In America, about 7.3 million people, including myself, are vegetarian, and for good reason! Being a vegetarian is a very beneficial diet to be on. It's beneficial to the animal rights movement, the environment and it's a very healthy lifestyle with delicious alternatives to meals containing meat.
Maybe it’s because the general population simply doesn't know, or maybe it’s because we don't care to know, but many of us don’t really have any idea of the pain that animals go through behind the scenes of factory farming. The definition of factory farming is literally “a system of rearing livestock using intensive methods, by which poultry, pigs, or cattle are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions.” The definition itself gives us an idea of what happens inside big farms.
I’ll give you an even better idea.
Let’s start with cows. Did you know, according to Peta, more than 42 million cows suffer a year from industry methods? Females spend their lives being impregnated over and over again until their bodies give out, then they are sent for slaughter. The babies they produce are separated from them at just a couple weeks old to be sent to another farm where they will begin their miserable lives. Cows are fed on a highly unnatural diet to fatten them up, to get more meat on their bones. This diet causes immense pain in their gastric to the point where their stomachs bloat so much that breathing becomes difficult. Sure, "free-range" or "organic" meat is better, because the cows feed on what they are meant to feed on, but it still isn't as good of an option as being a vegetarian. Also, in their feedlot, the manure accumulates so much that ammonia, methane, and other noxious chemicals is emitted into the air, causing breathing to be painful.
Next, let’s take a look into the lives of pigs. 90% of pigs raised in the United States are factory farmed pigs, which means 90% of pigs are most likely mistreated. The lives of the female pigs are much like the lives of the female cows, impregnated, then slaughtered. When the piglets are separated from their mothers, their teeth are cut with pliers and their tails are chopped off, all with no pain killers. Then they spend their lives in crowded pens until it’s time to be shipped to the slaughterhouse. During transportation, over a million pigs don’t live to see the destination, they die from extreme temperatures.
Lastly, a glimpse into the chicken’s lives. Chickens are arguably the most mistreated animal during factory farming. They spend 99% of their lives in total confinement in filthy sheds with thousands of others. They are given GMO’s, antibiotics and steroids to grow so large that their body cannot keep up. Their legs will literally break under the weight of their own bodies, their organs will fail and experience heart attacks. At the slaughterhouse, their legs will be in shackles, beaks clipped, then they are immersed into scalding water to remove feathers. Since birds are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, almost all of the birds are conscious when their beaks and throats are cut. If a chick slips past the throat cutter, they will be fully conscious when they are put in the pots of boiling water.
Being a vegetarian doesn't have to be all about being against the cruel treatment of animals that goes on during the process of factory farming, some people might not care. I understand. Maybe environmental concerns are the motivating factor. One reason being a vegetarian benefits the environment is through the conservation of fossil fuels and non renewable sources of energy. According to this site, it takes 78 calories of fossil fuels to produce just 1 calorie of beef protein, 35 calories for 1 calorie of pork, and 22 for 1 calorie of poultry. It only takes 1 calorie of fossil fuels to produces 1 calorie of soybeans. Another reason to be a vegetarian is to promote water conservation. It takes 3 to 5 times as much water to produce animal proteins as it does plant proteins.
If animal rights or environmental concerns aren't your cup of tea, maybe personal health is. Since a lot of the United States is obese, personal health is a fantastic reason to get on this diet. Meat is higher in fat than most plant foods, and they don't contain cholesterol. However, animal foods do contain a high concentration of agriculture chemicals including herbicides and pesticides. This raises the risk of secondary consumption of antibiotics given to livestock, a risk not pertinent to vegetarians. When eating a plant based diet, a person tends to weigh less, causing less health problems, thus lowering their healthcare costs. There are countless instances where people report weight loss just because of cutting out meat from their diet.
A big argument I get a lot is that the diet "won't taste as good." WRONG. There are so many delicious vegetarian recipes to find, and being a vegetarian, I've checked out a lot. Check out this website, and this one, and of course, all recipes has just about anything you'd want. Even if you're unsure about cutting out meat completely because of the reason that you might not think it’ll taste as good, just try out a recipe once a week! When I lived at home, my family, all meat lovers, liked the recipes my mom and I used to make dinner a few times a week.
I get that by not eating meat, you aren’t getting the protein and iron and the crucial vitamin B12 (supports normal brain and nervous system functions) that you usually would, but that doesn't have to stop somebody from being a vegetarian. There are other ways of getting protein, through beans and nuts, and you can take a vitamin supplement for vitamin B12 and iron.
A big “alternative” to going vegetarian is only eating organic or free-range beef because they are raised ethically. Sure, they are fed a better diet with no antibiotics or hormones, but they are still killed in terrible conditions, sometimes in the very factories as the factory farmed animals, all to maximize profits.
Whether you’re passionate about animal rights, or concerned with the state of the environment, or wanting to lose some extra weight and maintain a very healthy lifestyle, being a vegetarian helps you reach the goals you might have. And even if you're kind of on board with any of the reasons to go meat-free but you're not 100% committed, just try cutting out meat once a week then work yourself up to a meatless diet at your own pace!