“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

 

“More animals are being subjected to more torturous conditions in the United States today than has ever occurred anywhere in world history…

 

Today, because of the way animals are raised for market, the question of whether or not it’s ethical to eat meat has a whole new meaning and a whole new urgency. Never before have animals been treated like this. Never before has such deep, unrelenting, and systematic cruelty been mass produced.”

– John Robbins

 

All plant structures grown in Nature consist of soil nutrients, water, Nature energy, and Sun energy transformed into a plant. When you are eating plants you are eating these substances as they have been transformed. When you eat living plants, you are transferring that energy into your system.

 

“Throughout history, many great religious leaders, spiritual teachers, yogis, and many of the world’s religions have recommended a vegetarian diet, and they have done this for a good reason. The karmic consequences of eating animals dampen the spiritual powers while raising the emotions of fear and doubt in the mind.”

– David Wolfe

 

All food carries energy.

 

Meat has the energy of suppression and the fear, violence, illness, and horror of the slaughterhouse.

 

Dairy carries the energy of animals that are incarcerated.

 

Plants contain the energy of Sun and Nature.

 

Meat also holds the energy of fright chemicals. These stress hormones are released into the body tissues of the animals as they are aware that they are about to be slaughtered.

 

“Our awareness has to be applied to understanding that slaughtering is killing. To achieve inner harmony and world peace, we must eradicate the mentality of violence, and therefore, there goes the slaughter.”

– Sri Swamini “Mother Maya” Mayatitananda

 

When the human body is put into a stressful situation the body cells respond by releasing stress hormones into the tissues. The hypothalamus sends signals through the sympathetic nerves near the spinal cord and trigger the adrenal glands to release epinephrine and norepinephrine. The pituitary gland releases a chemical signal into the blood that triggers the adrenal glands to release other hormones, including cortisol. The body under stress also produces higher levels of hormones labeled inflammatory cytokines, which cause inflammation, pain, and swelling. A similar scenario happens within the bodies of animals when they are exposed to stressful situations.

 

“The question is not, ‘Can they reason?’ nor, ‘Can they talk?’ but, ‘Can they suffer?’”

– Jeremy Bentham

 

 “We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature.”

– Rachel Carson

 

Animals raised in the stressful, unhealthful, and unnatural situations of today’s factory “confinement” farms are filled with illness. Stress and bad diet destroy the health of farmed animals in the same way that stress and bad diet destroy the health of humans.

 

“Modern meat production, modern dairy production, treat the animals with a level of cruelty, brutality, that if you saw how severe it is – you wouldn’t have to be a vegetarian, you wouldn’t have to be an animal rights activist – to be appalled. I’m not talking about the fact that the animals are killed. I don’t want to deny that, but what I’m talking about is how they live, how they are treated in a factory farm by corporate agribusiness, and it is really ugly. And you don’t have to support it.”

– John Robbins

 

“As soon as I realized that I didn’t need meat to survive or to be in good health, I began to see how forlorn it all is.  If only we had a different mentality about the drama of the cowboy and the range and all the rest of it.  It’s a very romantic notion, an entrenched part of American culture, but I’ve seen, for example, pigs waiting to be slaughtered, and their hysteria and panic was something I shall never forget.”

 – Cloris Leachman

 

Stress hormones damage brain cells and impair memory. They also raise the blood pressure and trigger the endocrine system to produce and release inflammatory hormones, which leads to damaging plaque buildup in the arteries. The hormones thicken the blood, increasing the likelihood of stroke and heart attack, and of irregular heartbeat. The hormones also cause fat to build up in the abdominal area, which is a risk factor in a slew of health conditions, such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. In fact there is no part of the body that is not damaged by long-term stress, from the skin, hair, and nails, to the lungs and stomach, to the intestines, bones, joints, and nerves. Mental function is altered, as stress ages the brain and brings about depression, psychosis, and other types of mental derangement. The immune system is degraded by stress and this sets the stage for bacteria, viruses, inflammation, and cancers to gain hold within the tissues. When a person is under heavy stress while also consuming low quality foods, their health can quickly degrade in all areas.

