I wrote a four page essay today over a subject that came up in my Ethics class. A lady decided to make the statement "You can't survive without meat" and, naturally, I fired back at her. The instructor decided to allow the other girl the floor and wouldn't let me speak. When it was my turn, I was spoken over. I still have a few edits to make (caps in the wrong places and what not, but I'll get that done later tonight.) Here's my rage fulled essay that I'm handing to both the teacher and the student that pissed me off.
Can people survive without Meat: Vegans Exist
Are humans capable of sustaining life without using animals for food? In this day and age, we are able to survive with just plant-based diets. True, we need to watch our food intake to ensure we are getting the correct number of vitamins and minerals, but it is still very much achievable.
It's suggested in the Vegan Society's article "How to thrive on a Vegan Diet" that we have at least five portions of eighty grams of fruit and veggies, a starchy food like a potato, rice or pasta with every meal, protein rich foods like beans or lentils, and nuts and seeds with omega-3 fats each day. It's also good to add in some calcium rich food, like tofu.
In another source, "Vegan Diet: How to get the Nutrients You Need" by Familydoctor.org, their section on "Path to improved health" shows some of the great reasons to switch to veganism. It helps to lower cholesterol levels, lowers blood pressure, lowers intake of saturated fats, more vital nutrition is taken in, decreases risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers, and helps to get you to a healthier body weight.
"Vegan Diet: How to get the Nutrients You Need" also states that maintaining good health on a vegan diet does require careful attention. To remain healthy, you must pay attention to what you're putting in your body and keep everything balanced. You'll want to make sure you are getting enough Iron in your diet, obtainable in Broccoli, Beans, Raisins, Wheat, and Tofu! You'll want your protein, obtainable in nuts, peanut butter, seeds, grains, and legumes. Tofu and soymilk also provide protein if that's more your style. Calcium can be found in Soybeans, dark leafy greens, broccoli, bok choy, and kale. Vitamin D can be found outside, so head out and catch some sun. You can also get it in Soymilk, rice milk, and some cereals. Zinc is able to be found in beans, nuts, and soy products. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are great for heart health and brain function, can be found in Flaxseed meal, oil, and nuts.
The Lone Star Tick, which was a topic of discussion in 2014, can trigger an allergic reaction to mammalian meats. The sugar that it targets is alpha-gal, which is found in cows, sheep, and pigs. If one who has this allergy eats something with the alpha-gal sugar, they can suffer potentially fatal issues, such as anaphylactic shock. It basically makes eating meat impossibly if you don't want to take a chance on your life. The article "Lone Star Ticks Trigger Allergic Reactions to Meat" can provide more information on this little beast.
To make a claim "you can't survive without meat" is completely asinine and frankly, quite ignorant. The fact that this person's false claim wasn't immediately stopped in class, as it has zero credibility, is bewildering. To allow someone to blast their jaw off at the speed of sound with nothing more than arrogant and uneducated claims in a classroom setting, without keeping them in check, damages the rest of the class's learning capabilities at that present time. The direct quote from the student, who shall be referred to as "Mufasa" because I don't know her name, was this: "You can't live if you don't eat meat." As I asked for her sources, she said "It's the Circle of Life," as though that had any firm grounds. There was no source cited for this, though I think what she was getting as was "This is how it's been, and this is how it will always be." I was then unable to speak because I was being spoken over.
In the article "Wow! Veganism in America has Grown by 600 Percent Since 2014", you can see that Americans are changing the way they eat, dropping meat, dairy, and all animal biproducts to live a more morally sound life. "The report found that 6 percent of the U.S. population now identifies as vegan, a 600 percent increase from 2014 (Mercy for Animals)." It's not just the United States that is making this change either. "But veganism in the U.S. is more than a trend. In fact, it is part of a global dietary shift away from animal products. Over the past decade, veganism has seen constant growth as millennials—the world's largest generation—purchase their own foods (Mercy for Animals)."
I even did a quick interview with Southwestern's own Peter Mantey, one of our speech teachers and a local vegetarian. I asked him, "How long has it been since you've had meat, Mr. Mantey?" He put some thought into it before replying with, "Well, meat hasn't been in my diet since I was maybe 21 years old. Why do you ask?" I informed him that there are people that don't believe that you can live without meat. This took him by surprise and he said, "You can take my picture if you'd like. I'm very much alive." He chuckled and gave me permission to quote him. He's somewhere around 60 years of age.
A lot of famous folks have adopted a vegan lifestyle as well, just in case you haven't heard. Here's a quick list of just a few of them you might recognize!
· Ellen Page (famous for JUNO)
· James Cromwell (played the lead farmer in BABE, part of the AHS crew from season 2)
· Alicia Silverston (actress who has been vegan since 1998)
· Ariana Grande (actress and singer)
· Ellen DeGeneres (we all know her)
· Joaquin Phoenix (Actor and Musician)
· Miley Cyrus (again, we all know who she is)
This list is just a bit of living proof that you can indeed survive without subjecting animals to unnecessary cruelty. You do not need to have meat in your diet to live, nor do you need anything from animals to stay alive. You can live a full, successful, and healthy life with plant-based foods and non-animal products. Claiming that it is impossible and is just the way of life and how it has to be is not at all true. It is a blatant lie fueled by lack of knowledge. I truly hope that any reader of this material can at least take something positive away.
