And ginormous warehouses built over ancient meadows because there was no more room in urban Atlanta for the behemoths that house millions of things humans buy and then have to pay monthly for smaller storage units to put the excess in. The wildlife has fled to what is left of rural land and forests. We hold on to our 14 acres and pond like it is the last stand.
The one positive thing a city does is allow millions of people to occupy a minimal amount of area. Ironically, in that respect, cities are good for the environment. But as you noted Micheal, when they move out you start getting urban sprawl.
Most of the population has no idea that chicken has a “taste” and it’s wonderful. When you purchase it from your local supermarket it will have zero taste. You may as well be eating tofu or some other gelatinous form of meat that is plant based. Humans need animal proteins as Doc wrote it makes a huge difference in our health. It has been documented for millennia. Vegetarians who for whatever reason refuse to eat meat supplement their diets with proteins through pills or shakes. It costs a lot to buy these supplements when all you need to do is eat a burger or steak or chicken which tastes amazing and much cheaper. Had myself a filet mignon last night and it was ah-mazing! It’s what is called being on top of the food chain and we should be thankful for the animals who nourish us. Getting back to growing and raising your own food is paramount to a healthy life. I can’t wait to get back to it. 2 more years!
We eat eggs and dairy products, but cannot eat animals that used to be alive. We understand the benefits of eating meat, but just cannot bring ourselves to do it.
Heck, we don't even kill spiders that come into our house; we use a hand vac to collect them and then release them outside. What softies! Plus, spiders eat other bugs and thus are good for the environment.
You know Doc and his wife were not meat eaters either. I get your stand on the living animals and that’s noble but God put them here for a reason and that is to nourish us I believe so their sacrifice isn’t in vain. I’m not trying to change your mind here it’s just that you can look at it from many sides.
Yes, we’ve looked at this from many sides. We ate meat as kids. But over the years, despite listening to all sides and experiences, we’re still uncomfortable with eating animals. (Again, we do eat their lovely eggs and dairy products.)
My appreciation for poultry only grows; chickens offer the gift of quality protein in meat and eggs. Isn't it something that classes of philanthropists and health bureaucrats, steeped in arrogance and malice, feel compelled to run out to rural areas, control farm land, and kill off the flocks (reportedly 166 million birds culled during the Biden admin alone). And under what diabolical pretext? Disease prevention.
Gonna toss a spanner into the discussion re: Viking/Norse physical superiority — mitochondria. The Norsemen were an isolated society, not much mixing with the populations in the rest of Europe. Mitochondria are maternally passed on. Living in a harsh unforgiving land such as the European far north would have favored the strongest fittest (their human genetics AND the mitochondrial mtDNA), esp in the women - hence, it is no surprise to me that Norsemen were (might’a been) relative giants. When the towering norsemen conquered and settled in the new land AND TOOK ”BRIDES" from amongst the locals, that mitochondrial advantage would’a been lost - that AND a change in diet (favored by the local women - you cook what you know) would have worked together.
I went vegan about 15 years ago and feel fine but I have actually been adding dairy and fish to my diet lately as I have the feeling veganism is not such a great idea. This article is very helpful to me in determining what kind of diet I want but not sure I can bring myself to eating meat. I will say that I have stopped encouraging others to give up meat especially my grandchildren. Thanks again for more eye openers.
Jill and I were vegetarian for decades. And increasingly not metabolically healthy. Switched to much more meat, lost weight, increased metabolic health and energy.
I am thankful to have found you but the thought of eating meat at this point makes me queezie. Did you just jump in or was it a gradual change? If you have an older post in the subject I would be happy to read it. Thanks and wishes for a very happy new year.
How would you describe your protein intake per meal? Every meal has protein source? What percentage of the plate has protein? 30%? 40%? 3-5oz? Per meal? Or does it matter? Just make sure animal protein is part of every meal?
I've been mostly vegan for 5 years. It did have a very positive effect on my blood work (lipids, A1C) initially but it's so hard to be faithful. And although I have not been able to identify any nutritional deficiencies, I feel like I don't quite have the vitality I once did so I'm adding back regularly salmon, eggs and occasional beef. I can say that it makes me somewhat happier. I think eating 'clean' (avoid ultra-processed foods, additives, seed oils) is a good idea no matter what. Good luck.
