Do You Poop?

{As seen last week in The Vista}


Do you poop? Don’t answer that I know you do.
Do you know what else poops? Cows. Yes. Cows and they stand there all day in their little stall up to their knees in their own poop. And then they get sick. (Hm I wonder why) so the farmers inject the cows with antibiotics (among other things) and then that antibiotic filled, poop feed meat finds its way onto your dinner table and into your mouth. Delicious .
This column is not attack on all of you carnivores. This column is about the impact that animal consumption has on the environment, the world, the animals themselves, and on you and your health.
According to Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, animal consumption is contributing to global warming. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Also, according to Columbia University Press, The Science of Nutrition world starvation is connected to meat-eating habits. If Americans stopped feeding grain to cattle, the excess grain could feed 500 million people.
Not many people know that in the United States, one million animals are killed for human consumption every hour. If each one of us were to cut back on our animal consumption by only 10%, approximately one billion animals would be spared a lifetime of suffering each year.
If that is not enough to make you seriously reconsider your carnivorous cravings, take your own health into consideration. In 1961 the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a vegetarian diet could prevent 90-97% of heart diseases. What is the number one killer of Americans? Heart disease. In addition, according to The Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the New England Journal of Medicine, meat eaters are much more likely to be overweight than vegetarians - and constipated. It takes four times as long for us to digest meat as opposed to veggies. The take home message is found in a study of 50,000 people conducted by the American National Institute of Health. They found that in addition to having far less heart disease, vegetarians had a much lower cancer rate and actually lived longer healthier lives.
So, what now? I am not saying that you should stop your meat eating habits cold turkey (pun intended). I am suggesting that you eat one less meal of meat a week. And see how that goes. You will survive. Then maybe in a few weeks you can try giving up another meal of meat. And maybe that will turn into Meatless Mondays.
Go to the SLP and order the veggie burger! Get a big salad with garbanzo beans! Go to La Paloma and try the Olympian! Or invite yourself over for dinner. I love company.
To sum up, eating less meat is not only good for the animals, the environment and the world, but it is good for you and your health. Even the most narcissistic of us would benefit from eating less meat. You will be a happier, less constipated version of yourself. Make the humane and healthy choice. Eat less meat.