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Vegetarian diet and health
2016-12-04 22-48-21 来源: 作者： 点击:次
素食与健康
VEGETARIAN DIET AND HEALTH
（2010 年10月 仁炟法师开示于博山正觉寺）
（A Talk By Ven. Ren Da at Boshan Zhengjue Monastery, October 2010）
There are so many benefits of vegetarian diet and it is impossible to elaborate them all in my short talk. Therefore, I will provide a brief comparison between vegetarian diet and non-vegetarian diet for your consideration.
Human Body Is Designed For Vegetarian Diet
As Dr. G.S Huntington of Columbia University showed in his intestine anatomy research, human body is designed for vegetarian diet, rather than eating meat. He pointed out that carnivores have short small-intestines, but smooth and straight large-intestine. In contrast, herbivores have both long small and large-intestines. Those people who eat both meat and vegetarian food have longer intestines than carnivores but shorter than herbivores.
Human intestine is approximately two meters long, it folds back on itself many times and its wall is not smooth. Apparently, the structure of this type of intestine suggests it is suitable for digesting vegetarian food rather than meat.
Due to the low fiber content in meat, the meat debris after the digestion will stay in intestine for an over long period of time and produce meat toxins. These meat toxins will distribute to whole body and give liver extra burden. An overworked liver can develop cirrhosis and even liver cancer.
Additionally, extra retention time of meat debris in large intestine lead to constipation, and cause rectal cancer or piles.
From the perspective of human body physical development, human is one of the herbivorous animals. If you look into animals’ eyes you will notice the difference. For example, sheep and donkey have much softer eyes than dog and wolf. One could be terrified by dog or wolf when they are glaring at you with their fierce eyes. Not only the eyes, herbivores and carnivores also have very different emotions. For someone who wishes to have family happiness, health and longevity, eat less meat or fully convert to vegetarian will be the right way. Vegetarian do live healthy and have strength.
Meat Eating Is Prone To Disease
Negative emotions produce toxins
Meat eating threatens your health. Major constituents of meat are animal fat and animal protein. Animal protein is beneficial for human body but animal fat is harmful. What is the harm? It is prone to meat toxins poisoning. The toxins produced by meat are among the most potent toxins. They are more toxic than nicotine. When animals are slaughtered, the extreme panic and anger they have will trigger the release of toxins from pituitary gland and pineal gland. These toxins rapidly distribute to their whole body through blood circulation, minutes before coagulation. Due to these reasons, eating meat is poisoning yourself.
Studies showed that, only a cigarette size dose of meat toxins which produced by animal’s fear and anger is already enough to kill a person. These toxins present throughout animal body, therefore eating meat will develop chronic toxicity. This phenomenon is not only for animals, but also happens to human beings. Fear or anger produces similar potent toxins in human body. These toxins also appear in human milk during woman’s lactation. Feed infants with this type of milk are life-threatening.
These are not alarmist stories. These are the facts which could be explained by food biochemistry, and they are one of the research areas within food biochemistry. The diseases caused by accumulation of toxins will take some time to develop in human body. This duration varies based on physical condition of each individual. Some might take longer time while others might have very fast onset.
Cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, as well as diabetes are mainly caused by meat toxins. Although genetics could play small role in developing these diseases, the dominant cause is still meat toxins.
Two babies died due to Mom’s toxic breast milk
Venerable Master Dan Xu once shared a true story on this topic. In 1930’s, a French couple who lived in Shanghai French Concession had a baby. Unfortunately, the baby died within a month of birth.
The tragedy continued as their second baby died again within a month of birth.
This couple believed in science so they tried to investigate what were the causes.
The dissection results from hospital showed the cause of death was poison. This result raised another question, how did the babies get poisoned?
Breast milk became the suspect. After testing, toxins were discovered in breast milk. It was Mom’s milk which killed both babies. But how did these deadly toxins get into the milk?
The real cause revealed after investigation was shocking to everyone. This couple was so used to fighting and arguing with each other, their anger typically escalated to outrage, these strong negative emotions produced toxins in Mom’s body and poisoned their own babies.
In China, it is a common sense which recognized by elderly people, immediately breastfeeding after young mom get back home should be avoided, especially when this mom is angry. Breast feeding at this moment will make baby sick.
Unfortunately, a lot of young people do not aware of this. Above examples teach us that do not get angry during lactation, otherwise the toxins will poison the babies.
