Now would be a good time to reflect on the adage, “You are what you eat.” This statement, in all its simplicity, is brilliant. You are what you eat. You are a human body comprised of organs, blood and guts, and other shit. The food you put into your body works its way through your organs and bloodstream and is actually part of who you are. So every time you put crap in your body, you are crap.
Even knowing how abysmal the living conditions are for animals on factory farms, you cannot begin to imagine what the slaughter practices are like. “Humane” protocol calls for animals to be “stunned” before they are slaughtered. For cows, this means getting a metal bolt shot into the skull and then retracted. When done properly, using working equipment, this renders the cow unconscious. But time is money, and slaughterhouses operate at lightning speeds, some killing one animal every three seconds. Because thousands of frightened, struggling cows are not easy to stun, it is extremely common for a “stunner” to miss his mark.
Panicked hogs, also difficult to “hit,” are stunned with an electric device. And if the jolt is too high, it bruises and bloodies the hogs’ flesh (bad for business). Because business comes first on factory farms, the jolt is lowered, despite the fact that it doesn’t properly stun the hogs.
Stunned or not, cows and hogs are then “strung up” from the ceiling by a chain attached to their leg(s).
In theory, while they dangle there, they are supposed to be unconscious. But often they are fully conscious, struggling, screaming, and fearfully staring at the workers while they have their throats stabbed open.
Next, they travel along a “bleed rail,” where they should bleed to death. But again, these large, frightened, struggling, conscious animals are difficult targets and the “stickers” (workers who cut their throats) don’t always get a “good cut.” Before cows can bleed to death, they are sent on their way to the “head-skinners,” where the skin is sliced from their heads while they are still conscious.
Of course, this is excruciatingly painful, and the cows kick and struggle frantically. To avoid getting injured by the struggling animal, workers will sometimes sever the spinal cord with a knife blow to the back of the head. This paralyzes the animal below the neck so that the worker is safe. But these cows can still feel their skin being sliced away from their faces.
Next, their legs and head are chopped off, their entrails removed from their bodies, and then, finally, they are split in half. Often before hogs can bleed to death, they are dunked fully conscious into 140-degree scalding water to remove the hair from their bodies.
Chickens, because they are so overcrowded and stressed, frequently peck each other, so their beaks are literally chopped off their faces.
Even though chickens and turkeys comprise more than 98 percent of all land animals slaughtered for food, Congress exempted them from the Humane Slaughter Act, so there is no requirement to stun them.
But because it is easier to handle chickens that aren’t fighting for their lives, their heads are dragged through a water bath that has been electrically charged. This paralyzes the birds, but does not stun them.
They are snatched up, shackled upside down, and their throats are slashed by machine at the rate of thousands per hour.
Next, they are dunked in scalding water to loosen their feathers. Again, they are supposed to be dead at this point, but if the machine misses its mark, or the chickens haven’t bled to death, they are boiled alive. Then they are placed into a series of machines that literally beat their feathers off of them, still alive and having just been boiled.
All the while, they are being handled like rubber toys: grabbed by their necks, feet, or wings and thrown around.
You get the idea.
In egg-laying factories, male baby chicks are completely useless to farmers because they don’t produce eggs. So workers snatch up chicks speeding by on a conveyer belt, quickly glance at their undersides, and then toss the “useless” males into the garbage or into macerators—machines that chop, tear, and break them into tiny, little pieces.
Yes. Literally. Millions of male baby chicks are shredded alive or simply thrown away as trash, left to languish.
In her book Slaughterhouse, Gail Eisnitz, chief investigator for the Humane Farming Association, interviewed dozens of slaughterhouse workers throughout the country. Every single one admitted to abusing animals or neglecting to report those who did.
The following are quotes from slaughterhouse workers taken from her book. (They are quite graphic and difficult to read, but we implore you to read each one. Don’t be an asshole. You can endure reading it if animals have to endure suffering it.) “I seen them take those stunners—they’re about as long as a yard stick—and shove it up the hog’s ass. They do it with cows, too. And in their ears, their eyes, down their throat. They’ll be squealing, and they’ll just shove it right down there.”208 “Hogs get stressed out pretty easy. If you prod them too much they have heart attacks. If you get a hog in a chute that’s had the shit prodded out of him and has a heart attack or refuses to move, you take a meat hook and hook it into his bunghole [anus]. You’re dragging these hogs alive, and a lot of times the meat hook rips out of the bunghole. I’ve seen hams—thighs—completely ripped open. I’ve also seen intestines come out. If the hog collapses near the front of the chute, you shove the meat hook into his cheek and drag him for ward.”209 “Or in their mouth. The roof of their mouth. And they’re still alive.”210 “Pigs on the kill floor have come up and nuzzled me like a puppy.
Two minutes later I had to kill them—beat them to death with a pipe.”211 “These hogs get up to the scalding tank, hit the water and start screaming and kicking. Sometimes they thrash so much they kick water out of the tank. . . . Sooner or later they drown. There’s a rotating arm that pushes them under, no chance for them to get out. I’m not sure if they burn to death before they drown, but it takes them a couple of minutes to stop thrashing.”212 “Sometimes I grab it [a hog] by the ear and stick it right through the eye. I’m not just taking its eye out, I’ll go all the way to the hilt, right up through the brain, and wiggle the knife.”213 “Only you don’t just kill it, you go in hard, push hard, blow the windpipe, make it drown in its own blood. Split its nose. A live hog would be running around the pit. It would just be looking up at me and I’d be sticking, and I would just take my knife and—reek—cut its eye out while it was just sitting there. And this hog would just scream.”214 “I could tell you horror stories about cattle getting their heads stuck under the gate guards, and the only way you can get it out is to cut their heads off while they’re still alive.”215 “He’ll kick them [hogs], fork them, use anything he can get his hands on. He’s already broken three pitchforks so far this year, just jabbing them. He doesn’t care if he hits its eyes, head, butt. He jabs them so hard he busts the wooden handles. And he clubs them over the back.”216 “I’ve seen live animals shackled, hoisted, stuck, and skinned. Too many to count, too many to remember. It’s just a process that’s continually there. I’ve seen shackled beef looking around before they’ve been stuck. I’ve seen hogs (that are supposed to be lying down) on the bleeding conveyor get up after they’ve been stuck. I’ve seen hogs in the scalding tub trying to swim.”217 “I seen guys take broomsticks and stick it up the cow’s behind, screwing them with a broom.”218 “I’ve drug cows till their bones start breaking, while they were still alive. Bringing them around the corner and they get stuck up in the doorway, just pull them till their hide be ripped, till the blood just drip on the steel and concrete. Breaking their legs. . . . And the cow be crying with its tongue stuck out. They pull him till his neck just pop.”219 “One time I took my knife—it’s sharp enough—and I sliced off the end of a hog’s nose, just like a piece of bologna. The hog went crazy for a few seconds. Then it just sat there looking kind of stupid. So I took a handful of salt brine and ground it into his nose. Now that hog really went nuts, pushing its nose all over the place. I still had a bunch of salt left in my hand—I was wearing a rubber glove—and I stuck the salt right up the hog’s ass. The poor hog didn’t know whether to shit or go blind.”220 “Nobody knows who’s responsible for correcting animal abuse at the plant. The USDA does zilch.”221 Eisnitz chronicled the constant failure of U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors to stop this abuse and their willingness to look the other way. In addition, she exposed the USDA’s blatant tolerance for allowing contaminated meat into the human food supply.
Think about it. Ten billion land animals a year! Do you think the USDA has enough inspectors to supervise the humane and safe slaughter of ten billion animals a year? Of course the inspectors tolerate abuse and contaminated meat; they’re overwhelmed, to say the least. Even if every single inspector did a good job (they don’t), the factory workers can easily bypass the system. Eisnitz interviewed one worker from a horse slaughterhouse, who said, “Might be part of him’s [a contaminated horse] bad, might be the pneumonia’s traveled everywhere. I’d drag him back, and my boss would tell me to cut the hindquarters off and bring him into the cooler. The meat’s sup posed to be condemned, but still you’d cut it up and bag it.” When Eisnitz asked, “But don’t they have to be stamped ‘USDA inspect ed’?” he responded, “He [his boss] got the stamper. He can stamp it himself when the doc leaves. . . . You take a condemned horse, skin him, cut him up, sell the meat. . . . We’ve sold it as beef.”222 According to one former Perdue worker, the poultry plants are filthy. She said there were flies, rats, and 5-inch long flying cockroaches covering the walls and floors.
Believe it or not, it gets worse: “After they are hung, sometimes the chickens fall off into the drain that runs down the middle of the line. This is where roaches, intestines, diseased parts, fecal contamination, and blood are washed down. Workers [vomit] into the drain. . . . Employees are constantly chewing and spitting out snuff and tobacco on the floor. . . Sometimes they have to relieve themselves on the floor. . . . The Perdue supervisors told us to take the fallen chickens out of the drain and send them down the line.”224 A USDA inspector said of the cockroaches, “One time we shined a flashlight into a hole they were crawling in and out, and they were so thick it was like maggots, you couldn’t even see the surface.”225 A worker at another poultry plant said, “Every day, I saw black chicken, green chicken, chicken that stank, and chicken with feces on it. Chicken like this is supposed to be thrown away, but instead it would be sent down the line to be processed.”226 Another worker at another plant said, “I personally have seen rotten meat— you can tell by the odor. This rotten meat is mixed with the fresh meat and sold for baby food. We are asked to mix it with the fresh food, and this is the way it is sold. You can see the worms inside the meat.”227 No comment. We are simply speechless.
Animals are intelligent, emotional, social creatures. Researchers at Bristol University in Britain discovered that cows actually nurture friendships and bear grudges. One study showed cows displaying excitement while solving intellectual challenges.
Chickens are as smart as mammals, including some primates, according to research done by animal behaviorist Dr. Chris Evans of Macquarie University in Australia. They are apt pupils and can learn by watching the mistakes of others. One researcher conducted a study that demonstrated chickens’ ability to use switches and levers to change the temperature of their surroundings. A PBS documentary revealed chickens’ love for television and music.
And Discovery reported recently, “Chickens do not just live in the present, but can anticipate the future and demonstrate self-control, something previously attributed only to humans and other primates.”230 Pigs can play video games! They’ve been labeled as more intelligent than dogs and three-year-old humans. They too can indicate their temperature preferences.
Even fish have feelings. Dr. Donald Broom, scientific adviser to the British government, explains, “The scientific literature is quite clear. Anatomically, physiologically and biologically, the pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and animals.” Fish, like “higher vertebrates,” have neurotransmitters similar to endorphins that relieve suffering. Of course, the only reason for their nervous systems to produce painkillers is to relieve pain.
For some lame-ass reason, there’s this bullshit notion that men who eat meat, or ride bulls, or hunt and fish are “manly.” We’ve even seen redneck bumper stickers claiming, “Real men eat meat.” Sorry, but there’s nothing manly about contributing to the torture and slaughter of innocent animals. It’s actually selfish, scary, and barbaric.
Animals hear the screaming and crying of other animals being slaughtered and are terrified. They know they are about to be killed, and they are panic-stricken. When their young are taken from them, cows kick stall walls in rage and frustration and literally cry with grief.
Think of how you feel when you are angry, afraid, and grief-stricken.
Bear in mind the physical feelings that accompany these emotions.
These emotions—fear, grief, and rage—produce chemical changes in our bodies. They do the same to animals. Their blood pressures rise.
Adrenaline courses through their bodies. You are eating high blood pressure, stress, and adrenaline. You are eating fear, grief, and rage.
You are eating suffering, horror, and murder. You are eating cruelty.
Real men eat meat? Although a minuscule percentage of meat in the United States comes from free-range farms, how do you even know it is really free range? Companies want us to believe that products labeled “free-range” or “free-roaming” are derived from animals who spent their short lives outdoors, enjoying sunshine, fresh air, and the company of other animals. But labels other than “organic” on egg cartons are not subject to any government regulations. In addition, the USDA doesn’t regulate “free-range” or “free-roaming” claims for beef products.
Because there are no agencies governing these claims, do you take the word of someone who makes a living on blood money? And even if the farm was truly free-range and humane, the animals are still being sent to horrific slaughterhouses. (An undercover video of a kosher slaughterhouse revealed animals suffering the worst abuse and torture. Check it out at HumaneKosher.com.) Many animals don’t even survive the transport from their factory or free-range farm to slaughter. Up until very recently, the only law in existence dictating care for transported animals was related to train transport. But it just so happens that 95 percent of animals are transported by truck.
It’s difficult to believe the new guidelines are being complied with or enforced. Animals receive little to no food or water or protection from the elements. Millions of animals are dead on arrival or too injured or sick to move. They don’t get to stop for bathroom breaks, so the animals are forced to stand in their own urine and feces. In the wintertime, the animals’ flesh and feet will actually freeze to the bottom and sides of the truck. So upon arrival, they are literally ripped away from the truck. One worker interviewed by Eisnitz said, “They freeze to that steel railing. They’re still alive, and they’ll hook a cable on it and pull it out, maybe pull a leg off.”236 Assuming you started with a healthy animal (highly unlikely), you’ve now eaten hormones, pesticides, steroids, antibiotics, fear, grief, and rage. You are what you eat. But what if the animal wasn’t healthy? Animals that are too sick or injured to walk are literally dragged to slaughter—either by forklift, or by chaining the animal to a truck. The USDA still allows these animals, referred to as “downers,” to be slaughtered for human consumption237 despite the growing number of mad cow disease cases (a deadly and incurable disease that can be transmitted to humans through the consumption of cow flesh).
Consumer and animal rights groups have been lobbying to keep downers out of the food chain for more than a decade—to no avail.
So in addition to all the other filth you’re eating, you’re also eating whatever illness the animal has. Real men eat meat? Let’s make believe that all the animals killed for human consumption are healthy, happy, free of antibiotics, steroids, and pesticides and are humanely raised and slaughtered. Pretend you are eating “perfect meat.” Great. But what exactly are you eating? Have you thought about this even once in the last decade, or ever? “Meat” is the decomposing, decaying, rotting flesh of a dead animal. As soon as an animal dies, it starts “breaking down.” How long has passed between when the animal was slaughtered and the time you are eating it? It could be weeks, even months. You want to put a dead animal corpse— that has been rotting away for months—in your mouth? In your body? Because meat is muscle tissue, it oxidizes in an open environment and turns brown. So most meat markets will scrape off the brown parts to make it look more appealing. Another trick of the trade is using tinted lighting in open meat cases to enhance the meat’s color.
Restaurants and ranchers might call their meat “aged to perfection,” but no matter how you slice it, it’s still a putrefying corpse.
Real men eat meat? Just because you can’t see what’s happening doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Every time you have a craving for meat or dairy, remember what goes on inside every slaughterhouse, processing plant, and grocery store. Linda McCartney said it best: “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we’d all be vegetarians.”239 For added motivation with your new diet, visit GoVeg.com and order a free vegetarian starter kit.
So now you are officially vegan, a person who doesn’t eat any animal products. No meat, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, or butter.
Not only are you a real man, but you’re hotter than fucking ever.
Seriously. There’s nothing hotter than a man who is a) compassionate, b) selfless, and c) secure enough with his manhood that he doesn’t need to eat animal products to prove he’s packing heat. Yes, it can be challenging to avoid animal products, but you will reap the karmic rewards of being vegan. For starters, the ratio of vegan women to vegan men is about a million to one, so you’ll have your pick of the litter. But more important, you’re sparing the lives of approximately one hundred animals a year.
And every environmentalist knows that factory farming is completely destroying the environment. As ridiculous as it sounds, the methane resulting from the burps and farts of cows and pigs is directly responsible for global warming.
The nitrous oxide resulting from the manure decomposition of ten billion farm animals a year is another major contributor.
And all the carbon dioxide caused by the production of meat and dairy is yet another factor. Believe it or not, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, raising animals for food causes significantly more greenhouse gas emissions than cars —about forty percent more! This warrants repeating: raising animals for food causes forty percent more green house gas emissions than cars. So you’d do more good for the planet switching from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet than from trading in your Hummer for a Prius. (While that’s true, it’s gotta be said: Hummers are for dicks. Think about it.) According to the United Nations’ 400-page report, eating meat is the number one human cause of global warming, “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global,” and causes “problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.”245 According to the Environmental Protection Agency, factory farms are the largest polluters of U.S. waterways.
Try to imagine, if you even can, the sheer volume of shit and piss of ten billion farm animals, every year, in the United States alone. It’s horrifying. Think about how much land, food, water, and energy it takes just to grow food for these farm animals. Now think about how many resources it takes to transport this food to the animals. Now think about how much land, water, and energy it takes to raise these animals. Now get this: The amount of land, food, water, and energy used to raise ten billion animals a year for slaughter could be used to grow food for all of the starving people in the world. The United Nations called the diversion of crops to be turned into biofuels “a crime against humanity.”247 Agreed—100 million tons of crops that go to cars instead of starving people is wrong, wrong, wrong.
But what about the more than 750 million tons of corn and wheat that go to feed farm animals?249 Or the 80 per cent of the global soy crop that is also fed to them and not people?250 Wrong on so many levels. Please, don’t just skip ahead without fully grasping this: your being vegan is actually a step toward ending world hunger. Really.
So you shouldn’t eat cows, chickens, pigs, fish, milk, cheese, or eggs. So what the hell should you eat? Pretty much everything else: fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Deep down, you’ve known all along that these foods are best for you; now it’s time to get back on track. Our diets have strayed so far off course from where they belong; we’ve allowed meat to take center stage, with grains and vegetables playing supporting roles. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
There is a plethora of great-tasting, healthy, wholesome foods that you’ve likely been neglecting for years. Well, those days are over. Get back to the basics and enjoy all these excellent foods you forgot about. And enjoy all the health benefits they offer.
Can you remember back to your grade-school days when you learned about photosynthesis? Plants store the sun’s energy, which we receive by eating them. If you can, just picture the light energy from the sun beaming down to the vegetables and fruits, and as we eat those foods, imagine that energy being transmitted into our bodies.
Our nervous systems are maintained and stimulated by this light.
What an amazing gift from nature—to be able to eat such pure foods that give our bodies so much! However, be advised, all fruits and vegetables are not created equal. Plants need vitamins and minerals to function and grow properly. When they are sprayed with pesticides and grown in chemically treated soil, they won’t absorb all the proper nutrients. This results in a loss of enzymes. So, organic fruits and vegetables—ones that have been grown in pure, untreated soil and without pesticides—have far more enzymes than their conventionally grown counterparts.
Any scientist can tell you that food has an “energy” or “life” to it.
Anyone with common sense can tell you that eating a live, fresh fruit is healthier than eating a cooked, canned, preserved one. Why? Because this “life” comes from the plant’s energy, nutrients, phyto chemicals, and enzymes. Enzymes are living biochemical factors that we need to survive. They are critical for digestion, breathing, reproduction, and the functioning of DNA and RNA. They also help repair and heal our organs, detoxify our bodies, carry out our nerve impulses, and help us think.
There are three types of enzymes: metabolic, digestive, and food.
Fortunately, we produce our own metabolic enzymes, which run the whole body, maintain our health, and defend us from illness and infection. But our own enzyme supplies are limited. So to continue healthy bodily functions, we need to supplement with food. When we eat, our bodies release digestive enzymes to break down the food. If we eat foods devoid of enzymes, such as meat, processed food, and even just overcooked food (high temperatures destroy enzymes), our bodies have to work much harder.
Harder work means using more of our precious enzymes. Over time, this can result in an enlargement of the digestive organs and the endocrine glands. (Studies have shown that the increased weight of these organs accompanies obesity.) This lack of enzymes can also cause a disruption in the body’s ability to make enough metabolic enzymes. But when we eat foods high in enzymes, such as fruits, salad, or lightly steamed veggies, we get an enzyme boost along with the meal, so our bodies don’t have to work so hard.
There is no greater defender of our bodies than enzymes. When not in use for digestion, enzymes are busy repairing and cleaning our bodies.
