Eating Meat = Eating up Land

A human population expected to grow by 3 billion, a shift in developing countries to eating more meat, and global consumption on track to double in 40 years point to the mother of all food crises down the road. How much food we grow is not just limited by the amount of available land but meat-eaters need far more space than vegetarians. A Bangladeshi family living off rice, beans, vegetables and fruit may live on an acre of land or less, while the average American, who consumes around 270 pounds of meat a year, needs 20 times that.

Nearly 30% of the available ice-free surface area of the planet is now used by livestock, or for growing food for those animals. One billion people go hungry every day, but livestock now consumes the majority of the world's crops. A Cornell University study in 1997 found that around 13m hectares of land in the US were used to grow vegetables, rice, fruit, potatoes and beans, but 302m were used for livestock. The problem is that farm animals are inefficient converters of food to flesh. Broiler chickens are the best, needing around 3.4kg to produce 1kg of flesh, but pigs need 8.4kg for that kilo.

Other academics have calculated that if the grain fed to animals in western countries were consumed directly by people instead of animals, we could feed at least twice as many people – and possibly far more – as we do now.

To make matters worse, our hunger to eat animals has led to overstocking of fragile lands and massive soil erosion and desertification. Overgrazing, from the down lands of southern England to the uplands of Ethiopia and mountains of Nepal, causes great loss of fertility, as well as flooding.

Vegetarian Diet Could Make You Happier And Less Stressed, Study Shows

By Elizabeth Nolan Brown, for Blisstree.com

Omnivores, take note: Embracing a vegetarian diet could make you happier and less stressed, according to new research published in Nutrition Journal.

The reason comes down to fatty acids: Diets that include meat and fish are higher in arachidonic acid (AA), an animal source of omega-6 fatty acids. Much of the meat Americans eat today is quite high in AA: The average omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid profile of modern grain-fed meat is 5 times higher than grass-fed meat, like our ancestors ate. And previous research has shown high levels of AA can cause mood-disturbing brain changes.

High-fish diets also mean higher levels of long-chain, or omega-3 fatty acids, like eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Both EPA and DHA combat the negative effects of AA. High dietary levels of omega-3 fatty acids are linked to better brain health, better mood and a host of other health benefits. Most health experts recommend an omega-6/omega-3 ratio of about 4:1.

In theory, then, frequent fish eaters should have be protected against the damaging effects of AA because of their higher intake of omega-3 acids. But an earlier study found omnivores reported significantly worse moods than vegetarians, despite higher intakes of EPA and DHA.

In this follow-up study, 39 meat-eating participants were assigned to one of three diets. A control group ate meat, fish or poultry daily; a second group ate fish 3-4 times weekly but no meat; and a third group ate strictly vegetarian. After two weeks, mood scores were unchanged for the fish- and meat-eating groups, but vegetarians reported significantly better moods and less stress.

“Restricting meat, fish, and poultry improved … short-term mood state in modern omnivores,” the researchers concluded.

After two weeks on a vegetarian diet, participants had “negligible amounts” of EPA, DHA and AA in their bodies. Fatty acid levels in the control group were unchanged. Participants in the fish eating group showed 95 to 100% higher levels of EPA and DHA fatty acids—but their omega-6 to omega-3 ratios were still heavily skewed toward omega-6′s.

To work plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids (called ALA) into your diet, try chia seeds, hemp seed, cauliflower and purslane.

Source : Huffington Post

Facts about Livestock Production and Global Warming

Do We Need to Eat Animal Products for Optimum Health?

Most of us, including myself, grew up with families and in a society in which the eating of certain animals was completely normal, it was just "the way things are", it was "natural" and "necessary". These beliefs are backed by constant advertising assuring us that foods like hamburgers, bacon and chicken "nuggets" are copacetic, and that we need to eat the flesh of cows, pigs, fish and chickens in order to get the protein we need, along with drink the milk of cows to get calcium for "strong bones".

