Though much of my childhood is a distant memory, I clearly remember never connecting the fact that the chicken I would eat with my meals came from an actual chicken. I somehow conjured up the idea that this meat would miraculously show up on my plate from thin air, easily and harmlessly. Since then, my ideals have changed quite a bit. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 13 years old, removing all meat from my diet and just recently crossed over to veganism about 3 months ago, excluding all meat or animal products from my diet. How did this drastic change in diet come to fruition? Six years ago, my brother showed me a documentary called Earthlings. Although it initially seemed like a ploy to convert meat-eaters to adopt a plant-based lifestyle, the documentary revealed itself to be so much more than that. Earthlings opened my eyes by bringing forth the idea that we should not only consider all humans equal regardless of race, ideology, or sex, but all species inhabiting the Earth our equals. Man or creature, we all exist on this planet and share it as our home; no one species is worth more than another. After watching the documentary, I realized the process to get our meat seemed more inhumane than it was efficient. The pillow I was lying on quickly became soaked with tears as I witnessed the torture these animals endured just so we could enjoy a hamburger. I never made the connection as a child to the meat I was eating because our society has been conditioned to eat meat without questioning where it comes from. I was horrified and enlightened all at once and that day I made the switch to a meatless diet.
As someone who is so strongly rooted in a vegan lifestyle, I forget what it's like to have meat as a part of my diet and why people feel so compelled to eat it. When you believe in something passionately, it's important to research and not lose sight of the other side; so, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to explore the pros and cons of a meatless diet vs. an omnivorous one.
When considering the argument for eating meat, one of the main points that appeared in my research was the idea that humans have been eating meat since the beginning of our existence. In an excerpt from world renowned Czech-Canadian scientist Vaclav Smil’s book Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Human Carnivory, Smil claims that our body is designed to eat meat and over time, “our enzymes evolved to digest meat whose consumption aided higher encephalization and better physical growth” (Smil). Encephalization, or the ratio between the size of an animal’s brain in relation to its body, directly correlates to an animal’s level of intelligence. Eating meat contributes to this increased size in brain matter because of the “high-quality proteins [found] in meat-containing diets” (Smil). Not only does eating meat contribute to our mind chemically, but sociologically as well. The event of hunting has contributed to the development of human beings as a social species, specifically “the development of language and of capacities for planning, cooperation and socializing in particular” (Smil). We owe it to hunting and the roles that come from it for humans’ ability to work together and communicate.
While Smil’s argument is strong and impressive, I was not convinced wholeheartedly. The foundation of my meatless diet is ethical and concerns the meat industry as a giant corporation that oversees genocide. It does blow my mind that something as rudimentary and primitive as hunting helped create verbal communication when none of the kind existed. However, this argument is outdated, mainly backing up our development as functioning human beings from thousands of years ago. Now that we have evolved, it does not matter what we ate to get to this point. We have more options of foodstuffs to choose from that offer the same benefits. Per the Journal of the American Dietic Association, diets void of animal products “lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels, and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes[,]…body mass index (BMI) and overall cancer rates” (1267). Not only that, but this step forward in our development as a species could not be exclusive to hunting; the communication and cooperation that we developed through hunting also developed while gathering nuts, fruits and vegetables. The two go hand in hand, hence the term “hunter-gatherer”.
After considering the history of meat eating, I decided I needed to find the health benefits of a diet including meat. According to a review by Brighid O’Neill from Bioscience Horizons, compared to meat eaters, “vegans consume less zinc, protein, calcium, fat, (including saturated fat), cholesterol and B12” (198). All these factors are vital to a person’s health and overall wellbeing. Zinc protects the body from sickness, calcium helps build strong bones and B12 is a key player in brain and nervous system health. When these levels are out of line, the body will notice and start to cry out for help. For example, a lack of vitamin B12 can cause anemia, a disease that occurs when there is a lack of red blood cells in the body inducing weakness, fatigue, paleness, and shortness of breath. This made sense to me, the last blood test I took revealed that I had a lack of B12 supply in my blood and I have been taking supplements ever since.
However, per PubMed.gov, “numerous studies have demonstrated that [these] observed deficiencies are usually due to poor meal planning” and if there is structure and balance, meatless diets are “appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, the elderly and competitive athletes” (Leitzmann). This was a pivotal point in my research. Although I’ve always loved the idea of raising my future children without any animal products in their diet, raising children on a vegetarian or vegan diet is extremely controversial. It’s one thing to make that choice for yourself, it’s another thing to make that choice for your child. After reading on pcrm.org (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) that vegan and vegetarian diets are “rich in complex carbohydrates, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals [and] form the foundation for dietary habits that support a lifetime of health” (Bertron), it was clear to me that this future is acceptable and will be possible.
