Top Ten Reasons to Go Veggie During World Vegetarian Week

Gone are the days when vegetarians were served up a plate of iceberg lettuce and a dull-as-dishwater baked potato. With the growing variety of vegetarian faux-meats like bacon and sausages and an ever-expanding variety of vegetarian cookbooks and restaurants, vegetarianism has taken the world by storm.

With World Vegetarian Week beginning today, here, without further ado, are the Top 10 reasons to give vegetarian eating a try, starting now!

1. Helping Animals Also Helps the Global Poor
While there is ample and justified moral indignation about the diversion of 100 million tons of grain for biofuels, more than seven times as much (760 million tons) is fed to farmed animals so that people can eat meat. Is the diversion of crops to our cars a moral issue? Yes, but it's about one-eighth the issue that meat-eating is. Care about global poverty? Try vegetarianism.

2. Eating Meat Supports Cruelty to Animals
The green pastures and idyllic barnyard scenes of years past are now distant memories. On today's factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy windowless sheds, wire cages, gestation crates, and other confinement systems. These animals will never raise families, root in the soil, build nests, or do anything else that is natural and important to them. They won't even get to feel the warmth of the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter.

3. Eating Meat Is Bad for the Environment
A recent United Nations report entitled Livestock's Long Shadow concludes that eating meat is "one of the ... most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." In just one example, eating meat causes almost 40 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, and planes in the world combined. The report concludes that the meat industry "should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity."

4. Avoid Bird Flu
The World Health Organization says that if the avian flu virus mutates, it could be caught simply by eating undercooked chicken flesh or eggs, eating food prepared on the same cutting board as infected meat or eggs, or even touching eggshells contaminated with the disease. Other problems with factory farming -- from foot-and-mouth to SARS -- can be avoided with a general shift to a vegetarian diet.

5. If You Wouldn't Eat a Dog, You Shouldn't Eat a Chicken
Several recent studies have shown that chickens are bright animals who are able to solve complex problems, demonstrate self-control, and worry about the future. Chickens are smarter than cats and dogs and even do some things that have not yet been seen in mammals other than primates. Dr. Chris Evans, who studies animal behavior and communication at Macquarie University in Australia, says, "As a trick at conferences, I sometimes list these attributes, without mentioning chickens and people think I'm talking about monkeys."

6. Heart Disease: Our Number One Killer
Healthy vegetarian diets support a lifetime of good health and provide protection against numerous diseases, including the United States' three biggest killers: heart disease, cancer, and strokes. Drs. Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn -- two doctors with 100 percent success in preventing and reversing heart disease -- have used a vegan diet to accomplish it, as chronicled most recently in Dr. Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, which documents his 100 percent success rate for unclogging people's arteries and reversing heart disease.

7. Cancer: Our Number Two Killer
Dr. T. Colin Campbell is one of the world's foremost epidemiological scientists and the director of what The New York Times called "the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease." Dr. Campbell's best-selling book, The China Study, is a must-read for anyone who is concerned about cancer. To summarize it, Dr. Campbell states, "No chemical carcinogen is nearly so important in causing human cancer as animal protein."

8. Fitting Into That Itty-Bitty Bikini
Vegetarianism is also the ultimate weight-loss diet, since vegetarians are one-third as likely to be obese as meat-eaters are, and vegans are about one-tenth as likely to be obese. Of course, there are overweight vegans, just as there are skinny meat-eaters. But on average, vegans are 10 to 20 percent lighter than meat-eaters. A vegetarian diet is the only diet that has passed peer review and taken weight off and kept it off.

9. Global Peace
Leo Tolstoy claimed that "vegetarianism is the taproot of humanitarianism." His point? For people who wish to sow the seeds of peace, we should be eating as peaceful a diet as possible. Eating meat supports killing animals, for no reason other than humans' acquired taste for animals' flesh. Great humanitarians from Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi to Thich Nhat Hanh have argued that a vegetarian diet is the only diet for people who want to make the world a kinder place.

10. The Joy of Veggies
As the growing range of vegetarian cookbooks and restaurants shows, vegetarian foods rock. People report that when they adopt a vegetarian diet, their range of foods explodes from a center-of-the-plate meat item to a range of grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables that they didn't even know existed.

Sir Paul McCartney sums it all up, "If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you could do. It's staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty."

So are you ready to give it a try?

Check out VegCooking.com for recipes and meal plans and to take the World Vegetarian Week 7-Day Pledge.

Comments

[Vegswimr]

No one needs meat and dairy. What we all need is nutrient-rich, high-quality food derived from plants. Soy milk is so much more delicious and nutritious than cow milk (unless you like drinking pus); fake sausages and brats and chicken...all more delicious than the carcass of a tortured animal (unless you like seeing veins run through your entree) I sure miss those wads of fat and pools of blood on my plate.

