Tom's Top Ten Reasons For Not Eating Meat!

Got some time? Open to new ideas? OK, then read on.

Let me start by stating what I hope is obvious to those of you who know me. I don't like to shove my opinion down anyone's throat and I don't like it when someone tries to do the same to me. I am usually willing to share an opinion when asked, but I am a “Doubting Thomas” by nature who was born in Missouri, which is the “show me” state and I have always had a “see it for myself” mentality when it comes to formulating an opinion.

That said, here’s the opinion I’ve formulated: “The planet would be a better place if humans did not eat meat.”

There, I said it. On the surface it sounds like a pretty extreme opinion but give me a chance to explain. I guess you could say this is my “Top Ten” reasons for believing that Vegan or RAVE diets have a ton of upside and almost no downside. So feel free to read my “Top Ten” but don’t stop there. Do your own homework, be a “Doubting Thomas”, and formulate your own opinion. Sure, we all hear about our right to “free speech”, but “free thought” is in my opinion the greatest inalienable right that we have.

• Reason #1: Heart Desease (All the cholesterol in animal products is bad for your heart.)
• Reason #2: Cancer (All the chemicals in animal products are known to cause cancer. Once you know that you are, in my opinion, no better than a smoker who continues to smoke even though they know it is going to inevitably kill them.)
• Reason #3: Animal Poop (The FDA acknowledges that there is fecies in the meat we eat. That's why the radiate it. Gross!!)
• Reason #4: Animal Cruelty (The DVD "Eating Plus" is one of many DVDs that show you how the farm industry treats animals. It will break your heart to think you live in such a cruel society. I want no part of it; therefore, I'm not eating meat anymore. Maybe I should do more but it's a start.)
• Reason #5: Water (We all know that the planet is running out of drinking water. But what most don't know is how much drinking water is used to generate a pound of meat. Well check out the information at http://www.foodrevolution.org/facts_quotes.htm#w then ask yourself if that pound of meat you ate last week was worth the 2,500 gallons of water. The answer for me was "no".)
• Reason #6: Weight Loss (I'm hoping this diet will result in some weight loss but this is probably my least confident reason on the list. It makes sense that better food would mean better health, but I think my biggest problem when it comes to food is "volume". My dog Gracie and I have that in common. If you put food down in front of us, we are both going to eat it all!)
• Reason #7: Exercise (According to the McDougall Newsletter (http://www.drmcdougall.com/newsletter/may_june1.html) a meat free diet can cure athritis. Is it true? I don't know. What I do know is that at 47 I can barely roll out of bed most mornings because of all my aches and pains. I can't even imagine how I will feel when I'm 57. I'm already to the point where I'm willing to try anything.)
• Reason #8: Oceans (Did you know that many ocean fish are being harvested to the point of extinction and that most fish that are harvested from the ocean are used to feed farm animals? Yep. So logic dicates that if I stop eating farm animals then the farmers won't need fish so the fishermen won't harvest them, thus the fish population won't be fished to the point of extinction.)
• Reason #9: Rain forests (Did you know that deforestation of rain forests is done to grow grain to feed farm animals? Yep. So not eating meat means less need for farm animals which means less need for farmland for growning grain to feed farm animals. Save a tree. Don't eat meat.)
• Reason #10: Legacy (I don't want my generation to be known as the generation that ruined the planet beyond repair.)

Comments about anything?