About 10 months ago I changed my diet. I had been so used to being able to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. And the sad thing is, I never knew the harm I was implementing on the world when I did something as small as order a hamburger at a restaurant. However, I challenged myself for me, to see if I had the will power to do it. I didn't think it'd open up my outlook on life, of change my opinions on everything, however, as I walked down the road of first pescetarian, then vegetarian, and now vegan, I have learned so much more than ever knew was possible. The government across the world is hiding the cruelties of the animal industry due to money. The meat industry is huge, and they do not care about how/what is happening to their animals as long as they get their money. Money has been prized over health or ethical treatment.
Big Industries world wide are feeding their animals unhealthy foods to make them get bigger faster so they can being slaughtered, however, it is unnatural to do so (Cowspiracy). Now meat is having less and less nutrition inside of it because the big industries are not concerned about the animals they are overlooking (Forks Over Knives). So not only is this hurting the health of those eating such burgers, but it's hurting the world. Now world wide there are dead zones in our land from cows/other farm animals discharge being so toxic that where farms were now cannot sustain life (Cowspiracy). This has caused the soil to die, and the same toxins to seep into our oceans (Cowspiracy). This is actually the leading cause for pollution in our oceans, however nobody knows (Cowspiracy). The world advertises plastic, which is a huge harm to our oceans, however, most of the dead zones across out ocean are cause from the same toxins that are creating dead-zones on our land (Cowspiracy). The government has kept so much of these hardships a secret from society in fear that they could loose money.
Another thing: the world is capable of stopping world hunger (Forks Over Knives). Right now for every cow far, or other such farms, they have farms for the wheat's and grains that they feed their animals. So, while there are people all across the world starving to death, the world industries are giving each and every cow in the world about 30 pounds of food a day. And right now there are about 2 billion cows world wide (Cowspiracy). That's insane, If we didn't produce cows at an insane rate in order to sustain the desire of meat, everybody world wide could life without feeling hunger. Right now cows take up 45% of the worlds land and dead zones are being produced even more (Cowspiracy).
We are currently undergoing a huge mass extinction (The 6th Extinction). Right now, about half of the frogs world wide, in comparison to 10 years ago, have gone extinct due to such dead zones, as well as a substantial amount of fish in our oceans, and rivers. And, the world has been reproducing cows at an insane rate to which our world cannot sustain. Every minute 7 million pounds of excrement is produced from cattle alone, which is sky rocketing CO2 levels higher than they have ever been (Cowspiracy). People are in denial of global warming while the news reporters constantly say, "this is a record high/low for this part of the region." The meat industry has produced something in which our world cannot sustain. However, money leads in factors of importance.
I know that's a lot to take in, and trust me, that isn't even half of it. However, for me, when finding out these things, I couldn't eat meat even if I wanted to. Knowing that if we hadn't manipulated the reproduction of animals in the meat industry, we could have a world that is hunger free said enough to me in my own mind.
However, that is the scientific stance on the meat industry, but the emotional stance goes far and beyond anything that I could have accomplished while eating meat. I have been abused in my life, in multiple ways. I have been homeless. I have been cheated on. I have had an abundance of hardships, and because of such hardships I was very depressed for a very long time. I thought about killing myself, or trying hard drugs to take away the pain, and luckily, never got myself to do any of them because I knew in my heart I'd end up hating myself more than I did in that time. But once becoming vegetarian, and now vegan, I am not sad anymore. I feel strong: REVIVED. I feel like I've been granted another life. I can now talk about things that I did not have the strength to talk about before.
And it's because of this, women and men produce hormones naturally. Every living things has hormones. So what are you doing when you eat meat? Putting hormones into your body even though you already have hormones. If you've been through a lot, how can you ever expect to have peace in your own mind while you create an abundance of hormones while you give yourself even more?
For me, it didn't work. I was very depressed, had lots of acne, and was not in a good place of my own life. Being vegan changed that for me. I feel like I am now in control of my own self and I am saving animals and people while doing it. Nothing in this world feels better than when you feel better and you feel like you are making an impact. By going vegan you save over 100 animals from being slaughtered every year. And you're just one person.
I am not telling you how to live your life, or what you should do, however, I am telling you how being knowledgeable about the facts of the meat industry, and how making the transformation changed my own life for the better.
A.U.M. Cowspiracy. 2014.
Folkerson, Lee. Forks Over Knives. 9 December 2012.
Elizabeth, Kolbert. The 6th Extinction. 11 February 2014.
