THE LEMON MERCHANT

Added the blog, "Small Bites" to list of inspirations on the right.
"Andy Bellatti’s Small Bites blog aims to deliver information on a variety of nutrition topics in a straightforward fashion free of hype, magic bullets, and quackery, while simultaneously pulling back the curtain on the food industry’s never-ending quest to pass off nutritionally-void food products as “healthful options”."

And here's the first link to one of Andy's posts:
Big Dairy’s Latest Smear Tactic
Small Bites Blog

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Since becoming a vegetarian(of the ovo/lacto kind), I've struggled with the ethics of the ovo and lacto parts of my diet. Since the link above focuses on dairy, I'll focus on that side of things with this post. While from an ethical standpoint, I feel better about being a vegetarian and not eating cows, the fact that I still eat dairy products bothers me. By not eating meat, I'm not directly contributing to the death of a cow, but the life of a dairy cow leaves a lot to be desired, and I am directly contributing to a lot of pain, suffering, and inhumane treatment. Imagine the following being done to us:

It's pretty disturbing to think about that being done to people right? Why is it not disturbing that we do almost this exact thing to cattle? Where do you think the creators of the Matrix got the idea for that scene anyway? Dairy cows live short lives, where they are kept pregnant over and over again in order to keep producing milk and they're plugged into machines to extract the milk. In order to keep them healthy enough keep producing milk at this extreme pace, they're pumped full of antibiotics and hormones. The cows don't live long full lives. They don't get to retire. After a handful of years when they're worn out, they get slaughtered and end up in a supermarket just like their non dairy counterparts.

The dairy cows are kept pregnant to maintain as much milk production as possible. What happens to the calves they produce? They're taken away from their mothers after they're born, never having a chance to consume any of that milk that was being produced for them(at least as nature intended). The female calves join their mothers in the dairy industry, the males are locked away in tiny crates to restrict their movement.

They're still not fed milk from cows. Instead they're fed a substance derived from the blood of dead cows. Yup. Cows being fed cows. This "food" is deficient of iron and other nutrients the little calves need. It's to keep their flesh pale for the day they get released from their crates only to be killed and turned into veal.

So I can't exactly feel good about being an Ovo/Lacto vegetarian when I know that we're using and exploiting animals to produce those products. Ultimately their treatment is no better (and could be considered worse) than the treatment of animals in the beef industry. As far as I'm concerned dairy products aren't even all that good for you anyway. I haven't been a big consumer of milk(mostly cheese), but I recently tried almond milk, and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't really notice much of a difference when eating it on cereal. I haven't had a glass of milk on it's own in a very long time. Frankly, the thought of drinking milk that came from a cow is kind of perverted anyway. I mean, if I'm out driving though the countryside, and happened to be thirsty, and happened to see a dairy cow out in a field next to the road*. . . would I really stop the car, go over to the cow, and start suckling? Why would it be any different for me to drink a glass of it at home then?

Just like any other industry, the dairy industry spends oodles of money(over 20 million) in advertising, marketing, and brainwashing trying to get you to buy their product regardless of whether or not it's really all that good for you. Don't get me started on the lobbyists that are in the Washington pushing money at government to get it to do the advertising and brainwashing for them. For my part, I'm going to make more of an effort to cut dairy and egg products out of my diet. It won't be easy, but it's worth it for peace of mind and for my health. Anyway, back to the original post from "Small Bites" I linked to above, it doesn't surprise me that the dairy industry is trying to attack their healthier competitors. It's all just business to them. What's actually best for the consumer doesn't matter.

*Not that I would actually see a dairy cow in a grassy field since factory farms are so prevalent.