Are any of you not vegetarians?

Store bought meat is pretty bad. I like to hunt and fish for my own.

 

I can't be a vegetarian for health reasons. (Underweight and taking medications that take the iron out of me) I also believe that we couldn't have evolved without being meat eaters. But all that aside I respect people who are vegetarians and wish them well on their journeys.

 

though it is true that meats and fish do give alot of things that first of hey only have and secondly we always need. but there are plenty of suppliments and alternatives to eating meta that will give you same substinence.
peace

 

hell yes man thats the way to do it. take straight from great mother earth and be thankful
peace

 

ya know i do respect other peoples rights and choices not to eat meat. I choose to with every meal and i mean every meal there is some type of meat on the table. I am a cattle rancher and a farmer. What i do get all pissed off about is all these people that say you have to go vegan or whatever meat is evil. what the hell ever i will garuntee that nine out of ten of them people have never been on a good working ranch out here in south dakota where they roam in pastures. If you beileve that the cows are taken so much corn away from other people and all that that is bullshit. there is pleanty of corn to spread out and to feed to the calves in the feedlots or what have ya. And for all you pleople that say that the cows or the ethenal plants are running up the corn prices and that is why the food in the grocery stores are so high you are apsolutly all wrong. The reason that food is so high in the stores is because of the hike in gas and deislell prices. How do you think the stuff gets to the stores, hmmmmm oh ya semi trucks. They run on deisle and the trucker is not going to eat that extra money put in at the pump he will pass it on then they will pass it on to us consumers. Sorr about all the bad gramer but this shit realllly pisses me off to no end. WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!!

 

Those facts are spun. I'll just examine one of your points and break it down.

*(2) One pound of meat costs about 1500 gallons of water to produce.*

- What kind of feed is the animal getting? Different plants have different water requirements. Free-ranging on grass is dif. than growing corn.
- How much energy is used getting the water?
- What kind of animals is "meat"? Different animals have different water requirements.
- How big is the sample size? What exactly is the sample?

Those are only a couple things you should consider. When people sling you statistics like this you can't just believe em. You gotta ask questions.

Vegetarianism isn't the answer. Balance is.

Sure, energy is "wasted" as you go up the food chain. But if you used ur brain u'd realize that this applies to ALL of life. Start at the sun. This "waste" is an integral part to the balance of the universe.

 

This statistic has always baffled me, because I cannot figure how such a excessive ammount of water could be used.

Take a beef steer that weighs 1200 pounds. That steer will produce approximately 400 pounds of dressed beef.

The steer will be ready for slaughter in around 900 days and said steer will need an average of about 15 gallons of water per day.

So the steer will need 13,500 gallons of water to get it to slaughter and if you yield 400 pound of beef that comes to 33.50 gallons of water per pound.

 

That's what I'm saying.

It's like, what is their definition of "production"? Are they taking into account the water intake of workers, bovine perspiration in the deserts, or what?

People just take these stats as truth and go "OMG I need to change the world!! I've been reborn a vegetarian; repent you flesh eaters!". They don't understand the balance of nature, or even these statistics.

Just like when the government says "Drink 11 cups of water a day" or w/e. Is this based off the food guide pyramid? Or what about the fact that most people don't eat fresh hydrating foods? People don't use their brains, they just jump on the bandwagon.

Threads like this pretty much disgust me.

 

are you including the water needed to raise corn or grain to then be fed to the steer?

 

No, so good point. But I believe that most feed corn produced in the us is dry farmed. At least that was what I found in the year I lived in the middle of corn and soybeans in the midwest US.

 

HippiehillBillie

Those stats are not bullshit.

Factory farming is completely different than the way you raise the animals. I am an environmental studies graduate and the statistics for that are just about right.

She did not even mention the amount of oil(fuel) it takes to complete the process of growth and butchering.

You can probably imagine now then that the main reason those stats are the way they are, is largely to do with inefficient systems that waste large amounts of fuel/feed/water.

Those stats are definitely spot on and reflect in entirety the nature of the situation.

As for you rebellious spirits, may you find your way over to 'google scholar' and research the effects of a meat based diet and the risk of cancer. I know what I know and I feel much better now that I only eat the rare fish here and there.

