why meat is bad for you

Ever since I made the decision to stop eating meat, we have encountered a lot of resistance and skepticism from our friends and family regarding our new lifestyle choice. And while I could not care less about what anybody else thinks of us or our way of life, for personal reasons I felt compelled to write an article to help explain to everyone exactly why we stopped eating meat, and why you should too.

So here it goes.

1. It is morally wrong.

How can anyone claim to be an animal lover, if you are also an animal eater? As a vegetarian, I have absolutely no reservations about eating any: fruit, vegetable, bean or nut; because I know that every variety is delicious and nutritious. Now, do you think that a truly carnivorous animal cares about what type of meat it will eat when it gets hungry? No, because they are true meat eaters. Therefore, they eat any and all meat, regardless of species, and they eat it raw and bloody. Sometimes they even resort to eating their own kind!

Humans on the other hand are very picky about where their meat comes from: and no matter what, it has to be cooked and heavily seasoned before it even enters their mouth. If humans were truly meant to eat meat, we too would not care from which animal it came, we would also be perfectly comfortable eating it raw and bloody. So if the idea of eating the raw meat of a cat, a rat, your dog, a family member, a horse, a squirrel or an eagle make you feel sick or uncomfortable, then why on earth would you be okay with eating the meat from a poor, innocent, defenseless, sick and malnourished cow? Wake up people!

Companies that make money selling you meat to eat spend billions of dollars every year to convince you that their product is delicious and good for you. Let's face it; you, me and billions of others have been duped. Your parents, your parent's parents, and their parents before them, have all been tricked by this industry. For generations our families have passed this misinformation down, simply because they never bothered to ask why they were eating what they were eating. Many of them have or will go on to suffer from a variety of horrible medical conditions later on due to their intake of meat - which is fantastic news for the pharmaceutical industry! Lord knows they need more money...

You have to open your eyes people. These companies know exactly what they are doing. They depend and bet on the stupidity of the general public to do whatever they are told to do. They know that meat is horrible for you and causes disease and other health problems. Quit being a mindless drone and use your brain. The only way to stop them is to stop supporting them with your money.

Don't believe me? Watch this.

2. Meat is disgusting and deep down, you know it.

As you can see, it's not hard to find an informative documentary or a clip that uncovers the gross and disgusting nature of the meat slaughter and meat packing industry. These animals are brutally tortured, mistreated, branded, and then murdered. Like it or not, when you buy their product, you are supporting this horrible business. Not only is the treatment of these poor animals disgusting, but the way that some of these animals are processed and packaged, it can be near impossible to determine exactly what part of which animal you are actually eating! How would you feel if you knew that the ground beef in your freezer was made from the combined meat of several hundred cows; and that same package of beef most likely contains a wide variety of different animal parts?

Husband: "What's for dinner tonight honey?"
Spouse: "Well, we'll be having a combination of cooked beef intestine, beef eyeballs, beef tongue, beef heart, and beef anus."
Husband: "That sound delicious!"

Hungry?... No?... I didn't think so.

3. It makes you - or will make you - fat and unhealthy.

Based on what I've learned about what happens to your body when you consume meat, and also on my own life experience, it isn't hard to see that people who regularly consume meat are not the thinnest or fittest people in the world. How does eating meat make you fat and unhealthy? Simply put, cooked meat is calorie dense and nutritionally deficient. What this means is that even though your body can (barely) process the meat and get it out of your system, it does your body little or no good in terms of actual nourishment. Comparatively speaking, meat also stays in your system much longer than fruits, veggies, beans and nuts.

"Have you ever seen what happens to a piece of meat that stays in the sun for three days? Meat can stay in the warmth of the intestine for at least four to five days until it is digested. It does nothing but wait for passage. Often, it usually stays there formuch longer. Medical doctors have found traces of undigested meat remaining in the colon for up to several months. Colonic therapists always see meat passing through people who have been vegetarians for several years, thus indicating that meat remains undigested there for a long time. Occasionally this has been documented in twenty-year vegetarians!"-CelestialHealing.net

On the other hand, the foods that our bodies were designed to ingest (i.e. fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, etc.) digest much more easily and rapidly, simply because our bodies were designed to eat them!

4. According to celestial healing, more evidence points to humans being herbivores, not carnivores.

"Many people ask me, "If we weren't supposed to eat meat than why do we?". It is because we are conditioned to eat meat.

Also, the ADA (American Dietetic Association) tells us that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or lacto-ovo vegetarian diet."

The chart below compares the anatomy of man with that of carnivorous and herbivorous animals.

When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat-eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.

Meat-eaters: have claws Herbivores: no claws Humans: no claws

Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue Herbivores: perspire through skin pores Humans: perspire through skin pores

Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding

Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length (from mouth to anus). Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length (from mouth to anus).

Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater. Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater

Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits. Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits. Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits

Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains

Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)

Clearly if humans were meant to eat meat we wouldn't have so many crucial ingestive/digestive similarities with animals that are herbivores." - CelesitalHealing.net

5. Meat kills you.

I'll try to keep this part short and sweet. Since meat has no real nutritional value (to humans), we would die if that was all we ate. Furthermore, the excess protein from consuming such a diet would inevitably lead to liver toxicity, kidney overload and mineral deficiency diseases. It is my opinion then, that the consumption of meat is one of the primary causes of cancer and heart disease in human beings today. Fruits, vegetables, and other vegetarian friendly foods on the other hand not only fight, but can actually cure cancer and disease. Think about this, when was the last time you heard of someone going to the hospital because they ate too many organic fruits and vegetables? It is common knowledge that raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc. contain a tremendous amount of micro nutrients (i.e. vitamins and minerals) that are essential to maintaining a quality, healthful life.

"Fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients; the very thing the body needs to live a long disease and pain free life. The same cannot be said for meat. Nutritionally, the alkaline-based digestive system of humans will not properly break down substantial acid substances of meat." - CelestialHealing.net

Eating meat to me is basically the same thing as drinking soda pop (which I also don't partake in). If you were to quit drinking water and drank only soda, you might survive for a little while, but you will pay for it later on down the road. Why risk it? Do yourself a favor and keep your diet natural! The more natural the food and drink, the better your health and life will be!

6. Eating meat changes you in many negative ways and on many different levels.

I'll let celestial healing do most of the talking here:

"The spiritually aspiring person attempts to work on his/her self. The purpose of spiritual growth is to move away from the animal nature into the more human nature that God intended for us to have. Meat eating inhibits this. The same science that attempts to ignore the existence of a force higher than man also proved that aggression levels are much higher in meat eaters than non-meat eaters! The animal instincts become more powerful every time you eat meat. Another spiritual aspect of being a meat eater is when one must question the necessity and method of killing animals. However, everyone has their own morals to which they must determine for themselves. It is not the purpose of my dissertation to force a specific moral behavior on anyone. Most spiritual people believe in auras. Kirilian photography shows us that a force field still remains around dead or amputated flesh. You adopt that animal aura when you eat it's dead flesh. Fruits and vegetables have a higher vibrational aura than animal products."

“You are what you eat”, is a slogan that I love to use to show the mental aspect of vegetarianism. When animals are slaughtered, fear and aggression enzymes are shot into their muscle tissue. They remain in the meat until the consumer ingests the flesh and adapts the same emotions. Fruits and vegetables do not have emotions; therefore, when they are picked they do not release any emotional cells prior to digestion. The enzymes within fruits and vegetables supply the body with sufficient nutrients that will always uphold a healthy state of mind."

You literally (not figuratively) become what you eat. Your nails, hair, skin, are all made from the broken down nutrients that you put into your body. Take a moment and consider these two questions:

1. What is the quality of the fuel your body is currently running on?
2. What can you do to improve that quality today?

7. Dead meat is chock full of bacteria - it poisons us.

After watching the film Food Inc., I came out of it with an entirely new perspective on what the meat industry does, and what the consumption of meat had been doing to my body. During the film, they show you how most animals who are raised to be slaughtered, essentially live in a pile of their own filth until they are killed. This bacteria that they stand in every day doesn't magically disappear once the animal is murdered... many times that bacteria will end up on your plate. That's not all! Check out this clip from Food Inc. that explains how e. coli gets transferred from the runoff of infected dead meat and winds up contaminating other common foods that we consume regularly.

 

To make matters worse:

"Meats are frozen for long periods of time. Some meats (especially poultry) are frozen [for] up to two years. Cold temperatures do not kill all species of bacteria. Worse than this, as it is shipped and stored, most frozen meat is thawed and refrozen many times. This is almost unavoidable. Meat eaters suffer more frequently from various types of food poisoning than vegetarians. Statistics show that every American has had food poisoning at least once. When you've felt ill, had diarrhea or were just a little sick to your stomach, no doubt you had not the slightest idea that you had been poisoned by scavengers living off the dead carcass you just ate." - CelestialHealing.net

Getting hungry yet? Think about that the next time you bite into that hamburger or steak!

Bottom Line

I have lived on both sides of this and I can say without a shred of doubt, that after everything I have learned about the dangers of eating meat, I am never going back. Being a vegetarian, I maintain a healthy weight and I feel healthier and more energetic than I have ever felt before. My spirit feels calm and peaceful, and my thoughts and my ability to focus have become sharper and more clear. I think celestial healing put it best,

"I love being a vegetarian and it shows. Because I wish the best for myself, it’s just second nature to want the best for others. From my past experience and research, going vegetarian is the best thing anyone can do for their mind, body and spirit."

Good luck and best wishes!

-Corey Barton