I've stopped eating meat

i see by your profile your from the UK, i'm in Canada, but recently watched the River Cottage series, i like Hugh's take on sustainable living, and trying to consume meat that's been raised and slaughtered in a more humane manner, i don't eat a lot of red meat, and have tried to eat chicken that is not factory farmed where possible

Can you explain why you think it is moral to restrict yourself from eating animals? (that are not human, of course)

Hi Mike!

If God hadn't wanted us to eat animals He wouldn't have made them out of meat.

Best regards, my friend!
Mark...

religion aside, we are omnivores. We need things that are found in meat.
But we need them from healthy , free roaming animals. Not slaughter house, hormone pumped, exhausted, vitamin deprived starving animals.

We do not need meat every day though. And definitely not every meal. You can thank the american beef industry for introducing that concept to people.

I DO understand the pull to remove meat from ones diet after seeing some of that stuff. I tried that myself. But I came back to the fact that I am an omnivore and I will not allow my stand for something remove my ability to be healthy. Instead I choose my meat differently .

I have bison maybe once a month.

There is a local farm here in Austin where you and several other people can pitch in to purchase a full cow ( duck goose goat pig what ever...)
You are REQUIRED to help care for the animal. You are GIVEN free range of their home. You eat the way you should. The meat is so much better tasting too.

Even that is a once a year purchase.

Im not passing on judgment. Im simply stating what I have done and what I choose to do for much the same reasons as you

There is no point, physiologically, in eating meat from slaughterhouses as it is not nutritious. They do TERRIBLE things to animals. Even organic houses are not in the clear of mistreatment. I hate to burst anyone's bubble, though, but as bad as meat is to eat, veggies and other produce or packaged food at the grocery store is not nutritious either. The only way to get a truly healthy amount of nutrients is to grow your own produce or buy local, organic food- including meat. I definitely agree with Mark, here. We are made to eat meat. We also were made to evolve intellectually, but in this case, to me, that means eating organically and locally grown. Evolving also means we get a choice in whether we eat meat or not, and I believe to exercise this "god-given" right is wonderful.
You should read "The End of Food" by Paul Roberts. It's depressing, but utterly fantastic.

I said before, it's not about me, or my morals. It's just about the animals.

Yeah I have not eaten beef, lamb or pork products for nine months now. Get cravings for bacon every so often, otherwise it's all good.

I understand the allure of meat, Mark. The taste of bacon, lamb, chicken was something I particularly enjoyed. That's it though. There is absolutely no reason for me to eat meat other than for the taste. I can live (and have been living) quite healthily without it. It's senseless that an animal has to die for the nutrition we could get elsewhere and for the desire of their taste. Senseless. I sense some sarcasm here though, right?

Take care, Mark.

Mike

What does religion have to do with it?
We are not strictly ominoveres. The 'we' implies entirety, and I'm part of that entirety.
We can get the nutrition from other places.



Of course the better lifestyle is prefereable, but the fact remains that their life is cut short. I just can't get on board with that.

I understand that it is part of our conditioning that a lot of us are brought up eating meat. Many don't even question it. Why should they?



Humans are part of nature, are we not? We are nature. Why would we want to destroy ourselves?

Hi jeeprs.

Why's that? You eat poultry then?

yeah love that show

i hope transcends veggie patch isnt an absolute shambles

well I'm kinda easing my way out. I am not completely vegetarian, I cook about 3-5 vegetarian meals a week, but will eat chicken dishes also. I guess if I was really conscientious I would drop that too, but I can never see myself giving up seafood, and don't feel the same compunction about fish. I can catch a fish and clean it if I had too, I don't think I could butcher a cow.

Hi Jeeprs!

I stopped eating pork for nearly two years. I watched an islamic docu' and realised that pigs eat carrion. Pigs will eat excrement and even you if they get the chance.
But I stopped this the other month. Bacon, gammon, sausage, ham - Oh they taste so good!
So I don't care what they eat anymore as long as I get to eat them.

Have a lovely day!
mark...

Err, what do you think nutritious means? You could eat meat from slaughterhouses and veggies from the grocery store your whole live and never be malnourished.

exactly, i've seen reports that organic food is no more nutritious than factory farmed food, it's what it doesn't have in terms of additives or fillers that makes it better (pesticides, steroids, feeding animals animal protein as opposed to grains, grasses and the odd insect)

I eat a vegan diet, although on very rare occasion I'll allow for fish or aquaculture. I allow for them because of emotional reasons, not rational ones. The reasons I gave up meat, eggs, and dairy are all apply to fish as well.

There is a great movie about veganism that I got to see an advanced screening of a week ago. It is called "Forks Over Knives," and it makes pretty compelling case for adopting a whole food plant based diet. It's worth the watch when it comes out in the fall.

A
R
T

hey Transcend, I think it is great the decision you have made. It is not easy since just about everything contains animal products of some kind. I know a lot of people here will try to talk you into thinking that you need meat, but it's simply not true. I have been a vegetarian for almost fifteen years now and I don't have any problems. The only vitamin you have to be concerned about getting is B12, however the body stores a lot of it so you don't need it daily. But you do have to have a source of it occasionally. Other than that you don't need any supplements at all.

My diet consists of mostly fruit and veggies. I don't eat bread, rice or corn, no grains at all if I can help it. I don't drink any fruit juice at all unless I personally make it, but since i already eat a lot of fruit a lot of times it is pointless to turn it into a drink. I only drink water, no coffee, no soda, not even milk. I also try to eat veggies as raw as possible which actually makes preparing them much quicker. The body needs the fiber from them and if you cook them, you soften up the fiber and it becomes less effective.

I only have to eat once a day because my body gets what it needs so i am not hungry at other times of the day. The hardest thing is to drink enough water which im okay with but there are days when i don't drink enough. Other than that i have no problem not eating meat.

Good luck with your decision Trans...

I am actually undecided on this topic, as its between evolutionary morality and the idea the animals feel pain as well. Either way, I (unless the food is prepared by another) only eat organic free-range food.

From my perspective, wholely organic foods are the only way to benefit your body completely with food. HFCS, hormones, aspartame, chemicals, pesticides, etc. are quite obviously terrible for the body.

But our culture is very much created with food giants in mind, not a longer, more comfortable life for the people.

I'm however not a vegetarian or vegan, though I would say I'm making slow steps each day. The less meat and dairy I eat, the less I desire it, and whoa does it feel better. I'm hoping by fall I'll be off it all together.

And of course none of that addresses the animal cruelty aspect of it. The warehouses and all the torture... ahhh