I eat a much larger variety of foods since giving up meat and dairy several years ago. My food tastes much better and I have a lot more energy. Mostly, though, I'm glad that evey time I sit down to eat I choose to eat food that doesn't support cruelty to animals nor does it contribute to the degradation of our planet the way meat does.

Terrific article Bruce!

[wm1066]

Not all body types can be vegetarian. I tried it for 2 years and it made me really sick.
The only thing that made me better was to add meat and dairy back into my diet.
I REALLY wanted to believe in vegitarianism but it didn't work for me.
This goes into body chemistry and blood typing. Certian blood types work well with a vegitarian diet, like type A and AB, but O and B need animal protien in thier diets.

[lefty2026]

Not true for me either - I'm B and I've been eating vegetarian and dairy free for years. I feel great.

[thecatwoman]

This is not true. I am type O and have had no problem with a vegetarian diet!

[ch4r1iegr1]

Since switching to a whole foods, plant-based, nutrient rich, [mostly] raw diet I have experienced so many health ailiments just vanish. I no longer get allergies, ear infections, acne, cramps, fatigue or depression. I have also lost 10 lbs to reach my ideal weight of 125 lb. and stay there. I wish I would have felt this way when I was 15. But my parents fed me on Big Agra's highly processed, pasturized, artificially flavored, high-fructose corn syrup, synthetically fortified, government subsidized, aggressively marketed, pesticide-ridden crap-disguised-as-health-food from the monolithic grocery chains that bring us all the same boring processed foods from just a few giant companies, like Kraft (a.k.a. Philip Morris), General Mills, Unilever, Tyson and Coca-Cola. Luckily, I woke up from that nightmare. I don't know how sick I'd be if I continued eating spaghettios, Campbell's soup and fried chicken strips. I used to look and feel like shit when I shopped at those places and bought that kind of food. Going veg has given me a new outlook on life, new skills, a new hobby and tons of energy and vitality. It's really something you do for yourself!!!!

[ch4r1iegr1]

There are a gazillion reasons to cut back meat and dairy consumption. But it's a conscious endeavor and not for the lazy. You have to research and learn about all the foods you never experienced growing up. Things like pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, goji berries, seaweed flakes, nutritional yeast, ect. You know, things that Big Agra never promoted to you on t.v.

I've been eating [mostly] vegan for a year. I find that people's biggest misconception about a vegetarian diet is that it lacks protein and iron, so I just want to say something about that. Yes, there are junkfood vegetarians who are anemic. But our whole population has a high rate of anemia. Iron deficiency occurs from lack of absorption (you need vitamin C) so it's more likely that a meat eater would have iron deficiency than a healthy vegetarian. If you are eating plenty of nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, soy and leafy greens, you will be superbly healthy, b/c you will be getting not only plenty of iron, but also phytonutrients, enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins and fiber, WITHOUT the high fat, cholesterol, antibiotics and hormones. As for protein, try hemp seeds. They have all the essential amino acids, PLUS Omegas 3,6 & 9 and some other minerals and UNLIKE meat, they are high in fiber.

Just remember, meat and dairy do not have fiber and vitamins. So if you look at the whole picture, you get more bang for your buck eating a whole foods, plant-based diet.

[stkittchick]

Bravo! I started out by replacing a couple meals a week with a vegetarian option--simple things like leaving off the meatballs in my spaghetti and ordering peppers instead of pepperoni on my pizza. One day I realized that my veg meals were surpassing my meaty meals, and I didn't feel a "loss" whatsoever. Most folks may find this gradual transition easier to swallow, so to speak.

I feel great, and now that all the great meat analogs are available, I don't miss out on anything. I just finished a Boca italian "sausage" hoagie with onions, peppers, and spicy mustard...ah, great eating!

[LucyP]

Great article, Bruce! Since cutting meat, dairy, and eggs out of my diet, I've found the energy to train for a triathlon--something I never could have done when I was still filling up on artery-clogging animal products. My skin glows, my hair is shiny, and when I go running, I leave my meat-eating friends in the dust! Best of all, I feel good knowing that every time I sit down to a delicious vegan meal, I'm saving animals from a lifetime of suffering--all for a fleeting taste.

[SamThornton]

Have nothing against those who choose not to eat meat or anything else. Personal choice, all that. However, humans have evolved to consume a varied diet, including animal protein. It's to be hoped that anyone embarking on a vegetarian diet consult their physician first and ask for some common-sense guidelines.

[ch4r1iegr1]

What will the physician do? Recommend synthetic iron pills that he can write a prescription for?

When you can just go to a health store or organic food store and get whole food supplements that are cheaper.

