creation care, chronic pain and a plants-based diet
Here is one last personal reflection, and a thoughtful and nuanced one at that, in our series on veganism (see the introduction and motivation) from a regular contributor to not one sparrow, Lauren Merritt of The Christian and Creation: Glorifying the Creator ...
Six years ago, concern about eating animal products was not on my radar.
I was a division-one college swimmer, busy burning thousands of calories every day and scarfing them all back down in the form of dining hall hamburgers, pizza, and ice cream. My body paid my way through the first two years of college, doing its time in the pool and weight room. But it didn’t hold up under the strain of training and began to break down.
My freshman and sophomore years I spent four hours at the doctor’s office, six hours in physical therapy, four hours in the athletic trainer’s room, and 20 hours in the pool or weight room – every week. Two MRI’s, two cortisone injections, and two shoulder surgeries later, I quit the team. Now I look back on that time of my life with mixed feelings of sadness, incredulousness, and regret at my actions. As a believer in a relationship with God, I think about all the damage I’ve done and wonder how could I do that to the only body God gave me?
I am married with one child now, looking forward to the rest of my life serving God with my family. But the medical problems have not healed. Rather, they have progressed into chronic neuropathic pain and joint instability. My ability to serve God has changed with my physical limitations. My hopes and dreams about the future may be permanently altered. I struggle some days to carry my son up the stairs or give him a bath.
I’m sure you’re thinking: what does a discussion of medical problems have to do with a Christian creation care blog? Though we don’t often think it, the body is a part of creation. We talk about caring for the birds because God made them and He cares for them. How much more should we discuss and encourage one another in caring for our own bodies, the vehicles through which we minister, pray, play, serve, and interact with God and the world.
Not only that, but our bodies are an integral part of our place within the rest of creation. We consume and interact with and rely on and alter and live in the broader creation. Every action of humanity – or of just one human, or one family – impacts the creation.
I’ve begun by writing about my physical body because through contemplating my medical issues I have found that I am at the intersection of three broad areas of creation care in my life:
1) A deep conviction about caring for the environment,
2) A life-long concern for all of God’s creatures, and
3) Figuring out how to care for my own body.
I have discovered that all three areas of creation care come to intersect and support one another in veganism – or a plants-based diet.
I’ve been primarily a vegetarian for about two years. Technically you might have called me a plants-based-and-locally-humanely-raised-pastured-animal-product–ivore.
My allowance for some meat in my diet came from the Biblical view that God clearly allows for meat-eating in his revelation in Scripture. Jesus ate meat. The priests are actually commanded to eat meat from animal sacrifices. Jewish holidays (past and present) entail eating meat. So from a Scriptural stance I couldn’t say that we cannot eat meat. (I go into detail about this on my blog here and here.)
However, I feel driven to advise Christians that because of the inhumane and unnatural conditions on modern commercial farms, as well as the health implications for ourselves and our environment (concerns unknown in 1st century Palestine), that we should not eat meat from commercial sources.
So I radically changed the where, how, and why of my family’s eating habits. I have no moral objections to small, well-run, compassionate family farms that raise their animals in natural conditions on pasture from birth until death, never send them to a feed lot, never use subtherapeutic hormones or antibiotics, and never subject their animals to long-distance hauling. So for two years my family has eaten a very a small amount of meat, purchased from a local Christian family farm with good animal husbandry and environmental stewardship practices. For all practical considerations, this conviction and action still made me basically vegetarian, since I didn’t eat meat at restaurants, shop for meat at the grocery store, or consume meat at friends’ homes or church gatherings. My entire family’s meat consumption was down to about two pounds per month. Until recently I had also continued to eat milk, cheeses, and eggs (locally raised on small farms).
While spending months (now almost a year) waiting for doctors to diagnose the reason for my chronic pain, I, of course, did my own research online. I came across a few scientific journal articles that linked a vegan diet to a decrease in pain for fibromyalgia patients. Though the reasons are not conclusive, people suffering from debilitating pain felt some relief on a plants-based diet. Through more research I found dozens of articles suggesting a vegan diet for all sorts of health concerns.
With so much evidence in favor of a completely, or almost-completely, plants-based diet, I started to think, could I go vegan?
At first it was sort of a joke. I really like lattes. And vegetarian eating was pretty easy. But then I thought, well, what could it hurt to try? Maybe whatever works for fibromyalgia will work for me. Maybe there is something to the claims about an anti-inflammatory diet. Maybe I’ll just feel more energetic and able to deal with the pain if more of my nutrition comes from whole plant foods. Maybe I am deficient in something that doctors just haven’t pinned down.
