Finding Myself

My mom has been a lacto-ovo vegetarian (she eats dairy and eggs) for a long time, since before we were born. Growing up I don’t remember a lot of special stuff we tried in regards to diet (tofu, etc) my brother does, but I don’t. My mom taught be about compassion. She taught me how all life is sacred and that we should have respect for others. I made the connection when I was about 14 and went lacto-ovo vegetarian as well. Soon after I decided that would include chicken (yeah a meat eating vegetarian, sheesh, lol) I kept this up until Troy and I met in ‘98 and within about 4-5 years I started incorporating more meat. I would eat hamburgers and ground beef, chicken and fish. Wasn’t really into steak and all that. Then last year a little while before Christmas I got the balls up to watch some Peta videos (something I never had the guts to do before that) I don’t know what made me do it. My eyes were re-opened. I went vegetarian again, but the more I researched and watched, the more I realized that vegan was the only way to go. I never realized how bad the egg and dairy industry were, I always thought “well they’re not killing the animals, so how can it be bad?” Wow was I wrong. There’s so much I learned and that I keep learning on my journey.
I realize that to many people, the idea of being vegan is extreme. I thought that too. I can still remember saying to other people that I could never do it…vegan was too extreme, and milk and eggs were good for you, after all, they’re in the food pyramid. What I didn’t know was this:
The government gets money from the dairy industry, and as such have told us that dairy is a requirement. We need it for calcium, etc. The truth is that milk, because it is high in protein actually has the opposite effect. Excessive protein leeches calcium from the bones and can cause kidney stones. Check out the book “the China study” (written by Dr. Colin Campbell & Thomas Campbell) where they did a study in China (hence the name, lol) where dairy is not consumed very much. What they found here (and in other studies done in the world) was that in countries with lower dairy consumption, actually had lower rates of osteoporosis and bone disease. Funny since western culture claims the opposite (that dairy will help lower it) but in fact our rates of this are higher. http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/campaig…free-guide.pdf
Dairy and eggs are high in fat and cholesterol. And it doesn’t take a brain to see that there is a huge obesity eppidemic going on this side of the planet. Heart disease is the number one killer among men and women alike. children are developing diabetes sooner…something they shouldn’t get until later in life. One third of children are overweight….that’s just scary.
There are thousands of health studies done on vegetarian/vegan diets and how they lower and reduce risks of dozens of diseases. The PCRM (physicians committee for responsible medicine) recommends adopting a vegetarian diet, or a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, as does the diabetes society, cancer society, etc.
Health is just one of the reasons I went vegan. The other reasons are animals and environment.
The environment…well that’s a big one. It’s pretty obvious what kind of a state this planet is in. Have you noticed the new fad? “Going green”? There’s a reason for this. We as a society are destroying our planet. United nations recently put out a 400 page report on the devastating impacts that agricultural animal farming is having on our planet. Animal agriculture takes a devastating toll on the earth. It is an inefficient way of producing food, since feed for farm animals requires land, water, fertilizer, and other resources that could otherwise have been used directly for producing human food. Animal agriculture’s dependence on higher yields accelerates topsoil erosion on our farmlands, rendering land less productive for crop cultivation, and forcing the conversion of wilderness to grazing and farm lands. Animal waste from massive feedlots and factory farms is a leading cause of pollution in our groundwater and rivers. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has linked animal agriculture to a number of other environmental problems, including: contamination of aquatic ecosystems, soil, and drinking water by manure, pesticides, and fertilizers; acid rain from ammonia emissions; greenhouse gas production; and depletion of aquifers for irrigation. In a time when population pressures have become an increasing stress on the environment, there are additional arguments for a vegan diet. The United Nations has reported that a vegan diet can feed many more people than an animal-based diet. For instance, projections have estimated that the 1992 food supply could have fed about 6.3 billion people on a purely vegetarian diet, 4.2 billion people on a 85% vegetarian diet, or 3.2 billion people on a 75% vegetarian diet. Now I don’t know about you, but why would I choose to support a business that does this to our planet? Besides the fact that factory farmed animals are loaded up with growth hormones and anti-biotics, I think it’s horrible that there are so many starving people around the world, and we can’t even feed them.
Lastly, but for me one of the most important aspects for me, is animal welfare. Many people argue that God put animals’ on this earth for us to eat. There are many quotes and scriptures to dispute this. Just check out the one in my signature. Genesis 1:29 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for meat. food.http://www.jesusveg.com/christveg.pdf http://www.vnv.org.au/site/index.php…=124&Itemid=61
There’s a few links you can check out…heck just google christianity and vegetarianism. There are tons of other religions that share the same beliefs. For me it all comes down to non-violence.
Life in a factory farm is not pretty. The truth is that animals are tortured, slaughtered alive, overcrowded and unhealthy. Many people still picture Old Macdonald’s farm, where the cows are grazing in the field while their calves frolic nearby, or chickens are happily pecking and digging in the dirt. This is so far from the truth!
As farming has become increasingly industrialized, animals raised for food production are treated more like commodities than animals. They are handled as units of production, rather than living, breathing creatures. This mechanized approach ignores animals’ needs, which often sacrifices their health and wellbeing in the name of higher profits. Although there is controversy surrounding the degrees of comfort and freedom that farm animals should have, most people agree that farm animals deserve a minimum standard of cleanliness and space, and that animals should not be made to suffer needlessly. Increasingly, more and more consumers are demanding better treatment of animals. There are no regulations by the government regarding “free range” labeling on food, therefore, free range, farm raised, organic and all those labels you think make a difference, really don’t. They’re not regulated, and as thus are not inforced.

