HEALTH MATTERS - Boycott The Sickness Industry

Today for International Women’s Day, I am contributing the following article to women, children and men everywhere so we can resist the indoctrination of the Sickness Industry and take charge of our own health.

We were holed up in a run-down hotel in the poor neighbourhood of San Clementine in Southern California, killing time before a training course.

Desperate for some nutritious fruit and veggies I wandered along to the nearby shopping centre but was dismayed to discover no fresh produce in sight, only a strange 99 Cent Store that stocked a weird assortment of canned and processed ‘food’ to feed the low-income Mexican local residents.

Reluctantly I bought some plastic tubs of ‘dip’, corn chips, packets of dried soup and a pile of plastic thimbles of coffee creamers of irresistible flavours I’d become addicted to during our travels in the States.

Within a few days I started experiencing heartburn, a sensation I’d never had before, and was pleased to discover that American drug stores stock a fascinating variety of pleasant antacid chalky tablets for this common complaint!

We were amused by the bizarrely comical TV ads for a vast array of over-the-counter medications. After an elaborate mini-drama commercial extolling the miraculous effects of the drug, a smooth American voice-over, clearly a legal requirement, would outline an exhaustive and frightening litany of possible side-effects such as nausea, dizzy spells, heartburn, diarrhoea, constipation, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, cancer, depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s Disease, blindness, suicide and on and on. We had to laugh! Is this a joke? Could they be serious? Why would anyone use this stuff if it’s so dangerous!

I realised that the next problem after my heartburn could be diarrhoea, but not to worry, there was a medication for that! But hang on, how about questioning what was causing these symptoms? Of course! It was the chemical-loaded muck that passed for dip and the seemingly innocent coffee creamers.

I immediately stopped eating this toxic junk and the heartburn disappeared but not so for millions of Americans caught on the dizzy little carousel ride of consuming harmful foods that cause health problems, then taking medications for the symptoms that escalate over time and require stronger medications!

Another anecdote; through lack of choice in this poor end of town we found ourselves dining at the fast food restaurant, Denny’s, devouring the bargain breakfast! And even though we would share one enormous serve between us, loaded high with scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, deep fried hash browns, thick pancakes and syrup and much more, I started gaining weight at a rapid rate.

It is no wonder that Americans who live on massive portions of fast food are facing an obesity epidemic and leading the rest of the developed world down the same tragic path.

The World Health Organisation predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015 and more than 700 million of them will be obese.

Obesity is linked to a numerous other health problems including diabetes, also reaching epidemic numbers.

While people in rich countries suffer from sickness due to gluttonous over-eating, people in poor countries suffer from sickness and starvation due to lack of food. This is a crazy, unjust scenario where both sides of the world suffer.

At the risk of being accused of advancing a conspiracy theory, it is blatantly obvious that America’s harmful food manufacturers and myriad fast food outlets are in collusion with drug companies, which make billions off the chronic sickness of the masses. What a cosy little partnership!

And we the naïve consumers are indoctrinated on a daily basis by insidious marketing, enticing packaging, irresistible flavours and addictive substances that ‘normalises’ harmful foods.

This normalisation process is not confined to the Sickness Industry. It is used by the War Industry to convince us that war is a normal part of life. Please read my article The Normalising of War

And it is used by the Pornography Industry to convince adults and impressionable teenagers that perverse, immoral and damaging sexual practices are normal. Please read The Pornification of Healthy Sexuality

The point of this article is a warning and a call to action; we must take responsibility to resist the relentless sinister pressures to eat harmful foods.

We must resist being obedient, mindless consumers of toxic processed food that perpetuates the Sickness Industry.

We must educate ourselves about what is healthy food and search for truth while being swamped by an avalanche of ‘expert’ theories, laced with vested interests.

Here is what I have discovered after two years of research.

Eating all forms of meat causes horrendous and unnecessary suffering and killing of innocent animals (57 billion animals a year are slaughtered to feed a world population of seven billion humans) Factory farming and the meat industry perpetrate an indefensible crime against living, feeling creatures.

But individuals can boycott this cruelty by simply refusing to eat animals.

Eating all forms of meat is harmful to health. Please read I No Longer Eat Animals and The Case for Going Veggie. Visit Viva! Vegetarian Voice for Animals. View the life-changing film, Earthlings and read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Stop eating ALL MEAT (including fish and chicken).

