Eating Meat

Facebook iconTwitter iconGoogle icon

Over the years, we have had many people be very offended that we would not taken them if they refused to eat meat-particularly red meat. It's understandable, having been a vegetarian myself (Dr.M), it is very offensive to think about being forced into eating something that seems so against your belief system.

We have 12 animals, yes 12. It occured to me the other night as I was watching Cheaper By The Dozen with my daughters, how chaotic their household was and how I could never have 12 children, and then I realized-"Oh wow, but, I have 12 animals AND 2 children!"

In any case, the point is, we both do not like eating animals because we love them so much, and if we didn't think it was necessary for health, we would not do it ourselves, have our children do it, no would we suggest that it is important for any of you to do it.

We have found counltess times over the eyars that eating meat has made the difference between being healthy and struggling with one's health, if not in fact being very unwell. This article is quite interesting substantiating much of this: http://www.westonaprice.org/uncategorized/caustic-commentary-vegetarians-not-healthier/

Dr.M & B

Comments

deir's picture
deir

I was wondering if  this is generally the thinking with most Chinese Medicine practitioners? Or is this one of the areas where ICAMA differs?  Thanks

drbrizman's picture
drbrizman

All types of CM embrace different thoughts on food-typically suggestions are made from the perspective of balance and the energetics that each individual food provides, including the way it is prepared. There is a mountain of information on this topic within th teachings of CM.
I do not subscribe to that, although, of course, I do consider it a bit in my thinking process as it is embedded in my brain and in my training. 
Each doctor/practitioner typically finds his or her way of thinking about disease and health including diet. This is true in modern day and goes back to the ancient times when CM developed. There were great masters that were known for their different schools of thought and many of these masters had their own ideas about food as well.
More often than not, everything that I know about CM-I have not seen much vegetarinism though at all.
Dr.M

Anneke's picture
Anneke

I was wondering if you could shed a light of what to feed our animals to keep them as healthy as possible. Do we have to watch out for sugar or maybe dairy and grains in their foods as well? And is it best to let them have bottled water?
Just want to do the best I can for them to keep them healthy and was wondering what you feed your dog/ cat?

drbrizman's picture
drbrizman

This is a big subeject, and I am definitely not the epert, although with all of my pets I should be a little more than I am.
Water IS really important-depending on what is financilally doable for you, you could give your animal spring water. However water that is filtered may be enough. For example, I give my cats-I have 4-spring water because cats have very delicate urinary tracts very similar to humans and often get IC. I give my dogs chlorine free filtered water. They do wonderfully.
I give my dogs Taste of the Wild which is very healthy grain free dog food based on the diets of wolves from what I understand and they all love it. I have 5 dogs. My cats-long story-not the best. I plan on changing the cat food some time soon. I have a cat with issues and he like this particular food, so..... 
Darwins raw food formula for animals I understand is also excellent, but, it needs to be refrigerated and I already dont have enough room for all of our raw milk AND food for th family as it is, so I have not done this.
In Colorado two years ago in a small town there, they were noticing that the floridation of th water was killing many of the horses in the area and the citizens banned together to get the floride out of the ater supply. I never followed up on what happened-but this is a big big issue!
Whoo, that felt tlike a long answer. Hope it helped!
Dr.M

cprince's picture
cprince

I always wondered the same thing about what food was best for my dogs. One of our dogs that we unfortunately had to give up was very allergic to corn and grainbased foods. We could tell her already high anxiety high strung personality got much worse with these foods and would just chew her paws to pieces because of the hives and itching! :( And, our poor house suffered dearly from these anxiety outbursts, but hey, I got really good at dry wall patching! I noticed she did much better when we were more strict with her diet. I think there is a lot to say about food sensitivities across all mammals. Thanks for sharing on this subject! 

Anneke's picture
Anneke

Thank you for sharing.

ktgicama's picture
ktgicama

I just wanted to add that I was a vegetarian for several years before starting treatment, and I initially decided not to go into treatment because I didn't want to eat meat (at the time, I was disgusted by the thought of having it, but that quickly went away when I actually started eating it again). It was many months before I decided to bite the bullet and do it--best decision. I would never go back to being a vegetarian, and I now believe it was one of the many contributing factors to developing VV. 

drbrizman's picture
drbrizman

I understand. I too was vegetarian for quite a long time. It was only because my mother forced me into eating red meat after my life saving surgery which I could not get up from to cook for myself.

I quickly realized how much better I felt from it, it was startling. And, my health also started to change.

It was not something I wanted at all, but, I felt that I needed to contend with the facts of the resulting changes in what I felt. Spritually for me, eating animals is horrific. But, then I think--animals eat animals, so perhaps this is what the universe, god, nature, whatever the words is for one's own beleif system is, intended. It is a sad part of what I feel is a part of life I have had to come to terms with.

Dr.M

 

Healing's picture
Healing

Hi Dr M,

Do you think this could vary constitutionally? I'm not a believer in blood type diet per se -but along those lines I guess of differing constitutions needing different diets. I know I thirve on meat. But a close friend who ate mega healthily only cleared his health issues by going vegan. Or do you think overall we are more balanced with meat protein? As I heal I'd like to be able to eat more veggie meals again (with raw dairy, not vegan), being this meat heavy doesn't quite feel right to me. 

Thank you

N

drbrizman's picture
drbrizman

Sorry, I am just seeing this now.

Perhaps it could be, but I can tell you, over the years, I have almost never seen anyone not do better without red meat. At one time, I even thought Asians, whom have lots of soy in their genetic pool should be fine with soy and not with meat-but, that has not proven to be true at all.

I only had one person that I can think of that could not eat red meat. But, this person feel outside many norms, so I dont really know what to do with that.

But, who knows-perhaps. Maybe that is something that could be tested out at some point int he future.