@Nancy Hart Personally, I would be more careful about "processed meats", namely, those containing preservatives like sodium nitrite. Especially ham in all it's forms. They are available, for a price, of course, preservative-free, even by Oscar-Meyer! Frank
That would make me scream too. (I've never been able to scream, just yell. Sad.) Not nasty. Little paper tigers.
I do find marsupials (no placenta) to be fascinating. How do sightless embryos find their way to a pouch to finish gestating? But putting a bow on top of one of those looks like prom night desperation to me ("You can't go without finding your cousin a date!").
(1/23/2021) Saturday Egg sandwich: 220 Pinto Beans (1/2 c): 130 Cheese (1 oz): 120 Cabbage (1/3 small head, fried): 80 Butter (1 tbsp): 110 Mashed potatoes (1/3 c dry, no milk): 80 Total: 740 calories Studied the Nutrisystem food, and most of the choices look like what I'd describe as tiny servings of comfort food---desserts and treats, like pizza, cereal, muffins, pancakes, pasta, cheese puffs (?). I think you would always feel hungry eating that stuff. And you have to order 2 months in advance to get a 48% discount. No, No, Nutrisystem.
Yes. Today went well, even with few calories, because the food was purposely loaded with protein, complex carbs, and fat. Takes longer to digest.
I went meatless for 6 months back in the 80s when I was first diagnosed with high cholesterol, and I was too idealistic to take drugs. I pounded those numbers down in no time flat by cutting out meat and substituting beans, whole grains, etc. It took a while to adjust, but I soon lost the need to feel bloated after a meal. Like so many other things in my life where I cannot maintain a change for too long, I was out driving one Saturday in spring with the windows down, and the breeze blew McDonald's in my face. I yielded to temptation. The funny thing is that I bought a small burger and only ate 1/3 of it before experiencing severe cramps. It seems that my body stopped making the enzymes one needs to digest beef. It hurt bad.
I worked with a man who has been a fairly strict vegetarian for decades. I remember him saying he had the same reaction to beef that you describe. Makes sense. Which reminds me of gut bacteria. They say every person has a unique combination of bacteria which help digest food. Even households are different from one another because the bacteria is transmissible. And... which reminds me of goats. It's amazing how quickly new born goats go from drinking only milk, to having the right combination and amount of bacteria in their stomachs to digest normal goat food. The bacteria are not transferred through the milk.
I had a colonoscopy a couple of years ago, and the nurse recommended that I take probiotics afterwards to get my bacteria back (I've never had that recommendation before.) There's a longer story of an argument with the doctor swearing that the process would not get rid of bad bacteria that I think was causing me problems (but I was miraculously healed after the cleansing process), while somehow the process got rid of good bacteria that I needed to replace. I did some research, took them for a while, and always came back to what you said: "My ecology is unique. Who knows if I'm introducing bacteria my gut neither wants nor needs, while crowding out the natives." Besides, the manufacturers of probiotics are only offering the ones that (a) are known to them, (b) are easily cultivated, and (c) are profitable...to the extent I could even verify there were any living critters in there. After a while I started having issues that some said could be caused by probiotics...so I stopped taking them.
This is an interesting subject. The reason I bring up goats so often, is we had a small herd for 14 years. In spite of what people say, goats cannot eat everything. I had to read up on gut bacteria to keep from going broke hauling them to the vet every time one got sick. My understanding is the most important bacteria to digestion cannot survive in the air. That's why I'm leery of probiotic pills in bottles. They have donor cows, with a door into their stomachs, so vets can remove cud and quickly transfer it to sick animals, to jump start their stomachs when they lose bacteria.
I have never heard of this regarding goats and cows. (I had a childhood fried in Indiana who had a goat. I loved that nasty bugger.) And it is an interesting subject. So much of what goes on in our guts is a mystery. I know that probiotics and prebiotics are a "thing" these days, but that's nothing more than a research paper turned into an infomercial turned into mass marketing. I have never heard of humans (or critters) having actual medical conditions due to a loss of gut bacteria.. But with the food choices people make these days, I can see how it might happen. The grocery section of my local Walmart underwent a massive reconfiguration not long ago. The "from scratch" sections shrank, while the "ready-to-eat" crap expanded. It's not that "they" are pushing bad food choices, it's that we choose to eat crap. I now make a weekly 50 mile round trip to Charlottesville just so I can buy decent produce and spices. (Ethnic markets are one of the few things I really miss about live outside of DC.) There used to be a cable show on morbidly obese people (tens of thousands of calories per day) and the journey to get them help. I recall one episode where they lay out everything this woman would eat in a typical day (it was a huge spread), and they asked her what she saw. I noticed it right away: there was no color. Every food item was brown...either processed or fried. Not a single fruit. Not a single veggie. You can only imagine how her system had adapted. It's actually amazing that we can process any of that stuff (I am not innocent), much less an exclusive diet of it.
I forgot to ask: what were the goats for? Did you sell the milk? Make soap? Cheese? I've thought of getting a small herd (as well as chickens), but I don't want to be tied down so I couldn't go away for a period of time.
I bet if people gradually started eating only hay and twigs, they would develop the kinds of gut bacteria like goats have, to digest those kinds of things. They might even eventually evolve to have 3 stomachs and be able to chew cud. Our goats were only for clearing brush. They were especially useful on hills where a mower can't go. Had our place looking like a golf course in a few years. Now it's growing up again. If you don't want to get tied down, don't get goats. Donor cow
I think I've heard of people who charge to bring in their goats (or was it sheep?) to clear out areas. One thing that dissuaded me from getting goats were pics of ruined paint jobs as they climbed on vehicles, naturally seeking the highest ground around. Regarding the donor cow: I had no idea!!! I am surprised the PETA crowd has not put an end to that. It looks so barbaric.