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Article Specs Article ID: 14212 VoxAcct: 364074 Section: words Age Group: Adult Days Up: 10 Times Read: 805 RSS Views: 10,653

Vegetarian Eating

Author: Priestess Jean
Posted: January 2nd. 2011
Times Viewed: 805

This essay deals with things such as healthy eating, caring for the environment, and respect for the lives of animals. To the extent that it may be controversial, I offer the usual disclaimer that the opinions expressed here are strictly my own, and do not reflect any official position of the temple to which I belong.

Most people today eat meat on a regular basis. They have become accustomed to this diet since early childhood, and perhaps have never investigated any other options. Many of them are unaware of the costs and consequences that such a diet entails. Therefore, in this discussion of diet, I hope to provide you with a little "food for thought"...

A great deal of scientific evidence has emerged in recent years, supporting the assertion that vegetarian eating is significantly healthier for people than a diet that contains meat. Vegetarians have lower cholesterol and blood pressure, 30 percent less heart disease, less hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, and many other ailments. This is the result of consuming less saturated fat and cholesterol, and more carbohydrates, fiber, minerals, and antioxidants.

Many people have the impression that a vegetarian diet cannot provide all the nutrients that the body requires. This is only true if the diet does not include dairy products... but when dairy products are included, all essential amino acids, vitamins and other nutrients are present in sufficient quantity for anyone, including athletes.

An easy way to make sure that our diet is well-balanced is to simply total up the nutritional content of what we eat, and compare that to the minimum daily requirements

which have been established by the National Institute of Health. The nutritional content of most foods is usually listed on the product label, or can be found on the chart included with each NIH vitamin and mineral fact sheet.

In addition to the obvious health benefits of a vegetarian diet, a typical adult will be able to lower their grocery bill substantially. Mine went down by about $100 per month. I also noticed that the amount of dishes that needed to be washed, as well as the difficulty of scrubbing them, was reduced considerably. Nothing makes quite so much mess as frying meat, with all the grease splattering around and the frying pan getting caked with crud. It was a real pleasure to say goodbye to that!

Perhaps the greatest incentive to adopt a vegetarian diet becomes apparent to us when we look beyond ourselves. Few people realize that the environmental impact of animal husbandry, on the scale it is now being practiced, is one of the most destructive forces on Earth. Livestock production is responsible for over 50 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than every car, truck, bus, train, ship, and airplane on Earth combined.

Furthermore, the feeding of livestock in the USA consumes 70 percent of our grain crop, 80 percent of our corn, and 90 percent of our soy. It therefore requires 10 times as much land to be under cultivation, which in turn results in the use of 10 times more pesticides, 10 times more water, 10 times more tractor fuel, as results in 10 times more soil depletion and erosion.

Looked at another way, we might say that if the present agricultural industry remained unchanged, 10 times as many vegetarians could be fed with the produce, as non-vegetarians. United Nations estimates tell us that one out of every 6 people on Earth is malnourished. Each year millions of them will die. Yet world hunger could be virtually eliminated, without need of any new technology, simply by changing the type of food that we produce and consume.

Personal health issues, the financial cost of meat, the environmental destruction caused by the livestock industry, and the tremendous waste of agricultural resources associated with the production of meat are all very important concerns... but what ultimately made my decision to become a vegetarian imperative were the moral and ethical considerations regarding the welfare of the animals themselves.

Before the 20th century, livestock were kept in relatively pleasant natural environments, and the quality of their lives was fairly good. But with the advent of factory farming around 1920, the situation rapidly changed. Now, animals are packed into high density cages or pens, where they are kept captive for life, in what can only be described as horrible conditions... lacking such basic things as exercise, daylight, and even fresh air. Eventually they are taken to a slaughterhouse, to be put to death in various supposedly "humane" ways... but which often fall far short of the mark.

Within the United States alone, approximately 10 billion animals are slaughtered each year. They are simply regarded as commodities to be exploited... yet clearly they are not mere commodities; they are highly-evolved sentient beings, in many ways not all that different from ourselves. They form family units, care for their young, and are obviously capable of feeling discomfort, fear and pain.

There are those who have pointed out that preying upon others for food is a routine part of nature. The lion kills a deer; the coyote kills a rabbit, and so forth. Yet these animals possess only limited intelligence, and have no other option... our situation is quite different.

Of course prior to the advent of refrigeration it was impossible to preserve most foods. Often the only practical thing to do was to slaughter an animal and eat it immediately. For people in the past this was a matter of necessity. Yet many of their associated religious rites demonstrated a certain awareness and concern for the spirit of the animal, which is altogether lacking in the current industrialized process.

One of the many faulty paradigms inherent in our Christian culture is the idea that "god hath given man dominion over the Earth". This philosophy has lead to an unbridled destruction of natural resources, and the sort of institutionalized animal mistreatment and exploitation described above. Such behavior makes profound statements about us as people, and the sort of society that we have created.

As a follower of the Goddess, I do not believe that She has given us the Earth to simply do with as we please. This rare and precious world is our home, which we share with many other species. We have a responsibility to them, and to future generations who will follow us. Therefore, I have pledged to do all that I can to preserve the beauty of the Earth, and to defend the lives of all creatures that the Goddess has placed here.

It seems to me that the Buddhist and Hindu cultures propagate better standards of morality than do the Abrahamic ones. Although not mandatory, they generally advocate vegetarian eating, out of respect for the lives of animals. They recognize that to do violence to another creature also harms ourselves.

Some people believe that the universe itself is the body of the Goddess, and therefore this world is not merely a gift to us, it is in fact part of Her. Furthermore, if we find a little bit of Her divine spirit within ourselves, then surely it must also be found within all sentient beings who inhabit this world. As such, it would be wrong to harm any of them, if it could possibly be avoided.

Naturally, each person must decide for themselves how they wish to live, and what they choose to eat. Thanks to modern technology, we now have many options... and clearly, vegetarian diets benefit the individual and the environment, as well as being what I believe to be a morally correct choice, when the lives of animals are considered.

Bright Blessings,

Priestess Jean

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Copyright: Original Essay

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