 

“I think of veganism humbly and holistically. It’s about taking personal responsibility in a world so full of needless suffering. It’s challenging one’s self to open one’s eyes and question society’s assumptions and habits. It’s about critical thinking and compassion and how we would like to see the world evolve.”

– Michael Greger

 

When people consume animals raised in an unhealthful atmosphere, animals that are unhealthy because of the way they are treated, and the bad food and toxic drugs and poisonous farming chemicals they are exposed to, they are eating tissues that contain all of the substances these animals have in their system. The meat they are eating contains residues of all of the poisonous farming chemicals the animal has been exposed to, and all of the toxic drugs it was given, which cause disease. They are eating the fright chemicals that are released into the animal’s body tissues when the animal knows it is about to be slaughtered, and the hormones that trigger their blood flow, breathing patterns, and surge their senses with alarm. When people eat meat, they are eating the energy of illness, abuse, incarceration, suppression, violence, fear, and slaughter.

 

“The thinking man must oppose all cruelties, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition or surrounded by a halo.”

– Albert Schweitzer

 

“The U.N. reports that a vegan diet is – or the consumption of animals causes more harm to the environment than all the forms of transportation put together. That’s one thing. And, of course, I don’t think when they said dominion over the animals they meant the abuse of 10 billion farm animals every year, which is what we do here in America.”

– Russell Simmons

 

You can decide what sort of energy you will allow into your body simply by selecting the types of foods you eat. You can either bring into your system the destructive energy that exists in slaughtered meat, which is the product of sickly and incarcerated farm animals, or you can bring in the good energy of Nature through following a diet that consists of plant matter.        

 

“The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.”

– Charles Darwin

 

When people or animals are mistreated, the pain they feel in their mind creates energy waves and molecules that travel through their body tissues, and into the surrounding atmosphere and substances. This creates a karmic ripple effect that travels through the energy fields of the planet and impacts humanity. This is the horror spread through war, through animal farming, through animal slaughter, through child abuse, through the destruction of and misuse of Nature, and all of the other ugly, unkind, and cruel behaviors of humans.

 

“We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”

– Albert Schweitzer

 

If a person disrespects other life forms and Nature, they will not be able to tune in to the spiritual power to be gained by respecting life. Spiritual truths will be closed off to them. The abuse of farm animals, the mass breeding of them into the tens of billions, the vile factory farming of them, the slaughter and consumption of them, and the destruction of Nature in relation to raising billions of farm animals are damaging to the collective spiritual health of all life.

 

“Humanity’s true moral test, its fundamental test, consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect humankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.”

– Milan Kundera

 

Imagine being kept in a box your entire life, indoors, fed an unnatural diet, and surrounded by and slathered with your own and others’ excrement that is always present. This is how factory farmed animals live out their entire lives, in torturous total confinement with the constant smell of urine and shit, and the continual sound of clanging cages, while never smelling fresh air; never feeling Sun on their skin; never having a sip of water from a river, pond, or lake; never knowing what it is like to walk in open fields; and never knowing what it is like to graze on fresh plants.

 

Then their flesh, milk, and eggs are sold in packaging that feature drawings of happy animals living in pleasant, pristine country farm settings. The marketing of these products is a lie, and the belief that people cannot survive without eating animal products is not true.

 

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.”

– Alice Walker

 

The publicity and advertising campaigns of the animal farming industries present the image that Americans are not eating enough animal products and that eating more of those products rather than less promotes better health. The truth is that the amount of animal products Americans already eat is unhealthful, and increasing the amount of the products would be even more unhealthful.

 

What the commercials and promotional materials do not tell you is that the more meat, dairy products, and eggs a person consumes, the more likely he is to get cancer and experience other degenerative diseases. Studies have shown over and over that the less meat people consume and the more their diets are based on fruits, vegetables, raw nuts, seeds, and seaweeds, the less likely they are of experiencing heart disease.

 

“If we – that is, society – switched to a vegetarian diet, atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, which accounts for most heart disease, would vanish.”

