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Thursday, May 1, 2008

Is a vegetarian diet healthier?


Yet another article about the benefits of a vegetarian diet. We've read it all before - the conclusions are not clear....are vegetarians living longer, disease free, healthier lives because they eat so much vegetables & fruit rather than the absence of meat? Or is it because, generally-speaking vegetarians are also less likely to smoke, over-eat, etc.? To read the whole article and decide for yourself, visit the link to the web page.

Surprisingly, the author quotes
Vesanto Melina, the author of Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet (Wiley, 2003), as stating that small amounts of low fat meats can be a part of a healthy diet.

I'm sorry, but this misses the point for me completely. We are always talking about our health, but what about the health of the animal? Our so-called requirement for animal products, means for the average chicken or pig a life of confinement, while being fed a diet specifically aimed at fattening the animal up to marketable level in a unusually short timespan, then hauling the livestock cross-country (or even over seas) again in cramped confined quarters, often without water for lengthy stretches. Then at the end of this horrific journey, the point of no escape - the killing floors of our abattoirs. This is the point for me - the point of no return.

I've said it before, I did not stop eating meat for my health. I stopped eating meat for the animals health!

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2 comments:

jerilee said...

You said it exactly - I did not quit eating meat for my health either. I quit for the same reason you did. I know many who have quit for their own health, still crave meat sometimes and do occasionally eat it. As my reasons are very different, I do not crave it and absolutely will even think to eat anything that has animal product in it. It's quite an opposite view when you do something outside yourself as opposed to just doing it for yourself.

Compassionate Consumption said...

Nicely phrased Jerilee. Thanks very much for your comment.
With appreciation,
Prasad