Most of us are also not violent creatures, never intentionally hurting or oppressing other people, and we actually have a tendency to show compassion for others, despite the lack of encouragement for such behavior by this current socioeconomic system, that corrupts human nature to fit a for-profit, money-dependent "dog-eat-dog" worldview.

Speaking of dog-eat-dog, or cannibalism, most humans would find the idea of eating another human extremely grotesque, and why is that? Common answers would probably include: "It's not natural", "It's unethical" and "It's completely unnecessary." Interestingly, these are the same answers given by many people, now including myself, as to why they have stopped eating animal products. "But that's totally different", you may immediately object. And in the past, I would have agreed with you. Yet now I know that the daily massive violence towards other animals that are sentient, have emotions, suffer and feel pain, is really no different from eating another human, from an ethical perspective. If you don't need to kill another sentient creature for your survival, does how many legs it has, or how smart it is have any ethical relevance? No. If it did, then we would find no objection to enslaving and murdering the mentally handicapped. All that is relevant is that they can suffer, feel pain and they want to live. The ethical imperative is to respect the right to life and freedom from violence, of other sentient creatures. To love your dog or cat but pay for people to enslave and murder pigs, chickens and cows so you can eat them is a moral contradiction. In most people's minds this contradiction is "resolved" by the belief, which again has been force-fed to humanity, like a force-fed goose that will become foie-gras, that eating animal products is needed for optimum health. Now how can that be if there are vegan Olympic athlete champions, vegan body builder champions and Ultimate Fighting champions? How can someone (Dave Scott) become an Ironman competition world-champion 6 years in a row on a vegan diet if it is somehow deficient in nutrients? Certainly these individuals have bodies in optimum health don't they?

I know it's troubling to contemplate the idea that you've been misled for most of your life and duped into participating in daily cruelty and violence that harms your health and the environment, not to mention the possible karmic consequences. But we should seek the ideal of truth, even though as Jesus said in the Gospel of Thomas, "When they find, they will be disturbed." Because after the disturbance comes greater freedom; as he also said "The truth will set you free." The truth about animal slavery, exploitation and murder can set us free from its dire health, environmental and possible spiritual consequences.It's well-worth facing the facts, without getting defensive about your past actions, and just begin the process of eliminating animal products from your diet.

"But where do I get my protein?" you may still be wondering. If you are, then you are probably only considering 2 sources of protein in your mind: flesh and cow's milk; 2 sources. Yet there are many more than 2 sources of protein in a plant-based diet! You can easily get all the protein your body needs from the large variety of grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Also you can get protein from broccoli, potatoes and spinach, among other vegetables. I could still go on, but I'm sure you get the point. So there is in fact many more sources of protein in a plant-based diet than in a meat/dairy based diet (and the same goes for calcium), yet this fact is often overlooked due to constant conditioning by advertising and by the pressures of social and inter-personal normalization.

There is in fact nothing lacking whatsoever in a balanced vegan diet. "But wait! What about Vitamin B12?" B12 is produced by "good" bacteria which have usually been found in the soil and on plants and every herbivore in nature would gets its supply of B12 from consuming these bacteria on the plants they eat. However today there is often not enough of this good bacteria due to modern agricultural methods and through very thorough cleaning, so we have to find other sources, like the many B12 fortified foods/beverages, or Kombucha & Sea Vegetables, or by taking a supplement. Very easy. Again there is NO nutrient that you must get from enslaved, tortured and murdered animals, NONE.

