Meat
Looking for the real food
(2 of 3)
Some 125 years ago, 70% of our protein came from plant foods. Today, 70% of our protein comes from animal sources loaded with saturated fat, cholesterol and totally deficient in fiber. Such a meat-centered diet has become associated with our modern killer diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, arthritis, diabetes and several types of adult cancer.
Would a meatless diet be better?
Billions of people around the world are getting along just fine on plant protein diets. Here are some of the advantages:
Health Advantages
People who don’t eat animal products have:
• Fewer heart attacks and strokes
• Fewer weight problems
• Lower cholesterol
• Lower blood pressure
• Less diabetes
• Fewer hemorrhoids, less diverticular disease, and good regularity
• Less cancer of the breast, prostate, and colon
• Stronger bones, less osteoporosis
• Fewer stones of the kidney and gallbladder, less kidney disease and gouty arthritis
And they live longer! And in addition, such a diet is fun, rewarding, and cost-effective.
Environmental Advantages
Animal agriculture is the single most environmentally destructive industry in the world. Switching to a meatless diet would—
• Conserve water: Some 25 gallons are needed to produce one pound of wheat, whereas 2,500 gallons are needed to produce one pound of beef.
• Protect rain forests: Producing a single pound of hamburger in Costa Rica involves the destruction of 55 square feet of rain forest to grow the needed animal food.
• Preserve topsoil: Every year 5 billion tons of topsoil are lost in the
• U.S. largely because of overgrazing of livestock and unsustainable methods of growing animal feed.
• Save trees: Forests are cleared to raise crops for animal feed. Each meat eater who switches will save an acre of trees per year.
• Keep water clean: Every year American feedlot operations alone produce 1 billion tons of animal wastes—a significant source of water pollution.
World Food Supplies Advantages
About 85 percent of American-grown grain is fed to animals. If Americans would cut their meat consumption in half, the land, water, grain, and soybeans saved could feed the entire developing world.
Pretty impressive!
The evidence against meat and other animal products is stacking up as nutritional research confirms that a diet built around whole plant food is not only adequate but superior.
Humans don’t have the instinct to kill. We are more apt to salivate over a bunch of chilled grapes than a piece of raw meat.
It’s comforting to know that a diet of fruit, vegetables, legumes, grains and some nuts is perfectly suited to our needs—anatomically, physiologically, and instinctively.
It’s not easy, however, to examine our lifelong eating habits and to find them wanting. But the wise among us will examine. And the wise among us will not look to the slaughterhouses or to the factories to find real food. The wise among us will find the real food in the gardens and farms of our land.