Mathias Bage wrote:
On Wed, 19 Oct 2005, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Jones Beene wrote:
Not with the U.S. diet. We eat a tremendous amount of meat, and
this takes 10 times more starting plant food (mainly cattle feed).
Wrong (partially). We do eat too much meat here but not more than
Europe, where the 1/4 acre standard has been in place for a long
time - and it only takes 10 times more land IF you allow
predominantly open-grazing . . .
It does not take 10 times more land. It takes 10 times more starting
plant food, mainly corn which is fed to cows. As you note, corn grows
very densely in North America, whereas most nutritious vegetable food
and wheat for people takes more space.
(Incidentally, corn is a terrible thing to feed to a cow. Cows are
not evolved to eat corn, and it causes terrible stomach upsets,
misery and disease which can only be treated with massive amounts of
antibiotics, which is causing yet another crisis.)
Recent research show that cows given mostly grain and protein-rich
fodder yeilds a more unhealthy milk, causing more heart disease in
humans. Don't know about the meat, though.
Cow's meat and cow's milk cause heart disease in humans.
Some ways of raising cows make it worse, but no matter how you do it
it's bad. Adjusting the diet of dairy cows to try to make them
healthier to eat is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Heart disease, as it typically affects people in the United States,
should be considered one of the stupidest diseases in history, because
it can be avoided so easily. Most people don't really even need to
exercise or lose weight to avoid it (though those are Good Things to do
as well, of course, but most of us find them difficult): Just
substitute low-saturated-fat foods for high-saturated-fat foods ...
mostly, in fact, just avoid eating cows. You have the upper hand now,
but in the long run, the cows will take their revenge.
Cows are adapted to *GRAZING*.
And a glance at a human's teeth is enough to show humans are better
suited to a plant diet than a diet rich in cows.
[snip]
- Jed
/Mathias
