Prince Fielder Gets Ribbed, But Remains Vegetarian
Several months ago, at the start of the baseball season, I wrote an article indicating that a major league baseball player, Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers, had gone vegetarian. Yesterday was the mid-way point in the Brewers’ season, so I thought we should check and see how Mr. Fielder has been performing thus far this season. As you may recall, Fielder became a vegetarian after his wife Chanel, had showed him Kim Barnouin’s and Rory Freedman’s book, Skinny Bitch
Major league baseball maintains very detailed statistics, making it easy to see how a player or team has performed during one season versus previous seasons. They keep stat on as to the number of hits during the day, at night, at home, on the road, in the division, in interleague play, against left hand pitcher, against right hand pitchers, etc. We’ll just look at Fielders basic stats, his batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.
So how well has Fielder performed thus far this season as compared to previous seasons? According to his mid season stats, I guess you would have to say that he is not performing quite as well – especially as compared to last season. This season, Fielder got off to a very slow start. He didn’t his first home run until April 17th, nearly three weeks into the season. His batting average (the number of base hits that he gets as a percentage of his official at bat appearances) had also suffered. Three weeks into the season, he was hitting only .215.
Something certainly seemed to be impacting his strength and his overall hitting skills. Early in the year, Fielder took a lot of “ribbing” (pun intended) from the media and fans alike, linking his new diet to his poor stats. However, now that we have reached the mid point of the season, he stats have improved. Fielder is a third year player. In his first pro season, he batted .271 with 28 home runs and 81 runs batted in (rbis). Last year, he had a phenomenal season. He batted .288, while hitting a massive 50 home runs, and had 119 rbis.
So far this year, Fielder has batted .271 with 16 homers and 42 rbis. If you extrapolate that out over an entire season, he is a pace to hit 32 home runs, drive in 84 runs, and hit batting average is .271 as it was back in 2006. These stats are right in line with his rookie season’s stats. However, they fall far shy of his monster stats from last year. Can this be attributed to his new vegetarian diet? Perhaps. Were last year’s stats an anomaly? Perhaps. Have pitchers figured out how to pitch to him? Perhaps. Are there other mitigating circumstances? Perhaps. People will continue to speculate and argue about this. In my mind, there is no definitive answer.
Fielder has the capability to go on a tear and dramatically increase his home run production in the second half of this season. If he gets his home run numbers close to that 50 total from last season, it would likely quiet those who argue that there is no place for a meatless diet in baseball.
There continue to be conflicting arguments within the medical profession as to whether a meatless diet is acceptable for athletes. Some doctors feel that a vegetarian diet is not optimal, as people may not accumulate some of the valuable micronutrients such as zinc and iron, and that soy proteins in males may increase their estrogen levels, adversely affecting their testosterone levels. Other doctors argue that a well-planned vegetarian diet will satisfy people’s nutritional needs. They indicate that as long as muscles are receiving protein, it doesn’t matter where it (the protein) comes from – whether is be animal or plant derived, and that a plant based diet can meet the increased nutritional needs of the professional athlete. As I mentioned in a previous article, there are many successful vegetarian and vegan professional athletes.
Regardless, if Fielder, a 270-pound professional athlete, finishes this season with stats that are similar to last year’s, it would be a boon to vegetarianism. There would be another celebrated figure bringing awareness to the public that meat free nutrition is a reasonable, acceptable alternative to a meat laden diet. Will vegetarianism or even veganism become mainstream? That’s unlikely in the near term, but it certainly seems to be gaining momentum.
Go Fielder!
Vegan Danish
Hi All, it's Jane writing today - post day for the Daring Bakers. This month's challenge was a Danish Braid. As some of you may have realized, I begged off last month's challenge, an Opera Cake. My fellow Alternative DBs did the challenge proud; however, I simply couldn't face another buttercream. But the waiting was worth it, I was thrilled with this month's offering. Lane has always loved pastry, however, that's been off the menu for us since we've been vegan. I'm sure the vegan bakeries in Los Angeles have plenty of pastry options, however, we're not really near any of them, and don't need to be making special trips for goodies. 
