Friday, November 23, 2007

CC Project 2 - Organize your speech - Go Veg

CC Project - 2: Organize your speech
November 24, 2006
Good evening fellow toastmasters,

How many of you want to loose weight and stay fit? How many of you are passionate towards animals? How many of you want the environment to be clean and fresh? My today’s speech is for those who lifted their hands and for those who did not. 

 
The topic for my speech today is - “Go Veg”.
Many of you may ask – Why should I be a Vegetarian? There are many reasons. Today, I will talk about the top 2 reasons for being a vegetarian.
The first reason is to prevent cruelty to animals.
  1. Cruelty to Animals
How many of us feel sorry when we see an animal or bird that is crushed to death on the highway? Do we ever feel “Ah! It will be a great feast to have for lunch”? No! We are all animal lovers by nature. However, we are ignorant of the cruelty done to animals in slaughterhouses and farms. And that is the reason why many of us are still meat eaters.
I would like to share some pictures that show the cruelty done to animals in slaughterhouses and farms.
In dairy farms, cows are chemically forced to produce 10 times more milk than they naturally would. They are separated from their newborn calves and milked by machines that hurt their udders. Imagine how cruel it is…? Do we ever realize that when we sip our cup of milk in the morning?
In factory farms, chickens are densely packed in sheds without access to sunlight and fresh air. They hardly have any space to move. Do we realize the suffering these birds have to go through when we order our fried chicken from KFC?
The situation is even worse in case of “commercial fishing”. You can see that thousands of fish frozen to death. Commercial fishing also kills other rare under-water species that are caught in the fishing nets and hooks.
I’m sure every one of us is sympathetic to these animals.
  1. Health Issues
The second important reason for being a vegetarian is “to be healthy”.
I would like to share some facts regarding health issues non-vegetarians.
Research has shown that the average cholesterol level of non-vegetarians is
significantly higher than vegetarians. Also, it has been found that non-vegetarians
have high blood pressure.
  1. Advantages of being a vegetarian
- Plant-based diets protect us against heart disease, diabetes, obesity, strokes, and several types of cancer. Vegetarians also have stronger immune systems and, on average, live 10 years longer than meat-eaters do.
- Studies have shown that vegetarian kids grow taller and have higher IQs.
  1. Personal Experience
- I’m a lacto – vegetarian for the past 6 years and pure vegetarian for the last 2 months. I never had any serious illness or disease for several years now. However, I do visit my dentist often because of not taking care of my teeth during my child hood days.
  1. Vegetarian Alternatives
- These days, there are so many alternatives for non-vegetarian food. You can be a vegetarian without missing the nutrition and taste that we get out of a non-vegetarian food.
- Being a vegetarian may sound too difficult to achieve. However, with little self-control, persistence and motivation we can easily be a vegetarian.
So, do you want to save the animals in the planet from their suffering? Do you want to look slim and be healthy? Do you want to feel good about yourself? Be a vegetarian. It is not just ME who is telling this. Great people & celebrities also have said it.

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