"Be Happy - Eat Veggies!"
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For the Animals
For the Animals
This is probably the most motivating part of being Plant Based for me. Knowing about the immense torture that food animals endure yet living in a society that celebrates food made from animals, makes me want to continue to spread the word about the emotional, environmental and health benefits of eating plant-based.
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I often find myself in situations where meat is served. Sometimes people apologize for eating meat in front of me or will make comments about the meat on the table. It never bothers me and I'd really rather not even have these comments said. I don't like people making accommodations for me or feeling bad when there is nothing that I will eat.
Not eating pigs, cows, turkeys etc. and dairy is my choice and certainly not something that I would push on people or wish for them to feel bad about. I was a meat-eater for 25 years. In fact, I probably consumed my weight in dairy weekly at one point. So who am I to judge or criticize?
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We live in a meat-centric world. The concept of being vegan or plant-based is so foreign to people as they just can't even fathom the thought of avoiding 6 items of food (yes, only 6–dairy, pork, turkey, chicken, beef, fish). It is not usually until they have a health event or they are exposed to the atrocities of animal food production that they either make a change or move more towards plant-based.
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One thing I will say though is that being plant-based is easy. Truly it is! Letting go of 6 foods opens you up to thousands of other foods you might not have tried. It's not deprivation it's an exploration and it's so fun.
Do I miss meat? Nope! do I miss dairy? Not for a second. I like feeling energized, and healthy and I don't want to go back to feeling constipated and foggy. I don't miss that!
“Forget the pig is an animal—treat him just like a machine in a factory.”
- Hog Farm Management journal
Pigs:
We kill about 1.4 billion pigs a year.. Yes, you read that right....billion!
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Almost all factory farmed pigs spend their entire lives confined in crowded indoor conditions and never once set foot outside.
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The lifecycle of a food pig:
When they are born their tails are cut off, they are castrated, ears are notched and their sharp teeth are clipped–all without anesthesia. They are then stuffed in a crate they cannot turn around in and spend their entire life eating, shitting and sleeping in that crate. I like the accomodations to imagine sitting in a plane seat your entire life. Although that is actually much more luxurious.
At 6 months they take a torturous ride to a slaughterhouse. Sometimes the trucks are so hot they pass out from heat exhaustion and sometimes they are so cold they shiver in pain or die from hypothermia.
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Once at the slaughterhouse they are stunned and hung from their leg. They move on a conveyor belt (alive) and are bled out, then scalded and then their head is removed. They move along on the conveyor until they are completely dismembered.
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Did you know...? Pigs are smarter than dogs1
Pigs are actually considered one of the most intelligent animals in the world following chimps, dolphins, and elephants—even more intelligent than dogs. Watch The Joy of Pigs
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For me, pigs are the hardest things to watch people eat. Mostly becaue I tend to see so much waste - hot dogs, pizza, pork butt, hams all seem to end up in the trash after parties and it breaks my heart.
Chickens
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Egg Laying Hens
Male Chicks/Chickens
In our country alone 300 million male chicks, just hours old, are killed. Seven billion chicks globally. The reason is that they are unprofitable because they are unable to lay eggs. Below are the five ways they are killed shortly after hatching.
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Suffocation: They are put into plastic bags and then left to gasp for air until they die.
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Electrocution: On a table where an electrical current runs
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Cervical Dislocation: Factory workers decapitate the baby chicks one at a time.
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Gassing: which is extremely painful to birds. Newborn chicks lungs burn until they lose consciousness and die.
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Maceration: Chicks fall into a grinder, which shreds the baby birds alive with metal blades. This is the primary method in the US.
TO BE CONTINUED
Turkeys + Ducks:
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Dairy Cows:
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Fish:
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Beef Cows:
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