I always suspected that pastry would be something easy to "veganize," after all, my pie crust hasn't suffered a bit in the transition. I had just never tried pastry before. I made the assumption that it would be incredibly difficult to make. I was wrong. It's time consuming, but fun.
I'd gotten a sense of security from all the posts on the alternative DB board. Most of the vegan bakers seemed to have a positive experience. The gluten-free people had a tougher time of it, as you can imagine! But most people were reporting successes, even if the process wasn't textbook perfect. So when I actually started laminating my dough (a technique where you roll "butter" into the dough) I was surprized that I didn't have any of the difficulties I'd read about and expected -- dough too sticky, butter exploding out of the dough... Everything went swimmingly, my single folds and double book folds were almost perfectly aligned. Not bad for a first try! I left the dough in the fridge overnight and went to bed.
Today I needed to assemble the filling, roll out the dough, fill and braid, and bake. We were supposed to fill one braid with an apple concoction and the other with the filling of our choice. I bought the Fuji's as directed, even though they're not in season here now. They didn't taste as sweet as usual, and I wasn't really happy with the apple filling. So, for the second braid, I used a triple berry jam, and vegan cream cheese. This was a very satisfying pastry to make. I enjoyed the process, I enjoyed the end results. But it's not something you're going to throw together a few minutes before you're company is coming!
We shared this with our omnivorous cousins, and they loved it. They asked me to make it with blueberries next time. I was also thinking it might be good with the lemon curd from the vegan lemon meringue pie we made in the January challenge... (Lane's liking that idea.)
I will definitely make this recipe again, but I'll make a few changes. The recipe directed us to mix the dough for 5 minutes after incorporating all the ingredients. I've never done that before in making any type of dough. I'm not an expert, but I thought you weren't supposed to "overmix" as you make things too tough. My dough was a tad chewy, so next time, I will only mix until things are incorporated. Also, I don't think the orange zest/juice in the dough recipe added anything to the pastry, so I'll omit them next time as well, and maybe the cardamom too. They added a nice taste to the pastry, but I made croissant with the leftover dough, and that didn't work. And finally, if I have the time, I'll try to make individual danishes. I'm really glad Kelly and Ben selected this recipe as our challenge. I would have never tried to make this on my own, and now I have a wonderful new dessert in my repertoire.
Note: I skipped the egg wash (of course), so my pastry wasn't shiny. No one missed it!
-- Cheers, Jane
Eggs-traneous Ingredients
Tonight Jane and I went out for Thai food. We've eaten at this particular restaurant a number of times, and are fairly confident we're getting a vegan meal - as long as we specify that we want no eggs, and no meat. We know we need to do that regardless of the menu description because they tend to use a lot of egg and some kind of dried shredded pork or shredded fish product in Thai cooking, at least in the Thai restaurants we frequent.
After a rather busy day for both of us, we were tired. We knew what we wanted, and so we ordered our favorite dishes... Pineapple fried rice, no meat; Pineapple Curry; and Glass Noodle Deluxe - Tofu. No meat. Do you see our mistake? We missed it!
Everything arrived and looked lovely. We were very hungry, and so we dug in. About halfway into our meal, we noticed there was egg in both the Pineapple Fried Rice and the Glass Noodle. And we both looked at each
other with dismay. We'd forgotten to specify "no egg" when we placed our order.
This was our dilemma: the eggs had been "consumed," regardless of whether or not we ate the egg, it was already incorporated into the meal. (And good luck trying to get bits of fried egg out of a fried rice dish!) If it had been the restaurant's error, we would have returned the meal, to make the point (and because we would have specifically ordered "no egg"). But this was our mistake. So we talked about it for awhile and decided to continue eating. Why? Because the eggs were used and the restaurant had depleted their inventory by one or two eggs. Even if we'd felt comfortable returning the dishes (we'd eaten more than half, and it was our mistake), the eggs were still "consumed." So we continued eating, and even brought home the leftovers.
