I spent my teen years and into my 20’s as a non-meat eater. Starting that young was a statement I was
making about what was important to me. It
also helped that I simply did not care for meat.
Along with cutting out cow’s milk, I also decided in 7th
grade to cut out meat completely. At the time, eating out as a vegetarian was
more difficult. There was typically one
menu item to select without meat, and often just a salad. But overall it didn’t bother me much. As time went on, I grew up and eventually went
to college. I remained a non-meat eater
until I moved to Spain. Spain was the
turning point.
In Spain, I
did a home stay and lived with a family who cooked for me. Their diet revolved around some type of meat
as a staple in every meal. To be polite
I began eating small bits of meat. Soon
it became habit to eat meat again. I got
loose on my conviction and ten years later I found myself eating meat in nearly
every meal! Yikes! It happened so gradually and I simply hadn’t
been paying attention to how much
meat I was consuming. I also was pregnant
in there and craved red meat so much!
Then, this
last March, a book I had been meaning to read years ago caught my
attention. The book is called, The
Food Revolution, by John Robbins. It
details the many reasons why a diet that includes meat is not a healthy one for
our bodies or our earth. It was just the wake-up call I needed to go back to what I know and love and re-connect with
more veggies!
It was an
easy transition for me. I don’t miss
meat and luckily, Ben is totally open to eating the meat-free meals I cook for
us. In fact he has liked all but one of
the many things I’ve tried :) He even
mentioned he feels less bloated and cramped up. Hurray! I’m sure some of you reading this are thinking…”I
could never go without meat!” but I think it’s worth the experiment. Cut back to eating meat in one meal a day,
then one meal a week, then not at all for a whole week. See how you feel at the end of that
week. It may just be the experiment you
need to see that you can do it and feel great!
Plus it inspires some creativity in the foods you prepare. It’s always fun to try new things – even if
there are some flops :)
There are a multitude of reasons to at least reduce the
amount of meat you consume. Here are
some of the facts that spoke to me.
- Meat is a leading
contributor to heart disease and cancer.
- Raising cattle requires enormous
amounts of water when there is a shortage of clean drinking water.
- Raising cattle emits CO2
that contributes to greenhouse gases that pollute the earth.
- The way animals are raised
and slaughtered in the US is un-sanitary.
Raw chicken is one of the biggest risks in our households today.
- Raising cattle requires
the use of so much land that could be used to produce vegetables and
help feed the hungry.
- Not having to cook raw meat! I hate touching raw meat.
There are a multitude of reasons to stop eating meat. John Robbins
wrote another book called, Diet for a New America. In it he gives the following arguments about
why humans should not consume meat: The Hunger Argument, The Environmental
Argument, The Cancer Argument, The Cholesterol Argument, The Natural Resources
Argument, The Antibiotic Argument, The Pesticide Argument, and The Ethical
Argument. I copied them and put them below to read. With the overwhelming evidence supporting a
non-meat diet, it’s incredible that our policy makers are still advocating for
meat and dairy products in our homes and schools. It is literally killing us. Change is hard.
It always is. Especially when it means
eliminating something you may really enjoy (and especially when the meat and
dairy industries line your pockets when you’re a lawmaker). But instead of letting your appetite cloud your vision, I think it’s time
to take a closer look…
The
Hunger Argument
Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this
year:
20 million
Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans
reduced their intake of meat by 10%:
100 million
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people:
20
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock:
80
Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock:
95
Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre:
40,000
Pounds of beef produced on an acre:
250
Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production:
56
The Environmental Argument
Cause of global warming:
greenhouse effect
Primary cause of greenhouse effect:
carbon dioxide emissions from fossil
fuels
Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet:
3
times more
Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date:
75
Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising:
85
Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered
diet:
260 million
Amount of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America:
300,000,000
pounds
Percentage of Central American children under the age of five who are
undernourished:
75
Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef:
55 square feet
Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests
for meat grazing and other uses:
1,000 per year
The Cancer Argument
Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to
less than once a week:
3.8 times
For women who eat eggs daily compared to once a week:
2.8 times
For women who eat butter and cheese 2-4 times a week:
3.25 times
Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a
week vs. less than once a week:
3 times
Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs
and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at all:
3.6 times.
Number of U.S. medical schools:
125
Number requiring a course in nutrition:
30
Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in
medical school:
2.5 hours
Most common cause of death in the U.S.:
heart attack
How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.:
every 45 seconds
Average U.S. man's risk of death from heart attack:
50 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat:
15 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs:
4 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption of meat, dairy
and eggs by 10 percent:
9 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption by 50 percent:
45 percent
Amount you reduce risk if you eliminate meat, dairy and eggs from your diet:
90
percent
Average cholesterol level of people eating meat-centered-diet:
210 mg/dl
Chance of dying from heart disease if you are male and your blood cholesterol
level is 210 mg/dl:
greater than 50 percent
The Natural Resources Argument
User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.:
livestock
production
Amount of water used in production of the average cow:
sufficient to
float a destroyer
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat:
25
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef:
5,000
Years the world's known oil reserves would last if every human ate a
meat-centered diet:
13
Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat:
260
Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef:
78
To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans:
2
Percentage of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining,
including fossil fuels) consumed by U.S. that is devoted to the production of
livestock:
33
Percentage of all raw materials consumed by the U.S. needed to produce a
complete vegetarian diet:
2
Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock:
55
Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960:
13
Percentage resistant in 1988:
91
Response of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to
livestock:
ban
Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of
antibiotics to livestock:
full and complete support
Common belief:
U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health
through meat inspection
Reality:
fewer than 1 out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested
for toxic chemical residues
Percentage of U.S. mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT:
99
Percentage of U.S. vegetarian mother's milk containing significant levels of
DDT:
8
Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in
animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers:
35
times higher
Amount of Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant:
9
times the permissible level
Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.:
660,000
Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.:
slaughterhouse worker
Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.:
slaughterhouse
worker
The Survival Argument
Athlete to win Ironman Triathlon more than twice:
Dave Scott (6 time
winner)
Food choice of Dave Scott:
Vegetarian
Largest meat eater that ever lived:
Tyrannosaurus Rex (Where is
he today?)
