Animal Aid Youth

Q: Humans are carnivores, so isn’t eating meat totally natural?
A: Actually, we are omnivores, not carnivores, which means we can eat a wide range of foods including meat and vegetable foods. However, our bodies have not evolved to a meaty diet. Carnivores such as lions and tigers only eat meat, and they have sharp front teeth for biting through thick animal skin, powerful jaws for breaking bones and intestinal tracts a quarter the length of ours, so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly. We don't have any of these things!

Eating vegetarian food is totally natural. Rearing specially bred animals in intensive factory farms so they can be killed and eaten is not!

Q: Animals eat each other, don’t they?
A: Carnivorous animals don't have a choice – they have to kill to survive. We have a choice – and can survive happily and healthily without meat.

Q: What would happen to all the animals if everyone went vegetarian?
A: Farmers mass-produce animals so that humans can eat them. As more and more people become vegetarian, there will be less demand for meat products, the numbers of animals being farmed will decrease gradually, and eventually animals will no longer be raised for food. This means that there will be more space in the countryside for natural habitats and wildlife to return.

Occasionally people say that if you don’t eat animals, they will never be born and you will deny them a chance to live. However, they are born into a miserable, short life that is ended brutally. Secondly, sheep, cows, pigs are species that were created by humans for food. If you eat these animals, you are responsible for them existing and taking the land and habitats that natural wild species once occupied. You are therefore responsible for wild animals not being born and having a chance to live.

Q: What about wearing leather?
A: Most vegetarians do not buy or wear items made from the skin of dead animals such as leather and suede. Many people think that leather is ‘just’ a by-product of the meat trade, but buying leather actually helps to support the factory farming and killing of animals, as it makes the meat industry profitable.

You can find fashionable non-leather shoes, clothing and accessories in practically every high street shop. There are also some independent shops and websites specialising in veggie-friendly products, such as www.animalaid.co.uk, www.ethicalwares.com or www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk.

Q: Aren’t all vegetarians weak, thin and wimpy?
A: If you eat a well-balanced, meat-free diet you’ll get all the nutrients you need to stay fit and healthy. For strength, you need plenty of carbohydrate and protein. Carbohydrates provide energy and protein provides the building blocks for all tissues, particularly muscle, and you can get all the carbohydrates and protein your body needs from vegetarian foods. Many famous athletes and sports people, including nine-time Wimbledon Champion Martina Navratilova and Carl Lewis – one of the greatest-ever sprinters and winner of 9 Olympic gold medals – have trained on a vegetarian or vegan diet. And in the natural world, gorillas and elephants are both vegan and they are far from thin, weak and wimpy!

Q: Don’t you need to drink milk and eat dairy products to get enough calcium?
A: Calcium is found in many plant foods. If you eat a balanced and varied vegetarian or vegan diet, you will get all the calcium your body requires.

People who consume large amounts of meat and dairy products, which are rich in protein, may suffer from osteoporosis (weak bones caused by a lack of calcium). This is because too much protein makes the blood more acidic and the body tries to neutralise this by taking calcium from the bones into the bloodstream.

Q: Won’t I become pale and anaemic if I don’t eat meat?
A: Vegetarians get plenty of iron from their diet and are no more likely to suffer from anaemia than meat eaters. Green leafy vegetables, baked beans, kidney beans, tofu, lentils, wholemeal bread, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds and dried fruit are all good sources of iron.

Q: Don’t you need to eat oily fish to get your essential fatty acids?
A: Fish is not the only source of essential fatty acids (omega 3 and omega 6 oils). Omega 6 fats are plentiful in many plant foods, particularly sunflower oil, corn oil, sesame seeds and hempseeds, soya products (including soya milk and tofu), and walnuts. Most vegetarians get more than enough omega 6 fats.

Omega 3 oil is not so widely available in a vegetarian or vegan diet. Vegetarians can vegans can easily meet all their Omega 3 requirements by eating flaxseed or linseed oil. It is a good idea to take a teaspoon of flaxseed (linseed) oil a day, or capsules. These are available from most supermarkets and health food shops. A great way to take it is to add the oil to a salad dressing or to mix it in a fruit smoothie. Many vegan vegetable margarines and soya drinks are also fortified with omega 3.

Q: How will I get enough energy if I don’t eat meat?
A: It is a myth that meat is essential for energy.

Carbohydrates, protein and fat are the foods that fuel the body.

Carbohydrates are the most important source of energy. Most people don’t eat enough carbohydrates; ideally 40- 65% of our diet should be made up of them. The two main types of carbohydrates are slow-releasing complex starches (good sources are cereal whole grains such as wheat, rice, oats and barley, which are found in bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, plus vegetables, potatoes, beans and fruits, and fast-releasing simple carbohydrates or sugars (eg fruit and table sugar).

Fats provide 20-30% of our energy, but eating too much can make you ‘fat’, so they should be eaten in moderation. Most people eat too much fat. Unsaturated vegetable fats are best – examples include rapeseed oil and olive oil. Avoid trans and hydrogenated vegetable fats, as theses are unhealthy. What we don’t need in the diet is the non-essential saturated fats, which come mainly from meat, dairy and processed foods. These increase cholesterol levels and can lead to heart disease and some cancers.

Q: What about hidden ingredients?
A:

Q: Don't plants have feelings too?
A: Whilst we cannot be completely sure what plants are 'feeling', we know for a fact that plants do not feel pain in the same way that humans and animals do. They do not have a central nervous system and pain receptors all over their body to allow them to experience pain, or a brain to process these sensations. In any case, anyone concerned about the feelings of plants should go veggie, because animal farming kills far more plants than when people eat them direct without first passing them through animals.