Veganism is a hard way to go, especially at first, I’m not going to lie. It’s nearly impossible to eat out, and it makes my friends feel uncomfortable when they bring cheese and crackers to a party, or mention how they had a wonderful steak the night before, because they think I’ll go all crazy-vegan on them. That’s not the case, of course. But, what has kept me going is that I really do feel better. The pain is still here, unfortunately, and maybe that will change in the long run, but I feel better nonetheless. I never feel bloated, I never feel sick after eating, and my blood sugar (something I’ve struggled with my entire life) stays stable.
Considering that in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve “every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit […] for food” (Gen. 1:29, ESV) it should not surprise anyone that when we eat that divinely instituted diet, we feel pretty good. I actually find now, that if I do eat meat for whatever reason (for instance, need fast food dinner real quick because our two-year-old is in the hospital with broken leg), or succumb to the temptation of ice cream (no good excuse for this one), I feel sick afterward. I have learned through talking to other vegetarians and vegans that this is pretty normal. Several people I know actually stopped eating meat or drinking milk because they realized that those products were making them sick.
I would probably do better to call my diet “plants-based,” rather than vegan. When I say “I am vegan” people generally understand what I mean, which is why I use it, but it also throws up red flags when some people associate veganism with extreme animal rights or violent environmental activism, of which I am not part. “Plants-based” is a term that would also allow for my occasional milk in the drive-through coffee, or bite of my husband’s grass-fed steak, whereas some vegans would consider that blatant hypocrisy. I also sometimes choose to avoid saying “I am a vegan” because veganism is not my religion and it doesn’t define me; it is a word that explains that I eat a plants-based diet for a variety of health and ethical reasons. Whether you use the word or not, it is helpful to know that in some contexts it is loaded with presuppositions.
What matters to me in the end is that my diet is based on plants – real food really made by God – and is closer to the way God intended us to eat. I make sure my diet includes a wide variety of plants, in every color, shape, size , taste, and texture. Organic, locally grown, or homegrown whenever I can manage. I always like to imagine the infinite edible pleasures the Garden of Eden must have yielded for Adam and Eve (see my post on plant diversity). With that inspiration, my counter always overflows with fresh produce, creating a peaceful, colorful, still-life in the middle of my home. It makes my heart joyful to see all the food God created for us: not only healthy, not only incredibly complex, not only delicious – but also beautiful, a feast for the eyes!
Veganism has opened my kitchen up to wonderful new recipes and experiments. It’s helpful to think of the diet, rather than restrictive, as an adventure. Once I began to discover new foods and ways of eating, I saw not a jail cell of lettuce and carrots, but a vast horizon of new culinary experiences.
My husband and son eat everything I eat, but sometimes with a piece of meat on the side (for Nate, my son won’t eat meat even if we try), or cheese on their pasta. My conscience is at peace before God knowing that the beef in my freezer and the eggs in my fridge were from animals well-cared for, living in the environment God created them to thrive in, eating the plants God created them to eat, and raised in what I consider a compassionate way. I’ve tried to search out the “good shepherds.”
Though my motivation behind following a vegan diet is primarily health-related, I understand why some people go fully vegan for ethical reasons. I think veganism offers a lot of peace for the soul, especially because the work and uncertainty of finding animal products you would consider humane can be overwhelming and truly difficult (and expensive). You can, of course, never be one hundred percent certain that a particular animal never underwent a single moment of fear or stress in its life. There is something so clean, so innocent, about the idea of eating only plants. I would suggest the change for anyone who wants a simple, clean, healthy and humane way to eat, while keeping in mind that the Bible does not mandate such a change.
All I can conclude is that each must eat according to his conscience. Let that conscience be informed. Be informed about Scripture (we can eat meat, but we must regard the life of our animals). Be informed about the food you choose (is it healthy for your body? It is enabling you to serve God and others?). Be informed about how your animals – and plants – were raised (Humanely raised? Environmentally sound?). It’s no easy task. Even a vegan diet does environmental damage when our soybeans are grown on vast monocultural farms with chemical pesticides and fertilizer. We live in a fallen world. But I am sure, because God commands it, that we can eat and drink to the glory of God.
(many thanks to Lauren for sharing this post, you can read more of her writing at The Christian and Creation and on our own blog; photos credit 123RF Stock Photos and Farm Sanctuary)
October 3, 2011
Reader Comments (4)
Thanks for sharing your story. I am under going a raw vegan diet for thirty days. I've wrecked my body with the foods I eat and the poor health decisions I made. If you check out my site you can follow me on my journey through veganism.
Thanks for your post.
Christian Eriksson
http://christiankjelleriksson.blogspot.com/
I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award !
Dawn, thank you so much, what an honor! God bless, Ben (NOS admin)