If I was an Atheist

What would change about your life if you were an atheist? It seems that most people’s inclination is to be more wild and promiscuous, which I find funny, but I will save this topic for a later discussion. The biggest thing that would change in my life would be my sense of purpose. If there was no God, I would stop caring about the well-being of humans. Humans have fully functional, reasonable, rational brains that can choose to do whatever they want. Humans determine the outcome of their lives, and continually make bad choices, making themselves and those around them suffer. It’s annoying. If there was no God, there’d be no reason for me to care about these people, so I wouldn't.

If I was an atheist, I’d join PETA and most likely dedicate my life to freeing animals or have the job described in this podcast. I’ve always had a soft spot for animals. Animals are loving and caring beings, yes beings. I’m not about to go through how animals are slaughtered and mistreated, we already know all about that. Go youtube that if you want a reason to feel crappy today.

Anyway, animals are too often underestimated or ignored. Cows, as well as other farm animals have been studied for emotional cues. In these studies, the scientists were able to measure their brainwaves and vitals. Scientists have concluded that cows are capable of feeling fear, anxiety, hold grudges, enjoy sex, and maintain friendships with other cows as well as humans. Some studies even suggest that animals have a sense of self.

Animals also laugh. In a rat study, scientists were able to make rats laugh by tickling them. The rats not only laughed, but also returned to be tickled again, suggesting that humans aren't the only mammals with emotional lives and that animals can also experience social-joy.

Radio lab, my second favorite podcast (my first favorite obviously being LLUC/Randy Roberts), has a fantastic segment on animal minds. In this segment, they discuss the possibility of communication between animals and different species. In this specific episode, they tell a story about a trapped whale who gets rescued, and potentially shows gratitude to her rescuers. This was so touching to me, because my biggest pet peeve is when I allow someone to cut in front of me on the freeway, and they don't show gratitude by giving me the courtesy wave.

If you do choose to eat meat, fine, do whatever you want. My libertarian will always advocate for personal freedom. However, I'd urge you to consider Michael Pollen's take on eating meat. If you're going to eat meat, you need to experience killing an animal and butchering it, so that you can fully understand and appreciate the process. If you had to kill a cow and butcher it every time you wanted to eat one, it seems like you'd do that a lot less often. Killing things is personal, buying lunch meat in the grocery store, is not.

I have no doubt that God exists, meaning I will always find helping humans more important than helping animals. However, animals are still one of God’s creations, and they should be treated with love and kindness.

So the next time you eat meat, I’d like you to consider that you’re eating a being that had a best friend, laughed, enjoyed having sex, and felt fear as it saw it’s family being killed and felt anxiety as it was about to be killed, so that you could eat it. That’s all. enjoy your day.

If I Could Be a Wet Nurse...

Twinkle in my eye. Warmth in my heart. Smile on my face. All things that don’t happen when I think about having children.

Giving birth is the least of my worries. Growing another human being in your body and being able to feel it kick and move around is probably the most amazing thing a person can do. People talk about running marathons and biking across the country like it’s really impressive. Please. Grow a human being in your abdomen, THAT’S impressive. However, after birth, things seem to go downhill. There’s crying, teething, pooping, screaming, temper tantrums, down syndrome, autism, Aspergers, car accidents, bullies, broken legs and or arms, cancer, arguing, drinking, drugs, their first break-up, their tenth break up, child molesters, drunk drivers, crazy people in general, etc. Having a child sounds an awful lot like having an 18 year long anxiety attack.

For those of you who have chosen to have children or wish to have children someday, I have one piece of advice for you: breastfeed your child.

I’ve heard it several times; breastfeeding is not easy or fun. It’s inconvenient and can be painful. Well maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to have a child.

Breast feeding your child is good for the baby and good for the mother. It helps prevent babies from developing type 1 and type 2 diabetes, asthma, diarrhea, UTIs, food allergies, dermatistis, leukemia, respiratory infections, gastrointestinal diseases, and obesity related illnesses to name a few. It also enhances an infant’s performance on cognitive development tests and mother-child bonding.

