Cow meat may be high in iron, but it also clogs the arteries, is difficult to digest, and cannot be grown in a small backyard like chickens. I would suggest that new vegetarians will find it easier to give up red meats like cow and pig, before chicken and fish. On a cruelty basis, chickens raised in a backyard, free-range garden have a more humane life than cows in a factory farm. Where I live there are few cattle farms, so cow meat must be imported, but organic chickens are grown locally in backyards. I advocate a vegetarian lifestyle, but if you are going in steps, I am going to recommend giving up the big guys first.

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The assumption of the vegetarian moral and biological(?) high groud Feston invokes in this article, as the last two, is offensive to those who make conscious decisions about how we participate in the dietary system we are all thrown into in the different places we inhabit. I have to question the moral purity Feston assumes: rather than engaging the complexities of till death for instance, that still some deaths occur with any massive agricultural soy or corn farming, despite what percentage of the whole those deaths might be, she still accepts those deaths however horrible they may be. Thus, a utilitarian justification is offered (minimizing the number of deaths but not the suffering of individuals killed)by someone purporting to have an inherently more progressive 'consciousness'.
As someone who hunts the majority of his meat from the place I inhabit, it is offensive for someone to claim that minimizing the suffering of individuals is somehow a lesser moral good than minimizing the number of those who suffer. I minimize the suffering of all the animals I kill to eat and look for such minimization in other meat products I ingest. I am conscious of each of my decisions, I eat MorningStar corndogs and chicken patties when I can afford to, and I make the fullest use of all that I harvest whatever the form of life it may be. Ending life is a part of living. Compassion is acting upon this understanding. The declawed don't get moral points for not scratching you.
As an andendum which I am certain Alternet readers will jump on, remember that when you cite non-peer reviewed sources like veg.org to claim that we were not made to eat meat, you sound as ignorant as Creationists. The typical American diet may be destructive, and I aplaud those who desist in such moral complicity, but meat nonetheless continues to be a nutritional source that sustains the health of the animal we are. Anthropology is not controversial on this point. The dominantly herbivorous Gigantapithicus didn't fare well after all.

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by that final paragraph- actually, the entire tone of the story is elitist. It implies that global warming and obesity wouldn't be around without vegetarians, and that only vegetarians can be healthy, energetic, have compassion, make the planet "livable" (whatever that means), and enjoy a wide variety of foods.

Referring to eating meat as eating "animal flesh" is a cheap way to get an emotional response from someone who agrees with your point and doesn't invite for any discussion on the topic.

luckily I know vegetarians who don't walk around thinking they fart rainbows. unless you're growing your own veggies in your backyard, live in a hut made from fallen tree limbs and dead grass, don't own a car and read at night by starlight, quit implying that your way is the only way.

I understand the environmental, animal-friendly, health reasons for being a vegetarian. just don't shove that philosophy down my throat like it's the only way.

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I submit that those who advocate a diet that is not harmful to the planet do not argue for vegetarianism. In a sense, the vegetarian and vegan stance is absolutist - a more reasonable approach that would work better to change agriculture and diet practices is encouraging the consumption of meat two to three times per week. You would argue from the health perspective - meat is healthy (the balance of evidence most likely confirms this), but eating meat every day is not healthy (also confirmed). Arguing for vegetarianism can result in getting bogged down into whether meat is healthy at all - rather than the more complex health issue that is not centered only meat's healthiness, but diet in general. Basically, people need to be informed about nutrition and capable of making complex choices with lots of variables (these being all the plants and animal products you can eat) and if the focus is "meat: yes or no?" that more fundamental need for dietary balance in general gets pushed out of the way. Health and nutrition needs to be the first argument here - once you have a kind of negotiable framework ('meat is good for you, but not every day, your body needs all sorts of things and from many sources, here's a few things I know about how to build a nutritious diet...') you can recommend practical things that people can do like, tomorrow, or for dinner even, that also ease the pressures on our flawed agriculture system. Going forward, you can also spread information about diet choices and the issues that we consider more focused on ecology: how far does food travel to get to your plate? How do government policies influence what is grown and how? What do different agriculture practices mean for pollution?

Point - ethically or morally, vegetarianism, veganism, these may be superior. Rhetorically, argue for reducing meet - hell, treat a coworker to a salad or something. Don't have meat dishes at your parties. Talk about cooking and eating all of the time. Just to get a conversation going. Changing agriculture practices is hugely important for reasons many of us are familiar with, and the same is true about nutrition and health practices in US society - I think that some of the ideas I've put out in this little note might point to how we generate movement in the right direction.

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As a vegetarian, I am consistently disappointed by the articles regarding vegetarianism/veganism posted on this site. They are generally pieces that assume an elitist and preachy tone, which misrepresents my (and I imagine many other veegetarians') principles.

In America, being a vegetarian or vegan is a privilege-- the cost of eating tends to be higher if one wants to maintain good health, which is also difficult to do when living outside of an urban center. To presume that vegetarianism confers moral superiority is insulting, then, when there are those who want to avoid animal products but cannot do so. And, frankly, not everyone wants to do so.

Rather, what we should be advocating is a fundamental shift in the way we produce and distribute animal products in this country. People should have the choice to consume meat, but it should be meat produced on smaller concerns (as opposed to in massive factory-like conditions), without chemicals pumped into their bodies, and not shipped from far-flung regions. We as consumers deserve choice, but every choice available to us should be a safe and responsible one from the start.

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for those who want some hands on, face to face help with moving toward a plant based diet, check your local vegetarian group or go to www.meatout.org for locations and information.

the reaction to your moderate article shows just how defensive folks are to diet change. It's not easy. For some it's a slow process and any steps in that direction help the planet, the animals and ones own health.

We became veggies in our 50s, primarily for health reasons, but quickly discovered the environmental impact of what we had been doing. John Robbins book, The Food Revolution, is a great eye opener to the impact of an animal based diet.

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One of my personal gripes with vegetarians is that they resemble orthodox followers of religions with their ridiculous and made up food prohibitions. The concepts of kosher, pure, halal, are just excuses to keep your daughters away from marrying outside the clan, and to claim moral superiority and steadfastness of resolve over others.
This author instead says it's okay if there are some some animal ingredients in a restaurant meal and that is a welcome progress in a movement that has many traits of weird sectarianism, despite the very good reasons that exist for a more vegetarian lifestyle.

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for those of us who are part of the analog-designer injected insulin club to stay alive, aka: type 1 diabetics, be careful with vegan and type 1 diabetes.... the insulins (yup, all of them now) are fine tuned to work with a certain amount of animal protien... found myself in the ER a couple of times because before my pancreas conked out, I was 100% vegan... had to start including certain amounts of animal protien to remain out of the ICU.... the glycemic index is also part of the equasion....

vegan diets rely on plant protien and usually this is high density protien that the insulins are not made for...

you can do vegan to a point, but it requires close work with a CDE, dietician, an endochrnologist who is interested and really good health insurance for an insulin pump and 2-3 dr. visits a week of one kind of dr's office visit for months...

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was wondering about veggie burgers. I have cut way back on red meats, pork, poultry, fish consumption. have been substituting with veggie burgers. a lot of these veggie burgers are made by big corporations like Archer Daniels Midland which , from what I understand, are big in the development of GMO foods.
Does anyone know for a fact if these veggie burgers are made with GMO's? I have emailed some of the websites to try and get some info but no response, so will consider that a yes.
thanks.

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Why kill and torture (yes, cutting a piglets' teeth or testicles off without painkiller is definitely "torture") when we don't have to? Why hurt the environment when we don't have to? Why do something grossly unhealthy when we don't have to? No matter how you slice it, meat is an unecessary evil. You can come up with justifications to continue eating it, but its no different than all the justifications (that's a euphemism for "excuses," by the way) that people have concocted for ages to continue doing harmful things (i.e. slavery, denying women the right to vote, etc). Its far easier to make excuses than to change.

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Of course this is all well and good for those living in a warm, lush climate. Those of us in the frozen north don't have that luxury, unless, of course, we have a monsterous oil dependant infrastructure to deliver those tasty little tropical fruits to our door. Perhaps you should explain the error of their ways to the Inuit.