So don’t go throwing your enzymes away on shit! So how do we get these enzymes into our bodies? We just need to make the following foods part of our daily diets: fruits (especially pineapples, papayas, bananas, and mangos), raw or lightly steamed vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, wheat grass, sea vegetables, garlic, and legumes. Juicing is a great way to detoxify your body and get a lot of enzymes, but you must drink it right away.
As soon as a fruit is peeled, or cut, or juiced, it begins to lose its enzymes.
So, buying a gallon of fresh-squeezed juice isn’t as beneficial as making your own daily. Packaged juice has been pasteurized, and the heat destroys the enzymes. Granted, it’s still better to drink pasteurized juice than soda.
So if you can’t juice for yourself, do the best you can.
Well, there you have it. Fruits and vegetables are the answer. And unless you are an idiot who wants cancer, obesity, and enlarged organs, organic is the way to go. You are what you eat. (And you’re a real fucking man.)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Skinny Bastards. Chapter 5. The Dairy Disaster.
Go suck your mother’s tits. Go on. Suck your mother’s tits.
You think this is ridiculous? It is. Get ready to use your head.
When a woman gives birth, her body produces milk, and she nurses her child. Breast milk can grow an 8-pound newborn into a 24-pound toddler. Sounds pretty fattening, huh? It is. By design, it is intended to allow for the biggest growth spurt of a person’s entire life. Breast milk alone can accommodate for a 300 percent weight gain in a twelve-month period. When her child is anywhere from 12 to 24 months old, a mother stops breastfeeding. Her milk dries up. The child will never drink breast milk ever again.
Cows, like all mammals, are much the same. Their bodies produce milk only when they give birth. Contrary to popular belief, they do not need to be milked—ever. Their udders, like women’s breasts, exist even when there is no milk in them. There is one major difference, however. Cows’ milk, by design, grows a 90-pound calf into a 2,000-pound cow over the course of two years.
It allows calves to double their birth weight in forty-seven days and leaves their four stomach chambers feeling full. Sounds even more fattening than human milk, right? It is. It should be. Cows are bigger than humans.
And the inner workings of their bodies are completely different from ours, which they should be. They are cows. We are humans. Duh.
Humans need the enzyme lactase to digest lactose (the sugar found in dairy). However, between the ages of 18 months and 4 years, we lose 90 to 95 percent of this enzyme. The undigested lactose and the acidic nature of pasteurized milk encourage the growth of bacteria in our intestines.
All this contributes to a greater risk of cancer because cancer cells thrive in acidic conditions.
Got mucus? Dairy products produce mucus and often, the body will develop a cold or “allergies” to fight the dairy invasion.
Mother Nature is no fool. All species, including ours, have just what we need to get by. She did not intend for grownups to suck their mothers’ tits. We don’t need our mothers’ milk as adults, just like grown cows don’t need their mothers’ milk anymore. We are the only species on the planet that drinks milk as adults. We are also the only species on the planet that drinks the milk of another species. We could be putting gorilla milk on our cereal or having zebra milk and cookies.
Why cows’ milk? Using the animal that produces the largest quantity of milk but is more easily housed than an elephant means more money for farmers. It has nothing to do with health or nutrition. Again, it all comes back to money. The dairy industry is a multibillion-dollar industry based on brilliant marketing and the addictive taste of milk, butter, and cheese. It has convinced most doctors, dieticians, consumers, and government agencies that we need cows’ milk.
Bone Loss, Cancer, and Illness, Oh My! We have been told our whole lives, “You need milk to grow.
Without milk, your bones will break. If you don’t drink milk, you’ll get osteoporosis. You need the calcium.” Bullshit.
The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study followed more than 72,000 women over the course of twelve years. And guess what? Milk was not shown to have a protective effect on bones! Researchers at Yale did a study using thirty-four surveys from sixteen countries found in twenty-nine research publications. They reported the same findings.
Americans are among the top consumers of dairy products in the world. So if dairy does what the dairy industry claims, we should have among the lowest rates of osteoporosis in the world, right? According to The Journal of Gerontology, American women over fifty have among the highest rates of hip fractures in the world.
The only countries with higher rates are those that consume more milk! (Sorry for the girl-talk here. Because men have larger, stronger bones than women, you have a better likelihood of avoiding osteoporosis.
So while it does exist in men, it’s just more prevalent in women, hence the better-developed studies. But don’t go celebrating: 2 million men have it, 12 million are at risk, and countless more cases are unreported or undiagnosed.) There is a very clear and strong association between bone fracture rates and the consumption of animal protein.
If you’re not outraged, you aren’t paying attention. The whole reason we douse ourselves with dairy is because it “strengthens bones.” But scientific studies show that it does the exact opposite! If you aren’t seething mad right now, check your pulse.
You’ve been living a lie your whole life so that a few people could make money! (P. S. Consuming high amounts of dairy blocks iron absorption, contributing to iron deficiency.) Cows’ milk has one of the lowest absorption rates of all calcium sources.
One reason is its high protein content. A study showed vegans (people who abstain from animal products, including dairy) and omnivores having the same blood levels of calcium, even though the omnivores ingested twice as much calcium.
Yes, milk is high in calcium, but it’s not an efficient source for it. Remember in Chapter Three when we talked about how sugar creates an acidic environment in the body? Well, so do dairy products. And this acidity causes an excretion of calcium in the urine.
Loss of calcium . . . osteoporosis.
According to The China Study’s Dr. T. Colin Campbell, dairy can be blamed for all sorts of madness. Dr. Campbell attended Cornell on a PhD scholarship, authored more than three hundred research papers, and has four decades of high-level research experience. So The China Study is, um, a little more intellectual than our book. It’s basically the most comprehensive study of diet and nutrition ever con ducted in history—spanning over twenty years time; citing from more than 750 references; and partnering Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine. So what does this Holy Grail of nutrition say about dairy? That it can cause heart disease; diabetes; obesity; osteoporosis; kidney stones; cataracts; macular degeneration; multiple sclerosis; Alzheimer’s; and prostate, colon, and rectal cancer! Dairy products have been linked to a host of other problems, too, including acne, anemia, anxiety, arthritis, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, fibromyalgia, headaches, heartburn, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain, poor immune function, and ovarian cancer.
(Tell the ladies in your life.) Please, read this list again. Slowly. Let each one sink in. Are you pissed now? Understandably, life is busy and you may not take the time to read The China Study right now. Well at some point soon, you really, really should. It’s absolutely the most compelling, well-researched, in-depth book on nutrition we’ve ever come across. In the meantime, we’re gonna give you just one of the many pertinent Cliff’s Notes of The China Study: Dr. Campbell started a laboratory program to investigate protein’s role in the development of cancer. Eventually, due to his diligent, precise, and careful practices, his research received funding for an extraordinary twenty-seven years from the National Institute of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the American Institute for Cancer Research (among others). In this time, he discovered that protein did indeed have an effect on cancer. “What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87 percent of cow’s milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process.”131 There are three stages of cancer he’s referring to: initiation, promotion, and progression. Dr. Campbell likens the stages to planting a lawn. “Initiation is when you put the seeds in the soil, promotion is when the grass starts to grow, and progression is when the grass gets completely out of control, invading the driveway, the shrubbery, and the sidewalk.” Chemical carcinogens (byproducts of industrial processes) are usually what initiate normal cells to transform or mutate into cancer-prone cells. Promotion is when the cells “multiply until they become a visibly detectable cancer.” And progression occurs when the cancer cells grow and spread.
Let us repeat: Casein, a milk protein, promoted all three stages of cancer growth. Incredibly interesting: His studies showed that exposure to toxic chemicals initiated cancer growth. But the cancer remained dormant and wasn’t of issue.
However, with the introduction of casein (milk protein), all that changed.
According to two major Harvard studies, men who drink milk have a 30–60 percent greater cancer risk then those who avoid dairy.
And not just any cancer, but cancer of the co-co-co-cock. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American men.
And one of the most consistent, specific links between diet and prostate cancer is dairy.
Honestly, if you aren’t seeing red now, you’re a lost cause.
Please go back and reread Dr. Campbell’s credentials and the background information about The China Study once more.
Acknowledge that The China Study isn’t some hole-filled, half baked, fluff piece, but that it’s the real deal. Now get on board.
Seriously. This is no joke. This is literally a matter of life and death.
Do not dismiss this information just because it seems outlandish and hard to believe. Or just because your doctors and schoolteachers told you otherwise. According to a Senate investigation, doctors receive less than three hours of nutritional training in medical school! And unsuspecting teachers are puppets whose strings are pulled by the dairy industry. The dairy industry is a for-profit, commercial business, just like Pepsi or McDonald’s. Imagine, however, if Pepsi or McDonald’s were allowed to provide schools with educational materials regarding nutrition. Unimaginable, right? Because more than likely, soda and Big Macs would be touted as important dietary staples. It’d probably sound a little something like this: “Pepsi has water in it, and it’s vital to drink eight glasses of water a day. Big Macs are high in protein, and protein is an important component of any diet.” We’d never stand for that, right? But we stand for the dairy industry—a for-profit enterprise—providing lesson plans, educational kits, posters, videos, and teaching guides to thousands of schools! And we allow them to sell milk at practically every school in the country! Doctors and teachers aren’t dimwits or villains. They’re just like the rest of us. It has been so ingrained into each one of us that “milk does a body good,” that no one would ever think to question it. (Last chance to prove you’re alive and well . . . swear your ass off, please!) And because we’ve all been brainwashed, our children suffer.
According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), “Insulin-dependent diabetes (Type 1 or childhood-onset) is linked to consumption of dairy products. Epidemiological studies of various countries show a strong correlation between the use of dairy products and the incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes.
Researchers in 1992 found that a specific dairy protein sparks an autoimmune reaction, which is believed to be what destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.” A Tall Glass of Bovine Growth Hormone.
Let’s pretend for a moment that cows’ milk is healthy for humans.
Even if it were—it’s not—but even if it were, it would only be healthy in its purest, unadulterated form. Just like human breast milk is. But we sure as hell don’t consume cows’ milk in its purest, unadulterated form. Nowadays, cows are injected with bovine growth hormone (BGH). (BGH milk is also referred to as rBGH—recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone or GE—genetically engineered.) Fifty years ago, the average milk production rate of a cow was 2,000 pounds a year. Today, the top producers provide up to 50,000 pounds a year! This is far from natural. (Imagine if your wife just gave birth and was injected with some crazy-ass hormone that made her boobs produce twenty-five times more milk than they would on their own.) Dr. Samuel Epstein, professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has authored or coauthored thirteen books, published nearly three hundred peer-reviewed scientific articles, and is the leading international expert on BGH. He’s also an internationally recognized authority on the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, the causes and prevention of cancer, and the toxic and carcinogenic effects of environmental pollutants. (And he has, like, a million letters after his name: MD, DPath., DTM&H.) Dr. Epstein literally wrote “the book” on BGH: What’s in Your Milk?141 The beginning of his BGH journey started with a phone call he received from an angry farmer in 1989. The farmer was involved in the secret testing trials for BGH, and he wanted any scientific information avail able on the hormone. When Dr. Epstein admitted a lack of knowledge about the hormone, the farmer responded angrily to the effect of, “If it makes my cows sick, their milk will also make people sick. So it’s damn well your job to find out.” So Dr. Epstein began his inquiry. Six months later, he received a package that was sent anonymously. Its contents appeared to be records stolen directly from the FDA files—confidential data from BGH trials. And they included information that had been previously undisclosed, revealing a wide range of serious veterinary dangers associated with BGH.
You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the shit surrounding BGH is every bit as shady as aspartame’s. Especially because Monsanto, the same company that owned NutraSweet, is the giant behind BGH. (BGH is sold to farmers under the trade name POSILAC.) Dr. Epstein sent copies of the incriminating documents to Congressman John Conyers, who publicly stated, “Monsanto and the FDA have chosen to suppress and manipulate animal health test data . . . in efforts to approve commercial use of rBGH.”. Both Monsanto and the FDA knowingly and falsely claimed that: * There is no difference between milk from BGH cows and untreated cows.
Um, bullshit. According to Dr. Epstein, “GE milk is entirely different from natural milk: nutritionally, bio chemically, pharmacologically, and immunologically.”145 * BGH is harmless to cows.
Um, bullshit again. Its own package insert lists sixteen harmful health effects! And studies showed that cows treated with BGH had chronic inflammation of internal organs, ulcerating injection site reactions, and deep carcass damage. Almost half the injected cows became infertile! And the majority suffered from anemia and chronic mastitis—a bacterial infection resulting from inflamed udders. So what does all this mean? Cows injected with BGH are also treated with antibiotics and other drugs, many unapproved and illegal. During a single lactation period, one cow received 120 drug treatments! All lactating mammals excrete toxins through their milk, including hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and chemicals.
So when you consume dairy products from cows treated with BGH, you’re ingesting all that shit, too! By the way, remember, approximately 70 percent of all the antibiotics made in the United States each year are administered to farm animals, causing antibiotic resistance in humans.
* BGH milk is safe for human consumption.
Triple dose of bullshit! BGH milk has high levels of Insulin Growth Factor (IGF-1), which has been consistently linked to breast, colon, and prostate cancers.
You should be so worked up right now that you’re almost spitting blood. We’re all being killed slowly so people can shove fistfuls of green fucking paper in their greedy-ass pockets. BGH milk is banned in Australia, New Zealand, all of the European Union, Canada, Japan, and every other industrialized country in the world. Both the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Food Standards Body refuse to endorse the hormone’s safety.
But BGH is legal here, in the United States. It’s so baffling that we’re supposed to be one of the most advanced nations in the world.
Pus, Chemicals, or Both?.
Got pus? In factory farms, there is no gentle farmer milking cows with a bucket between his feet. Clamps are attached to cows’ udders and cows are milked by machine. (Ask your wife how she’d like having clamps attached to her boobs immediately after giving birth.) The udders become sore and infected. Pus forms. But the machines keep on milking, sucking the dead white blood cells into the milk. In the good old’ U.S. of A., we have the highest allowable upper limit of pus concentration in the world—almost double the international standard.
Instead of saying, “It’s as American as apple pie,” we can start saying, “It’s as American as pus in your milk!” Yeehaw! Oh yeah, we’re not done yet. To get rid of all the pus, bacteria, and other grossness, milk has to be pasteurized. (Meaning, they gotta boil the hell out of it.) So even if cows’ milk were good for humans—it isn’t—this process destroys beneficial enzymes, makes calcium less available, and creates radioactive particles.
Pus and radioactive particles aren’t the only dangers lurking in your milk. Oh no, batting third is dioxin, a known human carcinogen.
Dioxins are unintentional by-products from industrial practices (like chemical manufacturing, metal refining, combustion, etc.). They get released into the air and then they settle into water (affecting the fish) and onto grasslands (affecting the cattle that graze there). Dioxin gets readily absorbed into the flesh of the animals exposed to it. So when we eat the animals’ flesh or consume the milk of the animals, we get exposed to dioxin.
PCBs are other sinister chemicals that accumulate in fat. Even though PCBs have been banned in the United States for more than twenty years, they still persist in our environment and will continue to contaminate our meat and dairy for many years.
We’re still going. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) resemble PCBs chemically. Research suggests that BFRs have adverse affects on the brain, liver, and reproductive system, and on thyroid function.
Where do these BFR bad boys accumulate? Animal-based foods.
A more specific class of BFRs is polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). It’s suggested that PBDE exposure in the United States is among the highest in the world. Flame retardants used in household items pollute our environment. Farm animals and fish absorb these pollutants. When we eat their flesh or drink their milk, we’re exposed.
Dirty Secrets, Leukemia, and a Whole Lot of Drama.
Wish we were done, but we need to talk about Johne’s disease. Oh, wait, you’ve never heard of it? Of course you haven’t. Because Johne’s ,pronounced yo-Neez) disease is “something that farmers talk about secretly—whisper behind hands.”161 One dairy scientist calls it the “whispering campaign,” and stated he had never heard a frank, open discussion about it.
One dairy farmer referred to Johne’s as “a dirty word. It’s like AIDS—you don’t talk about it.”163 When the USDA released a report on 2,500 dairy producers in 1997, they estimated that up to 40 percent of those dairy herds were infected. (They also conceded that it was likely an underestimate.) Health experts correlate the high rate of Johne’s disease in cattle with the growing epidemic of Crohn’s disease in humans.
How is it transmitted? People suffering from Crohn’s disease suffer from uncontrollable diarrhea. And apparently, cows with Johne’s disease suffer the same affliction. (Get your barf bag handy.) The diarrhea can come shooting out of the cow in liquid form. And because her butt is so close to her udders, poo gets on her udders. And unless someone takes the time to wash and clean the udders of every cow before every milking, the infected fecal matter makes its way into the milk.
Bonus: Within that poo, there can be as many as one trillion Para tuberculosis bugs per gram.
Surprise, surprise: The good old U.S. of A. has the highest incidence of Crohn’s disease in the world.
Hey, instead of, “It’s as American as pus in your milk,” it can be, “It’s as American as poopy milk and Crohn’s disease.” Unless we want to change it to, “It’s as American as leukemia.” The bovine leukemia virus involves about 80 percent of dairy herds! The virus can be killed if the milk is pasteurized and pasteurized correctly. But sometimes milk is sold “raw.” In a study of randomly collected raw samples, the virus was detected in two thirds! Now you’re probably thinking, “Oh, phew. I don’t buy raw milk products.” But what if the milk you do buy isn’t pasteurized correctly? Or what if the milk processing plant has an accidental “cross contamination” between raw and pasteurized milk? Not surprisingly, states with known leukemic dairy herds have higher rates of human leukemia.
Yes, we are saying many scientists in the medical research field know that dairy is bad for you. Yes, we are saying many executives in the dairy industry are well aware of this fact but make claims that milk “does a body good.” How do they get away with this? Easily.
They spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to market their products. And average consumers don’t spend their time perusing medical journals, but they do read magazines and watch television.
What about medical doctors? Why do they believe that milk is beneficial? It is a sad fact that in this country, most doctors know almost nothing about nutrition. Remember, doctors receive very little nutritional training in medical school.
They have been duped like the rest of us.
But don’t the government and U.S. Department of Agriculture protect us from all this? Hell no. Sickeningly high levels of pesticides found in dairy meet government standards. Records from the Food and Drug Administration show that “virtually 100 percent of the cheese products produced and sold in the United States has detectable pesticide residues.”173 By the way, don’t think you can worm your way out of the dairy drama by eating “low-fat” dairy products. They’re still made from cows’ milk, so they’re just as pus-y, grody, and contaminated. Not to mention they can have a relative overburden of protein and lactose.
Too much protein can tax the kidneys and leach calcium from the bones.
And undigested lactose encourages the growth of bacteria in our intestines.
Gross.
Organic Dairy Sucks.
Sorry, but organic dairy products aren’t much better. You’ve let the dairy industry dupe you long enough. Don’t dupe yourself. Don’t allow your addiction to cheese or your outdated beliefs con you that organic dairy is some clean, pure, magical entity. These products may be free of the chemical pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics, but they too can have fecal matter and pus. And in case you forgot everything you just read in this chapter: The consumption of dairy has been linked to heart disease; diabetes; obesity; osteoporosis; kidney stones; cataracts; macular degeneration; multiple sclerosis; Alzheimer’s; and prostate, colon, rectal, and breast cancer.
Use your head! Cow’s milk is for baby cows; it is not good for humans! (Even if it were, how would you like it if right after your wife gave birth someone snatched your baby away, stuck him in a veal crate, attached clamps to your wife’s nipples, milked her, and then sold the milk for profit? The fact that they are “just” cows doesn’t make it any less cruel or sadistic.) It’s all too unbelievable, right? We know. But bear in mind, we have nothing to gain by telling you all this. In fact, we’ve got everything to lose. The billion-dollar dairy industry is so rich and powerful, they could sue us for everything we have. (Remember when the cattle ranchers sued Oprah, unsuccessfully, for publicly disparaging beef?) It would cost them next to nothing, but the legal fees alone would bankrupt us in minutes. We’re risking our own livelihoods to tell you this.
