“For as long as men massacre animals, they will also kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot ever truly reap joy and love.” ~ Pythagoras

This post is going to be particularly provocative for most of you. After all, even though more and more of you are replacing meat in your diets with healthy alternatives – and even though those of you who are still eating meat are eating a lot less of it every year, it is still estimated that between 97% & 99% of all Americans eat meat at least occasionally, with only slightly fewer folks in other countries doing so as well.

And this post is all about why that meat consumption is actually an unnecessary addiction – an addiction that is deadly on many levels. Eating MEAT IS actually MORE ADDICTIVE THAN NICOTINE, so where to start when faced with such a powerful opponent?

I think we might as well begin by looking at some of the most common rationalizations people give for eating meat …

MYTH #01 – “I need to eat meat to maintain my health” … This is simply not true.

Fact: YOU DO NOT NEED TO EAT MEAT TO MAINTAIN GOOD HEALTH.

“When a man of normal habits is ill, everyone hastens to assure him that he is going to recover. When a vegetarian is ill (which fortunately very seldom happens), everyone assures him that he is going to die, and that they told him so, and that it serves him right. They implore him to take at least a little gravy, so as to give himself a chance of lasting out the night.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

*on PROTEIN: “I need meat to satisfy my daily protein needs.” …
This is NOT TRUE.

This myth has been debunked for several years now. It has been clearly proven that there is actually more bio-ready protein in raw vegetables than there is in meat, protein that it only takes a few minutes for the human body to begin to utilize – unlike meat, where the body must work very hard for many hours to do so. Many of world’s greatest athletes are vegans and vegetarians, including several professional body-builders, so meat protein is not necessary to attain high levels of strength or muscle-mass either.

On average, vegetables are around 23% protein, beans are 28%, grains 13%, and even fruit comes in at 5.5% … By comparison, human breast milk is only 6% protein (and it is designed to be ingested at a time when our protein needs are as high as they will ever be).
To remain in optimum health, human adults need a diet that contains 3% to 10% protein, and plants can supply this amount without difficulty.

And protein is readily available – with high percentages found in eggs, beans, nuts, seeds, tofu, lentils, cheese, yogurt, avocados, broccoli, spinach, peas, artichokes, asparagus and beet greens.

*on IRON: “I need meat to satisfy my daily iron needs.” …
This is NOT TRUE.

Sufficient iron is easily obtained from a variety of non-meat sources, including spirulina, soybeans, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, molasses, tomato paste, white beans, spinach, peaches, prunes & lentils. Cooking in iron pots is also a good idea – when tomato paste is simmered in such iron cookware, the iron content of that meal can be increased ten-fold.

*on VITAMIN B12: “I need to eat meat to satisfy my daily Vitamin B12 needs.” …
This is NOT TRUE

While indeed very important for human health – and while it is primarily found in meat products, very little of this Vitamin must be ingested each day to maintain optimum health. Vegans might need to take a vitamin supplement, but eating veggie burgers, fortified breakfast cereals with soy milk, or various yeast derivatives that are high in B12 should be more than sufficient. Vegetarians will have no trouble whatsoever obtaining more than enough Vitamin B12 in their eggs, cheese and yogurt.

MYTH #02 — “I eat meat because it is natural for humans to do so.” This belief is also simply NOT TRUE.

Fact: HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT “DESIGNED” TO EAT MEAT.

In the same way that we don’t crave killing animals like most carnivores, humans are anatomically unable to do so unless we have weapons. We lack sharp enough claws to tear an animal apart and our canines aren’t really canines in the same sense of the word. Unlike true carnivores we can’t shred animal carcasses and eat them whole.

Also, we are designed to be able to eat meat as a survival mechanism, but our digestive systems are very similar to those of the other plant-eaters and totally unlike those of carnivores. We don’t have the stomach acidity that carnivores have for killing food borne illnesses. Because of the length of our intestinal tracts (which are designed to remove the nutrients from fruits and vegetables and grains), rotting meat and its diseases have more time to make us sick.

MYTH #03 – “It is too much trouble to become a vegetarian.” …
This statement is also simply NOT TRUE.

Fact: BECOMING A VEGETARIAN IS REALLY NOT A BIG DEAL.

Removing meat from your diet is NOT a huge sacrifice, but rather simply a matter of making adjustments in how you cook, shop and order at restaurants. More & more folks are waking up to this way of Living, and many supermarkets have recognized this. It is actually pretty easy to find good vegetarian foods these days no matter where you shop or where you go out to eat.

…….

And now, how about some things about meat consumption that are patently True?

*FACT #01 — Eating meat is intimately linked to CANCER …

There are many studies that now show that eating even moderate amounts of meat (even meat that is non-red) causes cancer in humans.

