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What Kind of Diet Should we Have?

Lately, on my street, flyers have been taped up advocating vegan-ism.
Most people who adopt herbivorous diets (either vegan or vegetarian) do so out of concern for animal welfare. First off, I believe in animal welfare whole-heartedly. However, I do not believe in going vegan. Guidelines developed by Temple Grandin were implemented into the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Temple Grandin does not only talk about methods of slaughter but also other animal handling methods. She has done research on the correlation between stress on slaughter animals and their meat quality. These studies show that if an animal is in either long term, or short term stress the meat quality will be low. When this happens in cattle, meat is typically very dark, firm and dry. In pigs, it is pale soft and exudative (very watery and almost slimy). If this happens, the meat is not marketable and money is lost in the industry. Animal welfare is not a foreign subject to people of agriculture. They do everything they can to keep animals healthy and carefree while still being efficient. Now, about that diet. All herbivorous diets have been found to be lacking in Vitamin A and B12, which are essential in growing children, and helping fight infection. Studies show that vegan lifestyles result in deficiencies of calcium, several vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids. A strict vegan couple in France were arrested for lack of those nutrients. Sound weird? Here's the whole story. This French couple decided to go vegan after watching a documentary on butchered cows. After having a baby, they continued their lifestyle as normal and chose to breastfeed their child. At 11 months old the girl weighed only 12.5 pounds and when the ambulance arrived she had already passed away. An autopsy showed that she was lacking severely in vitamin A and B12.   This couple, though they "were wholly aware of the mistake they made," chose to continue their lifestyle and were put in prison for child neglect. Even though people who turn to herbivorous diets may have good intentions, most of them revert back to omnivorous diet anyway. This reversion is probably due to the deficiencies mentioned above, as well as unsatiated hunger.  I hate seeing animals in pain and suffering and work against those things with every animal science class that I take. The animals we use for slaughter are never in pain, nor do they suffer (Temple Grandin made sure animals deaths are painless and stress free). You can advocate animal welfare without being against animal agriculture. Meat is an essential part of the human diet so don't avoid it!

 Find Temple Grandin's humane slaughter methods here. Be sure to search her website for other interesting animal welfare methods and acts!

 1. "French Vegan Couple Whose Baby Died of Vitamin Deficiency After Being Fed Solely Breastmilk Face Jail for Child Neglect." Allen, Peter. Dailymail. 14 July 2015.

 2. "Study: Most Vegetarians Revert Back." Anderson, Ken. Brownfield Ag News for America. Dec. 2014
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