Animal Aid

veggie's missing ingredient

I recently had the opportunity to see a pack of lions kill a zebra in Kenya. I was amazed to see that the first thing the lions did was to go for the stomach contents of the zebra and smear it over any of the meat they were going to eat. This reminded me of our burmese cats who regularly eat french beans also demonstrating that there is no real true Carnivore. This then led me to consider whether there was any evidence that so called herbivores avoided eating insects on the plants they were consuming. I thought that unlikely and therefore concluded that most "herbivores" in their natural enviroment were also by default omnivores as well. Given these observations I conclude that any form of extreme dietary focus is likeky to be as unhealthy as are extremes of many other things

04/12/2007 tim oliver

Veganism

Lifestyle vegans do the best that they can to avoid consuming, wearing or using animals and their by-products. Because we do not live in a cruelty-free world it is often difficult to avoid the use of any animal products, for example, many animal products are used in the making of furniture and other household items.

Humans have the ability to ensure that the food they consume does not involve the suffering or killing of animals. The vegan diet is the most compassionate (and healthy) as it avoids the use of any animal products.

Avoiding the consumption of animal products is in no way extreme. In fact, those that consume a plant-based diet tend to live longer, as they suffer from less food related illnesses, such as obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. Even the UK government is now encouraging people to eat less meat and dairy, not only to improve the standard of health in the UK, but to reduce carbon emissions. A recent UN report stated that animal farming generates 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the global transport sector combined.

Extreme is to confine, mutilate and eventually kill animals to produce food that humans do not need to survive.

12/12/2007 Vegan Aunt

Interesting observations, Tim..

But i fail to see what relevance the diet of a wild animal, "herbivore" or not, has to the way a human being choses to eat or live?

I don't really understand why you suddenly shift from discussing the eating habits of non-human animals, to making a "conclusion" that, and i quote, "any form of extreme dietary focus is likeky to be as unhealthy as are extremes of many other things".

As far as a vegan diet goes, in the 2 years i have been vegan i haven't found it unhealthy OR extreme. You were making some good observations until you made a conclusion that, although you say is based on those observations, actually has nothing at all to do with them.

Still, cats eating french beans, you say? nice!

05/01/2008 Ben