Change the World Wednesday – 16th Apr

Oiling Brazil’s internet

The internet needs oiling, had trouble loading this page this morning, kept sticking.

All oiled and running smoothly again.

Now it’s 3:30am (making graphics takes time), do I need coffee or do I need more sleep?

Sleep now, coffee later.

I woke at 6am, still too early.

It’s now 9… Boy, did I sleep. I need more coffee.

Clorinha is not ‘green’. She likes plastic.

Clorinha thinks clear plastic is fun

She also likes boxes and empty bottles, they are so wonderful to roll around the floor.

After admitting on last week’s CTWW that I used a squirt of air freshener, I saw the suggestion of orange peel in vinegar as an alternative air freshener on another blog, Living Simply Free, I am trying that. I have the first orange peels in a small jar of vinegar. I have perforated the lid, hopefully during the process it will allow the smell to spread.

Small jar of orange peel and vinegar in the corner

I will have to buy a small spray bottle to try the full effect of the infused vinegar as suggested.

So another example of how blogs can change habits.

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On with this week’s CTWW.

A health issue this week. One that I didn’t know about.

Small’s CTWWs are often full of surprises.

This week, for at least one full day, go vegan. That means no animal products … no beef, chicken, pork, or fish … not even milk, cheese, eggs, or honey.

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OR … If you are vegan or find this challenge too easy, please share a recipe with your readers and encourage them to try meatless meals … for their health and for the planet.

 

You’ll have to zip across to Reduce Footprints for the preamble to know that we are specifically talking about kidneys…

Wanting to know more, I googled it, and found a site that confirms Small’s preamble, although I rejected what the site said about saturated animal fats, which more recent studies have debunked. Natural fats are good for you, it’s the trans and hydrogenated fats like margarine and vegetable cooking oils (canola, soya, etc) that are the killers. But that’s another story, already posted on here.

Animal protein does make the kidneys work harder, a lot harder.

So the suggestion is to go for a vegan diet to avoid the risks.

I have in the past written that I am a carnivore, and I still am. Meat is a major part of my diet, although I have reduced my beef intake dramatically not because of my health, but on discovering that beef takes more natural resources to produce than other meats.

Animal protein also features high in my diet. I eat half a dozen+ eggs weekly, I drink at least a litre (nearly a quart) of milk daily, my cheese intake would be higher than most people’s, I use butter and I use lard or dripping for cooking.

Now, my health is generally good, albeit that I am a little overweight due to my sedentary life style inflicted on me through a motor accident. Touch wood I have never had kidney stones or any such thing. The only malady that I can attribute to animal products is gout (high uric acid because the kidneys can’t process it all), in my case not serious, manifesting slightly at times and going again.

So, I thankfully consider my lot. For those who don’t know, I am 62 and rapidly (all too rapidly) heading for 63. So health-wise, I haven’t fared too badly.

I would no more think of a vegan diet than fly to the moon. Although, occasionally, unconsciously, I do eat vegan meals. Not because they are vegan, but that’s what I feel like eating. I am more likely to eat a vegetarian meal like yesterday, curried beans on rice.

Some observations: Do vegans use margarine instead of butter, being under the illusion that it is inline with a vegan/healthy diet? Do vegans use vegetable cooking fat or oils (canola, soya, etc) for the same reason? I don’t know, I am asking. If you do then you are far more at risk of heart disease and obesity than using natural fats. These products are amongst the most dangerous in the western world, if the governments weren’t so cowardly (quivering at the feet of the corporations), they’d ban them. Having said that, the US government is taking a close look at new research results.

I don’t consider vegan to be the whole answer.

Nor is it the answer to saving the planet because meat takes too many resources to produce. The problem there is simply too many people, that’s what we have to look at, over population.

We are living on a dirt ball that can support 500 million people, and we are stretching resources to feed 7 billion; we are 13½times over capacity.

Therein lies the problem.

Vegan is not the solution.