Whats wrong with eating meat?

Question

Here is my argument--Refute it, Im not trying to insult anyone:

Meat tastes good, good protein, and it is extremely natural. --I mean its better than drinking milk. That is so unnatural: Think about it--Drinking another species milk that is made for their offspring and we only drink their milk because they produce alot of it and its there. It would make more sense to drink dog milk, breast milk, or monkey milk because atleast they are more related to us.

Meat is natural---We would not be made to eat meat, if we werent suppose to. Killing is just the way it is though-- i mean are you going to stop wolves or lions from eating meat just because its killing.

I hate to see an animal get killed but that doesnt mean I am going to stop eating meat--I feel like I was suppose to eat meat and there is no reason not too--its just the way things are--maybe they all go to a better place anyway

Oh since I guess I dont have a real question-- Whats bad about eating meat and what good about not eating meat?

There are very good arguments

I guess meat isnt that good for you. I am still going to eat it because I think that meat has certain proteins I need to build muscle. I am not going to eat as much of it though, only because if you eat to much, it has bad side affects.

I think the problem is the meat companies rather than eating meat.

I guess it is more natural to eat like a vegetarian rather than a carnivore.

Right now I am at the point that I am trying to make up my mind about it--But I am pretty sure I wont ever become a vegetarian or a vegan because I need protein to build muscle--I build muscle to stay in shape and play football. You cant be a vegetarian and build muscle.

This issue is very convoluted in my mind write now, so I have extended the question.

Answer 1

I would not like to be eaten, therefore I respect others and don't eat them.

Is that too hard for you to understand?

It's also natural for women to get pregnant in their teens and to get pregnant over and over until the day they die or go through menopause. Does that mean it should happen?

http://meat.org

Answer 2

Wrongo! You can have muscle and be a vegetarian. Aren't cows vegetarian? Aren't horses Vegetarian? Meat isn't the muscle builder it simply makes your cells oblong instead of circular. Veggies like beets high in iron and foods like spinach are the muscle builders. Meat is used dead protein and mostly fat and high in cholesteral too! Meat isn't a good thing! Meat don't taste good to me. I never cared for it! Also don't like the sight of blood! I had to wear Sun glasses when I use to cook meat when I was a meat eater! If I didn't I'd get sick all over it! I normally flag people that push meat eating in the vegetarian area. Didn't feel like doing that today! You need more excercise if your a meat eater than if your not that's the truth!
I've come across more healthy vegetarians than healthy meat eaters. Most meat eaters seem to be obesity in size. I am overweight too but not as bad as the meat eaters I come across! I am a cook too so I see plenty of people. Be happy with your choice don't force others to change cause your not happy! I'm glad I became vegetarian smartest move I ever made in my life!

Answer 3

Well, first of all, don’t assume humans are hunters or carnivores. If you want a sample of a carnivore or creatures built to hunt, take a close look at a Great White shark or a wolf. We don’t come even remotely close. At best, we’re omnivores and scavengers.

Since we do possess higher brain functions, we can understand things such as suffering, pain, compassion and love – basically, we’ve evolved to have morals. Why then, would we choose to voluntarily ignore these morals and cause pain and suffering to another creature?

Since our bodies are more than capable of eating meat AND vegetables, why not eat the one which causes the least pain and creates the least death in it wake? Other than creating tools for killing, that’s another ability our brains give us; the capacity to reason.

Animals are natural, I’ll give you that. Eating those animals may also be natural for some species of creatures on the planet. When you have the choice to provide the protein you need to survive by eating various grains and beans, or eating cows which we weren’t “designed” by nature to kill in the first place, which seems more natural now?

Drinking another species’ milk is rather unnatural as well, but it has its place. There are reports of some creatures nursing the young of another species. The whole difference between any of this, however, is that no animal is designed to live off that milk for their entire lives.

The other unnatural feature about drinking cow’s milk is that rate at which it sours. Without refrigeration, milk goes bad before you can even say “curdle”. This is why cook books as far back as the Medieval era called for almond milk in most recipes. A mixture of almonds and water can keep for an insanely long period of time before going bad.

I’ve always been a bit disgusted by milk drinking… even though I’m guilty of it myself.

