“Why going Vegan is best”
by Tina Volpe
I learned, at a very early age, that it was not God’s intention for humans to eat animals. This did not come to me via my Christian upbringing, but from my heart and soul, where God resides. I knew when I saw my pet, my friend Piglet hanging from at tree at a pretty early age that this was not the way it was intended. When God created man in the Garden of Eden, there was no mention of eating animals. Animal cruelty was not in God’s plan, I can assure you. We were to be vegetarians. This is what our bodies were designed for, this is what keeps us healthy and this is what will ultimately eliminate almost all of the health problems we face in our nation today, including the most recent threat, The Avian Flu, or bird flu.
Heart disease... the number one killer in America is due, almost entirely, upon what we put in our bodies. Of course there are exceptions, but the percentages of heart disease caused by diet are huge. Hereditary heart disease is around 5%. The statistics are staggering with regard to vegetarians and vegans and their lack of heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer and obesity. It has been proven in many scientific studies that even after coronary heart disease has set in, it can actually be reversed by eating a plant based diet. It is estimated that this year alone, more than a million Americans will undergo angioplasty to open their clogged arteries. Arteries that were clogged by none other than saturated fat... or animal fat. The success of these surgeries are minimal (prolonging life - 2%), and are usually needed again (50-60% chance) within 6 months to a year if the diet that got them there in the first place is not changed. A low fat, plant based diet would lower the U.S heart attack rate a whopping 85%. I don’t know about you, but eating animals seems like a really irresponsible thing to do when you know the consequences.... and heart disease is only a drop in the bucket.
Cancer is a disease that is usually fatal. There are exceptions, however, if you have cancer of any type, you are seriously ill. There are so many types of cancer that are diet related it’s frightening. One in three Americans will contract some form of cancer this year. I don’t know about you, but those statistics, in a family of 4 is overwhelming. Eating a low fat, plant based diet would lower yours or your family’s chance of getting cancer by 60%. If that isn’t enough of an incentive to eliminate animal products from your diet, I don’t know what is.
Eating meat has surpassed the dangers of smoking. The annual medical costs in the US directly attributed to smoking: $65 billion. Annual medical costs in the US directly attributed to meat consumption: $60-$120 billion. Eating animals is becoming a serious health problem... but it doesn’t stop there.
The dangers of the meat and animal products Americans are consuming are becoming even more dangerous by the year. Take a look at the World Health Organization’s web site. You will learn of all of the diseases that are coming from factory farms and slaughterhouses. It started in the early 1900’s with a flu that killed almost 50 million people. Then there were so many epidemics there are too many to mention, however, the most recent, S.A.R.S., came from a factory farm. The Nipah Virus came from chickens and pigs in the same warehouse. Mad cow disease has risen it’s ugly head too many times for Americans to feel comfortable eating beef. Mad cow, BSE, or Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, known in human form is fatal. It has been diagnosed as being very similar to alzheimers Disease. It has also been mis-diagnosed as alzheimers. Four million people in America today have this disease. I would like to see convincing evidence that Mad Cow disease is not here in the U.S. Too many farmers would lose their entire stock should they report one cow downed with mad cow. How many farmers would report it should it mean they lose their entire livelihood?
Avian Flu is now the latest threat. H5N1 - a very terrifying string of letters and numbers has come from a factory farm. You must realize, and I wish most of America would realize, you cannot ethically and morally treat God’s creatures in the manner in which they are being treated and not expect retribution. It is not ok to cram over 100,000 chickens into a small concrete warehouse, just so that American’s can eat their chicken sandwiches, nuggets, buckets of chicken, and whatever other form chicken is eaten, and expect all to be okay. These animals are going insane at the injustice of it. They never feel dirt, sunshine or have even the simple pleasure of normal food that a chicken would eat. They are treated as if they do not have a soul. Anything that feels love, joy, pain, sorrow, anguish, and fear has a soul. I am sorry, but those are human emotions, and animals feel them.
The World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control are both predicting an epidemic of enormous proportions. What is it going to take for America to wake up and realize we have a problem? Houston, we have a problem! Stop eating them. Stop contributing to the problem. Go Vegan.... and the world will be a better place. You will be healthier, your family will be healthier and you will not have caused any pain or suffering! What a great ‘Godly’ concept!
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