Shouting about the disgrace of our society. We need to face upto the fact that killing animals is just unacceptable. Do something worthwhile today. Be vegan.
I just have to share this article with you about why animal protein is harmful to our body. Thank you Owen for writing such a comprehensive nutritional article – vegans always need as much knowledge as we can as we are often attacked for our views and for no reason whatsoever, have to defend our compassionate choices.
Why Animal Protein Is Bad
Human beings are not carnivorous animals; not like lions or wolves or the cat who is curled up on your couch.
Your cat can eat animal protein because her stomach produces 20 times as much hydrochloric acid as yours does. Most of her digestion takes place in her stomach, whereas most of your digestion takes place in your intestinal tract.
That acid-bath in her stomach is so powerful that it can break down not only animal protein, but also bones and ligaments. Your cat can eat the whole mouse, because her stomach can digest its entire body. No parasites can survive the immersion in a carnivorous animal’s stomach.
Your cat’s intestinal tract is about 3 times as long as her body. That’s true for all carnivorous animals. The food is almost completely digested in her stomach, and the remainder, the poop, is sent out of her body very quickly.
Whereas you and I have intestinal tracts that are 32 feet long. Look down at your lower abdomen, and picture a long garden hose, folded and refolded in perfect order. If I’m in good health, my long intestine is about the same diameter in width as my big toe. But someone who isn’t healthy can have 32 feet of intestines that are anywhere from 3 to 10 inches in diameter. You don’t have to imagine what someone would look like with 32 ft of intestines inside them that were 8 inches in diameter. You just need to look around you at your fellow Americans; tens of millions of people who are obese beyond comprehension.
So our stomachs are not able to completely digest animal protein. Chunks of undigested meat, therefore, pass into your long intestinal tract. And with that undigested meat, goes all the parasties and flukes that our stomach-acids were not strong enough to kill.
Your cat will quickly expel any undigested foods. But in humans, that putrified and decaying meat may stay inside you for anywhere from 20 to 48 hours. And if you’re not healthy, it can take much longer.
The decaying meat produces poisons like cadaverine and putrescine, that become pathogens and toxins within the human body. And since your long, long intestine is your major organ of digestion, some of those toxins will be absorbed by the body.
Meat is the dead flesh of some animal. You’ve seen an animal dead on the road. It doesn’t look pink and tasty. And neither would your supermarket steak if the meat processor didn’t treat the dead flesh with sodium nitrates and sodium nitrites to make it look pink, instead of its natural sickly, gray-green color. Those color additives are cancer-causers in human beings; just two of a vast number of toxic chemicals that are found in meat.
The meat is also full of antibiotics, sedatives, growth hormones, and chemical feed mixtures. Most of the antibiotics produced in the USA go into the feedstuff of animals. Why? To keep them alive in the absolutely horrendous conditions in which they live their short, stunted lives. When you eat their “pink” flesh, those chemicals go into you. The antibiotics kill off most or all of the good bacteria in your long intestinal tract. That’s why meat-eaters are usually sick with one or more illnesses and degenerative conditions.
The undigested meat isn’t always expelled by the body. Instead, the putrifying flesh becomes an inner lining for the long instestinal tract — swelling its normal diameter from, say, 1 inch, to as big as 10 inches. Day after day, year after year, decade after decade, that undigested flesh becomes a black, rubbery substance known as mucoid plaque. It lines the intestines like wallboard, and prevents normal digestion. An obscenely obese person may have only a tiny channel or tunnel through their enormously compacted intestine.
Final thought: meat-eaters are also ingesting all of the negative energy that accumulated in the animal during its short, horrific life; all of the fear, anger, hatred, dread, and anxiety that were stored in the cells of the animal. When you eat that “pink” flesh, you take in not only the toxic chemicals, but all that negative energy. It’s not a very pleasant thought.
If anything I said resonated with you, I hope you’ll consider giving up animal protein. Everything else aside, most of us need much less protein that we eat every day. Too much protein causes a vast number of problems.
Trust your intuition!
A cup of lentil or mung bean sprouts contains 10 grams of protein. Green-leaf vegetables contain completely usable protein, with all the needed amino acids. The world’s biggest and strongest animals — gorillas, elephants, hippos, giraffes, and rhinos — all build their tremendously strong bodies with vegetable protein.
Yes, it’s very easy to eat WAY too much animal protein. But since meat contains 5 to 10 times the amount of protein (compared to veggies), it’s almost impossible to stuff yourself with too much vegetable protein.