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What gives? Is this person a personal life-trainer to the Alternet staff, or something?

Last time around, we were treated to a shallow advertisement for Prius automobiles & gratuitous celebrity worship, coupled with a view of Vegetarianism that completely ignored the Slow Food movement (with it's reduction of harm from both mass meat & vegetable production) & came complete with more than the daily recommended dose of vitamin Moralism.

This time, continued conflation of Vegetarianism & Veganism, & ads for Boca Burgers (Kraft f*ckin' Foods, people!) seem to be on the menu. You would think that someone who claims to be so aware of her reader comments (& apparently aims to make a living writing on this subject), might by now have realized that there are differences between these two non-meat diets & stop using the terms interchangeably half of the time.

One might also hope that if her concern in promoting non-meat lifestyles lies in "saving the planet", she could do better than just listing big-brand products that can be purchased in "any grocery store". Here's a hint- If you can find it in any supermarket, it is not "good" for the environment! It means that the product in question ("organic" or not) was grown & processed on a staggeringly massive scale, & shipped vast distances. Both of these factors combine to effectively negate any claims of environmental stewardship. To be fair, the author does pay lip -service to this catch-22, but ends up maintaining that even so, the Vegetarian(TM) can still feel morally superior for not eating meat. Besides undercutting her initial attempts to avoid simple moralising & focus on the environmental & health benefits of Vegetarianism, such a stance completely (yet again!) ignores local & sustainable options. I fail to see how my consumption of meat raised sustainably, killed compassionately & shipped between a few hundred to under twenty miles of my home, makes me a less moral or environmentally concerned person than someone who blindly follows her chipper advice & buys a goddamn Boca Burger!

What is especially galling is that she appears to have finally read the excellent Micheal Pollan, & yet somehow avoided "digesting" the "meat" of his argument- namely, that the large-scale production of vegetable crops & meat animals (both conventional & "organic") poses all sorts of environmental problems, problems best addressed by finding small-scale, local alternatives. Alternatives that apparently, in the author's Trademarked, Celebricentric universe, do not exist.

If there was any portion of this article that didn't come off as half-baked, it was the suggestion that Vegans relax a bit about the possibility of finding traces of animal by-products in their food when eating out. This is truly difficult to avoid, & while restaurants & their employees naturally try to be accommodating, it's impossible to please everyone. As a cook, I've often found myself wondering why some people go out to eat at all...

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Another great column, Kathy. Thank you for reminding people about this.

And anyone who is interested in going veg, try it for a week and feel the difference.

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I think it is insane that people are criticizing others for trying to reduce the amount of destruction going on on this planet by going veg. Would you crticize people for recycling their aluminum cans?

Anyone who takes a step to change their lifestyle in order to protect their health, the environment, and to reduce animal suffering is simply making decision based on reason and logic. To discourage this, to whine and complain because someone is acting logicaly, is madness.

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And I maintain proper weight and health with a vegan diet.

It was really exciting to transition to a vegan diet, and I enjoy more diverse foods now than I ever have before. Plus, I eat at every restaurant my omnivore friends eat at (with a little extra kindness to my server). And I definitely fart less now that I don't eat dairy.

Try it for the animals, try it for the environment, but try it for yourself.

You may just bust out of a food rut and find yourself enjoying every last morsel of food.

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If you want to do your own research check Uffe Ravnskovs M.D., phd.'s treatise on cholesterol.....if you want to debate me please do, but I have little time this morning, I have clients to tend to.... but I look forward to comments from all comers as I have over 700 pages and 4000 references at my disposal to argue that saturated fat and cholesterol are NOT bad for you. On the contrary, it is the Pufa's (poly unsaturates from soy, safflower, canola , veggie and corn oils that increase oxidation, glycation, and peroxidation and immune system weakening in my clients....as a matter of fact they use these substances to weaken immune systems in transplant patients so they don't reject their organs....eat beans...in many people they don't have the enzymes to digest them properly. Also the lectins in many grains activate the immune system and make the blood coagulate...soy in larger amounts...(beyond a condiment amounts) strips the body of calcium and loads you up with phytates.....unless it is tempeh it is a toxic food . Soy milk is the worst (horrible). How many vegetarians are capable of planning their meals out adequately...statistically they have slightly lower heart disease mortality but higher risk for cancers and auto immune diseases.
You should see their blood under a darkfield microscope, it is just as hideous as their meat eating counterparts.....if not even more so because most vegetarians do not get enough of certain b vitamins...zinc, and of course amino acids. I also find wacked out blood sugars because of the usually high carb content..in their diets.
Look at our meat eating cave man breathren- big jaws, no teeth rotting....no arthritis, no signs of immune diseases, and aging diseases, or blood sugar disorders, etc.... or the Masai and Amazonian native counterparts....I WILL NOT ARGUE ON MORAL GROUNDS AS THAT IS UP TO THE PERSON and highly SUBJECTIVE....BUT LET'S BE REAL, it is overpopulation and current agricultural practices that need revamping....not the perfectly healthy burger I eat (that also has heart tissue ground into it) and the unpasteuized, unhomogenized milk I drink from the Amish farm where they still till with drought horses and feed cows on the open pasture wirth no use of petroleum based fertilizers, fossil fuel tractors and mega cattle farms....care to guess how many liters of fuel it took to produce your head of primarily undigestable lettuce (humans don't produce cellulase, the enzyme responable for breaking down plant matter) and get it to the grocery store where all those fossil fuels are being used to keep it cool?

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It's amazing how convulted arguments about diet (and especially arguments against being a vegetarian) get. Here's the straightforward argument for being vegetarian:

The meat industry hurts animals. A lot. By going vegetarian you prevent about 100 animals a year from undergoing that suffering. We don't need to eat meat to be healthy (a lot of evidence suggests we're far healthier without it). Because going vegetarian helps a lot of animals, and because it doesn't hurt us, we should go vegetarian.

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Kathy, you left out what is probably the most crucial step in having an easier time going veggie. It is so much easier if you have a friend who is already vegetarian or joining you in the conversion. I went veggie five years ago, and would have given up on it quickly if I didn't have some friends who were already doing it. They made it seem easy, and to this day we still trade recipes and discuss local restaurants that are veggie-friendly. One of my friends is a vegan, which only slightly shames me, but moreso reminds me that if he can be happy and healthy on his diet, I can certainly make it happen with mine.

Fight the Youth

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As a farmer, I want to correct some of the terminology used in many of these articles--probably by people who have never been within 50 miles of a meat producing animal:

"Hogs" is the correct term. Farmers might refer to "pigs" when referencing "baby pigs", but by and large "hogs" are "produced" by "hog farmers".

"Cattle" is the word farmers use. "Cows" is used in a context when referencing more than one but less than a dozen or so bovines.

Its not "soya", it is "soybeans".

Farmers do not "grow" or "raise animals", they are "livestock producers".

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Kathy, thank you for this helpful, encouraging advice! I've been a vegetarian most of my life and a vegan for about five years, and it is one of the best decisions I've ever made. I encourage anyone who is thinking about making the switch to take a small step today, like ordering a veggie burger instead of the kind made from cows. You'll love how light and healthy you feel, and you'll feel good about helping the earth--and animals!

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After decades of eating meat and consuming above-average quantities of dairy and eggs, and feeling good and enjoying good health, I switched overnight to a veg diet. I did not do it for health reasons, but because of what I learned about what animals used for food endure and because of the incredible impact the cattle & farm industries have on the environment. Instantly I felt better psychologically, but to my surprise I also felt better physically...as if I'm running on clean fuel - efficient, light, and more BTUs - energy - than I'd ever felt before.

As an athlete I've been in tune with my body my whole life, but never so much as now. As someone who loves animals I've always done my best to help them, but never so much as now, since I no longer eat them. And I've always called myself an environmentalist, but now I know that by eating lower on the food chain I'm doing the least harm to our planet.

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Many of the same people who have adopted or are amenable tot he argument for a veggie diet are also aware of our greenhouse gas/global warming problem and the very real possibility that we have passed the point of 'Peak Oil'; which will rapidly change the economics of food production, processing, transport, marketing and affordability. That's the rub in making such a decision.

