I'm trying to reason with myself. Tell myself I'm over-exaggerating. Make rationalizations. It's not working.
Maybe the vegans have it all figured out. Maybe the rest of us are being naive. Denial can be bliss. I consider myself more aware than the average person when it comes to health. Partly because I'm in the health profession, although you could easily argue that medicine and health don't always go hand in hand. Partly because I'm a mom and a worry wart and partly because I'm informed, I read a lot, obsessively almost when it comes to natural health. Maybe it's genetic. My mom is a true naturopath in every sense. You can't help but be affected when your mom lives with you and lives so naturally and healthy that she hasn't been sick in.... well since I've known her. Not to mention we are starting to look closer and closer to being the same age.
BTW, my mom has a great nutrition and herb/spice blog; Nutrition Queen you should really check out, she knows her stuff!
Most people, myself included are somewhat aware of the abuse and filth that goes on within the animal factories. It's been in the news more and more. However, when the subject of meat comes up, peoples attitudes vary widely. Most are aware of the health, environmental and humane benefits of vegetarianism but push it to the back of their minds in a what are you gonna do attitude. Some simply don't care. Some are meat-o-holics (those are the ones who refer to my everyday salad I have for lunch as " Lawn shavings". Some are in varying stages of denial with excuses galore. I myself float between "I can't afford it." "What the heck am I going to make for dinner if it doesn't include meat?'" and "It's to much work/effort." And my personal favorite, " My family would rebel, rebel Big Time."
I've never liked red meat or pork in the first place. As a matter of fact beef and pork churn my stomach at the mere sight and especially the smell of it. Chicken is in my house only to appease my husband and boys, a sort of compromise in my refusal to cook beef or pork. I could most definitely live without it. After the most recent "Egg Scare" and in viewing the utterly horrific conditions in which chickens are kept, I am somewhere in between banning all chicken then setting these "farms" into a bonfire, and maybe, possibly just buying an Organic, Free Range hen and eggs once every month or so...... maybe.
UPDATE..... Once a month chicken for dinner was absolutely do able. In fact, we eat it less than that now and don't miss it one single bit.
"CAFOs house them as tightly as possible where they never see grass or sunlight. If you can envision one thousand chickens in your bathroom, in cages stacked to the ceiling, you're honestly getting the picture. (Actually a six-foot by eight room could house 1,152)." — Steven L. Hopp (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life)
Geeeesshh, even seafood has it's issues. PBC's, Farm raised, antibiotic, corn fed, genetically "enhanced", environmentally dangerous, mercury levels that would kill a small dog.... but it's o.k. to eat once a month fish. Urrrggggghhh!! Maybe I should wait to post this until I've regained some composure. Oh who am I kidding, what composure?
Is veganism really the answer to total health safety and well being? I mean even supposedly harmless things like spinach, lettuce, jalapenos, pistachios, peanut butter, apple juice, canned foods and baby food have been linked to many instances of food poisonings, not to mention genetically engineered seeds and toxic pesticides. Some of these are the result of the foul water runoffs from these
for mentioned animal factories, some are simply from poor hygiene and over handling. The average item on your grocery market shelf has traveled further than most people travel on vacation. This being a result of us wanting everything now. Forget about seasons and geographical planting zones, we have scientists who've figured out how to bypass the natural scheme of things, hooray.
"If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week." — Barbara Kingsolver and Steven Hopp (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life)
pictures from CBS and MSNBC news
P.S. I was going to post some pictures of the chicken, cow, pig "farms", but it was to upsetting.
I encourage you to do some research and see for yourself where the food your feeding yourself and your family comes from. Food Inc. was eye opening to say the least. I'm not an emotional person by nature, but this had me in tears.
What are your thoughts?
Do you eat meat? Do you buy anything Organic or Free Range?
some information gathered from: CNN.com
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