Greetings.

   I wanted to post this under the Afterlife Knowledge Forum so that more people could read it, but since it's off topic, I put it here instead. First, if you can watch videos, please watch this one made by Paul McCartney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ydyhpoLrG8

   Now here are the 30 reasons not to eat meat:
http://www.the-green-diva.com/2010/04/30-reasons-not-to-eat-meat/

Vegetarianism is no longer something that a minority of people are interested in. Many people are questioning the eating of meat, and it is important for people to make conscious choices relating to diet and lifestyle. Here are just thirty reasons to give up meat:

1 ) To Help Stop World Poverty

It is estimated that around 760 million tons of grain is fed to farmed animals so that people can eat meat.  Far more people could be fed with that amount of grain versus the amount of meat. The Worldwatch Institute claims, “Continued growth in meat output is dependent on feeding grain to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent meat-eaters and the world’s poor.” Contrary to uninformed arguments that not eating meat would lead to problems in agriculture. If everyone gave up eating meat, we could feed about seven times the population that we currently do without using any additional farmland.

2 ) Lower Carbon Footprint

A United Nations report finds that eating meat causes almost forty per cent more carbon emissions than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined. It takes around twenty times more fossil fuel to grow meat compared to the equivalent weight of vegetables. Not producing meat will lead to lower gas prices and reducing the use of precious fossil fuels. And now the South American rain forests are being destroyed to make room for livestock this is having a negative impact on oxygen levels.

3 ) To Preserve Land

Cattle overgrazing is destroying the land at an unsustainable rate.  At takes a minimum of two hundred years to develop an inch of topsoil. In the past two hundred years the USA have lost about seven inches due to animal farming.

4 ) Reduce Pollution

The mass production of meat produces an excessive amount of manure that ends up polluting both the nearby rivers and streams and kills fish. Many reports show higher rates of respiratory problems, miscarriages and neurological diseases among people who live near factory farms.

5 ) Avoid Mad Cow Disease

Mad cow disease takes years for the disease to show up in humans. There is more of a risk in America as unlike their European counterparts they didn’t follow advice on stopping the unnatural feeding of animal protein to cows. Despite the third case of mad cow disease in the US in 2006 the USDA scaled back their testing. This article is just one example of a BSE cover up in 2010

It seems that avoiding cow meat is the only sure way of avoiding Mad Cow Disease.

6 ) Avoid Bird Flu

The World Health Organisation states that in the event of the mutation of the avian flu virus- it could even be caught touching eggshells contaminated with the virus (eating the meat and eggs would be more dangerous).

7 ) Ward off Obesity

Meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegans.

8 ) Live Longer

Vegetarians live an average of seven years longer than meat-eaters do. Studies show that vegans tend to live about fifteen years longer.

9 ) Show Respect for Life

Despite all of the technology man has manufactured we cannot manufacture life from scratch. I believe we don’t have the right to take the life of any living being. One of my heroes Leonardo da Vinci is quoted as say “The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.” I cannot agree with this more.

10 ) Cool Guys Don’t Eat Meat

Everyone knows someone who feels their masculinity is threatened if they stop eating meat. Tell that to Andre 3000, Nelly, Tobey Maguire and professional skater Ed Templeton. See this list for more famous vegetarians and vegans. It appears successful people tend to favour conscious eating habits.

11 ) Protection from Cancer and Heart Disease

Studies suggest that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease than meat-eaters. Drs Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn have used a vegan diet to prevent and reverse heart disease with a 100% success rate. Vegetarians have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters.

12 ) To Keep a Healthy Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Level

Meat-eaters often consume more bad fats that clog arteries leading to higher blood pressure and resulting in higher cholesterol levels.

13 ) To Lower the Risk of Diabetes

Meat eaters have a higher rate of diabetes- possibly because they consume less whole grains, fruits and vegetables than vegans and vegetarians.

14 ) To Save Money

A well planned meat free diet is a lot cheaper, and as mass production of meat is subsidised via taxes the prices seen in supermarkets do not reflect the real cost of meat.