When my MIL passed in 2020 during covid there was bidding wars on real estate in Pine Hill NY. The elite "cidiots" wanted to escape the NYC toilet . We sold her house for about 8% over asking and it went in a couple weeks with a cash sale.
Fascinating post - I often regret we aren’t taught world history by factors other than industrial developments. I learned a great deal from this article, which makes such sense. I’m a flexible (fruit) carnivore now and feel 20 yrs younger. Protein from eggs and meat are staples and after two years, I wish I’d done this sooner. Funny how the scourge of covid opened the door to better choices in health and sources. Thank you for the most amazing history lesson!
Yes, Dr. R, a definitive cataloguing of historical facts. Brilliant and immensely helpful to today's population fed too much on group-think and opinion sans facts.
My own history mirrors your personal experience. I was an Australian swimming champion (Gold Medal 1954) and raised as a meat-eater, but switched to vegetarian around 1962 because the great Olympic distance swim Champ, Murray Rose, was a vegetarian, and opinion at the time was that this conferred an advantage.
I went full vegan which I continued for nearly ten years as I traveled to England and Europe to pursue my studies and business interests . . . my experience was that my health and vitality noticeably declined . . . but returning to animal protein restored my vitality and strength.
I'm still going strong at age 90, Murray Rose died age 73.
Hooboy - I will try to keep this down to 1000 words.
Twenty five years ago I decided Hubs and I needed to lose some pounds so I ventured into the Atkins diet = basically the start of low carb diets, keeping carb count to less than 40 per day. It worked. We lost weight. But I can't just do a thing. I am curious so I did a deep dive study on the topic and came to two conclusions - one, if you need to lose weight, pick a diet you can live with. Fad diets do more harm than good because the body reverts to survival mode and the metabolism slows to a near stop. So when you go off the diet you will quickly regain what you lost plus some, Second, there is a fine line between carbs and what I re-dubbed High Value Carbs - like fruit for example.
One of the sneakiest additions to our diets in so many ways is sugar. In my research I read Sugar Blues by William Duffy. Eye opening history of how the sugar industry rose. I researched the 'Food Pyramid' that in the fifties had wheat as the foundation, sponsored by - guess - the wheat industry. Duh.
Over the years I wrote a column for fabulousfoods.com sharing recipes. I published several cookbooks with high value carb recipes. I learned I don't have to count carbs. In the end it comes down to eating clean and fresh and avoiding processed sugar.
Well that explains why they're trying to eliminate our rural areas. They're good for people. And healthy. Exactly the opposite of what they want for us!
This topic of diet is always going to be debated, as different bodies seem to need different types of nourishment. What we don't need are chemically loaded foods of any kind. Balance is best, if you ask me. Funny how people can get on a bandwagon calling one diet superior over another, and then switch to the opposite bandwagon. There are some tried and true basics, but just like health treatments, not one size fits all...
Great council. An interesting unnoticed societal change for the worse is disposable diapers. It is illegal to put human waste in the garbage, yet that is what is done with disposable diapers. Cotton diapers that are emptied in a toilet and laundered or a diaper service are safer methods. Contemplate urban areas and fish hatcheries. Neither humans nor fish evolved in a condensed environment, so both are evolutionarily subject to diseases that were historically less common.
A lot of good points in today's read Dr. Malone. I enjoyed it!
About 7 or 8 years ago I read, Guns, Germs, and Steel.
It brings up some of these points and more. A very good but long read for me, I would read every night until the eyes said enough, I would put it down and go to sleep.
As I am in NY I see the urban sprawl and the tentacles of NYC with it's 100 mile tunnels to steal the water from the Catskills because the Hudson is so polluted. At the same time they put mandates on these rural areas that watershed into their reservoirs they built by taking rural towns by eminent domain and forced those populations to move . I love my 10 acre homestead in upstate NY but another part I don't like is the town and county tax bill came yesterday and it is up 10%.
I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of that is due to the back pack people ( what I call the illegals as they all have them) we see that NYC shipped from their sanctuary city to the upstate rural communities.
Add to this the push to fill farm land with solar farms now and take it out of production. Some of the ones here, they clear cut all the trees off the hillsides , how does that work? Seems Greta and her planet savers want it both ways.
