Furthermore, to be honest, I have so many reasons for being veg, it's hard to give them all in a conversation. So, my blog is a perfect place to give my reasons. :)
My main/initial reason for becoming interested in vegetarianism was health. It is well documented that vegetarians are healthier than those who eat an omnivorous diet. Vegetarians are less likely to be obese, or to have high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or colon cancer. They were also less likely to die from heart disease.
As I researched more in to it, I became aware of the amount of pesticides and antibiotics used on animals - that we, in turn consume as well, I was very turned on to the idea of a plant-based diet. I talk a little bit more about that in this post.
I also learned that the human body is not designed like other carnivorous (eating meat only) or omnivorous (meat and plant eating) species. Our gastrointestinal tract is built much more like that of herbivorous (plant eating) species.
Carnivores/omnivores have short intestinal tracts and colons that allow meat to pass through it relatively quickly, before it has a chance to rot and cause illness, or absorb much of the saturated fat (which is only found in meat) and many studies have also shown that meat can cause colon cancer in humans. Humans, on the other hand, have intestinal tracts that are much longer than carnivores of comparable size. Like other herbivores, longer intestines allow the body more time to break down fiber and absorb the nutrients from a plant-based diet.
Also, the fact that other meat-eating animals do not cook their meat (obviously) - that it is eaten raw, should say something. Humans must cook flesh before it can safely be consumed or it will make us sick. And when was the last time you looked at a cow or chicken and your mouth began to water? We definitely do not look at animals as prey - the way other predators who are truly meant to eat meat do. And what about our teeth? Not sharp like the teeth of animals who tear flesh. Our molars are flat, much like giraffes, monkey's etc. who eat only plants. And our nails... useless if we wanted to run up and attack a cow.
So, there's all of that.
Then... I learned about the environmental impact of meat consumption. Consider these facts...
If everyone went vegetarian for one day, we would save:
- 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
- 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
- 70 million gallons of gas -- enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
- 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
- 33 tons of antibiotics.
We would prevent: - Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;
- 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;
- 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;
- Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.
Now - imagine how effective eating every meal, every day could positively impact the environment. Of course, if you cannot sustain a full-vegetarian diet, every meatless meal you eat makes a difference.
Ethics....
As I continued to research, I learned about the practices of factory farming and what animals go through before they end up on someone's plate. :( The conditions in which they live and die, are truly horrendous. For example, chickens are raised in stacked wire cages and never set foot on the actual ground during their 2 months of life (yes, chickens are grown from chick, to slaughter in just two months - wonder how they grow big enough so quickly???) Their beaks are seared off to prevent them from pecking at each other since they are living in such tight quarters which also renders them unable to ever spread their wings. Ever. It's heartbreaking. And imagine how many chickens must live and die to feed the country - and the world, considering that one chicken only yields 4 chicken breasts (split) - which is only enough for a single family meal, and 4 drumsticks/wings - On average, Americans eat 20,000,000 wings per year. That means that more than 10,000,000 chickens die in a single year.
I once saw a vegetarian "cartoon" that said, "Why love one animal and eat another?" to which the other character in the cartoon responded, "You're absolutely right - there's no reason why I can't eat puppies!" While the thought of eating dogs or puppies is undoubtedly revolting, if you think about it, what really makes cows, pigs, chickens, lambs etc so much different than cats or dogs that we don't feel badly eating them? Some people keep those animals as pets too, and when it comes down to it, who decided that one is for food and another is a companion? They all breath, see, eat, live...
I really wish that everyone would watch Earthlings before deciding whether or not they want to eat meat. If you watch it, learn what animals endure before becoming breakfast, lunch or dinner and still want to have fried chicken for dinner, then by all means but I think everyone should at least know what happens to animals before they are your food. Obviously, most people don't have the heart to physically kill an animal themselves before they eat it, but to turn a blind eye and refuse to at least know about it, I think it just really unfair.
Eggs & Milk
Milk - in order for a cow to produce milk, it must first become pregnant (which is done through artificial insemination), gestate full term and give birth to a calf. The baby calves are taken from their mothers within hours of birth - and animals have emotional attachments to their offspring too - and the mothers are hooked up to milking machines, administered extra hormones (which end up in the milk) that makes them produce much more milk than they naturally would... and they are milked by metal electric machines almost constantly. This causes frequently causes them develop udder infections and secrete blood and pus in to the milk. They are administered antibiotics for the infections (which also ends up in the milk and the bodies of the consumer) and all the while, the baby calves - if male - are sold for veal and kept in small crates that prevent them from being able to stand up so that their muscles do not develop and their meat is kept more tender - until they are about 4 months old, when they are slaughtered. The female calves are off to become dairy cows themselves. Once a dairy cow dries up - they impregnate her again and do it all over. Obviously being pregnant or lactating constantly takes a toll on a cow's body and they have a very short life span. More information on that here.
Consider this: Cow's milk is designed to grow baby calves in to 1500 pound animals. Not designed for humans. It must be highly processed before we can drink it. Humans are the only species to drink milk beyond infancy and the only to drink milk from another species. Adult cows don't even drink cow's milk - so why do adult humans think it is necessary??
Calcium, you say? In order for the human body to absorb calcium, we also need magnesium. Cow's milk does not contain it - because it's not meant for humans.. We are hardly absorbing any of the calcium in cow's milk - but we're sure as heck getting the pus, blood, hormones and antibiotics. Vegetables are a much better source of calcium.
Eggs - Not only are egg-laying hens kept in the same awful conditions as chickens raised for their meat, but what's more, is that the male chicks that are hatched are ground up alive because they are of no use for the industry. They don't grow large enough fast enough, and they don't lay eggs and the egg industry says "unfortunately there is no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens". So that is the price of cheap eggs. There is more on that here.
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