Much of the problem of animal welfare has to do with the basic structure of industrial farms. Confining animals indoors, as closely together as possible, rather than letting them roam and graze on pasture, exposes the animals to high levels of toxins, which are released when so much manure decomposes in an enclosed space. To counteract the disease inherent in such conditions, animals are given constant doses of antibiotics. Animals are exposed to pesticides and other unhealthy additives through their feed, and are often bred and fed to produce unnatural amounts of eggs, milk or meat.

While many of the techniques utilized on factory farms were developed to make production more profitable, other techniques were implemented to increase efficiency and safety. However, these practices often cause discomfort, pain, and stress to animals, while inhibiting their natural, instinctual behaviors. Though industrial production practices may help “mechanize” the animals by decreasing interference with production, they ultimately create health problems in both animals and humans.

Cows
At birth, male calves are slaughtered and sold for cheap beef, sold to be raised for veal, or castrated before the age of three months and sent to feedlots to be fattened. (So by consuming milk, you’re ultimately supporting the veal industry) Veal calves are confined in small crates, with not enough room to even turn around, which produces the pale meat that is so desired. They are fed an iron deficit diet in order ensure pale flesh.
Female calves that are intended for the dairy industry are separated from their mothers within the first few days of life, moved to a rearing operation where they are fed milk replacer rather than milk, and often have their tails “docked,” or cut off. Tail docking is a painful procedure presumably intended to keep the cow from developing infections caused by constant exposure to manure; however, there is evidence that this practice is simply conducted for the convenience of dairy workers (since the lack of a tail provides easier access to the cow’s udders). As a result, cows are forced to undergo a painful process, followed by years of discomfort since they are unable to ward off the flies that infest their manure-filled surroundings. Like other mammals, cows only produce milk when they are pregnant and nursing, so cows are routinely artificially inseminated over and over again and fed drugs to produce as much milk as possible. Not only are those drugs leeching into the milk consumers drink, because of over production, there is also a certain allowable level of pus and blood in milk…not very appetizing if you ask me.
Dairy cows are bred to produce unnaturally large quantities of milk, weakening their bodies and making them vulnerable to disease. Cattle in both the beef and dairy industry also show high levels of stress and lameness resulting from the rough manner in which they are handled and their extreme living conditions. Whether on crowded feedlots where animals are exposed to heat and sun or rain, snow, and freezing temperatures, or in tightly packed and unsanitary barns, tethered by short ropes around their necks, the lives of factory farm cattle are marked by physical and mental suffering.

Once beef cows have grown to an adequate size and dairy cows are no longer producing milk at an acceptable rate, farms send the animals off to slaughter. Slaughterhouses are required to meet United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards, but they are also paid to kill animals, so the faster they kill, the more profits they earn. This pressure to slaughter animals quickly often causes mistakes to be made that result in the violation of USDA regulations and extreme mistreatment and degradation of the animals. Cattle slaughterhouses have been reported as regularly failing to completely stun animals before killing them, meaning that the cows are often conscious while being killed.

