Eating or not eating meat?

There are people who just cannot do without eating meat, and then there are those who cannot tolerate meat. There’s many reasons that make people think if they want to eat meat or not, like ethical, health, ecological, moral reasons, etc.

The arguments in favour of eating meat are varied and many. The most important among them is based on the belief that animal protein provides the best nutrition to the human body, but human bodies are not biologically equipped to eat meat. Carnivorous animals have intestines, liver and kidney to support the digestion of their food, but man has the intestines of a herbivore – very long. Besides, humans do not have claws and pointed teeth to help eat meat.

On the other hand a strong argument that vegetarians use is that animals reared for their meat are kept in horrible conditions, often being slaughtered in inhuman conditions, effectively slaves. Their slaughter is often amidst horrific cruelty, where the animal dies thrashing in agony…and the argument is, how can we eat the meat of a creature that we have killed this way? If we encourage meat eating, aren’t we encouraging these practices?

On more relevant levels, is the idea that meat based diets are often not good for health. There is a higher risk of colon cancer and other chronic diseases where meat is the main diet. But this may not be a very valid argument because here it is being assumed that a meat eater eats only meat, no fibber or starch or any other nutrients, other than high protein. But if a meat diet is supplemented by some foods rich in fibber and carbohydrates, these risks can be done away with. Of course, there are reports that a vegetarian diet lowers the risk of heart disease, obesity and increases life expectancy, but again, it does not seem to be supported by conclusive evidence.

There are people who just cannot live without eating meat, and then there are those who cannot tolerate meat. All we have to do is respect the decision of each person. In my case I eat meat, but I don’t agree with some cruel methods that are used to kill the animals.

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