Many of today’s global ecological problems can be directly linked to a meat-based diet and agriculture.  The meat industries shred rainforests, flush topsoil down the river and release enormous amounts of greenhouse gases.  This is well-documented.  But what happens to you when you eat meat?  How does the consumption of animal products affect your inner environment? 

Your body is an ecology.  Within it, millions of symbiotic relationships and reactions are occurring right now.  Perhaps most importantly, the absorption of nutrients depends on the health and symbiotic capabilities of the bacteria in your gut, your digestive flora.  You’ve probably seen many advertisements for “probiotics.”  These bacteria digest the food you eat help make the nutrients available for us. 

With that in mind, we can eat in a way that keeps these bacteria happy and prolific.  From an ecological perspective, we’re much better off doing no harm in the first place, rather than trying to remediate after the fact as “probiotics” try to do.  What foods do your digestive bacteria prefer?  The soluble and insoluble fibers in fruits and vegetables are essential to maintaining a healthy population of digestive bacteria.

Insoluble fiber creates the mass, weight and moisture in the stools that keep the system flowing smoothly and clean.  Soluble fibers, especially found in fruits, are broken down into a gel like substance which healthy bacteria feed on.  This food allows the bacteria to reproduce and maintain large populations that help to keep the colon clean, lubricated and protected against infection.

Animal products contain no fiber. This is an ecological disaster in the colon.  Unable to be smoothly removed from the digestive system, the proteins in animal flesh will rot and putrefy, releasing toxins that kill good bacteria and foster unhealthy bacteria.  When this web of life essential to health is broken, disease sets in.  For optimal health then, increasing fruit and vegetable intake can only be viewed as a good thing.

Arne Naess, an originator of deep ecology, called on people to “Maximize symbiosis!”  In choosing a fruits and vegetables over meat, we are maximizing symbiosis on a micro scale in our own bodies and a macro scale in the body of the earth.