Laurel on Health Food

I read the October/November 2008 issue of Plenty Magazine today. If you haven’t heard about it, Plenty is a wonderful new magazine on all topics concerning the environment, living green, being eco-friendly, etc. I’ve only read two issues, but I love it so far.

In a great little article on Thanksgiving turkeys, Plenty talks about the problems with the broadbreasted turkeys most people eat on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, they have been bred to have very large chests and fast growth rates. While it makes for nice, large birds to feast on during the holidays, this practice causes some horrible problems with the turkeys.

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Here’s a quick summary on some of the issues:

* Unable to fly because they’re carrying too much weight
* Can get hypothyroidism due to lack of exercise and unnaturally fast growth
* Become wobbly because center of gravity is over the toes instead of the middle of the feet
* Farmers remove beaks so the turkeys don’t become cannibals in close cages and warehouses
* Breast muscle takes up about 25-30% of body weight (instead of 7% like in the past forty years)
* Can develop osteoarthritis and other joint diseases that disable the joints or other body parts
* Large breasts and short legs make the turkeys unable the mate so they are artificially inseminated

(Ref: Plenty Mag, Oct/Nov 2008, p. 26)

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As you can see, it sounds like a horrible life for our turkeys. Plenty advises that we purchase a heritage turkey this year instead of the popular broadbreasted variety. A heritage turkey has natural mating, a long productive outdoor lifespan, and a slow growth rate. You can read more details on heritage turkeys at the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy site.

When you have the chance, eating organic meat is really the way to go. Most eco-experts will tell you that Americans need to eat less meat overall, but many people look forward to a big roast during the holidays. So if you have the option, why not go for meat that’s better for you and better for the environment? Check out Care2’s “Top 10 Eco-Friendly Reasons to Buy Organic Meat and Dairy” for more info.

So, how do you get an organic heritage turkey? Slow Food USA says you can email albc@albc-usa.org to locate suppliers in your area. You can also go to LocalHarvest.org and purchase organic and heritage turkeys online.

Drawing courtesy of Ben Smith

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Health, Meat, Organic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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