Should i become a vegan?!
Should i become a vegan?
yesterday i somehow got to a website that had this video on animal cruelty on farms(meat.org). and since like 11 am yesterday i have not eaten anything but bread because now all these animal products gross me out. so what i'm really asking is, is the situation on meat farms really this bad, because if it is then i will become vegan, or is this video really just making things worse than they really are?
Answers:
The information on the video is accurate, but why in the world would you only eat bread? There are tons of things to eat that dont have meat or animal products in them. Fresh fruits and veggies, pasta, rice, beans, mushrooms, spagetti, lasagna, my goodness, I could go on for days. Do a little research, and simply avoid meat and poultry. Eat all of the other stuff you are used to. Its simple, no science to it, and no need to feel deprived. My 12 year old daughter and I have been veggie for years. We have a better, more varied diet than most meat eaters. Grab a nice, juicy apple. Have something besides bread.
just go to WENDY'S get a triple burger with extra bacon and cheese and a bowl of chili
and just forget the tapes
the National Vegan Associations Institute of Vegetables Department
make those fake movies that isn't really real special effects
well it depends how u feel about it, i know that u need meat for protein, or u can eat penuts u peanut butter to replace the protein loss.
No, you should take a look at this site it helps a lot http://www.vegan.org
This is the way things are.
Visit: http://www.animal-law.org for more info.
Also visit: http://www.pcrm.org and learn how to eat properly on a Vegan diet.
If there is anything we can do to help you become Vegan and stay Vegan let us know. There are many people on this site that would be willing to help.
one step at a time, first do your research then become a vegetarian after 6mo or a year then go vegan
the video is real man, it's all read brother, it's as bad as it is or worse
The best answer I can give you is to become well informed before you make your decision. You should find out what's real and what isn't first, then make your choice. Look at the websites that others have offered and also do some of your own research.
If you are serious about becoming a Vegan then you should also figure out if eventually you can get over this shock and not be tempted to want meat. Temptation can be a very trick thing.
Try watching more of the Discovery channel. Like Shark Week. Watch Lions of the African plains. See them hunt, stalk, and slowly kill their prey. Eventually you'll become desensitized to the brutality and realize.... you're human. We're omnivores. It's human nature to eat MEAT and veggies. Being vegan is not natural.
Just ask a vegan where they get their natural source of B12.
barebackrider_19: So do you think I would rather eat dung, and
>> soil on my food? or take a vitamin B12?
Vitamins are not a NATURAL source of B12. Try growing them in your garden.
>> If you think eating meat is so natural then why don't you eat it
>>natural like other omnivores or carnivores.
You must have failed biology.
PsychoCola: tell me where meat-eaters get their natural
>>sources of vitamin A and vitamin D.
I've never heard of a meativour. Have you?
Every meat eater I've ever known is an omnivour. Thus they get their Vitamin A and D from the same sources as vegitarians. Please stop the ignorance. I got my Vitamin A last night in a chicken spinach salad.
Now your turn. Where do vegans get their natural source of B12?
http://food.pinkhairedgirl.com/...
http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com...
http://eatair.blogspot.com/
http://eatair.blogspot.com/
here some good sties to help you realize its not too hard to eat vegan, and you have to eat more than bread to live.
If you get a real meat craving, their are many veggie fake meats to satisfy it
http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/p...
however too much fake meat is not good as it is often high in sodium and trans fat not so natural stuff so only eat it once in a while when you crave meat.
Actually, the video was probably correct. Animal cruelty is one of most disgusting things in the world (in my humble opinion). If becoming vegan doesn't fit with your life style, considering becoming a vegetarian. I'm one and I feel healthier than ever.
I am sorry to tell you that what you see on those videos is very true.... I live out in the country on a small acreage, we have allot of farms in our area and have gotten to know the folk around here. Most of the farms are exactly like what you see on the videos (I know its aw-full) there are a few very kind a gentle farmers in our area but they usually just run a small home business. There are very few old McDonald kind of farms left, another option might be to find one of those organic and crualty free farms and suport them instead.
We have gone to a few country animal auctions and were apauled at the treatment of the animals and the conditions many of them came in.
Dairy calves a ripped away from their mother 1 to 2 days after birth and brought to the auction to be sold to the veal farmers (Veal farming is very very crual its another whole story in itself). Most of the calves are not very sturdy on their feet yet and are often dragged or kicked into the auction ring. Their umbilical cords are often still pink and wet.
Pigs who are brought to the auction are often cripple, the way they are raised in most farms is in crammed conditions (some of them can't even turn around) you don't ever want to go in a pig barn let alone near it! the smell is awfull and the amonia burns and makes you eyes water. The pigs are made to grow so fast that many pigs joints and legs become cripple, but as long as they continue to grow and get fat they will be kepped for slaughter. But some are sent to the auction as I said before. Just like the calves they often have to be shoved and kicked into the sale ring, the smaller or young pigs have to be carried or draged alot of the time.
With chickens and other farm birds it doesn't get any better, first of all most of them come from factory egg or meat farms where they are crammed tightly together and made to grow huge in the shortest time possible. Many of the birds are in poor condition, many have there beaks clipped off so they don't peck eahother in their crouded living conditions, are often cripple if they are a breed used for meat, most chickens and other birds are brought to the auction packed tightly into crates or even grain sacks. They often get tossed, dropped, and draged along the floor, while the are unloading them or putting them on the sale table. The eggs, farm tools and other things sold at the auction are treated much better if that makes much sense.
