Fast and Fatal

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 13

Fast and Fatal

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick, this is episode number 13, titled Fast and Fatal. 

Unfortunately, I think we are all familiar, at least from a historical prospective, with the term genocide. And if you are listening to this episode and you are very young, perhaps you are not familiar with this term. Genocide is the killing of a large group of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or ethnic group. 

For example, since the time of Christopher Columbus, attempts have been made to wipe out the American Indians. Even in the early years, the death toll was estimated at 10 million. Another example, the Holocaust during WWII, when an estimated 6 million Jews was murmured. But you know, these are historical things that we don’t generally like to discuss. 

While such things certainly raise eyebrows and make you think that such a thing could never happen in modern times, the same thing is happening right now in our own country and culture. And you want to know the real catch? It’s voluntary.  

Yes, you heard me correctly. Voluntary genocide. This is the lifestyle that I call Fast and Fatal. And this lifestyle has significant negative affects on our health and on the environment. One article that I found referred to this problem as “Fast Food Genocide”.

Present studies have shown that 71% of Americans are either over weight or obese. That same study revealed that as few as 2.7% of Americans actually engage in a healthy combination of eating well and getting regular exercise.  

Well, we have to eat in order to live. But we also have choices. And the key to sustainability is making better choices. 

But the challenge is that there is no way to separate our food production from the environment. Additionally, the way we produce and consume food contributes to climate change. That  in turn has a direct impact on our food production due to drought, extreme heat and cold, floods, and increased incidents of violent storms. It becomes a vicious cycle. And as we start swirling the drain the cycle increases in intensity. 

It is almost similar to the fact that many folks on the Titanic were assured that “It’s all okay” yet the ship is still sinking. The same is true of our culture with our fast food dilemma. Few people are aware of the breath and depth of the problem at hand. 

You know there is something I’ve said in a previous episode and I will repeat it here.  It should be obvious to my listeners bye now that I live a sustainable lifestyle. But since I started this podcast, the topics that I research a discuss are changing my own life.  I learn more and more about what we are doing and how we are living and I have to tell you it is scary. 

One of the scary things is just how much the fast food and restaurant food industry has changed our culture. On average we now spend 61% of our food budget on restaurant food. And then there is the new meal kit services. While many of these are designed to be a healthier choice than eating out, just consider the cost. On average, a meal kit is going to cost about $7 per serving. With two people that is $1,260 per month. I spend less than half of that in a month to feed three people and we eat well. So, I don’t understand why everyone eats so much fast food and restaurant food all the time. 

Now I commonly work in several different locations because of the type of work I do.  I know for a fact that I make at least twice as much as the average staff person that I work with.  I almost always cook at home and bring in left overs. Yet, I commonly see the staff eat at least 2 meals per day of fast food.  I cannot even imagine what their food budget is.

Yet the fast food industry is so popularized and of course cheap. But we are slowly committing genocide and we are doing it voluntarily. 

Here are some of the affects of eating fast food: 

Weight gain of course: fast food and processed foods are filled with salt, sugar, which results in weight gain. Yet it is this added salt and sugar that makes the taste so appealing. As I noted earlier, 71% of American adults are now either over weight or obese. One third of children age 6 to 19 are obese. 

Increased salt intake: This can increase your frequency of headaches as well as elevate your blood pressure.  

Heart disease and stroke: fast foods and processed foods are loaded with empty calories and trans fats. This can cause elevated cholesterol and increased blood pressure which are two of the top risk factors for heart disease and stroke. 

Insulin resistance: fast food and processed food are loaded with empty calories. This can cause frequent spikes in blood glucose, which can lead to insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes.  

Depression: Fast food may satisfy your hunger, but persistent consumption has some other not so good side affects. People who eat fast food and processed food regularly are 51% more likely to develop depression as compared to those who do not eat these foods or eat very little of them. 

There seems to be a correlation between the increased incidence of obesity and the growth of the fast food industry in our culture. The number of fast food restaurants in our country has doubled since 1970 and the rate of obesity has more than doubled since that time. 

Okay, enough of that business. Let’s talk shear facts. 