So don’t be skeptical of us, like we’re trying to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. You’ve already bought the book, so whether you believe us or not doesn’t add any money to our coffers. We’re telling you this, and hoping you’ll believe it, because it’s true. And because we can’t bear that anyone would eat or drink this poison! Um, What’s the Point of Milk, Again? Okay, so you know you don’t need milk for calcium, but what about vitamin D? Well, milk can’t be trusted for that, either! According to PCRM, “Samplings of milk have found a significant variation of vitamin D content, with some samplings having had as much as 500 times the indicated level, while others had little or none at all.” FYI: Too much vitamin D can be toxic! But it’s been report ed that “vitamin D is routinely added to milk ‘above and beyond’ the legal requirements.”179 Don’t get us wrong—vitamin D is important.
It aids in calcium and phosphorous absorption. But you don’t need to play Russian roulette with cows’ milk to get it. Just get off your ass, open your door, and go outside. The body makes vitamin D when the skin is exposed to the sun! How cool is that? (Depending on your skin tone and locale, you just need five to twenty minutes of sun a day, two to seven days a week, on your face and hands.) However, be advised that many people don’t get enough sunlight due to their lifestyles.
And that sunscreen that protects against skin cancer also blocks the rays needed to make vitamin D. So be sure to eat vitamin D-fortified foods, like cereals, rice and soymilks, or talk to your doctor about popping a vegan vitamin D supplement (go to your local health food store or visit vegetarianvitamin.com or veganessentials.com).
Milk is not a reliable source of minerals, either. You get much higher levels of manganese, chromium, selenium, and magnesium from fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are also high in boron, which helps lessen the loss of calcium through urine. Consuming high amounts of dairy blocks iron absorption, contributing to iron deficiency.
Just eat a variety of colorful fruits and veggies and snack on raw nuts and seeds every day. Minerals are more absorbable from these sources than from milk.
Yes, milk is high in calcium, but the calcium is not as absorbable as it is in plant foods. Note the calcium absorbability of the following foods, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Brussels sprouts . . .63.8 percent.
Broccoli = 52.6 percent.
Kale = 50 percent.
Cow’s milk = 2 percent.
Calcium is naturally abundant in and most readily absorbed from leafy greens (kale, mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, Swiss chard), bok choy, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, okra, watercress, legumes, chickpeas, red beans, soybeans, almonds, sesame seeds, and sea vegetables (like seaweed). It can also be easily attained from fortified orange juice, apple juice, soymilk, rice milk, cereal, and calcium-processed tofu. And these foods don’t come laden with fat, cholesterol, and a harmful excess of protein. These foods are nothing but good for ya. (Also, FYI, cows’ milk is allowed to have 80 friggin’ antibiotics in it! Eighty! Fortified juices and rice or soymilks have zero antibiotics. You do the math.) While we’re all running around thinking cows’ milk is the end-all, be-all for health, globally, we’re among the minority. Worldwide, 65 percent of adults abstain from milk.
It’s estimated that men under fifty should aim for 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day and that men over fifty get 1,200 milligrams.
But don’t think you can eat crap all day and then just pop a calcium supplement to make up for it. There’s no substitute for healthy, calcium-rich foods. So take your viteys, if instructed, but eat well, too. Have five to eight servings per day of calcium-rich foods. And make sure you exercise—lazy-asses lose the calcium from their bones while active people retain theirs.
And quit fucking smoking already! It increases your risk for fractures (and guarantees a foul-ass smelling mouth). P. S. Alcohol and steroids can also have a negative effect on bones.
You will shit yourself when you see how much weight you lose from giving up dairy. The fat in the cheese is what gives it the taste and texture we love. Of the calories found in cheese, 70 to 80 percent come from fat. Even if you’re buying the low-fat, part-skim bullshit, more than half the calories come from fat.
Fat-free? Give us a frig gin’ break! Remember what milk is for. It is designed to fatten baby cows. Do you really believe it can be altered into a fat-free, healthy, natural product? Get your head out of your ass. Milk = fat. Butter = fat. Cheese = fat. People who think these products can be natural and low-fat or fat-free = duped.
Now, if you’re anything like us, eating gives you more joy than everything—yep, even sex. So you might be wondering, “What the hell am I gonna eat now that I know dairy is bad for me? I know how to get calcium, but how about pleasure?” Don’t worry. We’re on it.
First off, soymilk, rice milk, and almond milk are great replacements for cows’ milk. Just read the ingredients and make sure the one you buy is fortified or enriched (that means they added calcium and other good stuff). Also, avoid brands that have any form of sweeteners in the “milk.” If you’re trying to limit your sugar intake, you sure as hell don’t want to waste your ration on friggin’ rice milk. Next, get your self some soy “butter.” It tastes like the real deal and can be used just like butter—on toast, pancakes, even in recipes. Mmm! We could eat it with a spoon! Speaking of. . . . Have you tried soy ice cream or coconut milk ice cream? Seriously, it’ll rock your world. Yes, you should be limiting your sugar intake, but if you have to have ice cream, rock the dairy-free. It is ridiculously good. Tofutti makes pretty decent dairy-free versions of cream cheese and sour cream. (Just be sure to read the ingredients and get the ones without hydrogenated oil.) And the best dairy-free cheeses on the market are Follow Your Heart and Teese. Feel free to try other brands, but read the ingredients. The majority of soy cheeses on the market aren’t dairy free. Some contain casein, which is the milk protein that promotes all three stages of cancer growth, remember? Others contain whey. Uck.
But Follow Your Heart and Teese receive our stamp of approval. If you’re like most people, you’ve been buying the same crappy products for years. So be patient: it’ll take a little time to locate all the dairy free products, and it’ll require trial and error to figure out which ones you like.
How about eggs? You know how when a woman is pregnant and she drinks alcohol or does drugs, it affects her unborn child? Well, it is the same with chickens and their un hatched eggs. When you eat eggs, you are ingesting all the same hormones, pesticides, chemicals, and steroids as if you were eating the chicken directly. So if you really believe that eating “just egg whites” isn’t fattening, we’ve got a bridge we can sell ya. Eggs are high in saturated fat and are completely disgusting when you think about what you are eating. Try that for once—actually think about what you are eating. (FYI: Eggs are a hen’s menstrual cycle. N-a-s-t-y.) Also, a new study of 57,000 people linked egg consumption with type 2 diabetes, and another with increased risk of heart failure.
An Argentine study found that people who ate about one and a half eggs per week had almost five times the risk of colorectal cancer as those who ate less than eleven eggs a year.
After analyzing data from thirty-four different countries, the World Health Organization correlated egg consumption with colon and rectal cancer mortality.
Another study found that moderate egg consumption tripled the risk of developing bladder cancer.
So save your, “But what about organic, free-range eggs?” bullshit for some one else—someone who doesn’t care about your colon, rectum, and bladder. Egg Beaters are made of real eggs, so they’re a gross no-no.
But if you take a slice of some firm or extra-firm tofu and press out the excess water, heat it up in a pan, and add a little soy butter, salt, pepper, and ketchup, you’ve got yourself a “fried egg.” There’s also an egg substitute in powder form for cooking and baking called Ener G egg replacer. And many markets sell a pretty good tofu “egg” salad.
As the demand grows for good animal-free and dairy-free products, more companies will supply us with these foods. So let your consumer dollars voice your desire, and your body will be rewarded.
If you can’t find good stuff at your local store, venture out to the nearest health food store or Whole Foods. Or, flap your big gums and ask your store’s manager to order the stuff for you. They’ll usually accommodate special requests.
So yeah, we just told you that eggs and dairy products suck. Don’t freak out. Going against the grain can feel uncomfortable, wrong, and totally fucking weird. After all, every doctor you’ve ever known has endorsed milk’s safety and nutritional value. Unfortunately, they simply don’t know any better. But bear in mind, there are many, many, many health experts, scientists, researchers, and doctors that vehemently oppose the claims of the dairy industry. Their voices are just drowned out by the billion-dollar industry. If what we’ve said in this chapter kinda rings true for you, but you still feel uncomfortable, do your own research. Take matters into your own hands. Collecting information can be the ultimate reassurance. It’s disquieting to believe what others say, but when you’ve seen the proof yourself, it’s a whole, new ballgame.
You think this is ridiculous? It is. Get ready to use your head.
When a woman gives birth, her body produces milk, and she nurses her child. Breast milk can grow an 8-pound newborn into a 24-pound toddler. Sounds pretty fattening, huh? It is. By design, it is intended to allow for the biggest growth spurt of a person’s entire life. Breast milk alone can accommodate for a 300 percent weight gain in a twelve-month period. When her child is anywhere from 12 to 24 months old, a mother stops breastfeeding. Her milk dries up. The child will never drink breast milk ever again.
Cows, like all mammals, are much the same. Their bodies produce milk only when they give birth. Contrary to popular belief, they do not need to be milked—ever. Their udders, like women’s breasts, exist even when there is no milk in them. There is one major difference, however. Cows’ milk, by design, grows a 90-pound calf into a 2,000-pound cow over the course of two years.
It allows calves to double their birth weight in forty-seven days and leaves their four stomach chambers feeling full. Sounds even more fattening than human milk, right? It is. It should be. Cows are bigger than humans.
And the inner workings of their bodies are completely different from ours, which they should be. They are cows. We are humans. Duh.
Humans need the enzyme lactase to digest lactose (the sugar found in dairy). However, between the ages of 18 months and 4 years, we lose 90 to 95 percent of this enzyme. The undigested lactose and the acidic nature of pasteurized milk encourage the growth of bacteria in our intestines.
All this contributes to a greater risk of cancer because cancer cells thrive in acidic conditions.
Got mucus? Dairy products produce mucus and often, the body will develop a cold or “allergies” to fight the dairy invasion.
Mother Nature is no fool. All species, including ours, have just what we need to get by. She did not intend for grownups to suck their mothers’ tits. We don’t need our mothers’ milk as adults, just like grown cows don’t need their mothers’ milk anymore. We are the only species on the planet that drinks milk as adults. We are also the only species on the planet that drinks the milk of another species. We could be putting gorilla milk on our cereal or having zebra milk and cookies.
Why cows’ milk? Using the animal that produces the largest quantity of milk but is more easily housed than an elephant means more money for farmers. It has nothing to do with health or nutrition. Again, it all comes back to money. The dairy industry is a multibillion-dollar industry based on brilliant marketing and the addictive taste of milk, butter, and cheese. It has convinced most doctors, dieticians, consumers, and government agencies that we need cows’ milk.
Bone Loss, Cancer, and Illness, Oh My! We have been told our whole lives, “You need milk to grow.
Without milk, your bones will break. If you don’t drink milk, you’ll get osteoporosis. You need the calcium.” Bullshit.
The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study followed more than 72,000 women over the course of twelve years. And guess what? Milk was not shown to have a protective effect on bones! Researchers at Yale did a study using thirty-four surveys from sixteen countries found in twenty-nine research publications. They reported the same findings.
Americans are among the top consumers of dairy products in the world. So if dairy does what the dairy industry claims, we should have among the lowest rates of osteoporosis in the world, right? According to The Journal of Gerontology, American women over fifty have among the highest rates of hip fractures in the world.
The only countries with higher rates are those that consume more milk! (Sorry for the girl-talk here. Because men have larger, stronger bones than women, you have a better likelihood of avoiding osteoporosis.
So while it does exist in men, it’s just more prevalent in women, hence the better-developed studies. But don’t go celebrating: 2 million men have it, 12 million are at risk, and countless more cases are unreported or undiagnosed.) There is a very clear and strong association between bone fracture rates and the consumption of animal protein.
If you’re not outraged, you aren’t paying attention. The whole reason we douse ourselves with dairy is because it “strengthens bones.” But scientific studies show that it does the exact opposite! If you aren’t seething mad right now, check your pulse.
You’ve been living a lie your whole life so that a few people could make money! (P. S. Consuming high amounts of dairy blocks iron absorption, contributing to iron deficiency.) Cows’ milk has one of the lowest absorption rates of all calcium sources.
One reason is its high protein content. A study showed vegans (people who abstain from animal products, including dairy) and omnivores having the same blood levels of calcium, even though the omnivores ingested twice as much calcium.
Yes, milk is high in calcium, but it’s not an efficient source for it. Remember in Chapter Three when we talked about how sugar creates an acidic environment in the body? Well, so do dairy products. And this acidity causes an excretion of calcium in the urine.
Loss of calcium . . . osteoporosis.
According to The China Study’s Dr. T. Colin Campbell, dairy can be blamed for all sorts of madness. Dr. Campbell attended Cornell on a PhD scholarship, authored more than three hundred research papers, and has four decades of high-level research experience. So The China Study is, um, a little more intellectual than our book. It’s basically the most comprehensive study of diet and nutrition ever con ducted in history—spanning over twenty years time; citing from more than 750 references; and partnering Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine. So what does this Holy Grail of nutrition say about dairy? That it can cause heart disease; diabetes; obesity; osteoporosis; kidney stones; cataracts; macular degeneration; multiple sclerosis; Alzheimer’s; and prostate, colon, and rectal cancer! Dairy products have been linked to a host of other problems, too, including acne, anemia, anxiety, arthritis, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, fibromyalgia, headaches, heartburn, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain, poor immune function, and ovarian cancer.
(Tell the ladies in your life.) Please, read this list again. Slowly. Let each one sink in. Are you pissed now? Understandably, life is busy and you may not take the time to read The China Study right now. Well at some point soon, you really, really should. It’s absolutely the most compelling, well-researched, in-depth book on nutrition we’ve ever come across. In the meantime, we’re gonna give you just one of the many pertinent Cliff’s Notes of The China Study: Dr. Campbell started a laboratory program to investigate protein’s role in the development of cancer. Eventually, due to his diligent, precise, and careful practices, his research received funding for an extraordinary twenty-seven years from the National Institute of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the American Institute for Cancer Research (among others). In this time, he discovered that protein did indeed have an effect on cancer. “What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87 percent of cow’s milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process.”131 There are three stages of cancer he’s referring to: initiation, promotion, and progression. Dr. Campbell likens the stages to planting a lawn. “Initiation is when you put the seeds in the soil, promotion is when the grass starts to grow, and progression is when the grass gets completely out of control, invading the driveway, the shrubbery, and the sidewalk.” Chemical carcinogens (byproducts of industrial processes) are usually what initiate normal cells to transform or mutate into cancer-prone cells. Promotion is when the cells “multiply until they become a visibly detectable cancer.” And progression occurs when the cancer cells grow and spread.
Let us repeat: Casein, a milk protein, promoted all three stages of cancer growth. Incredibly interesting: His studies showed that exposure to toxic chemicals initiated cancer growth. But the cancer remained dormant and wasn’t of issue.
However, with the introduction of casein (milk protein), all that changed.
According to two major Harvard studies, men who drink milk have a 30–60 percent greater cancer risk then those who avoid dairy.
And not just any cancer, but cancer of the co-co-co-cock. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American men.
And one of the most consistent, specific links between diet and prostate cancer is dairy.
Honestly, if you aren’t seeing red now, you’re a lost cause.
Please go back and reread Dr. Campbell’s credentials and the background information about The China Study once more.
Acknowledge that The China Study isn’t some hole-filled, half baked, fluff piece, but that it’s the real deal. Now get on board.
Seriously. This is no joke. This is literally a matter of life and death.
Do not dismiss this information just because it seems outlandish and hard to believe. Or just because your doctors and schoolteachers told you otherwise. According to a Senate investigation, doctors receive less than three hours of nutritional training in medical school! And unsuspecting teachers are puppets whose strings are pulled by the dairy industry. The dairy industry is a for-profit, commercial business, just like Pepsi or McDonald’s. Imagine, however, if Pepsi or McDonald’s were allowed to provide schools with educational materials regarding nutrition. Unimaginable, right? Because more than likely, soda and Big Macs would be touted as important dietary staples. It’d probably sound a little something like this: “Pepsi has water in it, and it’s vital to drink eight glasses of water a day. Big Macs are high in protein, and protein is an important component of any diet.” We’d never stand for that, right? But we stand for the dairy industry—a for-profit enterprise—providing lesson plans, educational kits, posters, videos, and teaching guides to thousands of schools! And we allow them to sell milk at practically every school in the country! Doctors and teachers aren’t dimwits or villains. They’re just like the rest of us. It has been so ingrained into each one of us that “milk does a body good,” that no one would ever think to question it. (Last chance to prove you’re alive and well . . . swear your ass off, please!) And because we’ve all been brainwashed, our children suffer.
According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), “Insulin-dependent diabetes (Type 1 or childhood-onset) is linked to consumption of dairy products. Epidemiological studies of various countries show a strong correlation between the use of dairy products and the incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes.
Researchers in 1992 found that a specific dairy protein sparks an autoimmune reaction, which is believed to be what destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.” A Tall Glass of Bovine Growth Hormone.
Let’s pretend for a moment that cows’ milk is healthy for humans.
Even if it were—it’s not—but even if it were, it would only be healthy in its purest, unadulterated form. Just like human breast milk is. But we sure as hell don’t consume cows’ milk in its purest, unadulterated form. Nowadays, cows are injected with bovine growth hormone (BGH). (BGH milk is also referred to as rBGH—recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone or GE—genetically engineered.) Fifty years ago, the average milk production rate of a cow was 2,000 pounds a year. Today, the top producers provide up to 50,000 pounds a year! This is far from natural. (Imagine if your wife just gave birth and was injected with some crazy-ass hormone that made her boobs produce twenty-five times more milk than they would on their own.) Dr. Samuel Epstein, professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has authored or coauthored thirteen books, published nearly three hundred peer-reviewed scientific articles, and is the leading international expert on BGH. He’s also an internationally recognized authority on the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, the causes and prevention of cancer, and the toxic and carcinogenic effects of environmental pollutants. (And he has, like, a million letters after his name: MD, DPath., DTM&H.) Dr. Epstein literally wrote “the book” on BGH: What’s in Your Milk?141 The beginning of his BGH journey started with a phone call he received from an angry farmer in 1989. The farmer was involved in the secret testing trials for BGH, and he wanted any scientific information avail able on the hormone. When Dr. Epstein admitted a lack of knowledge about the hormone, the farmer responded angrily to the effect of, “If it makes my cows sick, their milk will also make people sick. So it’s damn well your job to find out.” So Dr. Epstein began his inquiry. Six months later, he received a package that was sent anonymously. Its contents appeared to be records stolen directly from the FDA files—confidential data from BGH trials. And they included information that had been previously undisclosed, revealing a wide range of serious veterinary dangers associated with BGH.
You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the shit surrounding BGH is every bit as shady as aspartame’s. Especially because Monsanto, the same company that owned NutraSweet, is the giant behind BGH. (BGH is sold to farmers under the trade name POSILAC.) Dr. Epstein sent copies of the incriminating documents to Congressman John Conyers, who publicly stated, “Monsanto and the FDA have chosen to suppress and manipulate animal health test data . . . in efforts to approve commercial use of rBGH.”. Both Monsanto and the FDA knowingly and falsely claimed that: * There is no difference between milk from BGH cows and untreated cows.
Um, bullshit. According to Dr. Epstein, “GE milk is entirely different from natural milk: nutritionally, bio chemically, pharmacologically, and immunologically.”145 * BGH is harmless to cows.
Um, bullshit again. Its own package insert lists sixteen harmful health effects! And studies showed that cows treated with BGH had chronic inflammation of internal organs, ulcerating injection site reactions, and deep carcass damage. Almost half the injected cows became infertile! And the majority suffered from anemia and chronic mastitis—a bacterial infection resulting from inflamed udders. So what does all this mean? Cows injected with BGH are also treated with antibiotics and other drugs, many unapproved and illegal. During a single lactation period, one cow received 120 drug treatments! All lactating mammals excrete toxins through their milk, including hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and chemicals.