15) Conserving Precious Water

It takes more than four hundred gallons of water to grow and supply a pound of beef compared to only fourteen gallons of water for a pound of wheat.

16 ) Preserve Rare Animal Life

It has been estimated that for each hamburger made from beef raised in the rain forest- approximately twenty-five different plant species and numerous birds, mammals and reptiles are destroyed.

17 ) To Keep Bones Healthy

Studies show that at the age of 65, the average meat-eater has twice the bone loss of their vegetarian counterparts. It is likely to be excess protein consumption that leads to poor retention and absorption of calcium.

18 ) Eating Meat is Bad for Health

Beef and other meat products increase your chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease and even impotence.

19 ) Compassion for Animals

Factory farming crams animals in filthy spaces and horrible conditions.  Cattle are subjected to abuses such as having their horns sliced off, branding with chemicals and castration for males (often with no painkillers). Many animals live in their own waste, are forced to constantly breathe in ammonia, and are fed hard to digest cheap food. When time for slaughter comes animals are shipped without food or water to the slaughterhouse, where many of the animals are still conscious throughout the process.

20 ) Reduce Toxic Exposure to Chemicals

Meat is usually treated with chemicals and preservatives to help them look more appealing and stay fresher. These chemicals can be toxic and the EPA estimates that about 95 percent of pesticides in a meat-eaters diet come from eating meat, fish and dairy. Fish is more problematic as it contains carcinogens and metals such as mercury and arsenic that cannot be eliminated by cooking them.

21 ) Spiritual Benefits

According to Vedic philosophy and many religions, eating meat hampers spiritual development. The bad karma gained from meat eating results in a lower vibration.  Some people claim that when animals are slaughtered, negative emotions like fear and anger leak into their cells and remain in the flesh for the meat-eater to absorb when they eat it.

22 ) Mental Benefits

People who stop eating meat often describe a mental fog being lifted after adopting a vegetarian diet. This effect is amplified when becoming vegan (as found by Steve Pavlina).

23 ) Cows Are Sacred

Cows are sociable gentle animals. In Vedic philosophy the cow is likened to the mother as she gives milk. Studies have found that cows have different personalities and even grieve when their friends or family members die. More reasons to not eat cows are here and reasons to forsake dairy in Cruelty free Dairy.

24 ) The Best Tasting Food is Meat-Free


If you don’t believe me get yourself down to your local Hare Krishna temple and eat some prasadam. No other food tastes as good!

25 ) The Human Body is Not Made for Digesting Meat

I’m risking getting flamed for this one- but this is what I believe. Looking at the human body and teeth with flat rear molars for grinding, weaker stomach acid and alkaline saliva it is clear that human body is not carnivorous. Meat putrefies in around four to five hours and bodies suited to digesting meat have a straight and short intestinal tract to avoid poisoning. The human intestinal tract shares characteristics with herbivores being around ten times the body length to fully absorb nutrients from plant matter and grain.

26 ) Following My Ancestors Diet

Surprisingly the ADA (American Dietetic Association) finds that “most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet”. This is true in my own family, and many live to their nineties. The vegetarians suffer less illness and are fitter and younger looking.

27 ) Avoid Food Poisoning

Meat-eaters get food poisoning more than vegetarians. Meat is often frozen and during transportation can thaw and refreeze making it a breeding ground for bacteria. Estimates hold meat responsible for around eighty percent of food poisoning cases.

28 ) To Avoid Eating Body Waste

Meat contains the animal’s waste and it has been said that leftover blood and urine are the flavouring elements in a hamburger.

29 ) To Eat The Right Amount of Good Quality Protein

It is estimated the average American eats three to four times the recommended daily protein intake. The excess protein can cause a lot of related health problems due to the excess nitrogen in the blood.

30 ) To Raise the Vibration of Human Society

How can we live in a peaceful society when millions of innocent animals are being slaughtered? I believe in ahimsa or nonviolence.  The words of Mahatma Gandhi sum it up perfectly: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Greetings.