Protein can be consumed in many forms, only one of which is meat. With animal protein, you also have the baggage it comes with – fats and cholesterol. This eventually leads to heart disease, which can cause death. Considering I can now be satisfied that I’m no longer contributing to the death of another creature and then I find out this lifestyle can be rewarded by improving my own health and possibly adding a few extra years to my own life, I fail to understand how a person can look at this as a bad thing.

Talking about being healthy, there’s this little thing called Global Warming we may have heard about. Regardless of what Al Gore says (or fails to say), the cattle and meat industries are among the top 5 polluters in the world – ranked up there with vehicle emissions. We’re changing the face of the planet just to satisfy our meat-eating habit. Forests are destroyed, water is polluted, lush green landscapes are grazed down to arid waste lands, noxious gases are emitted for miles (coupled with the lack of trees to absorb these emissions) and the food potential we obtain from these animals is only a small percentage compared to the amount of food it takes to feed them. We’d be better off just bypassing the animals and eating the grains ourselves.

Answer 4

From your extended comments, I'm guessing there's no need to go into reasons why meat may not be healthy, or natural for you.

On the protein/building muscle issue, however - I'm a weight lifting fanatic myself, and wanted to point out that there ARE very successful vegan bodybuilders. Take a look at Kenneth Williams (who doesn't juice steroids), and tell me that you can't build muscle as a vegan!

Answer 5

Thank you for asking your question in an open minded, non-judgmental way.

I am a very committed vegetarian married to a very committed meat eater! His theory is that the food chain exists for a reason. I totally support the choice of others to eat meat, I just hope other people try to respect my choice not to. I am a HUGE animal lover and supporter. For me personally, eating meat is not an option. It has nothing to do with health or taste - it has to do with my not wanting to consume animals.

Answer 6

Well, the tastes good argument is entirely subjective as there are people who hate the taste.

But it isn't really natural, not the way it's produced now. The animals are crammed into smaller and smaller places, fed hormones, antibiotics, and a completely unnatural diet. Cows are meant to eat grasses, not grains, and the grains cause all sorts of health problems for the animals. Chickens raised for their flesh grow so large in their short lives that many have developed heart disease by the time they are sent to slaughter. Turkeys have been bred to grow so big they can no longer mate naturally and have to be inseminated.

Roughly 70 percent of the grain grown in the U.S. goes to feed animals people eat. It takes roughly 3 to 15 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat--very inefficient, wouldn't you say? Not to mention all the water it takes to produce this pound of flesh. Furthermore, runoff from factory farms pollutes the groundwater and contributes to global warming far more than automobiles do (this according to the U.N. Google it!).

Meat is not "good protein"--in fact, it's harmful protein. First of all, porotein deficiency is practically unheard of in industrialized nations; as long as you eat a varied diet and get enough calories, you will get plenty of protein. Second, excess animal protein strips calcium from your bones and damages your kidneys. Excess meat consumption is linked to heart disease and various types of cancer.

But I am glad for two things:

1) You tried to be respectful of veg*ans
2) You recognize that consuming the milk of another species is unnatural.

If you are determined to keep eating meat, I hope you at least reduce your consumption and use it as a condiment, not a main course.

Answer 7

I'm vegetarian for almost 6 yrs. and my health has improve remarkable in the last few years. Many people think am 37 yrs old and I'm really 52 yrs old. Cow milk are for baby calf's not to be consume by humans. Human Mother's milk is to be said healthy for humans babies and we don't feed our babies monkey milk do we? We living at a age that animal meat of all types are becoming dangerous to consume. With Mad Cow disease, bovine viruses, scars virus and pig diseases.

Answer 8

It's one thing for animals to eat meat - wolves, lions etc, they need it to survive, research indicates that people were originally herbivores, but were forced to turn to meat when the plants were killed (ice i think) so they adapted to eat meat, but i feel it isn't right for people to eat meat now because we do not need it to survive - there are millions of vegetarians/vegans who live longer and healthier lives than meat eaters - the sickly ones you see usually just don't have a belanced diet, and you can say that about the obese meat eater too - they rely on fast food instead of a balanced diet, but while both sides can be healthy, it has been proven that flesh foods increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure etc, while vege diets can completely reverse the effects.