So when you consume dairy products from cows treated with BGH, you’re ingesting all that shit, too! By the way, remember, approximately 70 percent of all the antibiotics made in the United States each year are administered to farm animals, causing antibiotic resistance in humans.
* BGH milk is safe for human consumption.
Triple dose of bullshit! BGH milk has high levels of Insulin Growth Factor (IGF-1), which has been consistently linked to breast, colon, and prostate cancers.
You should be so worked up right now that you’re almost spitting blood. We’re all being killed slowly so people can shove fistfuls of green fucking paper in their greedy-ass pockets. BGH milk is banned in Australia, New Zealand, all of the European Union, Canada, Japan, and every other industrialized country in the world. Both the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Food Standards Body refuse to endorse the hormone’s safety.
But BGH is legal here, in the United States. It’s so baffling that we’re supposed to be one of the most advanced nations in the world.
Pus, Chemicals, or Both?.
Got pus? In factory farms, there is no gentle farmer milking cows with a bucket between his feet. Clamps are attached to cows’ udders and cows are milked by machine. (Ask your wife how she’d like having clamps attached to her boobs immediately after giving birth.) The udders become sore and infected. Pus forms. But the machines keep on milking, sucking the dead white blood cells into the milk. In the good old’ U.S. of A., we have the highest allowable upper limit of pus concentration in the world—almost double the international standard.
Instead of saying, “It’s as American as apple pie,” we can start saying, “It’s as American as pus in your milk!” Yeehaw! Oh yeah, we’re not done yet. To get rid of all the pus, bacteria, and other grossness, milk has to be pasteurized. (Meaning, they gotta boil the hell out of it.) So even if cows’ milk were good for humans—it isn’t—this process destroys beneficial enzymes, makes calcium less available, and creates radioactive particles.
Pus and radioactive particles aren’t the only dangers lurking in your milk. Oh no, batting third is dioxin, a known human carcinogen.
Dioxins are unintentional by-products from industrial practices (like chemical manufacturing, metal refining, combustion, etc.). They get released into the air and then they settle into water (affecting the fish) and onto grasslands (affecting the cattle that graze there). Dioxin gets readily absorbed into the flesh of the animals exposed to it. So when we eat the animals’ flesh or consume the milk of the animals, we get exposed to dioxin.
PCBs are other sinister chemicals that accumulate in fat. Even though PCBs have been banned in the United States for more than twenty years, they still persist in our environment and will continue to contaminate our meat and dairy for many years.
We’re still going. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) resemble PCBs chemically. Research suggests that BFRs have adverse affects on the brain, liver, and reproductive system, and on thyroid function.
Where do these BFR bad boys accumulate? Animal-based foods.
A more specific class of BFRs is polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). It’s suggested that PBDE exposure in the United States is among the highest in the world. Flame retardants used in household items pollute our environment. Farm animals and fish absorb these pollutants. When we eat their flesh or drink their milk, we’re exposed.
Dirty Secrets, Leukemia, and a Whole Lot of Drama.
Wish we were done, but we need to talk about Johne’s disease. Oh, wait, you’ve never heard of it? Of course you haven’t. Because Johne’s ,pronounced yo-Neez) disease is “something that farmers talk about secretly—whisper behind hands.”161 One dairy scientist calls it the “whispering campaign,” and stated he had never heard a frank, open discussion about it.
One dairy farmer referred to Johne’s as “a dirty word. It’s like AIDS—you don’t talk about it.”163 When the USDA released a report on 2,500 dairy producers in 1997, they estimated that up to 40 percent of those dairy herds were infected. (They also conceded that it was likely an underestimate.) Health experts correlate the high rate of Johne’s disease in cattle with the growing epidemic of Crohn’s disease in humans.
How is it transmitted? People suffering from Crohn’s disease suffer from uncontrollable diarrhea. And apparently, cows with Johne’s disease suffer the same affliction. (Get your barf bag handy.) The diarrhea can come shooting out of the cow in liquid form. And because her butt is so close to her udders, poo gets on her udders. And unless someone takes the time to wash and clean the udders of every cow before every milking, the infected fecal matter makes its way into the milk.
Bonus: Within that poo, there can be as many as one trillion Para tuberculosis bugs per gram.
Surprise, surprise: The good old U.S. of A. has the highest incidence of Crohn’s disease in the world.
Hey, instead of, “It’s as American as pus in your milk,” it can be, “It’s as American as poopy milk and Crohn’s disease.” Unless we want to change it to, “It’s as American as leukemia.” The bovine leukemia virus involves about 80 percent of dairy herds! The virus can be killed if the milk is pasteurized and pasteurized correctly. But sometimes milk is sold “raw.” In a study of randomly collected raw samples, the virus was detected in two thirds! Now you’re probably thinking, “Oh, phew. I don’t buy raw milk products.” But what if the milk you do buy isn’t pasteurized correctly? Or what if the milk processing plant has an accidental “cross contamination” between raw and pasteurized milk? Not surprisingly, states with known leukemic dairy herds have higher rates of human leukemia.
Yes, we are saying many scientists in the medical research field know that dairy is bad for you. Yes, we are saying many executives in the dairy industry are well aware of this fact but make claims that milk “does a body good.” How do they get away with this? Easily.
They spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to market their products. And average consumers don’t spend their time perusing medical journals, but they do read magazines and watch television.
What about medical doctors? Why do they believe that milk is beneficial? It is a sad fact that in this country, most doctors know almost nothing about nutrition. Remember, doctors receive very little nutritional training in medical school.
They have been duped like the rest of us.
But don’t the government and U.S. Department of Agriculture protect us from all this? Hell no. Sickeningly high levels of pesticides found in dairy meet government standards. Records from the Food and Drug Administration show that “virtually 100 percent of the cheese products produced and sold in the United States has detectable pesticide residues.”173 By the way, don’t think you can worm your way out of the dairy drama by eating “low-fat” dairy products. They’re still made from cows’ milk, so they’re just as pus-y, grody, and contaminated. Not to mention they can have a relative overburden of protein and lactose.
Too much protein can tax the kidneys and leach calcium from the bones.
And undigested lactose encourages the growth of bacteria in our intestines.
Gross.
Organic Dairy Sucks.
Sorry, but organic dairy products aren’t much better. You’ve let the dairy industry dupe you long enough. Don’t dupe yourself. Don’t allow your addiction to cheese or your outdated beliefs con you that organic dairy is some clean, pure, magical entity. These products may be free of the chemical pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics, but they too can have fecal matter and pus. And in case you forgot everything you just read in this chapter: The consumption of dairy has been linked to heart disease; diabetes; obesity; osteoporosis; kidney stones; cataracts; macular degeneration; multiple sclerosis; Alzheimer’s; and prostate, colon, rectal, and breast cancer.
Use your head! Cow’s milk is for baby cows; it is not good for humans! (Even if it were, how would you like it if right after your wife gave birth someone snatched your baby away, stuck him in a veal crate, attached clamps to your wife’s nipples, milked her, and then sold the milk for profit? The fact that they are “just” cows doesn’t make it any less cruel or sadistic.) It’s all too unbelievable, right? We know. But bear in mind, we have nothing to gain by telling you all this. In fact, we’ve got everything to lose. The billion-dollar dairy industry is so rich and powerful, they could sue us for everything we have. (Remember when the cattle ranchers sued Oprah, unsuccessfully, for publicly disparaging beef?) It would cost them next to nothing, but the legal fees alone would bankrupt us in minutes. We’re risking our own livelihoods to tell you this.
So don’t be skeptical of us, like we’re trying to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. You’ve already bought the book, so whether you believe us or not doesn’t add any money to our coffers. We’re telling you this, and hoping you’ll believe it, because it’s true. And because we can’t bear that anyone would eat or drink this poison! Um, What’s the Point of Milk, Again? Okay, so you know you don’t need milk for calcium, but what about vitamin D? Well, milk can’t be trusted for that, either! According to PCRM, “Samplings of milk have found a significant variation of vitamin D content, with some samplings having had as much as 500 times the indicated level, while others had little or none at all.” FYI: Too much vitamin D can be toxic! But it’s been report ed that “vitamin D is routinely added to milk ‘above and beyond’ the legal requirements.”179 Don’t get us wrong—vitamin D is important.
It aids in calcium and phosphorous absorption. But you don’t need to play Russian roulette with cows’ milk to get it. Just get off your ass, open your door, and go outside. The body makes vitamin D when the skin is exposed to the sun! How cool is that? (Depending on your skin tone and locale, you just need five to twenty minutes of sun a day, two to seven days a week, on your face and hands.) However, be advised that many people don’t get enough sunlight due to their lifestyles.
And that sunscreen that protects against skin cancer also blocks the rays needed to make vitamin D. So be sure to eat vitamin D-fortified foods, like cereals, rice and soymilks, or talk to your doctor about popping a vegan vitamin D supplement (go to your local health food store or visit vegetarianvitamin.com or veganessentials.com).
Milk is not a reliable source of minerals, either. You get much higher levels of manganese, chromium, selenium, and magnesium from fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are also high in boron, which helps lessen the loss of calcium through urine. Consuming high amounts of dairy blocks iron absorption, contributing to iron deficiency.
Just eat a variety of colorful fruits and veggies and snack on raw nuts and seeds every day. Minerals are more absorbable from these sources than from milk.
Yes, milk is high in calcium, but the calcium is not as absorbable as it is in plant foods. Note the calcium absorbability of the following foods, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Brussels sprouts . . .63.8 percent.
Broccoli = 52.6 percent.
Kale = 50 percent.
Cow’s milk = 2 percent.
Calcium is naturally abundant in and most readily absorbed from leafy greens (kale, mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, Swiss chard), bok choy, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, okra, watercress, legumes, chickpeas, red beans, soybeans, almonds, sesame seeds, and sea vegetables (like seaweed). It can also be easily attained from fortified orange juice, apple juice, soymilk, rice milk, cereal, and calcium-processed tofu. And these foods don’t come laden with fat, cholesterol, and a harmful excess of protein. These foods are nothing but good for ya. (Also, FYI, cows’ milk is allowed to have 80 friggin’ antibiotics in it! Eighty! Fortified juices and rice or soymilks have zero antibiotics. You do the math.) While we’re all running around thinking cows’ milk is the end-all, be-all for health, globally, we’re among the minority. Worldwide, 65 percent of adults abstain from milk.
It’s estimated that men under fifty should aim for 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day and that men over fifty get 1,200 milligrams.
But don’t think you can eat crap all day and then just pop a calcium supplement to make up for it. There’s no substitute for healthy, calcium-rich foods. So take your viteys, if instructed, but eat well, too. Have five to eight servings per day of calcium-rich foods. And make sure you exercise—lazy-asses lose the calcium from their bones while active people retain theirs.
And quit fucking smoking already! It increases your risk for fractures (and guarantees a foul-ass smelling mouth). P. S. Alcohol and steroids can also have a negative effect on bones.
You will shit yourself when you see how much weight you lose from giving up dairy. The fat in the cheese is what gives it the taste and texture we love. Of the calories found in cheese, 70 to 80 percent come from fat. Even if you’re buying the low-fat, part-skim bullshit, more than half the calories come from fat.
Fat-free? Give us a frig gin’ break! Remember what milk is for. It is designed to fatten baby cows. Do you really believe it can be altered into a fat-free, healthy, natural product? Get your head out of your ass. Milk = fat. Butter = fat. Cheese = fat. People who think these products can be natural and low-fat or fat-free = duped.
Now, if you’re anything like us, eating gives you more joy than everything—yep, even sex. So you might be wondering, “What the hell am I gonna eat now that I know dairy is bad for me? I know how to get calcium, but how about pleasure?” Don’t worry. We’re on it.
First off, soymilk, rice milk, and almond milk are great replacements for cows’ milk. Just read the ingredients and make sure the one you buy is fortified or enriched (that means they added calcium and other good stuff). Also, avoid brands that have any form of sweeteners in the “milk.” If you’re trying to limit your sugar intake, you sure as hell don’t want to waste your ration on friggin’ rice milk. Next, get your self some soy “butter.” It tastes like the real deal and can be used just like butter—on toast, pancakes, even in recipes. Mmm! We could eat it with a spoon! Speaking of. . . . Have you tried soy ice cream or coconut milk ice cream? Seriously, it’ll rock your world. Yes, you should be limiting your sugar intake, but if you have to have ice cream, rock the dairy-free. It is ridiculously good. Tofutti makes pretty decent dairy-free versions of cream cheese and sour cream. (Just be sure to read the ingredients and get the ones without hydrogenated oil.) And the best dairy-free cheeses on the market are Follow Your Heart and Teese. Feel free to try other brands, but read the ingredients. The majority of soy cheeses on the market aren’t dairy free. Some contain casein, which is the milk protein that promotes all three stages of cancer growth, remember? Others contain whey. Uck.
But Follow Your Heart and Teese receive our stamp of approval. If you’re like most people, you’ve been buying the same crappy products for years. So be patient: it’ll take a little time to locate all the dairy free products, and it’ll require trial and error to figure out which ones you like.
How about eggs? You know how when a woman is pregnant and she drinks alcohol or does drugs, it affects her unborn child? Well, it is the same with chickens and their un hatched eggs. When you eat eggs, you are ingesting all the same hormones, pesticides, chemicals, and steroids as if you were eating the chicken directly. So if you really believe that eating “just egg whites” isn’t fattening, we’ve got a bridge we can sell ya. Eggs are high in saturated fat and are completely disgusting when you think about what you are eating. Try that for once—actually think about what you are eating. (FYI: Eggs are a hen’s menstrual cycle. N-a-s-t-y.) Also, a new study of 57,000 people linked egg consumption with type 2 diabetes, and another with increased risk of heart failure.
An Argentine study found that people who ate about one and a half eggs per week had almost five times the risk of colorectal cancer as those who ate less than eleven eggs a year.
After analyzing data from thirty-four different countries, the World Health Organization correlated egg consumption with colon and rectal cancer mortality.
Another study found that moderate egg consumption tripled the risk of developing bladder cancer.
So save your, “But what about organic, free-range eggs?” bullshit for some one else—someone who doesn’t care about your colon, rectum, and bladder. Egg Beaters are made of real eggs, so they’re a gross no-no.
But if you take a slice of some firm or extra-firm tofu and press out the excess water, heat it up in a pan, and add a little soy butter, salt, pepper, and ketchup, you’ve got yourself a “fried egg.” There’s also an egg substitute in powder form for cooking and baking called Ener G egg replacer. And many markets sell a pretty good tofu “egg” salad.
As the demand grows for good animal-free and dairy-free products, more companies will supply us with these foods. So let your consumer dollars voice your desire, and your body will be rewarded.
If you can’t find good stuff at your local store, venture out to the nearest health food store or Whole Foods. Or, flap your big gums and ask your store’s manager to order the stuff for you. They’ll usually accommodate special requests.
So yeah, we just told you that eggs and dairy products suck. Don’t freak out. Going against the grain can feel uncomfortable, wrong, and totally fucking weird. After all, every doctor you’ve ever known has endorsed milk’s safety and nutritional value. Unfortunately, they simply don’t know any better. But bear in mind, there are many, many, many health experts, scientists, researchers, and doctors that vehemently oppose the claims of the dairy industry. Their voices are just drowned out by the billion-dollar industry. If what we’ve said in this chapter kinda rings true for you, but you still feel uncomfortable, do your own research. Take matters into your own hands. Collecting information can be the ultimate reassurance. It’s disquieting to believe what others say, but when you’ve seen the proof yourself, it’s a whole, new ballgame.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Skinny Bastards. Chapter 4. Meat: Rotting, Decaying, Decomposing Flesh.
The High-Protein/Low-Carb Pile of Bullshit.
The Atkins diet. Hmm. Eat the flesh of dead cows, dead pigs, and dead chickens. Avoid fresh fruit. You are a total moron if you think the Atkins diet will get you ripped. Or, you are a gluttonous pig who wants to believe you can eat cheeseburgers all day long and lose weight. Perhaps you weren’t listening the first time: You need to get healthy if you want to get buff! Eating carcasses all day, while avoiding fresh fruit and whole grains is a recipe for disaster. Of course, if you stop eating refined carbohydrates, you will lose weight. That’s the part of the Atkins Diet that actually works. However, most of the weight you lose is water weight. You see, when our bodies metabolize protein (found in high amounts in meat and dairy), nitrogen waste is released in the form of urea. Urea is toxic and must be passed out of the body through urine. So the high-protein diet isn’t ridding your body of fat.
It’s just serving as a diuretic—making you pee more to flush out the toxic urea.
But whether you lose this piss weight initially is inconsequential. You will be a fat, unhealthy, smelly slob if you live this way.
Trendy diets like Atkins become popular for one reason: They hide behind scientific jargon that seems to make sense and allow you to eat unhealthy, fattening foods as long as you avoid carbs.
You believe in these diets because you want to. But eating a typical high-protein diet can increase your daily fat intake by about 8–18 grams, more than double your cholesterol intake, and reduce your fiber intake by approximately 500 percent! Losing weight is sup posed to make you healthier, not rob you of your vitality. Eating a high-protein diet is an inefficient, ineffective way to lose weight, and it increases risk for cancer, high blood pressure, gout, osteoporosis, muscular fatigue, depression, and some seriously bad ass breath.
Most Americans eat twice as much protein as necessary, which has sent obesity, heart disease, and cancer rates soaring over the past fifty years. When you eat large amounts of animal protein and saturated fats and do not eat whole grains, vegetables, and fresh fruits, there is no fiber to bind all of the toxins and fat together to be eliminated from your body. You will eventually do an incredible amount of harm to yourself. And you’re in jeopardy of developing kidney stones, one of the most painful conditions known to man. If you’re already at risk for reduced kidney function (tens of millions of Americans are and don’t even know it), you may be causing serious mayhem.
By the time your blood shows the effects, it will be too late to reverse the damage. Diabetics are in even worse trouble with a high-protein diet because they are already at a higher risk of kidney disease to begin with. In a study involving 1,500 patients with diabetes, most had lost more than half of their kidney function because of a high intake of animal protein.
A study commissioned by Dr. Atkins himself found his dieters suffering from constipation, halitosis, headaches, and hair loss! Who Wants to Live? Anybody? Bueller? Don’t care about your kidneys? What about your other organs? A study of more than 500 thousand individuals linked the consumption of meat to pancreatic cancer.
While pancreatic cancer is relatively uncommon, the survival statistics are very grim.
Another study of nearly 50 thousand men linked meat-eating to colon cancer.
People who eat red meat just once a week have a 38 percent greater risk; those who eat poultry just once a week have a 55 percent greater risk! Another recent study found meat-eaters at 67 percent higher risk for colorectal cancer, despite any genetic factors.
In terms of mortality, colorectal cancer is the United States’ second most common cancer (and the fourth most common, worldwide).
Unsurprisingly, studies showed the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes to be preventative and protective for multiple cancers.
Don’t care about cancer and just want to lose weight? (Dumb ass.) The American Cancer Society conducted a study over a ten-year period with nearly 80 thousand people trying to lose weight.
Participants who ate meat three times a week or more gained substantially more weight than participants who avoided meat and consumed more vegetables.
Also, studies published in The Journal of Clinical Nutrition and The New England Journal of Medicine stated that meat eaters are much more likely to be over weight than vegetarians.
P. S. Studies show that those who consume diets high in saturated fat and cholesterol but low in fruits, veggies, and fiber are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s.
Common Sense, Bitches Before you start spouting off information you’ve been brain washed with about evolution and the food chain, read on. Yes, humans have a high level of intelligence. Yes, we created weapons for hunting and fire for cooking. Yes, we found a way to mass-pro duce animals for consumption. However, if you study animals in the wild, you will note that they do not rely on anything other than their natural hunting ability, speed, strength, claws, teeth, and jaws. They have no tools or weapons. Now look at yourself. Look at your flimsy fingernails in comparison to an eagle’s talons. Look at your flat, blunt, closely spaced teeth com pared to a lion’s sharp, knife-like, gap-spaced teeth. (The gaps ensure that meat doesn’t get stuck between the animals’ teeth.) Compare your speed and agility to that of a tiger. Compare the strength of your jaw to a wolf’s. Imagine yourself trying to run after an animal, catch it, and kill it using your bare hands, finger nails, teeth, and jaws. Don’t kid yourself: You’d get your ass kicked. And even if you were successful, envision yourself eating the kill without the aid of an oven and silverware.