Breast feeding decreases the mother’s risk of developing certain cancers and osteoporosis and helps them get back to their normal weight. When mothers breastfeed, oxytocin is released. This helps prevent mothers from developing postpartum depression.

All of those benefits I just listed… do not come from formula. What’s wrong with formula? The biggest problem with formula is that it is missing the antibodies found in breast milk. The protein in formula is usually from cow’s milk and it takes time for babies’ stomachs to adjust to its’ different biochemical makeup. Formula is not natural and it is expensive!

I understand that some women have a difficult time producing milk, but I also know that when you formula feed your child instead of breastfeed, your body doesn’t produce as much milk because your baby isn’t drinking it. We have smart bodies.

Now don’t get anxiety if you weren’t breast fed as a child, I’m sure you’re just fine. I’m sure your IQ is mediocre and that you have the immune system of an AIDS patient. Kidding. Formula doesn’t kill babies, it’s just not optimal—breast feeding is.

Level 5 Vegan

“Are you vegan?”

I hate being asked this question. It always has some inference attached to it; Well, you should be vegan, you’re a dietitian. Or, Pssh. Vegans have NO idea what they're missing out on.

I was once asked about my veganism, and I paused, as I always do when I’m asked this question. How do I explain that I’m not vegan, but that I avoid most animal products? My friend quickly jumped in and said, “Carolyn isn’t anything. She basically eats whatever she wants when she feels like it.” I started laughing. It was perfect. This describes me perfectly.

There are so many labels for people and their food choices.

Vegans: No animal products with animal rights beliefs

Total Vegetarians: No animal products, with no extreme ideals towards animal rights; may eat honey

Raw Vegans: No animal products, eat plants, plants can only be cooked to a certain temperature. Not recommended if you want to live.

Vegetarians: Usually means lacto-ovo-vegetarian

Lacto-ovo-vegetarians: Eats animal byproducts: dairy, eggs, honey

Lacto-vegetarians: Does not eat eggs

Ovo-vegetarians: Does not eat dairy

Pescatarian: Eats mostly plants, but eats fish and any seafood

Flexitarian: Almost vegetarian, but eats meat on occasion.

If you fall under one of these categories, that’s great. I don’t. I follow a plant based diet. I eat fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and beans every day. Some days I eat yogurt, some days I eat eggs, some days I eat fish, some days I eat ice cream, and on the rarest of occasions I’ll eat some chicken. I follow my own dietary guidelines because I know what’s best for me. Yes, I’ll almost always choose the healthier option, but the healthiest choice is not always vegetarian—or vegan.

I will mention that I think that a vegan diet can provide optimal health if planned properly. I will also mention that I think the majority—but not all—vegans are uptight and unreasonable. Following rules, created by mankind, with no leniency, isn’t the lifestyle for me. Today, I was a “total vegetarian.” I had no animal byproducts. Tomorrow, who knows.

This video pretty much sums it up...

If you want to impress me

I have been jaw-dropping impressed by a man’s body once in my life. I remember it well. I was living in Tennessee and a bunch of girls went to see The Prestige…and in this one scene, Hugh Jackman literally took my breath away. I’m not saying I’m hard to impress, it’s just incredibly unusual for muscles to impress me. I have a friend who really appreciates muscular men. From time to time she’ll point out guys she finds really attractive. I just smile and think to myself… that guy is obviously a self-absorbed a-hole. I know it’s a hasty generalization, but seriously, men who have HUGE muscles are usually too busy looking at themselves in the mirror to even realize that there are other things going on in the world.

These super macho muscular men are usually obsessed with protein supplements. I don’t like protein supplements for two reasons. First, I like keeping things natural. Secondly, I cannot imagine that taking protein supplements long term can be good for your health, not to mention it’s likely to be indicative of certain personality traits. Let me elaborate.

First of all, let’s begin with how much protein you need in a day. The average healthy person needs 0.8g of protein/kg. SO… if a man weighs 150 lbs and is not a body builder, he needs about 55 grams of protein a day. This is easily obtainable through diet (even a vegetarian diet!). Anyway, when you begin weight lifting, your protein needs go up to anywhere from 1.0-1.7 g PRO/kg; that 150 lbs man would need 68g-116g of protein if he started weight lifting.

