef”

[4][5] Why is California telling us not to shower or water our lawns?

Here are 3 previews of the movie. I urge you to go to the website and pay to watch the full movie. You can find it HERE!

I look forward to staying in touch with you about Integrative Medicine and the health of our people and the health of the planet.