We are told that meat and dairy products are healthy for us and that evidence shows that they provide a healthy diet in moderation. However, evidence actually proves against this. Diets of moderation are not scientifically proven to benefit humans in any way and neither are meat and dairy products. We are not told this however and are lead to believe by many health associations and the media that these toxins are what we need to survive when in reality they are sending the world into a health crisis. High intake of protein from animals has been associated with increased mortality. The substitution of plant protein for animal protein is associated with lower mortality.
The government have identified processed meat as a class one carcinogenic item. Other class one carcinogenic include: tobacco, arsenic, chromium, ethanol, radium and phosphorus. The word carcinogenic, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means ‘the potential to cause cancer’. This issue is not well heard of and the people of this world have been brainwashed into thinking that meat is healthy for us.
Multiple studies have shown, with sufficient evidence and un-biased views, that meat and dairy products are leading factors in heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes and other illnesses. Within minutes of eating dead meat bacteria toxins, the body gets a burst of inflammation, stiffening or paralyzing the arteries.
Meat is rich with fats that produces inflammatory proteins leading to the blocking of arteries and the heart causing heart disease. Heart disease studies have shown that people with a solely plant-based diet suffer 57% less from the disease than meat eaters. A lot of people think that these diseases are genetic a lot of the time and so inevitable but a cardiovascular disease expert says that only 5% of the population has a genetic predisposition to heart disease, yet it is the number 1 killer globally. A cohort study in July 2016 about dairy fat and risk of cardiovascular disease in US adults showed that replacing animal fats with plant-based fats reduces the risk of heart disease. Lots of meat has been proven to lead to high cholesterol levels and therefore heart diseases and strokes. Over 17 million people die every year from cardiovascular disease. This is the equivalent of four jumbo jets crashing into the ground every hour, every day, every year. Alcohol, smoking and sugar still are major factors of heart disease but these are focused on mainly and take away the light form meat based diets.
Type 2 diabetes has also been linked to the consumption of meat and dairy products. The focus has been on sugars but the real reason for the disease is that meat fat clogs up the walls of cells so that sugar cannot be absorbed into the bloodstream properly. A study in 2014 on dietary protein intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes revealed that individuals that consumed the most animal protein were 22% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared to those who ate the least. Another study in August 2011 about real meat consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes showed that 1 serving of processed meat per day increases the risk of type 2 diabetes by 51%. Diabetes is a very serious disease. If a child develops it, 19 years is taken off of their life span. Even though these horrible statistics are true, we are not told by the government to stop eating the damaging meat and dairy.
Many types of cancers have been proven to be linked to the consumption of meat and dairy products. A study on the risk from intake of dietary items revealed that people who consume 1 and a half eggs per week have nearly 5 times the risk for colon cancer. This study was published in the international journal of cancer. Women who ate the most fibre lowered their risk for breast cancer in a study on dietary fibre intake in young adults and breast cancer risk in 2016. Women who consumed the most dietary cholesterol increased their risk for breast cancer by 29% in a study in 2016 on the meta-analysis suggestion that dietary cholesterol intake increases risk of breast cancer. 2 or more servings of red or processed meat a week increases your risk of colorectal cancer according to a study in November 2015 on the association of red meat and dietary fibre with colorectal cancer in UK Biobank. The association of cancer and cooked meats, smoked fish, eggs and dairy, farm raised fish and poultry is well known in research to be accurate. Eating 50g of processed meat a day (one sausage) raises the likelihood of cancer by 20%. Arsenic in chicken meat may lead to the increased risk of deaths by lung and liver cancer according to research.
The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act makes it illegal for people to abuse the meat and dairy industry by telling the truth and the money and truthfulness of the industries scare people off alone for fear of being sued. Oprah was sued for defamation for saying that the meat was “deadly” and the industry was “unsafe”.
