Four of Howard Lyman’s six adult children have stopped eating red meat. The other two admit they don’t eat a steak or burger without thinking of him.
Lyman is a fourth-generation dairy farmer and rancher from Montana. Or was. You might know him as the ex-cattleman who appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to talk about mad cow disease. During the show, after listening to Lyman, Oprah said, “Cows are herbivores. They shouldn’t be eating other cows. . . . It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger.”
Both Lyman and Winfrey were subsequently sued by a group of Texas cattlemen under that state’s “food disparagement” laws. Lyman and Winfrey won the case, including the appeal. You probably know that. You might not know they are being sued again by another group of ranchers.
Some people know Lyman for his astute knowledge of vegetarianism and as president of EarthSave International. The EarthSave Chicago chapter will be hosting its second annual Conference for Conscious Living Saturday at Northwestern University in Evanston. Lyman is one of the keynote speakers, along with longtime natural-foods activist and EarthSave founder John Robbins. The all-day conference features several speakers, exhibits, vegan lunch and a post-party with dancing and hors d’oeurvres. Tickets are $65 for the general public; call 773-525-4032 for more details.
Beware. After listening to these two guys, you might feel the same way as Oprah. That goes double if you read their latest books. Lyman and co-author Glen Merzer wrote “Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won’t Eat Meat” (Touchstone, $12). Robbins is author of “The Food Revolution” (Conari Press, $17.95), a sequel to his best-selling and movement-inspiring “Diet for a New America.” For instance, when Japanese officials announced a month ago that country’s first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease), they promised that every animal 2 1/2 years or older sold for food will be tested for the brain-wasting illness. In contrast, Lyman said the most recent U.S. annual statistics indicate that 2,303 cows were tested for the BSE out of a possible 43 million. That’s a little more than 1/200th of 1 percent.
“Even in testing the 2,300 cows, we are not using the rapid [results] test,” said Lyman, who now lives in suburban Washington, D.C., where he testifies at numerous congressional hearings when not traveling to give talks 40 weeks per year. “It’s practically impossible to find the disease with the test now used. The government is working the `don’t look, don’t find’ approach to perfection.”
For his part, Robbins was the first activist to point out that it requires 4,000 gallons of water to produce a day’s food for one meat-eater, compared with 1,200 gallons for a lacto-ovo vegetarian (a non-meat-eater who consumes dairy products and eggs) and 300 for a pure vegetarian, or vegan (pronounced VEE-gun). Robbins, like Lyman, makes a strong case that eating a plant-based diet (fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes) will improve personal health and “save the Earth.” They are not trying to make us feel guilty, just feel differently.
“I want to stir people to think about looking into the way they eat,” Lyman explained. “I ask people to give up animal products for 60 days. Why not? It’s easier than quitting smoking. Then see if you have more energy, need less sleep and if your cholesterol and blood pressure go down.”
Lyman stopped eating red meat in 1990 but was “the world’s worst vegetarian” because his diet was mostly “dairy products and lettuce.” Yet, after a year, he lost some weight and his dangerously high cholesterol (above 300) and elevated blood pressure both decreased.
“I decided to cut out animal products,” said Lyman, who was still obese then. “I ended up losing 130 pounds, and my cholesterol is down to 135. The dramatic change for me came between being a vegetarian and vegan.”
Lyman knows there is still plenty of persuading to do. There are his two meat-eating children, for instance, though he has noticed a distinct improvement in food choices and veggie burgers replacing hamburgers on the grill during annual family vacations. But Lyman sees positive signs. He said the typical American ate 94 pounds of meat each year in the 1970s. The latest number is 66 pounds per person. Another study shows 30 percent of the meals served at the Stanford University last year were vegan. “Hey, a vegan restaurant has opened up in Great Falls, Mont. [his hometown where he worked the ranch for 45 years],” Lyman said. “That’s amazing and encouraging.”
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Next week: More about mad cow.