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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:30 pm
Frequently Asked Questions
♥ What is a vegetarian? A vegetarian is someone who does not eat the meat of any animal – and yes, that includes fish, shellfish, poultry, and so on. A vegetarian also would not consume gelatin, which is made from ground up animal bones.
There are several different types of vegetarians: ♥ Lacto-ovo vegetarian: a vegetarian who consumes eggs and dairy along with a plant-based diet. ♥ Lacto vegetarian: a vegetarian who consumes dairy products along with a plant-based diet, but does not eat eggs. ♥ Ovo vegetarian: a vegetarian who consumes eggs along with a plant-based diet, but does not eat dairy products.
♥ What is a vegan? A vegan is someone who does not consume or use any animal products. A vegan will not eat any meat, dairy products, eggs, honey, or foods containing vitamins from animal sources. A vegan will also not wear fur, leather, silk, wool, & pearls, or use any products with animal ingredients.
♥ What's the deal with protein? Contrary to popular belief, you can have a vegetarian or vegan diet and get enough protein. In fact, the average American consumes too much protein. Most people need 45-55 grams of protein a day – depending on weight, age, gender, and level of physical activity. Compared to other nutrients, the amount of protein needed is small. Carbohydrates, the most important nutrient and energy source, should contribute to about 60% of your daily caloric intake. For most people, that's anywhere from 285-375 grams, again depending on a range of factors.
There are plenty of protein sources available to vegetarians and vegans. In fact, just about everything we eat contains some protein. However, beans, tofu, soy milk, tempeh, seitan, nuts, brown rice, soy products, and even bread are good sources of protein.
♥ I heard being vegetarian/vegan is bad for your health. Is this true? Absolutely not! Any diet can be bad for you when not balanced, but a balanced vegetarian/vegan diet actually provides many health benefits. Vegetarians and vegans live an average of ten years longer than herbivores and suffer lower risks of heart disease, obesity, and even cancer.
♥ Why in the world would somebody want to become vegetarian/vegan? ♥ Concern for animals: Many vegetarians and vegans adapt their diet because they strongly oppose animal cruelty – from the conditions dairy animals and egg hens experience to the slaughter of animals for meat. ♥ Concern for the environment: To get one pound of meat, an animal must consume 7-8 pounds of grain. Some believe the grain animals are being fed should be used for starving and malnourished people instead. It also takes a toll on the environment's resources and health. ♥ Religion: Some faiths advocate vegetarianism. An extreme example would be Jainists, who are vegans and wear masks to prevent themselves from breathing in insects. Hindus believe that not eating meat improves their karmic standing, while some Buddhists adapt vegetarianism as part of their nonviolent beliefs. ♥ Health benefits: As mentioned before, a properly balanced vegetarian or vegan diet offers many health benefits.
♥ What's wrong with eggs and dairy products? Laying hens and dairy cows aren't treated much better than animals that are slaughtered for meat. I'll go into more detail later.
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:31 pm
More about laying hens "The 340 million chickens raised for their eggs, called “laying hens” by the industry, endure a nightmare that lasts for two years. A large portion of each hen’s beak is cut off with a burning-hot blade, and no painkillers are used. Many birds, unable to eat because of the pain, die from dehydration and weakened immune systems. After enduring these mutilations, hens are shoved into tiny wire “battery” cages, which measure roughly 18 by 20 inches and hold five to 11 hens (McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Safeway allow a maximum of five birds per cage), each of whom have a wingspan of 32 inches. Even in the best scenario (five hens to a cage), each hen will spend the rest of her life crowded in a space about the size of a file drawer with four other hens, unable to lift even a single wing.
Battery cages are stacked on top of each other, and excrement constantly falls onto the birds in the lower cages and into huge manure pits that line the sheds. The stench of ammonia and feces hangs heavy in the air, and disease runs rampant in the filthy, cramped sheds. Many birds die, and survivors are often forced to live with their dead and dying cagemates, who are left to rot. The light in the sheds is constantly manipulated in order to maximize egg production. Periodically, for two weeks at a time, the hens are only fed reduced-calorie feed. This process induces an extra laying cycle.
Male chicks are worthless to the egg industry, so every year, millions of them are tossed into trash bags to suffocate or are thrown into high-speed grinders called macerators while they are still alive.
After two years in these conditions, the hens’ bodies are exhausted, and their egg production drops.