Not only is meat unsafe for us but it also costs the environment and people living near factories harm. A study showing the link between understanding concentrated animal feeding operations and their impact on communities showed that people who live near factory farms can develop PTSD, tension, depression, anger and possibly neuropsychiatric abnormalities such as impaired balance or memory. The waste from pigs is sprayed into poorer communities and the resident’s back gardens. Usually, the residents are Hispanic or black leading to a racial issue. Health care for the residents is poor and one woman in North Carolina reported that all of her family and friends were suffering from asthma, friends were dying from cancer and young children were developing diseases.
Many people don’t associate fish as meat but it is and is also dangerous for human consumption. A study on the relationship between the prenatal exposure to low-level of mercury and the size of a new-born’s cerebellum in 2011 showed prenatal exposure to low levels of methyl-mercury from fish influences fetal brain development and can decrease the size of a new-born’s brain. The intake of mercury from fish can be fatal and during a study on dietary intakes of mercury and fish were associated with significantly increased risk of AMI, and death from CHD, CVD. This was found especially relevant with non-fatty, freshwater fish. Fish consumption is not only endangering human health but also the existence of the sea. Many fish that are claimed as sustainable for the sea are not because: in all modern forms of mass fishing bycatch (animals not intended to be caught) are often killed (e.g. dolphins, sharks, etc.), many fish are caught at once from a specific place meaning that that area becomes dead of fish. This paired with water pollution, which causes dead zones (where fish cannot survive), results in the endangerment of the sea and its creatures. Dr. Greger stated, “Our job as doctors should be to stop highly marketed fish oil supplementation in all our patients. “
Other studies have linked the intake of meat and dairy to other problems. Couples with higher cholesterol levels showed lower pregnancy rates or took longer to become pregnant, compared with those who had lower levels. A vegan diet has been shown to lower stress and anxiety levels according to a study of 620 participants. A study of 153 people (vegans, vegetarians and omnivores) found that vegans had the highest levels of short chain fatty acids (beneficial gut bacteria metabolites) indicating that they had a healthier microbe in their gut. Individuals who consumed the most protein from red meat increased their risk for kidney disease, according to a study of over 63,000 participants. Switching to a plant-based protein cut their risk by 60%. Those who consumed the most grains weighed 7.2 pounds less than those who did not consume grains. Replacing animal fats with plant-based fats decreases you risk for heart disease. Beef and dairy farmers are more likely to suffer from numbness, weakness and nerve damage than farmers who do not work with animals. Adding half a cup of beans a day reduces bad cholesterol levels significantly. High fibre diets protect lung function. Individuals who consumed over 17 grams of fibre daily from fruits, vegetables and legumes had better lung health.
Not only is meat unhealthy but it is also endangering the environment. An article form the February 2009 Scientific American Magazine stated that producing the annual beef diet of the average American emits as much greenhouse gas as a car driven more than 1,800 miles. Producing meat to consume uses water to grow crops for cattle to eat and drink and then in killing and hygienic conditions even more water is wasted. According to the “Why Meatless Monday web page”, approximately 1,850 gallons of water are needed to produce a single pound of beef whereas only around 39 gallons of water are needed to produce a pound of vegetables. With global warming and rising sea levels, water is precious to the environment and our survival. We already grow enough food for 10 billion people and with only 7 billion people living on earth, we still can’t solve world hunger. This is because the bulk of industrially-produced grain crops goes to biofuels and confined animal feedlots instead of to the 1 billion hungry people who need food,.
How are we consuming so much meat? It is a simple question with a simple answer. Processed meat, especially from fast food restaurants, are easy and cheap ways to feed families, especially those who may not be so well off. During WW2, when Hitler invaded Norway, the Germans banned all live cattle in order to provide food for German troops and residents back in Germany. This meant that the Norwegians lived on a solely plant-based diet. The levels of mortality from diseases such as cancer dropped significantly. When have we seen such a drop in the rate of deaths from heart disease and cancer so suddenly from medical treatments? We haven’t. As soon as the war was over meat was reclaimed and the levels started rising once again.
