Saturday, February 26, 2011

Why Eat More Vegetarian

A vegetarian curry. Photo courtesy: cookfood

For Your Health - Fad diets come and go; but, no one disagrees that getting more fruits and vegetables into your diet has a protective effect against cancer, heart disease, diabetes; and, other illnesses. The recommended 10+ servings per day of fruit and veggies are hard to get when animal products make up a significant portion of a person's calories.

Animal products also contain much more fat than plant-based foods. Vegetarians are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. Another bonus is that fruit and vegetables travel through your system faster than meat helping to reduce stomach, intestinal and colon cancers.

To Fight Global Warming - Worldwide, animal agriculture exceeds transportation as the leading source of greenhouse gases. Cows produce a lot of methane, which has over 23 times the global warming of CO2 plus when the transportation costs involved in the slaughtering and meat distribution are added in, the figures go through the roof.

For The Earth - There are more pigs than humans on this planet; and, nearly 50% of the water and 80% of the agricultural land in North America are used in the raising of animals for food. Topsoil loss from growing animal feed rivals global warming as a threat to our survival.

For Compassionate Reasons - (my personal favourite) While a small family farm may be the exception to the rule, 97% of farm animals in Canada are raised on huge factory farms, where they live often hellish lives of intensive confinement for extended periods. Vote with your dollars and your fork not to support that cruelty.

To Protect The Oceans - The world's fisheries are grossly over-fished and depleted. Catches of wild fish are dropping by several million tons a year. Help the ocean regain its biodiversity by avoiding fish and seafood.

For Social Justice - (my other personal favourite) There is a direct connection between the increasing desire for meat and the millions of people starving worldwide, as more and more land is diverted to growing crops to feed animals.

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