Eating Meat
Eating meat is part of the daily life of billions of people all over the world. Every day thousands of animals are killed for the production of meat food for people. However, studies have shown that meat is not essential for our existence and gives us nothing more than the other foods on the market. Meat consumption may not harm you or the surrounding environment immediately but there are consequences and sooner or later they will appear.
A meatless diet is healthier than a diet containing meat. According to surveys and examinations of the contents of the food products, meat contains more fat than non-meat foods. Since it is very difficult for our bodies to process high quantities of fat and it is being accumulated in our bodies, fat consuming causes many health problems. According to the American Heart Association, the fat in the food we eat should be no more than 30 percent of the total calories we consume daily. However, this is very difficult to achieve when meat is part of our daily meal plan. The only way to stay healthy and continue eating meat is to put a limit on the amount of meat we consume. Unfortunately, nowadays most people are often tempted by the taste and appearance of the meat products on the market and it is very difficult for them to resist. That is why the solution of a balanced diet can not be practically used. Moreover, it has been recently proven that many diseases are commonly prevented, consistently improved, and often cured by a low-fat vegetarian diet. Among them are diseases such as kidney stones, prostate cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, strokes, diabetes, peptic ulcers, obesity, hemmorhoids, salmonellosi...
... middle of paper ...
...more meat than ever before. We should take a minute and think about it. The production of meat causes many problems that are not directly connected to our well being but are greatly important for our future survival and improvement of the quality of our lives. Meat itself may not have an immediate effect on our health, but it increases the possibility that we may get sick in the future. It is time to start thinking in advance and stop being so selfish with the only purpose of satisfying our whims. Meat is useless and if we do not want to keep on harming the environment and our own bodies, it is better to stop eating meat flesh.
Bibliography:
Eaglesham, Barbara."For the Love of Animals."Oddysey. Oct.2000. Vol. 9. Issue 7.
Spence, Amy. "Why Everyone Should Become a Vegetarian." The Written Word.
.
American Heart Association. FAT.
Every day across America millions of people wake up to start their morning. Throughout the day the vast majority of these people will consume meat, but 3% will replace the pig, cow, and chicken products for vegetable or fruit made meals (Harris). These vegetarians all have many different reasons to make this choice. This decision is a huge change in one’s life and is not without questions. Some people may wonder why would anyone abstain from the amazing food that contains meat. This essay will briefly explain the history of vegetarianism, the reasons for vegetarianism, and answer questions about vegetarianism. Vegetarian diets are all around better than diets containing meat because of three main reasons; the abuse of animals, the environmental damage, and the health benefits for humans.
The earth throughout many years has dramatically change in negative way when it comes to the planet’s environment. A simple choice of choosing vegetarian diet can have positive outcome to our wildfire, the atmosphere ,and even human health. From cutting down rainforests for cow pastures to adding methane to the atmosphere, a normal meat-based diet can majorly damage many parts of world.
...en to be energy inefficient because of the quantity of fossil fuels required for its production. It causes deforestation, topsoil erosion, extensive water usage and pollution, along with numerous health hazards. Many of our tax dollars are directed towards this cause through government subsidies. Among the possible solutions to this problem would be to implement laws to halt deforestation for cattle production, to stop subsidizing water for cow feed, to control cattle population and to increase standards for manure management. Also to, implement mandatory education measures in hospitals for patients suffering from cardiovascular disorders and other health problems related to meat consumption. At the personal level, it is necessary for us to take responsibility for our actions, by paying attention to every bite and being aware of how our decisions affect the planet.
In conclusion, eating meat is still unethical, because even with these changes that the cattlemen and ranchers have done over the years, trying to improve the industry, it cannot make up for the damage done. There are animals still suffering and being tortured and more should be done to help them. These are some of the reasons I have for not eating meat; it’s my own personal choice. And I choose to be meat-free.
According to “Meat the Truth”, a 2007 documentary directed by Karen Soeters, the film exposes the consequences of meat and dairy. It influences people about increasing the consumption of a plant-based diet and decreasing the intake of meat. Marianne Thieme, the narrator of the documentary and a Dutch politician who is a Member of the Party for the Animals in the Dutch Parliament, states, “Eating meat is the number one most environmentally destructive behavior, not cars, planes and power plants”. A consumer can make a great impact by changing their diet and restricting the consumption of meat. The transition to a plant-based diet is strongly informed by the film. Consumers have fallen into the advertising and marketing of meat to trigger minds the satisfaction of meat. Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization prove that from 1950 to 2000, the population of the world went from 2.6 to 6 billion and from this meat production increased five times as great. It is possible it can keep doubling this amount every fifty years if there isn’t a change that occurs. From the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, they state, “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that roughly 80 percent of ammonia emissions in the U.S. come from animal waste.” Raising animals to
Society has recently become increasingly obsessed with health and nutrition, as more and more individuals realize that they can dramatically change their quality of life by adjusting their diet and lifestyle. One way that people have tried to pursue a healthier lifestyle, is by removing meat and other animal products from their diets, whether they become a strict vegetarian who eats no animal byproducts, or a lacto-ovo vegetarian who still eats eggs and dairy. As with any other lifestyle, research is always being done to see if the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and so far, the results of vegetarian diets have been encouraging. Vegetarian diets have proven to decrease the risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity, and many other health problems. With a little planning and dedication, a vegetarian diet will be healthier and more beneficial than a traditional diet
Today’s medical experts say that avoiding meat helps you avoid saturated fat. They have found out from studies that women who eat meat daily have a fifty percent greater risk of developing heart disease than vegetarian women and a sixty-eight percent greater risk in men (staff writer). People may not know about serious diseases meat can cause such as, mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease. In the September 1999 issue of the Emerging Infectious Diseases, approximately 76 million food-borne illnesses- resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths occur in the United States each year from improperly cooked or diseased meat (Licher). That is a lot of fun!
