Meet My Meat

Black, gay, Jewish. I can't speak to his mental acuity or political leanings, but three out of five ain't bad

When someone says something horrible and defends themselves by saying, "Hey, my best friend is black/gay/Jewish/retarded/Republican", they're probably a horrible person. I guess I have to face the fact that I have spoken poorly of the concept of vegetarianism and veganism, and when it was brought to my attention that perhaps I'm a little prejudiced, I've defended myself by saying, "Hey, one of my best friends is a vegan!"

Okay, maybe I've moderated my tone and have withheld judgement a little bit more in the past few years since culinary school and started thinking of food less about sensations and profit and more about health individually, societally and environmentally -- being married to a vegetarian and having kids will do that to you, if you want to live in peace. But the fact remains, the HVS remains one of my best friends, despite life allowing us only tete-a-tetes every few months these past few years.

Well, the HVS recently recruited a co-president (aka wifey), and I was honored to be invited to a very intimate dinner with the HVS, Momma HVS and Sister HVS. It was a vegan meal of course, and the conversation veered toward this blog, of which various HVSs actually read, oddly enough. The HVS asked me about my meat consumption. She mentioned Michael Pollen, who we both respect. His stance is that nothing is wrong with veganism, but nothing is wrong with eating a small amount of meat sourced from environmentally sensitive, non-industrial sources. She also referred to "Vegan Until 6", a book by another writer we both respect, Mark Bittman. The book is angled like a diet & health book, where the basis is you act like a vegan until dinner.



The HVS asked me how much meat I ate, and it gave me a weird sense of anxiety -- I didn't really know. Despite recording every friggin' thing I've eaten in the past decade or so, as of late I don't think in terms of meat/dairy/grains/veg as much as I think of a balance of protein/fat/carbs.

Truth be told, once upon a time way before you were born, I spent a decade being a vegetarian, and within that time a few years as a "vegan". It's gotta go in quotes because I made a rule of excepting the animal-product ban from desserts. Looking back, that's LUDICROUS, as it undermined both the health and ethical aims of taking on such a relatively extreme diet. A couple of years ago when I visited a licensed nutritionist for the first time and presented her with a couple of weeks of my typical eating, the first thing she said was: I don't eat enough meat.

Actually, I think she said "protein", but it sounded like "meat" to me, as I regarded that as my primary source of that macro nutrient. She guesstimated my intake of protein/fat/carbs were around 10/30/60, and it should be closer to 20/40/40. She added that I should up the protein, lower the carbs and the fat will take care of itself.

Huh. So how am I doing? This past week was relatively good and tight, so let me look at my 21 meals over the five days and figure out some percentages.

• All my breakfasts are vegetarian ("Vegetarian Before Noon"?) Two of my five lunches were vegan, and one of my dinners was vegan.
• By volume on average, about 20% of my lunch is meat. About 25% of my dinner is meat 
• By caloric value, it's actually less, as I eat fish and shrimp and avoid calorically dense meats like beef, bacon n' burgers. About 15% of my caloric intake comes from meat sources.

Notably, during the week I am almost dairy-free. This is not intentional, but a side effect of keeping calories un-dense. My main dairy is full-fat Fage yogurt for some breakfasts. The only other minor sources are the cheese-dust on some cheetos and the butter I occasionally cook with. Maybe 5%-10% of my calories come from dairy during the week.

Due to a conspiracy by Big Salad, there is very little stock photography of women joyously eating multiple helpings of meat.

Thing is, I feel like I'm always eating meat, much more than before my consultation. Part of it was the slight aversion to meat -- it takes more effort to make, as its not that great if not cooked fresh. There is so much riding against meat, from all sides, it feels comfortable to abstain. It's expensive, and can be bloody. Let's not even go to the cancer & heart disease thing. However, I took a close look and decided I should worry about protein, not meat. Fish n' chicken came in, as well as regular servings of almond butter, fast food veggie patty, falafel and nuts. And to be honest, because of my culinary training, I have the confidence to cook a plain boring piece of chicken breast 10 different ways to Sunday that'll still make it sometimes tasty but always interesting. Yeah I indulge in some meat balls and sausage, but most of the time my meats are whole, and cooked by my own hand.