Regardless of where we're eating (unless it's a vegan restaurant), we typically tell our servers we're vegan, and specify "no milk, no egg, no meat, no butter" when we are ordering our meals. We like to eat out, and we know our servers aren't going to necessarily know the ingredients in everything we question them about. So we make our most informed choices and hope for the best. But we're often taking a leap of faith that the bread we're being served has no milk or egg, and that when we've asked for our meal to be prepared with oil not butter, we're actually getting it prepared that way. We also ask for more vegan options at restaurants we frequent, either by asking our server or manager directly, or dashing off an email if the restaurant's particularly busy. We've even had some success getting restaurants to carry more vegan items. (Or rather, us and whomever else might have been asking for the same thing.)
We are vegan at home, and we strive to be vegan outside our home. We never knowingly order a non-vegan meal, except for that occasional slice of pizza we're still planning on eating when we're in NY. Unfortunately, we're fairly confident that occasionally we wind up with something vegetarian, whether we know it or not. So this was our conclusion, in the instances where it's their error, we will return the meal because it's not what we ordered. In the instances where it's our error, we will eat the meal, and make a note of how to request the meal for the next time, or we will never go back.
How do you handle these situations?
More Reasons Not To Eat Pork
I used to be an avid fan of The Simpsons. I still like the show, and watch the reruns often, but I don't watch it nearly as much as I used to. That doesn't stop me from quoting the show however. One of my favorite quotes is from the Episode "Lisa The Vegetarian."
Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.
Most of my friends and family members are omnivorous. Many of them believe they are doing the "right" thing by eating organic foods. I've put right in quotations, because right is a subjective term, and organic is perceived as being a better choice than conventionally produced foods. However, it appears this isn't necessarily the case, for pork at least.
“Animal-friendly, outdoor farms tend to have a higher occurrence of Salmonella, as well as higher rates of parasitic disease,” said lead study author Wondwossen Gebreyes, associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University.
Site: The PigSite.com
Wondwossen Gebreyes and colleagues at Ohio State University in Columbus tested US pigs for antibodies - telltale signs of infection - to pathogens that can also affect humans. They found traces of Salmonella in 39 per cent of pigs raised in standard indoor pens and routinely given antibiotics, but in 54 per cent of organic pigs raised outdoors without the drugs.
This poses a dilemma, says Gebreyes: giving pigs routine antibiotics favours antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but not giving them drugs means more animals carry Salmonella, which causes a million cases of food poisoning a year in the US alone.
Site: New Scientist Magazine
It gets even better... Gebreyes' team found traces of Toxoplasma in 7 percent of free-range animals but only 1 percent of conventional pigs. They also found two organic pigs infected with Trichinella. This is particularly troubling as Trichinella is virtually non-existent in livestock in the the US and Europe, although it is still found in wildlife populations. Finding this parasite in two pigs of the 600 tested is 23 times its average frequency in US pigs.
Any way you slice it, it looks like the "magical animal" isn't so wonderful. If you eat conventionally raised pork, you are contributing the overuse of antibiotics, pollution, and a more inhumane treatment of animals (among other things). If you eat "organic" pork, you are potentially exposing yourself to bacterial infection, contributing to the contamination of groundwater with pathogens such as Salmonella, and contributing to a slightly less inhumane treatment of pigs (among other things). The costs of eating meat are simply too high.
More On Tomatoes and Salmonella
Over the last few weeks we've been hearing about salmonella in our tomatoes. Here's some more news that's disconcerting. Apparently washing produce doesn't necessarily remove salmonella. According to Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer, if a tomato is warm and the water rolling over its surface is cold, then the fruit will absorb that water through any opening in the skin including the stem scar. If there is salmonella present on the tomato skin, it can enter the fleshy part of the tomato and the bacteria multiplies. Ms. Neergaard suggests we should wash our tomatoes, but not in cold water.
