Nutrient-Dense Foods: Put a Face On It!

By Elizabeth Szlek, LMHC



For The Rome Observer, December 28, 2010



Many people I meet tell me that they have become vegetarians, or vegans. Often, when pressed, they will admit they are doing this for “spiritual” reasons. They sometimes say they don’t eat anything “with a face”. They often seem quite self-satisfied when they say this, and expect me to congratulate them for their highly developed sense of morality and sensitivity. Unfortunately, for them, this is an unwise decision, destined to reduce them to a state of nutritional deficiency. So, to explore this idea, let us consider the concept of nutrient-dense foods. What are they?

When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, they were vegetarians. They were given every possible kind of fruit and vegetable to eat, and they were quite content. They lived in complete harmony with nature, and all their needs, nutritional and otherwise, were met quite simply. They did not have to plow or plant, but merely had to stretch out a hand and pick luscious fruits and other delights. Vegetarians often point to the Garden of Eden, saying that Adam and Eve were vegetarians. But wait, not so fast!

After the Fall, they were expelled from this paradise on earth, and Adam was instructed that he now had to work hard to produce his food. Farming and animal husbandry began. From that time on, men on earth have been eating animal products and animals themselves. They ate things with faces, delighting in them. Throughout history, many people have voluntarily given up eating meat, but there never has been a society that was completely vegetarian. Individuals in a society may have decided, usually for religious reasons, to eschew the use of meat or any other animal product, but this was always an individual choice, and a difficult one.

Today, though, we have children, adolescents and adults all hewing to the vegan “lifestyle”. That is, no meat, eggs, dairy or any other animal product, even honey. And I am here to tell you, this is an diet that is doomed to failure. Humans need to eat certain foods to provide them with essential fats and vitamins. There is really no substitute for vitamin B-12 produced by animals. There is really no good substitute for the fat-soluble vitamins in fish liver oil, and if one lives in a northern climate, getting the right amount of vitamin D is very difficult, if not impossible.

The foods that are avoided by vegans, and some vegetarians, are what we would consider nutrient-dense. In other words, you get a lot of bang for the buck. Eating organ meats, such as liver, provides concentrated nutrition that is not obtainable by eating vegetable products alone, since the amounts of vegetable matter needed to equal the nutrients in a food such as liver puts it out of reach for most people. The body simply needs these foods, and no amount of wishful thinking will change what our body needs.

Now, it is true that throughout history, there have been examples of men and women we would call saints, who subsisted on little or nothing. But, I am guessing you are not such a person, and you have ordinary needs. A Bocaburger is not the nutritional equivalent of a quarter pound of good beef. Sorry. And, I don’t mean a “Quarterpounder” from McDonald’s, because you have probably heard the anecdote about the man who has a McDonald’s hamburger from 1989 which has yet to decompose. This is not real food, but is some kind of dead thing that no one should ever eat.

Some months ago I connected with a woman who has chickens who produce what we would call free-range eggs. Her eggs come to me unwashed, lovely, large, sometimes with green shells, and always with huge orange yolks. They are absolutely delicious! They are real eggs, from some past time before factory farms. There is nothing to compare with them. They are nutrient-dense, and to some, they have a face.

I also made friends with some people who sell me raw milk. Did you know you can make cream cheese directly from raw milk? And wonderful yogurts and kefir and buttermilk, and butter? Not to mention cottage cheese and quark. All these foods are ancient, wonderful and nutrient-dense, because the milk is alive, not dead, as all pasteurized milk is. You feel more alive when you drink it! Another face here.

I regularly go to markets to buy bones now. I look for big, fat beef bones with marrow and cook them for twenty-four hours or more, to extract all the nutrients from them. I don’t eat soup from packets or cans, because they usually contain many additives that are harmful to the brain and to the body, like monosodium glutamate (MSG). You cannot imagine how delicious homemade stock from marrow bones can be. It is a revelation! It is also very nutrient-dense. Cows have faces, too. They are beautiful!

When I lived in Poland, I went to visit my relatives on the farm where my grandmother was born. It was Christmas the first time I went, and for our Christmas dinner, my great aunt took a rooster and chopped off his head and plucked him, and she then made a soup of him. It was the most delicious soup I ever had! Nutrient-dense, too. With a face.

If we were cannibals, and we were going to eat a fellow human, you can bet that everyone would want to eat the best parts: the heart and the liver. As we go up the food chain,( leaving humans off it, please), we seek these “best parts” instinctively. Except, in our society, we are so divorced from our God-given instincts, that we shy away from the best things, and just eat muscle meat. In my mind, we must retrain our palates to appreciate the best. All the best foods have faces.

We are not cannibals because we understand that man is made a little lower than the angels, and he is a special creation of God, worthy of respect and honor. Animals are worthy of respect, too, but they are of a lower order, and do not have souls, as we do. This is why it is acceptable to eat them, and we do not commit moral evil when we do so. They are here to help nourish us, and when we use them with reverence, there is no sin. Factory farms which force animals to live in squalor and misery are sinful and disrespectful to the animals, and should be banned from civil society.

Nutrient-dense foods are here to provide men with healthy lives, sound minds, and good character. We must thank God for them, and use them wisely.



Elizabeth Szlek is the Director of The Door Counseling Center of Yorkville. Questions and comments can be directed to her at (315) 768-8900 or at info@thedoorcounseling.com.