Visit owen and get lots of wondeful information at http://owen.curezone.com/homepage.html
I used to eat meat, wear leather and basically had the same contempt for animals which I see on a daily basis everywhere I look. I became a vegetarian after seeing newborn lambs prancing around and not wanting to be responsible for them being murdered. I became a vegan when I was thinking of breastfeeding my son and finally understood what the dairy industry is all about. What I know now, I did not know then. No longer living in ignorance, I have no option but to write this blog.
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Interesting article.
Although very biased!!
I wish people would just respect other peoples point of views and choices and sto p trying to justify how ‘RIGHT’ they are for wanting/not wanting to eat meat.
They are logical arguments both for and against and people should just keep their views to themsleves, otherwise it is danger to evoloving into a religion rather than just a lifestyle preference.
Absolutely right about animal meat and digestion BUT… they are many types of uncooked fruit and veg which will assist the breakdown of meat as they contain enzymes…
Thats why it is important to eat a balanced diet and YES that can include meat as well.
I cannot respect people who are responsible for murdering animals. Sorry but that’s just how it is. Not eating meat to me is not a choice of diet that is good for my body, it is a choice that does not involve violence. There is no logical argument for eating meat as long as the starting point is ‘animals die because we kill them, then we eat their dead bodies’.
I agree with William just on the basis that meat eaters don’t want to hear the ethical reasons for not eating meat because not everyone has the same feelings regarding animals. Respect should be for everyone regardless, we all live on this earth.
As a vegan and a former meat eater I can see both sides. Yes, it is great to want to save the animals from suffering and the horrible conditions and emotions they must endure. BUT… most meat eaters would prefer to remain ignorant of those issues in order to avoid change. Change is scary for most individuals and habits are hard to change (especially when the majority of society has conditioned them to believe that eating meat and drinking dairy is healthy).
I, personally, like to address this issue of being vegan as a health choice more than an ethical choice when talking to a meat eater. The protein and nurtients I receive from plant based foods is more nutritious and beneficial for all humans. The information I provide is scientifically based, not emotionally driven, and therefore most meat eaters are somewhat willing to listen and possibly research for themselves because they don’t feel threatened or attacked for the way they live.
I believe that with education on the benefits to one’s health instead of the attack on the meat eater, or industry for cruelty to animals, is a more subtle way to get the information across to meat eaters in hopes to change their habits and see a different point of view.
After getting them to think about the changes of going meat free then you can hit them with the horrors and disgust of what they are putting in their bodies.
Of course this is just my opinion and my experience with talking to meat eaters. There are some people that will never change and that is life. We can only try.
No offense to “admin” but the way you addressed William’s post sounds very hostile and in my opinion. It is an attack on him and his way of living which to me is in a way violent which you advocate against. Just a thought.
Maybe you can be a bit more understanding of others points of view.
Have you always been a vegan? If not, then you can at least understand that not everyone is on the same page as you and I and may get there in their own time. Give them a chance.We all change and evolve at our own pace and to try to force your beliefs and opions on someone will not open them up to hearing what you have to say. Be more compasionate and you may get better results in your quest to help the animals.
Comment appreciated. It can be difficult being as compassionate to some humans, especially if they set out to upset and offend you. When people tell me they have just eaten a seal steak or are going to kill extra animals to make up for my share it can be difficult not to feel that these people are morons. I used to eat meat yet I was never so small minded.
the attitude that vegans have against meat eaters are what i would like to call the bleeding heart librals. have you all forgot that since the beginning of time, we as humans, have been eating meat. we are born hunters and gatherers. if you are concerned with the living conditions of animals and the fact that we breed them to eat then go organic. a balanced diet is just that “balanced” so that the foods we eat combine together to help each break down in our bodies. you cannot use the obese people of american society as your basis for why meat is bad. i am and will remain a meat eater. i can fully understand cutting out certain foods from your diet do to the poor digestion that the body has for them (lactos being one). i can also understand cutting out certain meats because of the way the animal was treated to get it (veal being one of them). however, for vegans to say that their lifestyle is the best way to go because meat is so bad for you i have just one word to say, false. you use this as your propaganda to save the animals. lean cuts of meat and fish are very good for you and provide much needed protein for the building of lean muscle, which might i add helps burn fat. in closing i would like to say just because you choose to go to extremes does not make it okay for you to have innocent people be brain washed by your bleeding heart propaganda. for every study you have that says meat is bad i have one more that says lean cuts of meat are good.