Human physiology clearly matches that of herbivores, and the ingestion of animal products is directly linked to the leading cause of death, heart disease; plant foods contain zero cholesterol and minimal saturated fat. When considering the physiological characteristics of herbivores, and how we have those same characteristics (intestine length, jaw structure, etc.) it is also good to consider the absurdity of the claim (that may still be impressed on your subconscious via conditioning) that you need to eat meat to be strong. If champion Olympians and body-builders aren't enough to convince you otherwise, how about a rhinoceros? Or a horse? Do you associate such animals with weakness? Aren't they in fact immensely muscular and powerful when in good health? And guess what, they're herbivores too. Henry David Thoreau put it this way:

"One farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with", and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle." -"Walden"

Not only are there more of the needed nutrients we need available in a solely plant-based diet, they are also much, much healthier than animal-derived sources. Dairy protein for example, known as casein, has been directly linked to cancer growth. And, revealing the advertising deceptions by the cruel dairy industry, the countries that have the highest intake of dairy products also have the highest rate of osteoporosis; this is because the calcium in dairy products goes mostly unabsorbed by humans, since dairy becomes acidic in our bodies (it's meant for calves, not humans!) which naturally leach out calcium from our bones in order to re-balance our pH level. Also there have been countless examples of people suffering from Diabetes who became completely cured by simply adopting a balanced vegan diet. I could go on with examples of the health benefits but these should be enough to open your eyes and start to do more research yourself.

If we collectively wake up to the fact that we've been deceived into committing daily acts of violence, if we "eat the apple of the knowledge of good and evil" (which by the way, the idea of having such knowledge as being the cause of "the fall of Man" is another great deception), we can truly start progressing back towards Eden, or a better, healthier, more sustainable and less violent world. The first step towards progress/evolution is clearly seeing what's keeping one in a deplorable state; we must use our conscience and common sense and reject beliefs/propaganda that are false, immoral and are degrading humanity physically, mentally and spiritually. So if you have compassion for other sentient beings, and are not too stubborn to face the facts, then you'll find transitioning to a vegan diet easy and one of the best choices you've ever made.

Source : OpEdNews.com

How Humans are not Physically Created to Eat Meat

Although some historians and anthropologists say that man is historically omnivorous, our anatomical equipment ­ teeth, jaws, and digestive system favors a fleshless diet. The American Dietetic Association notes that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets."

And much of the world still lives that way. Even on most industrialized countries, the love affair with meat is less than a hundred years old. It started with the refrigerator car and the twentieth-century consumer society. But even with the twentieth century, man's body hasn't adapted to eating meat. The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, "Man's structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food." The chart below compares the anatomy of man with that of carnivorous and herbivorous animals.

When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.

Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws

Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores

Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding

Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.

Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater

Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits

Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains

Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)

Clearly if humans were meant to eat meat we wouldn't have so many crucial ingestive/digestive similarities with animals that are herbivores.

Many people ask me, "If we weren't supposed to eat meat than why do we?". It is because we are conditioned to eat meat. Also, the ADA (American Dietetic Association) tells us that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet."

A popular statement that meat eaters say is; "In the wild, animals kill other animals for food. It's a part of nature." First of all, we are not in the wild. Secondly, we can easily live without eating meat and killing. We all would be healthier this way. Finally, as I have already shown, we weren't meant to eat meat. Meat putrefies within 4 hours after consumption and the remnants cling to the walls of the intestines for 14-21 days. If a person is suffering from constipation the rotting meat can stay in the intestines for months or years. Furthermore, the saliva in humans is more alkaline, whereas in the case of flesh-eating or preying animals, it is clearly acidic. The alkaline saliva does not act properly on meat.

The final point I would like to make on how we as humans were not meant to eat meat is this; all omnivorous and carnivorous animals eat their meat raw. When a lion kills an herbivore for food, it tears right into the stomach area to eat the organs that are filled with blood (nutrients). While eating the stomach, liver, intestine, etc., the lion laps the blood in the process of eating the dead animal's flesh. Even bears that are omnivores eat salmon raw. However, eating raw bloody meat disgust us as humans. This is why we must cook it and season it to buffer the taste of the flesh.