A lot of people turn a blind eye to all of the pain that animals suffer before execution. If we as humans can love one animal and yet kill the other, we are teaching future generations contradiction about loving certain animals and paying people to kill others so that our taste buds can enjoy a moment of false satisfaction. When people found out about factory housing the government had to do something about it so they introduced ethical farming but the reality of it is no killing is ethical. Does a murder get away with his crime because their victim lived a good life? No, they don’t. Animals are still scared of death just as humans are, no matter how painful it will be. In the end, every animal’s life ends with a bullet in the brain and a slit throat, no matter how good their life was. When so many animals are housed together, a lot of them die, leading to diseases of surrounding animals and therefore meaning we consume diseased, unhygienic meat. Even ethical farms have been found to be housing animals inhumanely.
This is how cows are kept in ethical farms and female cows are repeatedly kept pregnant in order to produce milk. When the calf is born it is ripped away from its mother causing extreme distress between the two. Male cows are brought up and sent to the slaughterhouse for meat and female calves are kept to replace their mothers in five years. After five years a female cow is deemed ‘spent’ and is also sent off to be slaughtered for meat. Evidence in the documentary “Fork over Knife” shows that calves are not even given the chance to taste its mother’s milk and are instead fed supplements as we drink its natural food. In the documentary, a farmer of an “ethical farm” showed a container of yellow milk and told the producer that this milk was produced too close after birth (to0 full of the nutrients the baby cow needed) to be consumed by humans.
Because we are told it is okay to eat some foods and not eat others we listen. We follow like sheep according to labels and numbers that the government have given animals. Cheap ways to kill include inhumane slitting of the throat and cutting off of beaks and tails. As the production of meat is cheap and quick, the meat industry will want us to keep eating the products no matter the health issues that are entailed in this way of life. Meat production makes more money/profit for the government than growing grains and vegetables would. In slaughterhouses, it is not just the animals who suffer but the workers also. Studies have shown that workers are more prone to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), depression and anxiety as a result from killing animals. Workers usually come from low-income areas and are left with the job as a last resort and are therefore sometimes forced into the job. Meat eaters are paying for these workers to kill and develop these mental illnesses.
Humans are meant to be herbivores, not omnivores. Humans are designed to eat very little unprocessed meat and there is scientific proof of it. Some people argue that they eat meat because their ancestors (the cavemen) did. The truth is that cavemen didn’t eat meat if hardly any at all. This is because cavemen were hunter-gatherers meaning that they hunted animals and ate leaves, fruit and vegetables. Men would usually leave the community in tribes for weeks and months to find meat and would normally come back empty handed or with little meat that would be passed around the whole of the community. Celebrations were thrown if big catches were made indicating that they rarely were. Although the women and children could eat fish whilst waiting for the men, the water was not polluted and vegetables and fruits were plentiful.
If you compare the human anatomy to that of a true omnivore (such as a bear) and a carnivore (such as a lion) there are major, scientifically proven differences. Carnivores and omnivores have certain features to help them survive such as claws and canine teeth. Herbivores have hands or hooves and flat teeth. This is because herbivores are supposed to be able to eat plants and so need to be able to grind food whereas carnivores need to be able to rip raw flesh apart into small pieces. This is why the jaws of a carnivore can only move up and down and an herbivore’s jaw can move around in circles. The herbivore’s jaws need more movement to grind the plants back and forth. The intestinal tract of carnivores is short (3 times the body length); that of herbivores, long (12 times the body length). Carnivores intestines are short, smooth and rather straight so that fatty wastes of meat high in cholesterol can easily pass through before they start to putrefy. A carnivore’s stomach secretes 10 times more powerful hydrochloric acid than that of an herbivore or human in order to digest raw meat. This pH is less than or equal to “1” whereas an herbivore’s stomach pH ranges from “4-5” meaning that meat must be cooked before consumption to avoid E. coli bacteria, salmonella, campylobacter, trichina worms (parasites) and other pathogens that would not survive in the stomach of a carnivore. If humans were carnivores or omnivores then are organs would be in different places and different sizes so that meat could be digested as well as plants. We would look like bears. Carnivores also naturally produce vitamin C whereas herbivores only receive it from their diet. In conclusion, humans are herbivores and should be eating a plant-based diet. Thus, we think we are one, act as if we are one but are not one.
