The latest food/diet buzzword - 'reducetarian'

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Replies

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »

    Then don't eat feed lot beef. Beef is bad, but chicken is far worse.

    Well, I think part of the point is that meat that is raised more sustainably/ethically tends to be a lot more expensive. So if you eat less meat, you can afford to buy stuff that is better environmentally.

    I buy hand raised pork and lamb, an animal at a time, then I have it processed. I'm at about $3.50 a pound averaged between both animals.

    These are hand raised, they have names, they get hugs, cookies, and they're delicious. Anyone that feels food ethics is an issue can do something along these lines, if they were actually dedicated to food ethics.

    (shots fired.)

    so you admit to eating processed food?
    I admit not just to eating processed food, but processing it personally. Let me pull a pic.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
    She had one less lamb when I was done.

    il8s3ezvbrnd.jpg
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I appreciate the comment from the MFP contributor who is living right in the middle of cattle country. I do too. Industrial farming is a big reason why we've managed to keep our burgeoning population fed. I don't think home-grown will ever be able to match the efficiency of these operations. I am happy to hear that methane is being captured as well. Out of the environment and supporting our energy needs. dbmata mentioned effluent as a concern. My (engineering) company has ideas to harvest the effluent as fertilizer as well. There are still parts of the world where fertilizer is needed.

    thumb-fertilizer-world-map.jpg
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I am still waiting for the explanation as to how the "beef industry is bad for the environment"...???

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=beef+industry+impact+on+environment&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=2q2uVJ7UIMTksASR8YKQCA&ved=0CBsQgQMwAA

    Edited to Add a very simplified general explanation, courtesy of our lovely wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_production

    Like I said before, I don't feel super passionately about this issue, but it is an established fact.

    I am not going to get into an environmental/global warming debate on a nutrition site..

    but I would go with no, that is not an established fact...

    Humans have been involved in agriculture for tens of thousands of years....we seem to have made it this far in fairly good shape...
    You've never heard of one of the most influential food writers of our generation. I don't think people will take your word on what are established facts about the food industry.

    sorry, I don't accept the new York times as peer reviewed source....because newspaper..
    Often people write books and are considered authorities. Peer reviewed journals are terrific but it's not the only place you find authoritative information.

    But here's one example of peer reviewed articles that treat it as established fact-

    Comparing environmental impacts for livestock products: A review of life cycle assessments
    M. de Vries, I.J.M. de Boer,
    doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2009.11.007
    Abstract
    Livestock production has a major impact on the environment. Choosing a more environmentally-friendly livestock product in a diet can mitigate environmental impact. The objective of this research was to compare assessments of the environmental impact of livestock products. Twenty-five peer-reviewed studies were found that assessed the impact of production of pork, chicken, beef, milk, and eggs using life cycle analysis...

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871141309003692

    (Which was probably in the initial Google scholar search results someone gave and the wikipedia page sources that you dismissed out of hand, so I'm not sure why I bother.)
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    dbmata wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »

    Then don't eat feed lot beef. Beef is bad, but chicken is far worse.

    Well, I think part of the point is that meat that is raised more sustainably/ethically tends to be a lot more expensive. So if you eat less meat, you can afford to buy stuff that is better environmentally.

    I buy hand raised pork and lamb, an animal at a time, then I have it processed. I'm at about $3.50 a pound averaged between both animals.

    These are hand raised, they have names, they get hugs, cookies, and they're delicious. Anyone that feels food ethics is an issue can do something along these lines, if they were actually dedicated to food ethics.

    (shots fired.)

    so you admit to eating processed food?
    I admit not just to eating processed food, but processing it personally. Let me pull a pic.

    so you are one of those "evil processors"?
  • squirrelzzrule22
    squirrelzzrule22 Posts: 640 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I am still waiting for the explanation as to how the "beef industry is bad for the environment"...???

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=beef+industry+impact+on+environment&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=2q2uVJ7UIMTksASR8YKQCA&ved=0CBsQgQMwAA

    really? so what you are saying is that you cannot provide an explanation and are going to link me to thirty + pages of google stuff...

    cows produce methane on their own without being herded for production ...so do you want to eliminate all cows too?

    how about humans? We produce C02 just by, you know, breathing...

    I don't see why you find this weird at all, I linked you to ANY number of sources that you can read if you'd like to learn more.

    I'm not stating a controversial opinion. This has been long established. And if you even read the wikipedia article, it points to the percentage of greenhouse gasses caused by livestock farming (including chickens). Its that simple.

    Do I still eat meat? Sure. Do I think this is a valid reason to cut down? yep. Do I think putting a term on that is dumb? Definitely. Sorry you're so grumpy!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I am still waiting for the explanation as to how the "beef industry is bad for the environment"...???