These “spent” hens are shipped to slaughterhouses, where their fragile legs are snapped into shackles and their throats are cut. By the time they are sent to slaughter, roughly 29 percent of the hens are suffering from broken bones resulting from neglect and rough treatment. Their emaciated bodies are so damaged that their flesh can generally be used only for chicken noodle soup, companion-animal food, or “canned, boned, and diced” meat, much of which goes to the National School Lunch Program (these purchases are in jeopardy, however, as students have been injured by accidentally swallowing bone fragments)." – goveg.org
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:32 pm
More about dairy cows "The 9 million cows living on dairy farms in the United States spend most of their lives in large sheds or on feces-caked mud lots, where disease is rampant. Cows raised for their milk are repeatedly impregnated. Their babies are taken away so that humans can drink the milk intended for the calves. When their exhausted bodies can no longer provide enough milk, they are sent to slaughter and ground up for hamburgers.
Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do: to nourish their babies. In order to force the animals to continue giving milk, factory farmers impregnate them using artificial insemination every year. Calves are generally taken from their mothers within a day of being born—males are destined for veal crates, and females are sentenced to the same fate as their mothers.
Mother cows on dairy farms can often be seen searching and calling for their calves long after they have been separated. Author Oliver Sacks, M.D., wrote of a visit that he and cattle expert Dr. Temple Grandin made to a dairy farm and of the great tumult of bellowing that they heard when they arrived: “‘They must have separated the calves from the cows this morning,’ Temple said, and, indeed, this was what had happened. We saw one cow outside the stockade, roaming, looking for her calf, and bellowing. ‘That’s not a happy cow,’ Temple said. ‘That’s one sad, unhappy, upset cow. She wants her baby. Bellowing for it, hunting for it. She’ll forget for a while, then start again. It’s like grieving, mourning—not much written about it. People don’t like to allow them thoughts or feelings.’”
After their calves are taken from them, mother cows are hooked up, several times a day, to machines that take the milk intended for their babies. Using genetic manipulation, powerful hormones, and intensive milking, factory farmers force cows to produce about 10 times as much milk as they naturally would.5 Animals are pumped full of bovine growth hormone (BGH), which contributes to painful inflammation of the udder known as “mastitis.” (BGH is used throughout the U.S., but has been banned in Europe and Canada because of concerns over human health and animal welfare.) According to the industry’s own figures, between 30 and 50 percent of dairy cows suffer from mastitis, an extremely painful condition.
A cow’s natural lifespan is 25 years, but cows used by the dairy industry are killed after only four or five years. An industry study reports that by the time they are killed, nearly 40 percent of dairy cows are lame because of the filth, intensive confinement, and the strain of constantly being pregnant and giving milk. Dairy cows are turned into soup, companion animal food, or low-grade hamburger meat because their bodies too “spent” to be used for anything else.
Veal – a byproduct of the dairy industry Male calves—“byproducts” of the dairy industry—are generally taken from their mothers when they are less than 1 day old. The calves are then put into dark, tiny crates, where they are kept almost completely immobilized so that their flesh stays tender. The calves are fed a liquid diet that is low in iron and has little nutritive value in order to make their flesh white. This heinous treatment makes the calves ill, and they frequently suffer from anemia, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Frightened, sick, and alone, these calves are killed after only a few months of life. “Veal” is the flesh of a tortured, sick baby cow, and a byproduct of the milk industry.
All adult and baby cows, whether raised for their flesh or their milk, are eventually shipped to a slaughterhouse and killed." - goveg.org
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:33 pm
Chickens "More than 9 billion chickens raised on factory farms each year in the U.S. never have the chance to do anything that is natural to them. They will never even meet their parents, let alone be raised by them. They will never take dust baths, feel the sun on their backs, breathe fresh air, roost in trees, or build nests.
Chickens raised for their flesh, called “broilers” by the chicken industry, spend their entire lives in filthy sheds with tens of thousands of other birds, where intense crowding and confinement lead to outbreaks of disease. They are bred and drugged to grow so large so quickly that their legs and organs can’t keep up, making heart attacks, organ failure, and crippling leg deformities common. Many become crippled under their own weight and eventually die because they can’t reach the water nozzles. When they are only 6 or 7 weeks old, they are crammed into cages and trucked to slaughter.
