Should we Eat Meat? Draft

Should we eat meat? This question is known to trouble many people. We think, at first, the wrong in our doings.  People live among other kinds. Each of us is different, both body and mind. Though we, in a way, have similarities to other animals. The animals we eat, like chickens, cows and sheep, have faces and feelings and maybe, if not, thoughts.  So how can we eat them knowing that there are other forms of food like vegetables and grains, and we can live without eating meat. Then we think again. Some animals themselves are carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores. Carnivores are animals that eat just meat, specifically their own kind. Vegetarians eat anything but meat. Omnivores just eat anything edible. The animals never stop to ask themselves how many calories or if they’re eating is good for their weight.  They eat to live.  The problem with humans is that we second-guess ourselves with everything. When we eat meat, for example, we start to think, “Should we really do this?” We think too much. What made us think this way? Why can’t we just eat like other animals? Besides, meat is good for you and the environment. It has been around for forever and is a central part of our nature. So why give it up?

            The, so-called, animal lovers find eating meat abhorrent, almost nauseating at the thought of eating a living thing. Yet they are incapable of seeing the issue from another viewpoint. If eating meat is that disgusting, try explaining that to all the other animals out there. Most animals eat other animals.  Since the beginning of time, humans also have been hunting our own food. We have grown and evolved yet we still consume meat till this day. There has to be an explanation or a reason for our actions. We are designed to eat meat. We don’t have the right digestive systems and organs to digest plants well like herbivores, yet we have big brains and canines and opposable thumbs to hunt for meat. If we don’t eat meat, we are going against our instincts as animals.

While some say meat is unhealthy, research says otherwise. Meat helps your blood sugar levels stay stable due to its protein and fat levels. Steady blood sugar can prevent chronic diseases including two types of diabetes. It gives you nutrients like B12. Without meat, you aren’t nourishing your body properly. As written in the article, Why All Humans Need To Eat Meat For Health, ”Meat also contains vitamins and minerals that aid in muscle growth like zinc, which assists in muscle repair, and iron, which boosts energy levels and combats fatigue. Meat also contains creatine, a nitrogen-containing compound that improves protein synthesis and provides muscles with energy, encouraging muscle gain.”  Meat helps with muscle growth as well to help you body become healthy and strong physically and mentally.

            Eating meat is actually environmentally good for the earth.  The process of animals to meat in supermarkets is actually more natural than manufactured tofu to stores. As written in a contest winner article in the New York Times, “A well-managed, free-ranged cow is able to turn the sunlight captured by plants into condensed calories and protein with the aid of the microorganisms in its gut. Sun > diverse plants > cow > human. This in a larger ethical view looks much cleaner than the fossil-fuel-soaked scheme of tractor-tilled field > irrigated soy monoculture > tractor harvest > processing > tofu > shipping > human.” While vegetarians and vegans think eating tofu helps the environment, that piece of information seems to slip past them.  

            Overall, meat is not only a part of our nature, but is good for you and the environment. Eating meat gives us strength in, not just our body, but in our mind. It also more natural than manufactured food like tofu. We, like all other omnivores, also have the correct digestive system and intelligence to be an omnivore. Not eating meat is unnecessary. It’s the way we live, why can’t we accept that?