Stop eating DAIRY FOODS. The dairy industry causes untold misery to innocent cows that are kept permanently pregnant after their calves are removed and slaughtered, and forced to produce massive quantities of milk from engorged and infected udders, while standing in agony on infected feet.

Cow’s milk, designed for growing calves, is full of growth hormones (which cause cancer in humans) and contains a fair dose of pus. (Yes, disgusting) Rather than a source of calcium, milk is so acidic it leaches calcium out of your bones.

Stop eating SUGAR. Cane sugar is not a food. It is an insidious toxin, which causes erratic Blood Sugar Levels and the release of insulin and leads to weight gain, diabetes, energy slumps, depression, hormonal imbalance and a host of other health problems. It is tough giving up sugar because it is hidden in most processed foods but feeling mentally and physically stable is worth the effort.

Visit http://www.patrickholford.com/ and read books on Optimum Nutrition by Patrick Holford, a pioneering nutritionist who makes the radical statement: “All illness is caused by what we eat, drink and breathe.”

I am doing an illuminating Zest4Life course with nutritionist Emily Fawell, who trained with the Institute for Optimum Nutrition. Go to http://www.4wellpeople.co.uk/ I really recommend this course.

Stop eating REFINED CARBOHYDRATES. White bread, rice, pasta etc, acts like sugar in the body, spiking your BSLs and causes an insulin rush and a ‘fat storing episode’ and after an initial high, you experience an energy slump and craving for another sugar hit.

Stop drinking COFFEE, TEA and COLA, which contain the drug, caffeine. Caffeine is addictive and causes adrenalin and sugar hits and plays havoc with your BSLs and causes weight gain.

One fundamental goal of good health is to stabilise your Blood Sugar Levels to give you a steady supply of energy to the brain and body throughout the day.

Stop drinking ALCOHOL. Alcohol is dangerous because it messes with your brain, causes dehydration and painful, debilitating hang-overs and messes with your behaviour, which can be harmful to yourself and others. You lose inhibitions and control over what you say and do when drunk, which can lead to high-risk behaviour, accidents and violence.

Alcohol is the root cause of countless social problems but still we are indoctrinated to drink (in moderation), which few people can manage. We are made to believe that drinking wine is sophisticated and cultured and that it’s impossible to socialise without drinking. It’s been hard to give up red wine because I believed this myth but now I sip diluted grape juice and still enjoy myself!

The body, comprising around 75 per cent fluid, requires plenty of O2 and yet clever humans have invented all sorts of ‘drinks’ rather than just give the body what it wants; pure water.

It goes without saying, to be healthy you must stop smoking, stop drug use and avoid medications that cause side effects.

What does it leave you to eat? Eat unlimited fresh vegetables (for vitamins, minerals and enzymes) and a reasonable amount of fruits, being careful of too much natural fruit sugar or 'fructose'. Tropical fruits are higher in fructose than others. My personal low-sugar favourites are cherries and berries.

Get your protein and complex carbohydrates from wholemeal legumes (soya, lentils, chickpea, red kidney beans etc), whole grains (oats, rice, wheat, rye etc), nuts (almonds, cashew, walnuts, peanuts etc) and seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, chia etc). You can make endless tasty meals from these simple foods. Hummus and oatcakes will keep you going for hours!

Although most vegans swear off eggs because of abject cruelty to battery hens, I believe free-range eggs are a good form of protein and I aim to have my own happy backyard hens in the future.

Bad fats - saturated animal fats and trans fats - are dangerous to health but good fats from avocadoes, coconuts and olive oil are essential for astute brain function. Eat lots of good fats.

I take supplements to ensure my body gets all the nutrients it needs, not necessarily supplied completely in the right quantities by food.

I am no expert but I have educated myself by studying the genuine experts.

My wish for you is to become aware of being indoctrinated by the Meat Industry, the Dairy Industry, the sugar pushers and the grog and drug pushers in this new aggressive Consumer Age we live in, where we are constantly being ‘sold’ for profits. Remember these foods are not “normal”, not necessary, not healthy and not ethical.

As women in charge of feeding our husbands and families, my wish is that you will educate yourself about nutrition, the starting point of survival, health and wellbeing.

