I am drawn to talk more and more about my choices in terms on food lately: Why don’t I eat meat for the last 13 years ? My main concern is related to the way the animals are treated, including how they are killed. I want to avoid putting what I qualify as tortured beings in my body.
But lately I am pushed to consider even further than that. It started with all the diseases like mad cow disease, foot an mouth disease, etc… It made me think that maybe Nature intended for us not to consume so much meat.
Then studies started to relate meat consumption with diseases such as Alzheimer, and cancer. Many would explain that the way we feed our cattle is causing damage upwards of the food chain…
2 years ago I was tested for food intolerance and found out that I was intolerant to dairy and eggs… It was devastating news for a French person addicted to cheese like me ! But I read more into it and found out that there are different degrees of intolerance and different kind of dairy products. I also found out that cow milk is probably bad for you, contrarily to all ancient beliefs, it actually is damaging for bone coherence and depletes calcium rather than supporting its absorption : http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/
And then there was this video about how milk cows are treated…https://www.facebook.com/vegetik/videos/1073972219314651/
In the same way, I am mindful of the very little differences between Caged, Non Caged, Free Range, and Organic chicken and eggs : http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/think-you-know-free-range-and-cage-free-chicken-think-again/ and http://www.salon.com/2011/01/20/what_chicken_labels_really_mean/
I saw a truly terrifying video on Facebook of the way cows are killed. It must have been removed because I can’t find it anymore. After seeing this, no one could ever convince me that these poor peaceful loving animals are not tortured… And what gives us the right to slaughter living beings? How are we “better” than them ?
I am not trying to convince anyone to stop eating meat and I am certainly not saying that I am perfect. The fact that I still eat fish and seafood shows some level of hypocrisy in my beliefs… But I just want to make you aware about what you eat. In fact, I really like the Christian’s tradition of giving grace before a meal, it came from paganism by the way.
And I would like to invite you all to be conscious of what you will be made of because all the cells you put in your mouth will either be the resource to make new cells in your body or they will become waste, recycled.
Here is a meditation from Thich Nhat Hanh on how to eat mindfully which helped me understand and be more aware : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxE9g5iVf74
I invite you to try… And share your experience and opinion on the matter in the comments.
