People think I'm crazy...

Yep, they do. Well, I probably am in many ways that seem normal to me...but the one that most of my "normal" friends and family think I'm over the top about is what I eat.

I'm usually the lone one who asks for a veggie plate at a banquet. I'm the one my Mom calls before I go visit to find out if I'll eat this or that...and no matter how many times I tell her I'll find something to eat she still wants to try. I love her all the more because she does try, even though she thinks I'm crazy! I'm the one who gets the call asking if I'll bring my own food at Board meetings or other day-long events because they can't figure out what to order for me.

Now I'm kind of inching toward going vegan. I'm already a self-titled vegetarian. I will drink milk, eat some cheeses and eggs and haven't cared if my gluten-free, sugar-free waffles were made with dairy (I just discovered they aren't!). Going vegan means I'd give up all by-products with dairy, cheese, eggs and other food items made with animal products.

I'll tell you up-front that I think animals are on this earth so we can eat them and / or wear them. I've been a vegetarian since my teen years. I've probably bought and cooked meat three times in the past 20 years --- to feed someone else. Grass fed, hormone and antibiotic meat raised the way they used to be raised, of course.

I've known that it was kind of hypocritical to not eat meat because of the way they're processed, fed, treated, but give a pass to the milk, eggs, and other products produced from those same animals. I buy organic, cage free, but haven't been as stringent when it comes to the mixes, frozen waffles, etc. that I buy for convenience.

As I wrote in a previous blog I have been watching all kinds of food and health related documentaries while I'm walking on the treadmill. They have finally convinced me to give it a shot.

I'm going to move slowly, not go hog wild (pun intended).

I am going to majorly increase my veggie and legume consumption. I am going to only buy vegan processed foods (like my waffles). I pulled the cheese out of the fridge and tossed it in the freezer so I can give it to someone in the family who eats cheese. I left some things in the fridge because my husband is not on the same page and so we'll have dual eating habits.

I'm doing this for two main reasons that have a lot of subsets.

1- the health benefits. I watched, and then read, enough to see clearly that meat, dairy, etc. eaters had much higher incidents of a wide, wide assortment of illnesses. I won't bore you with all the details but it was enough to make me dig further and ultimately decide that our food and diets have changed over the past 50 or more years and it just ain't healthy to eat them pigs...

2 - the way we raise and process our meats is disgusting, criminal, horrific. Castrating animals without any anesthesia? cramming them into pens? cutting off beaks? grinding up live chicks? Not to mention the deplorable working conditions for those who work in the meat processing plants.

This isn't a "new years resolution", it's something I've been moving toward for a while and yesterday watching one of the movies again things crystallized in my mind.

Here's my plan:

• No cheese.
• No eggs.
• No butter.

Just doing those three is going to be a major adjustment but I'm not stopping there...
I will:

• Use organic, non-GMO, farm raised cow milk in my morning tea for a while until I've cleansed my palette and adjust to the other changes. That's the only time I use milk and I that tea is a vice I enjoy too much to ditch. Gosh, I am already doing enough crazy without depriving myself of my early-morning enjoyment!
• Substitute vegan foods (waffles, mayo, butter, etc.) for some of my current choices.
• Include a daily veggie smoothy with some fruit (decided the juicing was for the devout)
• Eat more legumes, seeds and nuts.
• Make my plate 70+% veggies.
• Take a B12 supplement off and on. 

Those are some major changes for yours truly. I'll keep you posted. I had a vegan waffle with half a banana, natural peanut butter and organic raisins for breakfast. Wonder what I'll do for lunch?

My friends and family thought I was crazy before. Now they are going to think I'm certifiable.

Cluck, Cluck, Cluckin' to wipe out the human race...

OK faithful readers, you may remember my earlier post, "Chickens of the World Unite". The United Egg Producers (no, not chickens who've united to strike for better benefits... we're talking humans who produce eggs. Well, that sounds even stranger. I don't know too many humans who produce eggs. Hmmm, I don't know any who produce eggs. Come to think of it, I don't know anyone in the egg producing business aside from some individuals who raise chickens... yep, I've taken this one as far as I'm going to for the moment, time to get back on track ya think?)

