- Becoming A Vegetarian
by Cortney Scott
- In the world of fast paced living in which we live, there are many vital aspects of our lifestyle that we simply ignore. Of the many (and probably the most important) is our own health. The foods we tend to eat are quick and conventient: the fast-food industry is enormous, and our consumption of non-healthy food continues to rise each year. Meanwhile, our health suffers. Eating more healthy would be the obvious solution, and one way to do this is by becoming a vegeterian. Need help making that choice? Here are 31 reasons to keep in mind:
- Meat/Dairy centered diets are linked to many types of cancer, as well as heart ailments, diabetes, obesity, gallbladder disease, hypertension and more deadly diseases and disorders.
- The National Cancer Research Institute found that women who eat meat on a daily basis are almost 4 times more likely to get breast cancer than those women who eat little or no meat.
- Meat contains approximately 14 times more pesticides than plant foods; dairy products contain 5 1/2 times more pesticides than plant foods.
- 15 million pounds of antibiotics are used in animal production every year. These drugs end up in your milk and meat.
- 95-99 percent of toxic chemical residues in the American diet come from animal sources.
- By reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs by 50%, you reduce your risk of a heart attack by 45%. By following a pure vegeterian diet (no animal products at all) you reduce your risk by 90%.
- Meat and dairy products raise the acid level in human blood, causing calcium to be excreted from the bones to restore the body's natural pH balance. This calcium depletion results in osteoporosis. Contrary to the common belief that dairy products are necessary to prevent osteoporosis, dairy consumption actually increases the likeliness of this crippling disease.
- About 30% of all pork products are contaminated with toxoplasmosis, a disease which is caused by parasites. It can be passed on to consumers.
- The vegeterian diet is more likely to meet the government recommendations for fat, carbohydrate and protein than a nonvegeterian diet. The government as well as many other organizations tell us to reduce our fat intake (especially saturated fat) and also to eat more grains, fruits and vegetables.
- On a meatless diet, you are less likely to get a bacterial infection such as Ecoli, Camphylobacter and Salmonella.
- Animals are able to feel pain just as we can!
- About 7 billion farm animals die or are sluaghtered each year in the U.S. for the production of flesh food.
There are virtually no laws against cruelty to animals raised for food in the U.S. The Animal Welfare Act, which governs the humane treatment of animals, exclude animals intended for food consumption.
- Up to five hens are crowded into a cage with floor space hardly larger than a record-cover, for their entire lifetime.
- Many factory-farmed animals never see a blade of grass in their lifetime.
- In the egg industry, male chicks are considered useless and are often thrown into a grinding machine - ALIVE!
- Animals raised for food production are nearly deprived of natural sexual, social, hygienic and parental behaviors.
- Reasons for veal's light color and tender texture: veal calves are force-fed an iron-deficient, anemia-producing diet devoid of solid foods.
- Bulls raised for meat-production are routinely castrated without any type of anesthesia or pain killers.
- Many animals are transported to slaughter without food and water for long periods of time. Millions die on the way to slaughter.
- The slaughter process is inhumane. When the animals are stunned before they are slaughtered, it is not always reliable, leaving animals in pain as they move towards their death.
- Livestock production is a major cause of desertification (where the land dries out and loses its precious topsoil so vegetation is unable to grow on it anymore) as well as deforestation (loss of trees).
-Two hundred years ago American cropland had topsoil that averaged 21 inches in depth. Today, only about 6 inches remain. Every year in the U.S. an area the size of Conneticut is lost to topsoil erosion - 85% of erosion is associated with livestock production.
- Spinach grown on a acre of land can yield 26 times more protein than beef produced on the same acre.
- Number of pure vegeterians who can be fed on the amount of land needs to feed one person consuming a meat-based diet: 20
-Some beef comes from cattle raised on land that was formerly rainforest. This land is not good for grazing and it lasts only for a few years, after which more rainforest must be destroyed for grazing.
- For each quarter-pound fast food hamburger sold that came from cattle raised on former rainforest land, 55 square feet of rainforest was destroyed.
- A lot more water is required in animal agriculture than in plant agriculture. It takes only about 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat and around 390 gallons to produce just one pound of beef. In fact, it takes less water to produce the food that a pure vegeterian needs for one year than to produce the food that a meat eater needs for a month.
- Animal production reqiures a lot of fossil fuels. Fuels are needed to transport animal feed, to heat their housing and to take the animals to slaughter, meat packing plants and grocery stores. The burning of these fuels, as well as methane produced by the animals, is one cause of global warming.
-Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers used in the production of animal's feed pollute land and water.
- Many plants and animals become extinct due to the destruction of the land.
- Fact: 60 million people will starve to death this year- 60 million people could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduce their intake of meat by 10 percent.
As a human being, if any of the beforementioned facts carry any importance, what reason would one have to not change their diet? The road to a more conscious and healthy America begins with the individual him/herself. It is never too late to make a positive change that could effect millions of people. Now that you know all what is involved in consuming the food that you eat (nonvegeterians), what are you willing to do about it? A perfect excuse before reading this article could have been for one to say he/she was not aware of these inhumane acts. But now that you know, what will become the excuses now?
