Critical Thinking: Can Someone End Up With Mental And Emotional Problems If They Don’t Eat Meat?

Due, in part, to the amount of attention that the mainstream media give to mental and emotional problems, it can seem as though more people than ever before are in a bad way. In many easy, it is as though it is case of who doesn’t have them, not who does.

If this problem is a big as this source of information, along with the government, says it is, there are bound to be a number of reasons as to why this is. At the same time, one way of looking at this would be to say that this is another example of sensationalism, and that these two sources are making a mountain out of a hill.

A New Definition

What is playing a part in all this is that normal human experiences are being redefined as being abnormal. For example, someone can be in a lot of pain after the loss of a loved one and end up being diagnosed as having a mental illness.

Also, if someone experiences anxiety from time to time or even feels a bit down now and then, the same thing could also take place. One is then only going to be a healthy human being if they always feel good and never experience ‘negative’ feelings or thoughts.

An Expected Outcome

Diagnosing normal human experiences as a being a sign of mental illness is naturally going to lead to an increase in the amount for people who are seen as having mental and emotional problems. Based on this perspective, everyone on the planet can be given the label of having a mental illness.

The downside to this is that the people who are actually in a bad way, not those who simply have the ability to experience the full emotional spectrum, end up being lumped together with everyone else. This can then result in them not getting the attention, or the assistance, that they desperately need.

A Damaging Effect

Therefore, thanks to so many ‘experts’ who are only too happy to label normal experiences as being abnormal, real suffering ends up being trivialised. In addition to the impact that this approach is having on how this area of life is viewed, there is also the effect that people’s diets are actually having on their mental and emotional health.

For one thing, a lot of the food that is available today is not as good as it was in the past, and, so much of today’s food is loaded with sugar and fake ingredients. And, if someone is putting all this junk into their body, it is going to a make it harder for them to function at their best.

Two Ways

However, while it would be easy to assume that someone’s mental and emotional health will be negatively affected by eating junk and supported by eating healthy food, it is not this black and white. For example, someone can be in a position where they don’t eat meat, with meat being seen as something that is not healthy.

Not only can they have this view of meat, but they can also believe that it is not right to eat animals. Yet, even though they have these views, they could find that they are not in a good way.

Malnourished

As a result of not eating meat, they could be starving their body of the nutrients that it needs to function in first gear, let alone fifth gear. Their body is going to be starved of the essential nutrients that meats provides.

What they may find, if they were to have a number of different tests done, is that they are low on iron, zinc, B vitamins and number of amino acids, for instance. Through being deficient, it will be more or less impossible for them to function properly.

The Symptoms

One may find that it is hard for them to feel good or that they are overly emotional and that it doesn’t take a lot for them to get upset. Or, they may have absolutely no energy and spend a lot of time feeling down or even depressed.

Their anxiety could be out of control, with them having the tendency to experience panic attacks. Then again, one might find that they can relate to all of these things.

Inner Conflict

The trouble is that just because their intellect decided that meat was no good, it wouldn’t have meant that every other part of their being came to the same conclusion. The rest of them will be craving the very thing that their mind has disregarded.

In a way, no longer eating meat to save the environment is tantamount to no longer breathing in order to cut down on the amount of carbon dioxide that is produced. The difference is that while removing meat will cause someone to suffer, not breathing will cause them to die.

Another Perspective

Conversely, it could be said that someone like this is not suffering mentally and emotionally due to the fact that they are not eating meat; they are suffering due to the fact that they are not getting the right nutrients. This is then a problem that can be resolved without needing to eat meat.

With the right guidance, they will be able to eat other things and to take supplements that will get them back on the right track. This shows how important it is for someone to make sure that they are getting the right nutrients, irrespective of what they do or don’t eat.

Conclusion

It can be easy for someone to eat with their head as opposed to their body, setting them up to deprive their body (and mind) of what it needs to perform at its best. What can’t be overlooked is that a few years of programming won’t change thousands of years of evolution.
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So, if someone has found that their mental and emotional health has suffered ever since they stopped eating meat, they will need to find another way to make up for nutrients that  they are missing out on. That is, of course, if they are not willing to eat meat again. 

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Oliver JR Cooper
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