Animals will generate meat toxins when they are facing slaughter. Human will be poisoned when we eat their meat.
As mentioned previously, accumulation of these meat toxins will cause disease and the onset time varies. In general, rotten meat toxins develop the disease most rapidly, could cause death.
Meat also contains animal protein. Animal proteins could release toxic ammonia (NH3) via biochemistry reaction in human body. When excessive amount of ammonia delivered to brain by blood circulation, the symptom of brain toxicity occur: dizziness, coma, memory loss, and dementia, etc. In addition, the abnormal blood ammonia level also tends to induce cirrhosis and even liver cancer.
Corpse poisons accelerates decomposition of meat
After animal being killed, the protein in the corpse will clot and produce self-decomposition enzyme. Rapidly, the denaturation of protein will form corpse poisons.
Since corpse poisons are released immediately after animal’s death, fast decomposition is a common feature shared in animal meat and fish meat.
After animal are killed, their meat are first frozen and shipped to shops, then purchased by people, frozen again, cooked and consumed. One could imagine that how bad this dish could be.
Especially when the meat is not fully cooked, or just lightly grilled, as everyone expected, this meat will turn into the source of infectious disease. In general, cooking could not destroy the toxic microorganism. Bacteria such as bacillus stearothermophilus could survive 120 degrees Celsius.
Multiple Toxic Substances Enriched In Meat
Meat retain high concentration of pesticide
Meat eating is often referred as “eating at the end of food chain”. Therefore, human is the last receiver of high concentration of pesticide. In fact, compare with vegetable and fruit, the DDT level (a well-known pesticide) in meat is thirteen fold higher. A research from Iowa State University showed the DDT in human body mainly comes from meat.
Farm raised animals are” big drug containers “
In order to achieve as much as possible profit, gain more meat, expedite the growth of animal, and improve the texture of the meat, farm raised animals are fed and/or injected hormones to stimulate their growth. Appetite-enhance drugs, antibiotics, sedatives, as well as chemical mixed animal feed are all given to animals. Many of them are carcinogenic. In fact, a lot of animals died of these feed before they are killed.
Nowadays, many farms would like to add hormones into feed to accelerate the animal growth. The faster the animal growth, the faster farm could make money. Consumers, who eat this kind of meat, retain hormones in their body. As a result, children mature more rapidly and adults grow older faster. In current time period, economic benefits trump everything else. In this environment, it only takes five months for pigs to grow to a size that previously requires three years. Similar scenario happens in chicken farms. It takes less than 100 days for a chick to grow to one kilogram. How could these farms achieve this? Hormone is the answer. Male hormones are feed to female pigs to let them grow lean muscle. As the downstream effect, women who eat these meats will have obvious problem. Man who consumes these meats will feel energetic at first, as a consequence, they also aged faster. Therefore, it is better to eat less or no meat. Vegetarian diet will provide health and longevity.
餐
Meat products which made from animals die of disease on the dinner table.
Chicago Tribune once reported a layout in a high efficacy chicken factory farm. The top level cages are places for hatching. Right after birth, chicks are forced to eat, dosed with drugs, stimulated to grow faster. They are packed in the tiny cage, eating like crazy. They have never do exercise or breathe fresh air. When grow bigger, they are moved to the lower level of cages. This process repeat for several times and when they are moved to the lowest level of cages, they will be slaughtered. This unnatural raise method not only destroys the chemical balance in chicken body, but also ruins the natural habits of chicken. And even worse, under this circumstance, cancer and deformity are inevitable to occur.
Therefore, another risk that meat eaters are facing is that the animals might carry some diseases which could not be detected or might be neglected by inspectors or meat dealers. It often happens that when animals develop cancer, the tumor tissue will be removed and left over parts will be sold. Even worse, meat contains tumor tissue sometimes is used to make products like hot dogs or processed to ground meat. An investigation in USA showed that, 80% of taeniasis in human is caused by beef, and cholera is caused by pork.
After consuming meat, meat toxins are absorbed and accumulated in human body, leading to multiple diseases. The onsets of these diseases vary based on body condition of each individual. Some people need longer time while others only need very short period of time. Diseases such as: high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, diabetes, cancers are mainly due to meat toxins.
The Nutritional Issue of Vegetarian Diet
When people think of vegetarian diet, they are usually concerned with one issue, “If I do not consume meat, would I get adequate nutrition? Is there enough protein?” We used to wrongly believe that it is necessary to eat meat for the sake of health, which is actually a misunderstanding.
