From Broccoli to Bone Broth
As I grew older I realized my impact on animal welfare through my diet. I peeled through peta websites in order to ‘educate’ myself on how to best protect the animals I loved so much. But PETA only told me half the story, what I discovered in culinary school changed my views and my diet for the rest of my life. Is veganism the kindest diet? Is there a way that I can maintain my health and still respect the animals around me? As I lay my vegan crown down for the last time and walked into the unknown that is the food industry, what I learned shattered my belief system and rebuilt it from the ground up on my own terms and now pushes me to share with the world.
As a child I was always attracted to animals and nature despite growing up in Los Angele’s man made desert. I was never taken hiking or camping or even knew of a natural world outside of this artificial streets and sidewalks. Yet my urge to be close with the earth only grew with time and the only natural thing I could take out my isolation frustration on where my grandmother’s delicate potted plants or my aunt's unsuspecting house cat. Cat tails and leaves were pinched and pulled by little fingers, eventually living rooms were reorganized to keep me away from grandmother’s traumatized ferns, and pets learned to hide under the bed until I had left the room. Yet my instinctual urge to be close with nature never ended and remained misunderstood.
As I approached middle school, it dawned on me that I, too, had an effect on the lives of the animals I cared so much about, and that I could make a difference by changing my habits. I became an advocate for the fair treatment of animals and started following PETA, an organization with a strong message and no middle ground. I was shocked to learn the realities of commercial farming. Footage from PETA’s secret vault is forever burned into my memory; thousands of hopeless animals victimized by deep trauma and physical pain. Through these videos I also grew to understand that animals are intelligent and acutely aware. Upon my awakening to the horrors of factory farming, I lost all faith in the images of quaint country farms in which I had once so naively placed my trust.
NATURE VS. THE REALITY OF COMMERCIAL FARMING
In their natural habitat cows are herd animals and we have learned that mimicking nature with moving herds constantly allows us to keep a balance with nature. These cows do not only exist to feed us but to serve a greater purpose; grazing on grass, pressing roots and seeds into the ground with their hooves, they leaving their waste which fertilizes the land as they to graze elsewhere and continue the cycle spreading food and prosperity wherever they go.
In commercial feedlots these animals are kept in one place instead of mimicking nature with herding practices. They are completely isolated from the natural world in which their ancestors once populated unable to graze on grass, press seeds and roots into the ground with their hooves or leave their plush fertilizers. Instead they stand knee deep in their own feces which creates a buildup of methane a toxic greenhouse gases and also impedes of their health causing them to be constantly fed antibiotics. These cows are also kept away from grass and fed a corn diet resulting in a cheaper and lower quality toxic meat laden with unhealthy fats. The runoff of these commercial lots goes straight to our ocean water causing a slew of effects on our ocean life and eventually affecting our food supply and drinking water. Although this stationary method cuts the cost and extra work of herding these animals it creates a buildup of toxic waste from antibiotics and growth hormones and greenhouse methane gases, inhumane unnatural conditions force fed antibiotics and hormones then they entered slaughterhouses against their own will only to emerge from the other side packaged and labeled in tiny little pieces. At this point I knew I couldn't be part of this commercial process that was causing pain, destroying animals and our world.
After considerable research, which consisted of me trolling PETA for hours, I decided at age 16 to abstain from meat, a vow that lasted five years. As I started my journey toward veganism, I armed myself with what I thought was the ideal vegan diet: whole grains for carbohydrates, fresh fruit and vegetables for energy and vitality, and meat replacers like beans, nuts, and seeds for fat and protein.
But as time went on, the amount of vegetables I consumed shrunk and I found myself constantly craving refined carbohydrates. The more willpower I put into my diet the more pain I was causing myself. Cutting out these ‘unnecessary’ foods from my diet caused me to rely on inadequate sources of fat and protein which caused everything to go out of balance. My low-fat, low-protein, low-mineral vegan diet killed my cravings for healthy vegetables and jump-started my caffeine cravings and sweet tooth which was always looking for that quick energy fix. When I had started my vegan journey I was overweight and initially I lost a few pounds by abstaining from meat, which was encouraging, but the refined carbohydrates I subsequently gobbled tipped the scale quickly back in the wrong direction. Soon I was reduced to a vegan addicted to refined carbohydrates, sugar and coffee. As a Vegan I had symptoms that I never knew had anything to do with diet and I accepted these symptoms as just ‘the way I was’. Eczema covered the tops of both my hands with dry lizard like skin and my cheeks were swollen with cystic acne. The most detrimental were the changes in my menstrual cycle –especially to my social life. Premenstrual migraines, constant mood swings, disabling cramps, and excessive bleeding alienated me from others and kept me confined to bed for a little under a week, every month. I learned to never leave the house without sunglasses, painkillers, and maxi pads. My energy was at an all time low and my tell tale blue veins under my eyes and most blood tests revealed that yet again I slipped into anemia. This low energy I was experiencing made me reach for refined carbohydrates which depleted my body of vitamins B,D and A causing malnutrition and contributing to my heavy periods.
