Facts and Prejudices Concerning Vegetarianism

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA

theory or practice of living solely upon vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts, generally for ethical, ascetic, or nutritional reasons. Meat, fowl, and fish are excluded from all vegetarian diets, but some vegetarians use milk and milk products; those in the modern West usually eat eggs also, but most vegetarians in India exclude them, as did those in the classical Mediterranean lands. Vegetarians who exclude animal products altogether have taken the name vegans, and those who use milk products are sometimes called lacto-vegetarians. Among some agricultural peoples the eating of flesh has been infrequent except among the privileged classes; such people have rather misleadingly been called vegetarians.

VEGETARIAN FOOD

"The fact is, it is very easy to have a well-balanced diet with vegetarian foods. Vegetarian foods provide plenty of protein. Careful combining of foods is not necessary. Any normal variety of plant foods provides more than enough protein for the body’s needs. Although there is somewhat less protein in a vegetarian diet than a meat- eater’s diet, this actually an advantage. Excess protein has been linked to kidney stones, osteoporosis, and possibly heart disease and some cancers. A diet focused on beans, whole grains and vegetables contains adequate amounts of protein without the ’overdose’ most meat-eaters get."

INTERESTING FACTS

- Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million
- Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million
- Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 80
- How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds
- Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect
- Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
- Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more
- Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million
- Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week: 3.8 times
- Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times.
- Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack
- How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 45 seconds
- Average U.S. man’s risk of death from heart attack: 50 percent
- Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat: 15 percent
- Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs: 4 percent
- User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.: livestock production
- Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78
- To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
- Common belief: U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health through meat inspection
- Reality: fewer than 1 out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues
- Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers: 35 times higher
- N u mber of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 660,000
- Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker
- Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker

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A human can be healthy without killing animals for food. Therefore if he eats meat he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite . Leo Tolstoy

Since visiting the abatoirs of S. France I have stopped eating meat. Vincent Van Gogh

More and more we realize that vegetarian diet is a good idea . Dr. Edward Martin, head of Dept. of Defense Health

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals.

Henry David Thoreau

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet . Albert Einstein

There are viable (and usually better) alternatives to the use of animals for food, sport, clothing, & experimentation. I beg you to discontinue any actions that might cause or condone animal torture, abuse, or destruction . Moby

ABSTRACT

Vegetarianism is a healthy, ecological valuable and “animal – friendly” way of living and feeding. Since a few years there are a lot of proof that “meat – eating” is closely connected to a whole string of typical civilization diseases – eating meat is a reason for the increasing environmental pollution and it is also a reason for malnutrition in the third world.

Vegetarian feeding is definitely not a risk for health but everybody who is interested in a Vegetarian diet should know and care a little bit about feeding. But this time is worth the trouble because you improve your health and you also improve the situation of millions of animals.

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VORTRAG:

Okay let’s start. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you.

Like … already said I’d like to talk about Vegetarianism and Veganism. And so some things which are closely connected with Vegetarianism are also part of my presentation, for example feeding (or diet), animal rights and also some apparent global problems, which are part of the typical discussions about this topic.

The subject Vegetarianism is part of my life since a quite long time. In the last few years I had and of course I wanted to have a lot of discussions about eating meat and so on. They often had an hot headed nature and this wasn’t always the blame of the “meat-eaters” (auch in Anführungszeichen zeigen !!!).

But I often recognized that it doesn’t make any sense to talk about such a topic. It is similar to the problem of the high petrol prices and the need of cars … . There are two too controversial opinions and people who discuss about these opinions take everything what is said very personal. And so it is definitely very hard to find a solution.

But the last weeks the mass – media bent over backwards to present the worst news about the MADCOW DISEASE. And so I decided to talk about things like livestock production or cruelty to animals. Maybe I can give some of you food for thought.

Alright feel free to interrupt me or write down questions you would you would like to ask me.

Maybe I should say something about the history of Vegetarianism and its different types. The term “Vegetarian” was invented by a “vegetarian” society or party in 1842, but there were Vegetarians hundreds of years before. The term by itself seems to be closely connected to the word “vegetable” but it isn’t. Vegetable (it’s Latin – vegetabilis, vegetare), in its original sense, means to grow up or the possibility to grow up.

But “Vegetarian” is derived from the Latin word “vegetus” which means something like very healthy, lively, vivid and so on.

There are 5 different types of Vegetarians – for example “Ovo lacto pisce Vegetarians” or “Lacto – Vegetarians” I think the names aren’t really interesting. The main difference between them is what they eat. Some of them eat fish and eggs, drink milk, some of them doesn’t eat or wear anything which is made of or with animal products.

But they all doesn’t eat meat – and this is the reason why a lot of people think that vegetarian feeding (diet) is unhealthy or try to make vegetarians think that it is unhealthy.

I don’t know how many strange things I heard about the disadvantages of a vegetarian diet but the definitely worst argument I heard – was an argument of my dentist. I don’t know why I told him that I’m a Vegetarian but he told me that I have to be careful – If I wouldn’t eat meat – my teeth would fall out in a few years…..

I thought of changing my dentist – but he is the only one in our village and so I had no choice – but this is over topic.

Now I like to name the most typical prejudices against a vegetarian diet: The first one: A lack of proteins

All proteins no matter whether animal or vegetarian consist of more than 20 amino acids. The

human organism can’t produce 8 of them. So he has to take them by food. These 8 so called essential amino acids are part of animal and vegetarian food. In vegetarian food the amino acids are part in a lower concentration and no plant contains all acids. So a Vegetarian has to think about his food and has to read and inform about his feeding.

Animal products like milk and meat contain all essential amino acids so they offer protein of high value. But the human organism doesn’t need as much protein as animal products offer and so the surplus is deposited in the blood vessels. The consequences are: The protein hinders the other vital substances to reach the bones, muscles, skin and organs.