Vegetarian Eating: Healthy, Humane and Sustainable

A plant-based diet is a simple, yet powerful way to improve your health and protect the environment and animals.

Eating for Health

The American Dietetic Association states that vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of life and are associated with a number of health advantages. [1]

• Lose Weight - A diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans is optimal to attain and maintain a healthy weight. [2]
• Reduce Risk of Cancer - Vegetarians have lower rates of many types of cancer, including prostate and colorectal cancers. [3]
• Reduce Risk of Heart Disease - Heart disease claims nearly one out of every two lives in the U.S. Plant foods have no cholesterol and are low in saturated fat, two major contributors to heart disease.[4]
• Reduce Risk of Diabetes - A study of 25,000 Seventh Day Adventists found vegetarians to have significantly lower rates of diabetes.[5]
• Reduce Exposure to Toxins - Much seafood contains mercury, PCBs and dioxins. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that over 600,000 children are born each year at risk for lower intelligence and learning disabilities from exposure to mercury in their mothers' diets.[6]

"I now consider veganism to be the ideal diet. A vegan diet – particularly one that is low in fat – will substantially reduce disease risks."
-T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University A Sustainable Table

Environmentalists increasingly recognize the "green" benefits of a vegetarian diet, such as conserving the earth's resources and reducing global warming and pollution.

• Reduce Global Warming - A recent United Nations report concluded that animal agribusiness causes more global warming than all forms of transportation combined! It does so in a number of ways: billions of farmed animals emit greenhouse gases from manure and intestinal gas; deforestation to clear land for animal feed crops depopulates trees that would otherwise absorb CO2; massive amounts of energy are used to produce feed crops, heat and cool animal housing, and transport, process and refrigerate meat. [7]
• Use Natural Resources Efficiently - Most corn and soy grown in the world feeds farmed animals, not humans. A plant-based diet directly addresses global hunger by making more calories available to people; a Cornell study found that the U.S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat [8]. On average, 6 pounds of plant protein are required to produce only 1 pound of animal protein. [9]
• Reduce Pollution – Factory farms produce 1.4 billion tons of manure every year, which pollute our air with ammonia and methane gases. Manure also seeps into the water supply, killing fish and contaminating drinking water. [11,12]
• Restore Biodiversity – A recent report on the world's seafood stocks found that 63 percent of seafood species are below healthy levels due to overfishing. [13]

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
- Albert Einstein

Protecting Animals

Cows, pigs and chickens are individuals with emotional and social lives as complex as those of our beloved dogs and cats. By going vegetarian, we expand our circles of compassion to include all animals.

Reduce Suffering – Animals on modern farms spend their entire lives in cages or stalls too small for them to turn around, comfortably lie down or extend their limbs or wings. [14,15,16,17] Pigs and cattle are castrated and tail-docked without anesthesia. [18,19], At slaughter, many improperly stunned animals are skinned, scalded and butchered while conscious. [20,21] Each person who adopts a vegetarian diet spares more than 50 animals from suffering and death each year. [22]

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."
- Paul McCartney

What You Can Do

Here are tips to get you started:

• Try Vegetarian Foods - There are vegetarian versions of hamburgers, hot dogs, milk, yogurt and more, with the tastes you enjoy but without all of the cholesterol and saturated fat. Find them in the health food sections of your local grocers.
• Go Vegetarian One Day a Week - Gradually try new foods and new recipes. Add vegetarian days until you are fully vegetarian.
• Dine Out Vegetarian - Many ethnic restaurants offer savory vegetarian dishes. Visit VegGuide.org for vegetarian-friendly establishments in your area.
• Learn More - Visit ChooseVeg.com for more information and to order your free Vegetarian Starter Kit, filled with delicious recipes and tips for transitioning to a vegetarian diet.

References:

1 American Dietetic Association; “ Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. “ ADA Position Paper; Volume 109, Issue 7, Pages 1266-1282 (July 2009)

2 Ibid: “ Vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index “

3 Ibid; “Furthermore, vegetarians ten d to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates.” “Data from the Adventist Health Study revealed that nonvegetarians had a substantially increased risk for both colorectal and prostate cancer compared with vegetarians “

4 Ibid: “The results of an evidence based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease”

5 Ibid “Vegetarians also appear to have lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians.”

6 Lowy, J. (2004, Feb. 4).EPA raises estimates of newborns exposed to mercury. Scripps Howard News Service.

7 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2006. Llivestock’s long shadow: Environmental Issues and Options.

8 Cornell University Science News. August 1997. http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/aug97/livestock.hrs.html

9 Pimental D. & Pimental, M. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment. Vol. 78, No. 3, 660S-663S, September 2003

10 Report by Minority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, 1997.

11 F.A.O. United Nations (2006). Livestock’s Long Shadow.

12 N.Y. Times. (2003 May 11). Neighbors of vast hog farms say foul air endangers their health.

13 Washington Post, July 31, “Tastier Names Trouble For Seafood Stocks” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/30/AR2009073002478.html

14 Ernst, R.A., University of California Cooperative Extension. (1995, June). Poultry Fact Sheet No. 20.

15 USDA APHIA VS. (2000, January) Reference of 1999 Table Egg layer management in the U.S.

16 Webster, A. J. S & Saville, C. et al. (1985). The effect of different rearing systems on the development of calf behaviour. British Veterinary Journal, 141, 249-265.

17 Kaufman, M. (2001, June). In pig farming, growing concern. The Washington Post, 18.

18 Rollin, B. 1995. Farm Animal Welfare.pp. 55-65.

19 Humane Society of the United States. Frequently asked questions about factory hog farms.

20 Eisnitz, G. (1997). Slaughterhouse (p. 71).

21 Warrick, Joby. (2001 April 10). In Overtaxed Plants, Humane Treatment of Cattle Is Often a Battle Lost (The Washington Post).

22 Based on 10 billion land animals factory farmed per year in U.S. divided by 280,000,000 U.S. population for a total of 35 land animals eaten per person per year, plus an estimated 15 or more sea animals.