So.. I made the decision to become a vegan a few weeks ago. I've started feeling healthier, and my skin is looking better. It hasn't been a "cold turkey" (as it were) sort of change, because we're using up the last bits of things in the house that have dairy/meat in them. Jarred pasta sauce is deceptive, and I should buy them only from now on. It's crazy where people sneak cheese into these days. That, and we've got some salmon in the freezer, along with some frozen indian entrees. Bleh. The thought of greasy chicken in dairy sauce really turns my stomach these days.
I found a link while researching cheese for a girl the other day, and was quite disgusted by it. This article (with a simple google search: cattle feed) talks about what's in cattle feed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/158359_feed28.html My comment: Proteins and fats and all aside.. Cow's milk is made to turn an 80 pound calf into a 1000 pound steer in roughly 6 months. Imagine all the hormones you're drinking (or in this case, eating) that are designed to balloon you into oblivion! Not to mention the antibiotics, PUSS content (up tp 30%!), and you know how we're not supposed to eat certain things when we're breastfeeding as to not give the infant bad things in our milk? A lot of commercial dairies feed their cattle really, really bad things.
"Cows are still allowed to eat feeds that can include parts of pigs, fish, chicken, horses, even cats or dogs. And some of those animals -- before being rendered and mixed up for cattle feed -- are raised on food containing the same cow parts now banned from cattle consumption.
In the United States, about 50 billion pounds of dead animals are processed each year in about 265 commercial and independent rendering plants. Animal parts are first sent through a grinding machine, before being cooked at temperatures of 270 to 300 degrees for up to an hour."