With further research, I found that a meatless diet does not only affect physical health, but psychological health. The Huffington Post reported that a study published in 2012 by the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietics stated that “women suffering from eating disorders are four times more likely to be vegetarian than women without eating disorders” (Jeltsen). I know several vegetarians who suffer or have suffered from eating disorders and it’s easy to hide an already existing lack of eating behind another dietary restriction. If someone is offered a hamburger and it is denied because said someone is a vegetarian, that is much easier to explain than having no reason at all. This does not only exist among women, my brother suffered from anorexia while he was a vegetarian in his teenage years. He would leave most of the food on his plate at dinner, maybe eating the broccoli or zucchini.
Although I’ve witnessed this relationship between meatless diet and eating disorders firsthand, this does not mean that vegetarianism/veganism directly causes eating disorders. In fact, in the same article by The Huffington Post, dietician Vanessa Kane-Alves confirms that “the research doesn’t argue vegetarianism causes eating disorders, or is unhealthy… [but] a symptom of an eating disorder for some women” (Jeltsen). I’ve also witnessed eating disorders being overcome by healthier lifestyle choices like vegetarianism/veganism. My brother Noel has fully recovered from his battle with anorexia and in his case, he used vegetarianism to combat his disorder. After graduating from FIU with a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, he now focuses on health and recovery through plant-based lifestyle and often tells me that he could never imagine eating meat again.
In the same vein, plant-based diets can also positively affect psychological health. In a study by Nutritional Neuroscience, omnivores, vegetarians and vegans were lined up in a bar graph comparing depression, anxiety and stress levels among the three groups. Omnivores had the highest levels of all three, proving that “increasing restriction of animal foods (e.g. going from vegetarian to vegan) is associated with improved mood” (294). I can attest to that because ever since becoming vegan, I've been the happiest I've ever felt with an increase of energy and purity. Not only am I putting clean foods into my body, but I live life knowing that I’m making a difference and contributing to a greater cause, helping animals and the environment.
Then I had a thought: How exactly does a meatless diet affect the environment? I always assumed that being a vegetarian or vegan would decrease my carbon footprint, but I never thought about its possible negative impacts on the environment. The results I found shocked me. According to an article by The Washington Post from 2015, a research paper from Carnegie Mellon University states that “diets recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which include more fruits and vegetables and less meat, exacts a greater environmental toll than the typical American diet… increas[ing] energy use by 38 percent, water use by ten percent and greenhouse gas emissions by six percent” (Whoriskey). I wasn’t sure how that could possibly make sense, especially when this same article admits that “the nation’s intake of beef has significant environmental ramifications, particularly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions” and that “six other studies, all cited by the federal committee providing expert advice to Dietary Guidelines for Americans, indicated that diets including less meat are better for the environment” (Whoriskey). However, when taking into consideration specific food items and their individual impact on the environment, the evidence is clear. A chart with how many lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions produced per 1,000 calories of foods was included in the The Washington Post article. I found that although shellfish and beef were at the top of the chart, head lettuce followed closely behind and after lamb came romaine/leaf lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, celery, bell peppers and tomatoes. The fact that lettuce produces nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions as beef was eye-opening and made me think extensively about my vegetable consumption, realizing all the foods that I thought were helping the environment were actually harming it.
While this point was strong, I could not forget the reason I became a vegetarian then vegan in the first place: the animals’ wellbeing and the ethics behind it. I cannot erase what I saw documented in Earthlings, animals being slaughtered and even laughed at by the slaughterhouse workers. Many people believe that it is enough to simply eat “cage-free” or “free-range” meat, but these terms are not at all as pleasant as they seem. Per upc-online.org, the only thing that qualifies meat as being free-range is “if they have government certified access to the outdoors. The door may be open for only five minutes and the farm still qualifies as ‘free-range’” (Davis). Meat industries will do anything they can to get customers on their side, including a direct appeal to pathos. If someone believes that they are contributing to an animal’s longevity while still getting to eat its meat, they’ll pay extra money to do so. Little do they know that these so-called cage-free “hens are grabbed upside down by their legs, thrown into transport trucks like garbage, and hauled to slaughter the same as battery-caged hens at extremely young ages” (Davis). These facts are not the kind I can live with just to be able to eat chicken nuggets.
After much research and comparison of the two lifestyles, I have indeed gained a greater understanding of both sides, but ultimately hold the same position on the matter. Most arguments in favor of omnivorous diets were easily canceled out and resolved; any lack of vitamins and essential nutrients can be restored with natural supplements or an increase in health consciousness. Additionally, any pros that come with veganism greatly outweigh those that come with eating meat. Most people don’t fully understand this lifestyle choice and assume that I am torturing myself on purpose, missing out on all the amazing food life offers. Because of its ethical impact and health benefits, I still plan on being a vegan till the day I die. It’s become a part of my who I am and I don’t plan on stripping myself of that identity any time soon.