The Question of Meat

Animal protein, and especially meat and fish, has always been a staple of Chinese diets, though the types and quantities of meat were traditionally different from what is consumed today, both in the West and in recent decades in China - as they strive to emulate the Western values and lifestyle, and gain the affluence to afford it.

Traditionally, due to the expense of meat, the availability of local supplies, and their understanding of the need to balance meat’s qualities with other foods and nutrients, meat was consumed in small amounts. Strips of meat in mixed vegetables, bone broths in soups, small amounts in stews. Not every meal. Not every day. Not even every week.

In this way, people benefited from the supplementing, warming, tissue building aspects of meat while avoiding the overproduction of phlegm, dampness and heat that animal proteins can cause in the body when eaten in excess amounts or frequencies (more on those factors another time!).

Those who have a blood deficient constitution (particularly women) can especially benefit from the blood and heat building aspects of animal protein.

I was a vegetarian for 9 years before studying Chinese Medicine. It was after my first year of studies, as I prepared to go to China, and particularly Tibet, that I was won over to introducing meat back into my diet. My Tibetan friends had me over for a feast (I believe organ meats were involved, aligning with their Buddhist principles of consuming large animals and using as much of them as possible, thereby minimizing the loss of animal lives and maximizing the human health benefit). My friends, and also my Chinese Medicine teachers, argued that it was better to introduce my body to high quality, safely prepared animal protein before leaving than throwing it straight into the mystery meats of Asia!

Today, though, I grapple with the general Chinese Medicine recommendation against vegetarian or vegan diets. The idea that this is not balanced and can cause health deficiencies and imbalances doesn’t seem of upmost importance right now. (Not to mention that most of the imbalanced diet related health issues nowadays arise from the excessive consumption of animal proteins, not from eating too little.) Right now, the imbalances in our world - environmentally, societally, equitably - feel more pressing than the needs of the individual.

The Novel Coronavirus very likely originated from animals in an animal market in Wuhan, China. Our disordered relationship with animals, not just in Asia but around the world in our approach to large scale factory farming, has been made strikingly clear with this virus (though one could argue that all the other cross-species animal to human viral transmissions in the past - from swine flus to bird flus to (likely) SARS-CoV - were giving us the same fair warning…).

In addition to this is the environmental impact of raising the vast numbers of animals that we do for food. There is the carbon dioxide emitted from livestock. There is the methane that cattle, goats and sheep produce, which is the leading source of methane emissions on the planet. And methane has 34 times the global warming potential of CO2. There is the nitrous oxide (which has a whopping 310 times the global warming potential of CO2) emitted by the animals’ urine, manure and the fertilizers used to produce their food crops. There is the transportation related pollution, from shipping the feed and the animal products around the world. There is the deforestation involved in animal agriculture, which both releases the embedded carbon of the trees (if burned) plus takes away their carbon dioxide absorbing potential forever.

And then we also have issues of equitable global access to resources - the most basic, basic, basic of which will always come down to food.

Chinese Medicine is rooted in taking care of our bodies, minds, and spirits and living in balance with nature. At this time in history, though, the needs of nature, of the planet itself, feel like they may supercede the needs of the individual (while knowing that healing the planet DOES heal the individual, as well). So my recommendations of how you “should” be eating according to Chinese Medicine may change and evolve as well. Or maybe not, maybe just really truly going back to those basics - small amounts, high quality, locally sourced, prepared to best nourish your body, mind and spirit. Not every meal. Not every day. Not even every week. With kindness and appreciation.

And if you see me and say you’ve gone 100% vegan, or the new phrase “plant based”, I may no longer say, “Welllll, according to Chinese Medicine you really should eat…” Maybe I will just say Thank You.

Copyright 2020 - Anni Elliston R.TCMP.