What do farm animals eat?

I came across a website and had to share. The Reality of Feed at Animal Factories

When many Americans think of farm animals, they picture cattle munching grass on rolling pastures, chickens pecking on the ground outside of picturesque red barns, and pigs gobbling down food at the trough… Many people are surprised to find that most of the food animals in the United States are no longer raised on farms at all…

Over the last 50 years, the way food animals are raised and fed has changed dramatically—to the detriment of both animals and humans. Many people are surprised to find that most of the food animals in the United States are no longer raised on farms at all. Instead they come from crowded animal factories, also known as large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
Just like other factories, animal factories are constantly searching for ways to shave their costs. To save money, they’ve redefined what constitutes animal feed, with little consideration of what is best for the animals or for human health. As a result, many of the ingredients used in feed these days are not the kind of food the animals are designed by nature to eat.

Just take a look at what’s being fed to the animals you eat. YUK!

  • Same Species Meat
  • Diseased Animals
  • Feathers, Hair, Skin, Hooves, and Blood
  • Manure and Other Animal Waste
  • Plastics
  • Drugs and Chemicals
  • Unhealthy Amounts of Grains

It takes 16 #’s of grain and 5,000 Gallons of water for each pound of beef.

More than half of all water used in the U.S. is used to raise animals for food. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.

Factory farms demand more water than all other users combined and produce 130 times as much waste as the entire human population of the United States.

You shouldn’t have to lie to your kids about the food you eat. Children would be horrified to learn about the cruelty and violence involved in turning chickens, pigs, and other animals into nuggets and other “foods.”

In every package of chicken, there’s a little poop. A USDA study found that 98 percent of broiler chicken carcasses had detectable levels of E. coli, indicating fecal contamination.

Eating meat and dairy products makes you fat. As a nation, we’re getting fatter, and the Atkins diet has only made matters worse because it only works in the short term. Only 2 percent of pure vegetarians are obese, which is about one-ninth the figure for meat-eating Americans.

Hungry? Check out these awesome links for some great vegan recipes.

http://www.compassionatecooks.com/, http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

http://www.fatfreevegan.com/, What the hell does a vegan eat anyway?

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Leonardo DiCaprio's – The 11th Hour

Leonardo DiCaprio’s, the 11th Hour is currently in International Release. “The 11th Hour” is a feature length documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact on the planet. “The 11th Hour” documents the cumulative impact of these actions upon the planet’s life systems and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity.

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Enlightenment – Many Meanings

“A Vegan Journey – True Enlightenment”

With the help of Wikpedida I’m able to paste a pretty good definition of “Enlightenment”. You might ask why I should focus on this word instead of vegan. I’ll get more into the vegan word as I publish posts but the enlightenment part is very crucial to a vegan journey. Over and over again I get the typical questions vegan’s get such as “What do you eat?” and “How do you get your protein?” but I rarely get the question “Why?”. That leads me to my journey because only as a Human Being with enlightenment can one truly understand the “Why?”. I’m also going to need to address the “who, what, why, where and how on this journey but I will do it with as much compassion and understanding as I can.

So let me bring some light to the word “Enlightenment”. Wikipedia list many definitions but my favorite short definition is “Total Understanding (of the nature of existence, self, etc)” relating to the the Buddhist religious concept.

This is my journey. Join me if you’d like.

I don’t consider myself a Buddist and I don’t label myself with any religion. I’m also not sorry if that bothers you because after all this is my blog. On that note, here the small print for my web-blog. I will delete any ridiculous comments. Now I need to go list some of my favorite links and go do something physical. Have a great day and enjoy living.

Link to Wikipedia’s definition of Buddhism.

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Daytona Rolex 24

I just had to share with my cyber viewers my first experience at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida. Friends invited J and I to go join them this past weekend. I live about 45 minutes away and it was my first time.  For the Rolex 24, cars race around a track nonstop for 24 hours.  Our friends had an elaborate setup with 2 tents, each large enough for 10 people to walk around, eat, hang out and sleep. They also had an 8×8 platform up 8 feet off the ground and were located right next to the track. People actually put ear plugs in and sleep with cars zooming by all night! The Hilton in Daytona Beach worked out better for us. Before we loaded up our car,  I googled a few restaurants with vegan options. Vegnews Magazine had a nice article about Daytona Beach but some of their vegan friendly suggestions could take you over 30 miles from downtown Daytona. The ones we tested are listed below.

Raku Sushi and Asian Cuisine became our choice for dinner. I emailed them earlier in the day asking if they had any vegan items on their menu. I got a positive reply back within an hour. They are located about 15 miles south of Daytona in Port Orange, FL. The location was a little creepy at first since it is located next to a dollar type store in a strip center. Being a hungry adventurous vegan I nudged “J’ into going in and trying it out. Once in the door our wories were put to ease.  A picture is worth a thousand blogger words, so check out my link to their website. We had the Teriyaki with tofu and Spicy Basil Leaves with tofu. The lack of decent tofu was my only problem with the meal. I think it was the kind of silken tofu that is hermitically sealed. It would turn someone off if it was their first time eating tofu. Everything else was great including the warm sake. If you go there ask them ahead of time to get some REAL tofu before you arrive. Prices of our entree were $10 each with tofu. I’d go back but would be tempted to bring my own tofu and ask the kitchen chef to prepare it or I would exclude it from the order.  It couldn’t hurt to ask. Check out Raku Shusi if you are in the area. Thanks again to the attentive server.

The Dancing Avocado Kitchen has vegan options right on their menu. Our breakfast turned into a brunch because they had NO TUFU! If the place wasn’t so adorable we might have left. The waitress ( I think something like Christine) quickly turned a negative into a positive by offering us an early lunch. I had the homemade bean burger and “J” had a burrito. It was good, fresh and satisfying.

The next morning we considered going back to the Dancing Avocado for their tofu scramble but decided to call first to see if they had any tofu.  Turns out they are closed on Sunday. J was craving home fries and a hot tofu scramble so we decided to stop at St. Augustine’s Manatee Café which is about 35 minutes north of Daytona. They have a scrambled tofu dish which is better then mine. If you go there order an extra side of the potatoes. I’ll post some pictures this week. Cheers!

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