10 Reasons To Go Vegetarian

Bonjour!

I am on a mission to get everyone to cut their meat consumption by around 25% (I guess this would mean going for the equivalent of about two days without eating any meat). If this is difficult to stomach, you could always try the Meat-Free Monday campaign, which provides ways of cutting out your meat for one day of the week (backed by the likes of Paul McCartney, so it must be a good idea!).

Obviously it would be wonderful if everyone went completely vegetarian, but I am not naive enough to think that this is ever going to happen.

A lot of people are sceptical. As with cutting carbon emissions and buying Fairtrade products, people come up with excuses because they feel guilty. "Fairtrade products don't taste as nice" is a classic, and there's really no excuse! When it comes to vegetarianism, the classic excuse is, "It's not as healthy. You lack nutrients. You need meat."

Nonsense.

I present to you five perfectly sound reasons to go veggie, that show there is no excuse!

1) Vegetarians are healthier than meat-eaters. Vegetarians live longer, have 40% less chance of getting heart disease and cancers, and are a lot slimmer than the average meat eater (70% of our adult meat-eating population is overweight, a figure drastically lower amongst vegetarians).

2) Animal sentimentality in this country is completely hypopcritical. Pet-lovers who would be repulsed by the thought of eating a dog are often quite happy to tuck into an animal that is probably more intelligent than a domestic pet, such as a pig or a cow.

3) There are a huge range of products that provide a meat-equivalent for vegetarians. The range is ever-growing, and includes all sorts of delicious snacks such as sausages, burgers, mince and bacon. Of course, it's not meat (no one is trying to fool you), but they can satisfy the cravings that you might get from meat, and are a much lower-fat alternative. They also provide protein and other nutrients. Quorn is the best brand, but some of the supermarkets' own brands are good too.

4) THE BIG REASON (PAY ATTENTION).
The world faces environmental crisis and I am not exaggerating when I say that going vegetarian is one of the best sacrifices you can make, because vegetarianism can really save the planet. As the Eastern world becomes Westernised, its population wants to eat more meat (like the Americans, of course). This means that more and more land will be used for rearing cattle, which means less space for arable farming, and less forests. The more cows, the more methane, which is a greenhouse gas. The grain used to feed cattle could be used to feed twice the amount of human beings who are starving (it's not rocket science: eating crops is so much more energy efficient than eating meat). In short, the more meat we produce, the more we are contributing to global warming and humanitarian crises. Come on guys, this is really important!

5) The animal cruelty involved in meat-production is shocking. The animals are completely traumatised because they know they are going to die. I'm not trying to be emotive here, but they really do scream as they're being killed, there is lots of blood, it is very painful, and there is absolutely no dignity involved at all. The meat you see on the supermarket shelves is the bloody flesh of a sentient creature. It's barbaric.

So, please please please cut your meat consumption!

It's so important: for the animals, for the planet, and for our fellow humans who don't have enough to eat.

Here are some resources to check out:

http://www.meatfreemondays.co.uk/
http://www.vegsoc.org/
http://www.peta.org.uk/

Have fun!

xxxx