Thanks Penny, I think your comments only support my argument. As I have said many times throughout this site, the reasons for my veganism is not improving my health but not being involved in a process of violence that is not necessary in our lives today. Yes, we used to be hunter gatherers but we no longer kill prey with chiselled stones, we actually have these things called shops which can get us most things we want, without us having to kill for survival. The funny thing is these alternative things (eg not flesh) taste good and are really good for us. Most vegans, no, in fact, all vegan I know who used to eat bodies are healthier than now than they used to be. I don’t understand why people say a vegan lifestyle is extreme. To me is is the most sensible way to live. Maybe you bow to the view that it is in human nature to fight, kill, dominate and torture. I believe as a species we are capable of huge acts of evil, one of these is the way we treat the animals we share the planet with yet I also believe we are capable of great things. Going vegan, repairing the damage we have done to our environment are such examples. If you want to bash me for having such attitudes I can take it. I wonder why you are so defensive and why you are reading a vegan blog…Maybe you know deep down that killing when we do not have to is wrong.
Killing animals is not wrong. It’s called the cycle of life- in order for anything to live, something must die. Anything you denote as “wrong” is truly only an opinion.
People need both plants and meat to make a successfully balanced diet, and restricting to just one will be unhealthy as it is not the intention of the human design. Plants have enzymes that help break down meat, which has the undisputed best source of protein and amino acids.
You do not hate the lion for eating a zebra, or a crocodile for eating a baby leopard. As much as you would like to distinguish yourself from animals, you are yourself an animal. Look at the teeth of animals (including yourself) to determine the food they are designed to eat.
Every time you eat, something has died. Plant’s are just as alive as any other living creature. A bunch of cells working together to a common goal, and something we cannot create in a laboratory. The only reason you think it’s “wrong” to eat an animal is because you decided that it is wrong.
Maybe to justify your belief that it is wrong to kill an animal you assigned human emotions to it so you could sympathize with it?
Stop assigning meaning to something that holds none; there is no wrong or right in eating animals. Eat your plants and reasonable amounts of animal meat- then focus on stopping the overpopulation and destruction of our planet with your newfound health.
A Lion doesn’t have a local supermarket. Yes I am an animal and I would not like to be shot in the head or have my children taken away from me. I would not like to have constant mastitis or be dipped in scolding water whilst still conscious to burn off my body hair. So why should we do it to other animals? My teeth are as they are because we used to have to eat meat. Now we don’t. Just because things ‘used to be’ doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue evolving. We used to have child slavery, segregation and so on. Doesn’t mean we still should does it? If you don’t want to acknowledge that you cause pain and suffering, fair enough. I will not live as a violent human.
And humans are cruel. A lion kills as it is hungry. We eat hot dogs most of the time because we are greedy. I wish we did eat more naturally. Less animals would die.
What would happen to all the cows, chickens,etc if human beings decided to stop eating them? Cows especially, I mean what would eat cows? Something would have to eat them for the food chain to survive and work. Or have cows been taken out of this food chain by human beings – does this now render them irrelevant to mother nature’s food chain??
I have heard this question a lot. What would happen to the cows if people stopped eating them. It seems to make sense that we would no longer breed them, fill them with growth hormones so they are enormous by just a few months old (most cows you see you would think they were older but if they are beef cows they are usually under 6 months old). Vegans like myself would likely sponsor sanctuaries for many cows to live out their lives. Others would die.
It won’t happen anytime soon. I wish it would but humans are greedy and cruel. I would prefer it if every cow were to be killed tomorrow then it would be an end to the suffering than continue as things are. People are often surprised when I say that. Today we have 2 young cows in the field next to our house. They have tags through their ears and are quite afraid of humans. yet when me and my young children stand near the fence for a whole, they tentatively come over and nudge their noses through the fence. We can stroke their faces and interact with them. Soon they will be murdered. It’s heartbreaking. I would rather they had not been born. They must have experienced anxiety at being taken from their mothers and no doubt they will experience fear when they are led up a ramp to be shot in the head.
Mother natures food chain cannot apply to animals that have not naturally evolved. Cows are our making. We are responsible for them. And we are not responsible. Not by a long way.
First diet for man biblically speaking was vegetarian, after men became so murderously wicked and after the flood came the eating of animal flesh and a shorten lifespan, I find that interesting!
