In my last article I told you I would be talking about my diet that helps with my mental health and physical health and as you see in this title, I don’t consume meat. Yes, I know, youre probably thinking “Oh goodness she a vegetarian, she doesn’t eat meat *eye roll*.” Well.. lets get into some of the reasons why I don’t consume meat.

Imagine, you are at a family gathering or a friend’s place for dinner and they cook up this delicious plate with a piece of chicken or steak and for the sides mash potatoes with gravy, corn, cornbread or they have cooked up your favorite dish. Mouthwatering right, dinner is served! It smells wonderful! You start with your first bite. You taste all the flavors that went into those side dishes and that one piece of meat. Now, imagine you are down to your last bite but your stomach is getting full and if you take one more bite you feel like your stomach is about to explode! Well we all know, you still took that last bite anyway (we all do that from time to time, no shame). How do you feel after that delicious meal? Satisfied and very appreciate right? Now tell me, how does your BODY feel? We can all agree not the best. We just finished a heavy meal, we feel sluggish, unable to move, bloated and just sleepy that a nap sounds great right now. I believe we all call that feeling a food coma. After I removed meat from my diet. I’m proud to say, I don’t get that feeling anymore and I DON’T MISS IT. And that’s what helps me refrain from meat. That feeling, I HATED with a passion.

Another reason why I don’t eat meat is how it affects your health. Studies show that both white and red meat consumers get high cholesterol. We all know that high cholesterol can lead to serious health issues. High cholesterol can eventually lead to a blood clot and you will have a high risk of a stroke or cardiac arrest (Which I’m very familiar with). Not something I want to die from. Another study I found interesting is how eating 3 strips of beacon a day can increase a 20% chance of getting bowel cancer. Another eye opening reason that convince me to stop consuming meat is the amount of water used to produce 1 pound of beef. Are y’all ready for this. It requires 1,799 gallons of water for 1 pound of beef. 1 pound! That takes a toll on our environment.

Eggs is another source of high cholesterol. The more you consume eggs the higher the risk of stroke, heart failure, cardiac arrest and premature death. Scary right? Another major reason is how the animals are treated. I’m going to be real brief when it come to this topic.

Pigs. Pigs are confined in small cramped up cages where they are unable to move. When mama pigs give birth they are laid on one side and the piglets are born and live on mama pigs filth. A lot of the times piglets don’t make it. If piglets are to sick, they don’t serve a purpose in the meat industry. So sadly the little creature are slammed to the ground or against a sturdy metal cage and die a slow and painful death and if they are lucky, they die immediately. Chickens are injected with hormones to plump them up faster then their normal growth. Once they are plumped up, unable to support their weight, they are left with no mobility and some have died due to infections, getting stomped on my other chickens and starvation. Chickens are kept in overcrowed conditions where some of them are unable to survive and they probably never had a chance to small fresh air or feel the sunshine. Male chicks, they can’t lay eggs so they are useless to the meat industry. So take a guess to what happens to them… they are torn apart, suffocated in a trash bag or sent to a grinder, all because they can’t lay eggs. Cows… one of the saddest things I’ve researched are how calves are torn apart from there mother. After the mama cow gives birth, a day or almost immediately the baby calves are separated from their mama. Female cows are place in a separate area from mama so they don’t drink the milk and male calves, where do you think they go? That’s right, they are sent straight to the slaughter house. The female calves that are lucky enough to stay with mama are pierced with a nose ring that has spikes so they don’t drink mama’s milk and/or force fed with artificial milk. The meat you consume isn’t always clean either. All these things, I will not support. So I’m glad to removed meat from my diet and I don’t see it returning back.

So here are the reasons why I don’t consume meat. The way the animals are treated is HORRIBLE and the many reason on how it effects your body. A few people in my family have died from stroke and one that passed away from cardiac arrest, that person was close to me and I miss them everyday and I wish I knew what meat does to your body a year or 2 before this person passed away. They could of been alive right now. I will be talking about this person later in the Blog. So there you go folks, I don’t consume meat but do I consume fish? Well, tune in next week to find out.

P.S.: For those of you that keep up with my blog. I was absent last week. Why? Well I have beautiful news to share. My little brother graduated high school! So that whole week I was setting up for his graduation and his graduation celebration. But I’m back now!

Links (WARNING: some videos are gory) https://www.livekindly.com/white-meat-bad-for-you-red-meat/ , https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/well/eat/eggs-cholesterol-heart-health.html , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_vqIGTKuQE , https://youtu.be/7uw5c5kSVr4 , https://youtu.be/QxiYtq8X-ls