Defeat the Meat

Below is a short paper I wrote for this class on why people should become vegetarians.

Defeat the Meat

What if you could improve your health, help protect the environment, and aid in animal welfare by simply changing one thing in your life? Would you do it? If you are like most people, you would gladly change a small aspect in your life to better these three areas. So what is the solution? Become a vegetarian. While most people consider the animals when adopting vegetarianism, they tend to be unaware of the benefits vegetarianism can also bring your body and the environment.

First, we need to understand what a vegetarian is. According to CNN, there are three main types of vegetarians: lacto-ovo-vegetarians are people who do not eat meat but still consume dairy products and eggs; lacto-vegetarians do not eat meat or eggs, but eat dairy products; vegans do not consume animal foods of any type; their diets consist of plant-based foods (Vegetarian diet: A starter's guide to a plant based diet.). So why do people decide to take meat, or all animal products, out of their diets? Some reasons include religion, personal health, animal rights, and environmental ethics.

Many people do not eat meat because of their religion. A few of these religions include: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, and Taoism. Hinduism involves the karmic beliefs that the principal of non-violence is applied to animals. The first lay precept in Buddhism prohibits killing, which many believe that the law implies they should not eat meat. Jainism forbids the consumption of products obtained from animals. Judaism prohibits the consumption of pork and many Jews have chosen a vegetarianism diet. Taoism does not allow the consumption of meat, eggs, and milk, but it does allow its followers to eat oyster products (Vegetarianism and Religion).

The American Cancer Society, American Institute for Cancer Research, and the American Heart association all recommend a diet that is rich in plant-based foods. Diets rich in plant-based foods contain a large amount of antioxidants, phytochemicals, fiber, and low levels of saturated fat and cholesterol (10 Tips for Meatless Meals). It has been shown that a vegetarian usually eats 25% less fat than meat eaters, which contributes to a lower BMI (What are the benefits of vegetarianism?). Vegetarian diets are significantly lower in saturated fats and dietary protein, which lead to less health problems.

According to Tufts University Medical School and the New England Medical Center Hospital in Boston, evidence suggests that vegetarians are at lesser risk of obesity, lung cancer, alcoholism, hypertension, coronary artery disease, type II Diabetes, gallstones, and atonic constipation (CNN Food Central). A twenty year study conducted at Loma Linda University found that vegetarians usually live between ten to fifteen years longer than meat eaters (The Benefits of Vegetarianism). Due to the lower levels of fat in a vegetarian diet, a study suggests that the male meat-eaters’ risk of a heart attack is 50%, whereas men who do not eat meat have a 15% chance of suffering a heart attack (Go Veg). Moreover, “a vegetarian diet may be just as effective as statin drugs in lowering blood cholesterol” (Get the Facts about Vegetarian Diets).

There are also many mental illnesses that have been linked to the consumption of meat. People who have Alzheimer’s disease also have high levels homocysteine in their blood. Homocysteine levels can be lowered by avoiding meat and dairy products. A recent study at Harvard Medical School showed that “subjects who adopted a vegan diet had their homocysteine levels drop between 13% and 20% in just one week” (Vegetarianism: Mental Benefits). With all these health benefits, it’s amazing there aren’t more vegetarians in the world!

Sadly, animals raised for food aren’t raised the way we are used to seeing them on television and movies. Instead of having wide open green pastures with plentiful sunshine, most farm animals are crammed inside windowless buildings. The animals are stuffed into filthy and tiny cages that are so small, the animals can’t turn around, lie down comfortably, or even spread their wings. These animals “will never raise their families, root in the soil, build nests or do anything that is natural to them. They won’t even feel the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter” (Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness).

The conditions and experiences factory farm animals endure would be considered animal cruelty if they were considered domestic pets such as cats, dogs, and horses. Factory farm animals experience “neglect, mutilation, genetic manipulation, and drug regimens that cause chronic pain and crippling, transport through all weather extremes, and gruesome and violent slaughter” (Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness). Factory farm animals are given drugs to fatten them faster, and are genetically altered to grow faster or produce more eggs or milk than they would naturally. Many of these animals become crippled under their own weight (Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness). According to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, if humans grew as quickly as the birds on factory farms, we would be 349 pounds by the age of two (Eating for the Animals). After all this, we humans eat the flesh of these creatures that have been pumped full of hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs. Does anyone else fear our meat is a health hazard?