Once your awareness shifts, I hope you choose life-enhancing, nourishing natural foods that bless you, bless others and bless our planet.

Juliet’s Story: An Inspiring Life Devoted to Campaigning for a Better, Kinder world

Growing up with intense emotions, an affinity with animals and fire in her belly to right wrongs, Juliet Gellatley is a natural campaigner. She was the kind of child who rescued stray dogs and pregnant cats.

However, being raised in a meat eating home, like most of us, she didn’t make the connection between her love of pets and the food on her plate.

But all that changed when, as an impressionable teenager, she came across an Anti-Factory Farming leaflet. Enraged by the cruelty it exposed, she challenged adults who rebuffed her with the question: “Do you eat meat?” When she said “Yes”, they retorted: “Well don’t lecture me about the horrors of factory farming.” It was a revelation and a turning point.

Not content to read about the issue, the feisty and courageous young 15-year-old wanted to see a factory farm for herself. So she visited a show farm in the Midlands that gave guided tours to demonstrate the economic benefits of ‘manufacturing’ eggs and meat.

“It was so surreal seeing the battery unit. Films or photos do not prepare you for the reality. The first thing that hits you is the deafening noise of tens of thousands of birds crammed in a concrete shed and they all stop clucking when you walk in and there’s momentary silence.

“You look around and see a vision of insanity, a vision of hell. You see rows of cages stacked on top of each other containing dead hens, deformed hens and hens with no feathers covered in sores in pain and distress.

“The official was citing impressive statistics about the output of eggs and the efficiency of production without one jot of concern for the welfare of the birds.

“All I could see was the obvious suffering. I felt such deep sorrow. You take birds that are meant to fly and enjoy freedom and feel the sun on their backs and shove them in cages. It was heart-breaking.”

That same day, Juliet visited a pig unit full of thousands of pregnant sows lying miserably on barren, concrete floors, unable to move in tiny stalls. She realised that anyone with common decency would see how cruel it was but the guide was oblivious.

Empathy Prevents Cruelty

It was the first time in her young life she had met someone devoid of empathy, cut off from their own feelings and the feelings of other living creatures.

“I always remember the blank look in his eyes. People without empathy have got dead eyes that have lost their vibrancy. When someone cuts off from their compassion and their morality, they become dangerous and destructive and capable of cruelty.”

That shocking personal experience crystallised Juliet’s resolve to devote her life to championing the cause of animal protection. That fateful day determined her destiny. She had to awaken empathy in people so they would extend the same love they feel for their pets to “food” animals.

The first radical act she did when she returned home to suburban Stockport, south of Manchester, was declare herself a vegetarian, much to her mother’s dismay!

Viva! Means Life!

Fast forward 30 years and Juliet is now the founder and director of Viva!, the most successful campaigning organisation for animal protection in the UK. Its impact reverberates around the world. The name Viva! is an acronym for Vegetarian International Voice for Animals and it celebrates life!

Viva! aims to save the lives of billions of pigs, cattle, sheep, hens, turkeys, ducks, geese and fish slaughtered for food by advocating a meat-free, plant-based diet for every human being on the planet.

In the UK alone, 850 million animals and hundreds of millions of fish are killed every year to put meat on tables; that’s more than three million animals a day. The days of genteel family farms are gone. There are now 171,700 animal agricultural holdings in the UK raising animals in massive volumes. These animals are subjected to cruel and agonising deaths in 428 abattoirs, hidden away from public view.

“When someone becomes a vegetarian they save lives, says Juliet. The average British meat eater chomps through four cattle, 18 pigs, 23 sheep and lambs, 1158 chickens, 39 turkeys, 28 ducks, one rabbit, one goose, 6182 fish and 3593 shellfish in their lifetime. This is a grand total of 11,046 animals.

“This simple dietary decision is the pivot of effective protest against the daily atrocities of factory farming. And we can protest three times a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner. And as consumers we make a real difference to demand for meat.”

Viva! claims that a meat-free diet is not only ethical but healthy, preventing sickness and disease. And if enough people ‘Go Veggie’, it would alleviate world hunger and solve most of our global environmental problems.

