Tera Singh Matsuda Faces on the Table

Tera Singh Matsuda

Faces on the Table

Many of the problems humanity faces today are due to apathy and a sense of disconnection. It is hard enough for humans to see the connection between their diets, what we put in our mouths, and how healthy our bodies are, and even harder to see the connection between large scale animal farming and the resource depletion of our planet. The Native American Indians had a practice of considering how any act of theirs would influence the lives of the next seven generations. Have you ever thought about what consequences your acts will cause even twenty years from now? What will your body look like if you continue your current eating practices for twenty years? What will our planet look like if the current high soil erosion and pesticide use rates are continued for twenty years? It is understandably hard to feel like one has any power over the direction our country and planet is headed, but there are a few things you are in control over. You are capable of controlling what you consume. When humans do not consume animal meat our bodies and environments are healthier. Philosophers since the Golden Age have been looking at the ethics of eating meat. Religions have been promoting vegetarianism for millennia. Conservationists and Biologists constantly publicize works on the dangers of our current consumption rates. And finally, doctors are finding more and more evidence showing the dangers of eating a nonvegetarian diet. A vegetarian lifestyle is not the only way to live, but it is healthier for the body. In Gary Null's, The New Vegetarian, he makes a good point, "We aren't going to propose that ... a meat centered diet will lead to a life plagued with disease and/or your premature demise," (17) There are discemable advantages to not eating meat though. In their book, Eating in the Light, Virtue and Prelitz show that vegetarians eat more antioxidants and fiber, less cholesterol and fat, and still eating adequate protein. They attribute this diet to vegetarians "lower rates of cancer, heart disease,

diabetes, obesity, hypertension, gallstones, and kidney stones" (19). In fact, authors Barnard, Nicholson, and Howard did a study for the journal, Preventive Medicine, and found that because of the for-mentioned problems and food borne illnesses, "The total direct medical costs attributable to meat consumption for 1992 [were] estimated at +28.6-61.4 billion, [ concluding that] health care costs attributable to meat consumption are quantifiable and substantial" (Barnard, Nicholson, Howard). Jim Motavalli wrote for E Magazine that, "There is some evidence to suggest that the human digestive system was not designed for meat consumption" (Motavalli). Because meat is in a state of auto-putrification it needs to move through the system quickly. Animals that are meant to eat meat have very short digestive tracts, like dogs who processes food in about five hours, and they are able to get the nutrients out of the meat before it starts to poison them. Humans, by comparison, have a long digestive tract and food takes around twenty four hours to be eliminated, and meat becomes toxic before it can be eliminated. Energetically, food has the most energy soon after being harvested. Vegetables and fruit are in a more stable condition after being "picked" than meat is after it is "killed." Meat is acid forming in the body, and body acidy is linked to cancer growth. William T. Blows, author of, The Biological Basis for Nursing : Clinical Observations, says that, "A change of just 0.1 in the pH can be hazardous to health" (75). When the body is alkaline the mind is calmer and focusing on tasks is easier, this is important for everyone, but especially people with yogic and meditation practices. Null found that the Japanese Buddhists, people very sensitive to how stimuli affects the body, believed that "animal passions" were stirred by eating meat and, "non-flesh diets led to tranquility. vi11ue, and health" (30). Meat eaters often ask, "Why would you want such a limiting diet?" The truth is that a meat centered diet is far more limiting than a vegetarian diet. Vegetarians only limit a few of the foods commonly available, beef, pork, fish, and poultry, while replacing them with a wide variety of vegetables. The important thing to look at is the quality of the food you eat. Null points out that supermarket fruits and vegetables may have detectable amounts of residual pesticides, but meat is

