Why Pescetarian?

It’s starting to get close to a half a year now since I decided to go strictly pescetarian, meaning I do not eat meat except for fish and seafood. I’d like to explain why I came to the decision after being a meat eater for over 20 years of my life.

Reason 1: I love animals and have never been comfortable with the thought of eating them. And I didn’t want to support an industry that’s based on inhuman treatment of millions of animals every year just for the benefit of chewing on something tasty... when it really isn’t necessary.

Reason 2: I did some research and became more knowledgeable about how negatively the meat (and dairy) industry affects our environment. One large pig farm in the US with a million pigs produces the same amount of waste as the city Los Angeles… In ONE day!! That’s only one farm, but it’s A LOT of waste! It's hard to believe, but it's true.


Reason 3: I don’t feel good about eating meat because I know how much resources and energy go into producing it. Resources, like grain for instance, could have been used to feed hungry mouths elsewhere, instead it is used to produce meat for people who really don’t need it. (Need and want is not the same thing) 1 kg meat = 8 kg of grain! And a lot of good could have been done with that grain! 


Reason 4: My own health and the animal’s health! In my opinion some of the worst aspects about eating meat are the hormones and antibiotics. And frankly it doesn’t come as a surprise to me that the animals need antibiotics after having witnessed their living conditions. I remember driving past a huge cattle farm in Iowa once while visiting family there. The animals were and probably still are up to their knees in their own feces. We could smell the place before we saw it! So basically they live their whole, miserable, short lives in a muck hole almost on top of each other for the lack of space, and some of them were noticeably injured and were limping. A considerable amount of their food consists of garbage, which the stores can’t sell because it has gone out on date! I mean it, I saw their “food” with my own eyes and we’re talking candy that hasn’t even been unwrapped! So they are chowing down candy wrappers… that’s just great! Shocking to say the least, and I still find myself confused about why this sort of production is even legal. Anyway I decided never to eat a burger again after that experience, unless it was a vegetarian burger, and to think twice before ordering a steak. I started asking where the meat came from before ordering... I mean the restaurants should know where their products come from, right? Yeah, trust me that was not always the case and that is BAD. There’s also the fact that meat contains unhealthy fats, more or less, that may lead to a variety of health problems.

Reason 5: I don’t see why my own life should hold more value than an animal’s life? Who gave humans the right to breed animals for the purpose of slaughter alone and misuse them and their lives in the way we do? What gave us the power to control the life and death of living, breathing, feeling creaturess? We have just taken it for granted that we are supposed to eat animals and that it's okay. I feel very differently about it.

I'd never want to eat my horse, it's unthinkable! I had to ask myself why I felt differently about eating other animals?

My reasons are many and the list could go on and on… but I don’t want to bore you :) This is not meant to criticize anyone for eating meat, I simply want to cast some light on the subject and explain my reasons for not eating meat from any land living creature. I’m not saying that everyone should become vegetarians, but I think a huge amount of people could cut down drastically on their meat intake. And perhaps more people will become more aware of how out of control the meat industry has become and how it’s affecting all of us, humans and animals. I could explain it all in detail but I feel it’s best to let everyone explore the subject on their own. But I hope some of my yabbing has made sense J