Tens of millions of Americans, not to mention people elsewhere, live in places where locally produced organic vegetarian food is available in a variety sufficient to support such a diet. There are not many locally available tropical fruits and nuts available in Seattle or upstate New York and few locally grown Cherries, Apples, Pears, or Peaches in Florida, Texas or Southern California.

After having looked at the data and having listened to the arguments, I think that the Peak Oil argument is legit and is every bit as important as the Global Warming issue and more compelling than any vegan/vegitarian argument. As things stand right now, if millions gave up meat tomorrow, the carbon emissions problem would actually worsen and Peak Oil will make the current food production and distribution setup no longer viable economically.

Compared to these two issues, the veggie argument is like discussing drapes while your house burns down- otherwise something of relative insignificance. I do not dispute it's value, just it's relative importance.

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This piece cut through the rhetoric and made it clear that making the switch to a vegetarian diet is not the overwhelming hurdle some folks use to rationalize their decision to keep eating animals. Yes, it means adjusting. Yes, it means it's sometimes inconvenient when eating away from home. But...given that billions of animals are living and dying in abject misery, how can a bit of inconvenience be viewed as an obstacle?

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we would have the digestive system of herbivores. However, we do not have the digestive system of carnivores. We have the digestive system of omnivores.

All that said, we do not need a lot of meat. The healthiest diet seems to be one that is largely plant-based.

I have a couple of arguments with those who say it's less cruel to animals to eat vegetarian. First, instead of being pious, work to eliminate factory farming. Second, do you propose exterminating aligators, crocodiles, coyotes, bears, wolves, tigers, hawks, owls, snakes, spiders, ad infinitum? Third, do you allow mice to run at will through your homes; do you swat mosquitoes; do you kill ticks?

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This article raises interesting questions and gets us all thinking (the mark of a great writer); but, I encourage vegans to indeed question ingredients at restaurants. It does not need to be done in a manner that is insulting! Not only will this encourage restaurants to rethink their ingredients; but, after learning about all the hormones, chemicals, cholesterol (etc. etc. ) in all animal products, if one strives to be healthy, who wants to ingest ANY of it?
A simple solution to making dining out easier -- and assuredly more enjoyable -- are the business-size cards that our Cincinnati Vegetarian Resource Group produced to give to servers asking them to check with the chef to make sure that no animal ingredients have been used in what we have ordered, and to allow us to select another option if so.
We have used these cards for over ten years, have received nothing but helpful suggestions from the wait staff, visits from the chefs to make sure that we loved our meals and compliments from our friends on how healthy we look.

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It is becoming increasingly clear that a major shift toward veganism is essential to shift our imperiled planet to a sustainable path. Please consider just a few of many facts about this:

1. While human population is an important issue, there are presently over 50 billion farmed animals in the world (compared to about 6.5 billion humans) and the farmed animal population is growing much more rapidlyand projected to double by 2050.

2. The UN food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported in November 2006 that animal-based agriculture contributes more to global warming than all forms of transportation.

3. While an estimated 20 million people die annually from hunger and its effects, over 70% of the grain produced in the US is fed to animals destined for slaughter.

4. It takes up to 14 times the amount of water on an animal-centered diet than on a vegan diet.

5. Animal-based agriculture is contributing significantly to deforestation, soil erosion and depletion, rapid species extinction, water pollution, and much more.

So, the fate of humanity depends on a major shift toward veganism.

Please see my over 130 articles at JewishVeg.com/schwartz for much more information.

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I am 47 years old. I am a hands on building contractor (though I have tried not to be a contractor for ages) and I participate in sports (ski racing, cross country skiing, walking, running, biking, etc) I have been a vegetarian for over 9 years. The first two years I didn't any meat at all. That resulted in b-12 shots. We started eating salmon once a week and that helped. Even with a very balanced diet I get very run down after weeks in a row of heavy physical work. I have started adding some meat back into my diet over the last 2 years. I now have 4-5 organic hamburgers a year and for me it has made a big difference. I guess I can not be considered a vegetarian anymore and I doubt the purists ever considered me one.

The biggest problem I have encountered as an "almost vegetarian" is that of going out to eat or eating with friends and relatives. In Minneapolis alot of restaurants still have very poor non-meat selections. My relatives have never made a meal that I would want to eat. They put bacon in the potato salad, chicken in the pasta salad, they cook roasts or steaks everytime there is a family event. I have never told or suggested that anyone I know become a vegetarian but I am constantly met with passive aggressive anger when I say I would prefer to have something other than meat. For many years I was the project manager for a very large corporate Habitat for Humanity donation (8-12 weeks) every Fall. The lunches were catered and if anything was missing it would be the vegetarian sandwiches. Often the response to vegetarian requests was "can't you just scrape the bar-b-que pork off the bun" You don't have to be preachy to upset others just a little different. The powers that be have done a great job of making dietary change difficult!

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Boca has a no-msg claim on the box. I am not sure about any of the others, but also I think the organic company, Amy's, has a veggie patty that would certainly be no-msg

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I have skimmed through many of these postings after reading this article. I have to admit I found the article refreshing and not particularly purist, which was also nice. I am by nature prone to enjoy salads and fresh vegetables over a juicy steak, but my husband does not share my sentiments. He considers steaks and pork chops as a basic food group. As I read the some of the postings, I found myself realizing that the arguments are all mixed up - vegan vs. meat eater; organic vs. industrial farming; moral rightness vs. cold blooded murder.

Let's face it, people will eat what they like and when push comes to shove, they will eat what is available that is quick and easy. It does not matter to 99% of the American population how the food got on their plate, just that it is there. So if we are going to waste time discussing these issues, let's do it realistically. Yes, our bodies have not changed fundamentally in some 100,000 years or so, and that means that we are omnivores, not only by preference, but biologically as well. Historically, our diets were based on the availability of food - we hunted and we gathered. Because of the lack of proper food storage options, meat was hunted in the spring, summer, and fall, and dried or salted to hold it over the winter months when hunting was not possible. When game could not be found or caught, tribes went hungry unless they were also adept at finding and harvesting, and later growing and harvesting, vegetables and fruits. In fact, the grains, fruits, and vegetables were the staple diet, with meat only occasionally. Our bodies adapted to this, and learned to recognize meat and fat in the diet as a sign of abundance in times of plenty. When these elements were missing, the body received nourishment from vegetable proteins and stored body fat. This was the body's way of adapting to periods of famine or food shortage.

Now we live in a society where the food supply is contaminated and non-nutritious. We eat foods that are no more pure if they form a vegan diet or a meat based diet, unless you grow your own food supply in an organic matter. The fact that the author recognizes that changing dietary styles can be difficult, especially if you are the only one in your family who might be interested in doing so, is unusual in such writings. But more important, she advocates a way not necessarily of transitioning but of finding a healthy balance in your diet. That is what the body needs: nutritional balance. By finding this balance between the two, you can create a new market dynamic that says no more factory farmed meat, poultry, pork or fish; no more indstrial farmed fruits, vegetables, or grains; and demands healthy, nutrient filled foods to meet the markets needs.

So stop arguing about vegan vs. meat if you want a better quality of agriculture - stop the industrial agricultural complex entirely. Find balance in your food program and create change. Then people can eat how they want and still be healthy because the food they put in their bodies will be healthy, no matter what it is.

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These tips are helpful. It's especially easy to be vegan now that there are so many tasty mock meats, soy milks and frozen desserts on the market. I feel much healthier since I've stopped eating animal products, but the best thing is that animals don't have to suffer on my behalf.

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but I don't like the fact that the author thinks those of us who are total vegetarians or vegans should not object to a restaurants use of an animal product in our food simply because it makes vegetarians/vegans seem impossibly picky.

Many of us have converted to a total vegetarian diet for health reasons and I refuse to sacrifice my health just to make it easier for restaurants to have second-rate options for vegetarian/vegans. That little amount of dairy in the veggie burger bun comes at some form of a cost to both animals and humans, and it does make a difference when more and more people stand up and object to "insignificant" amounts of it in their foods.

