Steps to better health. Part 2

Health problems abound in modern day American and, indeed, much of the industrialized world. In part one, i talked about the health benefits of being vegetarian. Now I'm going to talk about the health effects of eating meat.

First, there's the obvious. Saturated fats. All animal fat is saturated and red meat is 70% fat. Even eating meat moderately, these fats build up in your system, clogging arteries and causing heart problems. Heart disease is alarmingly on the rise in America, mostly owing to our fast food lifestyles and out meat eating attitude.

Second: Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is caused by the breakdown of connections between damaged brain cells and eventual brain-cell death. It is estimated that more than 4.5 million people in this country suffer from Alzheimer's disease and that by 2050, 14 million Americans will have the disease. This disease is brand new. There are no reported cases of anything like this disease 100 years ago. So what's changed in the past 100 years? Studies have linked saturated fats and cholesterol along with the chemicals and hormones in meat products to this disease.

Third: Stroke. Again, this is linked with saturated fats and cholesterol. Though not strickly from meat, vegetarians are at a much lower risk.

Fourth: Impotence. Yes, that's right, impotence is linked with saturated fats. In the same way that arteries to the heart become blocked, so do arteries to the penis. Again, though this is not strickly from eating meat, it is linked. What is directly from eating meat is the hormone inbalances that meat can cause, leading to impotence.

Fifth, disease. Salmonella and e-coli are on the rise in meats such as beef and chicken. Why? The antibiotics given to animals are breeding resistant strains of these bacteria. Which means that if you do get sick from meat, chances are it's already resistant to the medicines the doctors are going to treat you with.

If the health reasons aren't enough to convince you, then think about the economic reasons. It's far more expensive for farms to raise animals than fruits and vegetables. Also, the food used to feed the animals would be much better and more efficiently used to feed people directly.

Also, there's the humanitarian reason. Eating cow or pig or chicken is no better than eating your pet dog or cat. Would you want to see them suffer horribly for your dinner? Would you want to see them take stab to the back of the head and watch them twitch and seizure until they finally die? Or perhaps have their heads cut off with a chainsaw? Or have their throat slit? Why do these other animals deserve it anymore? Would you keep them in tiny cages? Letting them crawl all over each other and crying to be let out? Animals feel pain. They bleed, they cry, they scream. They fear and they love. Killing an animal is no better than killing a person.