   Here is another good video that shows what is going on with the miss-treatment of animals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-LyeUTzFYc&feature=related
   This video made me cry even more than the first one I posted with Paul McCartney. I'm sorry that I'm being a kill joy here and possibly making some people feel guilty for eating meat, but I thought knowing the truth is important.

   Despite what I learned about free will in this world and the next, I still believe that karma and reincarnation also exist. Would knowing about the animal suffering create bad karma versus not knowing? If so, then I'm possibly guilty of spreading around bad karma to others who were previously oblivious to animal suffering.

   Most people probably believe that the animals they eat are treated humanely. Sorry to burst that bubble but I feel that if enough people knew the truth, then they could stop this madness of animal torture.

Ralph

Ralph,
"Vegetarianism is no longer something that a minority of people are interested in."

Nourishing the body requires food in this design, and nature's part of that. Removing the skin from carrots and boiling them alive in water gets as familiar as it does with meat sizzling in the frying pan. Vegans are killers too, but could be it's comfortable to forget that vegs are living beings too. Is a veg less of a being than an animal?

When it comes to being green, stop breeding is an obvious point rarely heard. Abortion is greener that a lot of the points mentioned. Throw in a healthy dose of sex education combined with the magnificent product called condoms.

Cows aren't more sacred than other animals, but there are a lot of holy cows to swallow once the white robe is put on. The truth may yet be stranger than everyone on this planet thought it was, so speaking the truth, I dunno who does that, though it's popular to say 'we're best friends 4 ever'.

At the end of the day, Ralph, you do seem to have compassion and respect for animals and kudos for that.

Quote:

Removing the skin from carrots and boiling them alive in water gets as familiar as it does with meat sizzling in the frying pan. Vegans are killers too, but could be it's comfortable to forget that vegs are living beings too. Is a veg less of a being than an animal?

   I agree with you Volu that plants are living beings too. I have had meditations in my life where I made connections with the plant kingdom. I also feel bad that I have to eat plants to survive, but I'm not burdened with the guilt of a lifetime of suffering.

   Plants live their normal lives in the soil and go through a process of growth, then merging back with the plant kingdom after serving their purpose. Some plants exist to spread beauty upon the Earth while others serve a mission as food for the animal species.

   Before animal factories, I suppose the souls of the animals kind of knew it was their mission to provide for humans after they transcend. Maybe for the most part the karmic wheel works. Lately though, it seems that torture is becoming more prevalent.

   I probably just seem like another bleeding heart human that doesn't want to accept the current system. I know that this is the world of maya and is not our true lives. I just feel that because there has always been suffering in this world is no excuse to create more of it.

Ralph

Great post Ralph, do keep it up = completely agree with you 8-)

in my personal experience, i simply cannot eat things with bad energies in it, or if i do then it does bad things to my energetic system.
sometimes i can manage to block the bad energies from some foods, but it takes lot of energy and causes lot of toxic waste deposits in my body that have to be removed later on again.

meat from animals or fish have bad energies if the animals and fish have not lived freely and happily, or if they had a very bad time when they died because their feelings would cause lot of toxic chemicals, hormones, energies, imprints in their bodies and in the connections between their bodies and their souls and their relations with others and the whole universe.
i eat fish sometimes, still quite often, but would not buy any fish that comes from aquacultures.
i would eat meat from animals sometimes, although rarely (maybe once a month), if it was from animals who lived freely and happily and were killed in a responsible and compassionate way by responsible and compassionate hunters who know what they do and who would not overdo it. but where and how often would one get such meat? it is extremely rare.

sometimes i eat meat of animals and fish who did not live and die happily, but i keep it minimal. and the tendency is toward higher energies, purer energies, subtler energies, and so i cannot go on doing that.
my body signals what it wants, and it tends to become more quality and less quantity.
sometimes eating feels so alien to me, so unnatural, maybe i give up eating sooner or later, or i give it up slowly and progressively more and more.

Hi Oliver and all,

To get to the level of sensitivity to tell 'bad' meat from 'happy' meat, had you already been involved in vegetarianism?

