I’m not going to lie and say that it’s “easy” for me to eat animal products. As you may know from reading my story, I have been vegetarian and pseudo-vegan for points in my life (and felt awful doing it!). But, at the recent Low Carb U.S.A. conference that I attended, I experienced a life-changing lecture by self-proclaimed “ruminant nutritionist,” “forage agriculturist,” and “agronomist” Dr. Peter Ballerstedt of Grass Based Health. And, while my goal has never been to not feel guilty about eating meat (it is, instead, finding a way to balance my own needs for life in addition to honoring the life of the animal), Dr. Ballerstedt helped me to understand:
“Eating meat is a humanitarian effort at addressing not only environmental sustainability but also human health, which is ultimately required in order to be fully sustainable as a population.”
While I admire those who are vegetarian and vegan, it has never logically made sense that we should not utilize the resources of nutrition from animals since they are on this Earth, as well. And, we as a species are, after all, “heterotrophic” (meaning that something has to die for us to live) Even before I heard this lecture, I wrote an entire blog on this. But, because I am not here to debate veganism versus vegetarianism versus a carnivore lifestyle (Remember: you always need to do what works best for YOU, regardless of what anyone says – even me!), here are the central points from Dr. Ballerstedt’s lecture that were life-changing for me:
- Healthy soil leads to healthy plants, which leads to healthy animals, which leads to healthy people, which leads back to healthy soils again. This cycle requires that, in order to be fully sustainable, we must not only talk about the environment, but of our own metabolic and nutritional health given that we also contribute to this cycle.
- U.S. diets are already currently around 70% “plant-based.” So, if there is a promotion of “plant-based eating,” how much more is possible? The problem with this is three-fold: 1) Plant-based eating requires a MUCH larger amount of land to be taken up given that it is simply not a nutritious as animal products (think Vitamin B-12, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Iron, Zinc, and bio-available crude protein as it’s only the amino acids from the protein listed on a nutritional label that we can actually absorb); 2) 40% of Americans aren’t getting enough protein as it is; 3) Plant agriculture produces 5% of greenhouse gases (whereas livestock produces a total of 4% and beef production specifically is a measly 2% of that). In fact, termites are actually the largest producer of methane gas in the animal kingdom!
- 86% of what all livestock (and this includes chickens, cows, pigs, and pets like horses, don’t forget!) is fed worldwide is actually not fit for human consumption and represents only around 10% of the global cereal consumption! This means that the animals are doing us a favor related to sustainability so that we don’t simply waste the “dry matter” (including crop residue and fodder). Instead, they are converting the would-be-wasted carbohydrates of plants to fat via their stomachs. This makes meat really what Dr. Ballerstedt calls “fermented plant products.” 🙂
- Our least-utilized resource on this planet is our grasslands. The average size of “Big Ag” is only around 40 head of cattle from a small farmer and the United States has around 9% of the world’s cattle but consumes around 20% of the world’s beef. So, the implications for global food security is great if we could turn our grasslands into self-sustaining ecosystems, producing not only meat but also other animal products like milk, cheese, eggs, leather, and lard!
Two Other Points
Two other points that I think deserve their own category are as follows. First, 40% of all food products are wasted! So, if you REALLY want to be sustainable and respectful of our planet and our location in the food chain, how many less greenhouse gasses could be emitted or how much more carbon could be sequestered into the soil if we simply made sure to consume what we ate?
Second… and this one will blow your mind, so wait for it… EATING GRASS-FED AND GRASS-FINISHED BEEF IS NOT NECESSARILY BETTER OR POSSIBLE! Whoa! I know.
This second item was contrary to all of the science I previously understood (and even takes a blog on my website about this topic in another direction)! But, here’s the reality: you can only feed up to 5% fat to ruminants and they all need a certain amount of starches and sugars that they can’t get from even the ideal grasslands animal husbandry ecosystem. So, at some point, a steer has to have some sort of grain (e.g. corn) in their food rations in order to be appropriately fed. And, the ration of corn to hay/grass is minuscule compared to what one would expect!
My Conclusion
This, of course, doesn’t mean that humanely-raised animals and organic meat harvested without using GMO’s isn’t important. I would still argue that it is. But, I think it’s also important to recognize that, as Dr. Ballerstedt argues, it is less about creating camps of “Grass-fed” versus “Corn-fed” supporters. Instead, if we focus on responsible animal husbandry that includes using ruminants to take advantage of the power of grasslands to be self-sustaining ecosystems – which, therefore, allows us to achieve optimal human nutrition and metabolic health – we are advancing our planet. As Dr. Ballerstedt reminds us about carrying out this vision:
“When you improve your health, you’re improving the world.”
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“Don’t feel guilty. You’re doing your best to be healthy and your doing your best to help the planet.”
We already have enough guilt floating around in the world as it is. And, healthy food makes healthy people; in addition to healthy people making healthy food (which includes healthy farming practices). From this, I have learned that I am not going to apologize for taking up space on this planet and consuming foods like meat that are highly nutritious. I will respect the animals I consume by ensuring that they are fed their proper diets and humanely raised and harvested; in addition to doing what I can to eat nose to tail. But, I will also know the truth now about how the best way that I can be sustainable with my eating is to consume the very animals that make the life-cycle possible.
Consuming meat isn’t about feeling guilty. Now I see it as a humanitarian effort to address both the environment and human health. I think it’s telling that I don’t know any homesteader who is (or can be fully) vegan. Why? Because, at some point, we HAVE to use animal products (even if it’s their waste) to help other things (e.g. plants) and, therefore, ourselves, survive!
Reference:
Ballerstedt, Peter. 2019. Ruminant Agriculture: The Foundation for Reclaiming Our Metabolic Health. [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from Low Carb U.S.A. San Diego 2019 Conference.
Other great resources that echo information about the power of sustainable ecosystems that require ruminants include the following:
- American Grassfed Association
- The Weston A. Price Foundation
- White Oak Pastures
- A Greener World
- The Biggest Little Farm
- Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (local resource)
- Jake’s Country Meats (local Kalamazoo resource)
- Egly Land and Cattle (local Kalamazoo resource)