"soaked with hom1ones, arsenic, and accumulations of pesticides," and fish is "loaded with varying concentrations of mercury and other industrial waste" (31 ). Is this polluted food what you want to feed yow-children and yourself? People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PET A, shows us that hea1t disease starts in childhood, and by eating a diet without animal ingredients (vegan) people can actuaJiy reverse heart disease. (PET A) It is hard to see the connection our daily consumption of meat has on the environment. In the 1960' s F ranees Moore Lappe wrote the book, "Diet for a Small Planet" in which she compiled some alarming statistics concerning the resource depletion linked to large scale animal farming: Producing just one pound of steak uses 2,500 gallons of water .... Livestock production, including water for U.S. crops fed to livestock abroad, accounts for about half of all water consumed in the United States .... Com and soybeans, the country's major animal feed crops, are linked to greater topsoil erosion than any other crops .... To produce a pound of steak, which provides us with 500 calories of food energy, takes 20,000 calories of fossil fuel. (Lappe JO) Why be concerned with water use? Paya! Sampat wrote for World Watch that a huge percent of rural America relies on groundwater, 95% in fact, and it takes an average of 1,400 years for aquifers to replenish themselves. This slow rate of renewal makes these water somces we depend on virtually non-renewable (Sampat). Lappe says that, in only two decades, Texas has used one-quarter of the water in their aquifers, water which is mainly used to grow sorghum for cows (Lappe 78). PET A makes a valid point in saying, "You can't be a meat-eating environmentalist!" The rainforests used to get coverage before people got tired of hearing about the disaster, but 125,000 square miles are still being deforested eve1y year to raise animals for food. There are many more serious effects of meat centered diets: Twenty times more land is required to feed a

meat-eater than to feed a pure vegetarian .... A typical pig factory farm generates a quantity of raw waste equal to that of a city of 12,000 people .... Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles and enough water for 17 showers .... Raising animals for food requires more than onethird of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States (PETA "Eating"). Eating meat has been a luxury throughout the world's history, and remains that way for most of the world's population. Our pride has gotten the best of us in modem days, and we feel we should eat meat for every meal because we can afford to now, where we couldn't in the past. This kind of thinking is personally limiting and a symptom of people living in fear. It is understandable that people living in poverty feel this way, but for people who do not need to kill others to sustain their own life this type of thinking is not up to speed with the evolution of our highly technological human civilization. Philosophers from all around the world, for thousands of years, have questioned the ethics of consuming animals to sustain human life. Virtue and Prelitz found vegetarianism in the eastern religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, the Jains, and the Krishna devotees. The sect of Jews known as the Essenes is vegetarian. Many different sects of Christian monks including the Trappists practice vegetarianism if at all possible. And the philosophers, scientists and writers Pythagoras, Seneca, Mahatma Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau, and Albert Einstein did not eat meat. In fact, Einstein said, ''Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet" (Virtue, Prelitz 3). All of these people work hard in the fields, create strong and prosperous city states, and prosper in business without taking advantage of animals. Many of the eastern religions believe in the concept of "karma." Karma is a simple cause and effect view of life where it is believed you will experience all the pain and suffering that the animals you killed were put through. Another argument is how much benefit the resources we

consume in animal products could do if they were used more efficiently. Walters wrote in his book, Ethjcal Vegetarianism: From Pythagoras to Peter Singer,"If everyone in the developed world became a vegetarian, it would be possible to give every starving person 4 tons of edible grain" (Walters). Virtue and Prelitz remind us that 40,000 cruldren die everyday from starvation. (13) The developed world is selfishly consuming a slothful amount of resources that could be used to feed these starving children. For the United States to exist in such a noncharitable state is embarrassing, wasteful, unetrucal, and not Christian like. Gone are the days of family farms producing quality meats in wholesome environments. Since the Second World War anjmals have been being raised more and more efficiently. The PET A orgaruzation has been instrumental in exposing the cruel life of today's factory farmed animals. Chickens are not raised in barnyards, they are kept in cages packed to the point that the birds don't have enough room to open up their wings once in their whole lives. Chickens' beaks are seared off with hotplates to keep them from pecking each other in their packed cages. They're kept without food or water for long periods while being transported to the packing factories, and upon arrival they are often scalded alive. Cattle, the least efficient meat source, have their horns lopped off and are branded multiple times without pain killers. They are tormented with electric prods. A conservative estimate of I 00,000 animal "units" yearly are too sick to carry their own weight off of the trucks they are delivered to market in, and are moved onto the production line with forklifts and chains. The cows are hooked by one heel and hoisted into the air before having their neck cut. Pigs are "grown" in cages too narrow to tum around in where they often go crazy and chew neurotically on the metal bars from lack of stimulus. Their tails are cropped, teeth pulled out, and they are castrated while conscious and without pain killers. Their soft feet, meant to live in loamy environments, often break because of the weight they put on exponentially after being subjected to growth hormones and force feeding. (PET A "chew on") Trus is the "quality" of today's meat, and you and your family deserve to get your protein from better sources.

