Musings Concerning the Berlin Wall of Factory Farming

Today's blog is published with some trepidation. Nature's Express is all about providing healthier food, so the tangential issue of factory farming does not directly apply. Nevertheless, whenever I travel past the stench of the stockyards between Yuma and Phoenix, or see a cow pushing its nuzzle out the side of a transport truck, my sense of empathy is aroused, adding fuel to my passion to grow NE.

Factory farming as an ethical concern

Although hidden away from our daily lives, there is an increasing awareness that factory farming creates a veritable hell for billions of creatures that are as sentient as our pets. This troubles some of us more than others. For myself, before curtailing meat for health concerns, I remember feeling irritated when confronted with farm animal issues. To a large extent, it was only after dropping meat from my diet that my concern for farm animals began. I have no high horse to ride; my moral compass was not so very strong.

I first saw the "Meat your Meat" video six years after becoming vegetarian and immediately resolved to become vegan. Despite this intention to change, it still took me two to three years to give up cheese entirely.

The benefits of eating plant based grew clear to me only after changing to a vegan diet. In hindsight, my diet was clouding how I saw the world - damaging my health or the environment from my own actions was hard to swallow.

As far as health is concerned, studies show benefits to small diet changes. A healthier diet could start with one more apple and an added side salad with a healthy dressing every day. Each step toward a better diet makes one healthier.

I attempt to take a similar approach with compassion - more is better than less. One plant based meal is more compassionate than a meal with a burger. Choosing less meat is a more compassionate approach than more meat. If we can make it just as easy and tasty to choose something that is healthier and more compassionate, that is a good thing.

Momentum for change

In hindsight, as pundits look at the social and political trends that occurred before the Iron Curtain crumbled, what was so surprising as it happened, now seems as though it was inevitable. However, before the Iron Curtain actually fell, few predicted it.

Perhaps our eating habits are undergoing a similar evolution. The momentum towards a plant based diet is building on several crucial fronts. The environmental damage of animal agriculture, concerns for human health, and the horrors of factory farming are all realities with severe social consequences. The Berlin Wall became irrelevant as the momentum for freedom reached a tipping point against repression. Does factory farming face a similar tipping point? Will more compassion rather than less compassion become the new status quo?

When framed in that light, why not?

Expressly yours,

Igniting a Food Revolution

Pessimism, Realism, and the Birth of a Superhero

Contemplating the crisis in healthcare, global warming, and topsoil erosion leaves me pessimistic, concluding that modern culture does not serve us well. However, pessimism doesn’t work to solve such big issues, which require a more optimistic, can-do approach, so I strive to leave pessimism behind me.

Although change may be rational (eating healthy food versus junk, for example), the sheer force of cultural momentum means that change is not readily forthcoming. However, as the negative results of current behaviors appear, such as childhood obesity, forces arise in opposition to the status quo.

A rational revolution evolves when there are frameworks to channel these reactive forces. We founded Nature’s Express to create just one such framework.

A second requirement for a cultural revolution is abundant wisdom. Such wisdom keeps an optimistic perspective despite significant negative momentum. Such wisdom (think Gandhi) also embodies the unconditional love that overcomes the hostility and fear of the status quo.

I realize all this, yet often slip back into pessimism. Alas, my love for mankind still is somewhat this side of unconditional. I am, as yet, no Gandhi.

TurnipMan to the Rescue

TurnipMan has been a rather silent logo since the inception of Nature’s Express, waiting for branding to design his purpose. Although kids seem naturally drawn to him, his corporate persona has remained somewhat vague - but no longer.

TurnipMan will become the Nature’s Express symbol of optimism, embodying everyone’s wish to do good deeds. He loves all and wants to serve everyone healthier food. Courageous, yet filled with consummate compassion, he is as joyful as the Dalai Lama in the face of adversity. He wishes to learn to fly and wants a superhero’s cape for his birthday!

Through his unbounded optimism and good cheer, TurnipMan hopes to become a world-changing ambassador.

When you see him, wish him luck, buy a burger, and leave a tip.

Expressly yours,

carl myers

VEGAN ATHLETES

NO MEAT AND NO DAIRY - BIG ADVANTAGE?

"Daniel made up his mind he would not defile himself with the king's meat and wine... ‘Let us be given plant foods to eat, and water to drink’... At the end of ten days, their appearance was handsomer, and they were stronger, than all the youths who had been eating the king's food." 
- Daniel 1:12, 15, 17, 18

Timothy Bradley has been a regular at Nature’s Express in Rancho Mirage, California, coming in three to four times a week for a sandwich and a shot of wheat grass after working out. He has a comfortable and genuinely friendly manner with a smile that lights up the whole cafe. When he talks about wanting to be a good role model for kids, his face develops a missionary zeal. After spending a few minutes with Bradley, it becomes quite evident - he is the real thing.

On December 12^th, Timothy defends his title as champion of the World Boxing Organization Junior Welterweight Division (140 pounds) against also undefeated Lamont Peterson. When Tim goes into the ring, he brings a controversy with him that will completely rock the sports world over the next few years.

Everything else being equal, since Timothy goes vegan during intensive training, is he destined to win?

ESPN recently had an informative article that discussed the pros and cons of a completely plant based diet, highlighting the records of some notable vegan athletes. Check it out; they seem to suggest that the vegan diet just might be an added edge for athletes that want to be their best.

In the animal world, there are records for both the carnivorous and herbivore contenders. The cheetah, with its digestive system designed for meat, is the fastest sprinter on earth, clocked at 70 miles per hour. But the elephant, eating the plant-based diet fitting its physiology, is the endurance runner king, able to run faster than the fastest human sprinter for 10 hours straight at 25 miles per hour.

The question is not whether the human design favors a plant-based diet, which it does, nor whether we can adapt to animal based products, which we do, but rather, does following a vegan diet give an athlete a significant edge?

Surveys show that only one per cent of Americans are vegan and so it is no surprise that most top athletes are meat-eaters. Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses are most often cited as the top vegan athletes. More recently Tony Gonzalez, Pro Bowl tight end, switched to a vegan diet in the middle of his 'hall of fame’ career without losing any of his endurance or strength. He even states that his energy and alertness in the fourth quarter far exceeds what it was in his younger, pre-vegan diet seasons.

There is a growing list of athletes that are choosing to be vegan for the same various reasons that others do - health, the environment, or animal welfare. But increasingly, some athletes are turning to a vegan diet because they believe it will give them the edge in performance that will take them to the top of their game.

One thing is certain, whether Bradley wins or loses on December 12^th, the controversy over athletic performance and vegan diets will continue. After all, Edwin Moses won 122 consecutive 400-meter hurdles between 1977 and 1988 without convincing a world of carnivorous skeptics that the Book of Daniel has been right for a few thousand years.

Go Bradley!