By Tommy Leung on 09/29/2011 in Fitness, Life
One of the reasons people try vegetarianism is to boycott the inhumane treatment of animals. Namely cows, chickens, and pigs. Spectacular documentaries like Food, Inc have shed light on the horrible living conditions of these animals in factory farms. There is no reasonable person who would question how cruel and disgusting our conventional livestock farming system is.
But, the moral question isn’t and shouldn’t be the only unacceptable reason. Animals raised in these filthy and cramped conditions are substantially poorer in nutrition and kept alive by drugs to combat the illnesses they develop because of the unsanitary living conditions. It is no coincidence that a population eating these nutritiously inferior and sick animals are also themselves nutrient deficient and sick.
The old saying is right: you are what you eat.
The fight to raise livestock humanely is not solely a vegetarian cause. In fact, vegetarians have little affect on the food producers compared to those of us who consume meat. Which is why choosing to become a vegetarian for moral reasons is misguided and unhelpful to the cause of improving the living conditions of livestock.
Imagine you wanted to change the way farmers–all farmers–grow their vegetables. You want pesticide free, organically grown, and non-GMO produce because it doesn’t have harmful pesticides, is more nutritious, and isn’t genetically modified. Would you stop eating vegetables? Of course not! That wouldn’t do anything to change their practices. If we opt out of doing business with them, we have no pull with them. We are no longer in the market.
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By Tommy Leung on 07/31/2011 in Life
“We should make the poor uncomfortable and kick them out of poverty.” —Benjamin Franklin
It is socially popular and acceptable to take punches at capitalists and businessmen who create jobs, wealth, and keep society running but, any jokes at the expense of poor people on welfare who are clearly abusing the system has to be said quietly or under one’s breath. You never know when a self-appointed do-gooder is within earshot and ready at a moments notice to jump down your throat for saying something so dastardly! After all, it is distasteful to make poor people the butt of our jokes or have a laugh at their expense.
Everyone knows that it’s not the poor person’s fault for their state of poverty! Why, it’s the businessmen! The white man! The weather. The internet. The illegals. Those damn immigrants! An act of God–or gods. To so much as suggest that a poor person should get off their ass and find a job is unthinkable–there is obviously some other explanation for their sad state like the alignment of the planets or the migration of the whales.
People who say these things on TV or in their political campaigns might believe this nonsense but, ordinary people who go to work to support themselves and their families despise and ridicule welfare freeloaders in private and among friends and family. And the Great Recession has made everyone much less willing to turn a blind eye to supporting these societal parasites.
I have certainly grown to hate seeing beggars on the NYC Subway system and in the streets. I don’t know whom among these people are really incapable of working due to physical handicaps. The freeloaders have gone so far as to manufacture physical deformations and injuries to garner more charity from subway riders and the commuting public. As far as I’m concerned, the con artists have killed any sympathy for people who are truly in need of help.
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By Tommy Leung on 07/18/2011 in Life
“Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come” - Sir Victor Hugo, 1852
Life is all about ideas. It’s the lens through which we see our world. It’s how we choose whom to build relationships with. It’s how we form opinions. And at any given point in life, we are in a battle of ideas.
Whether the idea is something as inconsequential as iPhone vs Android or important as organic foods vs processed foods, the battle of ideas is taking place all the time and everywhere. There is no escaping it, hiding from it, or ignoring it. As long as you are a thinking human being, you are in it.
I am one who often finds himself in the minority or controversial side of the battle of ideas. I do not believe in a low-fat diet to prevent the diseases of civilization. Instead, I subscribe to an evolutionary diet that is generally high in fat. I believe the science is there to support it. I’m also on the side of climate change skeptics. I don’t believe man’s output of CO2 has any meaningful impact on the warming or cooling of the planet. I believe man does pollute but, CO2 does not cause warming or cooling. I believe there’s science to show that increased sun activity has warmed the Earth as it has every other planet in the solar system along with other forms of evidence. I also don’t believe in doing cardio to lose weight and get in shape. No matter what age or sex, I believe the key to increased physical health is through lifting weights. The science is there as well.
All of those ideas except the last is quite controversial. Environmentalists wouldn’t think twice about stoning me and mainstream doctors and nutritionists think I’ve fallen off my rocker. And the majority of public opinion on both of those issues aren’t on my side so there is little shelter from looks and opinions of shock, disgust, and/or confusion when my views are made known.
Of course, that’s only the tip of the iceberg in my battle of ideas that will throw people for a loop. Regardless of any hostility that I may receive from expressing such views, I am incapable of expressing any other. It is who I am. The summation of these ideas make me who I am. The thought of betraying myself to pacify others is preposterous.
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By Tommy Leung on 05/15/2011 in Life
I’ve had an insane last couple of weeks. I lived on much less sleep than I would have liked due to an unfortunate and unforeseen circumstance. I slept about 25 hours from Friday night to Sunday morning to make up for it this past weekend. It wasn’t even by choice. I was just super tired. It was what my body wanted.
I had a work crisis that required a superhuman effort to fix. And by superhuman, I mean forgoing sleep and everything else. I credit the paleo diet for keeping me energetic and functional throughout the insanity. I didn’t eat any bread or crap either. I didn’t even have coffee. Just tea. Not that coffee isn’t paleo but, I’ve been limiting my coffee exposure as of late. I was starting to rely on it and I don’t think that’s good. I still love it and will have it as long as I’m not using it as a replacement for adequate sleep.
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By Tommy Leung on 01/10/2011 in Life
The first week of the new year has come and gone and if you’re like most people, you’ve already broken 50% of your new year’s resolutions and the rest are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. This is how it works every year so now is as good a time as any to change all of that. Here’s 5 ways to keep your resolutions this year–and every year.
It is Okay to Fail
If you’ve already fallen off the horse or think you might fall off the horse a week from now, it doesn’t mean you can’t get back on the horse. You haven’t messed everything up and you would not be better off forgetting the whole thing.
You might want to rationalize it to yourself this way but, you know it’s ridiculous. Every day you make mistakes and you try again. They are usually very tiny like a typo. Yes, that counts as a mistake. We don’t decide that we should stop typing and just leave the document half finished do we? We hit backspace and try again.
That’s how you should approach all goals including your new year’s resolutions. Maybe you decided to go gluten free or go to the gym in the morning. Eating a piece of bread or sleeping in one morning is not the end of the world. Tomorrow is another day for you to keep your goals. Failing doesn’t mean it’s the end.
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