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=beef+industry+impact+on+environment&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=2q2uVJ7UIMTksASR8YKQCA&ved=0CBsQgQMwAA

    really? so what you are saying is that you cannot provide an explanation and are going to link me to thirty + pages of google stuff...

    cows produce methane on their own without being herded for production ...so do you want to eliminate all cows too?

    how about humans? We produce C02 just by, you know, breathing...

    I don't see why you find this weird at all, I linked you to ANY number of sources that you can read if you'd like to learn more.

    I'm not stating a controversial opinion. This has been long established. And if you even read the wikipedia article, it points to the percentage of greenhouse gasses caused by livestock farming (including chickens). Its that simple.

    Do I still eat meat? Sure. Do I think this is a valid reason to cut down? yep. Do I think putting a term on that is dumb? Definitely. Sorry you're so grumpy!

    I just thought I might get an explanation from the person making sad claim, rather than have to search through 30+ pages of google scholar...
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »

    Then don't eat feed lot beef. Beef is bad, but chicken is far worse.

    Well, I think part of the point is that meat that is raised more sustainably/ethically tends to be a lot more expensive. So if you eat less meat, you can afford to buy stuff that is better environmentally.

    I buy hand raised pork and lamb, an animal at a time, then I have it processed. I'm at about $3.50 a pound averaged between both animals.

    These are hand raised, they have names, they get hugs, cookies, and they're delicious. Anyone that feels food ethics is an issue can do something along these lines, if they were actually dedicated to food ethics.

    (shots fired.)

    so you admit to eating processed food?
    I admit not just to eating processed food, but processing it personally. Let me pull a pic.

    so you are one of those "evil processors"?
    Mostly because he doesn't share. If he were truly evil he'd post again about the carnivore program...
  • squirrelzzrule22
    squirrelzzrule22 Posts: 640 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I am still waiting for the explanation as to how the "beef industry is bad for the environment"...???

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=beef+industry+impact+on+environment&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=2q2uVJ7UIMTksASR8YKQCA&ved=0CBsQgQMwAA

    really? so what you are saying is that you cannot provide an explanation and are going to link me to thirty + pages of google stuff...

    cows produce methane on their own without being herded for production ...so do you want to eliminate all cows too?

    how about humans? We produce C02 just by, you know, breathing...

    Right? And where I'm from (solidly in the middle of "Cow Country", "America's Dairyland", large farms collect that methane and use it as fuel to power their facilities. And...often times they have excess that is sold back to the public utilities for all to use. Info here: wisconsinpublicservice.com/business/methane_gas.aspx

    That's pretty darn environmental. Imagine if we turn back all the cows to the wild. All that wasted methane energy. That's NOT environmental; that's wasteful.

    Well, hopefully more farms will be able to do this! (I think I'm from the same part of the country as you, by the way).

    Remember that the US meat industry is an increasingly smaller portion of the world's meat production, though, as industrializing countries adopt an increasingly meat-based, western-style diet. Just because some innovation is taking place in Wisconsin doesn't mean that's taking place nationwide or worldwide, though, or that the majority of what we eat was raised in such facilities.

    Obviously, this is a good reason to support future research in environmental engineering so we can keep eating our meat for generations to come with fewer sustainability issues. In the meantime, I probably won't be eating burgers and steaks every day. (And I do love beef--you'd have to pry short ribs from my cold, dead hands before I'd go totally beef free!)

    Totally agree with this. I'm not sure why folks are getting so defensive. The science is all there, the research has been done. If we can find ways to turn this into something GOOD for the enviornment then that is great, and for those that can buy from farms making these adjustments that is wonderful. It is also most likely more expensive and harder to come by, which sort of supports the idea of cutting down and only buying it when you know it is responsibly sourced.
  • squirrelzzrule22
    squirrelzzrule22 Posts: 640 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I am still waiting for the explanation as to how the "beef industry is bad for the environment"...???

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=beef+industry+impact+on+environment&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=2q2uVJ7UIMTksASR8YKQCA&ved=0CBsQgQMwAA

    Edited to Add a very simplified general explanation, courtesy of our lovely wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_production

    Like I said before, I don't feel super passionately about this issue, but it is an established fact.

    I am not going to get into an environmental/global warming debate on a nutrition site..

    but I would go with no, that is not an established fact...

    Humans have been involved in agriculture for tens of thousands of years....we seem to have made it this far in fairly good shape...
    You've never heard of one of the most influential food writers of our generation. I don't think people will take your word on what are established facts about the food industry.

    sorry, I don't accept the new York times as peer reviewed source....because newspaper..
    Often people write books and are considered authorities. Peer reviewed journals are terrific but it's not the only place you find authoritative information.