Im afraid most animal farming done nowedays is all about profit, there is little or no consideration for these living creatures who also feel fear, pain, and suffering. As long as the animals produce milk, eggs and can make it to slaughter for meat then thats what matters to many people.
Not all the people working at the auction or farmers bringing animals in mistreat them but much more than half of them do.
I became vegetarian 7 years ago, I have been a vegan for 2 months now. I did it for my health, for the animals, and for the environment. here is 1 example, 80% of the cereal crops grown in the US is for feeding farm animals. It takes about 12 to 14 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of meat, it takes 20 times more land to feed the average American than to feed a vegan. Trees are being cut down for more crop space, factory farms polute the land and water around them from all the manure. All the animal's excrement has to go somewhere, and is often put in large dug out lagoons, these lagoons have sometimes spilled over and caused awfull damage.
If you realy want to do this then i would take it slow, maybe plan to be a vegan in 6 months to a year. Research, learn new recipe ideas, learn how to properly balance your new diet. I am very happy I became a vegan, I feel healthy and full of more life and energy than I have ever felt before!
And to answer your question TLG about Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 comes from bacteria most often in the soil or in animal dung, herbivore animals get B12 from eating plants close to the ground or even ingesting some soil, its very natural. Most animals even carnivores will even eat dung on ocasion. It sounds grose but its very normal if you are used to seeing animal behavior in the wild or in a pasture. Humans on the other hand don't live very natural. We wash dirt and germs/bacteria from our hands using soap and other products. Other animals lick and groom themselves. We wash our fruits and vegetables with water or soap as well. Other animals don't mind a little soil on their food. But don't get me wrong I am not saying humans should not wash and clean themselves or the things we eat, humans are aware of bacteria, germs so we do what we can to avoid them.
So do you think I would rather eat dung, and soil on my food? or take a vitamin B12? Taking the B12 pill is the better choice, no question. If you think eating meat is so natural then why don't you eat it natural like other omnivores or carnivores. Try eating it raw and bloody I don't think it would tast so good, maybe some people would think so.... but not very many.
Yo, TLG, I'll tell you where vegans get their natural source of vitamin B12 if you tell me where meat-eaters get their natural sources of vitamin A and vitamin D.
An ovolactovegetarian does not eat foods that require killing animals and is nutritionally complete.
Some conditions on some farms are awful, others are not. What you saw could have been factual but limited in accuracy to a few places or not. If PETA had anything to do with it, all bets to truthfulness are off.
People become vegetarian for many reasons, and likley the most common is being uncomfortable with having something killed to eat it. You should do what is right for you, but you need to weigh unbiased facts and you need to understand how to balance whatever diet you choose. A vegan diet forbids honey, all dairy, and eggs, and will almost certainly require you to take artificial supplements for life, but it's your call. I wouldn't base any huge life choice on one scare video, though.
Vegetarianism isn't good for the animals. If enough people went veggie to actually affect the industry at all, and the demand for meat decreased, it would mean animals which were surplus to requirement. You're kidding yourself if you think that would mean they'd live happily ever after and avoid the cruelty of the slaughterhouse, as they couldn't be sold no one would want to keep them, and they'd still be slaughtered.
Think about it, the second farmers couldn't sell their livestock, the second they couldn't make a profit, they wouldn't keep them any more. Keeping animals isn't cheap, and to keep them, without profit, would be hugely expensive to any farmer. How many do you reckon would be prepared to make that kind of loss?
Now, what'd happen then? Maybe a few wild pigs or goats would stay alive, but for the most part it would be impossible to release them into
I quote "If no one were allowed to farm animals, farms would grow crops instead. The first thing to go would be all the animals. Once the rural landscape were rid of cattle, sheep, and the like, fields would get larger, for the convenience of the combine harvesters, and hedgerows would go. Wild animals like rabbits would now be a more major pest. No farmer would want animals eating the plants, and so the war on such animals would intensify. Grown in the fields would be domesticate species of food crops, and so the number of plant species would decline."
Domestication is one of the best things that can happen to animals. If the golden eagle tasted any good you can bet your life it wouldn't be nearly extinct.
I quote "In the wild, a sheep would have to look for food, compete for it, jockey for position in the herd, look out for predators, guard its offspring, and it one day would die because of some accident, perhaps a fall, some nasty illness, or it would become weak and have its throat ripped out by the local predators. By striking contrast, the life of a farmed sheep is rather different. A farmed sheep has complete protection from predators; all the food of exactly its favourite kind at its feet all day every day, for which it does not have to compete; no competition for mates; no need to guard offspring; free health care; free haircuts; it is very unlikely to die in childbirth, and unlikely to die a nasty death. True, half a ewe’s offspring are taken away and killed. However, in the wild, a ewe would lose most of its offspring anyway, and in nastier circumstances. By the standards of the natural wild, a sheep’s life is about as cushy as a life could possibly be."
This is true, animals in the wild invariably die violent deaths. the closest an animal will get to dying of old age is being picked by a predator because it it old and therefore an easier to target. Farmed animals invariably lead happier, healthier, less stressful lives than those in the wild.
All the things in that video did happen, but that doesn't mean they always happen. I don't know where yu live but in most countries there are laws about treating animals humanely and giving them a painless death.
Things like battery chicken farms are bad, yea, but you can always buy free range for just a bit more, generally the way animals are treated in that video are exceptional. That's not to say the animals always live excellent quality lives, but it's rarely as bad as that, an often with outdoor reared stock their lives are just fine.