Superfoods - Part II: Honoring Animals for Concentrating Nutrition

This is a continuation of my post, Superfoods - Part I: Luxuries or Necessities?


When examining a list of Superfoods (fish eggs, organ meats, cream, shellfish, etc.) it quickly becomes apparent that all of these foods come from animals. There are a lot of myths surrounding the health benefits of vegetarianism, and one of the big ones is that you can "get everything you need from vegetable sources." Well, the short and simple answer is: you can't. In fact, any reputable (if they can be called that) vegan information source will tell you that you need to fortify your diet with B12. The real deal is that vegans will need to take far more supplements, like omega-3 oils, vitamin A and D, iron, and calcium, to name a few, in order to maintain their health. There are pills that one can take for all of these things, but the best sources, that are most efficiently utilized by our bodies, are from animals.

There is plenty of vegetarian and vegan media that claims that no animal sourced or synthesized supplementation is necessary, but their theories rarely hold up to scrutiny. For example, I often hear it claimed that flax seed oil is a good source of omega-3. Unfortunately, it is not. Flax seed oil is rich in the omega-3 oil alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), but lacks the other omega-3's eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Our bodies, especially our brains, have an absolute need for EPA and DHA. This means that we cannot function without these fats. It is possible, in a healthy body, for ALA can be converted in to EPA or DHA, but not in the amounts that are necessary to maintain optimal functioning and certainly will not be adequate for a growing fetus (don't get me started on vegan pregnancy). On the other hand, fish oils, like cod liver oil or seal oil, are rich in EPA and DHA. Another ready example is the myth that plants are a good source of iron. In reality, it is difficult for our body to utilize the iron from plants, but heme iron, from animals, is readily available.

While our bodies can convert small amounts of nutrients from plants into usable forms (i.e. converting beta-carotene to vitamin A), many animals can do this much more efficiently. They are able to convert and concentrate these nutrients into quantities that are not available in plants. Also, the protozoa in the gut of ruminants (like sheep or cows) are able to convert plant oils into saturated fat. This is a very good thing. There is a lot of bad information out there on fats, which will be a subject for another post, but right now you need to know that saturated fat is necessary for the absorption of vitamins and minerals. In fact, saturated fat is so crucial to digestion that it is possible to starve if one's diet is lacking. A famous example of this was Randolph Marcy's 1856 expedition to Wyoming. While attempting to cross snowy mountains, the explorers ran out of provisions and were forced to eat their pack animals that were also in a starved condition. Marcy wrote this about the experience in his book, The Prairie Traveler.

"We tried the meat of horse, colt, and mules, all of which were in a starved condition, and of course not very tender, juicy, and nutritious. We consumed the enormous amount of from five to six pounds of this meat per man daily, but continued to grow weak and thin, until, at the expiration of twelve days, we were able to perform but little labor, and were continually craving for fat meat."

Even though the explorers were consuming a huge amount of meat, their bodies could not utilize the food because there was no fat to allow digestion. They were on their way to starvation.

I empathize with vegans' desires to walk the path of least harm and not cause any animal to suffer. I emphatically agree that animals should be treated humanely. However, the assertion that killing animals for food is morally wrong, is foolishly simple and dangerously ignorant. This theory only holds up if one believes that it is possible to survive off of plants alone. As you know, I heartily disagree with this theory. I believe that we are suffering from serious nutritional deficiencies. Animal foods and Superfoods are especially important for us in our era of devitalized and processed food. It is up to each one of us to end the cycle of deficiency in ourselves and in our children. We can do this by adopting the traditional diets of indigenous people, especially the practice of utilizing Superfoods during childhood, pre-conception, pregnancy, and lactation. The vegan diet dooms us and our children to poor health and that is unethical.

I think the simplest way to understand Superfoods and honor animals is to recognize all of the work that animals do for us. They convert beta carotene, plant iron, plant oils and numerous other nutrients into forms that are usable by our human bodies. Not only are they providing us with available nutrients, but they are also concentrating these nutrients into the amounts that humans (and other omnivores and carnivores) need to maintain optimum health. There is a certain justice to the fact that, generally, mistreated animals are significantly less nutritious to eat. Choosing Superfoods from conscientious farmers and sustainable fisheries is key.