Yes, the human brain allows us to stay removed from the process of hunting. But does this mean we are “evolved” and “intelligent” and should be eating animal flesh just because we can? Man’s brain and “intelligence” also created alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Should we drink, smoke, and use just because we can? Many meat eaters credit eating meat for our evolution from cavemen into what we are now. Scientific evidence suggests it’s simply not true; many anthropologists believe we descended from vegetarian ancestors.
But even if eating meat did help us to evolve, look at what we evolved from. We looked like frigging apes and had massive heads, strong jaws, and brute strength. Man was a different animal then.
The second we put food in our mouths, the digestion process begins, thanks to our saliva. Guess what? Our alkaline saliva is not meant to break down animal flesh; carnivores have acid saliva, perfectly designed for the task.
And hydrochloric acid, essential for digesting carcass, is secreted in very small amounts in our stomachs.
However, the stomachs of carnivores have ten times more hydrochloric acid than ours.
Our enzymes, digestive tracts, and organs are all different from those found in carnivores. Like it or not, our kidneys, colon, and liver are ill-equipped to process animal flesh. Compared with carnivores, our intestines are very long, so food that doesn’t get adequately processed becomes clogged in our intestines. Animals quickly pass food through their digestive systems, but we have food rotting, decomposing, and fermenting in our intestinal tracts and colons; hence the need for colonics.
You don’t see many tigers getting colonics, do you? You do see them napping, though. Even though their bodies are designed to digest meat, animals generally sleep all day while doing so because it is such a taxing process. Genetically and structurally, we are designed to thrive on plant foods.
William C. Roberts, M.D., editor of the American Journal of Cardiology, said, “When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.”77 Natural carnivores living in the wild do not suffer from heart disease, cancer, or diabetes—our biggest killers. And whether it is “lean meat” or a “skinless chicken breast,” animal fat is still animal fat. Don’t be fooled by terms coined by the meat industry. Your body can’t handle animal fat, so it settles like lumpy shit all over your body and sends you to an early grave.
Old MacDonald Had a Very Different Farm Of the ten billion land animals slaughtered each year in America for human consumption, nearly all of them come from factory farms. Factory farms that raise cattle, pigs, chickens, egg-laying hens, veal calves, or dairy cows have an enormous amount of animals in a very small space. There are no vast meadows or lush, green pastures. In the cases of chickens and egg-laying hens, the animals are confined inside buildings, where they are packed in on top of each other. Egg-laying hens are crammed into cages so small they are unable to spread their wings, and their feet and flesh get mangled against the wire mesh. This overcrowded, stressful environment causes chickens to peck at each other, so their beaks are chopped off their faces using a hot knife. Pigs and cows are imprisoned in stalls so small they are unable to turn around or lie down comfortably. Cattle are subject to third-degree branding burns and having their testicles and horns ripped out.
Pigs also suffer from castration, in addition to the mutilation of their ears, tails, and teeth. They all live in the filth of their own urine, feces, and vomit with infected, festering sores and wounds.
To keep animals alive in these unsanitary conditions, farmers must give them regular doses of antibiotics. Of the 50 million pounds of antibiotics made in the United States each year, percent are administered to farm animals, causing antibiotic resistance in the humans who eat them.
This Shit Is Crazy Eating meat has been linked to obesity; cancer; liver, kidney, lung, and reproductive disorders; birth defects; miscarriages; and nervous system disorders.
For shits and giggles, we’ve compiled a partial list of what’s in meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy: benzene hexachloride (BHC), chlordane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dieldrin, dioxin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and lindane.
American farmers started using chemical pesticides in the late 1800s and were initially thrilled with the results. However, it was eventually noticed that pesticides were killing those who were most exposed to them: farmers, field workers, and animals. In 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT.
But the pesticides that followed were even worse. BHC is 19 times more carcinogenic than DDT, chlordane 4 times more, dieldrin 47 to 85 times more, HCB 23 times more, and heptachlor 15 to 30 times more.
By the late 1980s, of the 450 endangered animal species, more than half were threatened with extinction.
The government finally called for a ban on the production and use of other pesticides.
But this didn’t stop these pesticides from reaching our food supply.
Companies were allowed to use up their enormous stockpiles of these pesticides by selling them to countries outside of America.
(Apparently, it was acceptable to poison people and animals, as long as they weren’t American.) These countries used the pesticides on their crops, which were then imported into the United States.
Brilliant, huh? And, banned or not, once they have entered the soil or water, pesticides can still poison for decades.
One widely used pesticide, glufosinate, whose residues have been found in U.S. waters and food supplies, causes hormonal and brain damage.
A University of Iowa study found that nearly 56 percent of children living on hog farms had asthma.
Pregnant women living in agricultural regions in California are more likely to have babies with severe birth defects.
Farmers who use large amounts of insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides (and their families) seem to have it worse than everyone: * In Nebraska, farmers had a higher mortality rate from leukemia than any other working group.
* Cotton farmers from Minnesota to Texas have steadily increasing leukemia rates.
* Farmers in Wisconsin and Iowa have increased risk of non Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
* Washington farmers have a higher incidence of soft-tissue sarcomas.
* Washington ranchers and Minnesota farmers have higher mortality rates from central nervous system diseases and brain cancer.
Sadly, the list goes on and on.
In his book, Diet for a Poisoned Planet, David Steinman reports that of all the toxic chemicals found in food, 95 to 99 percent come from meat, fish, dairy, and eggs.
He also reveals that many of the governmental safety tests performed don’t even detect many chemicals and pesticides. The Food and Drug Administration’s own Total Diet Study found that bacon had 124 different residues from pesticides, chemicals, and other industrial pollutants; bologna and other luncheon meats had 136; fast-food hamburgers had 285 residues; fast-food chicken nuggets had 184; hot dogs had 207; and ground beef had 180.
In butter, the residue of more than 384 pesticides and industrial pollutants was detected, 171 in cheddar cheese, 173 in cream cheese, 168 in processed American cheese, and 160 in Swiss cheese.
Sick, sick, sick! In comparison, meat contains 14 times more pesticides than plant foods; dairy has 5 times more pesticides than plant foods.
Based on his review of USDA meat inspection reports, Steinman also estimates that “50 percent of animal foods could easily be contaminated with carcinogenic pesticides.”98 The United States alone uses 1.5 billion pounds of pesticides every year! That, our pathetic contamination sampling process, and our use of growth hormones has caused the European Economic Community to reject our meat exportations on numerous occasions.
Many animals are even given drugs laced with the most toxic form of arsenic.
Arsenic! Chemical pesticides are often sprayed directly onto the skin of animals to ward off parasites, insects, rodents, and fungi. In addition, these animals are given food treated with pesticides. On factory farms, bigger is better. More meat, milk, and eggs mean more money for the farmers. So to grow them larger or produce more, animals are given steroids and growth hormones.
But what is happening to the people who eat these fattened animals? Young girls are experiencing early onset of puberty at epidemic proportions. Many scientists attribute this to all of the hormones in chicken, meat, and milk that are forced upon children.
Basically, every time you consume factory-farmed chicken, beef, veal, pork, eggs, or dairy, you are eating antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and hormones. This is worth repeating: Every time you consume factory-farmed chicken, beef, veal, pork, eggs, or dairy, you are eating antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and hormones.
Now you might be thinking, “Who cares about all this pesticide-cancer shit? I just want to get buff!” Ever heard women complaining about gaining weight from going on The Pill or from having fertility treatments? Well, eating animals that are given hormones has the same effect as if you were taking these directly.
According to Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton, author of The Body Restoration Plan, antibiotics alone can account for weight gain in animals.
She also states that the toxic chemicals used in food production are fattening. Whether it’s the pesticides used for growing crops or the chemicals given to animals to fatten them up, they alter the body’s metabolism in a way that causes weight gain.
Having studied animals and humans, she discovered that low doses of toxic chemicals increased appetite, slowed metabolism, decreased ability to burn stored fat, and reduced ability to exercise.
The FDA lists approximately 1,700 drugs approved for use in animal feed. Of these approved drugs, approximately 300 include “weight gain” in their description.
However, in Animal Factories, Jim Mason and Peter Singer disclose an estimate of 10 thousand to 30 thousand different drugs actually being used.
We constantly hear gym-rats bragging, “I don’t eat any red meat. I just eat chicken.” Well now you know: Chicken is just as bad for you as cow or pig. In fact, it might even be worse.
According to a survey by the National Research Council, one chicken manufacturing plant had 90 percent of its poultry contaminated with salmonellosis.
Ninety fucking percent! Nasty. And according to the American Journal of Epidemiology, eating chicken (and fish) is linked to colon cancer. Researchers examined the eating habits of 32 thousand men and women over a six-year period and then monitored emerging cancer cases for the next six years.
“Among participants who generally avoided red meat but who ate white meat less than once per week, colon cancer risk was 55 per cent higher than for those who avoided both kinds of meat. Those who had white meat at least once per week had more than three fold higher colon cancer risk.”107 Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found grilled chicken to have high levels of heterocyclic amines (HCA), carcinogens that are formed when animal proteins are heated. With 480 nano grams of heterocyclic amines per gram, grilled chicken registered 15 times higher than beef.
But don’t go trading your chicken for beef. HCAs can form from cooking chicken, beef, pork, and fish, and whether you’re grilling, frying, or broiling. Grilling or broiling over a flame also produces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), more carcinogens.
So don’t think cooking dead animals over an open flame makes you the grill-master; it makes you the cancer-master.
And don’t be lulled into a false sense of security that our government keeps food safe. News of the avian influenza epidemic came and went, but this disease is very real and can run rampant in poultry flocks.
Unfortunately, our waters aren’t any better than our land. Yes, some fish contain essential fatty acids and vitamins, minerals, and protein. But you can easily get all these nutrients from flaxseeds; pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds; nuts; soybeans; fruits; vegetables (especially leafy greens); soy products; and whole grains.
Fish and other seafood contain high levels of contaminants from industrial and environmental pollutants, waste products, and pesticide residues from farms. Also present in fish and seafood are high levels of mercury and PCBs, which are well absorbed by the body.
Other notables are BHC, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor, and dioxin.
These chemicals can cause neurotoxicity, which impairs a person’s mental state and ability. The human body contains acetylcholine, a naturally occurring chemical that helps impulses pass from nerve to nerve. Once the impulse is passed, the chemical is no longer needed and is actually harmful if it remains.
So our bodies produce an enzyme, cholinesterase, which rids us of the unwanted acetylcholine. Pesticides inhibit our ability to pro duce cholinesterase, which causes a buildup of the now-dangerous acetylcholine.
Mercury, a suspected carcinogen, can alter immune function, raise blood pressure, cause blindness or paralysis, increase the chance of cardiac mortality, and is known to reduce virility.
It can also inflict permanent brain damage on fetuses, infants, and children.
Appetizing, huh? Have some mercury poisoning with your ahi tuna. How about some trichinosis with your pork? Don’t forget a side of salmonella with your eggs or chicken! We certainly don’t want to leave out an order of mad cow disease! Think about what you’ve been eating. What we call salmon, hamburger, steak, chick en, bacon, sausage, ham, roast beef, salami, bologna, turkey, hot dog, and duck are actually decomposing, rotting animal carcass.
Bon appétit! .
Man Up.
Closing your eyes to the problem will not make it go away. You don’t want to see it, but you’ll eat it? So, yeah, if you want to be a Skinny Bastard, you’ve got to be a vegetarian—someone who doesn’t eat dead animals or seafood. Quit whining. We weren’t raised by hippie-crunchy-granola parents on vegetarian communes.
Growing up, we both ate meat all day, every day. We scoffed at tofu and spit on vegetables. Really. Kim’s addictions included such delicacies as corned beef hash, canned Vienna sausages, and daily Big Macs. Every single day in 1992, Rory ate a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast, followed by a bacon double cheese burger, fries, and a soda for lunch. Dinner was always a dead chicken, fish, cow, or pig. So before you say, “I could never give up meat,” realize that nearly every single vegetarian on the planet said those same words. So shut it, pussy. And know that there are a ton of strong, manly, ass-kicking warriors who are vegetarians and professional athletes. (We list a few on pages 106–108, but don’t skip ahead—wait for it.).
Now, some of you may be ready to explode. Certainly, when you bought this book, the last thing you expected was to be told that you should stop eating animals. But just because you didn’t expect it or because it goes against what you’ve believed your whole life, it doesn’t make the information any less accurate or valuable. Simmer down. Step back for a second. Ask yourself why you’re angry. Wait sixty seconds. Now ask yourself again—usually the first time you’re not able to see the truth. Chances are you’re angry because we’ve revealed a huge pile of shit that you didn’t want to see. You were perfectly happy eating burgers and chicken and bacon, and the last thing you wanted was to know exactly what you were eating all these years. You were perfectly happy thinking these foods were healthy, or at least “okay in moderation.” Now that you know all this, you won’t be able to look at food the same way. Now that you know all this, you might actually have to change! And some of you would rather numb out, hate us, or hold on to your old, unhealthy ways than change. Well, we hope you’ll take on the challenge of change. Because we both know from experience that abstaining from animal products is the best thing you can do for yourself. But don’t take it from us, take it from the American Dietetic Association, the world’s largest organization of nutrition professionals. After extensively reviewing all the scientific studies on vegetarian diets, they found that vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer (all the top killers) than meat-eaters.
In other words, just so we’re clear: vegetarians are healthier than meat eaters.
If you absolutely cannot, will not, dare not believe what we’re saying about meat, or you simply don’t want to stop eating these foods—fine. Just don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater! You know there’s other useful information in this book. So don’t use this as an excuse to dismiss everything else you’ve learned since you started reading it. Just ignore the stuff you simply can’t abide by and incorporate what you can. No need to be a drama queen about the whole thing.
The Atkins diet. Hmm. Eat the flesh of dead cows, dead pigs, and dead chickens. Avoid fresh fruit. You are a total moron if you think the Atkins diet will get you ripped. Or, you are a gluttonous pig who wants to believe you can eat cheeseburgers all day long and lose weight. Perhaps you weren’t listening the first time: You need to get healthy if you want to get buff! Eating carcasses all day, while avoiding fresh fruit and whole grains is a recipe for disaster. Of course, if you stop eating refined carbohydrates, you will lose weight. That’s the part of the Atkins Diet that actually works. However, most of the weight you lose is water weight. You see, when our bodies metabolize protein (found in high amounts in meat and dairy), nitrogen waste is released in the form of urea. Urea is toxic and must be passed out of the body through urine. So the high-protein diet isn’t ridding your body of fat.
It’s just serving as a diuretic—making you pee more to flush out the toxic urea.
But whether you lose this piss weight initially is inconsequential. You will be a fat, unhealthy, smelly slob if you live this way.
Trendy diets like Atkins become popular for one reason: They hide behind scientific jargon that seems to make sense and allow you to eat unhealthy, fattening foods as long as you avoid carbs.
You believe in these diets because you want to. But eating a typical high-protein diet can increase your daily fat intake by about 8–18 grams, more than double your cholesterol intake, and reduce your fiber intake by approximately 500 percent! Losing weight is sup posed to make you healthier, not rob you of your vitality. Eating a high-protein diet is an inefficient, ineffective way to lose weight, and it increases risk for cancer, high blood pressure, gout, osteoporosis, muscular fatigue, depression, and some seriously bad ass breath.
Most Americans eat twice as much protein as necessary, which has sent obesity, heart disease, and cancer rates soaring over the past fifty years. When you eat large amounts of animal protein and saturated fats and do not eat whole grains, vegetables, and fresh fruits, there is no fiber to bind all of the toxins and fat together to be eliminated from your body. You will eventually do an incredible amount of harm to yourself. And you’re in jeopardy of developing kidney stones, one of the most painful conditions known to man. If you’re already at risk for reduced kidney function (tens of millions of Americans are and don’t even know it), you may be causing serious mayhem.
By the time your blood shows the effects, it will be too late to reverse the damage. Diabetics are in even worse trouble with a high-protein diet because they are already at a higher risk of kidney disease to begin with. In a study involving 1,500 patients with diabetes, most had lost more than half of their kidney function because of a high intake of animal protein.
A study commissioned by Dr. Atkins himself found his dieters suffering from constipation, halitosis, headaches, and hair loss! Who Wants to Live? Anybody? Bueller? Don’t care about your kidneys? What about your other organs? A study of more than 500 thousand individuals linked the consumption of meat to pancreatic cancer.
While pancreatic cancer is relatively uncommon, the survival statistics are very grim.
Another study of nearly 50 thousand men linked meat-eating to colon cancer.
People who eat red meat just once a week have a 38 percent greater risk; those who eat poultry just once a week have a 55 percent greater risk! Another recent study found meat-eaters at 67 percent higher risk for colorectal cancer, despite any genetic factors.
In terms of mortality, colorectal cancer is the United States’ second most common cancer (and the fourth most common, worldwide).
Unsurprisingly, studies showed the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes to be preventative and protective for multiple cancers.
Don’t care about cancer and just want to lose weight? (Dumb ass.) The American Cancer Society conducted a study over a ten-year period with nearly 80 thousand people trying to lose weight.
Participants who ate meat three times a week or more gained substantially more weight than participants who avoided meat and consumed more vegetables.
Also, studies published in The Journal of Clinical Nutrition and The New England Journal of Medicine stated that meat eaters are much more likely to be over weight than vegetarians.
P. S. Studies show that those who consume diets high in saturated fat and cholesterol but low in fruits, veggies, and fiber are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s.
Common Sense, Bitches Before you start spouting off information you’ve been brain washed with about evolution and the food chain, read on. Yes, humans have a high level of intelligence. Yes, we created weapons for hunting and fire for cooking. Yes, we found a way to mass-pro duce animals for consumption. However, if you study animals in the wild, you will note that they do not rely on anything other than their natural hunting ability, speed, strength, claws, teeth, and jaws. They have no tools or weapons. Now look at yourself. Look at your flimsy fingernails in comparison to an eagle’s talons. Look at your flat, blunt, closely spaced teeth com pared to a lion’s sharp, knife-like, gap-spaced teeth. (The gaps ensure that meat doesn’t get stuck between the animals’ teeth.) Compare your speed and agility to that of a tiger. Compare the strength of your jaw to a wolf’s. Imagine yourself trying to run after an animal, catch it, and kill it using your bare hands, finger nails, teeth, and jaws. Don’t kid yourself: You’d get your ass kicked. And even if you were successful, envision yourself eating the kill without the aid of an oven and silverware.
Yes, the human brain allows us to stay removed from the process of hunting. But does this mean we are “evolved” and “intelligent” and should be eating animal flesh just because we can? Man’s brain and “intelligence” also created alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Should we drink, smoke, and use just because we can? Many meat eaters credit eating meat for our evolution from cavemen into what we are now. Scientific evidence suggests it’s simply not true; many anthropologists believe we descended from vegetarian ancestors.
But even if eating meat did help us to evolve, look at what we evolved from. We looked like frigging apes and had massive heads, strong jaws, and brute strength. Man was a different animal then.
The second we put food in our mouths, the digestion process begins, thanks to our saliva. Guess what? Our alkaline saliva is not meant to break down animal flesh; carnivores have acid saliva, perfectly designed for the task.
And hydrochloric acid, essential for digesting carcass, is secreted in very small amounts in our stomachs.
However, the stomachs of carnivores have ten times more hydrochloric acid than ours.
