Argument Against Eating Meat

Ramisi Wilson

Mrs. Hunniford

English 112-70

15 April 2015

Argument Against Eating Meat

        Eating meat is part of the lives of so many people around the world.  Each day animals are killed only to produce meat.  However, studies show that meat is not required for humans to exist and adds nothing to our diet but protein.  Meat may not be harmful now, but the consequences will appear sooner or later.  

        A diet containing no meat is much healthier than eating meat.  Studies show that meat has more fat content than that of non-meat foods.  Eating fatty meats cause many problems, since our bodies are unable to process highly concentrated fatty foods.   The fat in the foods we eat should not be any more than 30 percent of the calories we consume daily, according to the American Heart Association.  However, this is rather difficult to achieve when meat is a part of our daily intake.  We must limit the amount of meat we consume to stay healthy.  Unfortunately, people are tempted by the taste of meat and find it very hard to give it up. Many diseases can be controlled, prevented, and cured by eating a low fat, meatless diet.  Among them are diseases such as kidney stones, prostate cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, strokes, diabetes, peptic ulcers, obesity, hemorrhoids, salmonellosis, and many others (American Heart Association). Cholesterol lurks in just about every meat product on the market.  This deadly disease blocks the arteries and can make it hard for blood to circulate. This can result in heart disease, even death in some instances.  It is necessary to eat a diet full of vegetables and whole grains, lowering the risk of a heart attack.  

        Meat consumption is partly responsible for destroying the environment.  People are wasting natural resources that can be used for other needs such as feeding hungry people.  "The amount of grain a cow eats in a day could feed 15 starving people" (Spence 1). This would solve at least half of the hunger problems in the world.  Others would say that even if we grow food for hungry people, owners would not give away what they grew to hungry people.  Meat is more costly than grain and corn.

        Other problems do exist when water and food are used to grow and feed animals.  When big quantities of water and food are used for growing livestock, the environment changes and animals, plants, and other living things become extinct.  This causes the decrease of oxygen and the increase of bad elements.  This is a danger to our future survival.