Prompt 1

Being born in America in the early 90's, I was raised on a similar diet to those of many other Americans. My food intake consisted of a balance of lots of grains, some fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy. As a kid, I of course enjoyed juice every morning with breakfast; soda every night with dinner; and a ton of candy, ice cream, and other assorted junk foods in between. I remained relatively skinny due to a fast metabolism and frequent exercise, but I had large outbreaks of acne, though this was common amongst people in my age group.

As I entered high school and grew more concerned with athletic performance, I gained the sense to do a little research on my diet. I learned of the damage I was doing to my body even though I couldn't see it. This convinced me to switch to something called the Paleo Diet. The Paleo Diet consists of completely cutting out all starchy legumes and legume products (beans, rice, wheat, bread, pasta) as well as dairy and processed sugar; instead supplementing that with a high intake of protein from animal sources, a diverse plethora of vegetables, nuts, and fats. The high protein diet almost immediately removed any remnants of common teenage skin problems that I had experienced, and my athletic performance developed at an even faster rate than it had before. This has me convinced that “eating animals is wrong because they can feel pain” is complete and utter nonsense, humans were born to eat meat.

The benefits to a high protein diet have been demonstrated on multiple occasions, a few of which are shown here. The Paleo Diet has been shown to decrease weight, cholesterol, atherosclerosis, heart attack risk, and diabetes incidence. Animal proteins have an important biological and evolutionary place in the human diet and cannot simply be removed. However, this isn't to say that this diet based on ancient principles does not have modern factors incorporated into it. The Paleo Diet suggests that the animals humans consume be certified organic/free range, and I agree with this from both a scientific and ethical point of view.

Since the Industrial Revolution and the resulting population explosion in America, the treatment of animals has consistently gone downhill. The first big demonstration of this is in Upton Sinclair's novel “The Jungle” which demonstrated the horrors of the meatpacking industry. More recently, light has been shed on what is actually being fed to animals, including other animal byproducts, leading to the spread of diseases such as mad-cow. Additionally, many livestock today are pumped with growth hormones and antibiotics to create bigger, fattier cuts of meat which we then ingest. This fatty meat is nowhere near as healthy for us as the meat we have historically hunted, and new research shows that these hormones and antibiotics can lead to medical problems for both us and our offspring. (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/301/5636/1027.short)

Another factor to consider is the conditions most animals are kept in today. It is common to see videos online of animals kept in quarters so close they can barely move. When you look at the concept of something like white veal, where baby steer are put in cages that barely fit them and tied to poles so that they cannot move and their meat stays tender, it is hard not be disgusted at that torture. Although I do believe that eating animals is completely necessary in order to lead a healthy life, there is no reason an animal should ever be treated that way. By having livestock organic and free range, the animals lead much better lives, and provide much more nutritious meat for us to consume. Although this cannot be sustained with our current population, the idea would provide better health and wellness for us and less pain for the animals we consume.