“The association between consumption of red and processed meats and cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, is very consistent.” ~ Marji McCullough, PhD (with the American Cancer Society)

*FACT #02 — Eating meat damages the HEART and the IMMUNE SYSTEM …

All meat, not just red meat, but also chicken, pork and turkey, creates an acid-heavy system in the human body, which in turn taxes the digestive system, the heart and the immune system. On top of that, all of the chemicals in meat can cause major, life-threatening problems in the colon, bladder and prostate.

*FACT #03 — Eating meat causes premature DEATH …

New research from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests even moderate consumption of red meat — as little as one serving a day (about the size of a deck of playing cards) — poses a more serious health risk than first thought. This one serving per day of unprocessed red meat increases your risk of premature death by 13 percent. If that meat is processed (bacon, sausage, etc) then your risk increases by 20 percent. On the other hand, by replacing that serving with nuts, the risk went down 19 percent.

*FACT #04 – “PINK SLIME”

Meat that is “affordable” also happens to be disgusting … A study done by R.P. Clayton and K.E. Belk concluded that a single 4-ounce ground beef patty was made from anywhere from 53 to 1082 different cows. About ¼ of U.S. ground beef is made from worn-out dairy cattle, stressed from the rigors of industrial milk production and who now have declining outputs of milk. The conditions in which most of these beef cows live are atrocious. Large beef processors such as ConAgra operate enormous feed lots, each holding up to 100,000 head of cattle. For the three months before they are slaughtered, the cattle there are eating feed dumped into long concrete troughs. Dosing these animals with steroids and antibiotics is also widespread — steroids and antibiotics that make their way into the fast food burger that you eat.

Even more disturbing is the “pink slime” used as a filler in most cheap U.S. based ground beef. “Trimmings” are scraps of fatty pieces left over in the slaughterhouse after all the good cuts of meat have been taken. Once upon a time, this stuff was destined for pet food, but today it’ i added to burgers from coast to coast. Meat processors liquefy trimmings, run them through a centrifuge, and then inject them with ammonia in an attempt to kill deadly pathogens. What is left over is turned into meat-chips that are used to fill-out hamburgers – including those burgers we give the children in our schools! A USDA microbiologist, after inspecting this process, wrote, “I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef at all, and I consider allowing it into ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling.” Despite this harsh critique, the USDA approved the technique — and then they decided that allow companies making to be in charge of their own testing! As late as March of 2012, it was reported that approximately 70 PERCENT of ground beef sold in U.S. supermarkets contained this “pink slime”.

HARMING ANIMALS — THE ULTIMATE HARM TO SELF

“In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they’re the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought.” ~ Isaac Singer (Nobel Prize 1978)

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, almost everyone would be a vegetarian.” ~ Paul McCartnery

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Many people say that eating meat is a “personal choice”, and yet it is important to realize that it is a choice with dire consequences – for you as well as the animals you are indirectly (or in some cases directly) killing.

The fact of the matter is that the animals we raise for meat have at least as much of an interest in staying alive, avoiding pain & suffering, and seeking pleasure as your beloved household pet – indeed, even as much as you yourself.

It is easy for those eating meat to say that they are not the ones actually killing those animals, and yet deep down we all know this argument to be incredibly weak. Without the purchase of the meat to consume it, those animals simply would not be killed. Purchasing meat and eating it IS the same as putting one hand on the executioner’s blade.

“You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.” ~ Ralph W. Emerson

MORE IMPORTANTLY, the animals typically eaten in the U.S are shockingly intelligent. It has been proven that pigs are smarter than your own dog, and that chickens are actually as intelligent as the average three-year old child. I have personally cared for members of both of these species, and I can personally attest to this Truth.

In addition, these animals are sentient. Just like you and I, they have individual personalities, Just like you and I, they have desires and they have fears. Just like you and I, they care for their young deeply, they care for their mates deeply, and they care for their own lives deeply. To kill them for our own convenience is nothing short of reprehensible.

It is time that we had the humility & the courage to see eating meat for what it truly is:

It is MURDER, plain and simple.

“All animals have the same capacity for suffering, but how we see them differs and that determines what we’ll tolerate happening to them. In the western world, we feel it wrong to torture and eat cats and dogs, but perfectly acceptable to do the same to animals equally as sentient and capable of suffering. No being who prides himself on rationality can continue to support such behavior.” ~ Twyla Francois

Eating meat may very well be your “personal choice”, but in doing so you are robbing animals of that same right. When over 120 BILLION animals are killed every year across the planet for “personal” food choices made by our species – choices that are NOT necessary for our survival, but rather are based alone on pleasuring our palate, eating meat ceases to be a matter of personal choice…

… it becomes a crime.

“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

“The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.” ~ Leonard da Vinci

“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act in this fashion is simply immoral.” ~ Leo Tolstoy