So sorry HVS, I'm pretty comfortable with my level of meat-consumption right now. (Though right now I'm listening to an hourlong debate on NPR about being vegan vs meat eating, so I reserve the right to roll back my smug finality.)  I think the only way it could be improved right now is to follow Mark Bittman's recommendation of paying attention to the sourcing. A lot of my day-to-day raw meats and fishes come in big bulk bags from the freezers of Costco. It's cheap and convenient, but not as tasty, interesting, fresh and ecologically/ethically friendly as what I could get from the butchers who set up shop at local green markets. Huh, maybe I should try some of them crazy expensive organic buffalo cuts that I see there. I promise I won't start that blog entry with, "Hey, my best friend is a vegan, but..."
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2457

Friday blew me out of the water, due to two reasons. One, only two hours of sleep messed me up. Two, I recorded what I ate in the evening honestly. Despite losing weight this past year, I'd let myself slip Friday night and just lump it in with the unrecorded "weekend." No more. We need more honesty, less flim-flammery.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2130

SLEPT: 9:15pm-4am, 6.75 hr
Good lifting session in the morning. Not the strongest, but the twinges in my back are getting better. Funny, I've noticed it's hard to lift after the weekend, but not today, because my diet was a lot more in line with how I eat during the week. All those excess calories and the sugar really does a number on me come Monday morning.

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am,apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, stee cut oatmeal, 410 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, butternut squash soup, health salad, picked, 480 cal
Forgot to pack the falafel. -sigh-.

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, kimchi, 480 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, cheetos, 300 ca

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2620

SLEPT: 8:30pm-4am, 7.5 hr
Good eating day, but emotions running rampant, making it harder to stay focused. Calorie budget allowed for cheetos at the end of the day, but made me hungrier, finished the bag (only a little left), then tasted my kid's kraft mac, which didn't taste good to me. Just read an article over dinner about the recent research on the healthfulness of nuts, so I hit up the almond butter, which brought me to where I wanted to be. Probably one of the healthiest "out of control" moments yet. 

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am,apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken meatballs, roasted brussels, sofrito black beans, pickles, 550 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, pork tenderloin, roasted broccoli, quinoa, kimchi, 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, cheetos, 300 cal

EVENING GORGE: 8pm, cheetos, bite of mac n cheese, a few spoonfuls of almond butter, +/- 400 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 1990

SLEPT: 9:15pm-4:15am, 7 hr

About 10 minutes on the bike on the rollers this morning, quite enough.

AM SNACK: 4:30 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 410 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, pork tenderloin, steamed string beans, quinoa, pickles, 590 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, handful of roasted salted almonds, 170 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, shirataki stir fry with shrimp, shitaki mushrooms and oyster sauce, 360 cal 

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THURSDAY COUNT: 1965

SLEPT: 9:30pm-4am, 6.5 hr
Long hard day. Got home late, felt hungry, realized I was under budget by a few hundred calories, a big no-no. Realized I don't HAVE to eat chips to make up the calories, I can indulge in something nutrient dense AND healthy: nuts. So obvious, why is it only hitting me now?

AM SNACK: 4:30 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2:  9:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, pork tenderloin, roasted broccoli, quinoa, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, Subway 6" veggie burger sub, diet coke, 435

EVENING SNACK: 10:45pm, roasted salted cashews, 160 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 3580

SLEPT: 12:15am-2:15am, 2 hr

Not an easy night. When I realized I was up, I got productive, making granola, banana bread, a new batch of vanilla extract as well as work food for myself and a packed lunch for my boy. Watched some TV, just went with it. Took a hit of 100mg of caffeine right before I left. I figure if the science is true that it simply puts a brick under the brake pedal instead of stepping on the gas, I should still be relatively mellow, as I'm low energy. However, it should prevent those tired stress hormones from coming out and making me indulge in carby, fatty foods....

AM SNACK: 3am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 4am, tasting of fresh granola, +/-50 cal

When you cook, y'gotta taste.

AM SNACK: 5:30am, freshly baked banana bread, +/- 700 cal
A little taste and I just had to. It was good.

AM DOSE: 7:45am, 100mg caffiene in a 1/4 ounce water solution.

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2:  9:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, pickles, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, chicken burrito, chips & salsa, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 6-6:30pm, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate cake, slice of pizza, +/- 800 cal

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WEEKEND REPORT
The computer ate my draft entry again, but this time I had it backed up on Friday afternoon. It seems because I've been working on the 'weekend report' through the weekend, it's causing some conflict with google's blogger thing. I did have a full itemized report, with estimated calories on Sunday (about 3500) but I'll just rant here, and hope I can work it smoother next week.

Since recording the weekends, its becoming clearer what my 'let it all hang out' eating looks like. I kept on eating from 4:15am to around 1:30, where I was just so full, and picked up eating at a party around 8 in the evening, where a bowl of dark chocolate squares really wrapped it's arms around me.

Sunday I took it a lot easier, just one breakfast, just one lunch (with a salad), a couple of small (sweet) snacks in the afternoon, one dinner. However, I pounded almost a full pint of ice cream in the evening which left me feeling bleah. Emotional eating.  While looking at it written down, it's clear I ate horribly, to be honest it's a little better than when I was not recording it and trying not to think about it. Small steps.