Meat for Republicans, Plants for Democrats?

Shutterstock

Health Viewpoints

Somewhere along the way, our diet got politicized. Meat became a Republican food and plants went to the Democrats. It’s probably due to a number of factors, including reactions to environmental issues linked to meat production and the efforts of the World Economic Forum and others to wean us off meat by any beans necessary.

Of course, it isn’t just beans. Some folks would love nothing more than to see Cricket McNuggets join the menu at their local fast food mega-chain.

And then there’s lab-grown meat, cancer-like meat cells that divide without end, a phenomenon that is pathogenic in the body but perfect for growing meat in petri dishes.

These may seem like extreme reactions to “the meat problem.” Simply put, people want to eat meat and there are concerns about how sustainable that is.

For many vegetarians, “the meat problem” includes the apparent suffering created by concentrated animal feed operations, factory farms that put animals in conditions that we tolerate for cows or pigs but would take up torches and pitchforks for if they were used for dogs or cats.

Of course, plant agriculture has its own problems, the worst of which is likely plants being genetically modified so they can withstand higher doses of gender-bending herbicides.

In a sense, concerns over our food, and what should be done to ensure everyone can eat a safe, nutritious, and sustainable diet, comes down to how we grow, raise, and even eat our foods.

For example, a back-to-tradition meat movement encourages us to eat nose-to-tail to get the most value from every animal we take. That seems a respectful stance, especially since we tend not to eat many organ meats, which are the most nutritious parts of the animal.

Meat is nutritious, for sure. Red meat is better than iron supplements, while containing highly digestible protein, and essential fatty acids.

Americans, in general, don’t have an issue with not eating enough meat, or grains. Yet people do need to be reminded of the countless compounds and nutrients vegetables provide that we need to survive.

Many plant foods are natural supplements and have well-established medicinal effects. You can literally eat your medicine.

All that to say: None of us should be eating along “party lines.”

In a world trying to divide us into manageable and opposing groups, don’t make your food a matter of ideology. Learn to listen to your body. Do some foods make you feel tired while others leave you energized and thinking clearly? Do some foods make your stomach feel uneasy while other foods soothe your digestive system? Do you find that certain high-calorie processed foods are triggering unhealthy desire while others satisfy your hunger just right?

In fact, if you are going to take some sort of stance on your food, take a stance against these addictive hyper-processed foods made with industrial processes and synthetic ingredients, including preservatives, stabilizers, and coloring agents.

And stand up for whole foods born out of the open plains, fields, soil, and sun.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.