A Century of American Meat Consumption

[Darrell]

interesting...

[Trapped Pentecostal]

I think it's interesting that "The Other White Meat" ad campaign appears to have had absolutely zero impact on the amount of pork consumed in the United States.

I also didn't realize that I might be unusual because I eat less beef than chicken and other meats. That's only partly because of health reasons, but also because of the cost of good quality beef.

[Natalie]

Let's see.. 3 out of my 4 Grandparents died of old age, my only surviving Grandparent is 92 is still kicking. My Father died of a rare blood disease that he's had all his life that he was born with.

And, every single one of them ate fried foods, drank sodas, ate ice cream, and whatever else they wanted. The difference? They weren't sedentary. My father's parents were farmers and my Grandmother was always on the go. Dad was more sedentary, but not by much. And, my Grandfather gets himself up every morning, gets dressed, and takes care of himself. Walks with a cane but he gets around as much as he can. He was a cop when he was young then worked in a junk yard for 30 years.

Lesson learned. ;op

[captain_solo]

(03-19-2011 06:48 AM)Natalie Wrote:  Let's see.. 3 out of my 4 Grandparents died of old age, my only surviving Grandparent is 92 is still kicking. My Father died of a rare blood disease that he's had all his life that he was born with.

And, every single one of them ate fried foods, drank sodas, ate ice cream, and whatever else they wanted. The difference? They weren't sedentary. My father's parents were farmers and my Grandmother was always on the go. Dad was more sedentary, but not by much. And, my Grandfather gets himself up every morning, gets dressed, and takes care of himself. Walks with a cane but he gets around as much as he can. He was a cop when he was young then worked in a junk yard for 30 years.

Lesson learned. ;op

Yup, most dietary guidelines popular today would be irrelevant if people got off their fat and started shaking it

[Natalie]

As much as I complain about my feet and back from the work I do (hairstylist), when I get a week off and sit around, in ONE week, I'll gain weight and my muscles in my arms will get a little weaker. Our salon is a high-volume salon, and like a barber shop (we do cuts mostly), so I'm moving all day.

(03-19-2011 12:46 PM)captain_solo Wrote:  

(03-19-2011 06:48 AM)Natalie Wrote:  Let's see.. 3 out of my 4 Grandparents died of old age, my only surviving Grandparent is 92 is still kicking. My Father died of a rare blood disease that he's had all his life that he was born with.

And, every single one of them ate fried foods, drank sodas, ate ice cream, and whatever else they wanted. The difference? They weren't sedentary. My father's parents were farmers and my Grandmother was always on the go. Dad was more sedentary, but not by much. And, my Grandfather gets himself up every morning, gets dressed, and takes care of himself. Walks with a cane but he gets around as much as he can. He was a cop when he was young then worked in a junk yard for 30 years.

Lesson learned. ;op

Yup, most dietary guidelines popular today would be irrelevant if people got off their fat and started shaking it

[Historian]

(03-19-2011 06:48 AM)Natalie Wrote:  Let's see.. 3 out of my 4 Grandparents died of old age, my only surviving Grandparent is 92 is still kicking. My Father died of a rare blood disease that he's had all his life that he was born with.

And, every single one of them ate fried foods, drank sodas, ate ice cream, and whatever else they wanted. The difference? They weren't sedentary. My father's parents were farmers and my Grandmother was always on the go. Dad was more sedentary, but not by much. And, my Grandfather gets himself up every morning, gets dressed, and takes care of himself. Walks with a cane but he gets around as much as he can. He was a cop when he was young then worked in a junk yard for 30 years.

Lesson learned. ;op

Totally agree. My grandparents lived to ages like that. My one grandfather used to get up at 5, walk down to the McDonalds for breakfast and coffee, walk back, putter around the house and have grandmom make him another breakfast at 9. My other grandfather was a factory man, and an airplane mechanic in World War II, and just ate whatever he wanted. Especially meat. But his favorite thing was a bagel with about an inch each of butter, cream cheese and peanut butter. When he was about 65 we thought he was having heart problems. Turned out to be something related to his factory years and his spine, but his arteries were clean as a kids' according to the doctor. (Which of course caused him to believe that the peanut butter was actually lubricating them, and allowing the blood to flow through better).

The whole big meat thing with Americans grew largely out of farming lifestyle. When you get up at 4 to do chores, come back for breakfast, go back out to work in the fields all day, get lunch, go back out to work your tail off, have dinner and then have evening chores, you need a lot of calories, and you need a lot of protein. Our farms have always tended to be larger than farms in Europe, which partially explains the extra calories needed to care for them. Just look at Michael Phelps! When he was swimming at the height of his career (don't know if he still does this now) he was eating 12,000 calories a day, including three egg friend sandwiches AND a 5 egg omelet for breakfast.

Oh, and for the pork thing, can I say that I think people don't eat more of it because it's a disgusting meat? Over here in China it's the most common one, and when you've seen people living with their pigs it'll really turn you off. Not to mention that every year or so they're slaughtering all the pigs in one province or group of provinces because they've gotten yet another awful disease. Not to mention that you're much more like to pick up worms and parasites from pork than from any other meat. I avoid it like the plague. Bacon and sausage are different though, because the way they're preserved negates those health concerns. Of course, all the nitrates cause brand new health concerns, but...

[greg]

I have similar stories about parents and grandparents. We just celebrated my Dad's 83rd b/day yesterday, Friday I was over at my parent's house helping them to mulch their flower beds, mom is 76, they eat whatever they want and that includes lots of meat, dairy and fried foods. Of course these stories are anecdotal, we have all heard of he grandad that smoked two packs a day and lived to be 93.

This may not be the place to recommend books, but the best I have read on the subject of diet and meat consumption is Gary Taubes "Good Calories, Bad Calories" It came out a few years ago and I promise you there is nothing out there like it. His latest efforts which essentially condenses the GCBC to a much more readable format is "Why We Get Fat, and What to do About it"

[Joseph]

What I want to know is how did anyone keep track of how much beef, chicken and pork anyone in the US was eating at, say, 1920 or earlier? Up until 1940, from what little I know, people were eating a lot of whatever they shot. Deer, rabbits, turkeys, bear, elk, beaver, raccoon, and all kinds of fish were their meat in addition to the few things on the chart. Not sure I'm buying into the total accuracy of this little deal. I would agree with it after 1950 though, that's probably safe info.

My grandparents raising and eating their own beef, chicken, and pork didn't make the numbers back in the day. I somehow doubt there was a census for the farm animals until sometime after WWII, just saying.