Argumentative Essay On Eating Meat

As humanity becomes more civilized, many of us perceive that eating livestock is morally incorrect, but aren’t we are designed to be an omnivore? Our teeth and digestive system serve the purpose of breaking down animal and plant foods and to bring these important nutrients to every part of the body. Despite the fact that, in 2011, U.S. meat and poultry production reached more than 92.3 billion pounds, the ethic of killing and eating animals as well as the concern of the environmental burden caused by the production of meats is debatable. However, animal based diet is necessary for the human body to function properly and we can choose the meat produced from environmentally sustainable farms to avoid the moral ambiguity.

Meat is part of a balanced diet. If humans stopped breeding animals for meat, then we would have to hunt all the wild animals for food. The wild animals will be hunted into extinction because of gluttonous meat-eaters. Because of factory farming, meat is now available at all time at the super market. This makes meat convenient to obtain and eat nutritionally. Meat contains all the essential amino acids that we need every day to remain as healthy individuals. Minerals and vitamins that are also beneficial to the growth and development of the human body are found in meat too. Eating specific types of meat such as fish provides healthy natural oils that cannot be found anywhere else. Abandoning meat as a source of nutrition means we will need to compensate with another source of sustenance.

What is a hamburger without grilled meat, hotdogs without sausages, or Thanksgiving without turkey? These foods contain an excessive amount of meat that people like to enjoy in their foods which make it tasty and delicious. However, an excessive amount of meat is affecting people’s health because people are consuming more meat instead of the necessary fruits and vegetables that are needed in their body. People do not realize that excessive meat is affecting their health. Most of the human diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are caused because people are consuming a great amount of meat. People fail at having a well-balanced scale in which they can balance their diet and consume smaller portions of everything. It is incredible to realize where meat comes from. According to the article in order to obtain 1 pound of meat it takes approximately sixteen pounds of soybeans and grain.

You may not know this, but what you choose to eat has a huge impact on the environment. There are many stances for these view points, but two people have very different opinions from one another. Jonathon Safron Foer is a strong advocate to not eat factory farmed meat in his essay “Against Meat”. On the other hand, Christina Serbenz flips a 180 on her view about food in her essay “7 Reasons Why I Refuse to Stop Eating Meat”, she argues that meat is vital for nutrition and adds a huge social benefit. There are many pros and cons according to each author.

Being vegetarian or vegan is not only beneficial to the animals that are being slaughtered but it also beneficial to the earth and helps to reduce global warming. According to Wikipedia, there are more than seven billion people and out of those seven billion people only three hundred and seventy five million people are said to be vegetarian or vegan. This mass slaughter of animals and livestock is also one of the leading causes of global warming. People may think that the earth is slowly dying but that is not the case anymore as global warming has caught up with us. According to NASA, there are 406.94 parts per million of carbon di oxide in the atmosphere the highest it has ever been in 650000 years. The global temperature has risen by 1.7 °F and sixteen out of the seventeen warmest years on earth have been recorded since 2001. The arctic ice minimum has decreased by 13.2% per decade and in 2012 arctic summer sea ice shrank to the lowest extent on record. The global sea level has also grown by 3.4 millimeters per year and the global average sea level has risen nearly 178mm over the past 100 years. These statistics show you how quickly global warming and climate change are having an effect on earth and who knows what the stats will be in another 50 to 100 years the earth may become uninhabitable and humans will be the sole reason for this.

The meat industry has become quite the debate relating to the quality of the meat and its production in the past couple years. Even in the story My Year of Meats, which was during the 20th century, it exemplifies and gives various examples of how meat is potentially bad for your health and our environment. Of course, many would probably disagree on the grounds that “the average American eats 270 pounds of meat per year” (Walsh 1.5). However, is eating meat the only way it can be harmful to us? Regards to those who don’t eat meat, it still has and still will, largely impact their lives because of the way it is being produced because of the emissions and environmental problems that can arise.

Even though meat may provide protein, the animals people consume are treated wrongfully. When animals are not killed, the life they are subjected into is harmful to their growth and development. According to Elizabeth Kolbert in "Should You

According to the article “Meat Analogues” (2017), during the pre-historic era, meat was the best energy sources, high quality proteins, and tasty food ever. This explains that meat is important source of our food basket. However, some people cannot eat meat because of religious purpose, vegetarian and some health problems like cardiovascular and high cholesterols.