[CatGrrl]

It always makes me laugh when meat-eaters recommend that vegetarians consult a doctor about what they eat. It is meat-eaters who will be consulting a doctor when they inevitably start experiencing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and/or have a stroke or heart attack. I've been a healthy vegetarian for 20 years and have never consulted a physician about what I eat. That's because I have the good sense to eat a variety of foods, which is all anyone needs to do, no matter what diet they are on.

[recless]

If eating meat is immoral, then all people who ever lived (except the few vegetarians) were immoral. Now that's some moral superiority for you. And I thought the right-wing conservatives were the high and mighty types.

[DharamDev]

What "few" vegetarians? Do not the well over a billion vegetarians in the Vedic tradition (what you might call "Hindus") throughout history count?

Your philosophy of morality ("Whatever most people do must be OKl.") is grossly flawed.

[recless]

If you consider the diets of all humans throughout history, vegetarians are a very small group overall. And your estimate of a billion is a little over the top.

As for morality, if vegetarians want to convince people of the health benefits, that's one thing. To act like you are morally superior because you don't eat meat is entirely another. Eating meat is hardly considered immoral by most people. Not because they are immoral (which is a nonsensical term anyway), but because they have a different morality.

[Lesscancer]

You make some excellent points.

However, relative to the comments on animal protein and cancer, this is exactly why it is so critical to deal in a world of sound science and data.

If in fact Dr. Campbell actually said "no chemical carcinogen is nearly so important in causing human cancer as animal protein"

Then I am assuming he must have overlooked some of the other environmental links that other scientist with concrete data have found to cause cancer.

Environmental exposures linked with cancer have included things like pesticides, tobacco smoke, asbestos, nickel, cadmium, uranium, radon, vinyl chloride, benzidene, and benzene.

As an outsider to the science world it seems to me that if in fact animal fat were the leading cause of cancer as the article suggests than likely we would have seen today"s record breaking numbers of cancer cases long ago.

As far as vegetarianism and world vegetarian week goes there are many health benefits and while I myself still eat and crave meat I am will to give it another try~!

Bill Couzens, Founder lesscancer.org

[heidiparker]

I'm glad to see another fabulous article by Bruce Friedrich. When I went vegetarian in the late 90s (and then vegan in 2004), I began eating more adventurously than ever, trying delicious foods from other cultures that I never would have considered eating before. New vegetarians need not be put off by some veggie-based foods' exotic names--tempeh, tofu, quinoa, legumes... all delicious and all terrific for you! There's no reason for any vegetarian to stick to bread and pasta, and folks who do are missing out on the good stuff.

[jhamm1]

"Vegetarianism is also the ultimate weight-loss diet, since vegetarians are one-third as likely to be obese as meat-eaters are, and vegans are about one-tenth as likely to be obese. Of course, there are overweight vegans, just as there are skinny meat-eaters. But on average, vegans are 10 to 20 percent lighter than meat-eaters."

Not so fast. Until I see the actual source of these statistics, I choose to remain a skeptic, as all of the few vegetarians I know happen to be quite obese. (One weighs over 300 pounds). The problem seems readily apparent, in that a non-meat eating diet provides for limited options, and thus vegetarians tend to compensate for the lack of variable sustinance by consuming bread. Lots and lots of bread, which accumulates vast amounts of carbohydrates and increases the waist-length much faster than meat ever does.

[thecatwoman]

jhamm1, did you even read the entire post? Perhaps the select few vegetarians you know rely on breads and other unhealthy foods for their diets, but those habits do not extend to the entire population of vegetarians/vegans. There are a plethora of healthy foods to choose from and countless recipes as well. With the exception of a few favorite meals, we rarely eat the same thing more than once every couple months or so. Granted, it generally takes a bit more time to prepare veg. meals, but to me it is worth the effort.

As for the stats you requested, following is a pdf of a position paper from the American Dietetic Association. It provides ample stats that support the ADA's recommendation of the vegetarian diet.

www.dietitians.ca/news/downloads/vegetarian_position_paper_2003.pdf

If you are interested in exploring any cookbooks, I would recommend Lorna Sass, Deborah Madison, and Peter Berley.

[jhamm1]

Okay, thanks. Although the nature of the organization does not completely alleviate the prospect of conflict of interest, I'll keep the window open.

And, yes, I did read the entire post, and if it"s the ethical considerations that you"re referring to, the fact remains that even the process of consuming vegetables implies depriving another organism of its life and thus entails the exact same conflictions. Thus, even if one evaluates these consideration under the criteria of whether the organism is capable of sight, smell, or locomotion, the fact remains that something dies for everything that is consumed.

Furthermore, I generally only consume poultry and eggs from free-range chickens, and as for the prospect of heart disease, I'll take my chances.