Why I Became a Vegetarian (A Tasty Tuesday After School Special)

     For this week's Tasty Tuesday post I wanted to do something a little different. I enjoy posting new recipes and that will continue but this week I wanted to write about another transition in my life. Needless to say, this post took a lot longer to write than my usual posts so I apologize for being a day late. Over the past year or so I noticed that I had been slowly transitioning to a meat free diet. It was unintentional at first, mainly due to the fact that poor graduate students can't afford choice cuts of beef, pork, fish, or poultry and are usually left eating the cheap pressboard style lunch meats found in your local grocery store next to the Lunchables (barf). When I finally realized that I had gone a few weeks and then a few months without eating meat I started thinking, "Can I go even longer with no meat?

     When I began pondering a meat free lifestyle I was neck deep in training for my half-marathon. Along with running I was also lifting weights at the gym three days a week and I never felt better in all my life. I was happier, more energetic, and I had lost nearly 20 pounds that had been hanging on me since the end of high school. Of course I attributed most of that to the increased exercise but anyone who exercises regularly knows that DIET IS EVERYTHING! I began doing a little research into the vegetarian lifestyle and looking through my recipe index for the vegetarian recipes I already had. Then, I just thought....let's do this.

     I've come to find out that my particular journey into vegetarianism wasn't typical. Most vegetarians have a meat free diet based on ethics and believe that it is no longer necessary to slaughter any animal in the name of human nutrition. While I certainly believe in the ethical treatment of all animals (including humans) I wasn't motivated by ethics. I still recognize animals as being sources of food and the slaughter of animals for consumption didn't particularly bother me. However, what did bother me was the way we slaughter animals for food in the United States and this is the crux of my story.

     Meat is a commodity in this country. Marketers have done an incredible job of making Americans think that you need meat at every meal. "Beef, it's what's for dinner! Bom Bom Bom". "Pork, The Other White Meat" And now the new slogan, "Pork, Be Inspired"! Because of this and many other factors, demand for meat has sky rocketed and subsequently the way meat was produced had to change also. Meat (especially beef) is the product of enormous feed lots all over the country that hold thousands upon thousands of animals at any given moment. These feed lots are a major source of pollution to both water and air and are partly responsible for the destruction of forests and loss of biodiversity. Additionally, with so many individuals in such a confined space, disease is rampant!

     Get this, according to the Food and Drug Administration 80% of the antibiotics sold in the United States go to factory farm animals. That's 28 MILLION POUNDS of drugs! Under confined conditions factory farmed cattle, pork, poultry, and fish are susceptible to a number of diseases and are kept in pens containing their own feces as well as the feces of other animals. The antibiotics are then pumped into factory farmed animals to keep them alive long enough to be slaughtered and then end up on the dinner table. So it is quite probable that the meat purchased in grocery stores is diseased to some extent. Hungry yet? There's more!

     According to an April 2011 report in the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases, 47% of meat products purchased at several grocery store chains around the country were infected with antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This is the same bacteria that causes Staph infections and is responsible for more deaths in the United States than HIV. How does bacteria found in meat become resistant to antibiotics? Through overuse of antibiotics in the factory farming system. Liberal use of antibiotics used on animals will certainly kill most strains of bacteria but not all and thus antibiotic resistant strains will become more numerous and researchers will have to develop stronger antibiotics....to continue using on farm animals. It is literally an arms race. Now, it is true that cooking the meat properly will kill the bacteria but honestly why would you want to eat something that has the potential to cause skin infections if you handle it?

     So, this leads to the main reason for my switch to a vegetarian diet. Over the years I have been very selective about where I spend my money and to what companies and organizations I give money to. If a company or organization is operating in a way I don't like I just don't shop there or use their products. I don't agree with the way meat is being produced in this country. Therefore, I won't give my money to companies that continue to operate this way. Plain and simple. The food system is broken and I really believe something catastrophic is going to have to happen in order for large scale farming practices to change. According to the CDC food born diseases are responsible for 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States every year. What more is it going to take? 10,000 deaths? 


     I can't argue with how much better I feel. That's reason enough for me. I don't miss meat and in case you're wondering (and I know you are) I get all my protein from eating fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds. I'm not going to criticize those individuals who choose to still eat meat. This is my own personal argument. Honestly, if I had access to meat produced in a manner that I saw fit I might eat it and enjoy it (in moderation of course). But, as for now, this poor grad student will go to the farmer's market, look upon the organic, free range, antibiotic free, locally grown/harvested, beef, poultry, pork, and fish and admire the farmer for producing food the way it should be.  BRING ON THE VEGETABLES!



Take care of yourself and each other...


P.S. if you want to see a very good reason why I won't give my money to companies that run factory farms see the video below.