The known reality is that most chronic diseases that afflict Americans are lifestyle related. The vast amount of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented if people would just simply develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

It is currently believed that eating fast food and processed foods kills more people prematurely than even smoking. And according to one study I reviewed, a link may even exist between fast food, processed food, commercially baked good and sweets and the destruction of brain cells and the lowering of intelligence.  

And it gets worst. If you combine the statistics between over weight and obese adults AND children, the total is actually over 80% of our population.  And of the few percent that are normal weight, the majority of the so-called normal weight individuals are smokers, suffer from alcoholism, drug addition and other dependencies, have autoimmune disease, chronic inflammatory disorders, digestive disorders, and multiple other things that tend to lower their body weight. And there is a connection between eating refined foods, processed foods, fast foods and mental illness. 

So, are you getting the picture here. We have all this information available to us, all of these health professionals telling us not to do what we are doing yet we are still committing voluntary genocide. 

Now if that is not enough, let’s talk about the environmental affects of not only the fast food industry but the total global affect of our food production.  Because, if you are not concerned about your health at least think about the planet. 

Now I really just going to hit some highlights here because there is far too much information to convey is this short episode. I pulled some of this information from an article title “The Environmental Affects of Food Production. This article was first published in January 2020 so the information is current and relevant. I do have a link to this article in the transcript for this podcast.

Now this article is lengthy but the information it contains is really quite startling. If you want sort of a high level view of this date, this article contains a number of graphs and other visual presentations that are really quite revealing. It may be well be worth your time to take 30 minutes or so to review this article.

Anyway, here we go, and I am quoting directly from this article. 

Our global food production lies at the heart of tackling climate change, reducing water pollution, and restoring forest and grass lands back to a natural state, and protecting wildlife. 

Here is why: 

-Food production accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

-Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. Of that agricultural land use, 77% of that is used for livestock. Yet that livestock only provides 18% of the world’s calories and 37% of the total protein. 

Now there are a couple of ways to make a meaningful comparison. You have to compare both land use per kilogram of   food product and land use per calories produced in each food product.  In both cases, lamb, mutton, and beef herds by far use more land than any other meat product. And by the way, I was happy to see that poultry and egg products use only a small fraction of land and resources because I do in fact raise chickens and turkeys. 

Now, here is something really interesting that I learned from this article. You often hear that from a sustainable prospective that it is better to eat local. Turns out, that is not true. What matters most is what you eat and not necessarily where it comes from. And this is because the transportation of food products actually results in a very small percentage of carbon emissions compared to resulting carbon emission from producing the food in the first place. 

So, what this means is that plant based food products, and meat products such as pork and poultry have a far less environmental impact than beef and mutton. So the bottom line is that if you want to reduce the carbon foot print of your food, focus on what you eat and not on whether the food is local. I know that goes against so much of what we have all heard. But I tell you this was a learning issue for me as well.  

But the reality here is that meat based food production is not going to go away any time soon. 

-70% of the global fresh water is used for agriculture

Once again, if you look at water usage needed to produce a pound of protein or a specific unit of calorie production, pork, poultry, eggs and plant based proteins uses far fewer resource. 

-78% of ocean and fresh water contamination is caused by agriculture

-94% of global mammal biomass, excluding humans, is livestock. What this means is that livestock outweigh wild animals by a factor of 15 to 1. And of the 28,000 species evaluated to be threatened with extinction, agriculture and aquaculture is listed as a threat for 24,000 of them

So, the bottom line here is two fold. 

Obviously fast food and processed foods are bad for our health. But, the production of these foods also produces a significant environmental impact. 

But, only the other side of the coin positive changes are also two fold. Adopting a more nutritious and healthy diet is better for your health and also better for the environment. 

But, numerous studies, including those published by the United Nations, obviously point out that eating more plant based foods is healthier and also leads to more sustainable agriculture and prevents environmental degradation. 

Foods that have the lowest environmental impact are whole grain cereals, nuts, vegetables, fruits, legumes, and olive oil. And it is these very foods that are associated with improved health. On the opposite end of the spectrum, foods that lead to detrimental health conditions such as obesity, heart attack, stroke, and premature death are fast foods, processed foods, and red meat. 

In so many ways, all the junk food, fast food, and refined or processed foods that we consume daily is voluntary genocide. Once again, it is the lifestyle I call Fast and Fatal. 

So, the question remains as to how we can change this. 