And then there is public health, which as wuflu demonstrated, Is for sale to highest bidders. Appears still is,as a law passed 30-odd yrs ago disallows new septics on less than 1 acre,with existing septics grandfathered. Sometime in the last 10 yrs somehow the law still reads that way except it was modified by replacing grandfathered skeptics with grandfathered acreage, thus essentially nullifying the law since it was written to prevent over saturation in,well, what would be grandfathered acreage. So the heavily mountain cedared four 1/4 lots across,from us and the one next to us now are hosting septics.
We've lived on a septic for 27 years in mulitple residences. I have three of my grands who have grown up here understanding the science behind the breakdown of bacteria - what goes into the tank and ultimately the field must be already broken down by the human body. We are now surrounded by civilization that depends on county waste disposal but we carry on - quietly.
Fascinating, especially about the Vikings. My parents came from the Netherlands and the Dutch are known for their height. Must be all the dairy and fish they still regularly eat.
Growing up in the suburbs probably stymied the Dutch height in me a little. But having been in the farmland the past 40 years and benefiting from my wife's from-scratch 3 meals a day cooking with our farm products has helped me tremendously... after 2 open heart surgeries for aortic valve issues and only taking a baby aspirin, ubiquinol, and magnesium, I often put in 12 hour days here on our farm. I wouldn't trade it for anything,
Hopefully RFK, Jr's MAHA movement will provide a legacy for future generations of Americans to be stronger and more robust,
Good article. But what we have experienced from this urban flight is urbanization of our formerly rural area. Not liking it much.
And ginormous warehouses built over ancient meadows because there was no more room in urban Atlanta for the behemoths that house millions of things humans buy and then have to pay monthly for smaller storage units to put the excess in. The wildlife has fled to what is left of rural land and forests. We hold on to our 14 acres and pond like it is the last stand.
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. - Thomas Jefferson
The one positive thing a city does is allow millions of people to occupy a minimal amount of area. Ironically, in that respect, cities are good for the environment. But as you noted Micheal, when they move out you start getting urban sprawl.
Most of the population has no idea that chicken has a “taste” and it’s wonderful. When you purchase it from your local supermarket it will have zero taste. You may as well be eating tofu or some other gelatinous form of meat that is plant based. Humans need animal proteins as Doc wrote it makes a huge difference in our health. It has been documented for millennia. Vegetarians who for whatever reason refuse to eat meat supplement their diets with proteins through pills or shakes. It costs a lot to buy these supplements when all you need to do is eat a burger or steak or chicken which tastes amazing and much cheaper. Had myself a filet mignon last night and it was ah-mazing! It’s what is called being on top of the food chain and we should be thankful for the animals who nourish us. Getting back to growing and raising your own food is paramount to a healthy life. I can’t wait to get back to it. 2 more years!
My grandmother (born ~ 1900) had said the same thing: meat doesn't taste the same.
We eat eggs and dairy products, but cannot eat animals that used to be alive. We understand the benefits of eating meat, but just cannot bring ourselves to do it.
Heck, we don't even kill spiders that come into our house; we use a hand vac to collect them and then release them outside. What softies! Plus, spiders eat other bugs and thus are good for the environment.
You know Doc and his wife were not meat eaters either. I get your stand on the living animals and that’s noble but God put them here for a reason and that is to nourish us I believe so their sacrifice isn’t in vain. I’m not trying to change your mind here it’s just that you can look at it from many sides.
Yes, we’ve looked at this from many sides. We ate meat as kids. But over the years, despite listening to all sides and experiences, we’re still uncomfortable with eating animals. (Again, we do eat their lovely eggs and dairy products.)
Like I said I wasn’t attempting to change your mind. Having convictions are good and it’s a noble cause. Eggs and diary will work.
My appreciation for poultry only grows; chickens offer the gift of quality protein in meat and eggs. Isn't it something that classes of philanthropists and health bureaucrats, steeped in arrogance and malice, feel compelled to run out to rural areas, control farm land, and kill off the flocks (reportedly 166 million birds culled during the Biden admin alone). And under what diabolical pretext? Disease prevention.
