Comments on: How to eat sustainably on a food stamp budget

By: Siel

Siel — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:30:41 +0000

Yum. I read a recent article by a woman who said her homemade jam was really really expensive — but of course that’s b/c she didn’t pick her own berries :)

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:34:29 +0000

Not long enough! :-) Usually mid/late August- mid/late September or early October (depending on how early it gets cold and snows.) The awesome thing is, though, that within an hour drive of Anchorage you can usually gather enough to both makes lots of jam and fill your freezer with enough to last all winter long! Kim’s last blog post..Palin: Escape Plan

By: Siel

Siel — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:57:09 +0000

I had no idea you guys had blueberries up there! How long are they in season?

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:21:08 +0000

Well, I do have those (serious hunter-gatherer skills) those are the things that most Alaskans gown up doing (and loving) with out thinking twice about it. :-) But still, the possible foods only have a certain scope. (Alaskan wild blueberries are the absolute best blueberries EVER though. And so abundant in areas that are as close to Anchorage as a ten minute drive and twenty minute hike!) So, you take the positives with the negatives. :-)

By: Siel

Siel — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:46:55 +0000

Oh — Okay. That makes sense. It seems like you’d really have to develop some serious hunter gatherer skills to eat totally locally there :)

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:16:02 +0000

Oh–I definitely eat grains and beans, and far more of them than I do eat actual animal products. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise, but I do so knowing that regarding the normative standards for sustainable few of my choices fall truly in that area, simply because I live in Alaska and nearly everything has to be shipped in.

By: Siel

Siel — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:49:49 +0000

Hey Jodie — I understand not all people with B12 deficiency are vegans — I don’t think anyone insinuated that — but there does seem to be a clear link between a vegan diet and B12 deficiency for people who may be prone to the deficiency, as I noted in my comment. Most reputable sources (WebMD, etc.) link the two. Even the less credible vegan fanatics like Dr McDougall acknowledge there’s a “grain of truth” in the link between a vegan diet and a B12 deficiency. It’s unclear what exactly you’re trying to “clarify” in your comment….

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Kim. I don’t think I could live in Alaska because I love grains and beans! But I’m glad to hear you’ve been able to find a workable sustainable diet for yourself that you’re comfortable with :)

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:06:42 +0000

I just saw this post today, also being redirected by a post you made today. I know it’s late, and you made peace, but I wanted to weigh in on the discussion w/ Lola.

Specifically referencing grains/beans and this line:
““some vegan diets aren’t sustainable, and that local is usually a better barometer of how sustainable your food is” — directly contradicts this — “no meat = best.” As you’ve pointed out yourself, that last equation is not always true, and “There are lots of factors to look at.””

Here’s a good example: I live in Alaska. Absolutely no grain or beans (excluding the green variety) grow here. They ALL have to be shipped by either air freight or ocean freight super-long distances to make it to the shelves of my local grocery stores. However, there are some farmers (ranchers?) w/in 100 miles of me who raise real free-range, all organic chickens and turkeys. I buy their eggs (for $7 a dozen! :-/ ) and occasionally a chicken or turkey. There are also places w/in 100 miles that raise free range, properly fed for their species and organic bison, reindeer, goats, cows, pigs etc… I buy milk, bison and reindeer w/ some regularity (lots of milk, the other things for consumption a few times a month.)

Also, I eat a lot of wild game (whenever available to me, since I myself don’t hunt but have friends and family that do) and wild caught salmon, halibut and other local fish (mostly caught by myself and friends/family, but occasional purchased from the store-still Alaskan though.)

Even with ALL THOSE shipping miles that it takes to get grains and beans to me (on top of the resources that went into production) are you really convinced that more resources went into the animal products? Are you really convinced that grains and beans are more sustainable foods for Alaskans than locally raised, hunted or fished animal products? I’m not.

That being said, plant foods still make up the majority of my diet (including a lot of shipped in things because, let’s face it-the growing season in Alaska is SHORT and while what we grow, we grow really well…what we can grown is limited.) But I feel pretty comfortable with the choices I generally make in terms of consuming animal products when I focus on the local stuff.

By: Jodie

Jodie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:41:44 +0000

I just saw this via a post today, and I wanted to clarify something about the b-12 issue. Most people who are b-12 deficient eat an omnivorous diet, but have a problem with absorption of b-12 from food. b-12 is by definition NOT an animal product; it's a microbial byproduct most commonly found in food, but also found in dirt- which means it can reside on the flesh of unwashed produce, though with today's contamination problems, that's not a viable option. For most people who have a b-12 deficiency, eating tons of meat every day won't bring their level up; they HAVE to supplement with a form of b-12 that is not absorbed through the digestive tract, which means usually either a pill that dissolves under the tongue (where it's absorbed directly into the blood stream). At any rate, most vegans who do become deficient aren't going to be able to solve the problem by changing their diet. Perhaps at some point someone could do an analysis of having to eat enough meat to compensate for b-12 levels vs taking a supplement- I'm not so sure that meat would win out, given amounts of b-12 needed to correct a deficiency. Especially where even people who eat the standard american diet who have b-12 deficiency are regularly supplemented with at least 1000 mcg B-12 daily until levels come up... Jodie’s last blog post..Your guide to finding vegan food in and around New Haven, CT!

By: Siel

Siel — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:17:50 +0000

What happens when you cheat? Tummy ache?