If meat and dairy are so toxic and bad for us then why are we encouraged to eat so much of it by the health industries. When looking at major health associations such as the British Heart Foundation, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Cancer Society they are being sponsored by the meat and dairy industry to advertise their products. It is all for money.
The ADA are corporate partners with Dannon Light and Fit Yoghurt (found under National Sponsors: Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt"). American Diabetes Association, Kraft Foods and Splenda Alexandria. (found under "Every 17 Seconds, Someone Receives This News. What to Do if You are One of Them". American Diabetes Association. April 2011). This means that the ADA are being funded by dairy companies that lead to diabetes, processed and junk food. All this is not good for a ‘healthy diet’. On their page, in the everyday recipe section, there are ‘quick, healthy recipes’ that include processed meat and dairy.
The American Cancer Society are corporate partners with Tyson’s meat industry. Tyson’s gave them over $20,000 between 2011-2012, this can be seen on the Tyson website. On the ACS website, they can be found to be corporate partners with Pizza Hut and The Pampered Chef. They are receiving money to advertise the things that are keeping us sick. During a documentary named “What the Health”, a worker in a hospital confessed they could not be interviewed as they make money off of surgeries and sick people. In other words, the government are keeping us sick and on drugs to receive money.
The Susan G. Kommen (women’s breast cancer charity) are corporate partners with KFC, Dietz and Watson, Inc. who have donated over $138k to them. They are also partnered with Yoplait, a yoghurt brand, which is revealed to give women more oestrogen causing lumps in breasts and breast cancer.
The AHA is partnered with Subway, Texas Beef Council, South Dakota Beef Council, Tyson Foods, Kentucky Beef Council, Unilever, Conagra Brands and Cargil, Inc.
The USA admitted to its public that eggs cannot be labelled as healthy, safe or nutritious. The meat and dairy industry is so powerful and wealthy that many activists have been imprisoned whilst protesting or speaking about the cover up of the health risks of meat and dairy. The industries target young, impressionable people through schools and the dairy industry spends £39.43 million at least, advertising in schools.
The meat industry trick us into consuming meat and dairy products through doubt. This is the same strategy used in the 70s with the tobacco industry. The meat industry confuses the public and puts doubt into their mind by releasing “research” that meat has positive effects. Therefore, the public choose to agree with the meat industry because they are not well educated just as their doctors and dieticians aren’t.
Although becoming a vegetarian helps, being a vegan helps more. Each vegan is assumed to save an animal a day and therefore lots of water and food from the process of producing the meat. A big misconception of veganism is that vegans are protein deficient as they do not eat animal protein. The truth is that animal protein is just recycled plant protein and so plants still give more efficient protein than meat does. Plants are the only living species that can create protein through drawing nitrogen from the soil and converting it into amino acids/protein and so is where every animals source of protein comes from in one way or another. Also, humans do not need much protein at all. Human milk only contains 1 gram whereas other animals such as rats, whose milk contains 9 grams of protein, have more. This shows us we do not need to take the protein of other animals, which is meant for them and their nutrition levels, not humans. Humans closest relatives are chimpanzees who get 97% of their calories from plants. Chimpanzees along with all other herbivores are the biggest and strongest animals to roam their earth. Other herbivores include elephants and African buffalo.
Adopting a vegan diet can reverse and prevent major diseases including heart disease, the global number 1 killer. Suppression of human prostate cancer and breast cancer cell growth given the blood of a vegan was shown. The vegan blood cells attacked the cancer cells and killed them. Studies show that people who eat meat have the chance of getting diabetes of about 1 in 3, if you eat meat then your chances of becoming obese are 2 in 3 and if you eat meat as a man your chances of getting cancer is 1 in 2 and 1 in 3 as a woman. Against all these studies, there a none that show that eating eggs and meat in moderation can turn heart disease around and get better.
