How necessary is meat protein?
The human body does not need a lot of protein because it recycles about 70% of what it has. When old cells die, most of the protein is reused. Only small amounts are lost through the stools, urine, hair, skin and perspiration.
But those who do hard, physical work; and pregnant and lactating woman will need more - but only slightly more, not double or triple the usual intake. Babies and growing children also need more protein - but only more in proportion to their body weight.
In fact, some people actually need less protein that others. Recent studies suggest that vegetarians need less protein that meat-eaters. Yet vegetarians are healthier. Where do they get their protein from?
Practically all foods contain at least tiny amounts of protein. There is protein in rice and other grains, in vegetables and even fruit. Although the tiny amounts may not be enough, if you eat beans and bean products like tempeh, lentils, seeds and nuts (these foods actually contain more protein than meat), you can easily meet your daily requirement for protein.
But doesn't meat (and its muscle-building protein) make us strong? Think about the strongest animals - elephants, horses, oxen, gorillas. What do they eat? Not meat, but grass, grains, fruits, seeds and nuts.
Endurance test with atheletes confirm that a vegetarian diet improves their performance.
FIVE MAIN REASONS WHY WE SHOULD EAT LESS MEAT
1. Full of Chemicals
Eating meat has often been called "eating on top of the food chain". In nature there is a long chain of eaters: plants "eat" sunlight, air and water; animals eat smaller animals.
Now all over the world, fields are being treated with poisonous chemicals (fertilisers and pesticides.) These poisons are retained in the bodies of the animals that eat the plants and grasses.
For instance, fields were sprayed with the insect-killing chemical DDT, a very powerful poison which scientists say can cause cancer, sterilty and serious liver disease. Most countries have now banned this pesticide which is highly persistent in the environment.
DDT and pesticides like it are retained in animal (as well as fish) fat and, once stored, are difficult to break down. Thus, as cows eat grass or feed, whatever pesticides they are retained, so that when you eat meat, you are taking into your body all the concentration of DDT and other chemicals that have accumulated during the animal's lifetime.
Eating at the "top" of the food chain, humans become the final consumer and thus the recipient of the highest concentration of poisonous pesticides. In fact, meat contains 13 times as much DDT as vegetables, fruits and grass.
The lowa State University once performed experiments which showed that most of the DDT in human bodes come from meat.
2. Full of Diseases
The poisoning of the meat does not stop here. Meat animals are treated with many more chemicals to increase their growth, fatten them quickly, improve their meat colour, etc.
In order to produce the most heat at the highest profit, animals are force-fed, injected with hormones to stimulate growth, given appetite stimulants, antibiotics, sedatives and chemical-feed mixtures.
Many of these have been found to be cancer-causing chemicals, and, in fact, many animals die of these drugs even before they are led to slaughter.
As farms have evolved into animal factories, many animals never see the light of the day - their lives are spent in cramped and cruel surroundings (they never get exercise or fresh air).
Such unnatural practices not only unbalance the body chemistry of the chickens and destroy their natural habits, but unfortunately, also result in the growth of malignant tumours and other malformations.
In the US, where 70% of cattle are given antibiotics, even with large-scale usage of antibiotics to suppress disease, the US Department of Agriculture records state that millions of pounds of meat that came from animals contain tumours.
Transferred to Meat-Eaters
The tumours and growths may go undetected or simply ignored by the meat producers or inspectors. Often, if an animal has cancer or a tumour in a certain part of its body, the cancerous part will be cut away and the rest of the body sold as meat.
Worse, the tumours themselves will be incorporated into mixed meats such as hot dogs and labelled "parts". In one area of America, where there is routine inspection of slaughtered animals, 25,000 cattle with eye cancers were sold as beefs!
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Scientists have found experimentally that if the liver of a diseased animal is fed to fish, the fish will get cancer.
3. Full of Animal's Body Toxins
Just before and during the agony of being slaughtered, the biochemistry of the terrified animal undergoes profound changes. Toxic by-products are forced throughout the body, thus poisoning the entire carcass.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, body poisons, including uric acid and other toxic wastes, are present in the blood and tissue.
"Protein obtained from nuts, pulses (lentils, peas, etc), grains and dairy products is said to be relatively pure compared with beef which has a 56% impure water content."
Just as our bodies become ill during times of intense rage of fear, animals, no less than humans, undergo profound biochemical changes in dangerous situations.
The hormone level in the animals' blood - especially the hormone adrenaline (epinephrine) - changes radically as they see other animals dying around them and they struggle futilely for life and freedom.
These large amounts of hormones remain in the meat and later poison the human tissue. According to the Nutrition Institute of America, "The flesh of an animal carcass is loaded with toxic blood and other waste by-products."
4. Full of Decay
Raw meat is always in a state of decay. As soon as an animal is killed, denatured substances, called ptomaines, are formed. These ptomaines that are released immediately after death give animal flesh, fish, and eggs a common property - extremely rapid decomposition and putrefaction.
Meat passes very slowly through the human digestive system, which is not designed to digest it. It takes meat about 5 days to pass out of the body (as opposed to vegetarian food, which takes only 1 and a half days).
During this time, the disease-causing products of decaying meat are in constant contact with the digestive organs. The habit of eating animal flesh in its characteristics state of decomposition creates a poisonous state in the colon and wears out the intestinal tract prematurely.
5. Full of Bacteria
E Coli 0157, a strain of life-threatening bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhoea and dehydration, is naturally present in the intestines of cattle. During or around the processing time, faecal matter can come into contact with the beef and contaminate it. It gets packaged anyway and gets shipped to your supermarket.
In the US for example, ground beef products have been found to be contaminated with this bacteria. In May last year, some 1.1 million pounds of ground beef that caused 22 illnesses in Minnesota, and the potential for more illness in 14 other states, we recalled.
The products were believed to have been contaminated with E Coli 0157:H7. According to the US National Centers for Disease Control in a May 2001 report, both E Coli and Salmonella combine to sicken at least 113,000 people annually.
The very young and elderly, along with those who have compromised immune system, are considered most susceptible to E Coli-related illnesses.
Cooked meats, even if well done, dangerous too
Meats that are barbecued or cooked at high temperatures create the following 2 types of chemicals that may increase your risk of breast, stomach and colorectal cancers:
1. HCAs (heterocyclic amines) are created by cooking meat at high temperatures. Barbecuing, like broiling and pan-frying, produces more HCAs than cooking at cooler temperature does.(Baking and roasting require less heat.) HCAs are also produced in meat that have been cooked until they are well done.
2. PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are deposited on your food by the smoke and flame created by fat dripping onto hot barbecue coals.
Want to read more? Buy the book! Who knows? You might be a vegetarian - or vegan -the next day. I won't be a vegetarian or vegan, I'll simply eat less meat. Trust me, the book is worth the money (RM2.50 for lifetime health).
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