Also, if you are becoming an' air eater' in today's world, can you be careful not to deplete yourself if you suddenly found yourself in a stressful traffic jam or facing an angry stranger? I just don't know how far we can go with pur5ification of our physical systems while we live in such a grossly physical world.  :-?

I agree with you but to me, what you say are goals and I sense difficult barriers to such a state.

Bets

There is a study called the China Study (you can google it), wherein it was found that in parts of China, populations subsisting on almost no animal protein had virtually no incidence of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke, etc.  The study couldn't account for the lack of disease on a genetic basis.   Their conclusion was that eating an animal protein based diet was associated with many chronic illnesses, and age related problems.

The study was biased, and perhaps flawed, but it is well known that in general, a diet based on animal meat is more prone toward illness and disease.

As to "bad energies", I prefer the use of our minds to counter this.  Saying grace before a meal puts our positive energy into food and drink.  Water, food, even meat may be blessed by us, and purified in this manner.  You can take a bite out of a burger, and if you give thanks and believe in it as a positive thing, you are imparting positive thought-energy to the food.

I myself am not comfortable with animals dying for my dinner, and feeling fear in a slaughterhouse.  Yet, we do see this in nature.  Anyone who thinks the animals in the forest frolic with each other, has not observed nature.  Spiders eat flies, frogs eat spiders.  It is not pretty, but one being is killing another for food and sustenance. 

From my point of view, intent is more important than anything else.  I refuse to believe that my spiritual growth will be hindered if I don't go vegan right away.  We have as much freedom as our beliefs and thoughts will allow.


Matthew

Quote:

From my point of view, intent is more important than anything else.  I refuse to believe that my spiritual growth will be hindered if I don't go vegan right away.  We have as much freedom as our beliefs and thoughts will allow.

   Greetings Matthew. I agree with you on this. I personally refuse eating meat but I never tell anyone else that they have to do what I do. I may be over sensitive, but I like it that way. I have a strong imagination that conjures up all those awful images I saw from suffering animals. I'm always having to control my over sensitivity everyday to exist among other humans.

Ralph

Matthew,
"Anyone who thinks the animals in the forest frolic with each other, has not observed nature."

This and also stunningly beautiful imagery can be seen in Life, a very good BBC production found on amazon and other places.

To bad that meat tastes so darn good. To bad that according to the Bible, God intended us to eat meat. (You don't think he put that fish and fowl here to look at do ya?) To bad most people don't see that plants are living things also, and its no different to eat them than it is to eat meat. Both containing the life essence. I am thankful for having both sacrificed to provide for my existence. I personally like to mix my consumption with both meat and vegetables. Say like a burger with lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Sometimes with fries cooked with lard, or oil. Isn't life grand? How fortunate we are that we can make a choice in what we eat., especially when many in the world would be happy to have any food, no matter meat or vegetable. Perhaps telling a starving child that eating that bug they found  in a pile of rotting vegetable matter was bad would suit some, but not me. (Bugs are meat, right?) Some would believe that the child should starve, rather then eat meat. Of course, some people cant see the truth through the sides of their colons. Matter of fact, I would bet there is 30 good reasons not to eat some vegetable proteins also.  Some places they eat dogs, rats, horses, some used to eat people.  But in the long run, your right. There are many reasons not to eat meat. I wonder how many reasons there are not to eat genetically engineered crops? Say wheat, corn, soybean, tomatoes,  use cotton, or many of the hundreds more.

Ralph:

Thanks for bringing this up.

Regarding Hawkeye's question, not only am I a vegetarian, I eat organic produce as much as possible and try to stay away from products that have GMO (such as corn, unless it is made without GMO).

Well done you all. You should all be proud of following the path you choose to follow. Only ego would push you to judge what other choose to live their lives by. Although I still have ego, I attempt to include others choices as being right for their existence. Its important to follow the path your on, no matter where it leads you. In my case, that means eating meat and vegetables. By giving equal thanks for the gift and sacrifice of both. As we all have our own personal interpretation of how things should by, it becomes easy to judge other when their beliefs don't match your own. (or my own) Ego is a funny thing.   

