Regenuary

Now that January is coming to a close, I wanted to share my opinion on the Veganuary / Regenuary movements. 

This blog was inspired by the @ethicalbutcher, who put out a great post at the start of the month talking about the importance of eating local, seasonal and from regenerative farming practises regardless of whether you’re eating meat, plants or both.

Ultimately it’s my belief that both animals and plants can be farmed in a way that’s healthy for the planet, themselves and us as humans. However, in most instances this isn’t the case.

For example, a huge amount of the fruit and vegetables being consumed today come from mono-cropping. This is the practise of growing a single crop year after year on the same land and it relies heavily on pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. 

These chemicals are harmful to the human body when consumed and they also destroy the microbes and delicate ecosystem within the earth’s top soil. After a while of farming crops in this way, the soil becomes so lifeless that it’s impossible to farm on it without the use of these chemical aids. For that same soil to qualify as organic again, it officially requires two years of recovery, where pesticides, herbicides, etc are absent to allow the ecosystem to reform. 

When the ecosystem is damaged in this way, the plant foods contain little of the micro-nutrients they’re known for. 

Exactly the same can be said for animal products. When animals come from factory farming, not only is it incredibly cruel but we’re also faced with a similar situation as mono cropping… the soil gets destroyed and the animals are nutrient depleted and often pumped with a chemical cocktail. 

When we consume plants or animals that are nutrient depleted and full of chemicals, we as humans become nutrient deficient and can’t operate with true vitality. 

However, if you’re sourcing your meat and plant foods from truly organic and grass-fed farming practises, it’s a completely different story. 

Crops and animals are rotated and chemicals aren’t relied upon. This creates a situation where the top soil is thriving and the animals and plants are rich in micronutrients and void of chemicals. 

Then when we consume them as humans, we are maximising our micronutrient intake to help us optimise our health and performance. 

The argument which I’ve seen made a lot against the Regenuary movement this month, is that it’s unacceptable to eat meat due to it being cruel. 

My stance on this is that, at this present time I personally require properly farmed or wild meat to operate optimally and I believe this is true for a huge proportion of the plant. We’ve relied heavily on meat throughout our evolution as human beings and as a result our biology is set up in such a way that it requires meat to be fully vital. However, I believe that it’s so important to be respectful and grateful of animals, which are giving their lives so we can live ours fully.   

That said, I appreciate everyone is different and if you’re eating plant based and that’s working for you then I think that’s great. I’d advise you to keep doing what’s working but be careful to not become dogmatic about your diet. If at some point it stops serving you, be open to recognising this and changing it. 

I decided to use this image because Tim (@humantimothy), Mo (@bouazizco) and myself have taken different approaches to this month. Tim has done Vejanuary, whereas Mo, like myself has eaten heavily meat based. The similarity between us is that we’ve all bought our food locally, seasonally and from proper farming practises. 

On top of this we are all respectful of each others choices and genuinely listen to each others view point to learn and grow. 

I see this topic as an amazing opportunity for us to appreciate the beauty in people being different and having differing opinions / approaches to life. 

Please let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below whilst respecting that this post is meant to promote conscious food consumption and unity regardless of differences.