“I wish people would just respect other peoples point of views and choices and sto p trying to justify how ‘RIGHT’ they are for wanting/not wanting to eat meat”
- Hard to do when “we’re” not blind to the huge degree of UNNECESARY cruelty involved: “It’s my right to own slaves! Leave me alone, and mind your own business.”
“have you all forgot that since the beginning of time, we as humans, have been eating meat. we are born hunters and gatherers.”
- Just what I think when I see a fat old woman shoveling down a Big Mac.
And when was the last time YOU hunted anything?!! I hate this ridiculous yet common argument. You know, since the beginning of time, men have been raping women, but that’s probably something we should all seek to put an end to isn’t it. You seem to forget that we all have a choice.
“What would happen to all the cows, chickens, etc if human beings decided to stop eating them?”
- AAAAAAhhh! My mind can’t take anymore of these woeful attempts to justify cruelty.
What all of you negative vibe merchants, who have decided to come on here and spout out pure drivel, need to realise is this: nothing you have to say will EVER make any sense. We CHOOSE not to eat meat because WE DON’T NEED TO EAT IT! YOU are responsible for immense suffering, and nothing you can say will ever be able to justify it. I understand that you are all confused, but please stop trying to justify your actions. Think!
I love this post although I can’t subscribe to everything that was said. As a vegan I agree on the ethical aspect of the argument but we can’t expect everyone to be vegan (even though if everyone was vegan that would be awesome) and I believe that my lifestyle is my personal decision to catalyze a change in the system. I don’t think that there is anything intrinsically evil about eating meat (I would never eat it again) I think it is the system that has capitalized on the lives on sentient beings.
Also I’m a chemistry major and I don’t know if I agree on every aspect of the health implications of eating meat. Again I am vegan and the health reason is just one more reason that spurred my decision to become vegan but as far as I have learned our bodies are actually pretty good at digesting animal protein. I believe the body utilizes the same enzymes to break down both animal and plant based protein. Of course the proteins have some intrinsic differences but the body does a great job of digesting any protein, fiber (the cell wall component of plants) as far as I know is the only major thing that does not digest or is absorbed in the large intestines. Also everyone has mucous in their large intestines it is the bodies way of protecting the itself from infection from bacteria and scaring but I don’t think there is solid scientific evidence to support mucoid plague. Don’t take my word for it research it. New evidence could say otherwise or things that I may not know about.
Overall I thought the post was awesome! I’m a supporter of veganism and anyone who supports it is a friend of mine. Keep fighting for the voiceless.
It is important for the right information to be spread around.
At one time (pre-biblical, medieval, etc.) there was not much technology & supply for fresh vegetables, and compassion was at an all-time low (look at the senseless wars). they ate huge amounts of meat, without consideration to the pain of the animal – without the sensitive voice being heard.
hey — did anyone notice how the DIED extremely young too… and not from war casualties:)
fact is, too many WRONG INFORMATION has been accepted into our medicine, views on diet, etc.
Much of it was promoted because someone was PROFITING from it (i.e., a butcher; or its modern day equivalent, the meat production factories.)
The question is — Is it ETHICAL to profit from the death of a little creature that is innocently wanting to live its life? Killing even an adult animal is SICK. It’s like killing a baby, in my view, and EXTREMELY SICK to want to go that route for ANY reason.
EVEN if by some crazyness meat was really needed, STILL it is not right to kill the babies of the planet – the animals. If four people were in a deserted island with no food, and one of them was a child, would the other three kill it and eat it? what if it was YOUR child? think about it, folks, because THAT CHILD is the animal in our society.
Thank you for these comments. No, it is NOT ethical to kill infants. It is NOT ethical to murder at all. We are all animals at the end of the day. People wouldn’t like to go to someone’s home and be served infant human, or a Labrador puppy yet a lamb is acceptable. What a twisted society this is.
This is ridiculous! If humans aren’t made to eat meat then why do we haves cusps on our molars? Look at our closest relatives the great apes(vegetarians) their molars are as flat as a table top. Besides, evidence supports that the expansion of the human brain took place when early humans began to eat meat. The meat provided the calories and amino acids which give us our intellect we currently have. Cutting out meat is back pedaling on an evolutionary stand point, and it is impossible to murder an animal.
Are you saying human beings shouldn’t change for the benefit of humanity and our environment? Just curious? We also used to do a number of horrendous things. Slavery also comes from an opinion of a superior species. I class myself as an animal. Even if I didn’t, murder is murder however we wrap it up.
since the beginning of time we have NOT been eating meat. sorry penny. the world was vegan up until after the great flood.