I believe it is quite a big assumption to believe that all vegetarians judge people who eat meat. I used to eat meat and don't judge myself for having done so.

I don't believe I could help with retrievals to the extent I do if I was interested in judging others.

Can't we make this topic about what's beneficial overall, rather than about whether some people are judgmental and egotistical?


hawkeye wrote on Oct 21^st, 2011 at 8:44pm:

Well done you all. You should all be proud of following the path you choose to follow. Only ego would push you to judge what other choose to live their lives by. Although I still have ego, I attempt to include others choices as being right for their existence. Its important to follow the path your on, no matter where it leads you. In my case, that means eating meat and vegetables. By giving equal thanks for the gift and sacrifice of both. As we all have our own personal interpretation of how things should by, it becomes easy to judge other when their beliefs don't match your own. (or my own) Ego is a funny thing.

Quote:

I believe it is quite a big assumption to believe that all vegetarians judge people who eat meat. I used to eat meat and don't judge myself for having done so.

   Well said recoverer. That goes the same for me. I don't know who hawkeye is accusing of judging others, but if I'm included in that remark, then I suggest that he reread everything I said. None of it was for ego's sake and no where did I say others have to be vegetarian also. I do however hope that they strongly consider it based on the information I offered.

   It is true that plants are lifeforms also. I believe that plants are here to sacrifice their lives as part of their purpose. I don't believe that also applies to animals. Some people may take the writings in the Bible as God's given excuse to eat meat. I believe that everything in the Bible is made up by human authors in order to justify whatever they wanted to have everyone believe came from God's mouth.

   Hawkeye, if you still want to think of me as being judgmental, then go ahead because I am embarrased at being a human on this planet anyway with all of the awful things that humans do to other lifeforms and I can't wait to have this physical life end so I can either defect to the Deva Kingdom, or hang out on the other side for about a thousand years or so until humanity changes into a decent lifeform in the physical world.

Ralph

  I felt better on many levels when i stopped eating meat, and there were more specific reasons, more conceptually, of why it seemed to be a wise and more PUL attuned choice.

  With that said, if I was starving and had no other food to sustain this vehicle, i would try to hunt in the manner that was typical of many Native American tribes, with respect and gratitude.

I am not talking about you Ralph. We all have egos. That's why we judge other. Because we think we are right. The truth is, we are all right. Albert, I am not accusing or judging you of anything. Its not that personal. You are just who you are. My point is to show some balance in respect for all living things. Plant and animal. Both being equal. I have ego. I hold judgment on people. Sometimes I don't even know why. Why would any of you thing I am pointing my bony fingers towards you when I write about ego and judgment? I wear a size ten shoe. Would it fit you? I have read many times on this site the virtues of vegetarians over meat eaters. One, better than the other. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both are equal to each other. Both consume other living things to exist. Putting animals above plants spiritually or believing their consciousness is higher shows to me, personally, a lack of true understanding of the life essence and lessons for our existence within the physical realm. Of course you may not be at that lesson... Yet. Or you may have passed it already. Countries go to war all the time over ego and fear. People argue for the same reasons. At least I know I am right, and your wrong. Well, right for me that is.

Ralph, a lovely post - especially your point number 9!  I totally agree with you, & you are not alone in making the right choice for the right reasons.  Of course the vegetable kingdom is also sentient, but lacking a nervous system as we know it, they do not suffer in the same way as animals do. 
As far as I can tell, there is a resident deva in each species of plant (not individual plants) who expresses their being through the qualities of that plant species. I can not understand how anyone can equate the killing of an animal with the picking of an apple. But all life is sacred & even the mosquito has a right to live.

BTW & off topic : I have learned that speaking to the deva of mosquitoes, for example, stating that one does not kill,  & asking in return not to be bitten, that one gets off very lightly in comparision with others who swipe wildy trying to kill each pesky little insect.

kirolak,

"As far as I can tell, there is a resident deva in each species of plant (not individual plants) who expresses their being through the qualities of that plant species. I can not understand how anyone can equate the killing of an animal with the picking of an apple. But all life is sacred & even the mosquito has a right to live."

