I have made a diligent search over the past few years to find out why relatively few people have grabbed 
onto the obvious health benefits of the Vegan diet. It seems beyond my understanding why people, when faced with a choice of what to eat, would do anything else…like forming unhealthy eating habits. I eventually found that I must pull in the “horns of criticism” based upon my findings and its sobering reality. It turns out there are other, underlying and unseen, factors at work here that have affected the average person’s food choices. It appears that our Governments food policies have traditionally played a role in shifting from healthy family-farming techniques toward the larger crops of industrial farming. This was done with the well-intentioned idea of producing cheaper food that would be available to many more people. However, the net effect has been a widespread promotion of fast food products, made out of the cheapest food products in the market, and away from the garden-fresh whole foods that promote better health. We need to take a better look at our food policy and ask questions of those responsible for forming that policy. Granted, they can only do what is economically feasible to do.
But, “the times they are a-changin”, as Bob Dylan would have us understand. Yes indeed, the price of oil is fluctuating wildly and that has placed enormous pressure on industrial-farmed food prices. You can safely assume that your food prices are going up, even while food-borne health risks intensify and nutrition suffers, when agribusiness-as-usual continues. Are there any reasonable alternatives? Yes, I believe there are a few answers to these difficult questions. One answer lies with using less petroleum to produce food. 
My opinions are based on the great news delivered by Michael Pollan in a recent NPR radio interview. Mr. Pollan is the author of books including, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals”, and his “In Defense of Food: an Eaters Manifesto”. He brings his strong credentials to this latest interview and tackles these difficult questions.
Michael Pollan presented an “Open Letter” to both candidates for the 2008 presidency, which was published by The New York Times Magazine on October 12, 2008. NPR radio interviewed Mr. Pollan based on the superb and informative content of that letter on October 23, 2008. If you missed that interview, you can find it at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95896389. In the interview he makes a compelling argument for the reduction of petroleum used in farm operations. He also insists that more can be done by government by redirecting their crop subsidies to farmers that will use traditional farming techniques. This includes rotating crops, introducing farm animals back onto the farm (away from mega food-farming pens) and using cover crops (later tilled into the soil for fertilizer) between growing seasons. Each of these techniques have been wisely used before the advent of large industrial farming, which helped cut the farmers costs and required less petroleum to farm. Farmers faced with rising oil prices may find it becomes a matter of farm survival. Additionally, he suggests that buying food locally can save on transportation costs. He documents how these techniques can make crops safer, cheaper and more eco-friendly…all music to my ears. I highly recommend listening to the interview. I wonder what the winning candidate will think when he reads his “open letter” from Mr. Pollan?
I have recently received tons of emails this week asking some tough questions about the blog and why I haven’t posted some of the more interesting emails from the readers. OK, it would be more accurate to say that I received several emails with questions. Well, there were exactly three…but all three deserve some straight-talking answers. I thought I would break from my usual fare and let the readers sit in on a little Q&A from this weeks email. So here we go:
Q: “Ryan, I thought the blog was going to be about filmmaking, and include interesting news for other Vegans and those people who are concerned about diet/health? I don’t see much about your films. Why haven’t you posted some of the more interesting emails you get? You seem to be all over the place with that blog. What is going on?”
-My Mom
A: Mom, you need to give these things more time. Right now I am very busy making the short film I have named “Vegan Love”, it is going just fine, we are having a great time, and it should be finished next month. I will call you later and explain the other things.
Q: “Son, are you eating ok…you turned into an awful picky eater? Why isn’t your film out yet, is there a problem? How come your ‘donations received’ has been stuck at 22% of your goal for so long? No takers? What is going on?”
-My Dad
A: Dad, I have been Vegan for about 6 years now. The film will be out next month. You have no room to talk…you have never donated to anything in your life. I will call soon and tell you everything, I promise.
Q: “My dog “Lenny” disappeared 3 days ago in the Chicago bus station area of downtown. He is a very cute, short-haired terrier with one blue eye and one brown eye. I was wondering if you could ask your readers to help find him or email you with any clues about his disappearance. Then you could forward them to me.
-Slim Phillips (Chicago Slim)
A: Slim, I would be happy to pass that on to my readers. You always want to try the dog pound first, then post signs on the telephone poles asking for people’s help.
NOW, on to other news….
It really depends upon whom you ask. Ask most vegans, or any health-conscious advocate, and the answer will be a resounding “yes”. That is because they have learned to appreciate the increased nutritional values, better tasting food and other benefits of knowing where their food has come from. Some people are very passionate about saving their seeds. Seeds from past generations of farmers (heirloom seeds) have been passed down through family farms to preserve the preferences that they have in their own food. Those choices include benefits like fewer chemicals used in food production, food naturally ripened to suit their tastes and raising fresh/live vegetables that have been proven to maximize nutrition. We should also mention the important benefits of watching things grow, the self-satisfaction of accomplishing something with your two hands, the fruits of physical labor and arriving at a consistent/fully predictable crop (unlike hybrid varieties)…to name a few. Please look at Fedco’s website for a few other reasons to save se
eds.