To guard against salmonella washed into the water in turn being sucked into the tomatoes, producers often keep wash-water 10 degrees warmer than the incoming crop, says food-safety scientist Keith Schneider of the University of Florida...
In fact, salmonella may be particularly hard to prevent in a variety of crops because birds, reptiles and amphibians carry it - the same reason children should wash their hands after handling a turtle, iguana or frog. The tomato industry's guidelines already advise surrounding fields with bare soil "buffer zones" to discourage reptiles.
This is the 14th salmonella outbreak associated with tomatoes since 1990.
The FDA has launched a Tomato Safety Initiative to learn more about how salmonella gets onto and inside tomatoes. Industry practices in Virginia and Florida (the origin of several previous outbreaks) are being studied and Florida's agriculture department will begin enforcing so-called "tomato best practices" on July 1st. The FDA is also asking for the authority to set preventative controls for growers and suppliers of foods linked to repeated outbreaks of serious illness, such as tomatoes and leafy greens. Congress hasn't yet acted on that request.
Ms. Neergaard doesn't mention groundwater contamination as an issue, as discussed in this New Scientist article:
The bacteria probably come from groundwater contaminated with animal faeces, he says. Once Salmonella gets on and into a tomato, the fruit acts like an incubator. Bacteria divide even in the cool temperatures of packing houses. "If you get a few samples into the internal tissue, then they will grow for sure."
At the moment there don't seem to be any clear cut answers as to how to prevent this from happening. But for now, wash your tomatoes in warm water.
Arguing for Vegetarianism
Over the weekend I read an interesting post by Eric Marcus at Vegan.com. He writes that it is very important for the vegan community to be accurate when talking to meat eaters about why they should go veggie. He is specifically talking about the environmental impacts of eating meat. We've certainly been on that bandwagon... we've written about eating vegan for the environment on a few occasions already. Marcus wrote his post after reading an article by John Harris in The Guardian which discusses how people are converting to vegetarianism as a way to end human hunger. The current food crisis is underlining how inefficient it is to use grain to feed animals, which in turn produces a smaller amount of meat for human consumption, instead of using that grain to feed humans directly. (Not to mention the issues of water usage, environmental pollution, land usage, etc. also directly related to feeding humans.)
However, what I learned in reading Marcus' post is that information (regarding the inefficiencies of producing meat versus producing vegetables), which we have also shared with people, is not entirely correct. Apparently raising chickens has the same impact to the environment as raising vegetables:
...I’d be surprised if producing a calorie of chicken requires greater land use than that required for a calorie of vegetables. I worry that if people buy into the argument laid out by Harris without understanding that chicken(s) are ridiculously efficient compared to other farmed animals, there will be a backlash against vegetarianism down the road when people realize that this is the case. We can’t afford to trick people into going veggie, and that means not only giving people pro-veggie info, but also the information we wish wasn’t true.
I do agree with Marcus. People should be given all the facts, and be allowed to make their own decisions. However, when you throw in the argument as to how horrifically chickens are raised, and this includes the "free range" chickens as well, there is no excuse to eat poultry or eggs, efficient or not. Of course, in this time and place, that is your choice. It is not a crime for chickens to be treated the way they are (even if it should be), nor is a crime to eat poultry or eggs.
But what I found most interesting in all this is the idea John Harris presented, that we vegans could use "human benefit" as an argument to eat vegan. It's happened to most of us at one time or another -- when discussing veganism with an omnivore, we've been challenged. Why do we care so much about animal rights when horrific things are being done to humans? There is a clearcut answer to that argument. 850 million people are starving. People are starving so that other people can eat meat. If we all ate vegan, far fewer people would starve.