The United Egg Producers are really going after those rotten people who "produce" free range chicken / hen eggs. They've added a new wrinkle this time, they're going after those pesky ORGANIC chicken / hen egg producers, too.

They're getting smarter and smarter in their campaign to erradicate free range and / or organic egg producers.

Who usually eats organic and free range eggs? I would imagine a lot of those healthy egg eating people recycle and drool when Al Gore starts talking about riding a bike to save the world from global warming. Oops, goofed. It is not "global warming" it is "Global Warming". You have to capitalize it to emphasize the IMPORTANCE. You'll know we're in crisis mode when it's no longer "Global Warming" but it's "GLOBAL WARMING".

If you eat free range and / or organic eggs, you're killing the planet. You're destroying the chances for your children to live and breath and enjoy cold weather.

Yep, according to the United Egg Producers, henceforth known as UEP, converting current egg producing from the in-the-cage-beakless-hormone stuffed-antibiotic loaded system to organic would increase the effects on GLOBAL WARMING by 40%. Switching to free range would increase it by a mere 10%. Stick with the status-quo stuck-in-a-cage-for-life system and an expert says it decreases the effect on GLOBAL WARMING by 10%.

So, eat cheaper eggs. Save the world! Stop the chickens from uniting or they'll want to stop taking drugs and hormones, they'll want to leave their cages and roam free... it's a chicken conspiracy. They're out to destroy the world. And here I thought all they wanted was a chance for unlimited worms or whatever it is they eat...

Has anyone done a study to see what the affects of Global Warming would be on chickens? We know that in a nuclear war roaches will survive. Are the chickens plotting to annihilate humans and thus rule the free-range world? I think we need to study this issue and study it quickly. I think I need to go scramble up a few organic eggs.

I only eat organic free range eggs. Guess I'm in cahoots with the chickens on this one. Maybe they'll let me live when they take over the world in 5 or 6 hundred years...

Here's the press release:

Traditional Eggs May Have Lower Impact on Global Warming
Egg Industry Proves to be Greener than other Livestock

ATLANTA, Jan. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- While some animal rights organizations have been campaigning to ban traditional cage eggs in the U.S., it turns out that these eggs may be best for the environment.

A study conducted by Adrian Williams, PhD., senior research fellow at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, found that the traditional cage egg production currently used by most U.S. egg farmers decreases the industry's effects on global warming by 10 percent, while converting to all free-range egg production would increase the effects on global warming by 10 percent and converting to all organic egg production would increase the effects on global warming by 40 percent.

Free-range and organic egg farms are more environmentally intense because their need for more green space, food and energy.

The research examined the energy and food levels for farm production on 10 different agricultural and horticultural commodities such as potatoes, tomatoes, beef, milk, poultry, and eggs. In addition to the varying production findings, the study found that egg production as a whole is less harmful on the environment than other livestock. Egg production takes less global energy thus producing less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The study was funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs in the U.K.

Grocery shoppers can find UEP Certified eggs by looking for the UEP Certified logo on cartons of most brands of eggs, since 95 percent of the eggs produced in the U.S. come from farmers who participate in the program. UEP developed the United Egg Producers Certified animal welfare program (www.uepcertified.com) to assure consumers, retailers and foodservice professionals that egg cartons carrying the UEP Certified logo are from farmers who adhere to the highest scientific standards for egg production and undergo independent audits from the USDA and Validus to ensure 100 percent compliance.

UEP developed the UEP Certified program for modern egg production out of scientific guidelines established by an independent advisory committee of the top animal welfare scientific experts in the U.S. The USDA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission have approved the UEP Certified logo. The International Egg Commission has recognized the program as a model from which to create animal welfare programs in other member countries throughout the world. In addition, the Food Marketing Institute and the National Council of Chain Restaurants also endorse these guidelines. To view a complete copy of the UEP Certified Guidelines and to learn more about the program visit www.uepcertified.com.

I'm gonna change the title of this blog to weird news...