Here is but a quick search that said 'Diet and Cancer'

Am J Epidemiol 2003; 157:434-445.
Copyright © 2003 by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Heterocyclic Amines, Meat Intake, and Association with Colon Cancer in a Population-based Study
L. M. Butler1,, R. Sinha2, R. C. Millikan3, C. F. Martin3,4, B. Newman5, M. D. Gammon3, A. S. Ammerman6 and R. S. Sandler3,4

1 Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC.
2 Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD.
3 Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
4 Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
5 School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
6 Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

The authors examined the association between colon cancer and meat intake categorized by level of doneness, cooking method, and estimated levels of heterocyclic amines (HCAs), benzo[a]pyrene, and mutagenicity. Data were collected as part of a population-based, case-control study of colon cancer in North Carolina between 1996 and 2000 that included 701 African-American (274 cases, 427 controls) and 957 White (346 cases, 611 controls) participants. Odds ratios were calculated by using unconditional logistic regression, comparing the fifth to the first quintile levels of intake or exposure. Intake of red meat was positively associated with colon cancer (odds ratio (OR) = 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3, 3.2). Associations with meat intake by cooking method were strongest for pan-fried red meat (OR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.4, 3.0). Associations with meat intake by doneness were strongest for well-/very well done red meat (OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.5). The strongest association for individual HCAs was reported for 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (DiMeIQx) across all levels of exposure, with odds ratios of 1.8–2.0. Overall, sophisticated exposure measures were used to report modest, positive associations between red meat intake and colon cancer consistent with the hypothesis that HCAs may be among the etiologically relevant compounds in red meat.

 

It takes water to produce the meal that is fed to the animals and you bet your bottom dollar that a lot of water is wasted during that process, due to the nature of monoculture farming.

 

Tsurgi_Oni

Balance is not the key, in this situation. Meat based diets cause cancer and waste massive amounts of energy and water. Wastage that is completely illogical considering that the rate that we extract these things from the earth from is not sustainable.

Ever heard about fossil water? Its water that is not being replaced at the source point (where it is extracted from) fast enough to meet usage. Right now the 25% of the U.S grown produce is created through the use of fossil water that will be gone within the next 40 -60 years and that will be INCREDIBLY expensive in 20 years.

What else is there to say?

Well, I am most definitely getting off this food and energy system, in the next 15 years, completely. People in general intentionally blind themselves to what is happening and will do so in the years to come. Also, there is far to many people on this earth for there to be any possible changes. Ie. We have to reduce CO2 levels below 1970's to offset the damage we have done in the past 40 years....just that....even then we will still face problems with climate change, unless we reduce them beyond that....its simply impossible and I do not want to be around these blind fools when they finally decide to open their eyes and all the trouble they built for themselves is at their door step, barging....

 

I agree with ya 99% on the meat-based diet thing. Still, balance is key. And balance may mean eating only the rare fish hear or there. If Americans cut their meat consumption in half, we would see a DRAMATIC increase in food quality. Just imagine if we ate Kobe/Mishima beef only twice a year!

I think we need to take a lesson from Cuba after post-Soviet collapse. I'm not saying peak oil is true, but it is vitally important for us as a nation to change our identity with food.

Oysters used to be poor people food, and lobsters used to be slave food. We got deer problems in Ohio, yet I never see deer sausage or jerky at the stores.

 

Good stuff ChangeHappens, something to think about. While I can respect anyone's choice to eat meat, I can appreciate the costs, particularly in the factory farms, from the resources used to the health problems down the line.

My son's a vegetarian, so I've pretty much become a vegetarian myself. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just kinda worked out that way, and now I can't eat much red meat anymore without feeling ill.

This from a guy who not long ago defended my carnivorous ways.

 

Fuck it, I aint no saviour.

You all have knowledge at your fingertips, do some index pulls and thumb rotations, then get your ass over to google and figure out where your taking your life.

Eat it, not me.

 

well lets see i am a farmer and i guess i dont have a clue where the water thing is comeing into a factor. The "meal" that a cow eats is actualy there feed or called a ration. The feed we feed our cattle is grass and yes we feed sorgum but i guess it gets it water from the all mighty god only rain water. Most of the corn grown around my area in the middle of SOUTH DAKOTA is not irigated so it all comes from the sky. Yes the cattle do drink water in the feed lots so i guess there is a water factor in there. I guess we could go one step further if you idiots think cattle are so great and should not be eaten why dont you quit drinking water your taken up alot of water that the animals could be drinking. For you people that say you get sick if you eat red meat it is because you need the protien that meat provides and your bodys dont know how to use it when you do get it in your body. most of you idiots dont have a clue. Maybey all you greeneys need to come out to a farm for a few weeks and actualy see what goes on and how things are really done istead of sitting infront of your computer in your city townhouse or whatever. You dont have a clue and it really pisses me off. How many of you have actually bean to a farm let me see your hands. Not many i will bet

 

Lol

 

It's not like you can do anything besides digest beef once it gets inside of your body. Plus you really don't need that much protein in your diet, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone getting protein deficiency.

Plus, most of the cows we eat never even touch grass. Unhealthy animals make unhealthy people.

 

We raise chickens, does that count? LOL.

Feeling sick from eating beef has nothing to do with protein, it's the fat that's harder to digest.

One thing to be said for beef is it's got a lot of iron.

You are what you eat, and if you eat something that sits around and grazes all day, well...