Fruitarian | Fruitarian Diet

In the United States, the consumption of turkeys has increased over the years.  Although turkey meat is still most popular during Christmas and Thanksgiving, it is also now consumed gaining popularity as a part of other the dining table during other celebrations.  Because of this increasing demand, the process of turkey meat mass production has become barbaric, similar to the mass production of chickens to meet the market demand.

Turkey meat comes from animals living in extreme conditions

To prevent the animals’ aggressive behavior when allowed to roam freely, the turkeys are stored in small spaces that limit their movement.  They are fed much more than necessary that it becomes difficult for the legs of the turkey to support its sudden increase in body weight.  Because of this, the animals’ life span only reaches two years instead of the normal 10-year turkey life span.

Turkey meat may also have been exposed to diseases

Because the turkeys are in overcrowded and abnormal environment, turkeys for commercial consumption suffer diseases.  It was recorded that 2.7 million of the animals in this unsuitable living condition die every year.  The animals suffer physical deformities, stress and starvation because the crowding prevents them from finding the feeding troughs.  The overcrowding also leads to inefficient sanitation.  The contact with the waste matter can cause ulceration and hock burns on the feet of the turkeys.

These facts can change the way you look at the roasted turkey at the center of the holiday dinner table.  Turkey meat portions have to be cooked with the same cleanliness standards as for chicken meat.  There is a recommended cooking temperature for turkeys to make sure that all bacteria are killed.  The kitchen also has to be disinfected after the food preparation to kill any microorganisms on the counter.

For this reason, more and more people find reason to adopt a vegetarian diet.  Some people may still find it funny and odd to have a fruits-and-vegetables-only diet.  However, when you weigh the benefits, both on a health and humane perspective, it makes sense to spare the turkey during your next holiday dinner.

Photo Credit : quinn.anya

There are people who refrain from eating pork because of diet restrictions and religious beliefs.  When a person has decided to get into a vegetarian diet, it is usually the red meats that have to go first.  Upon doing this, it can be observed that their blood pressures, cholesterol levels and other health indicators begin to improve.  While health is the primary reason for choosing a vegetarian diet, the inhumane treatment of mass-produced animals for meat consumption is another reason to be considered.

Pig farms follow the same inhumane procedure as other types of animal farming

Pig farming is not very much different from chicken farming and other types of animal mass production.  The animals are kept in areas that limit their growth and movement.  Because of the demand in pork, pigs become overcrowded in their crates.  To make them reach their desired size and weight quickly, these animals are overfed and are injected with growth hormones to maximize their growth potential.  Their living habitats become dirty due to overcrowding and lack of good sanitation.  To prevent the spread of diseases, the animals are also given antibiotics.

The conditions in pig farms can lead the animals to experience stress

Because of the extreme conditions in pig farming, the animals that were able to survive the conditions show signs of chronic stress.  This is the same phenomenon exhibited by other animals that are mass-produced for human consumption.  They tend to chew their cages bars and they worry excessively.  The natural rooting behavior of pigs is also prevented due to the limited space in their cages.

In order to support he demand for pork consumption, these animals in pig farms have to suffer this beyond normal living conditions.  Our anatomy is not made for eating meat.  Human teeth are not developed for tearing and ripping meat.  Human beings are the product of evolution of earlier herbivores.  This is still the best lifestyle for us.  By taking out red meats from a person’s diet, he or she becomes healthier and leaner.  It also helps to know that no animals were hurt just to provide for our food.

Photo Credit :  Elsie esq.

There are several reasons that we eat food.  The primary reason that we consume food is to revitalize and nourish our bodies with nutrients that are essential for our growth.  There are also some people who use food as a method of emotional gratification.  Many of us consume foods from both plants and animals, thus the term omnivores.

Cruelty to animals is another reason for having a vegetarian diet

There are many reasons why people should consider having a vegetarian diet.  Most of these reasons are related to the health benefits of restricting one’s diet to food coming from plants.  There are also people who get rid of the meat from their diet because of the cruel treatment of the animals that are mass-produced for human consumption.  To satisfy the demands of the US population, animal farming has become an inhumane act.

Cruelty to animals has to be done to hasten their growth

When a person consumes meat, he or she eats meat from an animal that has been overfed to hasten its life span and make it ready for human consumption the soonest time possible.  The animals also suffer chronic stress because they are kept in a crowded environment with very limited room for movement and with little sanitation.