In 1954, scientists did a comprehensive research in Harvard and they discovered that as long as they make sensible arrangement of vegetables, cereals and other farming products, they can get all the necessary nutrients.
Peanuts, beans have large quantities of protein and fat;
Mushrooms, kelp, agaric, nori and dried beancurd are amazingly rich in protein.
Edible amaranth, spinach, carrots and nori have vitamin A, whose quantities are all above 30mg/100g. Sweet pepper, cowpea, sheperd’ s purse, potatoes and carrot juice are rich in vitamin D, whose amounts are above 30mg/100g.
There are different varieties of vegetarian diets, which are nutritious, tasty and clean; vegetarians enjoy the natural benefits of few diseases and longevity.
Vegetarian Diet Makes People Young and Healthy
Teenagers are usually dynamic, sharp-minded and have moist skin; in contrast, the signs of senility is tiredness, obnubilation and coarse skin. A comparison is to be made between meat eating and non-meat eating habits according to those three standards.
When meat is consumed and digested, acid would be produced; therefore, it is called acidic food in food biochemistry and medical science. Most vegetables and fruit show alkalinity after being eaten and processed in the stomach, and they are called alkaline diet.
Eating too much meat will make blood acidic (thick blood), which is due to the coagulation of serum protein. In order to neutralize the acidity of blood, calcium in the blood has to be consumed, which can cause cell senescence. That way, people can feel tired very easily, lacking stamina, suffering from obnubilation and aging issues.
In contrast, by eating more vegetables and fruit and other alkaline food, people can keep their blood alkaline (clear blood), feel refreshed and invigorated, having an agile mind and enjoying longevity.
Animal fat is saturated fatty acid, containing too much cholesterol, which can cause angiosclerosis, high blood pressure, heart disease and the reproduction of cancer cells.
Vegetable fat is mainly unsaturated fatty acid, which can facilitate more excretion of bile acid, reducing cholesterol, thus avoiding the attack of heart disease and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders.
It is an essential factor for vegetarians to consume vegetable oil to keep fit and beautiful.
For example, the eminent monk of Tang Dynasty, Zhaozhou Congshen lived for 150 years, and revered monk in modern times Xu Yun lived for 120 years, hearing and seeing well, which are all the actual evidences of the fact that vegetarian diet can contribute to health and longevity.
In 1985, the three clinics of Shanghai No. Eighty-five Hospital conducted a comprehensive health check on one hundred vegetarians and meat eaters in Shanghai and Suzhou with the result that meat consumers had high blood viscosity than their vegetarian counterparts.
Among one hundred vegetarians, only 18 of them suffered from cardiovascular diseases, while 67 of meat consumers had the same problem. 57 vegetarians out of 100 of them had no health issues while only 8 of meat eaters enjoyed sound health.
The targets in the survey were all above 60 years old. It revealed that blood viscosity would not increase with age for vegetarians. High blood viscosity is the basis and cause of coronary heart disease and various chronic diseases.
In 2009, Shandong Old Cadres Rehabilitation Center had Ren Da physically checked and discovered that his health situation was very ideal among thousands of people. The director of this rehabilitation center Professor Chen marveled at the health of vegetarians and she began to eat a vegetarian diet as well.
Vegetarian Diet Can Contribute to Wisdom
It is stated in The Book of Da Dai Rites that those who consumed meat tend to be brave and fierce, while those who eat grains wise and dexterous, which is the oldest record that proves the fact that vegetarian food can improve one’s intelligence. The Belief that Vegetarian diet can raise wisdom can be seen in this earliest ancient book. This statement is vitally important for young scholars.
Dr. Hirayama from the National Public Health Institute of Japan, from the academic perspective, ever found that vegetarians have a light appetite while meatarians have a strong one. Vegetarians always keep in a clear state of mind, while meatarians are easy to be dazed. Vegetarians are quick-thinking, while meatarians are bovine. This discovery coincides with the theory of more wits for vegetarians in ancient China.
It can be seen from the comparison between meat and vegetarian diet that minerals and vitamin B contained in vegetarian diet are all more than those in meat. And one can calmly enjoy a large variety of vegetarian dishes from different sources without the threats of toxins, which fully proves the theory that the vegetarian diet is better than its counterpart.
