[vallalargroups:3664] 12 Reasons to Stop Eating Meat

12 Reasons to Stop Eating Meat

Global meat consumption has increased from under 50 million tons

annually to over 200 million tons in the last 50 years. The amount of animal

manure produced is 130 times greater than the amount of human waste.

This is causing more environmental and health problems than ever seen

before. Here are 12 good reasons to stop eating meat (or at least cut

down).

Health Reasons:

1.Lower risk of cancer. The Physicians Committee for Responsible

Medicine has reported that vegetarians are less likely to get cancer by 25

to 50 percent.

2.Lower risk of heart disease. Researchers Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr.

Caldwell Esselstyn have a program that includes a vegetarian diet and is

currently one of the few programs that has been proven to reverse heart

disease. A vegetarian diet reduces cholesterol.

3.Lower risk of osteoporosis. Studies have shown that too much protein in

our diet causes loss of bone calcium. Meat eaters generally get far more

protein than they need or can use.

4.Lower risk of kidney and gallstones. The calcium leached from the

bones by the body's efforts to neutralize the acids produce by too much

protein intake can end up forming kidney stones and gall stones.

5.Factory farmed animals carry disease. According to the FDA poultry is

the number one source of food-borne illness. Despite the heavy use of

pesticides and antibiotics, up to 60% percent of chickens sold at the

supermarket are infected with live salmonella bacteria. Approximately

50% of all pork products are contaminated with toxoplasmosis. We are

increasingly at risk from highly contagious diseases like Mad Cow Disease

and Foot and Mouth disease in sheep and cattle.

6.Factory-farmed animals contain toxic chemicals. Meat contains

accumulations of pesticides and other chemicals up to 14 times more

concentrated than those in plant foods. Half of all antibiotics used are

used in farm animals and 90% of those are not used to treat infections but

are instead used as growth promoters.

Environmental Reasons:

7.Inefficient use of agriculture. 40% of grain production is used to feed

farm animals. The grains and soybeans fed to animals to produce the

amount of meat consumed by the average Indian in one year could feed

seven people for the same period.

8.Environmental Pollution. Raising animals for food is the biggest polluter of

our water and topsoil. Factory farm animal waste pollutes the ground and

groundwater horribly.

9.Destruction of natural habitat. It takes more land to raise animals for food

than it does to produce the equivalent nutritional value by raising edible

plants. Rain forests are being destroyed to make room for huge cattle

ranches.

Animal Rights Reasons:

10.Animals on factory farms are over-crowded. They spend their brief lives

in crowded and ammonia-filled conditions, many of them so cramped

that they can't even turn around or spread a wing.

11.Animals on factory farms are tortured. Within days of birth, for example,

chickens have their beaks seared off with a hot blade. Animals are hung

upside down and their throats are sliced open, often while they're fully

conscious.

12.Animals on factory farms are treated like machines. They are pumped

up with drugs, fed their own waste and forced to grow or produce as fast

as possible. They are subjected to 24-hour artificial lighting while being

crammed into tiny cages one on top of the other to make it easier to

harvest.

We don't need to eat animals! Most of us in India don't eat animals

because we must in order to survive. We eat them because we want to.

We are subjecting animals to torture, damaging the environment

unnecessarily and subjecting ourselves to greater risk of disease just to

satisfy a desire, not a need.

You can get a totally balanced diet without eating meat. All vegetables

contain protein and too much protein consumption is unhealthy. Grains,

legumes and vegetables contain plenty of protein. Vegetarian foods do

not have to be boring. Spice it up!

Why not give a vegetarian diet a try and give our environment a break.

For more information about stop animal cruelty, or if you have

questions, e-mail us at info@voiceforanimals.info

Thanks : Scan Foundation - www.voiceforanimals.info

--
Brotherly Athman
Nakinam Sivam

http://nakinam.blogspot.com

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