Conscious Eating

Before my initial diagnosis in 2008, I had been a "pesco-vegetarian" (Meaning I ate fish but no other meat) for about 15 years. I started eating meat during treatment because I was anemic ans because other people were cooking for me. I was not a vegetarian for moral reasons. I was hoping to avoid having a stroke or a heart attack, which are prevalent in my family, and the vegetarian diet seemed the best way to stay healthy. I have continued to eat meat, although I buy organic, grass fed beef,organic, free range chickens and eggs. I was deluded into thinking these animals had the "happy lives" the television commercials would have us believe California cows are living.

My niece told me she was reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Saffran Foer. I bought it because I wanted to read what she was reading. It's an important book, and everyone should read it, whether they eat meat or not. When the author's son was born, he was concerned about what type of diet would be healthiest for him. He set out to investigate the factory farms in the U.S. and how the animals fare in that system. He writes objectively and he presents all points of view. The book has letters written by animal activists and factory farmers alike. At times it is very difficult to read. The suffering these animals endure is beyond awful. They suffer in pain and misery all their lives, and the slaughter is worse than you may have imagined. I can't help but think if you eat animals all your life who have suffered so much it is bound to affect your psyche and your health.

I have watched the documentaries, and I had some idea about factory farms. What I didn't know is that when I buy "free range" chicken or eggs that designation means very little. They are not any better off than their counterparts in the factory farms. Organic, grass fed beef is better for you, but they are trucked in appalling conditions to slaughter houses where they are fed corn to fatten them up because without food and water on the trip they lose weight. Their fate at the slaughter house is the same - unbelievably cruel.

These factory farms operate under a veil of secrecy. Most Americans still think animals live on a family owned farm, happily grazing in the pasture. Chickens scratching around the barn yard, and a farmer who cares for them and sees them as individual animals. The reality is genetically altered animals who are packed into small places, covered with feces and filth. Dead animals are among the living, and sick animals are given antibiotics and other drugs so they can become our food. The feces they are covered with makes its way into your food as well. The meat we eat is contaminated with antibiotics, growth hormones, feces and suffering.

I will never look at meat the same way, even if it is organic and "free range." Whether it's meat, milk, or eggs, the animal it came from suffered. Not only do they suffer, they suffer unbelievable cruelty. If you don't have the stomach for the book, read about it online. More and more people are becoming aware. The food industry is strong and our politicians are not going to change it. Only we can, by eating and buying consciously. Not only are the animals suffering, this type of farming is seriously harming our environment. The section on pig feces and the lack of regulations is shocking - it's going into the ground water. Scientists warn that a pandemic (epidemic of global proportions) is long over due, and will be caused by food born illness.

If you feel you must eat meat, learn the facts. Honor the animals by learning what the real cost is when you eat a cheeseburger, chicken breast, eggs, steak, fish, pork...it isn't pretty and I guarantee it will change you.

Namaste,
Jill