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I think I'm in love. Okay, I'm in love with Lane, but you all know that already. He's my husband after all. Today I'm going to talk about my "new" love. Quinoa
Normally I try to follow a recipe exactly as written the first time I'm making it. Especially when it's something new. But it was hot, and I was tired and I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. So, I winged it a bit. I had the basic ingredients for the dressing -- I subbed lemon juice for lime, and mandarin orange juice (from the can of mandarin oranges) for orange juice. But everything else remained the same. The added ingredients were another story however.
Typically we either eat out on Friday's or we have some kind of mish mash thrown together dinner with whatever produce is left over from the week. (Saturday morning we religiously go to our local farmers market.) I had the corn, but no peppers (they never make it a whole week). So, instead of peppers I threw in steamed asparagus. That was kind of boring though and I had no other fresh produce on hand. To spice things up, I added mandarin orange slices, artichoke hearts, and some sun dried tomatoes. I'll probably skip the sun dried tomatoes next time, but this dish is a winner. And since quinoa
-- Cheers, Jane
Silk-y, Chocolate-y Goodness
Jane and I have become addicted to Silk's Light Chocolate Milk. We probably go through a half gallon every week or two. It's our "dessert." Someone even suggested to us that it makes a great hot chocolate, although it's been too hot to try it since we heard the suggestion. We've tried a whole slew of the silk products over the last 11 months, this is our favorite. (I really like the Silk Mocha beverage too.)
So we were in Whole Foods recently and they had a private-brand Soy Chocolate Soymilk product. It was $3.69 for a ½-gallon container. We pay $3.50 for the Light Silk at Ralph's. (Yes, that is the name of one of our grocery chains... if you don't believe me, google it!) We decided it was time for a taste test. We brought both containers home with us, and today was the day.
The winner was the Silk Brand Light Chocolate Milk, by far. We poured a glass of each. The Silk product was darker and thicker than the Whole Foods - 365 brand. It also had a more chocolate-y taste than the 365 brand, and a better overall mouth-feel. And it also won in the nutritional category, at least for the things we look at, although that may not be fair as the Silk Chocolate Soymilk we consume is the "Light" chocolate milk.
The nutritional information stacks up as follows (The Silk Light Chocolate Soymilk // 365-Brand Chocolate Soymilk):
- 120 calories // 150 calories
- 1.5 grams of fat // 3.5 grams of fat
- 0 grams saturated fat // 0.5 grams saturated fat
- 22 grams carbohydrate // 24 grams carbohydrate
- 5 grams protein // 7 grams protein
- 100 mg sodium // 170 mg sodium
So, as far as I'm concerned the 365-brand is okay, but if you can get the Silk Light Chocolate Soymilk, it's a better product. Jane actually disliked the 365-brand and wouldn't have it again.
ESPN Says Vegetarian / Vegan Athletes Make the Grade
Yesterday, ESPN offered an article entitled, "Who says you have to eat meat to be a successful athlete?" In this article they discuss a few of the various vegetarian and vegan athletes. If you need to convince people that vegan eating is a healthy option, this is good article to reference. With the exception of Prince Fielder (and it may be too early to weigh in on his progress), they're all thriving. The ESPN article does point out that you can thrive on a vegan diet (just make sure it's a healthy vegan diet, not a junkfood diet).
The article profiles:
- Prince Fielder, Baseball -- made the switch for ethical reasons. Unfortunately, his stats aren't quite as good as they were last year when he was a meat eater. His batting average is consistent with last year, but his power numbers are off somewhat. However, he went 2 for 3 tonight and hit his 13th home run of the year. I'm sure we wont' be the only ones keeping an eye on his progress....
- Tony Gonzalez, Football -- changed his eating after being diagnosed with Bell's Palsey, and a subsequent health scare. After moving to a produce-based diet, he had a stellar year: 99 catches - 2nd highest of his career, and 1,172 receiving yards - 3rd highest his career.