For a woman constantly aware of the horrors of animal suffering and mass slaughter, Juliet, at 46, has learned to moderate her sadness and outrage. She laughs heartily at herself! She speaks eloquently with the charming diction of actress Emma Thompson. This seasoned campaigner is joyful and fun loving as well as compassionate and strident.

Natural curls frame her radiant face and clear blue eyes. Her softness and sensitivity belie a fierce determination and intelligence that led to her being awarded the Pride of Britain Linda McCartney Award for Animal Welfare in 1999 and the Australian Wildlife Protection Council’s achievement award in 2002 for her gutsy confrontation of outback farmers in a controversial media campaign to save kangaroos.

The Making of a Campaigner

How did the idealistic teenager journey from a lonely stretch in the wilderness as a sole crusader to the influential campaigner she is today?

Determined to devote her life to animals, Juliet studied furiously at Reading University and emerged with a degree in Psychology and Zoology. At 24, she landed a job as youth campaigner with the staid Vegetarian Society and grabbed national media attention with a campaign called SCREAM targeting at school children.

Talking to curious students in classrooms throughout the UK and publishing upbeat magazines, she was inundated with 500 to 900 letters daily from enthusiastic young converts and succeeded in influencing an entire generation.

Her innovative work was flourishing when the Society suddenly changed direction. After seven years of solid dedication, Juliet was disillusioned and tempted to emigrate. But decided to stay in Britain, believing in the country’s potential to lead the world in animal protection. So she set about creating her own organisation!

It was your classic ‘garage success story’. Starting from scratch was a daunting prospect. With no premises, no equipment, no staff and no funding, Juliet worked from home in Cheshire with the support of her husband, Tony Wardle, a talented print journalist and television documentary maker. Benefactor, Audrey Eyton donated £20,000 to get Viva! underway.

Juliet devoted every waking hour. She recalls the early days: “If I hadn’t been a complete workaholic giving every ounce of myself, it would have failed. I would get up in the morning in my dressing gown and go straight to my office. At some point I’d get dressed, and carry on working throughout the day then jump in the car with sacks of mail and drive like a maniac to catch the evening post and come home, eat and carry on working until midnight. We also had volunteers living at our house, which was very challenging!”

Viva! was officially launched, amidst a media frenzy, in 1994 with the endorsement of Paul and Linda McCartney. The famous Beatle said: “For far too long animals have had no voice to speak against the cruelties done to them in the name of diet. Viva! has given animals a voice.”

“It was amazing to have such powerful support. Right from the beginning we were punching way above our weight. We had such limited resources yet the cause was attracting national publicity.

“We launched on a campaign called Convert a Parent. On these issues young people are more knowledgeable and older people should listen. It is their world and their future.”

With a goal to empower youth with the facts, the fledging Viva! produced 12 definitive booklets covering ethics, nutrition, global hunger and environmental issues. The case for boycotting meat spread like wild fire.

Just 18 months after launching, Viva! set up a Helpline advising people how to Go Veggie and mailed out thousands of inspirational starter packs.

On reflection, Juliet surprises herself with Viva!’s phenomenal reach, admitting: “At the end of the day, we were just a small group of idealistic people in a garage!”

From a garage in Cheshire, smack in the middle of hostile farming country, Viva! grew rapidly and within two years had attracted a loyal team of volunteers and enough funding to employ four staff members. The team moved headquarters to Brighton and gave the trendy seaside town, the prestigious title Vegetarian Capital of Europe.

Juliet explains: “We put all our strength into being a practical campaigning organisation. We are very hand to mouth. We don’t sit on money. Donations get spent straight away on tangible projects. Supporters can see what we were doing with their donations.

“We believe that we can’t tell people about the horrors of factory farming if we haven’t been into the farms. People have the basic right to know where their food comes from. Most Brits live in cities or suburbia and buy plastic-wrapped meat in supermarkets without thinking about its origin or they are consoled by images of happy farmyard animals running around idyllic country fields.”

Impressive Victories

In 15 years Viva! has spearheaded several hard-hitting campaigns including Pig In Hell. Undercover footage of the appalling conditions of Britain’s factory pig farms was screened worldwide.

The disturbing film, Ducks Out of Water was screened by the BBC and GMTV Viva! exposed the biggest turkey farm in Britain for three Christmases in a row with front page newspaper coverage and television showing the terrible reality behind the festive lunch.

