All in one weird article
I am among the 97% of Americans who eat meat and / or meat products regularly. Basically, I think, as the T-shirt says, if animals don’t want to be killed, then they need to stop being so darned delicious! Most people assume, based only on my carnivorous inclinations, that I am unethical when it comes to the welfare of animals. Especially, delicious animals. But nothing could be further from the truth. I am also part of a much smaller segment of the population who only eats wild animals that I hunted myself. Eating only sustainably and ethically harvested meat is part of a healthy lifestyle and I would like to tell you a bit about it.
Paleo Dieting
There is very little I can write about high fat / protein, low carb diets, like Paleo or Keto, that hasn’t already been beautifully explained somewhere else online. Sufficed to say: you eat a lot of fat and a good bit of protein and stay away from all carbohydrate-rich foods, like anything that comes from wheat, corn or has sugar in it. Though both diets include veggies, Paleo-diet websites put veggies, fruits, nuts and berries a bit higher up on the food chain. Getting started is usually the hardest part (of any diet, I guess), but after awhile, the ascetic routines become fixtures of your daily life. So, too, does increased energy, handsomeness, fitness, and good humor. The Paleo diet is based on thinking that ancient humans ate a certain way, thus, modern humans will naturally thrive if they replicate the ancient habits. This is partially fantasy, partially stereotype (humans have always made do with what was in their environment and environments differ widely from place to place on the planet), but also true. The explanations for why the Paleo diet has such consistent good effects on our health may be murky pseudoscientific quackery, but that it works is beyond question. Also beyond question, is that the nutrition one derives from the Paleo-approved menu is only as good as its source.
Hunting and Eating Bambi
I hunt mostly in Canada. When I am not hobnobbing with the likes of William Shatner or Mike Myers (but definitely not Jim Carrey), I track and shoot deer. In popular culture, killing a beast is often represented as a very disrespectful act. In fact, the death of an animal, when caused by a human intent on feeding their family, their children, is the opposite of disrespectful. All hunters will tell you they have tremendous respect for nature, and more specifically, wildlife and the conservation of it. That’s because I think we hunters earn a certain objectivity regarding our relationship to the natural world. In our interactions with it, we see our place in the natural order, and are humbled to find we are not always at its apex. The twist in morality regarding hunting is a relatively modern affectation. I think that the advent of Disney movies, and other media anthropomorphizing animals, has had a major role to play. When I explain to my kids where their supper came from, aside from bursting misconceptions from outside our ethical bubble, I reinforce the ethics of the harvest, and the absolute healthiness of the meat they are eating.
Detoxifying Meat and Your Body Too
Dinner at my house is not a constant sermon on the ethics of eating meat, but this article is! My sermon begins by citing the fact that wild meat is immensely nutritious when compared to factory farm-raised meats. In a nutshell, game meat has much more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff because the animal spent its life doing what it does and eating what it evolved to eat. Tons of research has been done and published online on this topic. I encourage you to read more and not just take my word for it! The other major distinction between factory farm meat and wild game, is that farm animals are, by and large, treated like garbage. I will not even feed meat from these animals to my dog. Not only because it’s less healthy, but because I cannot abide how these animals are treated. Do you know that there are actual laws about sharing true information about factory farm conditions publically? They are called ag-gag laws. The purpose is to hide the truth about the horrifying conditions for animals in factory farms. So, here’s my advice: be conscious of the natural world in your diet choice and the ethical implications of that choice. Be always mindful of the potential toxicity of foods, and definite toxicity of your environment. Compliment all regimens with a detox lifestyle; don’t be led around by the nose by me or any other opinionated online “anon”, and do your research. The modern online maxim of “one weird trick” that will change your life, actually has a kernel of truth to it here. And, you can discover something great for yourself if you’re willing to put the work in. Part of my own detox lifestyle is using these foot patches on my feet (from Japan), for example. They’re awesome! I also do cleanses! Yes, a world of truth and beauty awaits you, if you can be your best critical-thinking self and separate the wheat from the chaff. Hunters and Paleo dieters are not the enemy, we can just be a bit annoying sometimes. Good luck.
