Vegetarianism essay

[Gurjeet_Kaur]

Vaheguroo jee ka khalsa Vaheguroo jee kee fateh!!

someone that i know wrote an essay on vegetarianism...

i was pretty disgusted by it..

(im not trying to pressure anyone to give up meat, these are just the facts).

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Vegetarianism:

The Road to a Better Lifestyle and a Happier Planet

In a world that commonly supports the fact that meat, poultry and fish are a necessity to a healthy, balanced diet, a new wave of plant-based eating has emerged. Vegetarianism has shaken the nutritional industry in such a way that many experts are now claiming that not only is a vegetarian diet more than sufficient to provide the individual with the proper nutrients, but it will also strengthen the cardiovascular health of the human body (Melinda, Davis and Harrison 31, 36).

Vegetarians can be further classified into three different groups based on their eating habits. Vegans have the strictest diet; they abstain from consuming all animal products, including dairy, eggs and honey. Lacto-ovo vegetarians allow portions of dairy products, eggs and honey into their bodies. Semi-vegetarians refrain from eating red meat and have a diet that includes smaller portions of chicken or fish, as well as dairy and eggs (Melinda, Davis and Harrison 2-4).

Today’s health conscious society realizes and supports the fact that meat-related health concerns are dramatically on the rise. Also, with the lack of quality assurance in meat products, and the numerous meat alternatives, it is beneficial to adhere to a vegetarian diet.

For many individuals, a trip to the supermarket would include the purchase of a meat product. However, w

ith all of the concerns related to the meat industry, packaged meat now comes garnished with impurities such as filth from the slaughter house, unknown forms of bacteria, and harmful diseases such as E. coli, Salmonella, Mad Cow disease and the Avian Flu (Robbins 118). If the meat is ingested, the impurities and contamination have the ability to very seriously damage a person’s physical health.

Many of the diseases, such as E. coli, are so powerful that the human body can literally break down and painfully deteriorate, eventually taking the person to a state of paralysis or death (125). In the United States alone, approximately 9000 people die each year from contaminated animal products (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, qtd. in Goldstein, M. C. and Goldstein, M. A. 25). Roughly $28 billion in health care costs was paid by the United States in 1996 due to the mishandling of meat (Prier and Solnick, qtd in Goldstein, M. C. and Goldstein, M. A. 26).

Much of the contamination of meat occurs within the farming and slaughtering facilities. Many farmers look for ways to maximize their profits by cutting corners in the development of their livestock. Animals are trapped in rows and stacks of cages with minimal room for movement or comfort. Often, these animals are kept chained and locked in cages for their entire lives, and only removed when they are to be taken to the slaughter house. (Robbins 153-154). The animals are kept in extremely filthy conditions, complete with the remnants of their own bacteria-infested feces (182-186) and the residue of rats and mice (120).

Farmers have also found ways to save on animal feed by blending together various products such as “bones, brains, meat scraps, feathers and feces of their own species” (149). Although this process has recently been banned in the feeding process of cows, it is still widely used in the feeding of pigs and chickens (149). When the chickens are tak

en to the slaughter house, they are crammed into trucks, “where they are crushed together and become encrusted with feces and urine”. At the slaughter house, the birds are killed and plucked by large machines that are covered in bacteria from previous batches. Dirty, contaminated conditions and machinery are also used for the slaughtering of cows and pigs (120).

The filth that the animals live and die in have a direct impact on the health of the individuals that choose to eat the meat. Food-borne diseases have multiplied in such a way that, each year in the United States alone there are between 20 million and 80 million reported cases of food poisoning (Robbins 116). A recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture indicates that “89 percent of U.S. beef ground into patties contains traces of the deadly E. coli strain” (Robbins 126). Furthermore, every day more than 5,000 U.S. citizens are targeted by Campylobacter, which is a very predominant form of poultry-based food poisoning (128).

The consumption of meat increases the individual’s chances of developing chronic health-related problems and diseases, including obesity, high levels of cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and certain forms of cancer (Melinda, Davis and Harrison 4). Studies show that the blood cholesterol levels of vegetarians and vegans are 14 percent and 35 percent lower, respectively, than non-vegetarians (Robbins 19). In the long term, vegetarians and vegans live approximately between seven and 15 years longer than non-vegetarians (Goldstein, M. C. and Goldstein, M. A. 45).

It is a common misconception that meat is the main provider of nutrients such as protein and iron. According to research studies, the nutrients found in animals are also commonly found in various plant foods. Furthermore, many of the animals that humans consume are natural-born vegetarians, therefore receiving the majority of their nutrients from plant foods (Melinda, Davis and Harrison 36).

A co

mmonly hidden fact about protein is that animal protein can actually increase cholesterol by five to 20 percent (18). The World Health Organization states that a vegetarian diet is actually advantageous to human health because it decreases the amount of protein taken in on a daily basis (38). Statistics show that vegans consume between 144% and 162% of the recommended daily intake of protein, and non-vegetarians consume between 182% and 202% (39).

Protein can be found in most foods; however the foods with the highest concentration of protein are whole grains and legumes (47). Whole grains such as wheat, oats and rice are a major source of protein in many parts of the eastern world, and in addition to providing protein, are also low in fat and provide iron, zinc and B vitamins (49). Legumes are essential to the vegetarian diet because they are known to lower the level of blood cholesterol. Common legumes include peas, lentils, soybeans and chickpeas. Tofu, which is a product of soybeans, is especially important because it mimics the quality of animal protein, but is much lower in fat than meat (49-51).

Iron is also commonly found in a variety of plant foods, and can be obtained from foods such as tofu, lentils, whole wheat products and fruits and vegetables (61-62). The major purpose of iron is to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body’s blood cells (58). In order for the body to benefit from its daily iron intake, it is important to maximize the body’s absorption level of iron. This can be done by including vitamin C enriched foods with meals, or by cooking meals in cast iron cookware. Certain foods, such as dairy products and tea should be avoided when consuming iron-enriched foods because they tend to decrease the amount of iron that the body will absorb (63-65).

Eliminating meat from one’s diet and progressing towards a plant-based diet has many benefits. The most prevalent benefit is that a vegetarian is significantly less likely to contract health-related diseases such as high chol

esterol, heart disease, cancer and obesity. The vegetarian is also protected from food-borne diseases such as E. coli and Campylobacter. When a person makes the decision to eat meat, he or she does not know what is exactly going into his or her body, or how the animal was raised and treated at the farm. He or she is also unaware or the filth and contaminants that surrounded, and were fed to, the animal. On the other hand, plant-based products provide the individual with a whole new medium of foods and nutrition. Plant-based foods not only provide more than adequate nutrients, but also play a significant role in maintaining the cardiovascular health of the individual, and essentially become a weapon for the battle against cholesterol and fat related diseases. Albert Einstein put it best when he said, “nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet” (Robbins 85).

[natsilahk]

Let's work on better facilities which produce safer and better meat products...

rather then giving up meat altogether :wub:

[Mkhalsa]

Let's work on better facilities which produce safer and better meat products...

rather then giving up meat altogether :wub:

its actually against our religion....

[atl singh]

and oh man didnt our gurus teach us this umm.. lemme think .. ABOUT 400 YEARS AGO.. haha.. i just dont understand how u can take life of something for your taste buds.. i see no difference of eating chicken or beef and eating people. they were both put on this earth by waheguroo..

[Karen Kaur]

wjkkwjkf!

the fact disgusts me

wjkkwjkf!