Viva! is currently fighting to stop a senseless government-sanctioned massacre of badgers in Wales.

Viva! has stopped UK supermarkets from selling kangaroo and other ‘exotic’ meats and has exposed the horrendous cruelties of the fur industry.

Viva’s graphic Anti-Dairy campaign has smashed the myth of contented cows grazing in lush fields by revealing the misery of cows who are incarcerated in concrete pens, kept permanently pregnant, have their calves removed days after giving birth and are forced to produce 120 pints of milk a day from swollen udders infected with excruciating mastitis.

Juliet says: “People have a huge emotional attachment to milk because we were given it as babies so we think it is all-nourishing no matter what species it comes from. However it is unnatural and dangerous to consume milk meant for a calf. Dairy is linked with a host of diseases.”

On-line Bonanza

The Viva! website is a dynamic, resource-rich platform offering a bonanza of articles, booklets, magazines and books and a dazzling array of healthy treats and colourful merchandise to order online.

Viva! has galvanised the support of 20,000 members who stage events across the UK every week. And an impressive line-up of celebrity supporters includes patron Heather Mills, Martin Shaw, Joanna Lumley, Chrissie Hynde, Hayley Mills, Sir Paul McCartney, Michael Mansfield and Benjamin Zephaniah.

In 2002, Juliet launched the national charity, the Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation, to focus on nutrition and health education. As a qualified nutritionist and zoologist she fervently believes a non-meat diet is the ideal, healthiest diet for humans.

“Fundamentally what’s gnawing at people is the misguided idea that humans are meant to eat meat even though they know that vegetarians have less heart attacks, strokes, cancer, diabetes, obesity and countless other health problems.

“Humans are not natural born killers. Our physiology, with grinding teeth and long intestines, is designed to eat wheat not meat.

“We have so many other food choices for protein. In fact, people thrive on a vegan diet, reducing their chance of chronic diseases and increasing their energy to enjoy life.”

Juliet is indeed living life to the full. Six years ago Viva! relocated to Bristol and with twin sons Jazz and Finn, aged seven, she enjoys a natural lifestyle in the picturesque countryside.

The family recently rescued Alflie, an adorable St Bernard who Juliet says behaves more like a lolloping bear than a dog!

The also have Bertie, a pet turkey. Juliet says: “When you massage his head he trembles down to his wing tips! He is so curious, communicative and affectionate, following us around, making his little gobble-gobble noises. When you spend time with animals and bond, you know what complex, emotional creatures they are, not objects.”

Juliet admits she has never been a fitness fanatic but that didn’t stop her from pulling on her hiking boots to climb Yorkshire’s mountain peaks as a fundraiser.

Her latest project is setting up the Revive Clinic to help sick people regain health and vitality. She regularly speaks on the benefits of the humble Soya Bean, goes on the road with Veggie Cookery Shows, promotes Fruity Fun Days and is currently re-writing her acclaimed book, The Silent Ark.

Friends say that Juliet Gellatley is blessed to have a sense of purpose and meaning. Every day she wakes up knowing she is making a profound contribution to creating a better, kinder world.

The Case for Going Veggie

The strong case for “going veggie” rests on four key reasons: saving animals, saving yourself, saving others and saving the planet!

The moral decision to stop eating animals is based on the refusal to participate in the suffering and killing of animals for food. This argument gathers potency when you are confronted with the horrifying facts about 21^st century factory farming.

The volume of animals slaughtered for food has escalated over the last 30 years with the rampant proliferation of fast food outlets that tantalise the insatiable human appetite for animal flesh.

Globally 57 billion animals are killed for food every year, according to UN figures. Pause for a moment to let this figure sink in. The human population is only 6.8 billion. This staggering volume of animals including cattle, pigs, sheep, chicken, ducks, turkeys, fish and seafood is unimaginable and incomprehensible.

Worldwide five billion sick, deformed and distressed hens are incarnated in cages to lay eggs. In US intensive egg production is maximised in hideous sheds which each house up to 50,000 screeching birds, in a vision of insanity.

The US, not surprisingly, excels when it comes to sheer numbers of animals killed. In hidden slaughterhouses dotted across the country, life is drained from so-called “food animals” 10,000 times a minute. As the Americans say, “do the math”. How many animals is that per hour, per day, per week, per month, per year?

