The frog does not drink up the pond in which it lives.

"Studies have shown that producing one kilo (2.2 pounds) of meat causes the emissions equivalent of 36.4 kilos of carbon dioxide."

"In addition, raising and transporting that slab of beef, lamb or pork requires the same amount of energy as lighting a 100-watt bulb for nearly three weeks." (source)

Gallons of water required to produce one pound
of various foods

Meat production requires so much water it's hard to comprehend. As the chart shows, a pound of potatoes takes 99.6% less water to produce than a pound of beef, and 97% less than a pound of chicken.

Number of people whose caloric needs

can be met on 2.5 acres of landfor the following foods

Raising animals for food requires lots more land than growing crops. That's because animals eat a lot more food than they provide as meat. It takes 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef. That's 94% more land. And 94% more pesticides. All told, livestock eat 70% of all the grain we produce. They're food factories in reverse.

The information above can be found here.

But of course my primary purpose is to get my cholesterol down to healthy levels without the use of drugs, being a better steward of our environment is a welcome benefit which serves as a great source of motivation for me.

And now I move forward to a different subject. Dairy.

Oh man how I am missing cheese. What I would give right now for a hunk of tangy blue cheese. But for now, cheese is out. One thing is for sure, while I will re-introduce a limited amount of cheese back to my diet at some point, I will certainly savor it more than I used to and I will try to eat much less of it. I have been hearing about cheese substitutes but I have not tried any yet, I am a little iffy on the idea. But at some point I will experiment, it is in my nature.

Milk. I remember years ago the challenge of moving from regular homogenized milk to 2%. I thought I was pouring white water on my cereal. This only got worse as I tried 1% and non-fat. As it turns out none of these lower fat milk options is all that good for you anyway. A group of proteins in milk called caseins appear to be bad for you, and low fat milks are not necessarily low in casein.

Good news. Turns out I really like some of the milk substitutes out there. The Brand name Silk makes some really good soy based milk that is rich and as heavy as the old homogenized milk I used to drink. Almond milk was a great surprise, I really like that too, although the stuff flavored with vanilla can be a little much for my taste, but I liked the unsweetened kind very much. Coconut milk is also a nice consistency but the flavor is a bit overwhelming. I have found a great use for the coconut milk though in my morning oat meal; rather than using water to make the oatmeal I used the coconut milk and it was very good.

So, I think I can safely and happily do away is milk as a beverage and cereal soaker. But of course I LOVE ice cream and other baked goods that have no other option than regular milk and cream, but at least I will be able to limit my intake to just those types of things.

As always if you have any tips or advise for me, feel free to leave a comment. The 18th is drawing closer and I will need to have the Dr. poke me for more blood soon. I will be interested to see how my cholesterol levels have changed.

"Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something." - Carl Sagan