There is a common belief that eating a plant-based diet is expensive but this is not true. Just because meat is cheap and quick does not mean that some vegan foods can’t be either. In fact, a lot of vegan foods can be cheap and last for a long time.
Meat does not tell the stomach when it is full because it disables the stretch receptors by 50%. Oil affects them even more (80%) and a plant-based diet does not affect them at all. This means that a lot of fatty foods and oils cause obesity as people eat more than they are supposed to in one sitting continuously.
Carbohydrates are often thought of as fat inducing, along with sugar, however, it is not the carbohydrates but the fat that comes along with the carbohydrates that leads to obesity and therefore diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Veganism would also help to reduce deforestation as 1-2 acres of rainforest are cleared every minute and agriculture is responsible for 91% of amazon destruction. Veganism would also reduce greenhouse gas emission. 51% of greenhouse gas is due to livestock and their product and only 13% is due to transport. The waste from a farm of 2,500 dairy cows is equal to the waste from a city of 41,000 people.
If the whole world were vegans, sea life would start to come back, wildlife would start to roam (but there wouldn’t be too many as they would probably stay away from urbanisation and many would naturally eat each other), the air would become cleaner and global greenhouse gas levels would drop considerably.
There have been numerous documentaries made about this health breakthrough including: “What the Health”, “Forks Over Knives”, “Sustainability”, “Farm to Fridge” and many more. These documentaries have their own websites and link references to other facts and statistics.
An activist named Jake Convoy has been imprisoned many times for speaking up about this issue and so have many more people (found under ‘What the Health’ documentary and website interview). The meat and dairy industry have lots of money and are willing to go to great lengths to protect themselves from the truth. Makers of documentaries have described feeling scared to publish their work and many authors have been targeted by the industries.
Some people who have found themselves to be happier and healthier as a vegan are: David Carter (a NFL football star)- he says that he is faster and leaner than he ever was and that within two months his tendonitis, which had been crippling him before hand, was totally gone. Timothy Shiffe (the world champion free runner of 2009 from Ninja Warrior)- he says that he feels stronger and more efficient despite the negative inputs from doctors and nutritionists. Tia Blanco (a professional surfer and ISA world cup champion)- she says her vegan diet has given her an edge, less fatigue and better endurance.
In conclusion, from this report it can be seen why meat and dairy are dangerous for us, why we are not told and how veganism is the best option for optimum health. Multiple studies have supported this case and there is a lot of evidence showing that the industries are more interested in money than telling the truth. On the other hand, there is no evidence or relevant studies that show that meat and dairy are healthy for us and that we need them to survive. Isn’t the goal of life not just to survive but to thrive?
References:
http://www.whatthehealthfilm.com/facts/
http://www.greatveganathletes.com/tim-shieff-vegan-freerunner -Timothy Shiffe
http://www.gq.com/story/vegan-diet-of-nfl-player-david-carter -David Carter
http://www.livestrong.com/article/489875-how-does-your-stomach-tell-your-brain-that-youre-full/ -stretch receptors.
Ten physical differences between carnivores (meat eaters) and herbivores (plant eaters) – is the human body designed to eat animal products? – stomach acid and intestine
Ornish, Dean, et al "Intensive Lifestyle Changes May Affect the Progression of Prostate Cancer". The Journal of Urology. Vol. 174. 1065-1070, September 2005,Barnard, R. James, et al "Effect of a Low-Fat, High-Fiber Diet and Exercise Intervention on Breast Cancer Risk Factors and Tumor Cell Growth & Apoptosis". UCLA Department of Physiological Science.,Greger, M.D, Michael "Ex Vivo Cancer Proliferation Bioassay". NutritionFacts.org video. Volume 10. September 17th, 2012- vegan blood reverses cancer. And other leading diseases.
A climate for change article- Huffington Post- rainforest destruction
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Hi i have recently became a vegan myself and i have had nothing but health benefits since .I have lost bodyfat ,i feel i have more energy the list goes on ........ upvoted and followed
Thank you! Yes, there are lots of benefits. I have followed you back!