Just cuz it tastes good doesn't mean it's healthy. haha.

I admit that I gave up on reading every post in this thread along about page 16 or so, so go ahead and whack my fingers with your ruler if I'm repeating something that's already been said.

So .. is this thread really about what we're eating that's making us sick, or is it about carnivores (omnivores) vs. vegetarians? If the latter, I'm out .. what should be a nutritional discussion always seems to become something more like a religious debate.

If the former, I have an opinion.

My opinion is that it is the nature (or more correctly the un-nature) of the foods we are eating that is making us sick. Our foods are refined, processed, heat-treated, pressure treated, bleached, preserved, deodorized, scented, colored, and then packaged with trendy labels like "no trans fats" ...

Whether it is a salisbury "steak," a Twinkie, a hot dog, potato chips, or processed cheese food with sawdust (yes, it is in there .. look for "cellulose" on the label), it is the chemicals in and the processing of the foods we eat which is making us sick.

It is true that many who become vegetarians become healthier, but it isn't because they give up meat .. it's because they give up eating a lot of processed and pre-packaged foods in favor of the vegetables, fruits, and whole grains they need in order to be healthy on a meatless diet. They become more careful and more aware of the foods they are eating, and these changes cause improved health.

If they made similar changes while continuing to eat healthy meats such as grass-fed cattle, free-range chickens, and lean healthy pigs that aren't corn-fattened, they would see the same improvements in their health.

Nutrition is a major factor in health, and it is, in my opinion, very much true that what we eat is making us sick .. but it's not JUST the factory farmed, hormone-injected, improperly fed animals; it's also the refined carbohydrates and sugars, unfermented soy products (which have been linked to early-onset puberty and other problems, particularly in children), heat- and pressure- processed vegetable oils, and many foods which have been stripped of their natural nutrients and fibers and had artificial vitamins and minerals added which are making us unhealthy.

If you're concerned about your health and/or the health of your family, sidestep the meat-eater vs. plant-eater debate and focus on trying to find natural, healthy foods to eat instead of the processed and pre-packaged (but convenient!) junk that comprises far too much of the modern "first world" diet.

It won't be too long before your own body and your improved health will prove to you more convincingly than any web article or scientific research that it was those over-processed and unnatural foods which were making you sick.

The circle of life, animals eat other animals, but we are mammals, so who knows, when you eat fish it's an animal. Plants can still be considered a form of an animal, but they lack a brain and a heart, but they have a ecosystem.

So if we eat plants we are eating a once living thing, since it got cut from the roots you basically pulled it's life plug. But yes plants don't have eyes they cannot have brains, if they did we would have saw it. They do have a living system, they are the weaker of the animal kingdom. Even insects munch on plants.

[edit on 9-6-2010 by cyb0rne]

plants dont die when they are pikced initially, after a while sure, but for some time they still have life energy in them. and when you eat them same deal. meats jsut dead.
whens you remove an apple froma tree or a grape froma vine and its fall to the earth, a new apple tree or a new grape vine will grow there. when a hamburger falls off a cow and hits the earth, it get covered in maggots and rots.
which one do you think will do more benefit to your body? which one do you think will harm your body?

Factory mass-produced beef and other animals is one of the most disgusting things we do in this world, especially America.

They don't even feed cattle grass, and they don't even have a place to graze. Because corn is subsidized along with meat, it is being fed to cattle to garner more profit. They don't have enough land or resources to let them graze properly, and eat grass, not anymore anyway.

So instead, the cows stand side-by-side in the most disgusting conditions, by the hundreds and thousands. Standing in their own waste, as it piles up over their legs. Then, they are slaughtered, and the meat is processed through massive facilities, so if one cow was contaminated, then every single beef product pushed out of that facility is contaminated. When you eat a hamburger, you're eating hundreds of different cattle in one bite, as it is mass-processed and ground at the same time.

The FDA and USDA would have you believe these facilities are "cutting-edge" when it comes to safety, and that raising your own livestock is "the filthy way". The only cutting-edge facet here is that it's cutting-edge for maximum profit. It is the most disgusting thing we have ever done as a society. Not only does it make people sick, but it kills people too. It's also a colossal waste, because when they are forced to control their contamination outbreak, they have to repeal tons and tons and Tons of meat, and then throw it away.

Meanwhile, the FDA will go out of their way to shut down Joe cattle-farmer, because he's just "dirty". They're concerned about his and others safety, ya know? It doesn't have anything to do with a conspiracy to get rid of local farming, for the purpose of maximum industry profit, no sir, that's just silly talk.



[edit on 9-6-2010 by SyphonX]

I'm just saying why aren't a majority of animals plant eaters? Why do certain animals hunt other animals for RAW meat.
I do know that raw meat is bad to eat because all the bacteria and possible disease.
But when you cook it, it eliminates those problems, inreality it's all just carbon, we are made up of carbon and water, the meat is made up of carbon, and provides protein and other vitamins (because vitamin fed beef),

Veggies have vitamins in the soil and pesticides,
So your still adding toxins to your system.
Unless you go organic they use like way less pesticides or very little
They also have organic pesticides.

The point is your never going to have food that has no trace amounts of toxins or bacteria,
Bacteria is everywhere, that stuff that kills 99.9 percent bacteria ends up creating new strains of bacteria.

Just like pesticides over time used on the crops, the weeds end up becoming resistance to it, because the plants learn to be resistant to certain conditions just like human beings, it's all about survival, however once a human dies, there is no roots to it (except children).

You just pass on your genes, so if your resistant to alot of bacteria, and alot of toxins then you have children you pass those genes on, survival of the fittest.

I believe I am resistant to certain germs, I've came incontact with, I've gotten sick before, but I rarely get sick, but I'm sure the sickness is still out there but I've grown resistant to some things, I'm sure we all have, but life is life, we just try to survive and make the best of thngs, there is children out there eating mcdonalds everyday, and end up getting fat.

Heart problems can occur, because the arteries get clogged with all that mucous.

You must understand the real agenda is to minimize costs and maximize profits. It's apart of the big monopoly played by the corporations. It's corporate america for Christ's sake.

You must realize that even veggies are effected. Yes cows live in horrible conditions also KFC chickens, and chickens in general. All because of a paper note (currency). It's all captilism, and the right enjoys this trash. The left is no better.
[edit on 9-6-2010 by cyb0rne]

[edit on 9-6-2010 by cyb0rne]

I call BS and here is why. I eat meat daily. Aside from cereal I eat meat 2 out of 3 meals a day. I miss work no more than 1 day a year due to illness and it is usually less. I don't believe you need meat to live. I have known vegans and they seem to be just fine. The thing is, I never eat pills. No meds for me. This keeps my immune system up.

A chimpanzee will when given the chance eat a diet of 90% fruit-veg-nut the other 10% is animal based protein. Our digestive system is 80-85% the same as a chimpanzee...

Make sense?

not really.

I like meat, i understand vegetarians think they are some kind of moral ubermen and we meat eaters are barbarians, but hell, we are not pushing vegetarians to make them eat meat, so why the hell cant they leave us alone?

well, alot of vegetarians understand taht animals cant speak up for themselves, so someone steps in on their behalf.
alot of meat eaters are kind of brainwashed and dont care. things need to change sometimes.