Special Note: Even though this article first appeared in 1912, there are aspects which apply directly to today's scene. Given the latest series of reports in the media about the linkage between global maladies like mad cow disease, e-coli born illness, swine flu, bird flu, SARS, etc., and the consumption of animals, especially in Asia, this article may give one 'food' for thought. It appears that many human deaths, and much suffering amongst animals could be avoided if we were to eliminate raising animals for slaughter. And then there's the serendipitous impact on our overall economy, due to the reduced health care costs, as a consequence of such action. It's something to think about. The Mad Cow and SARS Connection

What to eat!
The indictments against flesh-food.

PHYSIOLOGICAL

 It is an acquired taste. The intense distaste which the majority of young children have for meat indicates that the liking for flesh is an acquired taste while the loathing and disgust, which are aroused in us at the sight of blood and raw flesh, clearly show that naturally we do not share the instincts of carnivorous animals.

 It is unscientific. A flesh diet is unequal and unscientific, for when meat is eaten alone or mixed with vegetables, cereals and nuts, far more protein is usually consumed than is needed by the body. This protein excess acts as a drag on the system and forces the organs of excretion to do unnecessary work which often times results in disease.

 It causes restlessness. All carnivorous animals are restless, fierce and useless, and a diet in which flesh predominates, produces restlessness in man, which is a factor to be considered in this age of nervous disorders. The strongest of all the serviceable animals are those which live upon vegetable food.

 It interferes with maternal functions. Much of the agony of childbirth is due to the hardening of the bones in the unborn child as a result of a flesh diet, which is rich in mineral salts. Statistics show that if the expectant mother lives on a carefully selected vegetarian diet in which fruit predominates, delivery is practically painless, because the bones of the child are soft.

 It contains uric acid. Flesh is filled with effete matter ... urea and uric acid, which has resulted from the breaking down of its proteins both before and after the death of the animal. When flesh is habitually eaten, the blood becomes saturated with these poisonous products, because the liver and kidneys cannot excrete them fast enough. As a result, deposits of uric acid are formed round the joints and in the tissues. From the presence of these deposits and from the uric acid in solution in the blood a host of diseases arises. With few exceptions, there is very little uric acid in vegetable foods and on this account vegetarians are usually free from uric acid diseases (e.g., gout). Fruit juices are considered of great value in dissolving and eliminating uric acid from the system. Because of the pure blood resulting from a non-flesh diet, a vegetarian enjoys wonderful immunity from illness, his wounds heal quickly and there is little tendency towards inflammation. These facts were amply evidenced by the Japanese soldiers during the war between Japan and Russia.

 It weakens the body. It has been found that to eliminate flesh from one's diet and to use vegetable food instead gives greater strength. There is a widespread delusion that lean meat gives strength; it does not. The protein which is its chief constituent is only able to replace worn-out cell material, and practically all the energy which moves the muscles and all the heat of the body must come from sugars, starches and fats. Experiments made by Professor Chittenden and recorded in his book, "The Nutrition of Man", show that by reducing the amount of food eaten and especially the usual allowance of protein, there is a marked improvement in health. In an experiment with TRAINED athletes, who were supposed to be in splendid condition according to the usual standards, a 50% reduction in protein ... mostly flesh, INCREASED their strength from 16% to 85% with an average gain of 35%.

 It causes undue fatigue. When a non-flesh diet is adopted there is much less fatigue. Chittenden corroborates this and mentions experiments made by Professor Irvin Fisher on nine healthy students at Yale University. The amount of protein in their customary diet was reduced about 50% and the amount of flesh about 85% with the result that their power of endurance, as proven by six tests, was increased from 34% to 154%.

 It causes disease and physical degeneration. A large proportion of the animals which are slaughtered for market are in a state of disease, and to use such corruption for food is to subject our body to many unnecessary risks. This is especially true of the flesh sold to the poor which is often tuberculous and tainted. Our boasted government inspection offers inadequate protection against diseased meat and when we eat such contaminated stuff, we weaken the power of the body to resist infection. Many doctors are of the opinion that the alarming increase in consumption, cancer, appendicitis, premature old age and lunacy is due to the widespread and excessive use of flesh as food. In fact, many physicians nowadays prescribe a non-flesh diet for the cure of a host of diseases. It is also significant that physical deterioration should so mark this age of excessive meat eating. For example, the regulation standard for men enlisting in modern armies is lower than it was a few decades ago when flesh was food chiefly of the rich. And does not the enormous sale of pills and patent medicines and the presence of thousands of doctors and druggists in our midst, indicate that something is radically wrong with the health of the race? On the other hand it is pointed out that properly grown vegetables, fruits and cereals are entirely free from germs of disease and because of this they form ideal foods for the body.