Pigs
Factory farmed pigs are born in small crates that limit the sow’s mobility to the point where she can not turn around. As their mother lays immobile, unable make a nest or separate herself and her offspring from their feces, piglets are confined in the crate together, prohibited from running, jumping, and playing according to their natural tendencies. Once separated from their mother, pigs are confined together in concrete pens with no bedding or soil for them to root in. In such conditions, pigs become restless and often resort to biting other pigs’ tails as an expression of stress. Rather than simply giving the pigs straw to play in, many factory farm operators cut off their pigs’ tails in response to this behavior.

By the time a pig has grown to slaughtering age, it has experienced a great deal of stress and is likely carrying pneumonia caused by extremely high levels of ammonia in their air, and/or afflicted with leg deformities resulting from a life lived on concrete and slatted floors. Many pigs die en route to the slaughterhouse due to illness and the stress caused by rough handling and transportation.

Chickens
Chickens raised in large-scale poultry and egg farms are packed individually in cages or all together in large pens; in either case, the average bird spends its entire life in a space smaller than a piece of writing paper. Because they are unable to peck and forage for food, chickens will begin to peck at one another.1In order to prevent this, their beaks are seared off, which is not only painful and stressful, but also makes it difficult for the bird to feed normally, and as thus many chickens die of starvation.

Chickens observed in factory farms have shown high levels of stress, which is often displayed by beating their wings against their cages to the point where they lose half of their feathers. Many intensive egg operations starve chickens for up to two weeks in order to force molting so that the birds will produce more eggs. This practice has been deemed unsuitable by recent United Egg Producers (UEP) Animal Husbandry Guidelines, and as of January 2006, feed-withdrawal-induced molts are no longer permitted.

Because they aren’t bred to produce meat, and proper slaughtering consumes time and money, hens that can no longer produce eggs at a desirable pace are sometimes left to slowly suffocate and die in dumpsters and plastic bags. Because male chicks are of no use, since they don’t lay eggs, male chicks, just barely days old, are often times left in dumpsters to suffocate, crushed and liquefied, or simply tossed aside. I guess you could say that they are simply egg byproducts.