A major concern people have with a vegetarian diet is the belief that it lacks sufficient protein. Vegetarians are constantly asked by worried friends and family members, "How are you going to get enough protein?" Lappe calls this mindset the "Great American Steak Religion". (Lappe 12) We were all exposed to the Food Pyramid in our childhoods that placed meat in the staples section, but at that time we couldn't see or comprehend that the poster was published and printed by the meat industry. Lappe cites the National Academy of Sciences' daily recommended requirements of 54 grams of protein for an "average" 154 pound male, and 44 grams of protein for an "average" 128 pound woman. (Lappe 170) Without even trying, 55 grams of protein could easily be consumed in Americas fast passed lifestyle. Marion Franz wrote a book listing the nutrients in fast food, so lets say you have one egg biscuit (IO g) from McDonalds for breakfast, a foot 'Jong Veggie Delite with cheese (20 g) for lunch from Subway, and just two slices of a medium cheese pan pizza (28 g) from Pizza Hut for dinner, that's a total of 58 grams of protein without eating much food at all. (Franz 104-131) Anyway you cook it, and no matter what flavorings you add to it, meat is still the flesh, the muscle of another sentient being. Animals feel pain just like humans do. Animals run from danger, create lasting inter-personal bonds within families and packs, and deserve to live free lives in their natural environments. My dad called me one day to tell me how he had just met a remarkable cow named Bessy, who had been raised as a family pet. She started out as a Four H project, but when butchering time came the family could not go through with it because they had created such strong emotional ties with her. Bessy will come when called, loves to be petted, and knows how to play fetch with a ball. Pigs are also good pets and are said to be even more intelligent than dogs.

So where do you draw the line? Would you eat your dog or your cat? Because of the improved quality of your pet's food they probably would be healthier to eat that the livestock people eat for meat at the dinner table. In the same way, you would be healthier eating a vegetarian diet, and the world will be a better place for generations to come if you stop

consuming inefficiently produced, unethically grown and environmentally unsound animal products.

Works Cited Barnard, ND, Nicholson, A, and J L Howard. "The medical costs attributable to meat consumption." Preventive Medicine 24.6 (1995): 646-655. MEDLINE. 8, Ebsco Host. The College of Eastern Utah Online Database. April 2007. <http://search.ebscohost.com.> Blows, William T., (2001). The Biological Basis for Nursing : Clinical Observations. London, New York, Routledge. Chew On This: Reasons To Go Vegetarian. Prod. Shooters Post & Transfer. Dir. Scott Whitham. DVD. PET A. Dombrowski, Daniel A. (1984). The Philosophy of Vegetarianism. Amherst, The University of Massachusetts Press. Franz, Marion J. Ms. Rd. Ld. Cde. (1998). Fast Food Facts: The Original Guide for Fitting Fast Food Into a Healthy Lifestyle. Minneapolis, JDC Publishing. Lappe, Frances Moore. (1971). Diet for a Small Planet. New York, Ballantine Books. Null, Gary, Null, Steve. (1978). The New Vegetarian: Building Your Health Through Natural Eating. New York, William Morrow and Company, Inc. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Eating Meat Leaves Behind An Environmental Toll That Generations To Come Will Be Forced To Pay. Norflolk, VA. PETA. January 2003. Sampat, Payal. "Groundwater Shock: The Polluting of the World's Major Freshwater Stores." World Watch Jan/Feb.(2000) pp. 10-22. Sirs database. College of Eastern Utah Library. 3 April 2007 <http://library.ceu.edu:2060/cgi-bin/hst-articledisplay?id=SUTO 1 10-0404&artno=0000 111009&type=ART &shfilter=U&ke y=depleted%20aquifers&res=Y &ren=Y &gov=Y &In k=N&ic=N> Virtur, Doreen Ph.D., Prelitz, Becky M.F.T., R.D. (2001).

Eating in tbe Light: Making the Switch to Vegetarianism on Your Spiritual Path. Carlsbad, Hay House Inc. Walters, Kerry S. (1999). Ethical Vegetarianism: From Pythagoras to Peter Singer. Albany: N.Y. State University of New York Press. Motavalli, Jim. (2002). "The Case Against Meat." E MAGAZINE Jan./Feb pp. 26-33. Sirs database. Ceu online database. 9 April 2007. <http://library.ceu.edu:2060/cgi-bin/hst-a1ti~ledisplay>