 It handicaps the adaptability of the body. It is unwise to eat flesh-food in the tropics, while a carefully chosen vegetable diet is suited to any climate and makes one far less susceptible to extremes of heat and cold. See

ECONOMICAL

 It is unnecessary. Everything required for the perfect nutrition of the human body is found in the vegetable kingdom and there is not the slightest necessity to use flesh as food.

 It is expensive and wasteful. Flesh-foods are more expensive than vegetables. There is more nutriment per pound in vegetables than in flesh-meat, which contains not only from 65% to 72% of water, but also a large amount of bone and gristle which are useless as food. A vegetarian usually eats less in bulk than the average meat eater does. Besides, the proteins contained in flesh are constantly breaking down into decomposition products, while on the contrary those in plant tissues are being built up; consequently there is more wholesome nourishment and available energy in the latter. "The vegetable world builds up and the animal tears down; the vegetable stores up and the animal expends it."

 It impoverishes the country and deprives men of means of support. The economic wealth of a country increases with the consumption of vegetables and vegetable products. At present vast tracts of land are used for cattle raising. If this land were devoted to agriculture it would not only become immensely more valuable, but it would support far more men per acre. There would be healthy work for millions of men and women who are now idle, as well as for all the butchers who are now employed. If mankind abstained from flesh-food the problem of overpopulation would practically disappear. It has been estimated that "If the soil of Europe were cultivated like that of Belgium, it could support a population of 1,950 millions much more completely and abundantly than the 360 millions it now supports so poorly."

SPIRITUAL

 It is fatal to psychic development and handicaps spiritual progress. The magnetism of meat is so impure, saturated as it is with effete matter and the vibrations of animal passion and terror, that to use it as food effectually prevents the awakening of those higher psychic faculties, which are slumbering in every human being. A body built of such material would break under the nervous strain of clairvoyant development. And because all physical matter is intimately linked with that of the unseen world around us, whenever we eat flesh we are not only polluting our physical body, but we are building coarse particles into our mind body and emotional or astral body. Consequently their sensitiveness is impaired and they become unable after a time to respond to subtle changes of thought and to delicate thrills of the finer emotions. So the occultist is very careful in his diet in order to maintain the acuteness of the physical and higher senses and the sensitiveness of his brain. Furthermore, the perspiration and etheric particles, which emanate from the skin of a meat-fed body are impure, unpleasant and even harmful to any sensitive person or child with whom we come into contact. So the occultist, who ever holds before his mind the ideal of service is careful to cleanse his own body in order that he may not carry impurities to others and so that the spiritual forces, which flow through him, may ray out undefiled. But most important of all is the law that a man may not tread the path of higher occultism unless his heart is filled with compassion not only for humanity, but for every living creature. Spirituality, which is the recognition of the Divine in every living form, is born of compassion, and the aspirant who wishes to approach the Holy of Holies cannot do so with the blood of God's creatures upon his lips.

 Its preparation causes physical and psychical pollution. The physical and psychical influences of a single slaughterhouse upon the people who live near it are extremely bad, but no words can describe the injurious effects which the reeking stockyards and shambles of a slaughter-city like Chicago or Kansas City have upon the lives within a radius of thirty miles of them and especially upon those who work within the packing houses themselves. To the clairvoyant every city which boasts of its stockyards appears as if covered with a black pall from which shower down vibrations of fear, agony and hatred. Remember that animals still live after their bodies have been slaughtered, and they gather in their astral bodies over the place where they have been so unjustly tortured and slain, and pour out their hostile feelings, their terror, horror and resentment. These influences react upon all who live within their reach, but most of all upon the children. It is the price we must pay for all the needless infliction of pain.