Gonna toss a spanner into the discussion re: Viking/Norse physical superiority — mitochondria. The Norsemen were an isolated society, not much mixing with the populations in the rest of Europe. Mitochondria are maternally passed on. Living in a harsh unforgiving land such as the European far north would have favored the strongest fittest (their human genetics AND the mitochondrial mtDNA), esp in the women - hence, it is no surprise to me that Norsemen were (might’a been) relative giants. When the towering norsemen conquered and settled in the new land AND TOOK ”BRIDES" from amongst the locals, that mitochondrial advantage would’a been lost - that AND a change in diet (favored by the local women - you cook what you know) would have worked together.
I went vegan about 15 years ago and feel fine but I have actually been adding dairy and fish to my diet lately as I have the feeling veganism is not such a great idea. This article is very helpful to me in determining what kind of diet I want but not sure I can bring myself to eating meat. I will say that I have stopped encouraging others to give up meat especially my grandchildren. Thanks again for more eye openers.
Jill and I were vegetarian for decades. And increasingly not metabolically healthy. Switched to much more meat, lost weight, increased metabolic health and energy.
I am thankful to have found you but the thought of eating meat at this point makes me queezie. Did you just jump in or was it a gradual change? If you have an older post in the subject I would be happy to read it. Thanks and wishes for a very happy new year.
We jumped in - as my doc insisted that I was further damaging my heart (mRNA vaccine damage) by continuing as a vegetarian.
So, we decided to try basically a paleo diet for a month and never looked back.
If your issue is an ethical one, perhaps look for the "Natural Causes" brand - scouring the world for stuff that's already dead! : )
Earl, in my neck of the woods we call that roadkill. 😂
Exactly my experience and am so much healthier for the switch.
How would you describe your protein intake per meal? Every meal has protein source? What percentage of the plate has protein? 30%? 40%? 3-5oz? Per meal? Or does it matter? Just make sure animal protein is part of every meal?
I've been mostly vegan for 5 years. It did have a very positive effect on my blood work (lipids, A1C) initially but it's so hard to be faithful. And although I have not been able to identify any nutritional deficiencies, I feel like I don't quite have the vitality I once did so I'm adding back regularly salmon, eggs and occasional beef. I can say that it makes me somewhat happier. I think eating 'clean' (avoid ultra-processed foods, additives, seed oils) is a good idea no matter what. Good luck.
I hope, for our sake, that not too many people read this post.
We don't need any more "cidiots" coming to rural America.
All one needs to do is study the downfall of my once conservative great state of Maine to understand my position.
I like your "cidiots" first time I heard that.
When my MIL passed in 2020 during covid there was bidding wars on real estate in Pine Hill NY. The elite "cidiots" wanted to escape the NYC toilet . We sold her house for about 8% over asking and it went in a couple weeks with a cash sale.
Fascinating post - I often regret we aren’t taught world history by factors other than industrial developments. I learned a great deal from this article, which makes such sense. I’m a flexible (fruit) carnivore now and feel 20 yrs younger. Protein from eggs and meat are staples and after two years, I wish I’d done this sooner. Funny how the scourge of covid opened the door to better choices in health and sources. Thank you for the most amazing history lesson!
Yes, Dr. R, a definitive cataloguing of historical facts. Brilliant and immensely helpful to today's population fed too much on group-think and opinion sans facts.
My own history mirrors your personal experience. I was an Australian swimming champion (Gold Medal 1954) and raised as a meat-eater, but switched to vegetarian around 1962 because the great Olympic distance swim Champ, Murray Rose, was a vegetarian, and opinion at the time was that this conferred an advantage.
I went full vegan which I continued for nearly ten years as I traveled to England and Europe to pursue my studies and business interests . . . my experience was that my health and vitality noticeably declined . . . but returning to animal protein restored my vitality and strength.
I'm still going strong at age 90, Murray Rose died age 73.
Hooboy - I will try to keep this down to 1000 words.
Twenty five years ago I decided Hubs and I needed to lose some pounds so I ventured into the Atkins diet = basically the start of low carb diets, keeping carb count to less than 40 per day. It worked. We lost weight. But I can't just do a thing. I am curious so I did a deep dive study on the topic and came to two conclusions - one, if you need to lose weight, pick a diet you can live with. Fad diets do more harm than good because the body reverts to survival mode and the metabolism slows to a near stop. So when you go off the diet you will quickly regain what you lost plus some, Second, there is a fine line between carbs and what I re-dubbed High Value Carbs - like fruit for example.
