Meat is (Self) Murder

Most of you who read my blog or view my web page probably know that I am a vegan. I eat virtually no animal products. You probably also know my bias toward meat and animal products. Based on years of reading the research on nutrition and the link between animal proteins and various diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke, my opinion is that eating animal products is similar to slowly killing yourself.

The paragraph above is just my humble opinion. I am not the smartest person on earth, and my opinion may not mean much to you, but now some far smarter people than I have put forth evidence to that same effect. A day or two ago, the Harvard School of Public Health released the results of a 20 year, 110,000 person study into the consumption of meat, specifically red meat. The results of the study were conclusive and fairly startling.

In short, eating meat is similar to slowly killing yourself. Over 20 years, 24,000 people out of 110,000 died, about half from either heart disease or cancer. By analyzing the diets of the people in the study, the researchers concluded that eating just one serving of red meat per day was associated with a 13% higher risk of death. If the meat was processed (think bacon, salami, sausage, etc...), the risk of death was almost 20% higher.

Before you start to deny the results, or push back and make excuses as to why you want to continue to eat meat, really think about this. You face a 20% higher risk of death just for eating one serving a day. Who knows how much increased risk you face for eating 2-3 servings, like most people do.

I know. I've been there. This is a lot to stomach (pardon the bad pun). The first lie rationalization that you probably had was "everyone has to die of something, I would rather be happy and die sooner, than deny myself and die later." At least, this was the first one that I had. As I came to discover, that logic is flawed on two counts. First, it is not the early death that I am concerned about. There are fates worse than death. Imagine being unable to play with your children, because you only have a third of your heart function left. This is the consequence of a heart attack. Consider being unable to move one side of your body, or knowing what words you want to say, but being unable to say them. These are the consequences of a stroke. The risk of both are increased by meat intake.

Second, once you get over the brainwashing of our culture, and realize that meat intake is not necessary for health, life, or enjoyment, abstaining from meat is not denying yourself. I have experimented with a wider variety of foods since becoming vegan than I ever did before. Contrary to the idea of deprivation, avoiding animal products has opened up my dietary choices more than ever, and I enjoy food much more knowing that I can eat it without fear.

If you want more information on how to start down the path to health by removing animal products from your diet, please visit my websites:

www.devolvehealth.com
devolvehealth.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/devolvehealth
www.twitter.com/devolvehealth

If you would like personalized help, feel free to contact me through my website.

M. Jacob Ott, M. D.