Our enzymes, digestive tracts, and organs are all different from those found in carnivores. Like it or not, our kidneys, colon, and liver are ill-equipped to process animal flesh. Compared with carnivores, our intestines are very long, so food that doesn’t get adequately processed becomes clogged in our intestines. Animals quickly pass food through their digestive systems, but we have food rotting, decomposing, and fermenting in our intestinal tracts and colons; hence the need for colonics.
You don’t see many tigers getting colonics, do you? You do see them napping, though. Even though their bodies are designed to digest meat, animals generally sleep all day while doing so because it is such a taxing process. Genetically and structurally, we are designed to thrive on plant foods.
William C. Roberts, M.D., editor of the American Journal of Cardiology, said, “When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.”77 Natural carnivores living in the wild do not suffer from heart disease, cancer, or diabetes—our biggest killers. And whether it is “lean meat” or a “skinless chicken breast,” animal fat is still animal fat. Don’t be fooled by terms coined by the meat industry. Your body can’t handle animal fat, so it settles like lumpy shit all over your body and sends you to an early grave.
Old MacDonald Had a Very Different Farm Of the ten billion land animals slaughtered each year in America for human consumption, nearly all of them come from factory farms. Factory farms that raise cattle, pigs, chickens, egg-laying hens, veal calves, or dairy cows have an enormous amount of animals in a very small space. There are no vast meadows or lush, green pastures. In the cases of chickens and egg-laying hens, the animals are confined inside buildings, where they are packed in on top of each other. Egg-laying hens are crammed into cages so small they are unable to spread their wings, and their feet and flesh get mangled against the wire mesh. This overcrowded, stressful environment causes chickens to peck at each other, so their beaks are chopped off their faces using a hot knife. Pigs and cows are imprisoned in stalls so small they are unable to turn around or lie down comfortably. Cattle are subject to third-degree branding burns and having their testicles and horns ripped out.
Pigs also suffer from castration, in addition to the mutilation of their ears, tails, and teeth. They all live in the filth of their own urine, feces, and vomit with infected, festering sores and wounds.
To keep animals alive in these unsanitary conditions, farmers must give them regular doses of antibiotics. Of the 50 million pounds of antibiotics made in the United States each year, percent are administered to farm animals, causing antibiotic resistance in the humans who eat them.
This Shit Is Crazy Eating meat has been linked to obesity; cancer; liver, kidney, lung, and reproductive disorders; birth defects; miscarriages; and nervous system disorders.
For shits and giggles, we’ve compiled a partial list of what’s in meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy: benzene hexachloride (BHC), chlordane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dieldrin, dioxin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and lindane.
American farmers started using chemical pesticides in the late 1800s and were initially thrilled with the results. However, it was eventually noticed that pesticides were killing those who were most exposed to them: farmers, field workers, and animals. In 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT.
But the pesticides that followed were even worse. BHC is 19 times more carcinogenic than DDT, chlordane 4 times more, dieldrin 47 to 85 times more, HCB 23 times more, and heptachlor 15 to 30 times more.
By the late 1980s, of the 450 endangered animal species, more than half were threatened with extinction.
The government finally called for a ban on the production and use of other pesticides.
But this didn’t stop these pesticides from reaching our food supply.
Companies were allowed to use up their enormous stockpiles of these pesticides by selling them to countries outside of America.
(Apparently, it was acceptable to poison people and animals, as long as they weren’t American.) These countries used the pesticides on their crops, which were then imported into the United States.
Brilliant, huh? And, banned or not, once they have entered the soil or water, pesticides can still poison for decades.
One widely used pesticide, glufosinate, whose residues have been found in U.S. waters and food supplies, causes hormonal and brain damage.
A University of Iowa study found that nearly 56 percent of children living on hog farms had asthma.
Pregnant women living in agricultural regions in California are more likely to have babies with severe birth defects.
Farmers who use large amounts of insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides (and their families) seem to have it worse than everyone: * In Nebraska, farmers had a higher mortality rate from leukemia than any other working group.
* Cotton farmers from Minnesota to Texas have steadily increasing leukemia rates.
* Farmers in Wisconsin and Iowa have increased risk of non Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
* Washington farmers have a higher incidence of soft-tissue sarcomas.
* Washington ranchers and Minnesota farmers have higher mortality rates from central nervous system diseases and brain cancer.
Sadly, the list goes on and on.
In his book, Diet for a Poisoned Planet, David Steinman reports that of all the toxic chemicals found in food, 95 to 99 percent come from meat, fish, dairy, and eggs.
He also reveals that many of the governmental safety tests performed don’t even detect many chemicals and pesticides. The Food and Drug Administration’s own Total Diet Study found that bacon had 124 different residues from pesticides, chemicals, and other industrial pollutants; bologna and other luncheon meats had 136; fast-food hamburgers had 285 residues; fast-food chicken nuggets had 184; hot dogs had 207; and ground beef had 180.
In butter, the residue of more than 384 pesticides and industrial pollutants was detected, 171 in cheddar cheese, 173 in cream cheese, 168 in processed American cheese, and 160 in Swiss cheese.
Sick, sick, sick! In comparison, meat contains 14 times more pesticides than plant foods; dairy has 5 times more pesticides than plant foods.
Based on his review of USDA meat inspection reports, Steinman also estimates that “50 percent of animal foods could easily be contaminated with carcinogenic pesticides.”98 The United States alone uses 1.5 billion pounds of pesticides every year! That, our pathetic contamination sampling process, and our use of growth hormones has caused the European Economic Community to reject our meat exportations on numerous occasions.
Many animals are even given drugs laced with the most toxic form of arsenic.
Arsenic! Chemical pesticides are often sprayed directly onto the skin of animals to ward off parasites, insects, rodents, and fungi. In addition, these animals are given food treated with pesticides. On factory farms, bigger is better. More meat, milk, and eggs mean more money for the farmers. So to grow them larger or produce more, animals are given steroids and growth hormones.
But what is happening to the people who eat these fattened animals? Young girls are experiencing early onset of puberty at epidemic proportions. Many scientists attribute this to all of the hormones in chicken, meat, and milk that are forced upon children.
Basically, every time you consume factory-farmed chicken, beef, veal, pork, eggs, or dairy, you are eating antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and hormones. This is worth repeating: Every time you consume factory-farmed chicken, beef, veal, pork, eggs, or dairy, you are eating antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and hormones.
Now you might be thinking, “Who cares about all this pesticide-cancer shit? I just want to get buff!” Ever heard women complaining about gaining weight from going on The Pill or from having fertility treatments? Well, eating animals that are given hormones has the same effect as if you were taking these directly.
According to Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton, author of The Body Restoration Plan, antibiotics alone can account for weight gain in animals.
She also states that the toxic chemicals used in food production are fattening. Whether it’s the pesticides used for growing crops or the chemicals given to animals to fatten them up, they alter the body’s metabolism in a way that causes weight gain.
Having studied animals and humans, she discovered that low doses of toxic chemicals increased appetite, slowed metabolism, decreased ability to burn stored fat, and reduced ability to exercise.
The FDA lists approximately 1,700 drugs approved for use in animal feed. Of these approved drugs, approximately 300 include “weight gain” in their description.
However, in Animal Factories, Jim Mason and Peter Singer disclose an estimate of 10 thousand to 30 thousand different drugs actually being used.
We constantly hear gym-rats bragging, “I don’t eat any red meat. I just eat chicken.” Well now you know: Chicken is just as bad for you as cow or pig. In fact, it might even be worse.
According to a survey by the National Research Council, one chicken manufacturing plant had 90 percent of its poultry contaminated with salmonellosis.
Ninety fucking percent! Nasty. And according to the American Journal of Epidemiology, eating chicken (and fish) is linked to colon cancer. Researchers examined the eating habits of 32 thousand men and women over a six-year period and then monitored emerging cancer cases for the next six years.
“Among participants who generally avoided red meat but who ate white meat less than once per week, colon cancer risk was 55 per cent higher than for those who avoided both kinds of meat. Those who had white meat at least once per week had more than three fold higher colon cancer risk.”107 Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found grilled chicken to have high levels of heterocyclic amines (HCA), carcinogens that are formed when animal proteins are heated. With 480 nano grams of heterocyclic amines per gram, grilled chicken registered 15 times higher than beef.
But don’t go trading your chicken for beef. HCAs can form from cooking chicken, beef, pork, and fish, and whether you’re grilling, frying, or broiling. Grilling or broiling over a flame also produces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), more carcinogens.
So don’t think cooking dead animals over an open flame makes you the grill-master; it makes you the cancer-master.
And don’t be lulled into a false sense of security that our government keeps food safe. News of the avian influenza epidemic came and went, but this disease is very real and can run rampant in poultry flocks.
Unfortunately, our waters aren’t any better than our land. Yes, some fish contain essential fatty acids and vitamins, minerals, and protein. But you can easily get all these nutrients from flaxseeds; pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds; nuts; soybeans; fruits; vegetables (especially leafy greens); soy products; and whole grains.
Fish and other seafood contain high levels of contaminants from industrial and environmental pollutants, waste products, and pesticide residues from farms. Also present in fish and seafood are high levels of mercury and PCBs, which are well absorbed by the body.
Other notables are BHC, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor, and dioxin.
These chemicals can cause neurotoxicity, which impairs a person’s mental state and ability. The human body contains acetylcholine, a naturally occurring chemical that helps impulses pass from nerve to nerve. Once the impulse is passed, the chemical is no longer needed and is actually harmful if it remains.
So our bodies produce an enzyme, cholinesterase, which rids us of the unwanted acetylcholine. Pesticides inhibit our ability to pro duce cholinesterase, which causes a buildup of the now-dangerous acetylcholine.
Mercury, a suspected carcinogen, can alter immune function, raise blood pressure, cause blindness or paralysis, increase the chance of cardiac mortality, and is known to reduce virility.
It can also inflict permanent brain damage on fetuses, infants, and children.
Appetizing, huh? Have some mercury poisoning with your ahi tuna. How about some trichinosis with your pork? Don’t forget a side of salmonella with your eggs or chicken! We certainly don’t want to leave out an order of mad cow disease! Think about what you’ve been eating. What we call salmon, hamburger, steak, chick en, bacon, sausage, ham, roast beef, salami, bologna, turkey, hot dog, and duck are actually decomposing, rotting animal carcass.
Bon appétit! .
Man Up.
Closing your eyes to the problem will not make it go away. You don’t want to see it, but you’ll eat it? So, yeah, if you want to be a Skinny Bastard, you’ve got to be a vegetarian—someone who doesn’t eat dead animals or seafood. Quit whining. We weren’t raised by hippie-crunchy-granola parents on vegetarian communes.
Growing up, we both ate meat all day, every day. We scoffed at tofu and spit on vegetables. Really. Kim’s addictions included such delicacies as corned beef hash, canned Vienna sausages, and daily Big Macs. Every single day in 1992, Rory ate a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast, followed by a bacon double cheese burger, fries, and a soda for lunch. Dinner was always a dead chicken, fish, cow, or pig. So before you say, “I could never give up meat,” realize that nearly every single vegetarian on the planet said those same words. So shut it, pussy. And know that there are a ton of strong, manly, ass-kicking warriors who are vegetarians and professional athletes. (We list a few on pages 106–108, but don’t skip ahead—wait for it.).
Now, some of you may be ready to explode. Certainly, when you bought this book, the last thing you expected was to be told that you should stop eating animals. But just because you didn’t expect it or because it goes against what you’ve believed your whole life, it doesn’t make the information any less accurate or valuable. Simmer down. Step back for a second. Ask yourself why you’re angry. Wait sixty seconds. Now ask yourself again—usually the first time you’re not able to see the truth. Chances are you’re angry because we’ve revealed a huge pile of shit that you didn’t want to see. You were perfectly happy eating burgers and chicken and bacon, and the last thing you wanted was to know exactly what you were eating all these years. You were perfectly happy thinking these foods were healthy, or at least “okay in moderation.” Now that you know all this, you won’t be able to look at food the same way. Now that you know all this, you might actually have to change! And some of you would rather numb out, hate us, or hold on to your old, unhealthy ways than change. Well, we hope you’ll take on the challenge of change. Because we both know from experience that abstaining from animal products is the best thing you can do for yourself. But don’t take it from us, take it from the American Dietetic Association, the world’s largest organization of nutrition professionals. After extensively reviewing all the scientific studies on vegetarian diets, they found that vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer (all the top killers) than meat-eaters.
In other words, just so we’re clear: vegetarians are healthier than meat eaters.
If you absolutely cannot, will not, dare not believe what we’re saying about meat, or you simply don’t want to stop eating these foods—fine. Just don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater! You know there’s other useful information in this book. So don’t use this as an excuse to dismiss everything else you’ve learned since you started reading it. Just ignore the stuff you simply can’t abide by and incorporate what you can. No need to be a drama queen about the whole thing.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Skinny Bastards. Chapter 3. Sugar Is for Candy-Asses.
We know how difficult it is to stay away from sugar. But too bad. Man up, bitch.
Take a look around your kitchen and become aware of all the places sugar is lurking, waiting to strip you of your dignity.
Probably in places you wouldn’t ever expect to find it. Read the ingredients of your breakfast cereals, breads, crackers, junk foods, everything. Sugar is like crack, and food manufacturers know that if they add it to their products, you’ll keep coming back for more.
What is it, exactly? In its simplest form, it is the juice from a sugar cane plant. A plant—that seems benign, right? And it is, in moderation, ingested in its raw, simplest form. But all the enzymes, fiber, vitamins, and minerals are destroyed during the refining process.
First, the cane is pressed to extract the juice. Then, the juice is boiled so that it will thicken and crystallize. Next, it is centrifuged, or spun, to remove the syrup. After that, the sugar is washed and filtered to remove any non sugar materials and to de colorize it. (By the way, sugar filters are commonly made of charred animal bones. Nasty.) Finally, the sugar is dried and packaged. So you see, refined sugar has no nutritional value. And it’s usually in foods that contain tons of fat, lots of useless calories, and loads of cholesterol. So, you become addicted to foods (because they contain sugar) that have a large amount of fat, saturated fat, hydrogenated oils, and calories. Refined sugar, a simple carbohydrate, has been linked to hypoglycemia, a weakened immune system, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, enlargement of the liver and kidneys, increase of uric acid in the blood, mental and emotional disorders, dental cavities, and an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain.
In addition, refined sugars make you fat. Excess amounts are stored in the liver as glycogen. But when the liver is too full, the excess amounts are returned to the bloodstream as fatty acids.
Guess where those end up? Your saggy, old-lady ass; your big, fat gut; and your man-boobs.
Not only is the sugar industry big business in America, but the United States is also the largest supplier of sugar-laden foods in the world. It’s not enough to poison our own citizens. We have to fuck up the rest of the world, too, for a dime.
High fructose corn syrup is another bad ass that finds its way into tons of foods. Manufacturers love its versatility and put it in nearly everything: soda, beer, yogurt, energy bars, cookies, candies, breads, even frozen goods. High fructose corn syrup is processed more than sugar and is even sweeter. But it’s a friend of the farmer because it’s so cheap to produce. Like refined sugar, it has a negative, dramatic effect on our blood-sugar levels. According to studies conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, diabetes and obesity are directly linked to eating refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
We aren’t telling you to give up dessert for the rest of your lives, so settle down crybaby. We’re simply suggesting that you substitute natural, healthier alternatives for refined sugar. Black strap molasses, agave, and Stevia are better choices. Other good substitutes for refined sugar include evaporated cane juice, granulated cane juice, Sucanat, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, Rapadura sugar, Turbinado sugar, raw sugar, beet sugar, date sugar, maple syrup, maple syrup crystals, and molasses. (Some companies add lard to maple syrup or molasses to reduce foaming, so be sure you are buying 100 percent pure, organic products.) Don’t shit yourself, but all of these natural sweeteners possess one or more of the following health benefits: enzymes, calcium, iron, potassium, protein, the B vitamins, magnesium, chromium, fiber, and folic acid. Some even contain complex carbohydrates.
We’re not saying you should eat naturally sweetened cupcakes three meals a day. We’re just saying that you can have your cake and eat it. Just use your head regarding the amount of sweets you consume. (Check out our “acceptable junk food list” starting on page 207 for some of our favorite goodies.) Now that you’ve heard the good news about natural sweeteners, it’s time to give up the all the bad ones. Obviously, refined sugar is bad for you, as is high fructose corn syrup. And in case you had your head up your ass during Chapter 1, Stop eating and drinking products that contain aspartame! This includes diet sodas and sugar-free foods that have NutraSweet or Equal.
When aspartame was put before the FDA for approval, it was denied eight times. G.D. Searle, the company behind aspartame, tried to get FDA approval in 1973. Clearly, they weren’t bothered by reports from neuro scientist Doctor John Olney and researcher Ann Reynolds (hired by Searle) that aspartame was dangerous.
Doctor Martha Freeman, a scientist from the FDA Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products, declared, “The information submitted for review is inadequate to permit a scientific evaluation of clinical safety.” Freeman recommended that until the safety of aspartame was proven, marketing the product should not be permitted.
Alas, her recommendations were ignored. Somehow, in 1974, Searle got approval to use aspartame in dry foods. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing from there. In 1975, the FDA put together a task force to review Searle’s testing methods. Task force team leader Phillip Brodsky said he “had never seen anything as bad as Searle’s testing” and called test results “manipulated.”27 Before aspartame actually made it into dry foods, Olney and attorney and consumer advocate Jim Turner filed objections against the approval.
In 1977, the FDA asked the U.S. attorney’s office to start grand jury proceedings against Searle for “knowingly misrepresenting findings and concealing material facts and making false statements in aspartame safety tests.” Shortly after, the U.S. attorney leading the investigation against Searle was offered a job by the law firm that was representing Searle. Later that same year, he resigned as U.S. attorney and withdrew from the case, delaying the grand jury’s investigation.
This caused the statute of limitations on the charges to run out, and the investigation was dropped. And he accepted the job with Searle’s law firm.
In 1980, a review by the Public Board of Inquiry set up by the FDA determined that aspartame should not be approved. The board said it had “not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive.” In 1981, new FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed. Despite the fact that three out of six scientists advised against approval, Hayes decided to overrule the scientific review panel and allow aspartame into limited dry goods. In 1983, he got it approved for beverages, even though the National Soft Drink Association urged the FDA to delay approval until further testing could be done. That same year, Hayes left the FDA amid charges of impropriety. The Internal Department of Health and Human Services was investigating Hayes for accepting gratuities from FDA-regulated companies. He went to work as a consultant for Searle’s public relations firm. Interesting. The FDA finally urged Congress to prosecute Searle for giving the government false or incomplete test results on aspartame.
However, the two government attorneys assigned to the case decided not to prosecute. Later, they went to work for the law firm that represented Searle.
Fascinating. Despite recognizing ninety-two different toxic symptoms that result from ingesting aspartame, the FDA approved it for use, without restriction, in 1996. Brilliant.
So many people have been sickened from this shit that there are aspartame victim support groups. Some of the ninety-two aspartame side effects listed by the FDA include abdominal pain, memory loss, nerve cell damage, migraines, reproductive disorders, mental confusion, brain lesions, blindness, joint pain, Alzheimer’s, bloating, nervous system disorders, hair loss, food cravings, and weight gain.
Aspartame is a 1 billion dollar industry.
The National Justice League has filed a series of lawsuits against food companies using aspartame, claiming they are poisoning the public. In September 2004, a class action lawsuit was filed for $350 million against NutraSweet and the American Diabetics Association. George W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is named in the suit for using political muscle to get aspartame approved by the FDA.
NutraSweet and Equal contain aspartame. When ingested, one of aspartame’s ingredients, methyl alcohol, converts into formaldehyde, a deadly neurotoxin.
In addition to aspartame, Equal contains the amino acid phenylalanine.
Phenylalanine occurs naturally in the brain. But high levels can increase the chance of seizures and lead to depression and schizophrenia.
There is no lesser of the two evils. NutraSweet and Equal are both bad. Sweet & Low is no saint, either. It is an artificial sweetener that contains saccharin, a coal-tar compound.