I am a gluten/casein/soy-free vegetarian. In other words, no wheat/rye/barley/kamut/etc grains, zero dairy products, and nothing with soy. Part of the attraction to a vegetarian diet for me was that there were far more interesting foods to eat than when I was eating meat and that I found it was a thousand times easier to order veg food in an attempt to avoid the allergy-laden alternatives. So when I hear of vegetarians telling others to stop being so 'picky' and just live with the minuscule amounts of animal products, it makes me irritated. There are so many people out there with food allergies and intolerances that they don't even bother trying to eat out or enjoy meals with their families because there aren't enough people who will put their foot down and create the awareness that when someone means total veg, they mean total veg.

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The objective strategy of a vegan/vegetarian is to be that which he/she seeks or to be that and then to OFFER that to others. By definition the aim is non violent and in emotive terms non-invasive.Is it possible for a carnivore to be loving?Yes. Is it possible for a vegetarian/vegan to be less loving or intelligent..yes!yes!Does that matter ....no! Are vegans going against the scheme of all things yes! is that good !yes! why ?because its an expression of possibility....which is part of the scheme too.HA!The possibility is you/me which is not dependent on the death or suffering of another in as much as that matters to you.How u deliver that message is your business. If what u emotively hear isn't to your liking, personalise the experience and make it better..don't run back to mama screaming those plant eaters are nuts..share some nuts with them ...They/we/I might bite but we won't eat u !Get the discussion out of drama class.

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Thanks for a terrific, no-nonsense primer on eating lightly on the planet. Ms. Freston is right: It's time to start thinking about food choices--which we make 3 times a day, 365 days a year--the same way we do purchasing a new car or appliance.

People who are interested in learning more about the impact that the meat industry has on the environment should check out John Robbins' great books, Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution.

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I am sadly disappointed at the lack of effort going into this article. For one, you interchange vegan and vegetarian, and these are not the same. You also leave out other animal products that are not food. I agree with the other commenters that the tone is elitist, but that is probably due to ignorance more than anything. The misunderstanding of Michale Pollan is outrageous. You don't have to stop eating meat to stop contributing to the horrors of manufactured food. You make better choices, like buying from local farms who pay living wages, don't inject the animals with hormones, feed them grass, and let them roam. Meat substitues are not going to taste good to someone who is trying to stop meat, and I suspect this is why most people cannot successfully remain vegetarian/vegan. Who wants to wake up in the morning and have some fake bacon with some tofu that looks like eggs? I don't; especially not when I can have some vogurt and granola and some fresh fruit. I think it is equally as important to buy non-enriched, natural, whole foods, as it is to stop eating meat that comes from the major producers. You cant have one without the other, since most grain goes to the animals anyway (or ethanol now). Cheetos don't have meat, but they contribute to the same exploitative lifestyle that vegetarians originally subscribed to. Eating a veggie burger at Ruby Tuesday doesn't count. God only knows how many hormones and scraps of diseased chicken have been fed to the cows in the regular burgers, so just becuase you eat a veggie burger and your friends order the regular doesn't matter. You are still contributing to a chain restaurant that serves good ol' fashion dirty beef/chicken/whatever. They don't buy local food, and it probably didn't arrive there fresh. Why pay for a meal that lacks nutrients and is still made of the same corn & soy crap that we're trying to defeat?

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pastora posts:
"Of course this is all well and good for those living in a warm, lush climate. Those of us in the frozen north don't have that luxury, unless, of course, we have a monsterous oil dependant infrastructure to deliver those tasty little tropical fruits to our door. Perhaps you should explain the error of their ways to the Inuit."

Inuit, First Nations and other aboriginal peoples around the world hunt animals for food. From the cruelty perspective, the animal has had a life in its natural habitat. The killing is done as quickly as possible and all the body parts are used with little waste.

In places like the far north, food options are not plentiful as they are in major centres, so there is justification for meat eating.

In more tropical locations, insects are consumed by humans as food instead of mammals, birds or reptiles. Do you have any feelings for the suffering of that grasshopper before you swing a lip over it? (Just make sure it wasn't sprayed with chemicals.)

The animal products produced in mass factory settings for highly populated areas destroy the land, contaminate water sources and pollute the air. A major portion of pork produced in North America is destined for Asian markets. So there is more pollution produced in transport.

Check out The Meatrix.

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Why can't people live vegetarian and share information about being vegetarian with out being self-rightous and pompous about it. I accept people's eating habits as personal choices and I don't judge them and don't want to be judged by them.

I'd often rather go hungry than eat in the company of a vegetarian who is judging my food choices.

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"Some of my friends can't give up ice cream or cream in their coffee or whatever -- so give up everything but that. That's a huge step forward, and I suspect that after eating mostly vegetarian for awhile, you'll decide that those burgers or that ice cream aren't so tasty anymore."

I agree with this. Small steps inch you forward toward larger changes, as you learn more, change all the habits and emotions that accompany your food practices, and see the evidence in your daily life (that you're not dying! and that you're actually seeing positive health changes). I wouldn't have thought a year ago that I'd ever be considering making my own granola or even buying from the bulk section at my food co-op; now, I've gone from buying readymade or very easy to prepare vegetarian foods (like Boca) to making my own foods, often with tempeh, and freezing them myself. It feels very empowering. But, I know that it has been a very gradual process, and it will continue to be one (an iterative process of learning more and making subtle changes in my diet to be more consistent with my beliefs and goals).

This article is not that full of helpful advice, but it has good pointers.

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I would imagine that most people who read AlterNet are concerned about the environment, or their health, or about the treatment of animals. Eating more meatless meals is an easy way to make a difference. You don't have to go "whole hog" if you're not ready--just try two or three meat-free meals a week. You will have more energy and will feel better knowing that you're making a positive change in your life!

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"So when I hear of vegetarians telling others to stop being so 'picky' and just live with the minuscule amounts of animal products, it makes me irritated. There are so many people out there with food allergies and intolerances that they don't even bother trying to eat out or enjoy meals with their families because there aren't enough people who will put their foot down and create the awareness that when someone means total veg, they mean total veg." (tlCampbell)

Thank you for pointing this out. This bothered me when reading the article. It's not rude for someone to ask about what's in the food they order and to get it to their satisfaction; what is rude is to roll your eyes and think that person is a nuisance because they are going against the norm.

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for people who want to be vegetarian, i recommend it!

it's an easy way to feel like you're helping w/ global warming, overconsumption, etc.

HOWEVER, there are some points that were neglected: the sheer number of people who are soy-intolerant is higher than one might think. this precludes them from getting enough protein, etc. without animal products.

in addition, vitamin b12--as far as i know, there is no synthetic b12, you must get it from animals.

so, for most of us, going a more moderate route, with poultry or fish once a week or so is a privelege we have to maintain. but as far as beef (which is so rough on your digestive system that you have to 'wean' babies onto it) and pork, i think it is probably OK to consume them as long as it is understood that these are luxury items and not a 'food group'

instead of such an extremist agenda, i think we vegetarians need to understand that we have made a choice that is different from others and that it is not right for everyone.

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RE: Recent past discussion concerning guns and hunting, and now the meat/vegetarian debate. Lots of good info exchange, lots of "heat" exchanged. One thing, though, how can we "progressives" keep these differences from fragmenting our political power? Lots of folks who would otherwise support progressive candidates, vote conservative, because of seemingly rigid stances and pious attitudes from the anti-meat and anti-gun folks. How do we overcome this, and come together?

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I grew up on a farm where we raised and butchered our own animal flesh. Didn't bother me then, doesn't bother me now, wheter you call it meat or flesh or sinew or muscle or "Bossie." We were never cruel to the animals -- didn't pull any teeth or castrate them, etc., etc. Some animals, when young, even lived in our home if their mothers' failed to care for them. What would we have done if we'd decided to go vegan? Well, we would have sold them to someone else who would have killed them, possibly less responsibly than we did. What would happen if the whole planet went vegan today? Would the cute little calfs and piglets and bunnies and chickies just go running free? Nope. They'd all be slaughtered or left to starve. Doing so would be decidedly unkind to the animals and the planet today, and "kind" to future generations of animals only because they would never exist.
I do not question anyone's dietary choices. I do question the idea that eating tofu flown to Boston from Tokyo somehow "saves the planet." Along with animals on the farm, we planted, weeded, and picked the bounty from 50,000 tomoato plants, 30,000 pepper plants, 5 acres of cucumbers and tens of dozens of other assorted vegetable varieties by hand and organically -- long before anyone ever heard of organic farming (God knows we could have charged more for the stuff today!). That, I would argue, is "saving the planet," not buying Boca Burgers from Kraft.

