Vegetarianism is the Better Choice

The manure created from killing a... ... middle of paper ... ...g extinct at unsustainable rates such as the manatee and salmon. Livestock farming is obviously harmful to the climate but also to the waterways in which manure and other chemicals from farming end up. These damaging chemicals are accountable for the death of many ecosystems in which the marine life is highly vulnerable. Becoming a vegetarian is not an easy task for many but it is highly recommended and achievable. The human addiction to meat is depleting our water, arable land, and clean air at alarming rates.

Frank Phillips wrote an article titled “Vegetarian Nutrition” that explains the lack of vitamins a majority of vegetarians receive. Besides B12, there is a lack of calcium, vitamin D, and iodine as well. It is specified in this article, that without a close watch on a vegetarian diet, you are prone to a bigger risk of getting cardiovascular disease, and higher homocystein levels in your blood as stated earlier. Nonetheless, Phillips declares that with a well-balanced vegetarian diet, you can have an equally nutritional diet compared to that of an omnivores (Phillips 136). Also, it is shown through these studies that these problems can be improved or avoided by taking vitamin supplements regularly (Herrmann 1381).

People must make sure they get enough calories when being a vegetarian. It has been proven that vegetarian protein such as tofu may cause more damage to greenhouse pollution than farming meat such as cows, pigs, and chickens. World Wildlife Fund reported in 2010 that eating production soy based protein like tofu contributes more to greenhouse than when you have locally produced meat. Almost 85% of the land in the US is not consumable by humans because nothing can be planted. Along with 98% of Americas original prairie lands, along with the animals and plants are no longer here.

There are myths about vegetarian diets that it is a healthy, moral alternative to meat and that it is far better for the world than meat incorporated diets. But the facts that state these claims are outdated, bias and poorly supported. Alternative meat products ravage US crops and don’t even provide proper, full nutrition to support a brain that has developed through years of meat sustained diets. Vegetarianism is a crop-destroying, world devastating, unhealthy and unneeded alternative to a weight maintaining lifestyle of meat eating. Top soil in 90% of US cropland is at a loss by 13 times the sustainable rate, this drop is due to the high demand for vegetables like soybeans, a vegetarian meat alternative, that take up 92% of the crops in the US.

Why eat meat that contains chemicals, growth hormones, and perservitives when you can just cut all that out? Being a vegetarian is a way of life and a superior choice when you are trying to be healthy. Health is the number one concern of people today. So many people play into health gimmicks on a daily basis and many of them are scams and do not work. If our number one concern is health then why would we not cut out a major health issue such as meat?

It was then that I found out about the many negative effects farmed animals have on the environment. Sufficed to say, I was ultimately mortified when I read about the cruel and inhumane lives these poor animals live until their death. I know that we as humans have eaten meat for thousands of years, but thousands of years ago we had to eat anything we could in order to survive! Some may think we cannot attain the right amount of nutrients and vitamins that a meat diet can provide. I would concur with this statement; if we do not monitor our diet correctly we run the risk of anemia, or lack of protein and the B-12 vitamin we need.

Jih states in his article, "Not every person who follows a vegetarian diet will automatically enjoy all the health benefits, because it is possible to have an "unhealthy" vegetarian diet" (Jih web). All vegetarian diets aren't healthy because some people don't have enough discipline to stay away from sweets and other food products that consist of fat. Another disadvantage of being a vegetarian includes not getting the vitamins and nutrients that your body needs. Plants contain soluble and insoluble fiber. This is not beneficial to humans because insoluble fibers don't dissolve in water causing them to travel through our digestive system in their natural form.

While the Food and Drug Act has cleaned up the gory images of humans falling into meat grinders, is the picture any less grim for America, its resources, and its farmed animals? Between watering the crops for farmed animals, providing drinking water for these animals, and cleaning away their waste that is found in factory farms, transportation trucks, and slaughterhouses, the farm-raised animal places an enormous strain on the water supply. Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising animals for food (Meat Production). According to PETA, one would save more water by not eating a pound of meat than they would by not showering for six months. As seen Fig4.

Clean water is saved by reducing our demand for meat b. Huge amounts of oil is saved by reducing our demand for meat c. Money and food is saved by replacing meat trough vegetables. The vegetarian diet is not an actual weight loss diet, but the weight loss is usually a healthy side effect. As survey an... ... middle of paper ... ...journals/0022-0302/PIIS0022030292777704.pdf Godland, Robert et al. “Livestocks and climate change” in World Watch (2009) p.12/13 http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/Livestock%20and%20Climate%20Change.pdf Sanadakumar, S “Seafood export up on US demand” in The Economic Times (2010) http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-10-22/news/27616867_1_seafood-exports-importer-of-indian-seafood-shrimp Pimentel et al.

directed by Robert Kenner does a great job portraying all of the issues with the American food industry. He talks about one of the major problems regarding our health and the meat industry when he mentions the health risks associated with meat consumption. Cattle are now being fed corn, which results in a mutation of a strain of E. Coli called E. Coli 0157h7. This is a product of the diet we’re feeding the cows on feedlots. Even if these animals are infectious, they still slaughter and sell them, which results in the consumer’s health possibly being affected.