Jesus was vegetarian. FACT.
http://www.thenazareneway.com/biblical_%20vegetarianism_denis_giron.htm
eating meat is selfish, and selfishness is not pleasing to God.
Thank you for that comment. I often hear, ‘God meant us to eat animals’. I don’t actually believe in God yet believe that if a God did exist he or she would be fair and against torture and violence…and would probably be very ashamed of the human race.
All humans must die!!!!
I am moving toward vegan in light of coming across the biological and other evidence showing that we are herbivores. I do believe that mother nature hardly ever screws up, and humans can at will screw with her.
Here are the considerations that have made me move in a vegan direction:
-Length of our intestine is like a herbivore not carnivore
-Our sleep habits are like a herbivore not carnivore
-Horses and hippos and chimps have canine teeth and they can be called vegetarians
-I have no claws or talons nor a mouth full of sharp teeth in a jaw that only hinges in one direction like carnivores do
-I would have a hard time catching an animal of any feastable size, and eating uncooked meat could potentially cause sickness
-Difference in stomach acid potency between humans and carnivores is that of 20 times less for humans.
-My tongue is full of starch receptors while a cats tongue is full of amino receptors
-All herbivores and us humans have seminal vesicles while carnivores do not
-The intelligence of the human being allows for easy deviation from instinct/design in persuit of short term survival or satisfaction
-Of course we hunted thousands of years ago, animal fur is warm.
-Gladiators were vegetarian or maybe even vegan.
-Meat forms carcinogenic HCAs when cooked
-Real documented studies show that people are healthier inside when they aren’t eating animal protein. (the china study)
-When it comes to protein, I can’t help but notice how little there is in mothers milk for such rapid growth and how the largest land mammal is a vegetarian (and the largest dinosaurs too)
-The primary fuel for our brains is glucose, which is a form of carbohydrate and meat is almost devoid of carbohydrate
There are a handful of indirect benefits to being a vegan like how much land/water/pullution/waste comes into play in producing each KG of vegetable matter vs meat. But I am in it for my health more than to save the world.
interesting article and opinions. I am contemplating becoming vegan. You should be aware that your occasionally overly preachy viewpoints are going to do more harm them good. You are going to piss off meat eaters, and then they will be resentful of vegans. You might not care if you piss them off, but it will be tangential to your goals. The best way to teach people a useful lesson is to be friendly about it and allow them to make up their mind. Present them with data, and allow them to interpret it as they like. Calling them murderers and going on and on about the evil of meat eating will only fortify their hatred of vegans and desire to eat meat. It’s kind of like evangelical Christianity. Think about it.
I can only say it as I see and feel it, that’s the point of this being a blog. I am not an independent journalist. People read this blog because they want to. My opinions are mine and I won’t change them for the sake of not upsetting people. Thanks for the comment though!
I am not a vegan, nor a vegetarian. I am however, responsible for the health and fitness of several people, who cannot/will not make choices for themselves.
I personally, have always “felt” that my body did not process animal proteins as efficiently as other proteins, with the understanding that there are few amino acids in vegetables.
I don’t consider animals bred for slaughter as murder victims. Some do. That is not for me to argue, as it is a complex issue involving more than food choices, such as economics, national fabric, etc.
Lifestyle choices based on a myopic, emotional belief, with little research into science, is ill-advised, and potentially dangerous.
In reading this blog, I have noticed that omnivores have been classified as herbivores, whenever possible. The hippo is a great example. A hippo will eat anything it can, meat or vegetable.
We can argue canine teeth and molars from an evolutionary standpoint, and at best, have a standoff. I am not Darwin.
I eat meat, and personally, I feel I eat too much meat. I also eat too much cheese, too many eggs, etc. My body has told me this, not another human being with a “cause”.
I can understand people thinking that animals in the food chain are abused, scared, etc. Lets take a cow and then a dog. Are we peers intellectually? No. Do we fear each other? Sure. In my experience, the larger brain usually figures out any issues. Cows and Dogs instinctively know who has the intellect, or they would flee. They do not. They wander, but not far unless driven from point to point.
I have no emotional viewpoint on this issue. I like meat, I like veggies. And I trend toward veggies. I believe Americans eat far too much animal protein, and therefore have substandard human digestive systems.
In that I am a care-giver, I bring my thoughts to menus and nutrition, to those I work with. In some cases, I have no choice but to prepare animal proteins.
Radical opinion lead to radical beliefs.