For all you new subscribers, these writings about diet, dangers of meat and vegan lifestyle seems a bit off topic, since you probably expected me to write something about music and piano. Well, in a way everything is interconnected, and we need to care for our health before anything else can run smoothly.

I am very passionate about health and fitness and the vegan lifestyle, and I have intensely studied this for many many years and would like to share some of my thoughts with my readers. So I have chosen to write a few weeks about health and fitness

So many people fail to see the need to change their diet and lifestyle until a crisis  occurs. The change is often difficult unless we understand the reasons WHY?

Over the past several decades the health of the people in the United States has been on a steady decline. There has been a considerate increase in the consumption of poultry, beef, pork and dairy. As a direct result our health has plummeted.

It’s time to take a hard look at what we eat and discover that the food we eat is the reason why we are getting sicker and sicker with each passing year.

The Department of Agriculture’s promotional poster lists dairy and meat at the top and fruits and vegetables at the bottom. So an entire nation learned to eat this way, meals loaded with fat and cholesterol. This led to thousands of heart-attacks each year, and cancer, diabetes and other degenerative diseases are in epidemic numbers. Meat-consumption is unnecessary for protein and is killing us. The beef-industry has contributed to more deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters and all automobile accidents combined.

Nutritionists warn that excessive protein makes the body acidic, so the body robs the bones of calcium to help neutralize this excess acidity. Consumption of animal products is the primary cause of osteoporosis. The body uses protein for maintenance and repair, and excess protein is stored as fat, and also causes a burden for the kidneys, liver and all other waste-removing organs.

You might say: “but meat tastes so good, I just can’t stop eating it.” Let me give you the cold truth: the flavor of meat is derived from the blood and uric acid (the waste product before it becomes the animal’s urine, hence the name ‘uric’) within  its flesh. Still think it’s so yummy???

Also consider that when an animal is butchered at the slaughterhouse, meat-inspectors have only 12 seconds to check the animal for diseases, cancers and parasites. They have to check about 300 carcasses per hour. Most likely when you eat meat, you will eat the cancer, parasites, hormones and drugs that were in the animal. Even fish is loaded with cancer, cholesterol and not to mention the pollution in our lakes, streams, rivers and oceans where they swim.

Another serious problem with animal products is, they have zero fiber. Fiber is an intestinal broom and can only be found in green leafy vegetables and fresh fruits. They are also the most healing and cleansing foods we have available. Just watch an animal when it gets sick, it will eat grass, because it contains enzymes, vitamins, chlorophyll, minerals and so much more.

The lack of fiber causes constipation, , body-odor, and colon problems.

Participating in and supporting the taking of an innocent animal’s life makes it difficult to create lasting beauty inside and out. Killing and supporting meat-eating has a corrosive effect on the body and the planet.

But if you absolutely cannot stop eating meat, at least find a market or farmer that sells clean meat that comes from animals that were raised and treated humanely. Animals that received good food and didn’t have to be transported thousands of miles for slaughter.

Our actions towards a more vegan lifestyle are made consistent not by strict discipline, but rather by refinement of character. The idea is to add more fruits and vegetables and seeds, not denial and strict discipline. Allow your body to shift automatically and naturally at your own pace, so that cooked and dead foods lose their appeal and taste.

One last thought: please consider the unbelievable inhumane torture those poor animals have to go through for our hunger for their meat. If you eat meat you are contributing to such practices. Is it the RIGHT thing to do?

If this doesn’t make you shed a tear and make you stop eating meat, then I don’t know what will?

If Slaughterhouses had glass walls, we all would be vegetarians.

Here is to your Health,

Daniela Clapp