go vegetarian!

i decided for my first blog that i would write about something i feel very passionately about...vegetarianism. go ahead roll your eyes. call me a hippie tree hugger. i am use to it. but at least hear me out. i do not like to preach and to be overbearing and i really do avoid that type of behavior. i understand everyone has their right to do as they please, but it is also helpful to be educated on a topic that effects yourself as well as others.

one of the most common comments made when people want to argue with me about being vegetarian (which i find humorous, because i never preach about being vegetarian, but once people find out i am, they find the need to attack me with their arguments) is that eating meat is part of the food chain and we are meant to eat meat. not true. yes, there was a time when humans had to live on their surroundings because that is all they had. however, today we have alternatives. we are not required to eat meat to get essential protein, vitamins, minerals, nutrients, etc. do not let people, or more importantly doctors, convince you otherwise. in fact doctors, throughout their whole education, receive about 2 weeks of nutrition courses. most doctors are very uneducated about nutrition. yes, animals in the wild follow the food chain because it is instinctual, and they do not have a choice. it is their only means of survival. meat is not our only means of survival. if it was, i would not be alive. :)

most important to me, and the sole reason i am a vegetarian, is the horrifying and appalling cruelty to the animals that are raised for our food. please dont be foolish enough to think that the cow, pig, chicken, or any other animal you eat, is living somewhere happily on a farm. that just doesn't exist anymore. well, i stand corrected. there are places like this, but they are the true EXCEPTION. what goes on in this country is factoring farming. chickens are crammed into cages where they cannot move, are transported in trucks through all types of weather conditions, and they are forced to deficate on themselves and other chickens. they will never in their lifetime be able to do anything that is natural to them. and if you think, "oh it is just a chicken", well then read on: http://goveg.org/factoryFarming_chickens.asp
the same with pigs and cows. both are very intelligent animals and both are very aware of what is happening to them before they are inhumanely slaughtered. and there are many more ghastly and inhumane acts that these animals are subjected to while they are being raised for our consumption. http://goveg.org/factoryFarming_pigs.asp and http://goveg.org/factoryFarming_cows.asp. please go to these links and educate yourself about the cruelty that humans inflict on defenseless animals. i understand it is hard to read and watch, but just because you choose not to acknowledge it, does not mean it isn't happening.

the next reason to be vegetarian is because it is SOOOOO much healthier for you!!! read on and find out the many health benefits of being a vegetarian. http://goveg.org/healthConcerns.asp http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vegetarian_foods.html
http://www.benefitsofvegetarianism.com/vegetarian-health-benefits.html

and we must acknowledge the damage eating meat causes the environment. for all you green minded individuals: http://goveg.org/environment.asp
and here is a tidbit of information from goveg.org: "According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads."

above all i want everyone to understand the useless and horrid cruelty that these animals must endure. it is the reason i became a vegetarian. i love the taste of meat. LOVE it. it is a battle for me not to eat meat on almost a daily basis, but i could no longer sit around and be a part of something so inhumane. people ask me how i do it. i do it because i have made a conscious decision not to be a part of causing pain and suffering to these animals. i felt the cruelty was thrown in my face continuously. it wasn't until i moved down south that i ever witnessed trucks on the highway transporting chickens who were stuffed in cages so tightly with one another,that you could hardly make out that they were chickens. they just looked like feathers, because they were shoved in so tightly and they weren't able to stand up. and what kills me even more is when i see the trucks that are transporting pigs/piglets and they are struggling to get their snouts out the small openings in order to breathe. and they squeal. they squeal so LOUD that i can hear it as the truck passes me on the highway and my car windows are up. and i have seen both the chickens and pigs transported in the most extreme weather conditions. so hot that you know most of the chickens are dead (and then are cut up and used for your food with disease building up inside their dead bodies) and the pigs are screaming in fear and discomfort (and if i didn't mention it before, pigs are as intelligent as a 3 year old human child).
other people say to me that they want to be a vegetarian because they know how horrible it is to inhumanely kill animals for food, but that they just like meat too much to give it up. well, this is where i will offend people. that thought process, that choice, is a completely selfish and weak choice. you are thinking solely of your satisfaction and happiness.

i just ask you to educate yourself. dive into this a little bit and discover the truths about vegetarianism. if people want to try and disprove the information about the health and environmental benefits, that is fine. but please know this, eating meat is completely INHUMANE and CRUEL to animals. there is no debate on that.

my two main recommendations are to go to: http://goveg.org/index.aspx once your there click the link "free vegetarian starter kit". once you click on it you will see "resources" on your right. then click on "order a print version of the starter kit". they will send it to you for free. it is great information.

my other recommendation is read, Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. It is a MUST read. Very entertaining and very enlightening.

Wow this was a long first blog, but i hope i have at least enlightened you some and made you curious enough to research the topic on your own.

and i apologize for the links not working but i couldnt get them to work, maybe someone could help me with that :)