Did you know about factory farming?

As many of you know, I have been studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition® (IIN) to become a Health Coach. This week's module topic is about the neatly packages of meat, eggs and dairy appearing in our grocery stores.

The Truth about supermarket Meat

After an incredible lecture by a fourth generation cattle rancher Howard Lyman (former rancher and now vegan), I watched a video put together by PETA ( People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). It was a very revealing and disturbing video, to say the least, about how the meat, eggs and dairy are produced to end up at our grocery stores.

This module has been so important that I just had to make the time to write this post.

The lecture by Lyman was moving and hopeful.  He spoke of going on the Oprah Show to tell the truth about what was going on behind hamburgers.  He opened up to Oprah and revealed to a national audience that cows were being ground up and fed to cows.  Oprah said she would never eat another hamburger on national TV.

Oprah and Lyman got sued, but the case eventually got thrown out:  Lyman had told the truth.  The truth was able to protect them in a court of law then, but today, a law has been passed to prohibit anyone from making a statement that would cause a down turn of profit, even if the statement is true.  So I imagine that no one has gone on TV to talk about this since then.

Horrifying Video Footage

The videos I saw after the lecture were utter nightmares.  It was called "Meet Your Meat" for those of you who will want to watch it.  It is gruesome and horrific, but necessary for people to see beyond the nicely packaged trays of "clean" cut meat in the supermarket.

My 5 year old daughter actually walked into the room and saw a bit of the videos, luckily she got called into the kitchen to eat and didn't see the rest.  But from what she saw and heard, she surely remembered.  She remembered that the chickens are debeaked, and some of their bones broken while being grown for our consumption.

In summary, these are the things I witnessed in the video:

- over crowded barns for chickens,
- mutilated chickens with their beaks literally clipped off without pain-killers,
- pigs literally thrown into trucks one on top of the other,
- baby pigs held by the hind legs and slammed constantly on the floor to be killed,
- cows refusing to be killed, but hung from one leg then cut in the throat (I am feeling sick recalling what I saw)
- calves taken away from their mother shortly after birth
- calves constantly branded without pain-killers (I can still hear their loud voices of torturous suffering)

I'll stop the list there.

What is the problem? 

 It seems to me that consumers (people like you and me) demand cheap meat... a lot of it.  They also demand dairy and eggs.  So, there is a factory production of animal protein from tortured, sick, suffering animals to meet those demands.

Imagine if the public knew about this.  Frankly, I ate a lot of meat growing up.  I've had my share of chicken wings in the past.  If I had known about how my meat reached my plate, I would think twice about eating it.  Of course, I also grew up with elders telling me that any thing that has its back toward the heavens is for us to eat.  It's not my belief, but I can see how one can justify it.

My Personal Vegetarian Story

I became vegetarian for the first time when I was 18, then off and on until I was 21.  Then from 21 to 24, I was an egg, cheese and butter consuming vegetarian (or lacto-ovo).  Since then I have eaten meat and animals products infused with periods of vegan and raw vegan diet.  For many years, I would not be totally firm on my stance of what my moral reason was for eating the way I did, but after this module, I am consciously making the decision to NOT knowingly consume factory farmed animal or animal products.

What does this mean?  Well, for the large part, it doesn't really change my current diet as I eat mostly grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and vegetables.  However, this does mean when going out or for special occasions I would be rethinking my options.

For example, a new bakery opened up here in my town last week.  It was so exciting to smell the baked goods as well as look at them with a watering mouth.  I discovered that they had my most favourite pastry in the world!  I don't even know what it is called in English.  It's an egg dough deep fried and then rolled in sugar.  Well, now I would not get one because I believe the eggs and butter used to make the pastries are from factory farmed animals.  Of course, there is a chance it may be different here in Canada, but I don't know yet, so I'm holding off on the pastries.

What CAN we do?

- become vegan
- consume less animal products
- purchase pasture-raised animals and products from small local farms (like Healthy Meats in Whitby, ON)
- raise your own animals
- eat what you hunt
- tell others about this, and brainstorm solutions
- tell the grocery store managers what you want, and boycott what you don't support
- visit Howard Lyman's website:  www.madcowboy.com
- get educated; watch http://www.takepart.com/foodinc

Thank you for reading.  I hope that this has provoked some thought about where your meat comes from.     By becoming aware of how our daily actions affect the world, we can better make choices that support the peaceful, healthy planet we want our children to live in.

Peace be with you,