Stay away.
Because we’re having so much fun, let’s bash the shit out of Splenda, one of the newer sweeteners—especially since it had 60 per cent of the consumer market for artificial sweeteners in 2006.
Splenda is made by chlorinating sugar, changing its molecular structure. The finished product is called sucralose. The makers of this poison tout its lack of calories and claim it’s safe for diabetics. The FDA calls sucralose 98 percent pure. The other 2 percent contains small amounts of heavy metals, methanol, and arsenic.
Well, gee, at least it doesn’t have calories. So what if it has a little arsenic? Sucralose has been found to cause diarrhea; organ, genetic, immune system, and reproductive damage; and swelling of the liver and kidneys.
What a splendid product! According to Doctor Joseph Mercola in the Consumer Research article “The Potential Dangers of Sucralose,” “There is no clear-cut evidence that sugar substitutes are useful on weight reduction. On the contrary, there is some evidence that these substances may stimulate appetite.”41 Not only have multiple class-action lawsuits been filed, but the president of the National Sugar Association and the manufacturer of Equal also had their panties in a bunch over Splenda. They each filed suit, claiming that Splenda manufacturers are misleading consumers into thinking the product is natural when it is “a highly processed chemical compound.”42 (Don’t think that the giants behind artificial sweeteners and the sugar industry suddenly started caring about public health. Splenda is just totally screwing up their sales. But even executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Doctor Michael F. Jacobson, who normally criticizes the National Sugar Association, had to agree: “Advertising and labeling, whether for products that are healthful or unhealthful, should be truthful and not misleading.”) The makers of Splenda settled both lawsuits. With the Equal lawsuit, it was reported that settlement talks began after jurors requested a calculator and white board, indicating they were going to rule against Splenda and were trying to figure out a dollar amount.
Clearly, artificial sweeteners and refined sugars are bad for many reasons. Here’s one more. We have a delicate balancing act occurring in our bodies at all times—pH balance. Basically, everything we eat has its own pH balance. When food is digested, it leaves an acid or alkaline “ash” in the body, depending on the food’s mineral content.
Surprise, surprise: Artificial sweeteners are highly acid forming.
(Coffee, excessive protein, meat, pasteurized dairy, refined sugars, and fatty foods are, too.) When our bodies get too acidic, we are much more prone to illness.
Sometimes, we don’t even know we’re sick until it’s too late.
But we can notice mild maladies, like skin problems, allergies, headaches, or colds.
Or, we can experience major trauma—severe damage to our thyroid glands, liver, and adrenal glands.
If our pH balance becomes too acidic, our bodies will react to protect them selves. To neutralize the acid, they will take alkalizing minerals from our reserves. If our reserves are low, the body will withdraw minerals from our bones and muscles.
If that doesn’t scare you, consider this: Cancer cells thrive in acidic environments.
Cancer loves sugar.
Now, logically, it would seem that citrus fruits are acidic, but actually, when they enter the body, they are alkalizing. We know this appears to defy common sense because they seem like they’d be acidic. But they contain potassium and calcium, which are alkalizing minerals. They also have a high percentage of alkaline salts. Nearly all fruits, vegetables, and legumes are alkaline when they enter the body.
Other alkalizing foods are sea vegetables, miso, soybeans, and tofu.
Fruit, good. Natural sweeteners, good. Refined sugars, bad.
Artificial sweeteners, bad. Any questions?
Take a look around your kitchen and become aware of all the places sugar is lurking, waiting to strip you of your dignity.
Probably in places you wouldn’t ever expect to find it. Read the ingredients of your breakfast cereals, breads, crackers, junk foods, everything. Sugar is like crack, and food manufacturers know that if they add it to their products, you’ll keep coming back for more.
What is it, exactly? In its simplest form, it is the juice from a sugar cane plant. A plant—that seems benign, right? And it is, in moderation, ingested in its raw, simplest form. But all the enzymes, fiber, vitamins, and minerals are destroyed during the refining process.
First, the cane is pressed to extract the juice. Then, the juice is boiled so that it will thicken and crystallize. Next, it is centrifuged, or spun, to remove the syrup. After that, the sugar is washed and filtered to remove any non sugar materials and to de colorize it. (By the way, sugar filters are commonly made of charred animal bones. Nasty.) Finally, the sugar is dried and packaged. So you see, refined sugar has no nutritional value. And it’s usually in foods that contain tons of fat, lots of useless calories, and loads of cholesterol. So, you become addicted to foods (because they contain sugar) that have a large amount of fat, saturated fat, hydrogenated oils, and calories. Refined sugar, a simple carbohydrate, has been linked to hypoglycemia, a weakened immune system, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, enlargement of the liver and kidneys, increase of uric acid in the blood, mental and emotional disorders, dental cavities, and an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain.
In addition, refined sugars make you fat. Excess amounts are stored in the liver as glycogen. But when the liver is too full, the excess amounts are returned to the bloodstream as fatty acids.
Guess where those end up? Your saggy, old-lady ass; your big, fat gut; and your man-boobs.
Not only is the sugar industry big business in America, but the United States is also the largest supplier of sugar-laden foods in the world. It’s not enough to poison our own citizens. We have to fuck up the rest of the world, too, for a dime.
High fructose corn syrup is another bad ass that finds its way into tons of foods. Manufacturers love its versatility and put it in nearly everything: soda, beer, yogurt, energy bars, cookies, candies, breads, even frozen goods. High fructose corn syrup is processed more than sugar and is even sweeter. But it’s a friend of the farmer because it’s so cheap to produce. Like refined sugar, it has a negative, dramatic effect on our blood-sugar levels. According to studies conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, diabetes and obesity are directly linked to eating refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
We aren’t telling you to give up dessert for the rest of your lives, so settle down crybaby. We’re simply suggesting that you substitute natural, healthier alternatives for refined sugar. Black strap molasses, agave, and Stevia are better choices. Other good substitutes for refined sugar include evaporated cane juice, granulated cane juice, Sucanat, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, Rapadura sugar, Turbinado sugar, raw sugar, beet sugar, date sugar, maple syrup, maple syrup crystals, and molasses. (Some companies add lard to maple syrup or molasses to reduce foaming, so be sure you are buying 100 percent pure, organic products.) Don’t shit yourself, but all of these natural sweeteners possess one or more of the following health benefits: enzymes, calcium, iron, potassium, protein, the B vitamins, magnesium, chromium, fiber, and folic acid. Some even contain complex carbohydrates.
We’re not saying you should eat naturally sweetened cupcakes three meals a day. We’re just saying that you can have your cake and eat it. Just use your head regarding the amount of sweets you consume. (Check out our “acceptable junk food list” starting on page 207 for some of our favorite goodies.) Now that you’ve heard the good news about natural sweeteners, it’s time to give up the all the bad ones. Obviously, refined sugar is bad for you, as is high fructose corn syrup. And in case you had your head up your ass during Chapter 1, Stop eating and drinking products that contain aspartame! This includes diet sodas and sugar-free foods that have NutraSweet or Equal.
When aspartame was put before the FDA for approval, it was denied eight times. G.D. Searle, the company behind aspartame, tried to get FDA approval in 1973. Clearly, they weren’t bothered by reports from neuro scientist Doctor John Olney and researcher Ann Reynolds (hired by Searle) that aspartame was dangerous.
Doctor Martha Freeman, a scientist from the FDA Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products, declared, “The information submitted for review is inadequate to permit a scientific evaluation of clinical safety.” Freeman recommended that until the safety of aspartame was proven, marketing the product should not be permitted.
Alas, her recommendations were ignored. Somehow, in 1974, Searle got approval to use aspartame in dry foods. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing from there. In 1975, the FDA put together a task force to review Searle’s testing methods. Task force team leader Phillip Brodsky said he “had never seen anything as bad as Searle’s testing” and called test results “manipulated.”27 Before aspartame actually made it into dry foods, Olney and attorney and consumer advocate Jim Turner filed objections against the approval.
In 1977, the FDA asked the U.S. attorney’s office to start grand jury proceedings against Searle for “knowingly misrepresenting findings and concealing material facts and making false statements in aspartame safety tests.” Shortly after, the U.S. attorney leading the investigation against Searle was offered a job by the law firm that was representing Searle. Later that same year, he resigned as U.S. attorney and withdrew from the case, delaying the grand jury’s investigation.
This caused the statute of limitations on the charges to run out, and the investigation was dropped. And he accepted the job with Searle’s law firm.
In 1980, a review by the Public Board of Inquiry set up by the FDA determined that aspartame should not be approved. The board said it had “not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive.” In 1981, new FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed. Despite the fact that three out of six scientists advised against approval, Hayes decided to overrule the scientific review panel and allow aspartame into limited dry goods. In 1983, he got it approved for beverages, even though the National Soft Drink Association urged the FDA to delay approval until further testing could be done. That same year, Hayes left the FDA amid charges of impropriety. The Internal Department of Health and Human Services was investigating Hayes for accepting gratuities from FDA-regulated companies. He went to work as a consultant for Searle’s public relations firm. Interesting. The FDA finally urged Congress to prosecute Searle for giving the government false or incomplete test results on aspartame.
However, the two government attorneys assigned to the case decided not to prosecute. Later, they went to work for the law firm that represented Searle.
Fascinating. Despite recognizing ninety-two different toxic symptoms that result from ingesting aspartame, the FDA approved it for use, without restriction, in 1996. Brilliant.
So many people have been sickened from this shit that there are aspartame victim support groups. Some of the ninety-two aspartame side effects listed by the FDA include abdominal pain, memory loss, nerve cell damage, migraines, reproductive disorders, mental confusion, brain lesions, blindness, joint pain, Alzheimer’s, bloating, nervous system disorders, hair loss, food cravings, and weight gain.
Aspartame is a 1 billion dollar industry.
The National Justice League has filed a series of lawsuits against food companies using aspartame, claiming they are poisoning the public. In September 2004, a class action lawsuit was filed for $350 million against NutraSweet and the American Diabetics Association. George W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is named in the suit for using political muscle to get aspartame approved by the FDA.
NutraSweet and Equal contain aspartame. When ingested, one of aspartame’s ingredients, methyl alcohol, converts into formaldehyde, a deadly neurotoxin.
In addition to aspartame, Equal contains the amino acid phenylalanine.
Phenylalanine occurs naturally in the brain. But high levels can increase the chance of seizures and lead to depression and schizophrenia.
There is no lesser of the two evils. NutraSweet and Equal are both bad. Sweet & Low is no saint, either. It is an artificial sweetener that contains saccharin, a coal-tar compound.
Stay away.
Because we’re having so much fun, let’s bash the shit out of Splenda, one of the newer sweeteners—especially since it had 60 per cent of the consumer market for artificial sweeteners in 2006.
Splenda is made by chlorinating sugar, changing its molecular structure. The finished product is called sucralose. The makers of this poison tout its lack of calories and claim it’s safe for diabetics. The FDA calls sucralose 98 percent pure. The other 2 percent contains small amounts of heavy metals, methanol, and arsenic.
Well, gee, at least it doesn’t have calories. So what if it has a little arsenic? Sucralose has been found to cause diarrhea; organ, genetic, immune system, and reproductive damage; and swelling of the liver and kidneys.
What a splendid product! According to Doctor Joseph Mercola in the Consumer Research article “The Potential Dangers of Sucralose,” “There is no clear-cut evidence that sugar substitutes are useful on weight reduction. On the contrary, there is some evidence that these substances may stimulate appetite.”41 Not only have multiple class-action lawsuits been filed, but the president of the National Sugar Association and the manufacturer of Equal also had their panties in a bunch over Splenda. They each filed suit, claiming that Splenda manufacturers are misleading consumers into thinking the product is natural when it is “a highly processed chemical compound.”42 (Don’t think that the giants behind artificial sweeteners and the sugar industry suddenly started caring about public health. Splenda is just totally screwing up their sales. But even executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Doctor Michael F. Jacobson, who normally criticizes the National Sugar Association, had to agree: “Advertising and labeling, whether for products that are healthful or unhealthful, should be truthful and not misleading.”) The makers of Splenda settled both lawsuits. With the Equal lawsuit, it was reported that settlement talks began after jurors requested a calculator and white board, indicating they were going to rule against Splenda and were trying to figure out a dollar amount.
Clearly, artificial sweeteners and refined sugars are bad for many reasons. Here’s one more. We have a delicate balancing act occurring in our bodies at all times—pH balance. Basically, everything we eat has its own pH balance. When food is digested, it leaves an acid or alkaline “ash” in the body, depending on the food’s mineral content.
Surprise, surprise: Artificial sweeteners are highly acid forming.
(Coffee, excessive protein, meat, pasteurized dairy, refined sugars, and fatty foods are, too.) When our bodies get too acidic, we are much more prone to illness.
Sometimes, we don’t even know we’re sick until it’s too late.
But we can notice mild maladies, like skin problems, allergies, headaches, or colds.
Or, we can experience major trauma—severe damage to our thyroid glands, liver, and adrenal glands.
If our pH balance becomes too acidic, our bodies will react to protect them selves. To neutralize the acid, they will take alkalizing minerals from our reserves. If our reserves are low, the body will withdraw minerals from our bones and muscles.
If that doesn’t scare you, consider this: Cancer cells thrive in acidic environments.
Cancer loves sugar.
Now, logically, it would seem that citrus fruits are acidic, but actually, when they enter the body, they are alkalizing. We know this appears to defy common sense because they seem like they’d be acidic. But they contain potassium and calcium, which are alkalizing minerals. They also have a high percentage of alkaline salts. Nearly all fruits, vegetables, and legumes are alkaline when they enter the body.
Other alkalizing foods are sea vegetables, miso, soybeans, and tofu.
Fruit, good. Natural sweeteners, good. Refined sugars, bad.
Artificial sweeteners, bad. Any questions?
Skinny Bastards. Chapter 2. Carbs: The Truth.
Never before has the United States seen such a ridiculous diet trend as the “low-carb” phenomenon. Every restaurant, grocery store, and fast-food chain caters to this utter nonsense. Even soda and beer companies have spent millions developing and marketing low-carb drinks. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon, hoping to capitalize on the trend, whether it is healthy or not. Not.
Carbohydrates are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and they are vital for providing energy for our bodies and brains. Without them, we would be comatose zombies. When we eat food, our bodies turn the carbohydrates into glucose for immediate energy and the rest is stored as glycogen for reserves.
Yet all carbs are not created equal. There are two types: simple (also referred to as refined) and complex. Simple carbohydrates suck and are as nutritionally beneficial as toilet paper. They are mostly made up of sugar, which releases too quickly, almost violently, into our bodies, causing “sugar highs” and then “crashes.” This tends to leave us feeling hungry, so we eat more. On the other hand, complex carbohydrates are comprised of starch and fiber and release gradually, providing a steady source of energy. They make us feel full and satisfied and are easily broken down to release their energy. Shitty simple carbohydrates include white flour, white pasta (durum semolina), white rice, and white sugar. These are the bad boys that give all carbs a bad reputation. For some asinine reason, food manufacturers decided that we wouldn’t buy their products unless they were white and soft. So they took natural grains, like brown rice and whole wheat, and stripped away all their nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to achieve the color and texture change. This refining process totally compromises the nutritional integrity of the food—all for appearances. So companies then add these nutrients back into their refined, milled foods and use terms like “enriched” or “fortified.” But there’s no use trying to fool with Mother Nature. Our bodies cannot absorb these added-in minerals with the same ease.
Tragically, most cereals, pastas, rice, bagels, breads, cookies, muffins, cakes, and pastries have been bastardized in this manner. Pay attention to how your body feels when you eat these foods. Chances are you’ll notice moderate to severe mood swings and energy surges and losses.
Fear not. There are so many complex carbohydrates (Mother Nature is generous) that you’ll never miss the simple shit. Bask in the glory of yams, sweet potatoes, barley, corn, brown rice, beans, hummus, lentils, quinoa ,a grain, pronounced keen-wa), millet, and pasta made from brown rice, whole wheat, or vegetables. Bionaturae, Ancient Harvest, Eddie’s Spaghetti, Lundberg Farms, Westbrae, Pastariso, and DeBoles Organic all carry these “good carb” pastas.
Knock yourself out with breads and cookies and muffins made from whole wheat and other whole grains. (Whole grains are any that haven’t been bleached, stripped, or refined and still possess all the nutrients from the original grain.) Food for Life has an amazing line of whole and sprouted-grain breads, and Pacific Bakery and French Meadow Bakery carry organic breads that aren’t too shabby, either.
Don’t forget the bounty of vegetables and fruits—complex carbs that supply the body with vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Yeah, you heard us—fruit. Eat it. The most irritating thing about the low-carb craze is the resistance to eating fruit. We know it’s not exactly seen as “butch,” but fruit is, quite possibly, the most perfect food in existence. It is unique in that it barely requires any work to be digested.
High in enzymes, it effortlessly passes through the body, supplying carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, and cancer-fighting tannins and flavonoids. Because it is made up of mostly water, fruit hydrates the body and aids in cleansing, detoxifying, and eliminating (shitting). In other words, it’s really fucking good for you.
So tell all your dumb-ass, misinformed friends: You can eat bread and fruit!
Carbohydrates are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and they are vital for providing energy for our bodies and brains. Without them, we would be comatose zombies. When we eat food, our bodies turn the carbohydrates into glucose for immediate energy and the rest is stored as glycogen for reserves.
Yet all carbs are not created equal. There are two types: simple (also referred to as refined) and complex. Simple carbohydrates suck and are as nutritionally beneficial as toilet paper. They are mostly made up of sugar, which releases too quickly, almost violently, into our bodies, causing “sugar highs” and then “crashes.” This tends to leave us feeling hungry, so we eat more. On the other hand, complex carbohydrates are comprised of starch and fiber and release gradually, providing a steady source of energy. They make us feel full and satisfied and are easily broken down to release their energy. Shitty simple carbohydrates include white flour, white pasta (durum semolina), white rice, and white sugar. These are the bad boys that give all carbs a bad reputation. For some asinine reason, food manufacturers decided that we wouldn’t buy their products unless they were white and soft. So they took natural grains, like brown rice and whole wheat, and stripped away all their nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to achieve the color and texture change. This refining process totally compromises the nutritional integrity of the food—all for appearances. So companies then add these nutrients back into their refined, milled foods and use terms like “enriched” or “fortified.” But there’s no use trying to fool with Mother Nature. Our bodies cannot absorb these added-in minerals with the same ease.
Tragically, most cereals, pastas, rice, bagels, breads, cookies, muffins, cakes, and pastries have been bastardized in this manner. Pay attention to how your body feels when you eat these foods. Chances are you’ll notice moderate to severe mood swings and energy surges and losses.
Fear not. There are so many complex carbohydrates (Mother Nature is generous) that you’ll never miss the simple shit. Bask in the glory of yams, sweet potatoes, barley, corn, brown rice, beans, hummus, lentils, quinoa ,a grain, pronounced keen-wa), millet, and pasta made from brown rice, whole wheat, or vegetables. Bionaturae, Ancient Harvest, Eddie’s Spaghetti, Lundberg Farms, Westbrae, Pastariso, and DeBoles Organic all carry these “good carb” pastas.
Knock yourself out with breads and cookies and muffins made from whole wheat and other whole grains. (Whole grains are any that haven’t been bleached, stripped, or refined and still possess all the nutrients from the original grain.) Food for Life has an amazing line of whole and sprouted-grain breads, and Pacific Bakery and French Meadow Bakery carry organic breads that aren’t too shabby, either.
Don’t forget the bounty of vegetables and fruits—complex carbs that supply the body with vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Yeah, you heard us—fruit. Eat it. The most irritating thing about the low-carb craze is the resistance to eating fruit. We know it’s not exactly seen as “butch,” but fruit is, quite possibly, the most perfect food in existence. It is unique in that it barely requires any work to be digested.