Imagine a world where killing animals for food was outlawed, and yes while for a second that seems idealistic, if you dive a little past the surface some terrible facts begin to emerge from the depths. Now imagine trying to obtain millions of vegetables, many of which are vulnerable to disease and are very hard to grow, or telling a sick patient that they cannot be cured, when the simple solution would be to add meat in their diets. The fact is our chances of solving world hunger would plummet, millions of people would be out of jobs, and hospitals would be over run by people who can’t live on a diet without meat. Only because people believe eating meat is unethical. Does this world still seem perfect? For years people have been fighting about whether or not we should eat meat, and the truth is not only is it okay to eat meat, but it is better than not eating it, for you, the environment and the world.

Like humans, animals also exhibit such reactions when killed. This evidence disputes the notion that animals do not feel pain. It follows that no animal would be willing to terminate its life for another animal’s survival; that is, an animal will not kill itself for the benefit of another animal. According to this argument, meat-eating humans should understand that it is not morally permissible to exterminate other animals for their survival. Additionally, some societies argue that the pain that a human would experience is no equitable to the pain animals experience. This is a misleading statement since all creatures experience pain when killed. Thus, “meat eating is not ethically accepted since it causes a lot of pain to animals” (Singer and Mason, 2007).

We are a nation of meat eaters. We are socialized from a young age to consume high levels of animal products. This deeply ingrained meat-eating tradition is a big part of the American standard diet. A visit to the local grocery store shows that there is no shortage of animal products. Isle by isle you see a plethora of meats, neatly packed and ready to be cooked, dairy products neatly shelved, and even candies that contain animal by-products. This is an omnivore’s utopia, allowing for a lifestyle that involves the overconsumption of meats and animal by-products. The rampant meat industry has managed to condition people to disassociate the meats in our grocery markets and the animals from which they came. Most people have become unaware omnivores, consuming whatever meats are available to them. This shift of moral degradation is evident in how we process and consume our meats. We have become a selfish society that values our own convenience and affordability of meat rather than the consideration of the animal. This begs the question, is eating meat inherently wrong and should we forbid meat consumption under any and all circumstances? To fully address this issue, we must first define the moral status of animals. So, are animals equal to humans in worth and value and should they receive similar treatment?

It doesn’t make sense to eat meat when there is no need to do so. Humans can live long, happy, and healthy lives on an all plant-based food diet. Sense this is correct, there is no need to continue to put these animals in pain that is no longer necessary for our survival. The treatment of these animals is inhumane and brutal. This treatment is equivalent to a person beating up your dog and killing it because they think it is fun. The only plausible reason humans eat meat is merely for the taste of it. Who doesn’t like a nice juicy steak, but if you were to really know about what it took for that piece of meat to reach your dinner table and truly understand the pain and suffering, then you would never order that piece of steak again.

The quote “A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral” from Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, encompasses what vegetarianism is about. Veganism and vegetarianism is generally associated with leafy green salads but there is a long list of health benefits attached to that way of eating and a reduction in livestock farming benefits our environment. Diving into the benefits of becoming a vegetarian or vegan, there has been extensive research done on how a teak in diet can reduce risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Plant-based dieting is a lifestyle that is beneficial for health, moral and environmental reasons.

Meat has been in our diet since the start of mankind. We eat meat everyday mindlessly. It is hard to avoid meat since it is everywhere we go. Meat is the majority of today’s food. There are very few vegetarian or vegan options in the food industry. Although, it has been growing more and more popular since it has become a lifestyle. The reason is to be the horrifying truth of today’s meat industry. For those who cannot bear the truth, pick up the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

Meat is an important part of our diet not only because it provides essential nutrients to our body, but also helps our body be effective. Many people think the only reason we eat meat is to satisfy hunger and to receive protein, but it is for so much more than that. Meat is more than just a complete protein unlike soy products, for example, which need to be combined with supplemental proteins to be considered "complete." It's loaded with other healthy goodies, including high levels of iron and B vitamins, such as niacin and riboflavin which enables the growth of healthy skin and nerves as well as help digestion and maintain good vision. Meat also contains selenium, which works as an antioxidant with vitamin E to protect the human body from heart disease and other health problems. Phosphorus, which helps regulate metabolism, is also