Meat
When we look at our diet and what is good and bad for us, it is always beneficial to look at the way our ancestors used to eat. What has been eaten for 100,000s of years has determined the ability of our body to digest certain food. It will take another few thousand years (at best) before our body is able to digest the junk food some people ingest nowadays.
Prior to the Second World War, meat was expensive and most people only ate it on special occasions or at weekends (if they could afford it). Nowadays, some people eat meat several times a week. Sometimes, several times a day. Mr Richard McDonald and Ray Kroc have probably killed more people than were killed during the Second World War by introducing their fast food restaurants.
Should we really eat meat?
To answer this question, let’s consider the following facts:
* Our teeth tell us that we should not eat much meat. Our molars and premolars are for grinding and crushing. Carnivores have teeth that are sharp and pointed, made to tear the flesh of other animals.
* Our saliva contains ptyalin and is alkaline for the digestion of starches. Carnivore’s saliva is acid for the digestion of animal food.
* Our digestive system is 30 feet (10 metres) in length to allow the slow absorption of all the nutrients we eat. A carnivore’s digestive system is short (only about 3 times the length of their trunk), meat does not get a chance to stagnate and stick to the walls.
* A carnivore’s stomach generates ten times as much hydrochloric acid as ours does for the digestion of meat.
* The digestion of meat generates Uric acid. Our liver cannot easily eliminate Uric acid. A carnivore’s liver can eliminate ten to fifteen times more Uric acid than ours can.
Where will I get my protein?
This is a standard question when I tell people to cut down or entirely give meat. First, we must learn that we do not just absorb protein from meat. In order for our body to create protein from meat, it must first break the animal protein down into amino acids and then manufacture human protein with these. This procedure is very tiring on the body and extremely inefficient.
Where do you think horses, elephants, cows, sheep etc.. get their protein from? Yes, you’ve got it: from the grass, vegetation and all the plants they eat.
Secondly, let’s clear the misconception about the importance of protein in our diet. The information originates from tests that were conducted on rats. Rats need up to eleven times as much protein as we need in our diet as is illustrated by analysing rat mother’s milk. So relax, you are not going to die from a lack of protein if you stop eating meat.
One of my main Macrobiotic teacher, Denny Waxman, used to tell us that the body manufactures protein from just about any food and that we could not be lacking protein unless we stopped eating or were malnourished. This is confirmed by research done in 1957 (Rose, W. “The amino acid requirements of adult man” – Nutritional abstracts and reviews) confirming that nearly all the complex carbohydrates, such as those in whole grains, beans or potatoes, have amino acid profile adequate for human protein needs.
On the subject of protein, it is interesting to learn that in Macrobiotic, we are also told that cancers feed on protein and that we always restrict the amount of protein in a cancer patient’s diet.
Some will argue that fat is necessary because it is a source of linoleic acid. As this acid is also contained in brown rice, the body will get an ample supply by following the diet described in this book and this will not be a problem.
Where else can I get protein from?
If you are still worried about your protein intake, the following food has a high content of easily absorbed amino acid suitable for the production of human protein: Peas, lentils, chick peas, kidney beans, fish, tofu, green grapes, iceberg lettuce, collards and kale.
What is the effect of meat on the body?
These days meat is usually frozen, overcooked and as such stripped of all its goodness. It gives an immediate burst of energy and strength. This is OK in colder and Polar Regions if you do not mix the meat with sweet (Yin) food, otherwise it is deadly.
An excess of meat will cause problems of accumulation of matter: clogged vessels and organs, putrefaction and infection. As soon as the animal is killed, meat starts to putrefy. This process is nowadays controlled by the use of freezing that allows us to eat animals killed several days, weeks, months or years (as recent TV programs informed us).
Putrefaction resumes when the meat is unfrozen i.e. just before you start eating it. To properly digest meat takes 3 to 5 days and as much as two weeks in the elderly. This is compared with a proper digestion time of one to one and half day for non-meat eaters.
Should you eat meat on a regular basis, your intestines are never clear and the meat putrefies in your digestive track. Putrefaction produces toxins and amines that accumulate in the liver, kidneys and large intestines, destroys bacterial cultures (especially those that synthesise vitamin B complex) and causes degeneration of the villi of the small intestine.
Saturated fatty acid accumulates in and around vital organs and blood vessels, often leading to cysts, tumours, and hardening of the arteries. Saturated fat also raises the amount of cholesterol in the blood. Over a period of several years, putrefied meat is going to adhere to the lining of your intestines and cause various problems such as IBS, stomach cramps, prolapsed colons, haemorrhoids, constipation, diverticulosis, appendicitis, varicose veins, atherosclerosis and colon cancer etc…
To compensate for eating meat, the body needs more oxygen in the bloodstream. The breathing rate rises after eating animal food making it difficult to maintain a calm mind. Thinking becomes defensive, suspicious, rigid and sometimes aggressive. A very analytical view is often the result.
It makes the muscles slack and the joints stiff. Daily consumption of meat and dairy food, is at the core of our excessive protein intake, which has been associated with de-hydration and heat-stroke in athletes, fatal exacerbation of kidney and liver malfunctions, increased acidity of body fluids, infant deaths, premature ageing, heart disease, and cancer. A high protein intake creates toxic by-products in the form of unused nitrogen; excreting these can seriously overtax the kidneys, unless large amounts of water are taker to flush them out.
The saturated fat content of meat will then start circulating in your blood stream and start coating your arteries and eventually various organs eventually leading to the development of serious disease such as cancer or heart problems.
In the United states these days, 2 out of every 3 person suffers some form of serious problems related to that very high intake of fat.
“The average American & European intestine carries within it over 5 pounds of putrid, half digested red meat, plus another 5-10 pounds of foul toxic mucous waste impacted of years in the folds of the colon and small intestines.”
When the actor John Wayne died, an autopsy revealed that his intestines had grown to 12″ (30 cms) in diameter with only a small opening in the middle to allow the digestive process to painfully carry on.
What else is in the meat I eat?
This is one of the problems. Nowadays, the meat that you buy contains a lot of chemicals that you end up eating when you consume your favourite dish:
Antibiotics and steroids in the feed to prevent infections and increase weight quickly. This has had the effect of causing the development of new disease breeding bacteria, resistant to many form of antibiotics and causing a threat to human life.
Sex hormones such as androgens, progestogens and estrogens to promote faster growth. The long term effects associated with the consumption of these are:
Obesity, infertility, diabetes, dwarfism, gigantism, kidney disease, hypertension, precocious puberty, hypoglycaemia, masculinisation of females, feminisation of males and cancer.