Gray 2 Green

Since I don’t enjoy being forced into doing things this blog is in no way written to convince you that you should become a vegetarian. It is simply here for what I consider to be valuable information. These are just a few of the reasons that I quit eating meat back in October of 2008 ( I know, I know, not that long ago). But honestly, you really should eat more plants and less meat. Not only will it improve your heath and possibly help you lose those last few pounds it will definitely do wonders for our planet.

What meat eating does to the environment:

The production of meat is very heavily reliant on pesticides. Pesticides are used on the land where those cows use to graze when they were calves. They also cover the corn which goes into the feed which then becomes that cows permanent diet until he finally goes to the slaughter house. Pesticides are toxic to both people and the planet. For more detail on why organic is the way to go please check out my last blog, titled, “Does that come in Organic?” Each year over 7.4 million acres of trees are cut down for pastures and feed crop land. This deforestation results in 2.4 billion tons of livestock-induced CO2 emissions a year. Livestock production is much worse for the environment than your SUV.

What diseases/illnesses are less likely as a vegetarian?

First of all, medical costs in the US attributable to meat consumption have been estimated to be over $30 billion dollars a year. When compared to vegetarians, omnivores have a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, gallstones, obesity, and cancer. By eating fruit daily you can reduce your chance of dying from heart and cerebrovascular disease. Lower rates of diabetes can be attributed to a high consumption of nuts and whole grains. Going vegetarian or at least flexitarian starting to sound a bit better yet?

So, are humans really meant to eat meat?

There are many ingestive and digestive similarities between animals which are herbivores and humans. Some very good comparisons can be found here . Meat consumption is one of the main reasons people are so sick these days. Even before modern medicine plant-eaters had the longest lifespans. Humans eating meat, well, it’s just not natural!

Sources:
enveg.org
vegetarian-nutrition.info
celestialhealing.net
michaelbluejay.com
and…myself who is currently reading ‘The Omnivores Dilemma’ by Michael Pollan