A Half Pig Order from Gelderman Farms

My Half Pig Order

I eat animals. To some extent, I eat animals and animal products pretty much every day. I’ve already discussed the ethics around eating animals in “Should Humans Eat Animals“, and a later link to two articles in “Feeling Guilty About Eating Meat?”, so I won’t bother this time around. What I’d like to do in this post is explain in detail the manner in which I sourced a half pig from a local farm called Gelderman Farms (I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada) that I believe is raising the animals responsibly. Continue reading A Half Pig Order from Gelderman Farms

Feeling Guilty about Eating Meat?

If you’re feeling guilty about eating meat, you’re not alone. I get hit with it too sometimes, even though I consume animals and plan to for life. It’s been a couple of years since I shared my thoughts on “Should Humans Eat Animals“. I still stand beside what I shared in that article. Basically, I feel like a lot of the arguments to not consume meat (of all types, not just factory farms) are overblown and largely misunderstood, and that the arguments in favour of a vegan or vegetarian diet are often not seeing the big picture (in a proper setting, not a factory farm).

That said, I still don’t support factory farming (although I occasionally compromise) and have oriented my life towards supporting farmers who are taking great care of their animals and their impact on the soil that sustains us. Continue reading Feeling Guilty about Eating Meat?

The Importance of Your Environment

I’d heard before that being in a natural environment was healthy. Forest bathing and those types of things were always talked up in the Primal/Paleo communities, and hey, I definitely enjoyed hiking, camping, and cottaging and all that. It just feels good. That said – I’ve also always been mostly a city boy. Growing plants and creating a soothing environment were not really something I thought about until recently. This post focuses on some improvements I’ve made in my life this year. I hope to encourage others who could potentially make some similar changes to do so as it has definitely helped me.  Continue reading The Importance of Your Environment

Nutrient Density Part 1 – A Look at Two Models

Introduction

Nutrient density – that’s a term I used fairly frequently, but took for granted for a long time. I hadn’t really thought about exactly what it meant until the past few months. First – a story:

A few months back I was out with some friends that I met with regularly (ulti fris team!), and the topic of food and nutrition had been coming up. Within the group was a vegan, who was notably very respectful and not too vocal about being vegan, but after ordering food it was obvious, and some questions were asked. It was all well and good, until the subject of protein was broached, and someone mentioned that you can eat broccoli for protein as a vegan/vegetarian, and that the amount of protein you get is similar to beef. As a nutrition junkie, that sounded like pure garbage to me, so I simply disagreed that broccoli was a good source of protein, while she insisted it was. I let it go because I wanted things to be friendly and I knew I was right, but I did leave that situation wondering where in heavens that otherwise smart person got that idea, so I Googled it up.

Turns out, as some of you may already know, there’s a man named Dr. Fuhrman who published that precious little broccoli-beats-beef tidbit. Continue reading Nutrient Density Part 1 – A Look at Two Models

Is Consciousness Fundamental?

Introduction

About a year ago, I wrote an article called The Essence of Life: Two Potential Models. In that article, I explained that all the matter around us, which includes the bodies and brains of living beings, are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. These fundamental particles “swap out” all the time, and yet we still are who we are; our consciousness doesn’t change as the particles change. From this, it was posited that consciousness (or our “souls”) doesn’t reside in our matter, but from the arrangement of the matter, or the exact way that memories and experiences are chemically stored in the brain. Continue reading Is Consciousness Fundamental?

Progress Comes in Bursts

In a previous post (Quality over Quantity), I mentioned my fondness for a book by George Leonard called Mastery. In that book he outlines that progress in any field can feel linear, but there will be a plateau. The plateau is unavoidable, but it does ultimately end if you stick with whatever you are trying to master. Then comes another period of linear growth (a burst), followed by a slight dip in skill, followed by another plateau. Onwards and upwards. It looks something like this:

mastery, skill, burst of progress

Continue reading Progress Comes in Bursts

Sustainable, high-quality human lifestyles.