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You need to think outside the tofu cake. I eat nearly vegetarian, BUT, would never begin think that pure vegetarianism imposes a smaller footprint on our world than other lifestyles. Eating interior farmed catfish and/or deer, moose, caribou, or any other animals whose populations are too large to sustain themselves (because your family's new suburban spread stole more of their habitat...) makes more sense than corporate widespread soy agriculture that is potentially destructive in huge volume, organic or not. Further, the oil associated with soy or any other agriculture must be why you aren't COMPLETELY against American military occupation of oil strongholds.
If everyone could grow their own organic vegetables and foods FROM LOCAL RESOURCES, you might have a case, but this is far from the case in the most populated areas in the country (i.e. downtown Manhattan...)
Spend more of your energy on figuring out how to produce your vegetarian fare with solar and wind power.

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Vegans are the radical, extremist, absolutist, fundamentalist of the food system...It's best to step aside and leave these people to their own devices.

Vegatarians are the more liberal, adaptive, more-or-less easy-going people in the food system. I think Kathy is more into Vegatarianism than Veganism. This is fine because I don't think many people can go Vegan, but most should be able to go Vegetarian.

That distinction aside, I think it's much easier to just go completely Vegetarian than it is to gradually or partially cut down. And though many people look for "meat" substitutes, like Soya, why not just get into vegetable tastes and forget the meat? If you must, go have some fried chicken or a hamburger once a month somewhere, but don't cook these yourself any more. There are many, many great meals based on veges--and meat can be forgotten.

And yes, vegetarianism does go hand-in-hand with a sustainable lifestyle, which means getting rid of the SUVs (and all cars, actually. Are you listening, Al?), cutting down on unnecessary travel, consumption, and activities.

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AR2007 in Los Angeles, July 19-23. This conference will inform you and empower you to make choices consistent with your own values.

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I was a long time vegan and then just a regular vegetarian. At various points in the past 17 years since going veggie, I have eaten meat due to things like severe anemia after a bad car accident (I couldn't stop craving it, so I had to do it- pills didn't help the craving) or when I was pregnant because again, I couldn't stop craving it and I couldn't eat anything else. I also use undenatured whey protein because it is the most bioavailable protein out there, and nothing else works without giving me the runs! I also use organic butter.

I just wanted to point out that soy products are very bad for your thyroid. They block your body from using thyroid hormone, I gather they are too similar in structure to them or something so the body thinks it's gotten thyroid hormone. The problem is, the body can't use it that way, and eventually the body begins to chug out too much thyroid hormone and exhausts itself, resulting in hypothyroidism. I personally have an autoimmune condition that makes me very hypothyroid anyway, but I realized the soy was making it worse and I was gaining weight very easily and felt awful. I gave it up over a period of time, and feel better and my weight is more stable.

My health improved greatly when I went vegan. It's hard to be vegan in this world, so I make exceptions, but my goal is again to lean hard towards veganism. Vegetarianism is also great, but dairy tends to make me personally feel pretty sick. I save it mostly for pizza. I do use the dairy I mentioned, but it doesn't appear to do to me what milk and cheese do.

Good luck future vegetarians!

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Thank you to Kathy Freston for your articles on the benefits of plant based diets. Your work on behalf of animals and the environment is much appreciated.

The movie "An Inconvenient Truth" made global warming a mainstream topic. The recently released UN report "Livestock's Long Shadow," which shows how animal agriculture contributes to global warming, has been reported upon in national newspapers.

Global warming and animal agriculture are currently topics of interest in the mainstream press and some of the general public. Now is the time to capitalize on that interest.

Write a column or letter for your local newspaper. Send it around to your state publications and national news organizations too.

Vegans and vegetarians who're dissatisfied with the published articles on diet, animal agriculture and its' effect on the environment/global warming should take this opportunity to get their perspective/information before the public. Since this is currently a hot topic, news outlets are more likely to publish these columns.

Good luck!

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and a great catchy title. Alternet should do a series...

HOW TO BECOME AN ACTIVIST IN SIX EASY STEPS-
HOW TO GET RID OF BUSH IN SIX EASY STEPS-
HOW TO END THE WAR IN SIX EASY STEPS-
HOW TO END GLOBAL WARMING IN SIX EASY STEPS-

--- it would get some people thinking...
and maybe it is that simple after all.
That is how advertisers sell things..
Simple message over and over..and it works.

I have been a vegetarian for many years now...and I can tell people they WILL lose the taste for meat. Just try not eating it for a few weeks...after awhile you body does not want it!!! It will TELL you!

How about this...Women LOVE Vegetarian Men. They are so strong, smart and sexy!

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It seems like there is an article on why we should all switch to Vegetarianism every other week here on Alternet.

What gives? We've all heard the general arguments, the pros and cons, is this something that needs front page access every other week?

Also, the whole saving the rainforest and factory farming arguments are disingenious.

The government of Brazil and other governments in that area have legislation enacted that make it more profitable to hack down the rainforest (whether it is to grow crops, make grazing land for cattle, or simply logging) than develop land for human use in other areas of the world.

Until those governments enact legislation making it illegal to develop the land in the rainforest for human usage, the cutting down of the rainforest will continue unabated.

Factory farming of animals will continue unabated until legislation is enacted that defines current factory farming processes as animal cruelty.

Instead of focusing on switching everyone to Vegetarianism/Veganism why not run articles about what we can do to pass anti-factory farming laws and what we can do to lobby the governments of South America to stop cutting down their rainforests.

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Kathy Freston makes some very good points. I applaud her for listing easy transitional steps for going vegan and vegetarian. I went veg 10 years ago, slowly, giving up one animal at a time. Then the animal by-products took another year, the leather and wool yet another year. I am not perfect, but try to live my life as compassionately as possible. I started down the vegan path for animal rights, but the health benefits are enormous. Thanks, Kathy, for an informative and educational article. It is well written for those persons who have not yet ventured down the veg path. For even more info, you can go to PETA.org. There is a wealth of information at their site for the future vegan inside all of us.

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She has simplified dietary and lifestyle choices to the vegetarian/vegan diet=good, meat=bad. The only difference this time around is she has given us all a 6 step "baby steps" guide on how we can gradually be brought into the fold. Gee, thanks, Kath.

If you find a vegetarian or vegan diet works for you, for whatever your reasons, that's great. To think that your way is the only way, why that's being a little judgemental. To think all ou have to do is to educate everyone else o how your choices should be their choices as wel, now that's just being preachy. And I don't care for prosyltisation (sp?) too much.

The biggest issue I had with this article was the pushing of processed soy garbage as "transition foods" as she calls them. I would lump veggie burgers, TVP, and the like along with a McShit burger. Soy, even if it is fed to humans carries the emotional and suffering baggage as if it were fed to cows. Don't think so? Look at the millions (literally) of acres of cornand beans that cover our country, ask the animals that are displaced in these green deserts, and they'll affirm my conclusion.

If she is so worried about people's diet and the Earth's health she could take a better angle. Tell people to consume less, live within their means, conserve energy, and eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Regardless of eating meat or not, the bulk of any of our diets should be fresh fruits and veg. We shouldn't be eating massive amounts of meat or grains/legumes. Most grains and legumes contain phytates and other digestion inhibitors unless they are processed correctly through soaking, rinsing, and sprouting. Instead, I think she is just trying to convert more people to the "vegan side" like it's some sort of cult.

So if you're vegan and that works for you, I'm happy for you. Me, I raise (and eat) animals in a way that I think is environmentally appropriate (pastured rotationally, fed organic grains, and marketed locally) and spiritually uplifting.