These animals are capable of having their own personalities, along with likes and dislikes, have the ability to feel pain, suffer from boredom and frustration, and can experience joy and contentment. Yet, we mindlessly kill them by the billions just so they can fill our plates. We do our best to keep our pets from experiencing pain, but we don’t seem to care about the animals we eat. It is important for us to realize where our meat comes from. The realizations of how these animals live, how they are treated, and how they die is quite unappetizing.

Every year, over 10 billion land animals are bred and killed solely for food in the U.S. alone (Eating for the Animals). To place this into perspective, 660,000 animals are killed for meat every hour. In a lifetime, the average American consumes “approximately 11 cattle, 3 sheep, 23 hogs, 45 turkeys, 1,100 chickens, and 862 pounds of fish” (Overview of the Vegetarianism Campaign). Just imagine all the lives you would be saving if you chose a meat free diet.

The most interesting and worldly important reason to become a vegetarian involves the environment and global warming. Surprisingly, recent studies at the University of Chicago found that “switching to vegetarian foods reduces individual greenhouse gas emissions more than replacing a gas-guzzler with a compact car” (Saving the Planet and Animals--One Bite at a Time). Even more surprising, a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that “raising animals for food contributes more to global warming than all human transportation combined” (Saving the Planet and Animals--One Bite at a Time). Moreover, animal excrement and flatulence emits gases such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia which poison the air, along with methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide which are major contributors to global warming (Go Veg).

It costs an enormous amount of energy to raise animals for food. Animal agriculture requires an incredible amount of water. Take a bite out of this: it takes 2,500-5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat (Wasted Resources-Water). According to GoVeg.com, a completely vegetarian diet requires only 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day (Wasted Resources-Water). Interestingly, more than half of the water used in America today goes to agriculture, and the run-off from the farmed animals’ excrement is polluting our water (Go Veg).

What’s more is that a huge amount of grain, fossil fuels, and land is being used for animal agriculture. One study shows that “if Americans would reduce their consumption of meat by only 10%, the amount of grain wasted on animal feel that could be diverted for direct human consumption would be sufficient to adequately feed every one of the 60 million people who die from hunger each year. Ten people can be fed with the amount of grain needed to create enough meat to feed one person” (The Benefits of Vegetarianism). According to the USDA, animals raised for food in the United States consume 90% of the soy crop, 80% of the corn crop, and 70% of its grain (Ethics of Eating Meat).

The rainforests are also at stake. According to Greenpeace, “all the wild animals and trees in more than 2.9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season in order to grow crops that are used to feed chickens and other animal factory farms” (Wasted Resources: Rainforest). 80% of the soy grown in the Amazon rainforests is used to feed the world’s farmed animals (Wasted Resources: Rainforest). Raising animals for human consumption is one of the largest contributors to the depletion of the rainforests. All over the world, according to the Smithsonian Institute, “the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals” (Wasted Resources:Land). You can help save the rainforest by simply switching to a meat-free diet.

By making the life changing decision to eliminate meat from your diet, you can increase your health, live longer, aid in decreasing the number of animals who are slaughtered daily, save the rainforests, and slow the process of global warming. Not only would you be helping yourself, but you would be helping the world and generations to follow. There has never been an easier way to change your life and the world you live in: defeat the meat today.

Works Cited

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"CNN Food Central." 2000. CNN. 15 November 2007 .

"Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness." 2007. Go Veg. 16 November 2007 .

"Eating for the Animals." 27 November 2007. The Humane Society of the United States. 2007 November 2007 .

"Ethics of Eating Meat." 2007. Wikipedia. 23 November 2007 .

"Get the Facts about Vegetarian Diets." 2007. WebMD. 18 November 2007 .

"Go Veg." 2007. Vegetarian 101. 18 November 2007 .

"Overview of the Vegetarianism Campaign." 2007. Animal Aid. 27 November 2007 .

"Saving the Planet and Animals--One Bite at a Time." 2007. The Humane Society of the United States. 18 November 2007 .

"The Benefits of Vegetarianism." 2004. Ohio Oak Cats University. 12 November 2007 .

"Vegetarian diet: A starter's guide to a plant based diet." 06 January 2006. Mayo Clinic. 14 November 2007 .

"Vegetarianism and Religion." 2007. Wikipedia. 14 11 2007 .

"Vegetarianism: Mental Benefits." Celestial Healing. 16 November 2007 .

"Wasted Resources: Rainforest." 2007. GoVeg. 2007 November 27 .

"Wasted Resources:Land." 2007. Go Veg. 27 November 2007 .

"Wasted Resources-Water." Go Veg. 18 November 2007 .

"What are the benefits of vegetarianism?" Vegetarianism. 23 November 2007 .