Swine Flu, Meat Industry and Human Health

Have you ever heard that the diseases are spreading from eating fruits such as apple, papaya or banana or by eating vegetables? – Well, certainly not.

Are the names such as Bird Flu, Mad Cow disease or SARS familiar – most probably yes, as these were deadly infections or diseases, which had the potential to become a disaster for human health, and all these diseases are directly or indirectly linked with the meat industry.

Now the latest in the series is deadly Swine Influenza a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses.

The Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness in pigs. The recent outbreak of a new strain of swine flu A (H1N1) virus commonly called "swine flu," and has raised fears in people across the globe.

According to a health official the transmission of the flu was caused by "a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms."

Now which food do you think is best for the human health: Vegetarian or Non Vegetarian? Well, it’s not very difficult to analyse though very difficult to accept if you have been brought up in an environment where meat was the obvious food choice in daily life.

If only we can fulfill our dietary requirement through vegetarian food, perhaps human beings can avoid most of the deadly diseases that are spreading across the globe because of eating meat or the meat industry.

To propagate meat products effectively the meat industry uses various kind of misleading ideas such as “if you eat meat you will become stronger” or sometime people ask me “if you don’t eat meat how will you get the protein” and that your body will become weak and so on.

Well, for all those who have a belief system that by eating vegetarian food one will become weak, I would suggest that you please visit the Zoo and have a look at the strongest animals “Elephants”, they only eat vegetarian food.

One can get all kind of nutrients necessary for the human body from vegetarian food and at the same time one can stay healthy.

I cannot overemphasise the point that meat is certainly not good for human health. If you are eating meat regularly, there is a very high possibility that you will gain weight.

Increase in body weight can further lead to many other diseases.

According to American Cancer society, Cancer accounts for nearly one-quarter of deaths in the United States and heart disease accounts for about 27.2% of all deaths in USA. That means heart and cancer related death alone accounted for more than 50 % of all death in USA.

Similarly “One in four (26%) of all deaths in the UK are caused by cancer”. You might be wondering why I am quoting so many statistics about cancer/heart diseases.

The point is that most human body diseases like cancer and heart disease are linked with the food that we eat. If people are eating healthy food then how can more than 50% of deaths be from heart and cancer diseases in the most advanced nations on earth where meat is the obvious food choice in daily life?

Maintaining a healthy body is not complicated rocket science. Our body is made up of food that we eat during our day-to-day life. If our body is not healthy and we are frequently getting deadly viruses and infections then one thing is certain, that the food that we eat is not good.

If you were born into a family that included meat in their daily diet, lack of awareness is natural. You were eating what your parents thought was healthy for you and you were brought up thinking that having a beef burger or ham sandwich is a natural way of living, Now as an adult you have the choice to decide what is healthy for you.

Your right decision would certainly help you to lose weight and have a healthy life forever.

Issued in public interest by Subodh Gupta a holistic health consultant and also the author of the book “7 food habits for weight loss forever”.

Subodh Gupta is a celebrity yoga trainer based in London and conducts Yoga, Nutrition, Stress Management and Weight loss sessions.