Not really, I like Ramblin' Jan. Howsomeever, these silly news stories just keep coming to my attention that have me rolling the eyeballs to the heavens. I can't help but share. Now we're doing surgery to save snakes. Snakes. They're gonna set this snake free and someone's gonna shoot it. Especially if it gets back into the chicken coop!

Snake saved after eating golf balls
BRISBANE, Australia - A snake was saved by surgery in Australia after mistaking four golf balls for a meal of chicken eggs, a veterinarian said Wednesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080102/ap_on_fe_st/odd_australia_duped_snake

Chickens of the World, Unite!!!

You have to wonder how much money they spent on the study referred to below... and who paid for it! The members of United Egg Producers must be really concerned about free range hens. The popularity of free range eggs has ta be cuttin' into their profits somehow or they wouldn't have commissioned a study or felt it worth a press release.

I'm one who buys free range eggs. I just like the idea that the hens are doing what's natural. I want them to peck on dirt, to chip at rocks, have beaks, run around outside or do whatever it is that chickens do when they're in the wild.

I read sometime ago that "free range" doesn't mean what it seems to mean. According to the info I read, technically the label can be used even if the chickens are only let out to roam for an hour or two or some set time. The rest of the time they can be in cages. I hope that's not true.

I know "they" (there's that elusive, pervasive, always-to-be-blamed "they" again) remove the beaks from the birds when they're crammed into small spaces. I don't know if all companies do that or if it's just done under certain circumstances. It's been a long time since I did any reading on chickens and egg laying. Somehow I always seem to have other tasks that crowd that one out...

Not sure if they get to keep their beaks if they're free range. Can you tell I'm not sure about much of anything when it comes to chickens... I hate the idea of torturing any animal. I'm not totally adverse to eating their by-products (eggs, milk, cheese).

When it comes to eggs, my main concern is the hormones and antibiotics that are prevalent in meats, poultry and pork. And probably many other foods we eat. That's a subject that deserves more attention than a single paragraph or even a single blog. Maybe someday I'll tackle it.

While reading the press release, I kept getting a giggle from the title "United Egg Producers." Somehow I don't think the chickens have united! Although, a poultry union sounds like it would be loads of fun... Chickens of the world unite, save your beaks, free worms for all!

Here's the article that sparked this ramble:

United Egg Producers: Are Free Range Birds Happier? Maybe Not!

ATLANTA, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal rights activists have long alleged that hens in modern cages live a horribly stressed life, but new research appears to debunk those claims. Researchers have discovered that free range hens experience just as much or more stress than hens raised in modern, conventional cages.

A recent study conducted by Dr. Jeff Downing at University of Sydney measured corticosterone, a hormone produced in response to stress or fear, in eggs from free range and modern caged hens. The study showed that the levels of the hormone were similar in both types of eggs.
Free range hens deal with pressures that hens in modern cages do not, researchers explained. For instance, hens in modern cages are protected from outside predators, while free range hens are not. "They are constantly in fear of attack by predators," said Downing. "A shadow (a bird flying overhead) comes over and they are completely startled."

Hens in modern cages also are protected from many of the manure-borne diseases and parasites that affect free range hens. And hens in modern cages are protected from extreme weather which adds stress to free range hens which are not protected. Modern cages also help prevent infection and spread of the avian influenza virus which can affect wild birds and outdoor flocks of hens. Free range eggs can cost up to three times as much as conventional eggs.

"This study confirms what America's egg farmers already knew," said Gene Gregory, president of the United Egg Producers, the nation's leading trade association for U.S. family egg farmers. "That well-run, clean modern cage housing systems have many benefits for hens as well as consumers." Separate research studies also show that hens raised in conventional cages tend to have fewer diseases and live longer, Gregory added.

Modern egg production under the UEP Certified animal welfare program provides hens with nutritious food, clean water, fresh air and sufficient space to allow hens to stand, turn around, lie down, stretch and preen. Farms are inspected annually to ensure compliance. Consumers should look for the UEP Certified logo on cartons from participating farmers. For more information visit, http://www.uepcertified.com/.

UEP developed the UEP Certified program for modern egg production from scientific guidelines established by an independent advisory committee of top animal welfare experts in the U.S.
Source: United Egg Producers