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More meat, less veggies in the winter

…government recommendations when it comes to eating habits have been based on flawed science.
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More meat, less veggies in the winter

I’ll tell you why I don’t eat more vegetables (during the winter).

Attempts to live more in line with the rhythms of nature include reducing my intake of produce when it is not seasonably available here. This means I eat more meat and less veggies this time of year than during the fall and summer. Right now the price of broccoli and cauliflower is much greater per calorie than the price of local, grass-fed ground beef, and local, free-range eggs.

We need some high calorie foods because vegetables alone do not have enough of them to meet our average daily energy requirements, aside from some vegetables that have a lot of starch. So our choices to fill in the calories are to eat grains, processed convenience (junk) foods or high quality animal products. The first two are essentially poisonous (yes, even whole grains) so I become a little more carnivorous this time of year.

The article also prompted me to write an opinion piece about the Food Guide itself. It is my belief, as a trained health coach whose focus is on optimal diet and exercise protocol, that government recommendations when it comes to eating habits have for decades been based on flawed science. The new Food Guide still clings to some of that dogma while rightly expanding the scope of healthy eating beyond what’s on the plate.

Donald Gillmore

Cobble Hill