vegetarian

[gleameil]

I've been concerned about animal welfare for years and have not done anything about it--to the extent there's an excuse it's that I love meat and dairy and know that one person's diet, without my getting into political activism that's beyond me right now, will make that much of a difference. Possibly I should go vegan and definitely intend to aim for humanely produced dairy until / if I do, but working out a vegan diet is going to take up too much of my time and is risky health-wise to boot.

I would really be interested in my friends' take--ethically and scientifically--on vegetarianism or any animal rights issues. To be very plain--are most species sentient / conscious enough that it matters? My intuition from living around animals for years the way we all have says ABSOLUTELY, but intuition is fallible, and many scientific sources seem to say no. My impression is that we don't know nearly enough yet to have any idea. Why are or aren't you a vegetarian?

If you are lurking on my journal and going to poke up your head and reply, this is the entry to do it on.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/little_e_/]

I have personally ventured all around the animal rights/ethical eating spectrum. I was basically vegetarian for several years, considered veganism for a week, and now eat a diet with a lot of meat in it but have cut down my milk intake (from what it was, anyway.)

Here is the short version:
1. Vegetarianism was not healthy for me. I started skipping periods.
2. Even if I were competent enough to maintain my weight on a vegetarian diet, I wouldn't try at this point, because I honestly don't react well to refined grains. Last time I ate oatmeal, the results were, well, bad.
3. I honestly think that refined grains/sugars are the biggest problem with the American diet, contrary to food pyramid instructions.
4. In general, I think we should take our ancestral human diets as guidance in our foodways. Cows' milk, though it tastes yummy, is probably not really something that adult humans should be eating. Grains of various sorts have been part of the human diet for a long time, but not refined in these quantities. Meat, fish, veggies, nuts, and real fruits have been part of the human diet for longer than there have been humans.
5. In general, I think we could stand to eat a lot more veggies and nuts and organ meats and lot less white meat chicken breast. We Americans probably do eat too much protein, generally speaking.
6. That said, different people will do better on different diets. East-Asians tend to have difficulty digesting wheat and milk, but have no issues with rice. Inuit populations do very well eating meat and fat, and don't handle plants well at all.
7. I have yet to see evidence that people can absorb vitamins as effectively from pills as from food. I have seen what vitamin B12 deficiency does to a person, and I would never risk that. And frankly, I can eat liver first thing in the morning without it making me barf. Can't say the same for my prenatals.

That's the practical end of things. On to the moral.

1. I will eat whatever it takes to be healthy, and will not feel bad about it. I don't begrudge the lion his kill, and the lion doesn't begrudge me mine.
2. Agriculture requires *some* animals. Unless you want to make all of your fertilizer out of oil, you're going to need poop somewhere in the system, and animals can eat parts of the plants that we can't. If you look out at nature, healthy biomes have plants *and* animals, living in balance with each other.
3. Even the harvesting of plants requires the deaths of many animals, from bugs killed by pesticides and tilling, animals displaced by humans using the land, to small creatures killed by combines. A wild-caught fish or free-range animal requires far less killing to bring the same nutrients to your plate.
4. Different climates support different foods. Some places grow corn very efficiently, and eating corn is a good idea there. Other places produce fish, beef, milk, or other products most efficiently. Inefficient land use is bad for both people and the animals who would otherwise live on that land.
5. The most nutritious food, IMO, also involves the most concern for animal (and plant) welfare. Animals kept in healthy, humane environments produce more nutritious products than animals fed feces and kept in a tiny cage for their entire lives.
6. I see nothing wrong with avoiding more intelligent animals like cows and pigs, but don't feel too bad for fish or mollusks or chickens.

In short, I think the healthiest thing for us and the environment is to eat plants and animals which are ethically and sustainably produced under good conditions, with personal and local factors taken into account.

Re:

[yehcuj.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6M_6qOz-yw