This is a much bigger deal than people think. In fact, according to an article by Peta, How Does Eating Meat Harm the Environment, it has such an effect on the environment that the Union of Concerned Scientist list meat eaters as the second biggest environmental hazard facing the earth. The number one affect being fossil fuels produced by cars. It was also found in a report published by the Worldwatch Institute that nearly 51 percent of all greenhouse gasses are produced from animal agriculture. This is a very staggering number when a lot of research is being done to make vehicles more environmentally friendly when we could make a huge impact just by changing the way we eat. It is even more astounding that it takes the same number of fossil fuels to produce one hamburger as it takes to dive one car 20 miles (Peta How Does Eating Meat Harm the Environment). The production of this meat is also a big cost. It takes more than 80 percent of the corn we grow and more than 95 percent of oat are feed to livestock. The world’s cattle alone are feed the equal amount that would be needed to feed 8.7 billion people. That’s more than the entire world population. If we cut back on our consumption of meat we could take corn and oats that we produce and feed the world. When producing meat many of our natural resources are used. We use water, fossil fuels and top soil, and we are
People have used the argument that eating meat plays an important role in the overall health of a human and it is the way the cycle of life is meant to be, but this is not the case. Eating meat is unnecessary. Becoming a vegetarian could save countless animals from unnecessary suffering, improve human health, and help preserve numerous natural resources.
Vegetarians tend to be healthier than those who consume meat. This is due to the prevalent unnatural chemicals used in the processing of meats, and eating these are unsuitable for the body. Meats already contain harmful amounts of cholesterol, and over-consumption of red meat can lead to early heart disease. Animals that are raised on farms for their meat are not treated well, and this mistreatment can lead to harm in the meat they are producing. Although one life choice cannot change one’s environmental
For several years the issue of eating meat has been a great concern to all types of people all over the world. In many different societies controversy has began to arise over the morality of eating meat from animals. A lot of the reasons for not eating meat have to deal with religious affiliations, personal health, animal rights, and concern about the environment. Vegetarians have a greater way of expressing meats negative effects on the human body whereas meat eaters have close to no evidence of meat eating being a positive effect on the human body. Being a vegetarian is more beneficial for human beings because of health reasons, environmental issues, and animal rights.
Every person has the ability to make their own choice of whether to eat meat or not. However, eating meat is directly tied to negative health effects, pollution leading to a depletion of ozone, and the depletion of hundreds of thousands of acres of land “wasted” on animal production when they could be used to solve the hunger crisis or lower emission levels. What humans eat is no longer a matter of choice; it has become a matter of life and death. Literally, the future of the whole planet rests on the decision of whether or not to eat meat. If humans chose to eat less meat the world that wouldn’t have to suffer the consequences (outlined above.) Vegetarianism is one possibility, as is Veganism; however the world would be
As we can now observe, vegetarianism has become something fashionable, and the number of people who reject eating meat is constantly increasing. In Britain, for instance, over 5 million people have done it so far. It is obviously connected with the recent animal diseases, but this tendency is likely to spread on the other regions of the world. However, it is not only a fashion or fear of illnesses. I myself became a vegetarian about 2 years ago, and I can see a number of reasons why people should stop eating meat. They are mainly of ethic, economic and health type. Those who think in an ecological way should also be aware of how this meat consumption ruins our environment. I don’t have an intention to force anybody to become a vegetarian, but I hope that my argumentation would be strong enough to make some people think about it, at least. In this essay I will try to present this point of view, expressing my personal feelings and showing scientific facts about the problem.
The Advantages of a Vegetarian Diet Having a healthy dietary method can reduce the chances of receiving many health diseases. These health diseases include obesity, heart disease, and cancer. By consuming certain foods and nutrients in one’s diet, the risk factors for these health diseases can be reduced. A healthy dietary method that is beneficial to reducing and/or improving these health diseases is the vegetarian diet. The vegetarian diet follows a dietary pattern that is characterized by the consumption of plant-like foods and the avoidance of flesh foods (meat, poultry, and fish).
However, many people still refuse to be a vegetarian for different reasons. Some people prefer the taste of meat, and some people believe that they are born to eat meat. Despite that about 2 billion people in the world live basically on the meat diet, around 4 billion people live mainly on a plant-based diet because of food shortage(Pimentel ＆ Pimentel, 2003, pp660S). As everyone knows, the number of population is growing. For example, the total U.S. population doubled in the previous 60 years, and it may double again in the next 70 years (Pimentel ＆ Pimentel, 2003, pp660S). People won’t have enough meat to eat in the future. On the other hand, a well-planned vegetarian diet offers many health benefits. Therefore, people should become vegetarian because it benefits to huma...