So meat in general has always been consumed by men. But when you think about it, we use to be hunters and gatherers and our diet only consisted in about 2% of meat. This is because animals weren't farmed, and people could sustain themselves on a plant based diet. Our ancestors were not carnivores, they ate meat when they could and when they needed it, and it allowed early humans to survive during periods in which plant foods were unavailable.

Today, on average, people eat meat twice a day, sometimes even three or four times a day. Increasing the health risks dramatically.

 

As most of you know, processed meat has been proven to be "carcinogen", meaning that it's consumption increases risks of color or rectum cancer by 18%.

And it's not the only one.. There are hundreds of studies from the top universities of the world and best independent researchers that discovered that eating all animals (chickens, cows and pigs etc.) promote various cancers.

It is said that vegetarians are 40% less likely to get cancer than meat-eaters, and this number grows exponentially with the sort of meat and the quantity you are eating.

 

Because meat, dairy and eggs are saturated in fat and cholesterol, they also contribute to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer and heart attacks.

 

On top of that, meat products are loaded with hormones, that have been artificially injected in cows to improve the production of milk, to be added to the natural hormones present in the animals. Progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen are all dangerous for our personal consumption and are a leading cause for all hormone related cancers, such as ovarian, breast and prostate cancers.

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Now, besides all of those scary facts, we can clearly see that all the food born diseases that have plagued our society are linked with meat consumption. E. Coli, Salmonella, and Campylobacter, and let's not forget our latest pandemics, Covid19, that started from eating wild animals, or the bird flu, the cow flu, and the Spanish flu, all contracted from meat ingestion.

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On a brighter note, following a vegetarian or vegan diet lowers blood sugar levels and improve kidney function, lowers your risks of heart disease and diabetes and promotes cardiac health.

A plant based diet is full of nutrients, vitamines, fiber, healthy proteins and fats, it is rich, plentiful and incredibly delicious. 

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3# VEGAN FOR THE ANIMALS

This last part is much less controversial. I believe that we can all agree that killing is not part of what's best for the animals. Now you could argue that all animals die sometimes, so as long as they had a good outdoors life, it's no big deal. 

The reality is that only 1% of pig farmers raise their animals outdoors in France, same for the US, Germany and Italy.

Meaning that more than 1 billion pigs are raised for their meat world wide, 99% of them condemned in living in less than one square meter cages where they can't turn around, where the floor is made out of metal bars so they live above their feces, never seeing the light of day. These environment are incredibly stressful and to avoid the animals stress chewing their own tails, they chop them off at birth without anesthesia. 

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You'll find the same type of cruel farming with chickens, as labels have to display on the box how the eggs are farmed but not the meat. 99.9% of chickens and 99% of turkeys are raised in hangars, with barely the size of an enveloppe per animal.

And if you don't find these animals endearing, know that in some parts of the world, they battery farm dogs, fish, rabbits, but also tigers and lions, used for medicines in Asia.

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The only industry that makes sure animals are raised outside, with enough space, appropriate food and minimum preventive medication is organic farming. If you chose to eat meat, please do it in full consciousness and splurge for the minimum cruelty kind.

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On an other note, it is proven that slaughterhouses have an incredibly negative effect on workers and communities living around them. The increase in total arrest rates, for violent crimes, rape, and other sex offenses in comparison with other industries is staggering. The violent workplace and living environment that surrounds slaughterhouses is directly linked with the increase in crime. And who could blame them ? Living so close to the horror and working everyday in abattoirs takes it's toll.  

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The conditions in which those animals are kept are inhumane, dangerous and terribly costly for the world. If the alternative to all this suffering and toll on our planet is to eat all the plentiful array of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, grains and legumes that are at our disposition, it's a choice I make in a heartbeat.