I would find it easier swallow some of this self aggrandisment if she also advocated for people to grow their own food (plant or animal) or at least support the people that do. If you think you'll save the Earth by getting you're food from the local natural food store or Whole Foods rather then pulling up to McShit's, sorry to break the bad news but it isn't that easy. Whatever diet you decide is best for you, it's time to make some alternative arrangements then what is generally available now as times are a changin'

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When I first became a vegetarian, I went lacto-ovo. DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET was my bible, I made EVERYTHING - from bread to catsup to vanilla extract - from start to finish. Nothing came out of a box and I bought as much of my food as possible from the health food store. This was in the early '80s.

Well, I got sick - not enough protein. So, I stopped and went back - very very reluctantly - to eating meat. Couldn't stand that so I tried again. And failed again. Not enough protein.

On my third try, I became a vegan and set myself up for another failure. Not enough protein.

For a while I tried getting my protein - in addition to a vegetarian diet - from protein drinks. Another failure. Not enough protein.

I would give anything I have to be a vegetarian, but it's impossible for me . Perhaps it's genetic, I really don't know. What I DO know is that I FEEL better and have much more energy when I eat animal protein. Period.

So, contrary to what many vegetarians says, not EVERYONE can be a vegetarian. I've since met others who went the same route. I envy you if you can successfully do it. You're very fortunate!

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Since I can't improve on Joan Dunayer's words in her book "Speciesism," here they are. From Chapter 1, "Speciesism Defined":
"Whenever you see a bird in a cage, fish in a tank, or nonhuman mammal on a chain, you're seeing speciesism. If you believe that a bee or a frog has less right to life or liberty than a chimpanzee or or human, or you consider humans superior to other animals, you subscribe to speciesism. If you visit aquaprisons and zoos, attend circuses that include "animal acts," wear nonhumanskin or hair, or eat flesh, eggs, or cow-milk products, you practice speciesism..."

After defining speciesism as "a failure, in attitude or practice, to accord any nonhuman being equal consideration and respect," she meticulously elaborates on its many facets and relationship to animal rights.

Her final words sum up the true vegan ethic in a nutshell:
"Why emancipate nonhumans? Enslavement is wrong, murder is wrong, and causing innocent beings to suffer is wrong. Fully as much as humans, all nonhumans are entitled to life, freedom, and other basic rights. Humans deny this for only one reason: speciesism."

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I applaud the recent thoughtful, helpful articles on vegetarianism. Though I do not think Christianity mandates vegetarianism, the diet accords with the core Christian principles of responsible stewardship of God's Creation, humane treatment of God's creatures, and care for our bodies, the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). I do not think that diet determines salvation or justification, but it seems to me that vegetarianism is a natural and obvious choice for nearly all Christians in the U.S. today, since it helps reduce our footprint on our stressed earth, avoids the inherent cruelties of modern factory farming, and reduces our risk of meat-associated conditions, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, and kidney disease.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D., Christian Vegetarian Association chair
www.christianveg.org

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I would like to thank Ms. Preston for this article. I've been vegan for a year now, and I can honestly say that the hardest part was deciding to change. At the time, I couldn't figure out why we ate cows but not cats and dogs, and once I decided to change I didn't looked back.

Since that time, I've learned more about how important that change was for the environment, for humanity, and for the animals, but I think the most important aspect has been the change in myself. I feel I have more energy, I am healthier, and more importantly, I know that the behaviors I will pass on to my children will serve them well in their long and healthy lifetimes.

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I love it when a "personal growth and spirituality counselor" makes a bunch of assertions that have not a scintilla of scientific evidence to support them. Too much balderdash to try to rebut here, but just one factoid: following the great drying of East Africa five or six million years ago, when the rainforests gave way to grassland, our early ancestors quickly became upright so they could see over the grass and both avoid predators and hunt the new large herbivores. That switch to a meat based diet paved the way for the development of large human brains. A large brain is a very energy intensive device to operate, though. It would not have evolved on a vegan diet. Since the human transition to a primarily grain based diet some 8,000 years ago average cranial capacity has shrunk by about 200cc. Stature has shrunk and health worsened. Many hunter gatherers live a much healthier life style than we "civilized" people. (Unfortunately they did tend to kill each other a lot, though.)

Vegans like Freston are fond of pointing out the wastefulness of a system where cows are fattened on corn in feedlots. So? Whether the corn is grown for cows or humans, industrial monoculture is extemely destructive to the planet. Hunting free-range bison, for example, is a sustainable system. It does not destroy the soil like agriculture. For a more informed point of view I would urge all of you to read Richard Manning's wonderful book, "Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization".

And for heaven's sake, when AlterNet publishes an article that is essentially scientific in nature I wish they would have it penned by a scientist and not a spiritual advisor (whatever the heck that is).

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I am trying to point out there are metabolic markers you may find when you know what you are looking for-and quite often vegetarians are lacking quite a few nutrients and it is directly linked to their diet... I have no problem when someone who is vegetarian who chooses to do so, I am not dogmatic enough to tell someone what they should be doing....if they ask however I can give them facts on metabolic markers...if their cellular respiration and urine markers for metabolic byproducts look good continue on your very veggie merry way.....no problem........but for many the choice of eating beef is a healthy one (if it does not come from the current ag industrial complex). But for many to become dogmatic and based on virtually no clinincal evidence, using no objective standards vs very subjective does not a sound policy make.I buy animal cruelty free products and get my meat and dairy from Amish Farmers...crap I was working for Greenpeace for 3 years in the late 80's talking about global warming.....I valued objective evidence then.....and I do so today....By the way did you know that the japanese whom have low cholesterol are more sclerotic than us...or low cholesterol 140...triples ones risk for cancer.?.....I will stick to my diet that I feel benefits my family best and will not succomb to those who do not know science and wouldn't know an objective fact if they tripped over one....

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'Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the lifecycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence. Appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.' These 'certain diseases' are the killer epidemics of today - heart disease, strokes, cancers, diabetes etc.

This is the view of the world's most prestigious health advisory body, the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada, after a review of world literature. It is backed up by the British Medical Association:

'Vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders, cancers and gall stones.'
....
http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/mediareleases/050221.html

"When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores." - Quoted from an editorial by William Clifford Roberts, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Cardiology.

- "Herbivores", meaning, plant-eaters. Specifically, obligate frugivores.

'Linneaus, who introduced binomial nomenclature (naming plants and animals according to their physical structure) wrote:
"Man's structure, external and internal, compared with that of other animals shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food."
.....
http://www.all-creatures.org/murti/tsnhod-14.html

Also: http://www.iol.ie/~creature/BiologicalAdaptations.htm .

'Undoubtedly these gross metabolic differences between humans and other mammals must have system wide implications for our metabolism. They allow us to feed heavily on fruits, and may restrict other species from choosing them. Never the less, many nutritional authorities suggest that adult humans need nearly double (12% of calorific value) their breast milk levels of protein, although it is accepted that infant protein requirements for growth are triple those of adults. The use of calorific values might also confuse the issue since human milk is highly dilute (1% protein), and clearly eating foods that might be 25 times this concentration, such as meat, are massive excesses if constantly ingested.
......
http://tinyurl.com/dahps

'.. disease rates were significantly associated within a range of dietary plant food composition that suggested an absence of a disease prevention threshold. That is, the closer a diet is to an all-plant foods diet, the greater will be the reduction in the rates of these diseases.
..'
www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Nov98/thermogenesis_paper.html

'Vegetarianism is literally about life and death - for each of us individually and for all of us together. Eating animals simultaneously contributes to a multitude of tragedies: the animals' suffering and death; the ill-health and early death of people; the unsustainable overuse of oil, water, land, topsoil, grain, labor and other vital resources; environmental destruction, including deforestation, species extinction, mono-cropping and global warming; the legitimacy of force and violence; the mis-allocation of capital, skills, land and other assets; vast inefficiencies in the economy; tremendous waste; massive inequalities in the world; the continuation of world hunger and mass starvation; the transmission and spread of dangerous diseases; and moral failure in so-called civilized societies. Vegetarianism is an antidote to all of these unnecessary tragedies.
...
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3312

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.


Hi all,

There never was a legitimate argument as to whether or not farmed animals like chickens, goats, pigs, turkeys, and cows are sentient. It's only that recently, those once in absolute denial are finally acknowledging sentience in animals other than the human variety.

