*NOT FOR WEAK STOMACHS OR HEARTS*

I'm a Pescetarian of 5 years.

I do not consume pork, poultry, beef & a multitude of other living creatures.
I DO still eat eggs, some varieties of seafood and some dairy.

It has been my experience that people tend to get a little on the defensive side when you open up the subject of consuming flesh. There's this weird all or nothing mentality I come across when folks realize that although I eat mainly vegetarian I'll still eat fish for dinner. I call it the "all or nothing curse".

I choose to abstain from most animal products for environmental and compassionate reasons. But I'll focus on the environmental reasons here...

Every been on a factory farm? I have. I worked in hog barns & caught chickens for slaughter in holding barns when I was a teenager. Thats some pretty gnarly *kitten* right there. Animals weren't meant to live like that. We pump 'em up full of antibiotics to keep disease at bay. Then we stuff some steroids into them to get them bigger faster (cos eventually the antibiotics don't work and they succumb to disease). I don't know about you but I certainly don't want to eat food like that.

A 2007 UN Food report stated that the production of animals for food accounts to more greenhouse emissions than ALL transportation combined. Let's consider the amount of plant based protein (feed) that our livestock must consume in order to get them ready for human consumption. Plant based protein that is already perfectly fine for human consumption. The feed to chicken ratio is 4:1 and feed to beef is even worse at 54:1. This (unprocessed) plant protein could feed the world. A world where 25,000 people die of starvation every day.

Ever thought about how much a cow poops? One cow will let loose 10 tons of manure in a year. Where does that manure go? It doesn't just disappear. It needs to be processed and it can't all be used in environmentally friendly ways. Hog manure is full of ammonia and recent studies in my province (Manitoba) have been pointing at our water shed deterioration over the last several years since our hog industry started booming.


We've all been sold this grand idea that a meal isn't a meal unless there's meat involved. Back in the 50's farms were small mixed crop operations. You had a few dozen chickens, maybe a dozen hogs some mixed crops in your fields. It was all about diversity. Fast forward to today and you have hundreds (sometimes thousands) of chickens under one roof in a single barn in an operation that perhaps has a dozen barns in total. Do you think that this is sustainable farming?


Limiting your meat intake and stopping to think about the environmental impact your food has is worth your time. Bleeding heart compassionate reasons aside, just focus on the stats & numbers side of the argument to go Veg

If you're eating meat. Eat local. Eat organic. But just think about it.

Humans are meant to eat mea

Is that why we have mainly flat teeth for grinding? Evolution would dictate our diet. Our current teeth are not designed for tearing flesh. Even though we've been capable of cooking our food if our diet was destined to be meaty our bodies would have adapted accordingly. You can easily eat a well balanced diet that involves zero meat. I think saying 'humans were designed to eat meat' is kinda baseless considering the mainly flat teeth in your mouth that are there to grind rather then tear.
The biggest land animal is a vegetarian. Elephants

I just watched this and I probably will think twice about eating my lamb tonight but I don’t really think this is the right place for this sort of post, there are allot of people on this site trying to get healthy for themselves and their families and its hard enough without having to feel guilty at the same time. Whilst I would agree with you that people should be aware of the source of their food, I cant help but feel this would be better suited to somewhere like facebook.

I kinda agree here. I mean I am having a hard enough time being able to afford my healthier eating lifestyle and I feel guilty about that fact. Now I need to feel guilty for buying whatever meat I can afford now too?!?! IF i could afford organic or free range I would totally buy it, but I cant, so now I will go in there and eat my eggs whilst feeling like I am some evil person because the poor chicken that laid may or may not have been abused. great.

Thanks for this. It's totally kicked me back into only eating free range, organic meat rather than going along with what my housemates want to do. Still not going to be vegetarian, although tbh I eat like one most days anyway.

Animals dont have feelings so they dont relaly have rights either.

ahem......this is malarkey. baloney. nonsense. etc.

Ask my dog if she would like to go for a walk, and watch her go crazy with excitement. Tell me she doesn't have feelings. Ask her to go outside when it's raining and watch her cower in reluctance. Of course animals have feelings.

Doesn't mean I buy into PETA's shenanigans, and it doesn't mean I'm going veggie, but that statement is so silly.

I totally think animals have feeling, which is why I could never look at an animal and then slaughter it for food...nope couldn't do it, I feel guilty when I go fishing. But if you think about it, that's nature, and it sucks being at the bottom of the food chain. We're the only species that feels guilty about eating another one, I mean, I really doubt the lion feels guilty when it rips away at a baby gazelle, I can't imagine that's a very nice way to die either....

Ex-pure vegetarian, now 95% vegetarian who grew up on a farm and is substantially native american *gasp* speaking. I didn't watch the video, don't really need to. I've been on farms and been on the killing floor in a butchery. I know what happens. Videos like this are propaganda. Many corporate farms are like this - and that's why if you're going to eat meat, you shouldn't support them. Caveat emptor.

Deal with local farmers, and local butchers. They need your money more, and they treat their animals better.

See, small farmers can't afford to treat animals badly. Most of them are a bad season away from being homeless, so they have to get money every way they can. A major source of income for them that many never consider is showing their animals in local/county/state/national fairs. A single prize can be literally thousands of dollars at state fairs; if you show 30-40 animals and even a quarter of them place, you could easily go home with 50,000+ dollars. That's for one singular fair. Many small farmers tour 20-30 fairs a year (at least the farms I worked on growing up). Animals that are abused, mistreated, unhappy, underfed, etc simply don't win prizes. Small farmers, from an economic standpoint, simply can't afford to treat their animals badly. The only ones who can are companies like Tyson, Purdue, Hatfield, etc.

If you don't have access to a local farm, try and buy through a co-op or farmer's market. Same with most animal products.

But I do agree in so much as people need to recognize that something died for their meal. Most people never think of that. Hell, most people don't realize that when they order a dozen wings that they've funded the death of not 1, not 2, but at bare minimum 6 animals. I can justify one animal dying to feed many people. Killing 6-12 animals for one persons meal is gluttonous and disgusting. Just keep in mind what is on your plate and how it got there and recognize it for what it is.

As for comments that animals don't have feelings, they have a central/peripheral nervous system just like you do. Human beings in reality are not actually special. We are "just animals." We're primates. We're mammals (hence women having mammary glands), with fur. Prove that the 'human experience' somehow makes us special, because biologically speaking we're not really that different from every other mammal.

As for perception, pain is most likely the exact same sensation for other animals as it is for us, and fMRI's have shown that to be the case. Pain is a basic alerting system for the living organism, and as such could be considered a pivotal function. It tells you something is wrong and homeostasis has been broken. It cues the release of chemicals such as adrenaline and histamines. If you think animals don't feel pain, then why does an animal with a hurt leg limp, and whimper when applying weight? They feel pain - just like you and me.

In some ways, animals actually sense far more than we do. Dogs and cats can see/hear far outside of our normal spectrum. Fish have arguably the greatest touch senses on earth (their sides are literally one massive nerve based on the lateral line), so you better believe that they feel every single micrometer of that hook going through their cheek.