Birds exploited for their eggs, called “laying hens” by the industry, are crammed together in wire cages where they don’t even have enough room to spread a single wing. The cages are stacked on top of each other, and the excrement from chickens in the higher cages constantly falls on those below. The birds have part of their sensitive beaks cut off so that they won’t peck each other as a result of the frustration created by the unnatural confinement. After their bodies are exhausted and their production drops, they are shipped to slaughter, generally to be turned into chicken soup or cat or dog food because their flesh is too bruised and battered to be used for much else.
Because the male chicks of egg-laying breeder hens are unable to lay eggs and are not bred to produce excessive flesh for the meat industry, they are killed. Every year, more than 100 million of these young birds are ground up alive or tossed into bags to suffocate.
Chickens are slammed into small crates and trucked to the slaughterhouse through all weather extremes. Hundreds of millions suffer from broken wings and legs from rough handling, and millions die from the stress of the journey.
At the slaughterhouse, their legs are snapped into shackles, their throats are cut, and they are immersed in scalding hot water to remove their feathers. Because they have no federal legal protection (birds are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act), most are still conscious when their throats are cut open, and many are literally scalded to death in the feather-removal tanks after missing the throat cutter." – goveg.org
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:34 pm
Cows "In the U.S., more than 41 million of these sensitive animals suffer and die for the meat and dairy industries every year. When they are still very young, cows are burned with hot irons (branding), their testicles are ripped out of their scrotums (castration), and their horns are cut or burned off—all without painkillers. Once they have grown big enough, they are sent to massive, muddy feedlots to be fattened for slaughter or to dairy farms, where they will be repeatedly impregnated and separated from their calves until their bodies give out and they are sent to die.
Cattle raised for beef are usually born in one state, fattened in another, and slaughtered in yet another. They are transported hundreds of miles in all weather extremes to the slaughterhouse. Many cows die on the way to slaughter, and those who survive are shot in the head with a bolt gun, hung up by their legs, and taken onto the killing floor, where their throats are cut and they are skinned. Some cows remain fully conscious throughout the entire process—according to one slaughterhouse worker, in an interview with the Washington Post, 'they die piece by piece.'" – goveg.org
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:35 pm
Fish "Fish farming, or “aquaculture,” has become a billion-dollar industry, and more than 30 percent of all the sea animals consumed each year are now raised on these “farms.” The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the aquaculture industry is growing three times faster than land-based animal agriculture, and fish farms will surely become even more prevalent as our natural fisheries become exhausted.
Aquafarms can be based on land or in the ocean. Land-based farms raise thousands of fish in ponds, pools, or concrete tanks. Ocean-based aquafarms are situated close to shorelines, and fish in these farms are packed into net or mesh cages. All fish farms are rife with pollution, disease, and suffering, regardless of their location.
Aquafarms squander resources—it can take 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce just 1 pound of farmed fish—and pollute the environment with tons of fish feces, antibiotic-laden fish feed, and diseased fish carcasses.
Fish on aquafarms spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy enclosures, and many suffer from parasitic infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries. Conditions on some farms are so horrendous that 40 percent of the fish may die before farmers can kill and package them for food. In short, fish farms bring suffering and ecological devastation everywhere they go." - fishinghurts.com
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:36 pm
Pigs "Most people rarely have the opportunity to interact with these outgoing, sensitive animals because 97 percent of pigs in United States today are raised on factory farms. These pigs spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy warehouses, under constant stress from the intense confinement and denied everything that is natural to them.
As piglets, they are taken away from their mothers when they are less than 1 month old; their tails are cut off, some of their teeth are cut off, and the males have their testicles ripped out of their scrotums (castration), all without any pain relief. They spend their entire lives in overcrowded pens on a tiny slab of filthy concrete.
Breeding sows spend their entire miserable lives in tiny metal crates where they can't even turn around. Shortly after giving birth, they are once again forcibly impregnated. This cycle continues for years until their bodies finally give out and they are sent to be killed. When the time comes for slaughter, these smart and sensitive animals are forced onto transport trucks that travel for many miles through all weather extremes—many die of heat exhaustion in the summer and arrive frozen to the inside of the truck in the winter.
According to industry reports, more than 1 million pigs die in transport each year, and an additional 420,000 are crippled by the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse. Many are still fully conscious when they are immersed in scalding water for hair removal." - goveg.org
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:37 pm
Turkeys "They will be killed when they are only 5 or 6 months old, and during their short lives, they will be denied even the simplest pleasures, like running, building nests, and raising their young.