One of the sneakiest additions to our diets in so many ways is sugar. In my research I read Sugar Blues by William Duffy. Eye opening history of how the sugar industry rose. I researched the 'Food Pyramid' that in the fifties had wheat as the foundation, sponsored by - guess - the wheat industry. Duh.
Over the years I wrote a column for fabulousfoods.com sharing recipes. I published several cookbooks with high value carb recipes. I learned I don't have to count carbs. In the end it comes down to eating clean and fresh and avoiding processed sugar.
Well, when I hit 230 lbs decided something had to give and that turned out to be portion size. Have not changed anything else and now am at 200 lbs.
Yes, portion size matters.
Well that explains why they're trying to eliminate our rural areas. They're good for people. And healthy. Exactly the opposite of what they want for us!
This topic of diet is always going to be debated, as different bodies seem to need different types of nourishment. What we don't need are chemically loaded foods of any kind. Balance is best, if you ask me. Funny how people can get on a bandwagon calling one diet superior over another, and then switch to the opposite bandwagon. There are some tried and true basics, but just like health treatments, not one size fits all...
Great council. An interesting unnoticed societal change for the worse is disposable diapers. It is illegal to put human waste in the garbage, yet that is what is done with disposable diapers. Cotton diapers that are emptied in a toilet and laundered or a diaper service are safer methods. Contemplate urban areas and fish hatcheries. Neither humans nor fish evolved in a condensed environment, so both are evolutionarily subject to diseases that were historically less common.
Very interesting article. Thank you for your research and cogent presentation.
A lot of good points in today's read Dr. Malone. I enjoyed it!
About 7 or 8 years ago I read, Guns, Germs, and Steel.
It brings up some of these points and more. A very good but long read for me, I would read every night until the eyes said enough, I would put it down and go to sleep.
As I am in NY I see the urban sprawl and the tentacles of NYC with it's 100 mile tunnels to steal the water from the Catskills because the Hudson is so polluted. At the same time they put mandates on these rural areas that watershed into their reservoirs they built by taking rural towns by eminent domain and forced those populations to move . I love my 10 acre homestead in upstate NY but another part I don't like is the town and county tax bill came yesterday and it is up 10%.
I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of that is due to the back pack people ( what I call the illegals as they all have them) we see that NYC shipped from their sanctuary city to the upstate rural communities.
Add to this the push to fill farm land with solar farms now and take it out of production. Some of the ones here, they clear cut all the trees off the hillsides , how does that work? Seems Greta and her planet savers want it both ways.
End of rant,
Bill
And then there is public health, which as wuflu demonstrated, Is for sale to highest bidders. Appears still is,as a law passed 30-odd yrs ago disallows new septics on less than 1 acre,with existing septics grandfathered. Sometime in the last 10 yrs somehow the law still reads that way except it was modified by replacing grandfathered skeptics with grandfathered acreage, thus essentially nullifying the law since it was written to prevent over saturation in,well, what would be grandfathered acreage. So the heavily mountain cedared four 1/4 lots across,from us and the one next to us now are hosting septics.
We've lived on a septic for 27 years in mulitple residences. I have three of my grands who have grown up here understanding the science behind the breakdown of bacteria - what goes into the tank and ultimately the field must be already broken down by the human body. We are now surrounded by civilization that depends on county waste disposal but we carry on - quietly.
Fascinating, especially about the Vikings. My parents came from the Netherlands and the Dutch are known for their height. Must be all the dairy and fish they still regularly eat.
Growing up in the suburbs probably stymied the Dutch height in me a little. But having been in the farmland the past 40 years and benefiting from my wife's from-scratch 3 meals a day cooking with our farm products has helped me tremendously... after 2 open heart surgeries for aortic valve issues and only taking a baby aspirin, ubiquinol, and magnesium, I often put in 12 hour days here on our farm. I wouldn't trade it for anything,
Hopefully RFK, Jr's MAHA movement will provide a legacy for future generations of Americans to be stronger and more robust,