High in enzymes, it effortlessly passes through the body, supplying carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, and cancer-fighting tannins and flavonoids. Because it is made up of mostly water, fruit hydrates the body and aids in cleansing, detoxifying, and eliminating (shitting). In other words, it’s really fucking good for you.
So tell all your dumb-ass, misinformed friends: You can eat bread and fruit!
Skinny Bastard. Chapter 1. Give It Up.
Okay. Use your head. You need to get healthy if you want to get buff. The first thing you need to do is give up your gross vices. Don’t act surprised! You cannot keep eating the same shit and expect to lose weight. Or smoke. So don’t even try some pathetic excuse like, “But if I quit smoking, I’ll gain weight.” No one wants to hear it. Cigarettes are for losers. They are so 1989 and totally uncool. Not only do they screw up your whole body chemistry, but they also kill your taste buds. It’s no wonder you eat garbage. Smoking’s out. Give it up. (If you chew tobacco, just put this book down now, because you probably don’t even know how to read, anyway.) Of course it is easier to socialize after you’ve had a few drinks. But being a fat pig will hinder you, sober or drunk. And habitual drinking equals fat-pig syndrome (not to mention pathetic-loser syndrome).
Beer is for frat boys, not skinny bastards. It’s high in sugar and makes you fat, bloated, and farty. Why do you think when kids go away to college they gain the “freshman fifteen”? Beer, duh. Alcohol isn’t any better. It raises the level of hydrochloric acid in your stomach, wreaking havoc on the digestive process. If you suffer from poor digestion, then your food will not pass through your body properly. Hence, bloated fatpig syndrome. To make matters worse, some alcohol (and nonorganic wines) still contains urethane, a cancer-causing chemical. To boot, both beer and alcohol jack up your blood-sugar levels, which is bad for your bod. And don’t kid yourself: When you have a hangover, you’re bound to eat shit all day long.
We’re not total killjoys—the occasional drink isn’t gonna make or break anything. But even if it makes you feel like a priss, try trading your booze for organic red wine produced without sulfites. (Sulfites are additives used in food and wine to extend shelf life and fight bacteria growth. Asthma and allergic reactions can be triggered by sulfites. Even if wine is organic, that doesn’t mean it is produced without sulfites. Read the label; it should say “no sulfites added” or “NSA.” (Frey Vineyards makes organic, sulfite-free wines.) Organic red wine with NSA is rich in cancer-fighting antioxidants, can reduce risk of stroke, helps thin the blood, and has flavonoids, which lower cholesterol. Yes, organic red wine may be good for you. No, you should not drink a bottle by yourself every day. Alcohol can cause cancer, infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, shrinking of the cerebral cortex, and can alter brain-cell function. And drunk men are gross. All kidding aside, don’t be ashamed if you’re an alcoholic; alcoholism is a disease. If you need help quitting drinking, call the Alcoholics Anonymous World Headquarters at (212) 870-3400 to find an AA meeting near you or visit www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.
Brace yourselves, boys: Soda is liquid Satan. It is the devil. It is garbage. There is nothing in soda that should be put into your body. For starters, soda’s high levels of phosphorous can increase calcium loss from the body, as can sodium and caffeine. You know what this means —bone loss, which may lead to osteoporosis (which does affect men).
And the last time we checked, sugar, found in soda by the boatload, does not make you lose weight! Now don’t go patting yourself on the back if you drink diet soda. That stuff is even worse. Aspartame (an ingredient commonly found in diet sodas and other sugar-free foods) has been blamed for a slew of scary maladies, like arthritis, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes. When methyl alcohol, a component of aspartame, enters your body, it turns into formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic (cancer-causing). Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. They don’t fucking drink it. Perhaps you have a fat gut because you’re preserving your fat cells with diet soda. The Food and Drug Administration has received more complaints about aspartame than any other ingredient to date. Want more bad news? When aspartame is paired with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of serotonin. A healthy level of serotonin is needed to be happy and well-balanced. So drinking soda can make you fat, sick, and unhappy. Good luck with the ladies.
Unless you’re from Mars, you’ve heard about the “eight glasses of water a day” thing. If you’re filling up on 16 ounces of liquid Satan at a time, chances are you’re not getting your 64 ounces of water a day.
Water is vital for keeping your body clean and detoxified. It literally flushes out all the shit and toxins your body stores from your horrendous diet. You might be fat ‘cause you don’t crap enough. Drinking lots of water can help with the elimination process. Say goodbye to soda and hello to a sweet ass.
“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my morning coffee.” Um . . .
pathetic! Coffee is for pussies. Think about how widely accepted it has become that people need coffee to wake up. You should not need anything to wake up. If you can’t wake up without it, it’s because you are addicted to caffeine, sleep deprived, or a generally unhealthy slob. It may seem like the end of the world to give up your daily dose, especially if you use Starbucks to go trolling for women. But it’s not heroin, and you’ll learn to live without it. Caffeine can cause headaches, digestive problems, irritation of the stomach and bladder, peptic ulcers, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. It affects every organ system, from the nervous system to the skin. Caffeine raises stress hormone levels, inhibits important enzyme systems that are responsible for cleaning the body, and sensitizes nerve reception sites. It also raises blood pressure, may cause an increased susceptibility to diabetes, and may be linked to rheumatoid arthritis. But don’t go grabbing for the decaf. Coffee, whether regular or decaf, is highly acidic. Acidic foods cause your body to produce fat cells to keep the acid away from your organs. (Please, do not link this acid issue to citrus and other fruits. We discuss this in depth later; on pages 33-34.) So coffee equals fat cells. P. S. It also makes your breath smell like ass.
Furthermore, coffee beans, like other crops, are grown with chemical pesticides. One insecticide, D-D-7, has been banned in the United States but is still used by other countries from which we import coffee beans. So every single morning, you are starting your day with a dose of poison. Add sugar or other artificial sweeteners, top it off with milk or cream, and you’ll be fat forever. If you enjoy an occasional cup of coffee, fine. But if you need it, give it up.
A much better way to start the day is with a macho-looking cup of caffeine-free herbal tea—organic, of course. Decaffeinated green tea is like a wonder drug. Its anti-aging and antibacterial qualities are as renowned as its reputation for fighting cancer, combating allergies, and lowering blood pressure. Go to a coffeehouse, if you must. Just get a decaf organic herbal tea instead of coffee. Plus, if women see you drinking tea, they’ll think you’re smart and sensitive. Miss your caffeine jolt? Get a fresh-squeezed organic juice for an instant jumpstart.
Once you are rid of your caffeine addiction, you will get totally high from fresh-squeezed juice.
Junk food will never go away. It becomes more alluring by the minute with laboratory-developed aromas, artificial flavors, chemical food colors, toxic preservatives, and heart-stopping hydrogenated oils. We know it’s impossible to resist, but no one ever got buff on candy, chips, cookies, and ice cream. Use your head. Not only is junk food bogged down with saturated fats, sugars, hydrogenated oils, calories, and cholesterol, but it also contains enough chemical residues to take the hair off your balls. Ever heard of butylated hydroxyamisole (BHA) or butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)? Most people haven’t, even though these chemical preservatives are put in food or into the packaging. The FDA doesn’t require companies to divulge the presence of these beauties if they are used in packaging, though they can come into contact with the food you’re eating. So your junk food has a shelf life of twenty-two years and will probably outlive your next two cars. Now before you decide you’re so smart ‘cause you only buy fat-free snacks, get a hold of yourself. Whenever you see the words “fat-free” or “low-fat,” think of the words “chemical shit storm.” Read the ingredients. Do you really think sugar or hydrogenated oils or eggs or milk won’t make you fat? Puh-lease! By the way, sugar, like coffee, creates an acidic environment in your body. You just learned that acidic foods cause your body to produce fat cells. So you do the math: sugar equal fat. If you’d drag your ass to a health food store, you’d find aisle after aisle of “acceptable junk food”—guilt-free garbage that tastes so good, you’ll do naked squats in the parking lot. We are not saying you have to give up junk food to lose weight. You just have to trade your old junk food for new junk food. In Chapter 12, we provide an “acceptable junk food” list that’ll give you a woody.
Are you a pill popper? Do you reach for over-the-counter medicine for every sniffle, sneeze, ache, and pain? Toughen up, pansy. Our bodies, when properly cared for, function as perfect machines. Our brains tell us when something is wrong by giving us pain or discomfort. When we pop pills to rid this “dis-ease,” we are masking the symptoms without resolving the problem. Every time you take medicine, you interfere with your body’s natural ability to heal itself. You are alleviating those intelligent responses that alert you to a problem and are sending false signals to your brain. If you have a headache, you might be tired, dehydrated, or suffering from a minor food allergy. Most likely, your body is having an adverse reaction to the unhealthy crap you’re eating. Taking two aspirin is not the answer. If your nose is running, your body is trying to rid itself of something through your snot. But you, drama queen, take cold medicine to stop your runny nose. Now you’ve gone and fucked up everything.
Medicine is made of chemicals. Never mind that the Food and Drug Administration gives meds their stamp of approval. They also allow the use of aspartame. Use your own damn brain. Do you think putting chemicals in your body is good for you? Every medicine comes complete with a list of side effects. That means that taking medicine will make you feel better for the moment but will fuck up something else in your body. So suck it up. Stop interfering with Mother Nature.
(Obviously, if you are on prescribed medication, you need to consult a physician before discontinuing it.) Give up the notion that you can be sedentary and still lose weight.
Eating properly will dramatically improve your health, body, and all aspects of your life. But you’ve still gotta move your ass. Anyone with a brain can do the math: When done in conjunction with a good diet, exercise will make you lose weight faster than healthy eating alone. You don’t need to spend seven days a week at the gym. In fact, you shouldn’t, because too much exercise is bad for you (and men who work out too much look like fuckin’ FREAKS). It can lead to dehydration, arthritis, osteoporosis, and injuries like strains, sprains, and fractures.
Twenty minutes of cardiovascular a day, five days a week, is a good starting point. Then, after a couple of weeks, kick it up a notch.
Depending on your fitness goals, you can increase your cardiovascular workout or add strength training to your routine, or both. Aim for working out in the morning, if you can. When we exercise, our elevated heart rates and deep breathing cause our “bodyminds” to enter a fatburning mode that can last throughout the day. Regardless of what time you work out, you’ll soon become addicted to exercising. When we are active enough to break a sweat, our brains release endorphins and feel-good opiates so that we grow to love this healthy activity. Exercise burns fat and calories, improves circulation, regulates crapping, defines muscles, builds strength, and detoxifies your body through sweating. Plus, working out helps keep junk food cravings and savage appetites at bay. It’s a win-win. Work out. (Oh, you probably don’t care, but exercise also improves the sex drive and sexual function.)
Beer is for frat boys, not skinny bastards. It’s high in sugar and makes you fat, bloated, and farty. Why do you think when kids go away to college they gain the “freshman fifteen”? Beer, duh. Alcohol isn’t any better. It raises the level of hydrochloric acid in your stomach, wreaking havoc on the digestive process. If you suffer from poor digestion, then your food will not pass through your body properly. Hence, bloated fatpig syndrome. To make matters worse, some alcohol (and nonorganic wines) still contains urethane, a cancer-causing chemical. To boot, both beer and alcohol jack up your blood-sugar levels, which is bad for your bod. And don’t kid yourself: When you have a hangover, you’re bound to eat shit all day long.
We’re not total killjoys—the occasional drink isn’t gonna make or break anything. But even if it makes you feel like a priss, try trading your booze for organic red wine produced without sulfites. (Sulfites are additives used in food and wine to extend shelf life and fight bacteria growth. Asthma and allergic reactions can be triggered by sulfites. Even if wine is organic, that doesn’t mean it is produced without sulfites. Read the label; it should say “no sulfites added” or “NSA.” (Frey Vineyards makes organic, sulfite-free wines.) Organic red wine with NSA is rich in cancer-fighting antioxidants, can reduce risk of stroke, helps thin the blood, and has flavonoids, which lower cholesterol. Yes, organic red wine may be good for you. No, you should not drink a bottle by yourself every day. Alcohol can cause cancer, infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, shrinking of the cerebral cortex, and can alter brain-cell function. And drunk men are gross. All kidding aside, don’t be ashamed if you’re an alcoholic; alcoholism is a disease. If you need help quitting drinking, call the Alcoholics Anonymous World Headquarters at (212) 870-3400 to find an AA meeting near you or visit www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.
Brace yourselves, boys: Soda is liquid Satan. It is the devil. It is garbage. There is nothing in soda that should be put into your body. For starters, soda’s high levels of phosphorous can increase calcium loss from the body, as can sodium and caffeine. You know what this means —bone loss, which may lead to osteoporosis (which does affect men).
And the last time we checked, sugar, found in soda by the boatload, does not make you lose weight! Now don’t go patting yourself on the back if you drink diet soda. That stuff is even worse. Aspartame (an ingredient commonly found in diet sodas and other sugar-free foods) has been blamed for a slew of scary maladies, like arthritis, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes. When methyl alcohol, a component of aspartame, enters your body, it turns into formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic (cancer-causing). Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. They don’t fucking drink it. Perhaps you have a fat gut because you’re preserving your fat cells with diet soda. The Food and Drug Administration has received more complaints about aspartame than any other ingredient to date. Want more bad news? When aspartame is paired with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of serotonin. A healthy level of serotonin is needed to be happy and well-balanced. So drinking soda can make you fat, sick, and unhappy. Good luck with the ladies.
Unless you’re from Mars, you’ve heard about the “eight glasses of water a day” thing. If you’re filling up on 16 ounces of liquid Satan at a time, chances are you’re not getting your 64 ounces of water a day.
Water is vital for keeping your body clean and detoxified. It literally flushes out all the shit and toxins your body stores from your horrendous diet. You might be fat ‘cause you don’t crap enough. Drinking lots of water can help with the elimination process. Say goodbye to soda and hello to a sweet ass.
“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my morning coffee.” Um . . .
pathetic! Coffee is for pussies. Think about how widely accepted it has become that people need coffee to wake up. You should not need anything to wake up. If you can’t wake up without it, it’s because you are addicted to caffeine, sleep deprived, or a generally unhealthy slob. It may seem like the end of the world to give up your daily dose, especially if you use Starbucks to go trolling for women. But it’s not heroin, and you’ll learn to live without it. Caffeine can cause headaches, digestive problems, irritation of the stomach and bladder, peptic ulcers, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. It affects every organ system, from the nervous system to the skin. Caffeine raises stress hormone levels, inhibits important enzyme systems that are responsible for cleaning the body, and sensitizes nerve reception sites. It also raises blood pressure, may cause an increased susceptibility to diabetes, and may be linked to rheumatoid arthritis. But don’t go grabbing for the decaf. Coffee, whether regular or decaf, is highly acidic. Acidic foods cause your body to produce fat cells to keep the acid away from your organs. (Please, do not link this acid issue to citrus and other fruits. We discuss this in depth later; on pages 33-34.) So coffee equals fat cells. P. S. It also makes your breath smell like ass.
Furthermore, coffee beans, like other crops, are grown with chemical pesticides. One insecticide, D-D-7, has been banned in the United States but is still used by other countries from which we import coffee beans. So every single morning, you are starting your day with a dose of poison. Add sugar or other artificial sweeteners, top it off with milk or cream, and you’ll be fat forever. If you enjoy an occasional cup of coffee, fine. But if you need it, give it up.
A much better way to start the day is with a macho-looking cup of caffeine-free herbal tea—organic, of course. Decaffeinated green tea is like a wonder drug. Its anti-aging and antibacterial qualities are as renowned as its reputation for fighting cancer, combating allergies, and lowering blood pressure. Go to a coffeehouse, if you must. Just get a decaf organic herbal tea instead of coffee. Plus, if women see you drinking tea, they’ll think you’re smart and sensitive. Miss your caffeine jolt? Get a fresh-squeezed organic juice for an instant jumpstart.
Once you are rid of your caffeine addiction, you will get totally high from fresh-squeezed juice.
Junk food will never go away. It becomes more alluring by the minute with laboratory-developed aromas, artificial flavors, chemical food colors, toxic preservatives, and heart-stopping hydrogenated oils. We know it’s impossible to resist, but no one ever got buff on candy, chips, cookies, and ice cream. Use your head. Not only is junk food bogged down with saturated fats, sugars, hydrogenated oils, calories, and cholesterol, but it also contains enough chemical residues to take the hair off your balls. Ever heard of butylated hydroxyamisole (BHA) or butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)? Most people haven’t, even though these chemical preservatives are put in food or into the packaging. The FDA doesn’t require companies to divulge the presence of these beauties if they are used in packaging, though they can come into contact with the food you’re eating. So your junk food has a shelf life of twenty-two years and will probably outlive your next two cars. Now before you decide you’re so smart ‘cause you only buy fat-free snacks, get a hold of yourself. Whenever you see the words “fat-free” or “low-fat,” think of the words “chemical shit storm.” Read the ingredients. Do you really think sugar or hydrogenated oils or eggs or milk won’t make you fat? Puh-lease! By the way, sugar, like coffee, creates an acidic environment in your body. You just learned that acidic foods cause your body to produce fat cells. So you do the math: sugar equal fat. If you’d drag your ass to a health food store, you’d find aisle after aisle of “acceptable junk food”—guilt-free garbage that tastes so good, you’ll do naked squats in the parking lot. We are not saying you have to give up junk food to lose weight. You just have to trade your old junk food for new junk food. In Chapter 12, we provide an “acceptable junk food” list that’ll give you a woody.
Are you a pill popper? Do you reach for over-the-counter medicine for every sniffle, sneeze, ache, and pain? Toughen up, pansy. Our bodies, when properly cared for, function as perfect machines. Our brains tell us when something is wrong by giving us pain or discomfort. When we pop pills to rid this “dis-ease,” we are masking the symptoms without resolving the problem. Every time you take medicine, you interfere with your body’s natural ability to heal itself. You are alleviating those intelligent responses that alert you to a problem and are sending false signals to your brain. If you have a headache, you might be tired, dehydrated, or suffering from a minor food allergy. Most likely, your body is having an adverse reaction to the unhealthy crap you’re eating. Taking two aspirin is not the answer. If your nose is running, your body is trying to rid itself of something through your snot. But you, drama queen, take cold medicine to stop your runny nose. Now you’ve gone and fucked up everything.
Medicine is made of chemicals. Never mind that the Food and Drug Administration gives meds their stamp of approval. They also allow the use of aspartame. Use your own damn brain. Do you think putting chemicals in your body is good for you? Every medicine comes complete with a list of side effects. That means that taking medicine will make you feel better for the moment but will fuck up something else in your body. So suck it up. Stop interfering with Mother Nature.
(Obviously, if you are on prescribed medication, you need to consult a physician before discontinuing it.) Give up the notion that you can be sedentary and still lose weight.
Eating properly will dramatically improve your health, body, and all aspects of your life. But you’ve still gotta move your ass. Anyone with a brain can do the math: When done in conjunction with a good diet, exercise will make you lose weight faster than healthy eating alone. You don’t need to spend seven days a week at the gym. In fact, you shouldn’t, because too much exercise is bad for you (and men who work out too much look like fuckin’ FREAKS). It can lead to dehydration, arthritis, osteoporosis, and injuries like strains, sprains, and fractures.
Twenty minutes of cardiovascular a day, five days a week, is a good starting point. Then, after a couple of weeks, kick it up a notch.
Depending on your fitness goals, you can increase your cardiovascular workout or add strength training to your routine, or both. Aim for working out in the morning, if you can. When we exercise, our elevated heart rates and deep breathing cause our “bodyminds” to enter a fatburning mode that can last throughout the day. Regardless of what time you work out, you’ll soon become addicted to exercising. When we are active enough to break a sweat, our brains release endorphins and feel-good opiates so that we grow to love this healthy activity. Exercise burns fat and calories, improves circulation, regulates crapping, defines muscles, builds strength, and detoxifies your body through sweating. Plus, working out helps keep junk food cravings and savage appetites at bay. It’s a win-win. Work out. (Oh, you probably don’t care, but exercise also improves the sex drive and sexual function.)
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