First of all, I love meat! I love the taste of a nice steak, lamb-chops and for X-mas game-meat.  But since I have become partial vegetarian, I enjoy meat better. It has become so normal to us to eat meat or fish on a daily bases, that most of us don’t even think about the effects of it anymore. It effects your body in a negative way, it effects the environment in a bad way and last but not least, it is very harmful for the animals.

At the moment, I think I eat meat or fish about once a month, at most. I will not buy any meat for myself to eat, but if I get it served, I will most of the time eat it, since I do not feel like having any discussions or having to defend myself for not eating meat or fish. One day I will though! I will stand up for what I believe in, but since I’m kind of new to all this and haven’t gotten all the facts yet, it’s mostly based on my believe and my feelings. It’s a choice everyone has to make for themselves, even my own children. To me it’s the same with religion or believing in any kind of way. So if my kids decide that they want to become vegan or extreme ‘ meatlovers’ , then I have to respect that. I do believe that I will become a full vegetarian one day, or maybe even a raw food vegan, since my food nowadays consists of 80% raw foods (vegetables, fruit, nuts and soy).

So, the truth about meat (and fish!):

Health

Eating foods that contain high levels of saturated fats raises your cholesterol and your risk of heart disease and stroke. The most attention – and headlines – has focused on the link between meat intake and cancer. The World Cancer Research Fund published a report in 2007 that directly linked diet to cancer, with alcohol and red and processed meats posing particular risks. Meat is harder to digest than plant foods and continues to putrefy in the digestive tract, taking about 4 to 4 1/12 hours to be absorbed in the intestines versus 2 to 2 1/2 for grains and vegetables. Purification produces toxins and amines that accumulate in the liver, kidneys and large intestine, destroys bacterial cultures, especially those that synthesize the vitamin B complexes, and causes degeneration of the villi of the small intestine where metabolized foodstuffs are absorbed into the blood. Saturated fatty acids, from meat and other animal products, accumulate in and around vital organs and blood vessels, often leading to cysts, tumors, and hardening of the arteries.

Bowel cancer

A pan-European study of nutrition and cancer found that people who ate more than two 80g portions of red meat a week were 30 per cent more likely to develop bowel cancer than those who ate less than one portion.

Scientists are still unsure why there is an increased risk, but there is a theory that the compounds hemoglobin and myoglobin, found in red meat, trigger a process called nitration in the gut which in turn leads to the formation of cancer-causing compounds.

Processed meats such as sausages may also be risky because the cooking process can create carcinogenic compounds called hetero cyclic amines.

Alzheimer’s disease

Research has shown that a Mediterranean diet – low in red meat but rich in plant foods and fish – can reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer’s by up to two-thirds.

Again, there is no firm theory on this. Researchers University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) suggested  that red meat could be linked to a build-up of iron in the brain, causing the opposite effect of antioxidants; in effect, the brain rusts. The researchers suggest it may also explain why more men develop Alzheimer’s, as men eat more red meat than women.

Bones

Too much red meat can have an adverse effect on bone health. The digestive process of protein leaves acid residues in the body that need to be neutralized with alkalizing minerals – and these may be taken from the bones, leading to a higher risk of osteoporosis and other conditions. While green, leafy vegetables are high in calcium, red meat has a low level and can cause excess acid to form, creating bone problems for the future.

Arthritis

Eating red meat every day could double your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Scientists believe that collagen, found in red meat, may trigger an immune system response, which may also affect the joints.

Additives contained in processed meats may also play a part in the increased rate of the disease.

Cholesterol

Red meat is one of the first foods that doctors advise patients to stop eating if they are at risk of heart disease, because it contains high levels of dietary cholesterol.

A build-up of cholesterol in the arteries can eventually stop blood flow and trigger heart attacks.

It depends on the type of meat you are eating; lean red meat is relatively healthy – it is the fatty chops and burgers that are more risky.

Red meat is also high in saturated fat, which has been linked to a range of cardiovascular problems, including high blood pressure.

Food poisoning

The Food Standards Agency has launched an investigation into the safety of red meat after research suggested that beef, lamb and pork are the cause of one in six outbreaks of food poisoning. Experts are to test samples to find out the amount of bacteria in them, although the problems are more likely to be linked to poor hygiene in the home than to standards at abattoirs.

Breast cancer

A study from the Harvard Medical School last week suggested that eating more than 100g of red meat a day could double the risk of a woman developing breast cancer. The risk was associated with young women who had not yet gone through the menopause. Experts said the increased risk may be down to the cancer-causing compounds created by cooking meat, or by excess iron levels.

However, the study was among women in the US, where animals are given growth hormones that are banned in the EU.

Environment

Flatulent feeders

Climate-change experts have warned of the high carbon cost of meat for several years.

Beef is particularly damaging. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is released from flatulent cows and by manure as it decays. Furthermore, to produce a kilogram of beef (2.2 pounds), farmers also have to feed a cow 15 kg of grain and 30 kg of forage. Grain requires fertilizer, which is energy intensive to produce.

Stehfest has now weighed the economic impact of beef and other meats against the cost of stabilizing carbon dioxide levels at 450 parts per million – a level that some scientists say is needed to help prevent dangerous droughts and sea level rises.

If eating habits do not change, Stehfest estimates that emissions would have to be cut by two-thirds by 2050, which is likely to cost around $40 trillion.

If, however, the global population shifted to a low-meat diet – defined as 70 grams of beef and 325 grams of chicken and eggs per week – around 15 million square kilometers of farmland would be freed up. Vegetation growing on this land would mop up carbon dioxide. It could alternatively be used to grow bio energy crops, which would displace fossil fuels.

(source: Jim Giles)

Meat and the effects on the environment

www.fao.org

The suffering of the animals

Warning! Contains very disturbing footage!

I have no words for this, but I do think it’s fair to people to know what they are choosing for, which is only possible if you know the truth.