I was super excited this week because one of my readers asked me to do a post on vegans. They had recently watched an episode of Dr. Phil and low and behold he was discussing vegans.
The Basics:
Ovo-Lacto Vegetarians: Do not eat meat, but will eat dairy products and eggs.
Lacto-Vegetarians: Will eat dairy, but not eggs
Vegans: Will eat no animal products
I know what I believe when it comes to vegans, but I thought for this post it might be nice to see what is drawing people into the trap of no longer eating meat.
So, first I visited the PETA website.
You pull up this vegan/vegetarian portion of their website and you get to scroll through about 10 pages of why you should become a vegan.
I did everything in these pages from take a quiz on getting to know your meat…to animal agriculture is the main reason for global warming.
Which by the way, global warming, really? I mean I have heard just about EVERYTHING causes global warming. The entire U.S. agriculture sector accounts for only six percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while fossil fuel combustion represents 80 percent. (EPA)
I think my favorite line of the day being “whipping up cruelty-free meals at home in a cinch”
On our farm I would say our animals live a cruelty-free life every day. Like I have said numerous times before, agriculturalists care about the welfare of their animals.
My second favorite line of the day was the use of the term “factory farms”
What exactly is a factory farm? 98% of farms in the United States today are FAMILY owned.
My third favorite line of day was that animals go through the slaughtering process still being conscious. There are laws in place that deem this illegal. Slaughtering facilities are REQUIRED to follow them. Not to mention the fact that if the animal was still alive, in some cases it can damage the quality of the meat entirely. (Another aspect of meat science…)
It seems everytime I turn around the television is always highlighting becoming a “vegan”, mainly for the purpose of advocating against animal cruelty. There are so many products that come from animals, not just the meat. To sum it up take a look at this picture.
There is a purpose for almost the entire cow. We call these “extra” products animals provide us with by-products.
By-product: A secondary product that can come from a manufacturing process (In this case a secondary product to the first initial process of attaining the meat from an animal)
At the end of my 10 slides of information from PETA they ask you to pledge to go vegan for 30 days.
I almost did it.
Almost.
Not for the reason you are thinking.
I would like to explore the world of vegan more…mainly to be able to relate more to my own cause of continuing to eat meat.
Vegans claim they feel better after starting a vegan diet.
I don’t believe that it is from the lack of eating meat.
I am sure that they probably do start to feel better, but only because they are more conscious of what they are putting into their bodies.
However, I can’t quite lay claim to this unless I choose to try the vegan diet. Which, in turn would be really really difficult for a beef farmer.
What if they use the manure of beef cattle intended for slaughter on the crops of the fruits and veggies for vegan products. Is it still considered vegan?
Or, one better yet…What exactly defines a living thing? There is a great study from Michigan State University that claims that plants are technically living things. So are we not inducing a cruel environment for them when we grow them for human consumption?
As I finish this post I now find myself reflecting more on the ‘vegan diet’ and I find myself leaning towards the fact that vegetarianism in itself does not exist.
This is not my last post on vegans or vegetarians. This is just me skimming the surface with PETA. I hope to expand my research through out the week.
Once again, my resources for my posts are listed under ‘See The Source’
M says
Yes, there is such a thing as “vegan”, raw vegan, informed vegan, etc…stop posting such garbage to justify your excuse to unnecessarily consume dead flesh and support the cruel, so called dairy industry. Wake up!
Morgan says
Thank you for your comment- however, my posts aren’t me attempting to justify eating meats. It’s a choice I make just as the choice you make to not eat meat. One of the points I am trying to make with this post is that it must be nearly impossible to try being any type of vegetarian in this world today, simply because of animal by-products. I think that the decision to not eat meat is completely up to every individual. As for me, I will continue to eat meat. And I know that our meats are raised humanely and I also trust the USDA certified slaughtering process to ensure that animals are continued to be treated humanely until the very end.
M says
Btw, look in the eyes if a cow, or pig, or chicken, then look in the eyes of a carrot, they’ll me if you see a difference?!