When I approached vegetarianism, I was searching for a humanitarian lifestyle, but instead got a life of chronic pain and anxiety. My body was trying to tell me something. But how could I break my vegan vow? I found myself in a moral headlock. Choose my own body or that of thousands of innocent animals.
I reached a turning point at age 19 when I signed a $39,000 contract to enter culinary school in Pasadena, California. I made a pact with myself to break with vegetarianism for the next 15 months until I graduated, then I would return to meat abstinence with zero guilt.
One of our first assignments was to assemble a 200-foot table, which consisted of a themed breakfast buffet with French toast, eggs Benedict, and slices of fried bacon. After the craziness of the kitchen subsided and our assignments were graded, we all turned to pile our plates with our class work. I had chosen to break vegan with the ever symbolic piece of bacon. I enthusiastically made a moment out of breaking vegan with my unamused culinary school colleges. Tasting bacon was a scary first step but an easy gateway drug for any vegetarian convert. Chefs call it “candy meat” because it is smoked and full of fat. The fat and flavor connection was a clue to where my health journey was leading.I never did go back to vegetarianism after that day, and yet I also never stopped fighting for my beliefs.
My real health ‘a-ha moment’ came when I came upon a group of people who wanted to break away from commercial farming and sold products labeled ‘organic’, ‘pastured meats’, ‘grass-fed’ and ‘free range’ which are meats allowed to roam in a pasture to graze and do everything that comes natural to a farm animal without the antibiotics and growth hormones. When I first started ingesting cod liver oil, bone broth, raw butter, raw milk and other nutrient-dense foods I instantly started feeling better and realized that animal foods provide a nutrient dense, mineral rich, protein and cholesterol that my body was missing. I learned that eating animals is not always evil, especially when it improves your health and consists of quality sourced meat and dairy.
After culinary school, I learned that my issues of greatest concern were broader than animal welfare, and encompassed farming practices, the quality of our food supply, and essentially our environment. Today, as a passionate food advocate, I find most people to be resistant to the notion that our government does not have our best interests at heart. Yet, I have come to accept this fact, based on experience and knowledge. For me, this realization is akin to the that first moment when a child first understands that her parents don’t always know what’s best.
The government laces our water with poisonous fluoride, our meat with hormones and antibiotics, and the rest of our food with pesticides, additives, preservatives, and genetically modified organisms, all of which are detrimental to our health. The government’s promise of safety rings hollow. We can no longer trust labels such as “natural,” “fresh,” or “farm-raised,” which are used as gimmicks for the health-conscious consumer.
Today, you would never know that I dabbled in veganism. I slather everything with raw butter and raw honey; I buy bones to make broth weekly, and I know how to take apart a whole pig in less than an hour. The broth I make is rich in minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and gelatin healing for my devastated digestive system. Raw butter is packed with vitamins A, E, D, and K, selenium, iodine, lauric acid, antioxidants, and conjugated linoleic acid. These foods help build muscles, boosted my immune system and act as a potent anti-cancer agent, too! As I went on tweaking my diet I realized that introducing nutrient-dense foods to my diet was as important as removing the toxic ones. Instead of blanketing all meats as evil, I have turned to products labeled ‘organic’, ‘pastured meats’, ‘grass-fed’ and ‘free range’ with quality sourcing that I can trust.
At social gatherings, I often hear conscientious consumers loudly proclaim they are vegetarians, as if it were a badge of honor. When I hear people boast about their diet, I feel like a seasoned traveler of that beaten path. I’ve learned that what goes into your mouth should be no one’s business but yours own. Your life choices, including your diet, will always affect others but you can control what that effect is. One’s journey toward healthy eating is singular, personal, and constantly advancing.
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