Another obvious reason is the cruelty inflicted upon the animals, they aren't able to turn around, eat grass, roll in the mud, see the sun - their conditions are anything but natural, they are fed hormones and antibiotics so they grow too fast and too much and can't support themselves - especially with the space constraints, they haven't had the chance to build muscle to support themselves either, so they are usually dragged by their ears or legs to the truck where the stand for days in extreme heat and/or cold before arriving at the slaughter house where they have their throats slit, but not deep enough, so they are still alive while their legs are being hacked off or they are being skinned, or for chickens, they are shackled to a moving conveyor belt (hung upside down) where they are supposed to go through rotating blades to decapitate them, but naturally they avoid them and so end up being boiled alive

another reason is environment - slaughter houses and factory farms are close to (if not at) the top in leading causes of gases and waste that contribute to global warming and acid rain - when a cow lets of gas, it releases methane into the air and with hundreds of cows doing this numerous times a day - it inflicts a rather detrimental affect

the last reason i'll give is starvation in third world countries - the input to the factory farm is 4 times that of the output, if the US stopped factory farming (or at least minimised it) they would have enough grain to feed themselves and most of the 3rd world countries, but instead they send it to the factory farms where far more grain is needed to feed all the cows than the equivalent meat they get out - thus they have only enough meat to feed themselves (i use the US as an example because they are the biggest employers of factory farming techniques, but the same goes for europe)

hope this helps =) thanks for asking in a non judgemental way

Answer 9

bad: extreme animal cruelty, [both in killing manners and pre-killing living conditions] higher obesity rates, higher risk of heart disease, risk of mercury poisoning or mad cow disease more transfats and saturated fats, higher cholesteral, missing out on some pretty good vegetarian entrees, more unhealthy choices

good: tofu/soy provides you with a source of protein thats arguably better than meat because u get the same amount [or more] in the same size serving without most of the fat and calories. obesity rates are much lower for vegetarians and vegans because much fast food and other unhealthy food is against our rules for our diet. we also dont have to worry about mercury poisoning or mad cow disease. also, by not eating cow meat and other meat from animals, we are being much more environment friendly. the only hard thing is making sure you get enough iron and fibre, but iron is in dried fruit and some vegetables as well as whole grain and fibre is in many fruits and whole grain items. plus not eating meat gave me more energy and helped me feel much more refreshed. i also sleep better now.

now y is it rong to drink milk? im sure you drink it and its actually not an amazing source of protien. calcium yes, but that can be obtained from many many vegetables and tofu and soy are excellent sources of protein. but i disagree. it is wrong to say eating meat is better than drinking milk. i have not yet seen a humane slaughterhouse in the 20th-21st centuries. i have however seen many humane dairies. at the very least, the dairies dont kill the animals by milking them. the only issue i have is the spread of diseases, but most dairies clean their milking machines after each cow. now heres my argument; would you ever eat another human? [no] then whats the difference between murdering a human and killing a non-human animal [only to devour it later] the non-human animal seems much worse, yet arent we all animals? this is one reason y i dont eat meat.

Answer 10

This is an old old old old old argument. Let it gooo!!!. Either you eat meat or you dont. Vegetarians and meat eaters can be equally healthy or equally unhealthy. It is simply a very personal matter. Why do you insist on trying to prove your point. Cant you be happy, comfortable and confident with your choice and leave others to theirs.

Answer 11

There is nothing 'wrong' with eating meat.

Some people eat it, some people don't, its entirely a personal decision.

The facts are though, meat raises cholesterol, can give you high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoperosis, obesity...

There is protein in meat yes you are correct. way too much, over consumption is a risk, and it can give you osteoperosis.

Meat doesnt just taste good, you may like the taste of it but once again thats a personal decision, i personally think most meat is fairly disgusting.

Meat is not natural. It has to be cooked to be consumed by humans. if you think this is natural you are a fool.

but yes, there is nothing 'wrong' with it, just be aware though, that in that personal choice, your not just choosing tasty meat, your choosing the other risks too, obesity, heart disease, osteoperosis.