Americans eat as much chicken now in a single day as they did in an entire year in the 1930s. In 2010, 8.5 million birds are killed every week to keep up the demand from KFC, McDonalds and other fast food pushers. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, turkeys are massacred en mass, ironically to celebrate these heart-warming, wholesome occasions.

In the UK, 850 million animals and hundreds of millions of fish are killed every year to put meat on British tables; that’s more than three million animals a day.

In Australia, with a population of just 22 million people, 500 million animals are raised in factory farms annually and 11 million laying hens are crammed in cages.

To keep up with the rapacious demand for animal flesh, factory farms now “manufacture” meat through the intensive breeding, raising and slaughtering of animals in abject conditions. Small, independent family farms are relegated to the idyllic rural past. More than 90 per cent of meat consumed in developed countries comes from factory farms. And China and other developing countries are following the trend.

The cruel conditions in these intensive operations, run by a monopoly of corporations, cause misery and pain to millions of creatures before they are subjected to terrifying and agonising deaths.

Food animals are considered by this efficient industry as objects and money-making commodities, rather than living creatures that feel acute emotions and physical pain. Animals are sentient vertebrates; they have senses and a nervous system, just as humans do.

If humans extended the same love they feel for their pets to “food animals”, they could never accept these daily atrocities and they would not contemplate eating animal flesh. Imagine for a moment the horror of killing and eating your pet dog.

The heart-breaking film Earthlings, available on the internet, shows shocking footage of everyday scenes in US slaughterhouses. The book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer documents a litany of sadistic abuses by desensitised workers in slaughterhouses across the US. And the film, Food, Inc. exposes the market stranglehold of the six aggressive corporate giants behind the new agribusiness.

In the UK, Viva! (Vegetarian International Voice for Animals) has produced hard-hitting films and graphic reports on the torturous treatment of loveable farmyard animals including pigs, ducks, turkeys and lambs.

Pigs are affectionate and intelligent animals, similar in nature to dogs. Viva! founder and director, Juliet Gellatley has seen the horror for herself. She writes: “Peek into any intensive farm in Britain and you are likely to see diseased, dead or dying animals. Neglect and indifference are commonplace – broken legs, abscesses, ruptured stomachs, animals coughing with pneumonia, others panting from meningitis, cuts and lacerations.

“The camera lights revealed baby pigs in barren metal pens and utterly devoid of bedding. The noise was their tiny trotters clattering on the bare metal floors as they tried to get away. But there was no place to go, no place to hide.”

The Truth About Dairy

Nor is the dairy industry the idyllic picture of contented cows grazing in lush fields. Viva’s ground-breaking Anti-Dairy campaign has smashed the milk myth.

Over-worked cows live in misery. Incarcerated in concrete pens, they are kept permanently pregnant and have their calves traumatically removed days after giving birth. Emaciated cows and are forced to produce 40 litres of milk a day from grotesquely swollen udders infected with excruciating mastitis. Milk containing high levels of hormones, antibiotics and pus can be sold legally.

Juliet says: “People have a huge emotional attachment to milk because we were given it as babies so we think it is all-nourishing no matter what species it comes from. However it is unnatural and dangerous to consume milk meant for a calf. Dairy is linked with a host of diseases.”

The same merciless approach and economies of scale are now applied to fishing. A single trawler, the size of a football field, has the ability to haul 50 tons of sea animals in a few minutes on long lines that stretch for 75 miles and nets of 30 miles in length. The oceans are being emptied of sea life at an alarming rate.

The film Earthlings shows Japanese fishermen luring mother dolphins and their calves into a cove, hauling them onto land and hacking and mutilating them while still alive and writhing in agony. Dolphin meat is sold as a delicacy for diners with discerning palates and no concern for these beautiful, gentle creatures.

Save Animals

When you stop eating meat you literally save animals. The average British meat eater chomps through four cattle, 18 pigs, 23 sheep and lambs, 1158 chickens, 39 turkeys, 28 ducks, one rabbit, one goose, 6182 fish and 3593 shellfish in their lifetime. This is a total of 11,046 animals.

Becoming a vegetarian (meat and fish free diet) or even better a vegan (meat, fish, egg and dairy-free, plant-based diet) is the most effective, radical action an individual can take to boycott factory farming and reduce the slaughter of animals.