- Mac Danzig, Mixed Martial Arts -- went vegan in 2004, after a gradual progression. Attributes his quicker recoveries from the beatings he takes during his fights to his vegan diet.
- Pat Neshek, Baseball -- switched over to a meatless diet gradually. Until he tore a ligament (ulnar collateral) he was averaging more than one strikeout per inning.
- Scott Jurek, Ultra-Marathon Runner - began removing meat from his diet in 1999. Like Danzig, he too attributes his easier recovery times to his vegan diet.
Below are my two favorite quotes from this article.
Mac Danzig had this to say:
"My whole philosophy is not that it's bad necessarily -- we are omnivores, with the ability to survive on both. But in this day and age, I don't want to contribute to the meat and dairy industries if it's not necessary. That's not just for the animals. It's for the Earth, too."
Scott Jurek:
"It's really not that hard once you get things down," he said. "You just have to be a little creative. Sometimes you may not find a great vegetarian protein source in a restaurant -- no tofu, for instance. So you can do something like add chick peas to salad. Ethnic foods are good, too. Mexican beans, Asian tofu, Indian lentils. [To] some people it's this weird diet. But most grocery stores have a plethora of foods. Just keep variety in your diet, and you'll be good."
If they can thrive, anyone can.
Oprah’s 21 Day Cleanse, A Recap
Welcome back to OprahBits.com. It appears she finished her cleanse. Things were looking a little bleak last week, she seemed to be having a little difficulty and wasn't blogging as much, so there was speculation that she might drop the program. Kudos to her and her staff for sticking it out.
I've been writing about Oprah's 21-day cleanse from a vegan perspective. In reality, I should have described the cleanse more. It wasn't just animal products that Oprah removed from her diet. She also abstained from alcohol, gluten, caffeine, and sugar. Interestingly, what seemed to be most challenging thing for Oprah was the alcohol, she mentions it often.
Day 21…yes, I want some wine. Bordeaux 82. Just one glass at sunset, almost broke down and had a glass. I didn't, mostly because of my commitment to fellow VCTers. Tomorrow, Scarlet…tomorrow is another day. That's my mantra for now.
Overall, it seems Oprah and her group didn't have much difficulty with the vegan aspect of the cleanse. There were one or two posts where she complained about lentils, and she did miss the 2-week-loaner vegan chef they had at the beginning of the cleanse. One day she blogged about missing chips and soda, as a coping strategy. Good news Oprah, you can still have those if you're a vegan! You won't necessarily be healthy, but you can eat them if you want them!
By day four, she wrote:
I just cleaned my dinner plate, down to the last grain of brown rice left under my oh-so-deliciously seasoned soy chicken. I can not believe how tasty, spicy and wonderful it all was. I'm ever more surprised at how I don't miss anything and feel so satisfied at every meal. Bravo to Tal! By Day 4, I'm usually climbing the walls or craving sweets—or ready to throw in the towel on any other diet plan.
Unfortunately, she unwittingly slipped up. One day she blogged about Morningstar Veggie Sausages. There are no sausages on the Morningstar Farms Vegan Product list. (Thanks to Eric, for pointing that out in comments #5.)
So, how did her 21 days turn out?
What I know for sure is I've reached a new level of awareness about food, eating and the whole process of how it gets to my table. I used to say thanks before a meal out of perfunctory habit. Now I consider it true grace to be able to eat anything in a world of increasing food shortages and starving people.
This has been exactly what we intended: enlightening. I will forever be a more cautious and conscious eater. That's my commitment for now. To stay awakened.
Doesn't mean I'm committed to veganism…but I am thinking about what I eat and why. And from that I can never turn back.
You know, I'm happy with that. It would have been nice if she had awakened to veganism as a way of life, but Jane commented that she'd probably never give up her shoes! Seriously though, she has exposed many people to the possibility of eating meatless, and proven that it doesn't have to be an imposition. That may be the best we could have hoped for.
