Delete the Meat - (And Fish and Seafood and Chicken)

I haven't gone here before because I've been too scared to face the fallout. Of all the foods we give up during this cleanse, people (particularly those who are NOT cleansing) get the most emotional about their meat. But there's more than the emotional/ethical side of this issue; the health implications of a diet high in animal protein are too important to overlook. So I'm going to focus on that and share some information I've picked up along the way.

About Meat and Health in General:
"Heart disease kills more Americans than the next four fatal diseases combined. Close to one million of us die of cardiac complications annually, and one in every two Americans will die from heart disease or stroke... What is at the core of this terrible disease? Plaque... Animal-based products contain all the building blocks for heart disease:  artery-clogging saturated fat, plaque-promoting dietary cholesterol, cholesteral-raising and inflamation-causing animal protein, and free-radical-promoting oxidants."1

"By avoiding all animal-based products, the plant-eating patients (participants in the Lifestyle Hear Trial Study by Dr. Dean Ornish at the Universtiy of California at San Francisco) eliminated all the major building blocks that contribute to plaque formation:  fat, cholesterol, and animal protein. They were able to lower their total cholesterol to a level that helped their body metabolize away the plaque building in their arteries."2

"By consuming only fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, the patients allowed the arteries themselves to heal at a cellular and metabolic level."3

About Fish:
"Mercury is found naturally in the enviroment but recently has increased dramatically in volume, primarily from coal-fired power plants and various other forms of heavy manufacturing around the world. Coal-powered plants in China can affect the fish caught on the west coast of America. Mercury has become nearly impossible to avoid in marine settings... Among the chemical by-products now present in the food chain are PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls... Fish can contain extremely high levels of PCBs."4  

About Chicken:
"The average chicken now has three times as much fat as it did just thirty-five years ago, so that even chicken without visible fat comes in at more than 20 percent fat, just as much cholesterol as beef, and zero complex carbs or fiber."5

I know this is tough information to swallow so that's enough for today. But you can bet there's more - a whole lot more - about why eating meat is not the best choice for your overall health. If you want to learn more, check out the two books noted below, hit the Internet, and see what you find. Here are just a few links that you might find interesting...
Meat Linked to Urinary Tract Infections
I'll have a burger and fries with everything - hold the ammonia.
Meat tainted with deadly virus is being sold to consumers.
Politics trumps science in food inspections.

1,2,3 "The Engine 2 Diet" by Rip Esselstyn
4,5 "The Quantum Wellness Cleanse" by Kathy Freston