RE: Re: The Methuselah Factors - most long lived peoples partly or completely vegetarians?

[Guest guest]

There was an excellent article in the Feb. issue of Harpers called the Oil

We Eat taken from a book on the ties between oil and food. Farming and

processing grain can be very energy intensive and we produce way, way too

much grain (and other foods), which goes to our waists instead of to the

starving. There is already plenty of food for the world's population. It

just doesn't get to everyone -- never has and probably never will. The one

factoid i remember -- two pounds of cereal requires ... oh heck now i can't

remember how many gallons of gasoline. Anyway, a lot of gas to make cereal.

Elaine

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the responses and links on this subject. They've been very

helpful. I've replied to the person who posted this info about the

Methuselah Factors , but I'm on moderation on that list and it's been about

12 hrs since I posted my replies and they haven't shown up yet. So it's

still left to be seen if they'll get posted.

My guess is that these long-lived peoples ate either raw dairy or insects

regulary if they didn't eat animal flesh. Either that, or the book is a

disingenuous attempt to further the vegetarian agenda.

Suze Fisher

Lapdog Design, Inc.

Web Design & Development

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg

Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader, Mid Coast Maine

http://www.westonaprice.org

----------------------------

“The diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause

heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times.” --

Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt

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The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics

<http://www.thincs.org>

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>

[Guest guest]

<<much grain (and other foods), which goes to our waists instead of to the

starving. There is already plenty of food for the world's population. It

just doesn't get to everyone -- never has and probably never will. The one

factoid i remember -- two pounds of cereal requires ... oh heck now i can't

remember how many gallons of gasoline. Anyway, a lot of gas to make cereal.

Elaine>>

I don't remember either, but i do remember a year or so ago a big article

by a man (Pollack?) that bought a calf and followed it through to slaughter.

On the radio interviews he also talked about chickens and grains etc.. and

somewhere in there he mentioned that it takes several gallons of oil to

produce X amount of grain.

Kathy A.

[Guest guest]

>I don't remember either, but i do remember a year or so ago a big article

>by a man (Pollack?) that bought a calf and followed it through to slaughter.

>On the radio interviews he also talked about chickens and grains etc.. and

>somewhere in there he mentioned that it takes several gallons of oil to

>produce X amount of grain.

>

>

>Kathy A.

What has amazed me is how LITTLE power it takes to produce the OTHER

vegies. We are mostly eating greens and berries as our staple vegies,

and our beef. It doesn't take much land to produce enough greens for

a family of 4, or to produce berries. It takes some power to can them

or freeze them (tho I think a lot of greens can be grown year round, esp.

with a greenhouse, which I'm aiming for). Trees just sit there and produce

crops year after year, and one tree produces enough for a family and

then some.

It doesn't take all that much land, or power, to raise a beef or a goat

either, or a pig most likely (and pigs and chickens can also be garbage

disposals). Goats are especially " cheap " ... they eat weeds and shrubs

and it's only a matter of keeping them in one spot and away from

predators. On Catalina island, a small population that was let loose

grew until it threatened the local fauna and they had to send a hunter

in to wipe them out.

But grains are really, really work intensive! If not manual labor than

farm machinery. I think they also take more nutrients from the soil ... there

was a great article here awhile back about how they are " disaster " crops ...

they thrive after, say, a flood or fire where they take over the field. Wheat

worked best in Egypt, where they grew it after the floods receded, lots

and lots of nutrients.

There was one 5 part article in the New York Times about raising beef,

it is worth buying the reprint but I can't find the name right now. The author

bought a calf, as you say, with the intention of eating it when it was grown.

It was a really great article, and pretty much turns you off factory beef!

But he also brought up the fact that after all the work he did, he couldn't

turn a profit on his beef ... the industry in general doesn't make money,

largely because of the fattening process at the end. So farmers selling

grass-fed beef could be a big win-win!

-- Heidi Jean