The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet by Alicia Silverstone Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Alicia Silverstone
estimated that 30 percent of the animals on the kill line were not properly stunned.
Also in 2000, a video showed footage of pigs at a North Carolina hog factory being kicked, stomped on, and killed by blows to the head with cinder blocks. Pigs who did not measure up to industry standards for sale were picked up by the hind legs and bashed against the floor, a practice called “thumping.”
I know these stories are hard to read, but it’s the reality of what goes into the food on your plate. The greatest crime being committed against these animals is not the eating of their meat, but our willful ignorance of their experience. As long as we keep our eyes closed, we can feel comfortable, and as long as we’re comfortable, they will continue to suffer and die.
It’s easy to get angry at the cattle ranchers and the big business that keeps meat rolling into our stores and restaurants, but I have to remember that they are just responding to market demands. If we stop the flow of money to these industries by converting to a plant-based diet, they will eventually have to convert their land and processing facilities into newer, more profitable ventures. Livelihoods need not be lost—they will just change. Likewise, as we spend our dollars on sustainable, ethical industries, we create a better world. It’s simple.
When asked, the majority of Americans consider themselves animal lovers and are genuinely interested in treating animals humanely, yet we spend our hard-earned cash to support cruelty every day. We grill it up on the barbecue, add some ketchup, wash it down with a beer, and then take an antacid in order to digest it all! Weird. Meanwhile, the industries doing the killing—while creating images of happy cows and free-running chickens to assuage our guilt—are working overtime to push through legislation that permits them to be even more cruel and make more money.
----
Eggs
More than 95 percent 47 of eggs sold in the United States come from birds confined in wire battery cages so small they can hardly move. They are virtual laying machines who are sick, abused, and often starved. After all their hard work, these birds end up so spent that the meat can only be used to make soup, chicken pies, and pet food. The rest of the hens are in such bad shape by the end that they are beaten to death, gassed, or thrown live into wood chippers.
Other victims of the egg industry are male chicks; because egg operations need many more hens than roosters, baby male chicks are routinely disposed of in one of two ways: Either they are thrown into dumpsters full of other baby chicks, left to suffocate, or they are put, live, through meat grinders to be fed to other livestock. Female chicks have their beaks ground off with a hot blade at 1 or 2 days old.
God help us all.
P.S. In terms of egg-labeling, beware of “free-range” eggs. When applied to eggs, the term “free-range” has no legal definition in this country. The term “cage-free” does not ensure any humane treatment nor does it imply access to the outdoors. Wings, beaks, and feet are still routinely clipped. Even hormone- and antibiotic-free labels mean nothing in terms of how the chickens are treated. The only certifications that pertain to animal treatment are “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” (beware of imposters; those exact words must be printed on the label) and “Certified Organic,” which also upholds relatively humane standards.
----
Maybe it’s time to ask the question: Is consuming all this pain and terror hurting us on levels we can’t perceive? Is it cutting us off from the compassion deep within us? By not only condoning cruelty but literally consuming it, have we become desensitized to violence—against not only animals but ourselves and one another?
KICKING MEAT
When I gave up meat, I was so committed to the cause of protecting animals that I really didn’t pay much attention to any physical or emotional discomfort I may have experienced,
Also in 2000, a video showed footage of pigs at a North Carolina hog factory being kicked, stomped on, and killed by blows to the head with cinder blocks. Pigs who did not measure up to industry standards for sale were picked up by the hind legs and bashed against the floor, a practice called “thumping.”
I know these stories are hard to read, but it’s the reality of what goes into the food on your plate. The greatest crime being committed against these animals is not the eating of their meat, but our willful ignorance of their experience. As long as we keep our eyes closed, we can feel comfortable, and as long as we’re comfortable, they will continue to suffer and die.
It’s easy to get angry at the cattle ranchers and the big business that keeps meat rolling into our stores and restaurants, but I have to remember that they are just responding to market demands. If we stop the flow of money to these industries by converting to a plant-based diet, they will eventually have to convert their land and processing facilities into newer, more profitable ventures. Livelihoods need not be lost—they will just change. Likewise, as we spend our dollars on sustainable, ethical industries, we create a better world. It’s simple.
When asked, the majority of Americans consider themselves animal lovers and are genuinely interested in treating animals humanely, yet we spend our hard-earned cash to support cruelty every day. We grill it up on the barbecue, add some ketchup, wash it down with a beer, and then take an antacid in order to digest it all! Weird. Meanwhile, the industries doing the killing—while creating images of happy cows and free-running chickens to assuage our guilt—are working overtime to push through legislation that permits them to be even more cruel and make more money.
----
Eggs
More than 95 percent 47 of eggs sold in the United States come from birds confined in wire battery cages so small they can hardly move. They are virtual laying machines who are sick, abused, and often starved. After all their hard work, these birds end up so spent that the meat can only be used to make soup, chicken pies, and pet food. The rest of the hens are in such bad shape by the end that they are beaten to death, gassed, or thrown live into wood chippers.
Other victims of the egg industry are male chicks; because egg operations need many more hens than roosters, baby male chicks are routinely disposed of in one of two ways: Either they are thrown into dumpsters full of other baby chicks, left to suffocate, or they are put, live, through meat grinders to be fed to other livestock. Female chicks have their beaks ground off with a hot blade at 1 or 2 days old.
God help us all.
P.S. In terms of egg-labeling, beware of “free-range” eggs. When applied to eggs, the term “free-range” has no legal definition in this country. The term “cage-free” does not ensure any humane treatment nor does it imply access to the outdoors. Wings, beaks, and feet are still routinely clipped. Even hormone- and antibiotic-free labels mean nothing in terms of how the chickens are treated. The only certifications that pertain to animal treatment are “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” (beware of imposters; those exact words must be printed on the label) and “Certified Organic,” which also upholds relatively humane standards.
----
Maybe it’s time to ask the question: Is consuming all this pain and terror hurting us on levels we can’t perceive? Is it cutting us off from the compassion deep within us? By not only condoning cruelty but literally consuming it, have we become desensitized to violence—against not only animals but ourselves and one another?
KICKING MEAT
When I gave up meat, I was so committed to the cause of protecting animals that I really didn’t pay much attention to any physical or emotional discomfort I may have experienced,
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