If a deer is burned in a forest fire a carnivorous animal will NOT eat its flesh. Even circus lions have to be feed raw meat so that they will not starve to death. If humans were truly meant to eat meat then we would eat all of our meat raw and bloody. The thought of eating such meat makes one’s stomach turn. This is my point on how we as humans are conditioned to believe that animal flesh is good for us and that we were meant to consume it for survival and health purposes. If we are true carnivores or omnivores we would eat animal flesh raw and bloody. Cooking our meat and seasoning it with salt, ketchup, mayo, mustard or tabasco sauce disguise the awful taste of flesh. This is the only way we as humans would eat meat because we refuse to eat it raw and bloody like real carnivores.

Overall advantages of vegetarianism

You can reap a lot of benefits by being a vegetarian and people have become more aware of the health benefits of being a vegetarian. Animal rights issues is only one of the reasons why people decide to go on a vegetarian diet. People are beginning to care more about the environment. However, the main reason why most people go on vegetarian diet is due to the health benefits.

Meat is not good for you as it clogs your thinking. This is especially true if you eat red meat; white meat has less fat compared to red meat. Excessive intake of fats into your body can result in having a high level of cholesterol. If you think that not eating meat is going to make you look scrawny or unhealthy please think again. Just imagine that cows, goats, gorillas, elephants, rhinoceroses and so on are all vegetarians (herbivores) but look at how tough these animals are. They also have a longer life span compared to the carnivores (meat eating animals).

If you look at the chicken and vulture (carnivores), these animals eat just about everything and notice how unhealthy these animals look. The Chinese believe that the chi or life force in your body is less when you consume meat and so do the Indians with their ancient yogic principles [their life force was called prana].

The great Tai Chi masters of China were adept at preserving their chi. Even though some of the masters were not vegetarians they still had a balanced diet. It has now been scientifically proven that a balanced vegetarian diet is better compared to a diet that is taken with meat.

There are a lot of misconceptions about being a vegetarian; protein is one of the main topics of debate as a lot of people think that you can only get protein from meat. Vegetarians get a lot of protein when they eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. What vegetarians don't get is the excess protein of the traditional American diet. This type of diet leads to liver toxicity, kidney overload and mineral deficiency diseases.

A lot of people also think that a vegetarian diet is not a balanced diet. Vegetarian diets have a proportion of three macro nutrients which are complex carbohydrates, protein and fat. Vegetarian food sources (plants) tend to be higher sources of most micro nutrients. Another myth that needs to be clarified is the so-called lack of calcium among vegetarians. Many vegetables especially green leafy ones have a good supply of calcium. The truth is that vegetarians suffer less from osteoporosis (a deficiency of calcium that leads to weak bones).

It is not my intention to force people to become vegetarians. However, vegetarianism is my answer to complete health and wellness. The three issues to consider in regard to vegetarianism are: spiritual, mental and physical (nutritional).

The spiritually aspiring person attempts to work on his/her self. The purpose of spiritual growth is to move away from the animal nature into the more human nature that God intended for us to have. Meat eating inhibits this. The same science that attempts to ignore the existence of a force higher than man also proved that aggression levels are much higher in meat eaters than non-meat eaters! The animal instincts become more powerful every time you eat meat. Another spiritual aspect of being a meat eater is when one must question the necessity and method of killing animals. However, everyone has their own morals to which they must determine for themselves. It is not the purpose of my dissertation to force a specific moral behavior on anyone. Most spiritual people believe in auras. Kirilian photography shows us that a force field still remains around dead or amputated flesh. You adopt that animal aura when you eat it's dead flesh. Fruits and vegetables have a higher vibration al aura than animal products.

“You are what you eat”, is a slogan that I love to use to show the mental aspect of vegetarianism. When animals are slaughtered, fear and aggression enzymes are shot into their muscle tissue. They remain in the meat until the consumer ingests the flesh and adapts the same emotions. Fruits and vegetables do not have emotions; therefore, when they are picked they do not release any emotional cells prior to digestion. The enzymes within fruits and vegetables supply the body with sufficient nutrients that will always uphold a healthy state of mind.

Fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients; the very thing the body needs to live a long disease and pain free life. The same cannot be said for meat. Nutritionally, the alkaline-based digestive system of humans will not properly break down substantial acid substances of meat.

Colon cancer is rampant! This is caused by the slow evacuation and putrefaction of meat in the colon. Lifelong vegetarians never suffer from such an illness. Many meat eaters believe that meat is the sole source of protein. However, the quality of this protein is so poor that little of it can ever be utilized by humans. This is due to its incomplete combination of amino acids [the building blocks of protein]. Studies show that the average American gets five times the amount of protein needed. It is a common medical fact that excess protein is dangerous. The prime danger of excess meat consumption is uric acid (the waste product produced in the process of digesting protein). Uric acid attacks the kidneys and breaks down the kidney cells called nephrons. This condition is called nephritis; the prime cause of it is overburdening the kidneys. More usable protein is found in one tablespoon of tofu or soybeans than the average serving of meat!

Have you ever seen what happens to a piece of meat that stays in the sun for three days? Meat can stay in the warmth of the intestine for at least four to five days until it is digested. It does nothing but wait for passage. Often, it usually stays there for much longer. Medical doctors have found traces of undigested meat remaining in the colon for up to several months. Colonic therapists always see meat passing through people who have been vegetarians for several years, thus indicating that meat remains undigested there for a long time. Occasionally this has been documented in twenty-year vegetarians!

Some vegetarians claim they are more satisfied after they eat. The reason for this is that there are fewer ketones (protein-digestive substances) formed when vegetable protein is digested. For many, ketones cause a trace amount of nausea which one normally interprets as a decreased desire for food due to this uncomfortable and slight degree of queasiness. Although the body calls for more food, the taste buds tolerate less. This is the danger of the popular high-protein diet substances on the market. This abnormally high level of ketones is called ketosis and refers to the state of starvation that the body incurs due to the inability of the appetite to call for nutrition. Most Americans who eat the wrong type of carbohydrates never recognize the high amount of complex carbohydrates required to overthrow this condition. Keep in mind that when the blood ketone level are too high it results in abnormally acidic blood called acidosis.

Tigers or lions who eat meat have an acid-based digestive systems. Our Hydrochloric Acid isn’t strong enough to fully digest meat. Also, their intestines measures about five feet long, not twisted and turned, layer over layer, compacted into a small area like the human intestine [which is twenty feet long].

Meats are frozen for a long period of times. Some meats (especially poultry) are frozen up to two years. Cold temperatures do not kill all species of bacteria. Worse than this, as it is shipped and stored, most frozen meat is thawed and refrozen many times. This is almost unavoidable.

Meat eaters suffer more frequently from various types of food poisoning than vegetarian. Statistics show that every American has had food poisoning at least once. When you've felt ill, had diarrhea or were just a little sick to your stomach, no doubt you had not the slightest idea that you had been poisoned by scavengers living off the dead carcass you just ate.

Meat is costly and it is the most wasteful source of resources. When one removes meat from his or her diet a whole new world of eating opens up. Cooking and preparing vegetarian style is no more time consuming than cooking meat. It costs less than half as much to eat vegetarian as it does to eat meat. There are excellent, nutritious, and easy to prepare vegetarian dishes that are Italian, Chinese, Indian, Mid-Eastern, French, Spanish, etc.

Additionally, one can enjoy many other foods that he or she has never tasted because of the meat craze. Most consumers have eaten no more than five or six varieties of beans and legumes. This is less than 10% of what is available.

In my opinion, there are far more benefits to becoming a vegetarian then there are staying a meat eater. Due to the fact that I was raised on meat, I have experienced both worlds. As a meat eater I was constantly sick, tired, and overweight. As a vegetarian, I am healthy, full of energy and maintaining a perfect weight. I love being a vegetarian and it shows. Because I wish the best for myself, it’s just second nature to want the best for others. From my past experience and research, going vegetarian is the best thing anyone can do for their mind, body and spirit.

Source : Celestial Healing Wellness Center