Loading ...6 Reasons to Stop Eating Meat Today
Despite the fact that vegetarianism is clearly the most ethical, most sustainable and most healthy choice of diet there is, the vast majority of the world’s people continue to consume animal meat at an alarming rate. I firmly believe that education preempts insight and that insight leads to positive change, so here are six excellent reasons to stop eating meat today.
1. Your Health
Despite the common thought that vegetarians are sickly and malnourished, the truth is that vegetarians are the healthiest people on the planet. Studies have clearly shown over the years that vegetarians weigh less, have lower cholesterol, suffer from far less disease and generally live longer than meat-eating humans. Fruits, vegetables and other natural foods are unable to carry the many pathogens, bacteria and diseases such as e-coli that meat easily does. It is very clear that the absolute easiest move that you can make to increase your level of health is to stop consuming meat and animal byproducts.
2. The Environment
Most of us would never even consider the fact, but a diet that includes meat and other animal byproducts leaves a huge footprint on our one and only Earth. For example: the production of one pound of meat consumes 5,000 gallons of water in comparison to the 25 gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat. The same farm animals who consume 80% of the grown food in the United States produce nearly 150 times the natural waste (excrement) of the humans in the same country. Craziness!
3. Killing Animals & Consuming Their Flesh is Wrong!
Period. Even if we lived in an ideal world where farming was scaled way down to the family level and the animals in said farms were free range and lived full lives, destroying them in the end in order to eat their flesh, muscle and fat is awfully unethical and more than a little gross. Tack onto this fact the truth of the meat industry as it exists today and you have to open your eyes to the fact that these animals are raised, drugged, exploited and murdered en masse for nothing more than profit. To consume a purely vegetarian diet is to say to the companies and individuals that benefit from these profits that you will no longer give them a reason to murder sentient beings and take your money for having done it. PETA estimates that the average vegetarian will save 95 animals every single year that they do not consume animal byproducts; a large number and an obvious result that we can all sink our teeth into.
4. Being a Vegetarian is Cool
Yup, you heard me right! Vegetarianism is hawked by movie stars, educated young professionals and yoga moms all over North America and making the switch yourself puts you in league with them. This is not to say that you should stop consuming meat for this reason, but the recognition of your peers as being a conscious eater is an added bonus to the health benefits and lives saved by your choice.
5. Consciousness
A vegetarian diet is, in my opinion, 100% necessary for any individual who is interested in furthering themselves spiritually toward a better understanding and acceptance of the unity of all things in our universe. To be a Christian or Muslim who believes that God placed all beings on Earth by hand and then kill them to consume them is hypocrisy in its ugliest form. The same goes for Buddhists, Jews and every other member of an institution that professes a belief in the unity of all things only to willfully and systematically destroy them.
6. Vegetarian Food is Easy & Delicious
Myths abound about unhealthy vegan eaters who consume too little in the way of vitamins and minerals but the truth is that eating a vegetarian diet is healthy, delicious and surprisingly easy. Food replacements abound in the form of tofu (not as bad as you think), soy beverages (can’t possibly tell the difference in a bowl of cereal) and restaurants and supermarkets are quickly catching onto the trend and making wide varieties of yummy vegetarian foods available to each and every one of us. If you are resisting the pull of vegetarianism for the sake of an enjoyable diet, don’t be fooled; making any major change can be difficult but proper research and creative cooking can ensure that you never go without something absolutely delicious to chew on!
See also: 6 Reasons to Stop Drinking Milk Today
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February 15th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Wow… what a wonderful article that substantiates why you should be a vegetarian? Hope this will made me to reduce few pounds also… Hats of to you…
February 18th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I find it very difficult to give up meat completely – there is just something to be said about the delicious aroma of the Christmas turkey or combo #6 from Wendy’s. I find the all of the environmental conditions surrounding the meat industry appalling and disgusting…but I still eat meat rarely. I would call myself a Flexitarians. Flexitarians adhere to a mostly vegetarian diet because it’s a healthy lifestyle rather than because of ideology. They feel an occasional meal that includes fish, fowl or meat is acceptable. It is hard to change an entire lifestyle and maybe someday I will give up meat totally but for now I am choosing to be a compassionate meat eater.
If the government had laws surrounding the lives and treatment of these delicious little creatures then I would not have to feel overwhelming guilt or revulsion when I eat meat. If the ‘people’ who are suppose to look out for our wellbeing did their jobs instead off lining their already golden pockets then we would all be in a better place.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
10 years ago I tried being a vegetarian. I was succesfull for 6 months. I lost a lot of weight, felt great, etc. I had something bad happen and fell into a depression and decided who cares and started eating meat again.
I am trying again, today is day 1. Wish me luck
February 6th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I understand the many arguments for a vegetarian or vegan diet. However, I also know many farmers. They are not in their line of work for pure profit – dairy farmers take a loss on every gallon of milk produced. They work hard to balance efficiency with their love of animals in order to be able to feed their families. In my personal life, I was vegetarian for over a year and ate no beef for six years. However, I felt tired and weak much of the time – despite being careful to monitor my protein and iron intake. For some reason, my body responded better to meat. In addition, my husband is a hunter in order to prevent wild game from starving to death or dying of disease in the woods, and that meat is an integral part of our diets in order for those lives not to be wasted. It is the natural order. It’s not pretty, but sometimes it’s necessary.
March 4th, 2010 at 4:58 am
Yawn, another ‘stop killing cute cows for food’ blog. Cows are here to be eaten. There is nothing unethical about being the meat eating human being you were born to be.
April 12th, 2010 at 12:31 am
:3 I like this and I agree being vegetarian is healthier in its own way but some people just respond to meat better i want to be a vegan but fish is a big part of my family/cultures diet and I dont think I would be able to give up fish (I will try giving up everything else though) and while I agree cows, pigs, and chickens aren’t the nicest looking animals around they’d still want to live if given the chance think about it this way we kill animals for even thinking about attacking us (ie: dog biting child for pulling on ear or “attacking” dog) said animal gets taken out back for final walk but if a human beats the poor animal often the animal is either taken away, ignored or becomes hateful and killed because there deemed unsafe I complealy agree to stop eating animal flesh(other than fish because I dont want to stop eating fish) and also I may not beleve in god I do agree that those who preach about god and his/her/its creations and how you should love them and then go and slaughter an animal is a hypocrite