Day 97

Thoughts: MEAT

The Earth Diet is about eating only foods grown naturally from the earth, so all fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats. Basically anything processed or touched by human and added chemicals and artificial sugars are off the agenda! To me meats are a natural part of the Earth and I eat chicken and salmon....and Earth loving vegan Carolyn Wagner makes me think twice about eating meat...and I'm now thinking that perhaps once apon a time it was neccesary for us to eat meat, and now with 6 billion people and a crowded polluted planet it's not so appropriate....

"Lets put aside the cruelty that the animal endures and look at yourself. Go on get a mirror. Look in it and smile. Look at those teeth you have. Small and flat aren’t they. Now look at your nails flat. How many legs have you got? Two. Can you camoflage and stalk your prey. So externally we are not designed to hunt. You teeth will not severe the throat of your prey, your nails will never grip and your two legs would never catch them. So no we are not “designed” to eat meat. We are the only species that cooks our meat. Why is this? Because internally we are also not designed for meat. Carnivourous animals have a much shorted digestive tract so that meat can pass through quickly before it putrifies and becomes toxic. They also have a stomach acid concentration that is ten times our own. So we got over that hurdle and use weapons, ovens and silverware to consume this meat. It doesn’t mean that we have evolved and become superior. We merely just created a means for our wants. Mankind also created cigarettes, drugs and alcohol doesn’t mean we should be using them everyday as well because we all know what the studies show regarding excessive consumption of those three. Studies show that countries with higher consumption of meat have higher levels of bowel cancer, heart disease, obeisity and diabetes. So why is it not being targeted like the alcohol and cigarette industries. Because meat, dairy, eggs, leather and wool combined are multi billion dollar industries. It’s about money, greed and consumerism. Putting that aside the meat industry is one of the highest users of water. Suffering a long drought period in Australia we neglect to look at the fact the reducing the consumption of flesh is a massive saver of water. You can use buckets to wash your car and water the garden and take four minute showers but the meat industry uses twice as much water as the grain and rice industries combined. What about the greenhouse gases. The meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than household energy, cars or air travel. A vegan driving a V6 everyday will still have a smaller impact than a meat eater driving a hybrid. Also what about world hunger. We are feeding perfectly good grain and plant foods to livestock that we are going to make meat out of. We could just as easy cut out the middle section here. The amount of grain needed to feed just one cow until it is large enough to be slaughtered is more than enough to feed an entire 3rd world family." Carolyn Wagner.

Challenges: I really do actually enjoy eating chicken and fish, however when I ate them I am not thinking of their teeth and eyes and brains and hearts. I mean I don't kill ants or flies...and yet I eat meat. I definately know that if I had to kill the animal myself I wouldn't eat meat.

Triumphs: Being able to eat a larger amount of food and it actually gives me more energy rather than having to eat less of the processed foods.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Water with lemon. a nectarine. Chocolate balls.

Lunch: Organic green grapes and cherries and lots of them.

Dinner: Avocado...the best and biggest creamiest avocado ever...$5 from the organic shop and totally worth it. And an Avatar fix...hehe yes I went and watched it again!

Dessert: No dessert.

Snacks: No snacks.

Exercise: Run on the beach.

268 Days To Go!!!

SOURCES
Skinny Bitch- Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
But you kill ants- John Waddell
Vegan Freak- Bob Torres and Jenna Torres
Go Vegetarian 6th Edition.
www.savethekangaroo.com
www.peta.org
www.fishinghurts.com
www.animal-lib.org.au
www.vegsoc.org.au

For a free Veg starter kit contact the Vegetarian Vegan society QLD
vegsoc@tpg.com.au
(07) 3300 9320

Or you can phone Animals Australia- 1800 888 584

Check out www.peta.org
Or www.actnowforanimals.com

And now newly opened is a new Vegan Friendly shop. All products are vegan with most products being organic and a range of fair trade products and all cosmetics are on the Cruelty Free list.

THE GREEN EDGE
Shop 3/ 191 Wardell Street
Enoggera QLD 4051
Ph. (07) 3855 5755
www.thegreenedgeonline.com.au

The staff are very friendly and always ready to help with any vegan/ vegetarian queries that you may have.

Alternatively any other questions you may have please email me at Carolyn@veganmail.com

Thanks and I hope you have enjoyed Liana’s vegan week.