Why Go Vegetarian? The eating of animals is actually a very indirect way of consuming vegetable protein (vegetable protein is the protein we really need). There is nothing to be gained nutritionally from eating the vegetable protein that has metabolized into another creature's body (a.k.a. meat). In fact, the effects of this illogical practice are devastating to the health of our bodies. by Jana Gatien

The eating of meat is so ingrained in our lifestyle, that most often we'll eat a burger (or watch someone else eat a burger) without giving it a second thought. Rarely do we consider the process of how the meat got from wherever it comes from- into the barbeque and then into our mouths. Buy the meat, cook the meat, eat the meat- in our minds, this is the extent of the process. But for every action there is a reaction and believe it or not, the eating of a simple grilled chicken sandwich has serious consequences- for both our bodies and the planet.

What scenes are we missing and why can't we see them? Because the profit-driven meat industry doesn't want us to know. The truth is that there are a lot of ugly secrets hiding behind one of the world's darkest and most powerful industries.

The truth is that there are a lot of ugly secrets hiding behind one of the world's darkest and most powerful industries.

Isn't Meat One of the Major Food Groups?
.For lions and tigers and bears, perhaps.

But humans are not biologically built to eat animal flesh- not with our soft fingernails or teeth, and most certainly not with our long digestive tracts. In fact, animal flesh contains so much indigestible protein and so little fiber that humans have great difficulty expelling animal flesh from the body. This causes flesh "deposits" that can sit in the colon for months to years. The presence of putrefying meat in the colon is the leading cause of colon, rectal, and prostate cancer.

The eating of animals is actually a very indirect way of consuming vegetable protein (vegetable protein is the protein we really need). There is nothing to be gained nutritionally from eating the vegetable protein that has metabolized into another creature's body (a.k.a. meat). In fact, the effects of this illogical practice are devastating to the health of our bodies.

If our biological design isn't sufficient evidence, perhaps the extensive list of diseases stemming from meat consumption will change an eating habit or two.

The eating of meat is directly related to all types of cancer (i.e. colon, prostate, rectal, lung, and breast), heart disease, type 1 and 2 diabetes, arthritis, gout, toxemia, osteoporosis, obesity, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and of course, salmonella and E. coli.- to name a few. The switch to a vegetarian diet substantially decreases the risk of contracting any of these diseases.

It is also becoming widely known that factory farmers treat their "livestock" with penicillin, growth hormones, steroids, and pesticides. They also feed the "livestock" with rendered animal products (including such things as ground hooves, eyes, bones, organs, ears, etc.). This means that the animals are poisoned with pesticides, they are abnormally HUGE and malnourished, and very often… they are cannibalistic. In recent years, cows contracted BSE (a.k.a. Mad Cow Disease) from the sheep brains in their feed. The meat and rendering industries refer to their sick partnership as the "ultimate recycling arrangement!" But if sick animals are eating sick animals are eating sick animals are eating sick animals… people are eating sick animals too.

Former USDA slaughterhouse inspectors estimate that up to 60% of industry cattle have leukosis (cancer of the blood), up to 90% of factory farmed chickens have either leukosis or Reuse's Sarcoma (cancer of the bones).

It is also becoming widely known that factory farmers treat their "livestock" with penicillin, growth hormones, steroids, and pesticides.

So What is This "Factory Farming"?

The form of agriculture dominating today's food market is Factory Farming. It distinguishes itself from any past forms of animal-agriculture by its sheer scale.

With absolute disregard to sustainability, factory farming is rapidly depleting the world's freshwater supply, food supply, rainforests, and the nutrients in our topsoil. Not to mention, it is poisoning the air and water.

How can "food" be depleting our food supply? Well, it takes 16 lbs. of vegetable protein to make 1 lb. of animal protein. It is uneconomical and illogical to feed a majority of the world's food to animals and then eat the animals. Especially when half the people in the world don't have enough to eat.

The meat industry is also the number one consumer of the planet's dwindling water supply. It will be thirty years before places like America and Canada feel the effect of an inevitable drought. Thirty years may seem like a lifetime away, but it will seem like a blink when there's nothing to drink.

On top of consuming a bulk of the world's resources, factory farming is one of the most devastating polluters of the environment. Because of hormones, pesticides, and low-quality feed, livestock manure is no longer fertilizer- it is poison. And because the meat industry is raising and killing 9 billion animals a year, the planet is literally in deep manure. There is no place to put all the manure- except to create vast lakes for it, otherwise known as "lagoons". In these lagoons, ammonia and methane bubble to the surface, creating a toxic stench for miles. The manure also poisons groundwater, seeps into the soil, and washes off into lakes and rivers- contaminating them with E.coli and altering fragile aquatic ecosystems.

All that and the rainforest too. Over the past thirty years, 50 million square miles of virgin tropical rainforests have been destroyed to graze cattle (by Burger King, Purina, McDonald's, etc.). Humans are rapidly destroying the lungs of the Earth that would ultimately help us clean up what we are polluting. Instead, unprocessed gases end up lingering in the atmosphere and strengthening the Greenhouse Effect.

Over the past thirty years, 50 million square miles of virgin tropical rainforests have been destroyed to graze cattle.

But Aren't Animals Here For Us to Eat?

No. Animals are not here for us to eat. True, they are not as intelligent as humans, but does this mean that humans should exploit them? Or rather, should humans take care of them, just as they should take care of the Earth? Animals are sentient beings. They feel and experience emotions, pain, and suffering. If we consider it crazy to eat our pets, who gives man the perverse authority to dictate which animals' lives are more valuable. Does a dog feel more than a pig? The answer is No.

Each year, 9 billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption. That's more people than are on the planet, yet we never hear about it or see it. Do you ever wonder why it's so hidden? It's because today's farming practices are something to be ashamed of. The industry fears that if the public ever saw the inside of a meatpacking plant (a.k.a. slaughterhouse), that they would never want to eat meat again. They're probably right.

Though animals are supposed to be protected by the Humane Slaughter Act, it is unrealistic to assume that something called the Humane Slaughter Act would actually protect an animal in any way. The Act's regulations are poorly monitored and often ignored. Meatpackers like IBP (the world's biggest slaughterhouse chain) maximize "production" by totally disregarding the cow as a living being. Production lines now move so quickly that employees from a Washington state plant estimated that 10-30% of cows get skinned and dismembered while still conscious. Complaints to both IBP superiors and USDA inspectors failed to improve these conditions.

Modern-day factory farming is a hellish holocaust. I've seen hundreds of thousands of chickens in one building, stacked 7-to-a-crate on top of each other, covered in feces, open sores and lesions- and pumped full of antibiotics (to prevent the spread of disease in such conditions). Thousands of pigs in one building, living in crates, inhaling foul air, involuntarily eating their friends… every single pig gets his tail and testicles sliced off without anesthetic. Similarly, the docile cow is branded, her horns cut off and her tail broken all without the use of anesthetic. They all wail out in pain.

At this point in time, to help the world may seem like an overwhelming and confusing prospect. It is sometimes difficult to know exactly where to put your energies. The elimination of meat from your diet is a good place to start. It is something that any individual can do and it is a decision that brings a person a greater sense of well-being. When one is disentangled from the meat industry's web of suffering, a weight comes off the heart. Please stop eating animals… for ourselves, the people we care about, the animals, and for a brighter future on Earth.

Sourse www.planetveggie.com