food choices

in my quest to eat less meat, i find myself getting lots of questions about why i'm eating less meat.  i take that back.  not questions.  strange looks and people saying "why?" in total astonishment and disbelief, as if i just said that the sky is orange, not blue. "why??" they say, as if eating less meat is a sin against humanity; as if eating less meat makes me completely insane in some way. why is eating less meat so crazy? i mean, consider the fact that as a culture, we're eating twice as much meat as we did in the 1950's.  any chance that has anything to do with the obesity rate? or the rate of heart disease? other diseases? i digress... my main reason for eating less meat is simple: i want to feel better. i want to be healthier. but i do have a second reason. i'm taking a stand against how these poor animals are treated before they are led to slaughter, all for a juicy burger or ham sandwich. do you know that most of the animals are forced to live in dirty, unsanitary, quite frankly dangerous conditions? stacked shoulder to shoulder in conditions you would vomit if you saw? i mean, i understand that there's no "nice" way to kill something. but shouldn't these animals be treated with dignity and respect?

i recently was sent an article (thank you hubby!) that really sheds some light on this topic. it's from USA Today and is titled What's the godly way to treat animals?  Check out the article here. i encourage you to not just read it, but really digest what is written. it's not an article about not eating meat. not even close. however, it does make you stop and think "how are the animals i'm eating being treated?".

now that you've been informed, are you going to do anything about it? make any changes to your diet? make any changes to your shopping selections (i.e. free range, hormone free)? become more educated on the treatment of these animals? something simple is better than nothing. good luck :)