How is meat processed? What makes it unhealthy?!
How is meat processed? What makes it unhealthy?
Answers:
the way meat is processed is shocking! New born animals are yanked from their mothers just after birth, then put in pens or cages where they can barely more. They are given growth hormones and antibiotics to keep them from getting sick from their filthy living conditions. They are not allowed access to their natural diet, but are fed grains that contain organ meats of other dead animals until they are old enough and fat enough to be inhumanely slaughtered, Then the meat is so toxic, that they shoot it full of chemicals to kill off the fecal matter and other contaminants. Then it turns up in our local grocers so we can contaminate ourselves with it. Sorry, but you asked! and yes, I am a proud vegetarian! lol
i don't think meat is unhealthy, undercooking it is unhealthy. but if you are talking about hamburger, it's when its all ground up and exposed to air that can have bacteria in it, so you just have to make sure you cook it all the way!!
It's not necessarily the processing that is unhealthy. Certainly it can be unhealthy, in that the processing company is not following the hygiene rules. In Canada, inspections have not been mandatory in meat processing thus far. They were only random on complaint based. Basically, it has been up to the company to follow the rules. Of course, following the rules costs more, and that’s where the cutting of corners happens. It happens a lot. In the USA too. As far as I know, there is only one or two meat processors in the entire USA that follows very strict rules to ensure very safe handling. They rest do not. Saw this on a documentary last year -- I think on The Nature of Things.
My wife is in the process of trying to become a meat processing inspector. It’s all about meat hygiene and disease. Basically, the animals are all very sick and diseased coming into the processing plant in the first place. By the descriptions of the regulations and the duties of the inspector, it sounds to her like a really horrible job full of screaming animals, blood, guts, the smell of death, and disease, etc. The meat processing industry (i.e. slaughter houses) have the highest employee turnover of any other industry for a reason, because people cannot stand it, it corrodes their soul, or at least makes them sick to their somach. Many people quit on their first day on the job, and some last for months but finally quit completely disturbed. Grown men leave the job in a continuous flow; there’s a reason. Why would she want to become an inspector? The pay is good. And Canada is going to start mandatory inspectors at every plant very soon. Why they never did in the past, who knows. Back pocket money into the hands of politicians sound about right.
The fat makes it unhealthy for the most part.
The FDA almost never takes action to protect the public. Instead, the agency's decisions consistently and almost universally protect the financial interests of influential corporations such as pharmaceutical companies or, in this case, beef industry companies.
Mad cow disease is real, and it's here in America. It's caused by insane feeding practices that allow cattle ranchers to feed their cows chicken litter (yes, chicken dung) and the blood, brains and spinal cord tissue from other cows and dead animals. This is the stuff that goes into the food you're eating, folks (if you eat red meat, that is).
The sane thing would be to ban the use of these feed items for cows. That's what the FDA should have done six months ago. But now, they're delaying it even further: it could take two years to get a decision from the FDA on this. Meanwhile, cattle ranchers keep on feeding their cows practically any form of protein they can get their hands on, regardless of its safety.
In this situation, both the FDA and the USDA are acting out of total disregard for the health and safety of the public. The beef industry loves all the delays, because they've never wanted to be forced to actually follow sane feeding practices in the first place (it would add cost to the beef). They'd rather just keep on feeding their cows anything they can find -- blood, brain matter, spinal cords, chicken dung, you name it -- and pretend mad cow disease doesn't exist.
As a consumer, if you thought the FDA was protecting you, you're sadly mistaken. The agency acts more like a marketing branch for private industry than a government regulator
There are many benefits to a diet containing meat. Many vegetarians claim that meat is unhealthy. This is a blatant fallacy.
It is well established that eating meat improves the quality of nutrition, strengthens the immune system, promotes normal growth and development, is beneficial for day-to-day health, energy and well-being, and helps ensure optimal learning and academic performance.
A long term study found that children who eat more meat are less likely to have deficiencies than those who eat little or no meat. Kids who don’t eat meat ― and especially if they restrict other foods, as many girls are doing ― are more likely to feel tired, apathetic, unable to concentrate, are sick more often, more frequently depressed, and are the most likely to be malnourished and have stunted growth. Meat and other animal-source foods are the building blocks of healthy growth that have made America’s and Europe's youngsters the tallest, strongest and healthiest in the world.
Meat is an important source of quality nutrients, heme iron, protein, zinc and B-complex vitamins. It provides high-quality protein important for kids’ healthy growth and development.
The iron in meat (heme iron) is of high quality and well absorbed by the body, unlike nonheme iron from plants which is not well absorbed. More than 90 percent of iron consumed may be wasted when taken without some heme iron from animal sources. Substances found to inhibit nonheme iron absorption include phytates in cereals, nuts and legumes, and polyphenolics in vegetables. Symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue, headache, irritability and decreased work performance. For young children, it can lead to impairment in general intelligence, language, motor performance and school readiness. Girls especially need iron after puberty due to blood losses, or if pregnant. Yet studies show 75 percent of teenage girls get less iron than recommended.
