To Eat Meat or Not to Eat Meat?

I just finished reading the book Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. It's a witty, in-your-face guide to looking your most fabulous by eliminating processed foods, giving up unhealthy addictions and most importantly, eating vegan.

After viewing the documentary Food Incorporated two or three months ago, I've been sticking to a predominately pescetarian meal plan (that's a diet consisting of seafood and vegetarian for all you relentless meat-eaters out there). I'll slip a little turkey into my grub on occasion because, sadly, ignorance is bliss. There really isn't an abundance of information or focus on the turkey industry so I can still picture them as happy turkeys, gobbling about in the wilderness until a hunter-gatherer dressed in a primitive, raw-hide skirt comes along, killing the carefree turkey with one swift bow-and-arrow shot to the jugular. Like I said, ignorance is bliss.

Anyways, Food Inc. was definitely an eye-opener on the capitalism of the meat industry and our over-consumption of meat products as Americans. It was pretty disturbing and having heard the little piggy's squeal, I no longer find it as satisfying to bite into bacon. The idea that there could possibly be over 1,000 different cows ground up into 1 perfectly-sized burger patty has me sworn off beef. As for chicken, when I see a piece of plump breast meat, I picture all of the hormones and antibiotics that were pumped into the poor creature to give it that juicy texture. I could go on, but you get the point.

Skinny Bitch also included many revelations on the cruelty of animals and unnatural consumption of animal protein, or as the authors like to refer to it, the "dead, rotting, decomposing flesh diet." I'd have to say, their analogy of the food chain was interesting: "Look at your flimsy fingernails in comparison to an eagle's talons. Look at your flat, blunt teeth compared to a lion's fangs. Compare your speed and agility to that of a tiger. Compare the strength of your jaw to a wolf's. Imagine yourself trying to run after an animal, catch it, and kill it using your bare hands, fingernails, teeth, and jaws. Not only would you look ridiculous, but you'd probably get your ass kicked, too." This is a pretty good argument, I think. I mean, just because we can eat meat, doesn't necessarily mean we should. Man evolved to the top of the food chain because man created weapons, slaughterhouses and mass production. If lions had created these things, they'd be roaming Planet Earth instead of the idiots as we know them.

What I found most interesting was this false sense of security we have in our government (or don't have if you're as untrustworthy as I am.) Even if it says organic on the label, large conglomerate corporations don't actually give a crap whether it is 100% organic, they just want to sell their product. According to organic.org, "organic produce and other ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products do not take antibiotics or growth hormones." But in 2004 (according to some skinny bitches), the USDA made some changes to their National Organic Program standards, stating that livestock were allowed to eat non-organic fishmeal, even if it contained toxins or synthetic preservatives and cows were given growth hormones and antibiotics as long as there was a one year separation between the drugs being administered and the byproduct being produced. That doesn't equate to organic in my mind, but I'm not one of the capitalist morons working for the USDA. Luckily, after much complaint, the USDA reversed these changes shortly after. Whew! Thank goodness.

Moral of that story is don't trust anyone from the USDA because chances are they're in bed with the evil industries that supply our food. The EPA and FDA are also sleeping around with food industry top officials, so once again, trust no one. Everyone involved with our food production is clearly a bunch of money-grubbing sluts!

So why do I still consume fish, turkey and other animal products such as cheese, milk or eggs? Aside from my ignorance...which I'm really not, I just like to use it as an excuse...I think for everyone it's about moderation. I'm not going to press my food beliefs on others and I expect others to do the same....accept for the authors of Skinny Bitch, they are all about enforcing their opinions. I like the taste of fish and turkey, plus I'm not big into lentils or beans (I don't like having gas while in public) so I have to get my protein from somewhere and eating tofu day in and day out is boring. I think as long as your happy, healthy and making positive choices when it comes to putting things in your mouth, you're on the right track. You are after all, what you eat and I would personally not like to be a cow, pig, or chicken, but a turkey or fish, I can handle, in moderation of course.