– William Roberts

 

In addition to heart attacks, a person’s risk of experiencing strokes, kidney disease, diabetes, arthritis, obesity, and various types of cancer corresponds with the amount of meat, eggs, and milk products that person consumes. Degenerative diseases are also related to the consumption of processed salts and sugars, fried oils, and synthetic food additives.

 

The foods that contain heart-choking cholesterol – meats, dairy, and eggs – also contain the worst kind of fat: saturated fat. Cholesterol and saturated fat clog the blood systems in the body and this causes heart disease and strokes. This is especially true if a person is consuming foods rich with fried oils, and processed salts and sugars.

 

For men, the consumption of meat and dairy and the cholesterol imbalances these substances cause increases the incidence of prostate cancer. Numerous other studies have concluded that men who are overweight are more likely to experience prostate cancer, and that men and women who are overweight are more likely to experience cancers of the colon, kidney, liver, and pancreas. People who are vegetarian or vegan are less likely to be overweight.

 

Some of the carcinogens that meat eaters are exposed to are the residues of the toxic pesticides, insecticides, and other chemicals that are used on and around the livestock, and on the grains and other things fed to them. Additionally, the antibiotics, breeding drugs, and other drugs fed to and injected into farm animals, as well as the fertilizers in the feed often are present in the flesh and dairy foods that humans consume. The large majority of the antibiotics and similar used in North America are given to livestock.

 

Besides being major risk factors in the most common types of heart diseases and strokes, meats are a major source of destructive free radicals that damage body tissues. Eating animal products introduces prostaglandin-2 into the body and increases the uric acid level, and these both induce arthritic conditions.

 

In the U.S., osteoporosis causes more deaths than cancers of the breast and cervix combined. Americans have the highest rate of osteoporosis in the world. Americans consume more meat and dairy products than anyone in the world. Osteoporosis is most common in exactly those countries where dairy products are consumed in the largest quantities.

 

After heart disease, the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. is cancer.

 

The second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. is colorectal cancer. This type of cancer is most common in people who eat an abundance of meat and dairy products.

 

For these and other reasons, the last thing people need to do is eat more animal-based foods. It would be more healthful to eliminate all meat, dairy, eggs, and animal protein and animal fats from the diet – and instead, eat a plant-based diet.

 

“Having a bad diet right now is a better predictor of future violence than past violent behavior.”

– Stephen Schoenthaler

 

Not only does following a raw, plant-based diet protect animals from exploitation, it also protects wildlife, wildlands, the oceans, lakes and rivers, and Earth. This is because a Sunfood diet has a much lower impact on Earth than that of the standard American diet (SAD) that consists of meat, dairy, eggs, and highly polluting junk food. It starts with the fact that most food grown on the planet is being fed to farm animals. This may come as a surprise to those who thought that there is a food shortage on the planet. Humans could not possibly consume all of the food that is growing on Earth. There is more than enough food to feed every human on the planet. The largest part of the problem is that most food grown on the planet is used to feed farm animals so that the rich countries can have their meat and dairy products.

 

 “We are the living graves of murdered beasts, slaughtered to satisfy our appetites. How can we hope in this world to attain the peace we say we are so anxious for?”

– George Bernard Shaw

 

When we refuse to eat animals, eggs, dairy products, and junk food, and instead subsist on a plant-based diet, we are agreeing to live in tune with Nature. We are not participating in the animal-killing industries of factory farms and slaughterhouses. We are not part of the farming industry that grows more than 60 percent of its products to feed animals on meat farms. We are not a part of the fishing industry that kills millions of fish and hundreds of thousands of sea mammals and aquatic birds every year. We are not part of the ranching industry that kills many millions of wolves, bear, lions, raccoons, prairie dogs, predator birds, and other wild animals every year. We are not part of an industry that is cutting down the rainforests to provide cattle-grazing land and land to grow food to feed farmed animals. When we follow a Sunfood diet we are protecting wildlife, wildlands, and forests, and the oceans, lakes and rivers, and Earth.

 

“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.”

­ – Abraham Lincoln

 

“It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sakes and not for the sake of something else.”

– Maimonides

 

© 2009 John McCabe