How to Reduce Animal Cruelty in Your Diet

Some farmed animals are caged, crammed, mutilated and indoors for all of their life. 70 billion land animals are slaughtered every year—ten times the human population on Earth. Your diet might be the most significant ethical decision of your life, potentially sparing the lives of tens of thousands of animals. But you don't need to become vegan or vegetarian. Cutting fish, chicken and eggs alone vastly reduces the animal suffering in your diet.

1

Imagine the life of animals inside factory farms

  1. Rather than giving chickens more space, many companies cut off parts of the chickens’ beaks, causing chronic pain to chickens throughout their lives. Humanity slaughters 60 billion chickens every year.
    • Mammals and birds are sentient and can suffer. Fish too can almost certainly suffer and feel anxiety. As we kill trillions of insects every year, we should assume that also insects have some level of sentience until proven otherwise.
    • Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer provides an in-depth look at the factory farming industry. Animal Liberation by Peter Singer explores the ethical implications of eating meat. Food, Inc. is a documentary and What Cody Saw Will Change Your Life is a clip that expose the harsh reality of factory farming.
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2

Learn about the benefits of plant-based eating

  1. It's not only good for you and good for animals, it's also good for the planet.
    • Plant-based diets are typically lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, and higher in fiber and antioxidants, so they help you reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, some cancers and Alzheimer's risk.
    • Switching to a plant-based diet spares ∼500 lives [1] (mostly shrimp, fish and chicken) every year. The decision to save 500 lives per year might be the most important ethical decision of your life.
    • A plant-based diet requires less land, water and energy, and emits less CO2. As cows eat at least 6 calories for each calorie of beef, feeding animals requires planting vast areas of land (e.g., in the Amazon rainforest) with corn and soy. 60% of US agricultural produce goes to feeding animals.
3

Reduce fish, chicken and egg consumption

  1. Eating smaller animals causes greater harm per meal, so cut fish, chicken and eggs to vastly reduce the animal suffering in your diet.
    • A cow can produce more than 1,000 burgers, but a chicken yields only a few meals. The average American consumes 25 chickens in a year but only 10% of a cow.
    • If you switch from eating beef to eggs, you would end up causing an even greater amount of suffering. In fact, eating every ∼300 eggs indirectly kills one chicken.
    • Use the Food Impacts online tool to rank animal species according to contributions to farmed animal suffering and climate change.
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4

Eat a healthy and balanced diet

  1. Cut trans fats, white flour, sugar, salt and saturated fats like coconut oil and palm oil.
    • A vegan diet can lead to deficiencies in micronutrients such as B12, Omega 3 and iodine. You can easily find plant-based foods that contain these (such as dark green vegetables and fortified cereals/drinks), and/or take an oral vitamin B12 supplement.
    • Most people in the UK eat twice as much protein as they need. The protein requirement is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, and it's easily obtained from legumes, grains and nuts.

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      References

      1. ↑ https://countinganimals.com/how-many-animals-does-a-vegetarian-save/
      2. https://foodimpacts.org/
      3. https://countinganimals.com/how-many-animals-does-a-vegetarian-save/
      4. https://jessegalef.com/2011/06/22/why-a-vegetarian-might-kill-more-animals-than-an-omnivore/
      5. https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/cause-areas/animal-welfare/reducing-consumption/
      6. https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/cause-profile-animal-welfare
      7. https://thehumaneleague.org/article/what-is-factory-farming
      8. https://thehumaneleague.org.uk/article/is-a-vegan-diet-healthy

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