-First of all, from a practical perspective, the global production of meat from the cattle industry is not going to stop. In fact, this may not even be practical. However, some forms of beef are more sustainable than others. For example, dairy cattle slaughtered for meat production have served a dual purpose, that being milk and other dairy products as well as meat. 

Bottom line, obtaining your protein from meat has the greatest environmental impact. But of all the meat based sources, pork,  poultry, and eggs have the lowest impact.  

But, if you add more protein into your diet from plant sources because the agriculture required to product plant based proteins has significantly less environmental impact. It is not difficult to mix a small amount of meat with a plant based protein in order to produce a balanced protein. Not only is this healthier, but it also reduces your meat consumption thus reducing your environmental impact.

-Add more variety to your diet. 75% of the world’s food supply comes from just 12 plants and 5 animal species. When you think about that, a lack of variety in agriculture is both bad for the environment and is actually a threat to food security. Greater diversity in our diets in not only healthier but also adds to the variety of agriculture.  

-If you want to eat fish, make sure it comes from a sustainable source. Remember, aquaculture is one of the sources or pressure on wild species. 

-Cut your food waste. I discussed in one of my previous episodes about the amount of food waste in the United States. If I remember correctly, almost 1/3 of our food supply is wasted. 

-Pass on the plastic: Oh boy, I’ve said this over and over again. Take reusable shopping bags to the supermarket. Change to products with less plastic packaging. Make some of your own products at home and avoid plastics all together. 

-Eat seasonally: Whenever possible, eat fruits and vegetables that are locally grown.  This minimizes your environmental impact. Remember, that eating meat produced locally still has significantly more impact on the planet. 

-Grow your own food: This is why I have a 600 square foot greenhouse at an elevation of10,000 feet.

-Stop eating fast food. I know it is a convenience. But the very production of the resources that go into fast food has the greatest environmental impact. Not only that, but the transportation, the emissions produced during preparations and the constant waste production from take out food is enormous. Not to mention all the detrimental affects on your health. 

-Cook more meals at home.  Now I know what most of you are going to say. “I am too busy.” You know, when I was doing my doctorate program, often times I was at the teaching hospital from 6 am to 10 pm and I was constantly studying at home. After graduation, for a number of years, I worked 70 plus hours a week. Yet during that time, I seldom ate restaurant food. That is a habit I continue even to this day. So, it can be done. 

-Okay, last tip. Get online and search for sustainability apps. There are a number of applications out there that evaluate 100s of 1000s of products. These apps will help get you steered in the right direction. 

In fact, that is your challenge for this week. Download a sustainability app to your phone and take a step in the right direction.  

Now in closing, I want to answer a few questions about myself. Because I think some of you may be asking, well, what the heck does this guy do??

-Do I eat fast food or restaurant food? Yes I do. But it is maybe once a month, if that. 

-Am I a vegetarian? Absolutely not. I actually grew up with 2 working farm in my family.  

-Do I eat beef? Yes I do. I truly enjoy a good steak. But that is only once or twice a month when I used to eat beef almost every day. We do raise our own chickens and turkeys. So, our meat actually is a combination of chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, elk, venison, and a small amount of beef.  

Certainly, I have stated in past episodes that despite how and where I live, I am not perfect. But I have also stated that even I am learning more and more about all the implications of sustainability as I research and produce these episodes. I thought I was really good at it. But, I am finding out there is so much more I can do. It is a journey similar to converting to a zero waste lifestyle. You have to start somewhere and it takes time. 

Remember once again, I have links to numerous resources for further reading in the transcript for this episode.  

In closing folks, a Fast and Fatal Lifestyle is not sustainable. The effects are two fold: bad health and bad for the environment. But it is possible to build a better future by choosing any one of the tips I’ve provided above and incorporate it into your lifestyle.

Okay that is it for now folks. Again, if you enjoy this material then subscribe to my podcast the Adventures in Sustainable Living, as well as my blog, offgridlivingnews.com  

This is your host Patrick signing off. Remember, always live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.

Article Links

The Affects of Fast Food on the Body

The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food

The Affects of the American Diet on Health 

Average Food Spending Tops 10% of Income

The Environmental Impact of Unhealthy Food

How Does Fast Food Impact the Environment?

The Environmental Impacts of Food Production 

The Total Foot Print of Our Food System