Michigan Meatout Day? At first I thought this was a joke when I found a link to it on Facebook (from a Michigan State student comment on a page of someone I follow). But it’s right there on Governor Granholm’s website. And it’s for March 20 which is National Ag Day! I would urge everyone to let her know what you think about this idea. Hmm. I wonder who could be behind this? You can click on the image for a larger one.
I called the office and constituent line both at approximately 5:15pm eastern time but they had gone for the day. I thought it odd that the phone just rings. No answering machine or service I guess. Is that normal? I called the Washington, DC office and someone did answer who told me to call the constituents line. She said they must have gone for the day and to call them tomorrow which I will try to do.
Here’s what the Governor’s resolution says:
Michigan Meatout Day
Whereas, A wholesome diet of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains promotes good health and reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, which take the lives of approximately 1.3 million Americans each year; and,
Whereas, The number of those who choose to live the lifestyle of a vegan or vegetarian has increased and so has the availability and selection of meat and dairy alternatives in mainstream grocery stores, restaurants, and catering operations; and,
Whereas, Reducing the consumption of meat or not eating meat at all can significantly decrease the exposure to infectious pathogens such as salmonella, E. coli, and campylobacter, which take the lives of several thousand Americans and sicken millions more each year; and,
Whereas, The benefits of a plant-based diet can consist of increased energy levels, lower food budget costs, and simplified food preparation and cleanup; and,
Whereas, It is encouraged that the residents of this state get into the habit of healthy living by consuming a diet that is rich with vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, and by staying active;
Now, Therefore, be it Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, governor of the state of Michigan, do hereby proclaim March 20, 2010, Michigan Meatout Day in Michigan. In observance of this day, I encourage the residents of this state to choose not to eat meat. Eating a healthy diet can be fun. Explore the different recipes that can be created by using fresh ingredients and by having a sense of adventure.
So she says, “I encourage the residents of this state to choose not to eat meat.” Is she vegan? What do Michigan’s farmers and ranchers think of this?
I thought humans were at the top of the food chain. But I guess the governor knows best.
I’m thinking a LotteryOut day in retaliation would be good.
Ioan,
Are you 5’0″ and weigh 100 lbs. even while eating meat and vegetables and fruit and junk food? I eat 3 meals a day and in between and I do not excercise or run. I have been tested for thyroid problems and all come back negative. So, no I guarantee you I would not survive without meat.
And I just do not understand where you all are coming from when you say that I need to do more research on the topics. That’s all I do. I go to school 9 months out of the year and exclusively study livestock. Can you say the same for yourself?
And you provided no counter argument against anything I said.
Do you also “send my congratulation to such a visionary Governor.” for taking away the Michigan Promise Scholarship. Yeah, do great on your MEAPs kids, we’ll give you a scholarship because you are the hope of our state. HAHAHAHA I guess that was a slap in the face for all of us college students and past high school students who worked our butts off to do well because we had some incentive, and what happened to our scholarship…ripped out from under us, yeah great governor and person.
“explored by man with so much cruelty”…just a sidenote I think you meant exploited by man not “explored”…maybe you should proofread (kind of like you said I should research)
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Also worth noting, per the third “Whereas” — the last major outbreak of E-coli in this country was caused by fresh spinach — not meat!! Ergo, avoiding meat does NOT reduce the exposure to e-coli risks!
When can we send this woman and her Canadian trash back across the border?? She has done so much more damage to Michigan than any Hispanic ever has!
This is a hilariously convoluted (and, in many cases hugely ignorant) argument but, the facts are, humans subsisted for eons without animal flesh in their diets because our bodies simply aren’t designed for it.
It never occurred to early Homo Sapiens to eat flesh; their bodies (and ours) were never designed for it. Then (as now) we have no teeth designed for tearing flesh like ALL other carnivorous/omnivorous animals do. They didn’t even have fire to cook it with or the “tools” to deal with it.
Even better evidence is our long and convoluted digestive tract. In true carnivores like cats, it is as short as possible and designed to extract nutrition quickly and expel flesh byproducts as quickly as possible to protect the system. Dogs which are more omnivorous, have somewhat longer paths to help them deal with both flesh and other food substances. Herbivores (cows, humans, pigs etc) have long and complex digestive tracts to process foods other than flesh, the longer pathway being needed to breakdown other nutritive substances and conversely suffers from the prolonged exposure to toxic flesh byproducts.
Our basic physiology is clearly not designed to consume flesh in any form – it merely tolerates it to varying degrees. As humans evolved over time, a small degree of flesh eating became an adaptation over time as a survival means as humans moved to spread across the continents and had to deal with climate & environmental changes (moving close to desert areas, the ice ages, etc).
Look at most of the world’s cultures and nearly all cultures have consumed flesh in very small amounts and never until recent times, in today’s larger quantities. The good old USA really cranked up the flesh eating quota in the last century to absurd (and dangerous) levels and our modern health crisis does reflect that in all sorts of pathologies beyond just the “major” ones such as heart disease, diabetes,obesity, colon cancer); there’s no denying it.
Go ahead and eat flesh if you like it but then be willing to accept the health consequences too -just quit all the sniping; eating flesh is bad for our health and our bodies were NOT designed to ingest it.
The other issues of animal cruelty, the environmental and climate change consequences of large scale animal ag, transport, processing etc. are real and undeniable concerns too of course, so let’s stop denying them please.
But let us also recognize the facts of our own physiology; that IS the main issue. Nature has always done a good job of designing ALL its creatures efficiently and correctly. Like it or not, that includes us humans.
Silly arguments about “needing” to eat flesh to survive are just rationale. It’s simply not true. Our species would NOT have survived were that the case.
If nature intended us to eat flesh, our bodies would be designed to thrive on it. Argue all you want but, they’re simply NOT. We “choose” to do so in spite of that. And, we pay the health consequences accordingly.
Hey Thirdstone, which I assume is not your real name. You must live in another universe. I completely disagree with everything you’ve said because it’s so wrong. But thanks for registering your comment.
Thank you Chuck!
I feel like I’m alone in my arguments with these imbeciles.
I believe that diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are more likely caused by the donuts, ice cream, potato chips, etc. that people consume in much larger quantities than meat. And I hate to tell you that heart disease and diabetes are also caused for many other reasons than diet. Genetics, environment, amount of excercise, smoking, and overall lifestyle behaviors are more likely to cause these diseases.
You are not alone Megan. In fact, these folks are just a loud mouth minority. They have to make outlandish claims in the hopes someone will be stupid enough to buy into their emotionalism. I could care less if someone wants to be a vegetarian. I feel sorry for and resent the militant vegans who want to impose their views on others. They have a totally selfish outlook and don’t care about other people’s views. You are absolutely right in what you commented. Let’s hope more and more people will take responsibility for their own decisions and that includes choice of diet. Meat is part of a healthy diet. These folks are just trying to use it as as scapegoat and to further their own agenda.
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