Meat, poultry and eggs are also good sources of absorbable zinc, a trace mineral vital for strengthening the immune system and normal growth. Deficiencies link to decreased attention, poorer problem solving and short-term memory, weakened immune system, and the inability to fight infection. While nuts and legumes contain zinc, plant fibre contains phytates that bind it into a nonabsorbable compound.
Found almost exclusively in animal products, Vitamin B12 is necessary for forming new cells. A deficiency can cause anaemia and permanent nerve damage and paralysis. The Vitimin B12 in plants isn't even bioavailable, meaning our body can't use it.
Why not buy food supplements to replace missing vitamins and minerals? Some people believe they can fill those gaps with pills, but they may be fooling themselves. Research consistently shows that real foods in a balanced diet are far superior to trying to make up deficiencies with supplements.
Lets not forget either that protein, while it is found in plants, is better quality in animal products.
Some people claim that meat is unhealthy because it contains saturated fat. So does margarine and olive oil, and they're vegan suitable (in fact the hydrogenated fats in Marge can be very bad, but that's another story). Besides, any excess calories in your diet, any excess sugar, starch or carbohydrates are stored in your body for later use. This is done by turning them into saturated fats.
Cholesterol too. Your body on average creates four to five times more cholesterol than the average person consumes, and compensates by creating more when less is consumed. Cholesterol isn't evil, it is essential; it makes up the waterproof linings of all our cells and without it we would die. Too much can be bad, but as with saturated fats there are more healthy ways of disposing of it, like regular exercise. Anyway, it isn't so much how much cholesterol you eat, but how well yur body handles it. A person who eats loads of dietary cholesterol and leads an unhealthy lifestyle can still have low cholesterol, and vice versa. Most people's bodies are able to take a large amount of cholesterol without getting atherosclerosis. For this reason that eating meat gives you heart disease is very misleading, and for the most part untrue. Of course, if you do have a problem eating loads isn't a good idea, but for most people there is nothing at all to worry about.
Yes, there are things in meat that there is some evidence can cause cancer in some people, but there are as many in plants too. Soy especially has some very potent carcinogens. Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women. Also they are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
Soy is bad for numerous other reasons, but that isn't the point, I'm just using it as a quick example relating to cancer not being exclusive to some animal products. The evidence that claims meat does cause cancer is patchy anyway.
Some people also claim that we aren't designed by evolution, to eat meat. They claim that our digestive system is quite long and that we produce amylase, a starch splitting catabolic enzyme, akin to herbivores and unlike carnivores. Apparently this clearly shows that we were designed to eat plants. Such people should go and look up 'omnivore' in a dictionary. They have also been known to cite other reasons we are like herbivores and unlike carnivores: that we suck water instead of lapping it, and that we perspire through our skin, such things have nothing at all to do with whether or not we were designed to eat meat, and nothing to do with how our body handles food. I might as well say that because we, like most carnivores and unlike most herbivores, have eyes that face forwards, we must be carnivorous. Of course, that's not true for precisely the same reason.
The fact is Humans are omnivores, with the ability to eat nearly everything. By preference, prehistoric people ate a high-protein, high-mineral diet based on meat and animal sources, whenever available. Their foods came mainly from three of the five food groups: meat, vegetables and fruits. As a result, big game mammoth hunters were tall and strong with massive bones. They grew six inches taller than their farming descendants in Europe, who ate mostly plant foods, and only in recent times regained most of this height upon again eating more meat, eggs and dairy foods. We are adapted to eat meat, and it is just as natural as eating plants.
Some also claim that the digestion of meat releases harmful byproducts into our system. This is true, however such are our adaptations to eating meat that our bodies are quite able to dispose of said products without any adverse effects.
So, in summary: it isn't healthier to avoid meat. You can be healthy without meat, but likely not as healthy as if you did, assuming you kept things like the wide range of fruit and veg that a veggie diet usually entails. Too much meat can be bad, but normal amounts are no problem at all. Any health benefits that come from a veggie diet come from a wide range of fruit and veg, and being health conscious, as veggies often are; that doesn't require you to not eat meat."
I don't think a vegeterian diet benefits anyone in any way better than a better meat eating diet could at all. If you have no ethical qualms, it's quite pointless. PETA will tell you otherwise, but they have very strong ethical opinions, and mould their 'evidence' around it. There is, for example, some evidence that vegans live longer and are at less risk from cancer and heart disease; however those studies show only a very marginal and insignificant difference and none of those studies have yet managed to identify meat as the only variable. Veggies are less likely to smoke, drink or eat junk food, and eat a wider range of fruit and veg, making the test results inaccurate and unreliable.