It is sentience that a living human possesses which is the underlying reason why fundamental rights are granted to these humans. It is not the condition of "humanness" that these rights are granted, for if this were the case, a human corpse would have meaningless rights granted it. Not extending fundamental rights to all human and non-human animals is the result of a racist or speciesist thinking. From a philosophical vantage, there is no meaningful difference between these two forms of overt prejudice.

Sentient individuals like chickens and humans as just two examples, have an interest in living freely, have an interest in socializing with their own kind, and have an interest in not being subjected to discomfort, etc. There are many other basic interests these two sentient species share....too many to list here. Suffice to say, it is indebted upon a moral society to not treat sentient individuals as property or commodities because of these fundamental interests. Our society has recognized this intrinsic or inalienable right in consideration of living humans; we are slowly yet suredly recognizing this for non-humans as well. Logical consistency requires us to extent this consideration to all sentient individuals, human and non-human alike. Hypocrisy implores that we create a schism in extending basic rights (like the right not to be treated as property) to one (species) and not the other.

Just as certain humans were once commonly enslaved in our nation's recent past, today animals suffer from the same acute diabolical consequence of (super) exploitation and subjugation.....it's the same monster of oppression, the victims just happen to be (slightly) different in appearance.

Since there is no biological requirement for animal flesh in the human body, we can understand that for the vast majority of humans (and certainly I'm convinced, for everyone reading this message), eating meat is completely unnecessary (the exception is in areas where no adequate edible plant based foods can be grown and concurrently, there is no access to supplemental plant-based foods). Once we understand that eating meat is unnecessary for us, we should eventually recognize that not eating meat is a positive moral choice because unnecessary violence (killing is undoubtedly a form of violence) is inarguably not morally justifiable. Certainly individuals can rationalize unnecessary violence, just as enslaving humans, torturing dogs, and sodomizing children have all been rationalized by some human beings as well.

Eating the corpses of killed animals is a cultural habit that has been accepted since time immemorial. Exploiting humans (enslavement or serfdom or forced labour or the subjugation of women or a certain grouip of people's in a society, etc.) has until recently (in the scope of human existence) in some or many countries (depending on which form of exploitation), also shared a similar social acceptance....until it was no longer morally (then legally) accepted. For many people who choose to eat flesh (carnists) (see http://www.satyamag.com/sept01/joy.html ), it is done to satisfy the palate, the tastebud. Carnism is an unnecessary indulgence in the flesh of killed sentient individuals.

Choosing to or not to eat the flesh of killed sentient individuals is a moral choice. Choosing to or not to beat one's spouse, torture a dog, sodomize a child is also a moral choice.

If environmental sustainability were the first consideration that we should consider in whether or not we choose to eat meat (and some certainly argue this in their bid to .

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Thanks for the great article covering so many of the satisfactions and challenges of going veg. Every transistional diet-changer will run into overt and covert hostility from friends, family and co-workers, (even comments-writers), and there are ways to respond to it.

The following suggestions are in no order of preference. Use any and all, in varying circumstances, determined by your situation, mood, or energy. 1) use others' questions or comments to educate: "I save a lot of money," "My health has improved," "My conscience is clearer," "I'm concerned about global warming," "I love animals." Short replies are best at limiting discussion. If you're with people whose health you care about, or are animal-lovers or environmentalists (70% say they are) and you're up to it, keep on talking! 2) keep a low profile: Don't ask waitperson about veg or vegan choices; just read menu carefully. At homes, merely pass on the meat or dairy offerings with no comment, or, if questioned, say something like, "I have some dietary restrictions." 3) Be empathetic: "It's hard to change ingrained and emotionally-comforting diets," "I used to say that too, until my children convinced me otherwise," "It's hard in the beginning, but very easy after awhile." 4) When asked about holiday meals, explain that they are special because of all the side dishes for the most part, and many of those are vegetables, fruits, and grains. Educate about the new meat and fowl substitutes. Invite them to your holiday dinner.

And finally, remember that with growing concern about food safety, obesity, animal cruelty on factory farms, water shortages, high fuel prices, global warming, environment, and health, the momentum is on our side. Our troops are increasing.

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Since I can't eat beans, and Soylent is not yet available in my area,I suppliment my diet with insects. Am I wrong? I know they feel pain from the way they react when I bite into them. But, what should I do?
Also, if Rape oil works well in tanks and prevents heart disease, why does it irritate my bowels?

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B12 is available in shots; unpleasant & expensive! And for those of you who are going to jump in with "Well, I imagine being slaughtered is rather unpleasant for an animal, as well...", please, I DO understand where you are coming from.

This is NOT an argument for devouring animals, just what it is...

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I am a practicing non-violent being. I You only consider my speach militant beacuse it is the blunt truth.

All serial killers start with harming small animals & work their way up from there.

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Great article on transitioning to a plant based diet. Check out all the great books on the topic, and authors, like Neal Barnard, M.D., Michael Gregor, M.D., Michael Klaper, M.D., John Robbins, and Carol Adams. For those of you who are open, get ready for the journey of your life.

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A great aid in the transition is the free colorful weekly e-newsletter called Meatout Mondays, which contains a recipe, a book or product review, and inspirational story, and new development. To view past issues and a free subscription, visit MeatoutMondays.org.

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I appreciate these six steps, but I have already failed at trying to be a vegetarian once. My problem came down to protein. If I have a turkey sandwhich, I feel like I get enough protein for the day. But I have no idea how much I need or how much I am getting. I eat vegetables, I can always find plenty of soy products, I just don't know how to make sure I'm getting enough protein. That would make it a lot easier on me.

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"Give Up the Little Animals First"

While I support anything that encourages people to stop eating corpses, this kind of calculation is patently disgusting. It's like saying that child molesters should focus on younger victims, as they are less likely to be affected or remember the abuse when they grow up. Or that murderers should choose older victims, since they have fewer years left to lose.

Stop COLD TURKEY! (pardon the expression).

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It is not (quite) a matter of what we "are", but of
what we *were*, over great stretches of evolutionary
time, and how that impacts us in the present (what we
*are* only in that sense or framework). It would be
easy to say that we *are* omnivores, since that
corresponds with most of the scientific facts, but I think
it better to think of it as a process, and of us as plastic
beings, in transition -- perhaps FROM omnivorism and
TO (upward to?) vegetarianism. And there are going to
be some bumpy spots along the way! All the key nutrients
for brain development are supplied in most quantity and
best quality (more absorbable) from animal-source foods.
And the lack of those nutrients is a global problem of
staggering dimensions -- literally billions of people
walking around with iron deficiency anemia, vitamin A
deficiency blindness and other problems, iodine
deficiency-caused intellectual handicap, and much more.
These problems need to be solved, and artificial
supplementation is not always the best way. Natural
food sources -- animal foods, sorry to say -- are at this
moment better.

Much more to say, but better cut this short.

Regarding "vast stretches of evolutionary time" and
their impact on modern physiology and probable
nutritional requirements -- and a lot else -- is at
these pages, which need to be read carefully:

http://www.beyondveg.com/
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/research/index.shtml
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/paleodiet/index.shtml
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/topics/index.shtml
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/diet-bios/index.shtml

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It is not (quite) a matter of what we "are", but of
what we *were*, over great stretches of evolutionary
time, and how that impacts us in the present (what we
*are* only in that sense or framework). It would be
easy to say that we *are* omnivores, since that
corresponds with most of the scientific facts, but I think
it better to think of it as a process, and of us as plastic
beings, in transition -- perhaps FROM omnivorism and
TO (upward to?) vegetarianism. And there are going to
be some bumpy spots along the way! All the key nutrients
for brain development are supplied in most quantity and
best quality (more absorbable) from animal-source foods.
And the lack of those nutrients is a global problem of
staggering dimensions -- literally billions of people
walking around with iron deficiency anemia, vitamin A
deficiency blindness and other problems, iodine
deficiency-caused intellectual handicap, and much more.
These problems need to be solved, and artificial
supplementation is not always the best way. Natural
food sources -- animal foods, sorry to say -- are at this
moment better.

Much more to say, but better cut this short.