On the other hand, six companies, DuPont, Mitsui, Monsanto, Syngent, Aventis, and Dow control 98 percent of the world’s seeds. They have gobbled up most of the small generational seed companies and have genetically modified numerous seeds for which they have received government patents. Those patents are registered with world governments to control the availability of the seeds, and thus, the production from those seeds. Some call it a conspiracy…they call it good business. To get an idea of the number of food varieties they control, look at the seeds from one recent Monsanto acquisition here.. Before it was acquired by Monsanto, Seminis eliminated 2,000 varieties of seeds from its inventory. These were the open-pollinated types that were not genetically modified, thus not as profitable. So what’s the problem with leaving the world’s food supply in the hands of a few large agribusinesses? Well, there IS that one little matter that I call; “the squeeze” — more commonly known as the “profit margin”. This would only be a problem if these companies prioritized their profits above consumer benefits…in this case, the consumer’s health. In fairness, Monsanto claims to have made more food available to more people through its’ heavy chemical sales to modern farmers. But, critics warn that problems from a food supply monopoly, chemically-induced health concerns and aggressive patent supervision (in the form of lawsuits that have ruined small farmers) does not speak well of these large companies.
Seeds are the ultimate source for all of our food. It would be impossible to describe how important they are to our survival in writing this short blog article. It is also difficult to sort through the various arguments made for and against the methods for growing. One thing seems certain about the supplies of seeds worldwide…the older varieties are being lost. I would encourage everyone to look further into this seed argument, and be the judge for you. That would include the radical act of trying to grow some of your own food. You can gather seeds from your own garden each year and reuse them to personalize your crop. One of the healthiest food supplies in the world could come from your own back yard. There are still a few generational seed banks if that is your preference. You can get a catalog from “heirloom” seed suppliers like Baker Creek Seed Company. Owner, Jere Gettle, tells us more here.
I began changing my diet in high school when I discovered that I was severely hypoglycemic. After years of American junk food and bad eating habits, my blood sugar levels had dropped to 43/100 (under 40 would mean hospitalization). I was very surprised by this discovery as I had been a sports addict, from basketball, to baseball, to American football. I thought I was healthy. However, I was increasingly getting more blackouts and went to see a general physician. Basically, he said that I was getting too much sugar and not enough protein. As an oblivious meat eater, I thought my protein was covered. I began to research different forms of protein online and found that protein in meat is derived from the plants eaten by the animals. I made the transition to a plant based diet and within 2 months the hypoglycemia had all but vanished. My blood sugar level went up to 76.
I also noticed simple improvements, like eliminating milk, which improved my complexion. I was wonderfully surprised when changing my food choices actually worked for me. The information was readily available by reading about other people’s diet. It was one health benefit after another as I experimented with different people’s advice on self-improvement. It was less trendy back then, but I was motivated more by feeling better when I got it right.
Today, we face additional food challenges…paying attention has become critical. It would be great if mankind simply evolved by doing what is in our best interests. But, this is not likely as life is more complicated than that. For example, let’s examine the many chemicals that are added to our food. Adding chemicals to food during production helps keep the costs down for businesses during the various steps taken to reach our table. I found an excellent article, found on the Vital Earth Minerals website located (here), that opens a safety debate:
“Chemicals create mutations through chromosome damage, interfere with immune system function, and have been shown to cause a multitude of serious health conditions. Even if all of the food additives used in our foods were safe individually, rarely does any processed / convenience food have only one additive in it. And nobody knows the effects of the many different additives when they are assembled together in a single product. There are literally thousands of various and potentially dangerous combinations.”
I suggest that you read the entire article. It will certainly make you think about a rapidly growing problem, from one hardly recognizable just a few years ago. I would be a vegan and prefer to eat raw/living foods for this reason alone. There are other reasons. Realistically, the only way to consistently assure healthy food in our homes is by growing and preparing our own food. That is not very likely for most of us. Maybe science will prove that food chemicals are not that dangerous or that fewer chemicals will be needed in the future. If you insist on gambling with your diet please remember to fully consider the odds. You will be betting against the “profit and loss” sheets of most food production businesses.
It does not appear to be a lack of science that perpetuates the problem. It appears to be the lack of public inquiry, or people’s outrage against this treachery, that is missing. In a brief search for the culprit you may gloss over the nearly silent FDA and USDA regulators and land squarely on the “profit motive” of big business. Is there ever going to be a point at which agribusiness will “cross the line” in it’s pursuit for profits because it adversely effects the health of its consumers? What is that line? In fairness, I am certain that the FDA will argue that it defends the American food supply every single day. But, the FDA and other government agencies are limited in the duties they perform. I can just hear big agribusiness saying that I need to be specific and show examples of these claims. It would probably take me forever to find an example of overreaching by the industry. NOPE !!!, it took 2.3 seconds according to my search engine timer. I found an article dated October 11, 2008 (here). This article entitled: 
“Monsanto-Backed State Bill Seeks to Outlaw rBGH-Free Lable Claims on Milk Products”, informs the reader that agribusiness giant Monsanto (the drug’s manufacturer) has lobbied the Indiana house of representatives to pass a Bill that would PROHIBIT the dairy industry from labeling their products as being “rBGH-free”. Despite the claims of the Bill’s critics, that the public prefers to avoid the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in their dairy products, HB 1300 will be voted on in the House. The Hormone is used to vastly increase the amount of milk produced by the injected cows. This should prove to be an interesting battle between those farmers who make more money by producing more milk and those farmers who advertise a hormone-free product. Sadly, this also makes a competition out of the consumer’s right to know what is in their dairy products and Monsanto’s “bottom line”.
I am a vegan to simplify knowing what is good for me. It keeps me searching the blogs constantly to be informed about my food choices. “Live, and let live?”…good luck.
Filming of the first half of Vegan Love has now been completed! The shooting over the weekend went very well. I have a lot of fantastic material for the editing room. I am looking forward to finishing the location filming on 8-9th November. Here are a couple of 
quick stills.