Picking an apple and.. eating it alive. It's so juicy the blood flows out the sides of the mouth. Teeth gnashing and ravaging its flesh like a tsunami of whirlwinds, in other words, nature, eating itself. Some eat the whole baby being - ripped away from earth in the prime of its life. Some toss the corpses of apples on the ground or in the smelly garbage, keeping the rot and the absence of a decent funeral out of sight and mind.

In another equation, if meat eating is the greater evil and plant eating is the lesser evil; respect for life is not their family bond, but evil is.

Well said Volu. I love your analogy. Poetry to my mind.

Yes, I agree - most poetic.  But how can you possibly equate picking an apple with the cutting of an animal's throat?  The tree is not harmed by the fruit falling or being plucked.  So in the final analysis, your argument holds no water.  But I realize it is pointless to argue one's case - one just preaches to the converted & stirs up dust.

My final comment on this forum - I wonder how poetic carnivorous humans would feel if "aliens" began to harvest their succulent flesh for consupmtion?

kirolak,
"Yes, I agree - most poetic.  But how can you possibly equate picking an apple with the cutting of an animal's throat?  The tree is not harmed by the fruit falling or being plucked.  So in the final analysis, your argument holds no water. But I realize it is pointless to argue one's case - one just preaches to the converted & stirs up dust."

No blood and gore, no face to relate to, but still: physical life. Lesser physical life than animals they are not though they are located differently of the food-chain. Animals eat plants. Plants eat animals. Animals eat animals. A whole lot of eating.

Here's to straightforward poetry: Love Unconditional, the illusion shatters, pouring out disgust at those who slits the animal's throat. C1 examples: puts crackers into the mouth and blows it to kingdom come, leaving he or she to suffer and then eventually pass on. Hangs a dog, flips the finger and has a picture taken while smiling. Gangs up on another dog, scares it and then chases it, puts it on fire and films it while laughing. Condition: don't do those things, or there's no love. No love, valid? Duh. Saying you still do while actually you don't, THAT holds no crappity smacking water. Reserving the almighty non-discerning love to those who hold your hands, sits on your lap and entertains the naivete, exclusively, isn't, and never will be, unconditional.

Can you still love an animal and eat meat from an animal? Way, way beyond words that gets stuck in shiny lip-stick, enhanced by lip gloss and presented as lip service because it sounds so awefully good, though this and other examples as second hand experiences, direct in your face experiences, line up by door, and keep on knocking, as long as it takes.

"My final comment on this forum - I wonder how poetic carnivorous humans would feel if "aliens" began to harvest their succulent flesh for consupmtion?"

Final comment on this forum, yours or mine - talking about the the lovely (for real indeed) animals; water on a goose.

It's what some "beings" do, and some do eat their humanoid physical "foes" alive, with the fear in the humanoid vehicles adding to the meal. A being that's physically stronger puts "them" above humanoid physicals in the food-chain. They will have their cake, but they can't have the essence which isn't physical.

Reason # 31 of why you shouldn't eat meat:  So you don't get so sick as to pass out on the bathroom floor. 

  Clearly, my body was telling me in no uncertain terms, "enough with the fish, darn you.  We've been vegetarian for too long, why do you think you could load me up with all that concentrated protein all of a sudden and not expect me to get over acid, weakened, and imbalanced?"

"The Salmon clearly won that round!" 

Deep thought's by Jack Handy's body.   :D  ;D

 

Thinking about starting up an online petition and/or a having a massive demonstration out in the wild corners of nature. It's about time the animals stop eating each other and start thinking.

'Don't be a callous cannibal, be an assisting animal!"

Teams interested in other challenges can step up in Africa as mating consultants for wanton male lions.

'Hey now, how would you like if I bit your neck' *bite*

Come to think of it, might need a few replacement consultants.

Very informative sharing I appreciate you on this operation. I get most of the useful information from here which increase my knowledge and vision.

Happy we can be of any help. I have always said we should enjoy life, in any way it presents itself to us. I just happen to enjoy some of what life has to offer on a hamburger bun.