Regarding "vast stretches of evolutionary time" and
their impact on modern physiology and probable
nutritional requirements -- and a lot else -- is at
these pages, which need to be read carefully:

http://www.beyondveg.com/
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/research/index.shtml
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/paleodiet/index.shtml
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/topics/index.shtml
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/diet-bios/index.shtml

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Another great article by Kathy Freston, even if there are certain things in it we can quibble with. I won't bother, though, as the thrust of the articles is excellent and I appreciate her good work.

If you're not yet veg, try it out...for yourself, for your family, for the animals, and for our environment!

I hope other vegetarians are inspired to write their own articles, letters to the editors, web site posts, etc., and call in to talk radio stations, print out good articles and distribute them, talk to people in the grocery store and elsewhere about healthy and sustainable eating habits, etc.

Also, check out:

Eco-Eating: Eating as if the Earth Matters
www.brook.com/veg

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Comment from above:
"I cannot imagine how meat from a store makes you feel better."

That's an easy one. Heme iron, which is abundant in flesh food.
Much more absorbable than vegetable iron.
And not only that, but it *potentiates* the absorption of iron from other
foods, including veggie foods. Recall that iron deficiency anemia is the #1
nutritional deficiency in the world, with well over a billion sufferers, mostly
women. The iron deficient drag themselves through life -- cold, bone-tired,
listless, cognitively impaired, and otherwise unfit.

A close friend of mine had some of these problems, combined with hair falling
out, skin problems, etc. She was eating an apparently excellent largely
vegetarian diet, lots of whole grains, beans, etc., etc., though she was not
100% veggie. I suggested that she try some red meat. Worked like a charm.
She still raves about it, 10 years on. She does not eat much -- it is not
necessary to eat much. But what she does eat, she NEEDS to feel well.

The "not much" point is very important. Meat need not be and ought not be
a *staple*. It is better used like the Chinese traditionally used it -- like a
condiment, a flavoring for the other food. And it is a flavoring that happens
to have some important nutritional properties. But eating meat like Americans
eat meat (i.e. like pigs) is excessive and abhorrent.

Heme iron is the most important and obvious factor in flesh that can have
significant positive health impacts. But it is not the only factor. Carnitine,
carnosine, creatine, coenzyme Q10, zinc, iodine, and other nutrients
or metabolites are also either important, or potentially important. Some
of them are found exclusively in animal foods; others (zinc, iodine) are
found in veggie foods, but tend to be absorbed more poorly from them.

.......................................

DOWN WITH CAPITALISM AND MASS FACTORY McFARMING ATROCITIES!

UP WITH LOCALLY-RAISED FREE-RANGE LIVESTOCK IN SMALL NUMBERS!

(the small numbers being all that is needed since everyone is using meat
only in small quantities as a condiment, right? :-) )

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Alan, give up. mmissinglink and pearl999 are not interested in mature efforts at realistically improving understanding and effecting do-able steps at achievable goals.
They are all or nothing people, compromise, the bridge to affecting change, is not in their mental or emotional range, or vocabulary.
The debate was educational, however, and was good for some of us less educated. I followed links from both parties, and enjoyed it, and learned quite a bit.
Most all of you do not represent "normal" people, and don't seem to realize that.
Aren't you on a 1000 acre farm in California? And which of you said that there are "millions upon countless millions vegans" out there!?! Bullshit!
City folk, suburban folk, ranch folk, be grateful for your modern lives and education.
But drive around the USA and you'll see there is not a Convenient Store on every corner, or Community Grocery, or FedEX stop.
Most people are in over their heads trying to provide the best for their kids, both parents working, busting tail even if they are in a mobile home, or three bedroom house, or 3500 sq. ft. mini-mansion.
It's all they can do to get anything fit to eat on the table, and half the time the kids do it themselves.
I'd have to drive 40 miles to Little Rock, or be constantly ordering stuff to follow your DREAMS, and my truck uses GAS and my PC is made of PLASTIC, and FEDEX uses GAS.
Something less than total veggie has to be OK, pearl999, get REAL. I have a garden growing, and if I can handle it, I'm getting some chickens.
Willie Nelson and his wife have good ideas, check them out...

PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO STOP EATING MEAT, DAMN IT, SO PUT YOUR ENERGIES ON YOUR OWN LIFE, AND GO GET YOUR FRIENDS TO HELP VOTE BUSH OUT, AND DON'T WORRY RIGHT NOW WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE EATING OR IF THEY SHOT IT WITH THEIR OWN DAMN GUN.

BE REAL. DRIVE AROUND THE USA AND REALIZE THERE ARE HUGE STRETCHES OF RURAL AREA AND COUNTRY PEOPLE AND THEY DON'T GIVE A HOOT ABOUT YOUR FACTS, THEY HAVE TRADITION AND HERITAGE AND THAT IS HUMAN NATURE, DAMN IT.

EXCUSE ME, I JUST THAWED OUT SOME DEER STEAKS SHOT BY MY OWN HAND, AND AM GONNA EAT NOW. FRIED!!!! WITH SOME PORK&BEANS!!!! AND FRIED TATERS!!!!

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...before criticizing the author for being preachy. It's an article of tips on how to give up meat, and it's been written with the proper presumption that the audience is indeed, going to give it a look with that in mind. Instead of "elitist" or any of those pointless adjectives, I found it to be quite understanding of how difficult it is to give up something as essential to our beings as food.

Is there anything as tied into our lives, from babyhood, with as much physical and psychological complexity as the food we eat? I can't think of anything, and I think that accounts for both the occasional self-righteous vegetarian and those who feel attacked when meat is accurately referred to as "animal flesh." I haven't given up meat completely for a handful of reasons. One, the social aspect - being a vegetarian means it's harder to join your friends and family at certain restaurants, harder to eat with them in each others' homes, harder to just split a pizza. Some people would rather give up the company, but no, I can't do that. Second, I just like meat sometimes, and in my informal survey of people who have tried and either succeeded or failed to give it, I haven't run across anyone who successfully gave it up for good who wasn't actually indifferent towards it from the beginning.

I enjoy reading things like this that give me more information and more reasons to keep with it. I'm down to about twice a week, and I'm pretty happy with that.

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The kindest thing you can do for non-human life is to reduce our human population ASAP.

By at least a magnitude of 10, and preferrably 100 or 1000.

Without that, technofixes are no fixes.

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"Let us not be too quick to assume that others are not ready to absorb the full force of truths we ourselves hold as self-evident... Let us freely share with everyone the best truth we have, and let us do so with the courage, altruism and integrity of the unapologetic idealists who have come before us—those whose historic words and deeds have redefined the limits of human potential."
It is in the spirit of those words (James LaVeck, Satya magazine, October 2006) that I appeal to you now.

In the U.S. alone more than 25 billion nonhuman animals, each one a living, feeling individual, are enslaved and slaughtered each year for food. The primary reasons humans consume other animals are cultural indoctrination, taste, and social pressure. I invite, no, challenge, each of us to examine the origin our concepts, beliefs, and actions regarding our relationship with nonhumans, and truly ask if they have been freely chosen, or, more likely, handed down from parents, teachers, peers, clergymen, or society in general.

Each of us has the opportunity, in every area of our life, to make choices that say Yes to Life and No to cruelty and killing. "Going vegan"---a commitment to avoiding products and enterprises invoved in intentional, needless nonhuman suffering and death, is a powerful way to respect All life, and help create a kinder, gentler world for All beings. Thank You.

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Popular mechanics featured an article on synthetic meat. It currently costs around 100,000 dollars per pound, but in the future, the price may come down. In the glorious future we can indulge our meat addictions while causing no harm to animals.

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As a foodie, I love to eat, and I love finding and creating elaborate recipes. I'm also a raw vegan, and have been for many years. It's no problem. Although I think raw vegan is better for health than cooked vegan (cooking produces the harmful chemical acrylamide), I'm heartened that the global warming crisis has some carnivores moving towards a vegan lifestyle. To that end, I've created a bumper sticker saying STOP GLOBAL WARMING; GO VEGAN. I did this as a public service. I make no money from selling it. I hope people will buy these and display them and also send them to politicians.

Oh, here's the link: http://www.cafepress.com/rawfoods.86920766

Judy Pokras
editor/founder
http://www.RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com
Celebrating raw vegan cuisine online with breaking news and fun features since 2001

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