    But here's one example of peer reviewed articles that treat it as established fact-

    Comparing environmental impacts for livestock products: A review of life cycle assessments
    M. de Vries, I.J.M. de Boer,
    doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2009.11.007
    Abstract
    Livestock production has a major impact on the environment. Choosing a more environmentally-friendly livestock product in a diet can mitigate environmental impact. The objective of this research was to compare assessments of the environmental impact of livestock products. Twenty-five peer-reviewed studies were found that assessed the impact of production of pork, chicken, beef, milk, and eggs using life cycle analysis...

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871141309003692

    (Which was probably in the initial Google scholar search results someone gave and the wikipedia page sources that you dismissed out of hand, so I'm not sure why I bother.)

    Thanks for backing me up! I didn't realize I said anything controversial.

    I think this is a valid reason for cutting back on meat. I still think the term OP is talking about is pretty silly, but it may have been coined as part of an environmental initiative.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
    im a vegetarian who misses white fish, so that makes me?

    An abnegating pescetarian? ;-)

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
    auddii wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »

    Then don't eat feed lot beef. Beef is bad, but chicken is far worse.

    Well, I think part of the point is that meat that is raised more sustainably/ethically tends to be a lot more expensive. So if you eat less meat, you can afford to buy stuff that is better environmentally.

    I buy hand raised pork and lamb, an animal at a time, then I have it processed. I'm at about $3.50 a pound averaged between both animals.

    These are hand raised, they have names, they get hugs, cookies, and they're delicious. Anyone that feels food ethics is an issue can do something along these lines, if they were actually dedicated to food ethics.

    (shots fired.)

    so you admit to eating processed food?
    I admit not just to eating processed food, but processing it personally. Let me pull a pic.

    so you are one of those "evil processors"?
    Mostly because he doesn't share. If he were truly evil he'd post again about the carnivore program...
    True on both counts.

    There should be like... a group to discuss meat cookery.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    dbmata wrote: »
    auddii wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »

    Then don't eat feed lot beef. Beef is bad, but chicken is far worse.

    Well, I think part of the point is that meat that is raised more sustainably/ethically tends to be a lot more expensive. So if you eat less meat, you can afford to buy stuff that is better environmentally.

    I buy hand raised pork and lamb, an animal at a time, then I have it processed. I'm at about $3.50 a pound averaged between both animals.

    These are hand raised, they have names, they get hugs, cookies, and they're delicious. Anyone that feels food ethics is an issue can do something along these lines, if they were actually dedicated to food ethics.

    (shots fired.)

    so you admit to eating processed food?
    I admit not just to eating processed food, but processing it personally. Let me pull a pic.

    so you are one of those "evil processors"?
    Mostly because he doesn't share. If he were truly evil he'd post again about the carnivore program...
    True on both counts.

    There should be like... a group to discuss meat cookery.

    Label it though - meatatarian.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,455 Member
    In for cow flatulence.

    And more ambiguous buzzwords.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,455 Member
    That also reminds me of a joke someone posted on FB the other day, no offense intended to anyone in this thread who participates in any of these particular lifestyles...

    An Atheist, A Vegan, and a Cross Fitter Walked Into A Bar.

    (I only know this because they told everyone within two minutes)
  • jmauerhan
    jmauerhan Posts: 82 Member
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    That also reminds me of a joke someone posted on FB the other day, no offense intended to anyone in this thread who participates in any of these particular lifestyles...

    An Atheist, A Vegan, and a Cross Fitter Walked Into A Bar.

    (I only know this because they told everyone within two minutes)

    :p
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    That also reminds me of a joke someone posted on FB the other day, no offense intended to anyone in this thread who participates in any of these particular lifestyles...

    An Atheist, A Vegan, and a Cross Fitter Walked Into A Bar.

    (I only know this because they told everyone within two minutes)

    jezebel_angry-kid_dog_no-no-no.gif

    LOL ;)
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,455 Member
    PRMinx I specifically should have said, "No offense to you!!!!" You are a cross-fitting bada$$!
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    PRMinx I specifically should have said, "No offense to you!!!!" You are a cross-fitting bada$$!

    Haha no offense taken. But I've been wanting to use that gif for a while, so thank you. It mesmerizes me.

    :p
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,455 Member
    PRMinx wrote: »
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    PRMinx I specifically should have said, "No offense to you!!!!" You are a cross-fitting bada$$!

    Haha no offense taken. But I've been wanting to use that gif for a while, so thank you. It mesmerizes me.

    :p

    I like it too. What's it from? A movie?