Vegetarian Diet and Low-carbon Environment
一氧化氮的温室效应是二氧化碳的296倍;甲烷的温室效应是二氧化碳的23 倍;
人类活动所产生的一氧化氮有65% 来自肉食；人类活动所产生的甲烷有37% 来自肉食；
近年来，全球气候暖化受到世界各国高度关注。据有关资料显示，地球上的二氧化碳浓度已逼近警戒线。
联合国气候变迁小组主席帕乔里在2008 年1月的记者会上提出，不吃肉、不开车、骑脚踏车、少消费，是遏止全球暖化的三大要点。
In the past, when vegetarian diet is mentioned, perhaps most people would think of pious buddhist disciples. However, in the modern times when preservation of health and low carbon life has been in vogue, when vegetarian food coincides with nourishment of the body, low-carbon lifestyle and environmental protection, it gradually wins the approval of the general public and many people have joined the group who commit to vegetarian diet.
Einstein said that, “I believe the life attitude of vegetarians are derived from the pure physiologically balanced state; thus, it has beneficial effects on mankind.” Tolstoy remarked that, “When our bodies become the burying place of slaughtered animals, how can we expect the world can reach the ideal state?”
Buddhism and Vegetarian Diet
Stop killing and have a vegetarian diet
Buddhists are required to stop killing and eat vegetarian food. Both killing and consuming meat are bad karma. Some people only perform one bad action; for example, those meat eaters may not kill the animals, and those butchers dislike eating meat; the others may take both of the actions; for example butchers like consuming meat.
There is a common saying that the butchers attribute the sin of destroying lives of animals to those meat eaters; whenever the butcher kills a pig, he would mutter incantations:” Pig do not blame me for killing you as you are a dish in the world; if people do not want to eat you I’d never have to kill you; just go and get justice from those eaters.”
However, those meat consumers thought the butchers are sinful by arguing that:” If he does not sell meat I would not have bought it; if he doesn’t kill, I would not have eaten the meat.” And they may add that the butchers do not kill the livestock and poultry for me, etc. Both sides try to shirk their responsibility for the offense. To give the devil his due, they can hardly absolve themselves from the blame.
Oddly bizarre, bizarrely odd! The grandson has got married to his grandmother. The daughter eats her mother’s meat while the son hits the drum made of his father’s skin. The pig and sheep sit on the kang while one’s kin is being boiled in the wok. People congratulate the host on the happy occasion, while I think it is really painful.” In the reign of Emperor Liangwu, Monk Zhigong saw the occasion when an atheist got married to his wife who was the reincarnation of his old grandmother; meanwhile all the guests sat at the table were the former oxen and horses of his family and the pork, mutton, fish which were cooked in the wok were the transmigration of their six relations.
Seeing the scene, the master took pity on all mortal beings in the Six Paths Reincarnation, who are ignorant of karma, confused and did absurd deeds; he was overcome by feeling of sorrow and cried loudly with abandon, singing the above-mentioned Buddhist chant.
Those people who do not believe in Buddhism may think this is glib. And it is a yarn spun by Buddhist disciples to persuade people to have vegetarian diet. However, facts speak louder than words. There are quite many records of people who turned into animals after death. Historians of different dynasties in our country all valued accurate and detailed data rather than fictional and absurd stories; therefore our history is called trustworthy historical facts. It is frequently recorded in historical books that Pengsheng, the son of feudal prince in kingdom Qi became a big pig to take his revenge after death, which can be read in the Commentary of Zuo. Ruyi, the emperor of kingdom Zhao became a black dog after death to kill empress Lv for revenge, which can be seen in the History of Han Dynasties. The mother of the Emperor Song Shizong became a soft-shelled turtle, while Xuanqian’ s old mother became a huge turtle, which can be seen in The Book of Jin.
I hope that everyone of us can stop killing and even free the captive animals. If we all avoid killing and have vegetarian diet, then there is no more cycle of karma for people to become sheep after death and vice versa and in the human world there is no more karmic retribution of boiling one’s kin in the wok.
结语
Epilogue
Stopping killing and having vegetarian diet can help with Buddhists’ compassion and get rid of obstacles on the path of practicing Buddhism, and it is vitally important for the acquisition of blessings and wisdom. And it also enables people to reap the rewards of having good health and longevity, making each family happy, contented, peaceful and auspicious. I hope that all of us can stop killing and have vegetarian diet.
(Compiled according to the recording of the lecture given by Ven. Ren Da in Boshan Zhengjue Monastery in October 2010)