Abnormal living conditions is a form of cruelty to animals

Aside from the antibiotics that are administered to prevent the spread of diseases, the animals are also fed with growth hormones that make their development abnormally fast.  The animals are not allowed to move freely as they would in their normal environments.  Chickens also suffer physical damages as their beaks are taken off with a very hot knife.  This has to be done to limit their aggressive behavior, which is usually the result of their abnormal living conditions.

It is hard to believe that the suffering of the animals’ bodies are different from that of their spirits and energies.  If a stressed human can feel the damaging effects of stress on different parts of the body, it is safe to say that this can also be true for animals.  Every cell of their bodies can experience the stress due to the inhumane conditions.  Do we want to consume meats from stressed animals?

Photo Credit : friedelfreiraum

One of the causes being championed by vegans is their non-consumption of meat because of the method in which it was acquired.  The slaughter of animals isn’t just the inhumane thing one could do, but the methods in which animals for human consumption were raised gives them a lifetime of suffering that ends with more suffering.  Take for example veal, the tender meat prized by many for gourmet dishes.  Veal comes from very young calves who were raised in very extreme conditions in order to produce the special quality of meat.

How calves are raised for veal

After just a day, suitable calves are taken from their mother cows and raised in conditions that will keep their muscles soft.  Pens and methods that restrict movement ensure that their muscles don’t develop and strengthen, while artificial liquid diets that exclude iron and fiber are continuously fed to the calves.  As a result, growth is stunted and the calves develop anemia, producing the pale and tender veal prized by meat-eaters.

If you think that consuming veal is healthy because of the lack of growth hormones fed to young calves, think again.  Due to their living conditions, these animals are always stressed, prompting for more substances and medications to be administered to them.  These substances may do their job in further keeping the calves’ meat soft and tender but may prove harmful to humans when the meat is consumed.

In the 20 weeks that a calf is raised for veal, it has known nothing but artificial liquid diets, cramped cells, longing for its mother, frustration, and lots of stress.  Aside from the artificial hormones, veal’s meat is also infused with the anger and frustration that the calves have felt in their short lives.  The chemicals may do our physical body harm, but the frustration and suffering ingrained in the meat does a lot more not only to our physical health, but possibly to our spiritual selves as well.

Going vegan

Going vegan not only spares these calves the cruelty of being raised for their meat, but it also helps us live healthier lives.  Just as we spare these calves from the chemicals, we also spare ourselves from the effects of these artificial substances.  Though meat is a valuable source of nutrition, more and more studies show that its consumption leads to more diseases. Vegetables and other edible plants are rich in the nutrients that the human body needs and vegans are doing so much more than just getting their nutrition in much more humane ways.  Stopping our inhumane ways such as raising calves and slaughtering them for veal can also help us regain that balance with nature.

Photo Credit : Tony The Misfit

Those new to the vegan ways of eating may just shun eating the meat of any animal but consume by-products such as milk.  If you think drinking milk does not go against the principles of not inflicting pain on animals, think again. Milking cows progressed from the olden days when farmers get up before sunrise to perform their duties gently by hand.  Even though cows aren’t slaughtered to get their milk, there’s so much more that they go through that can make you think twice about drinking that glass of milk before sleeping.

Treatment of cows for milk production

Cows used for producing milk are subjected to different conditions and treatments to get them to produce the milk for mass consumption. Often, these milking cows are housed in cramped and unsanitary conditions, and are dosed with hormones and stimulants so that they become fertile, give birth to calves, and produce milk often.  However, when calves are born, these are taken away from their mother cows.  The male ones are raised to   be destined at the slaughterhouse while the female ones grow up to be just like their moms.

Some vegans believe that consuming the meat and partaking of products coming from the slaughter and mistreatment of animals is inhumane, but drink milk and eat cheese and eggs.  However, the harvesting of these products still inflict some measure of pain to the animals that produce them.  Mother cows have an emotional bond with their young and will mourn or feel anguish at the loss of their young ones. The electric pumps attached to their udders,as well as the forced fertility, breaks their spirit as well as their natural cycles.  And when they have reached that age when they can  no longer bear calves and produce milk, off to the slaughterhouse they go.