Like chickens, the 300 million turkeys raised and killed for their flesh every year in the United States have no federal legal protection. Thousands of turkeys are crammed into filthy sheds after their beaks and toes are burned off with a hot blade. Many suffer heart failure or debilitating leg pain, often becoming crippled under the weight of their genetically manipulated and drugged bodies. When the time comes for slaughter, they are thrown into transport trucks, and when they arrive at the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut and their feathers burned off—often while they are still fully conscious." – goveg.org
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:38 pm
Ducks and geese "While most people don’t think of ducks and geese when discussing cruelty to farmed animals, these birds are severely abused by the meat and foie gras industries. Ducks and geese raised for their flesh spend their entire lives crammed in dirty, dark sheds where they suffer from injury and disease and are deprived of everything that is natural to them.
Ducks and geese raised for foie gras endure the pain of having a pipe shoved down their throats three times daily so that two pounds of grain can be pumped into their stomachs to produce the diseased “fatty liver” that some diners consider a delicacy. Foie gras production has been deemed cruel and inhumane by experts worldwide, including the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare.2 The state of California recently passed a law banning foie gras because the production methods are so cruel.
If you want to help these birds, feeding the wild ones in the park isn’t the best thing that you can do for them, refusing to eat the flesh and livers of their tortured cousins is. Be sure to ask your friends to boycott foie gras and duck meat as well." – goveg.org
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:39 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:53 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:01 pm
Everyone, no matter how Wicked, is capable of love. I'm sorry if you weren't done posting. Please delete it, if you weren't. I'd just like to say that I've been thinking a lot lately about becoming a vegetarian. Unfortunately, my mother forbids me to. She gives me excuses about it being unhealthy, and other nonsense like that. I literally cried reading this, and I'm glad that you posted. In years to come, I'll try my best....but until I'm eighteen I can't do much about it.
"She opened the letter with a shaking hand. It read: My Dearest, you will never fly solo."
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:57 pm
Xx-Glinda the Good-xX Everyone, no matter how Wicked, is capable of love. I'm sorry if you weren't done posting. Please delete it, if you weren't. I'd just like to say that I've been thinking a lot lately about becoming a vegetarian. Unfortunately, my mother forbids me to. She gives me excuses about it being unhealthy, and other nonsense like that. I literally cried reading this, and I'm glad that you posted. In years to come, I'll try my best....but until I'm eighteen I can't do much about it.
"She opened the letter with a shaking hand. It read: My Dearest, you will never fly solo."  I became vegetarian when I wasn't 18 and my parents hate it, but they weren't allowed to stop me. D'x It's your right to eat what you want to. And yeah, you see a lot of vegetarians that aren't healthy, but that's their fault, not yours.
It's only unhealthy when you don't take the proper supplements, such as Omega-3, protein supplments/soy/beans, Vita-mixes (B + others) and calcium. Sometimes I forget to take them, but I'm pretty healthy. And no junk food D<, even if it has no traces or gelatin or animal fat, etc.
However, if it's better for family life, I would wait. Normally I don't encourage people to become vegetarian because there are a lot more important things I put above animals. x'D And I don't preach. I like animals better than humans, but I'd rather save a human first.
But that's me. Otherwise, being vegetarian is pretty good for you if you know what you're doing. =)
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Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:44 pm
I've been brought up a vegetarian, and when my friends ask why I'm one I have to tell them thats all I've ever known. They try to throw the moral stuff at me about not wanting to hurt the baby animals, but to be honest, I don't really care about people eating animals as we've done that throughout history, we're top of the food chain right? Although I do plan on trying meat, I see no need to change my diet as I'm perfectly healthy as it is :]
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 8:55 pm
Butterflyz Spirit I've been brought up a vegetarian, and when my friends ask why I'm one I have to tell them thats all I've ever known. They try to throw the moral stuff at me about not wanting to hurt the baby animals, but to be honest, I don't really care about people eating animals as we've done that throughout history, we're top of the food chain right? Although I do plan on trying meat, I see no need to change my diet as I'm perfectly healthy as it is :] I agree. We ARE on the top of the food chain. People often ask the reason I'm veggie and I often throw stupid reasons at them...but honestly, it's just a matter of choice, so in the end, the "why" doesn't really matter.
It's probably why I'd never even TRY to convince another person to be vegetarian/vegan.
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