So now you’re thinking, see! You need more protein! Well hold on to your britches, I’m not done yet. If you were to eat this in a day:

· Breakfast: 1 med sized apple, 1.5 cups cheerios, 1.5 cup non-fat milk

· Lunch: Turkey Sandwich (2 slices of turkey, 2 slices of whole wheat bread) 15 baby carrots

· Dinner: 1 med baked potato, 1.5 cups chili beans

That gives you only 1615 calories and a whopping 71g of protein! And seriously, if you’re a male, you know you eat more than 1600 calories, meaning you’re probably getting more than 71g of protein a day, meaning you probably don’t need to be taking protein supplements to build those great big manly muscles.

So what’s wrong with taking protein supplements? Well, as far as the studies show, nothing is wrong with taking the recommended doses. However, I think supplements of any kind should be taken sparingly. Virtually the only supplements I promote are vitamin D and omega-3s. Calcium supplements are important for those prone to osteoporosis. As far as multivitamins go, go ahead and take one, but is it necessary? Not if you have a balanced diet.

Protein is so easily obtained in your diet that there is absolutely no reason to go out of your way to supplement it. I also think the source of protein should be taken into consideration. Getting your protein from plant based sources will provide you with lots of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and fiber! Getting your protein from supplements is going to give you a whole bunch of rubbish that you can’t even pronounce (read the ingredients).

As I said, there are no long term scientific studies stating that protein supplements are in any way detrimental to your health when taken in the correct dosage. But when we eat excess amounts of protein, our body produces more urea, which must be filtered through the kidneys. Now this is purely my speculation, but when you overuse ANYTHING for an extended period of time, it’s more than likely going to get worn out faster. Overloading your body with excess protein, vitamins, and minerals may stress your kidneys or overwork them, especially if practiced over a number of years. If you insist on supplementing, you should at least try to drink plenty of water to help filter everything out.

People supplement protein so that they can have “better athletic performance.” Why can’t you get that protein from regular food? The average protein supplement gives you about 25g of protein, which hopefully by now you realize isn’t necessary when you’re eating three meals a day. However, having a high protein snack after lifting has shown to enhance training results. If you want a high protein snack after weight lifting try one of the following

• Low fat cottage cheese and fruit
• Low fat yogurt
• Hummus and carrots
• Peanut butter and celery (be careful with peanut butter, it’s really high in calories
• Peanut butter on a slice of whole wheat toast
• A simple glass of milk (soy is preferable)
• 1 oz of mixed nuts

Other high protein foods include

• Lentils and rice
• Beans and a whole wheat tortilla
• Oatmeal
• Tofu and vegetables
• Chili and cornbread

Earlier I said that protein supplements are indicative of certain personality traits. When someone tells me they’re taking protein supplements, I often too quickly write them off as “one of those.” One of those who feels their body is inadequate so they have to take protein supplements to have a “nice” body. I know I’m stereotyping, but jocks get stereotyped for a reason. In fact, I find muscles to be a huge red flag. Muscular guys are often stereotyped as being mean or dumb, and if I have to choose between intelligence and muscles, intelligence is going to win every time. It’s like; oh you can bench press 200 lbs?! Awesome, what

an accomplishment, but do you know the rate limiting steps in glycolysis or who you’re going to vote for in the next presidential elections? Because that is something actually worth talking about. It’s cool that you can do a one-handed push-up, but can you do anything else?

So what’s the take home message? Protein supplements really aren’t necessary, and they might hurt you if used consistently over a number of years. Get your protein from good sources likes beans, nuts, whole grains, and vegetables. You can easily get enough protein from your diet. If you’re still convinced that you need supplements, at least drink a lot of water. And please understand that I’m not hating on exercise. Exercising is really important for your health. Strength training will help improve your muscle mass which will help you when you’re old and brittle. I’m just saying exercising your brain is equally important.