Effects of mass-producing cow’s milk

Sustaining these milking cows is also taking its toll on our environment, with water resources running out and becoming polluted, and even the ozone layer suffering from the methane they excrete.  A cow’s milk is for it’s own, just like how a human mother’s milk is for her child.  Studies have actually shown that children nursed on cow’s milk were less healthier than those   who were raised on mother’s milk.  Though cow’s milk may have been proven to be a valuable supplement for the whole human race for so long,  maybe  it’s time to rethink our sources for nutrition.  The nutrients in cow’s milk can also be found in other sources, such as vegetables and plants (that cows consume).  Why not skip the cow and just go straight ahead to the green and leafy sources of nutrition instead?

Photo Credit : law_keven

Have you ever given some thought into the way animals, such as chickens, are raised for human consumption?  Chickens that are raised for human consumption aren’t treated very well.  In fact, if you think about it, just the thought of raising an animal for the primary purpose of being slaughtered and eaten is rather unsettling.  Still, many people seem to remain oblivious to the inhumane way in which chickens are treated.  If only more people will take into consideration such truths, then there would probably be more people on vegetarian diets.  Read on to learn more about how chickens are raised for human consumption.

Living conditions

Chickens that are raised for human consumption have rather poor living conditions.  In many farms, up to six chickens are stuffed into a single cage.  As a result, each chicken gets less than 70 square inches of space throughout their entire lifetime.  Seventy square inches is practically nothing compared to the large fields that wild chickens are used to.  Furthermore, chickens are often treated with little care or sensitivity, probably because of the fact that they are just being raised as a source of food.  Chickens are usually grabbed by the neck and thrown into their cages, cages that aren’t exactly the cleanest or most sanitary places to live in.

Hormones and antibiotics

Aside from the poor living conditions that chickens are often raised in, they are also treated with hormones and antibiotics to speed up the growth process and increase their resistance to diseases.  Chickens are often pumped full of such hormones and antibiotics to the point that they no longer have a taste.  Only chickens that are organic, natural, or free-range raised aren’t given hormones and antibiotics.  If you think about it, the recommendations for handling, cleaning, and cooking poultry are quite strict.  You usually have to clean your hands well after handling poultry, and any of the surfaces that have had chicken on them have to be cleaned very well to avoid a transfer of bacteria.  So, why would you want to have something so dirty in your mouth and in your body?  With the way chickens are treated and raised, it’s a wonder why more people aren’t on vegetarian diets.  Vegetarian diet foods are much cleaner and healthier than chickens and other forms of meat.  So before you bite into that fried chicken or baked turkey, put some thought into what you are putting into your body and how these animals are treated.

Photo Credit :  -MVI-

We often hear or read stories about the unethical and inhumane treatment of animals.  The problem is, however, not many people are actually moved enough to get out of their chairs and make a difference.  Part of the reason for this complacency is because many people feel like they can’t really make a difference in the situation.  The truth is, every person’s actions count.  Whether it is something as simple as decreasing your consumption of meat or adhering to a strict vegetarian diet, it really does make a difference towards the cause of animal rights.  One of the biggest organizations that fight for animal rights and the ethical treatment of animals is the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.

The plight of man and animal

Animals are mistreated for many different reasons.  Some are hunted down for the “sport” of hunting, while others are pursued for their skins, tusks, or other parts of their bodies, which can be sold on black markets for large amounts of money.  Oftentimes, these animal parts are turned into statues, trinkets, or used in the creation of garments and accessories.  From leather and alligator-skin shoes to fur coats and snake-skin bags, it seems as though man tries to find any excuse to turn animals into a consumer item.  Aside from hunting animals for profit, another way that man mistreats animals is by using them in scientific experiments, hence the term “guinea pig.”  Rather than respecting animals as co-inhabitants of the earth, it seems as though man is trying to exert his will on animals to prove his “superiority” over them.

The role of PETA

The main mission of PETA is to fight for the rights of animals and to expose inhumane and unethical acts against animals.  The organization believes that we should take another look into the way that we treat animals and how we often use them to do as we please.  It’s important for us to realize that we are not the only living beings on the planet that deserve care, sensitivity, and respect.  We need to take heed of the causes that PETA is fighting for, so that we can realize just how important animals are to us, to our environment, and to the world that we live in.

Photo Credit : coolzor