As consumers we wield immense power in our food choices by reducing demand and supply. We get to protest against the horrors of factory farming three times a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner and influence others every time we take a stand as a Veggie. We are not helpless victims of the system. We have the power to change our meat-eating culture.

Save Yourself

The saddest point of this genocide is the fact that meat-eating is not necessary for human survival or health. There is a vast range of plant-based sources of protein and calcium, zinc, iron and B vitamins. Nutritious alternatives include legumes such as soy, lentils and chickpeas; nuts such as almonds and cashews, grains such as rice, oats, rye and wheat and seeds such as sesame and sunflower.

These days an appetising variety of meat-free, ready-to-eat products offer an easy alternative to meat. Despite the scare-mongering of the dairy industry about soy products, the truth is the humble soya bean is power packed with protein, even more concentrated in tofu and tempeh and soy milk.

The reason most meat-eaters refuse to give up their habit is not health but taste. Staunch carnivores will tell you defiantly they simply like the taste of meat! To justify mass suffering and killing for the trivial reason of satisfying taste buds seems immoral in the extreme.

Maybe some startling facts will spoil any fast food fan’s appetite. In Eating Animals, the author describes how chickens are dunked in water tanks he calls “fecal soup” full of filth and bacteria and that millions of contaminated chickens are shipped for sale to consumers.

Factory farmed meat is dangerous. A meat-free, dairy-free diet is healthy. The second reason to Go Veggie is to save yourself and your whole family.

Juliet, a qualified zoologist and nutritionist, says: “Fundamentally what’s gnawing at people is the misguided idea that humans are meant to eat meat even though they know that vegetarians have less heart attacks, strokes, cancer, diabetes, obesity and countless other health problems.

“Humans are not natural born killers. Our physiology, with grinding teeth and long intestines, is designed to eat wheat not meat.

“We have so many other food choices for protein. In fact, people thrive on a vegan diet, reducing their chance of chronic diseases and increasing their energy to enjoy life.”

Save The Planet

Most of us feel helpless when it comes to saving the planet and yet factory farming is at the very root cause of environmental destruction.

Viva! reports: “Rainforests are cleared for grazing; methane from livestock causes global warming; soil is eroded by cattle; slurry poisons waterways and the seas are laid to waste by overfishing.”

Safran Foer reveals that American pig farms produce 72 million pounds of manure annually – that’s 130 times as much waste as the human population. Most of it seeps into rivers, lakes and oceans killing wildlife and polluting the air, water and land.

Pig effluent contains ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, cyanide, phosphorous, nitrates and heavy metals and 100 microbial pathogens that cause virulent diseases such as pfiesteria.

In the face of our collective helplessness about global warming, loss of habitat, species extinction, the pollution of land, water and air and threat of super bugs, it is empowering for caring individuals to understand the cause of these horrendous problems and know they can actually do something real on a daily basis to stop the destruction.

Save Others.

Viva! reports: “While 750 million people go the bed hungry every night, one third of the world’s grain is fed to farmed animals. A typical Western meat-based diet can only feed 2.5 billion people; a plant-based diet will feed every one of us.”

Maneka Gandhi, India’s former minister for social justice and empowerment, says: “In a country where millions of people go hungry, 37 per cent of arable land is being used to grow fodder for animals that are being raised and killed for export.

“As if that were not enough, we are exporting soya beans to feed European livestock, who will in turn be murdered for meat. I see no reason why India should feed the world at the expense of her own land, her water, her people, her hunger.”

There is a mountain of shocking evidence about the atrocities of factory farming and the case for Going Veggie for any courageous person who wants to face up to where their food comes from and give up their taste for meat.

Visit Viva!’s dynamic, resource-rich website http://www.viva.org.uk; read Eating Animals and watch Earthlings and Food, Inc.

Once informed, you can no longer plead ignorance. You will be moved to feel empathy for other living creatures and confronted to make a choice. Please make it in favour of animals, the planet, the poor and hungry and your family and yourself.

As a new Vegan, every day I feel empowered and good about myself for not participating in cruelty against innocent animals. I feel physically better for not having dead flesh inside me. I feel a new level of strength and vitality.

And I feel determined to spread the message to Go Veggie.