What’s Wrong With Meat?
Twenty-nine months before I was born, my paternal grandfather died. Colon cancer; a disease of excess. Meat eater’s disease. Growing up, whenever I’d hear the “If you could speak with one person who lived before you” question, my answer was the same as it is today. No, I wouldn’t want to meet Joan of Arc or have dinner with Thomas Jefferson. I would give up just about everything to spend a day my grandfather, a void magnified by the unparalleled relationship I had with my mother’s father, who lived to be 94.*
In September 1991 I was getting ready to attend the first New York State Environmental Congress, held at Union College in Schenectady, New York. My trip was detoured by a phone call. My grandmother had passed away. Complications of adult onset diabetes; a disease of excess. Meat-eater’s disease. Her last five years were horrible, extending her age but not her life—it was medicine, not will, that kept her going. A widow for more than three decades, I only hope she was finally reunited with my grandfather.
I made it to the last 36 hours of that three-day conference in 1991 and somehow found myself on the steering committee for the following year’s Congress. I attended planning meetings, coordinated and held a workshop on “Diet and the Environment,” and about a month before the conference,I proposed to the committee that the meals be veg. I didn’t expect an affirmative answer—those who know me will tell you I don’t always check the depth of the water before diving in. Much to my surprise, the committee agreed. It was up to me to plan the menu.
At the time, I had never even planned a dinner party. I made a few phone calls and connected with Jennie (Oesterreicher) Collura, then-president of the North American Vegetarian Society. She assisted greatly with the menu, then came to the event and supervised the kitchen staff in its first experience with vegan cooking. More than 300 environmentalists, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., ate 100 percent plant-based meals for three days—and lived. At the end of the conference Jennie and I received a standing ovation.
Jennie and I became friends and have stayed in touch for 35 years. She unwittingly has had more to do with my career in vegan advocacy than probably anyone else. And both Jennie and Laura Moretti, founder of The Animals Voice, have each strongly encouraged me to write, for both veganism and animal rights, respectively. When it comes to mentors, I have the absolute best, who encourage me to take on projects, publish my writings and rantings, and are always just a phone call or email away.
Shortly after I started SAVES in 1996, Jennie’s father passed away from heart disease, another meat eater’s disease of excess. Her two children, then ages 13 and 10, forever lost the opportunity to grow closer to their grandfather, who had just recently relocated from Los Angeles to be near his family.
In his book Eat Right, Live Longer, Neil Bernard, MD, wrote:
Your body has no expiration date. Many people still believe that their bodies have a ticking biological clock that cannot be altered. ‘We’re all gonna die sooner or later,’ they say.‘You may as well live it up while you can.’ Then they proceed to eat foods that accelerate aging, weaken their bones, and make them unable to go dancing, make love, play tennis, or romp with their children or grandchildren. They ‘live it up’ in doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and hospital beds.
The past week has been filled with stories of unnecessary death and a revised U.S. Dietary Guidelines food pyramid—which will cause additional unnecessary deaths. I’m neither a physician nor a dietitian, so I don’t give medical advice. (You can easily find qualified people explaining why the guidelines do not line up with current nutritional science with any quick web search.) But I can assure you that the new food pyramid is a step backward. Promoting red meat, full-fat dairy, and eggs will not allow you to achieve optimal health and longevity. I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes.
Meat eating not only steals life, it steals quality of life both for the afflicted and the loved ones they leave behind. That’s what’s wrong with eating animal products. Do yourself, your children, and your grandchildren a favor: Eat no meat. 🌱
*Though he lived to be 94, and was relatively healthy eating a mostly Mediterranean diet, my maternal grandfather spent the last two years of his life hospitalized and paralyzed from a massive stroke. Yet another disease of excess. Meat eater’s disease.