Fish
Many people believe that fish don’t feel pain, but studies have proven that is not true. Like other animals, fish feel pain, fear and many other emotions we don’t usually associate with marine animals. Many people also believe that consuming fish and seafood is healthier, but the opposite is true. Think about the amount of garbage and chemicals that get dumped into our rivers, lakes and oceans every year. Fish and other sea animals live in this water. They breathe, injest, swim and generally grow in the stuff, so by consuming them, you’re essentially injesting it as well. Many types of fish contain excessive amounts of mercury as well.
Think farm raised fish are any better? Think again. Because, like factory farmed animals, factory farmed fish are kept in intensely close proximity with one another, and as such, when an outbreak occurs, precautions have to be taken that the entire school is not affected, so every animal will be given anti-biotics to ensure that the sickness is not spread.
When fishing for shrimp, nets are used, and oftentimes, shrimp are not the only animals that are caught. Many more sea turtles die every year than dolphins do in fishing nets. In fact, six of the world’s seven species of sea turtles are now listed as endangered.
http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0296/et0296s2.html
About 850 whales, dolphins and porpoises die every day due to fishing with nets.
Worldwide, fishermen throw away 25% of their catch
http://see-the-sea.org/topics/commerce/bycatch.htm
“During long-line fishing, lines up to 80 miles long with over 30,000 baited hooks are set on lines behind the fishing vessel. Seabirds see the bait near the surface as lines are deployed. The birds dive on the bait, becoming hooked or stealing the bait. Tens of thousands are hooked and die each year … In each of the last 3 years an estimated 2,000 Laysan Albatross and 2,000 Black-footed Albatross were killed in the waters around Hawaii. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service estimate that in the Bering Sea/Gulf of Alaska area 10,000 birds are killed annually. Short- tailed Albatross, an endangered species, are caught in the waters off Alaska and have been seen around Hawaii. In the southern oceans, it is estimated that over 40,000 albatross of several species are killed annually. Populations of Wandering Albatross, a species of special concern, are estimated to be declining by 10% annually owing to longline fishing. Other birds killed include petrels, skuas, gulls, kittiwakes, fulmars, shearwaters, and penguins.” http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/OC/issues/OCBv1n4.html
“[The] Gulf of Mexico Commercial marine fisheries in the U.S. alone toss away up to 20 billion pounds of by-catch each year–twice the commercial and recreational catch combined.”
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_P…l_bycatch.html
So many people simply don’t see what’s so great about factory animals….they’re the animals that are so easily associated with food. What happens in factory farms is hidden away so that society doesn’t need to see what goes on in order to get the meal to the table. From conception to cellophane, everything is neatly packaged. We’re left believing that it’s natural, the circle of life, and tradition. There have been many philosophers and great people who have come to see through this veil, from Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein, Plato, George Bernard Shaw, Tolstoy, Darwin, H.G Wells…and the list goes on. Again, it all comes down to politics and money….doesn’t it always? Why support a corporation that doesn’t think twice about killing and torture, or about basic safety precautions that could prevent yet another recall, such as the one about contaminated meat that made it’s way into school cafeterias. These are the same corporations that employ low wage immigrants to do their dirty work. These same workers work in horrible conditions, are rarely given bathroom breaks (so guess where they do their business) are routinely injured due to line speeds and from the animals which are no properly stunned to begin with. Check out the book “Slaughterhouse” by Gail A. Eisnitz, or the movie “Fast food nation”….you will be surprised and angered.
Yes, it’s hard to compare them to our family pets, but there’s really no difference between the life of a pig and that of a dog or cat. So many people are disgusted and appalled that cats and dogs are eaten in China, or the fact that they’re used for fur. What’s the difference? An animal is an animal. A life is a life. They are all capable of feeling pain, mourning the death of a ‘family’ member, showing love, happiness and so many other emotions.
Pigs have been shown to be equally, if not smarter, than dogs, monkeys and your average 3 year old. Chickens are intelligent birds who are social birds, they communicate with each other and nurture their young. When it comes down to it, I just couldn’t continue to support an industry that made it’s money on the suffering and death of fellow creatures…it just didn’t make sense to me. I don’t want that on my conscience.
I realize that perhaps I may come off as self riteous or extreme, but I hope that people can see past that and understand that I’m just so passionate about this and I want others to see my side. In doing so it may come off as though I’m right, and in my heart, yes I feel that this is the right way, just as someone who is passionate about their religion, or their beliefs may feel the same way. There is so much more that I wish I could share, but I just encourage people to do research. There is so much that we have been taught to believe, and we’ve had no reason to question it. The truth is, there is an evil side to all of this that we’ve had hidden from us, and I hope that people might come to realize that even small changes have an impact. What I once believed was extreme has become so easy and second nature to me. Avoiding animal products is tough, because we’re surrounded by it everyday. It’s hidden in so many ingredients, and in things that you’d never think would contain it. Being vegan is not about being perfect…nobody’s perfect, and it’s unachievable. It’s about doing the best you can to alleviate the suffering of others and trying to live as compassionately as possible. That’s all I want from people. There is such a shortage of love and compassion in a world that’s consumed with money, politics and personal gain. If everyone could slow down and see that there is so much beyond us, then perhaps this place that we call home would start living in harmony.
Start small. Next time you’re out, spend a few cents more on a product that wasn’t tested on animals. Have a meatless meal day once a week, there are so many options, I promise you won’t feel deprived. Buy locally and in season, which cuts down on the amount of fossil fuels and oil that was needed to get your food to you. Heck, start your own patio garden. In the wake of the new tomato salmonella warning (don’t u wonder how salmonella got into the tomatoes) it’s easy to buy a tomato plant and grow your own. Have you ever had tomatoes fresh from the garden? They don’t compare to those tasteless ones in the grocery store! Buy organic. The extra money is worth your health, is it not? What about your child’s health? Just think about the amount of pesticides their little bodies are injesting…it’s scary!
If you’ve read all of this, I thank you. I hope that perhaps I’ve given you more insight into my little neck of the woods. I have become so much more spiritually at peace and I see things so differently now. There is so much beyond us and it’s so beautiful I can’t put it into words. Knowing that I’m making a difference, however small it may feel, makes my heart sing.

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ROCK ON!