Global meat consumption has increased from under 50 million tons annually to over 200 million tons in the last 50 years. The amount of animal manure produced in the U.S. is 130 times greater than the amount of human waste. This is causing 更多 environmental and health problems than ever seen before. Here are 15 good reasons to stop eating meat (or at least cut down):
Health Reasons:
1. Lower risk of cancer. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has reported that vegetarians are less likely to get cancer 由 25 to 50 percent.
2. Lower risk of 心 disease. Researchers Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have a program that includes a vegetarian diet and is currently one of the few programs that has been proven to reverse 心 disease. A vegetarian diet reduces cholesterol.
3. Lower risk of osteoporosis. Studies have shown that too much protein in our diet causes loss of bone calcium. Meat eaters generally get far 更多 protein than they need 或者 can use.
4. Lower risk of kidney and gallstones. The calcium leached from the 识骨寻踪 由 the body's efforts to neutralize the acids produce 由 too much protein intake can end up forming kidney stones and gall stones.
5. Factory farmed 动物 carry disease. According to the FDA poultry is the number one 来源 of food-borne illness. Despite the heavy use of pesticides and antibiotics, up to 60% percent of chickens sold at the 超级市场, 超市 are infected with live salmonella bacteria. Approximately 30% of all pork products are contaminated with toxoplasmosis. We are increasingly at risk from highly contagious diseases like Mad Cow Disease and Foot and Mouth disease in 羊 and cattle.
6. Factory-farmed 动物 contain toxic chemicals. Meat contains accumulations of pesticides and other chemicals up to 14 times 更多 concentrated than those in plant foods. Half of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are used in farm 动物 and 90% of those are not used to treat infections but are instead used as growth promoters.
Environmental Reasons:
7. Inefficient use of agriculture. 70% of U.S. grain production is used to feed farm animals. The grains and soybeans fed to 动物 to produce the amount of meat consumed 由 the average American in one 年 could feed seven people for the same period.
8. Inefficient use of water. It takes 2640 gallons of water to produce one pound of edible beef. The water used to raise 动物 for 食物 is 更多 than half the water used in the United States.
9. Inefficient use of energy.
Calories of fossil fuel needed to produce 1 calorie of protein in beef: 28.
Calories of fossil fuel needed to produce 1 calorie of protein in soybeans: 2.
10. Environmental Pollution. Raising 动物 for 食物 is the biggest polluter of our water and topsoil. Factory farm animal waste pollutes the ground and groundwater horribly.
11. Destruction of natural habitat. It takes 更多 land to raise 动物 for 食物 than it does to produce the equivalent nutritional value 由 raising edible plants. Rain forests are being destroyed to make room for huge cattle ranches. Coyotes and other 动物 are poisoned and shot 由 western cattle ranchers who consider federal land to be their land for grazing.
Animal Rights Reasons:
12. 动物 on factory farms are over-crowded. They spend their brief lives in crowded and ammonia-filled conditions, many of them so cramped that they can't even turn around 或者 spread a wing.
13. 动物 on factory farms are tortured. Within days of birth, for example, chickens have their beaks seared off with a hot blade. 动物 are hung upside down and their throats are sliced open, often while they're fully conscious.
14. 动物 on factory farms are treated like machines. They are pumped up with drugs, fed their own waste and forced to grow 或者 produce as fast as possible. They are subjected to 24-hour artificial lighting while being crammed into tiny cages one on 最佳, 返回页首 of the other to make it easier to harvest.
15. We don't need to eat animals! Most of us in the U.S. don't eat 动物 because we must in order to survive. We eat them because we want to. We are subjecting 动物 to torture, damaging the environment unnecessarily and subjecting ourselves to greater risk of disease just to satisfy a desire, not a need.
你 can get a totally balanced diet without eating meat. All vegetables contain protein and too much protein consumption is unhealthy. Grains, legumes and soybeans contain plenty of protein. Vegetarian foods do not have to be boring. Spice it up! For example, veggies and 白饭, 大米 with some 红烧, teriyaki, 照烧 sauce is delicious and as filling as any meat dish 你 can think of while being far 更多 healthy for 你 and easier on 动物 and the environment. Why not give a vegetarian diet a try and give our environment a break. Your body will thank 你 and so will the Earth!
Health Reasons:
1. Lower risk of cancer. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has reported that vegetarians are less likely to get cancer 由 25 to 50 percent.
2. Lower risk of 心 disease. Researchers Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have a program that includes a vegetarian diet and is currently one of the few programs that has been proven to reverse 心 disease. A vegetarian diet reduces cholesterol.
3. Lower risk of osteoporosis. Studies have shown that too much protein in our diet causes loss of bone calcium. Meat eaters generally get far 更多 protein than they need 或者 can use.
4. Lower risk of kidney and gallstones. The calcium leached from the 识骨寻踪 由 the body's efforts to neutralize the acids produce 由 too much protein intake can end up forming kidney stones and gall stones.
5. Factory farmed 动物 carry disease. According to the FDA poultry is the number one 来源 of food-borne illness. Despite the heavy use of pesticides and antibiotics, up to 60% percent of chickens sold at the 超级市场, 超市 are infected with live salmonella bacteria. Approximately 30% of all pork products are contaminated with toxoplasmosis. We are increasingly at risk from highly contagious diseases like Mad Cow Disease and Foot and Mouth disease in 羊 and cattle.
6. Factory-farmed 动物 contain toxic chemicals. Meat contains accumulations of pesticides and other chemicals up to 14 times 更多 concentrated than those in plant foods. Half of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are used in farm 动物 and 90% of those are not used to treat infections but are instead used as growth promoters.
Environmental Reasons:
7. Inefficient use of agriculture. 70% of U.S. grain production is used to feed farm animals. The grains and soybeans fed to 动物 to produce the amount of meat consumed 由 the average American in one 年 could feed seven people for the same period.
8. Inefficient use of water. It takes 2640 gallons of water to produce one pound of edible beef. The water used to raise 动物 for 食物 is 更多 than half the water used in the United States.
9. Inefficient use of energy.
Calories of fossil fuel needed to produce 1 calorie of protein in beef: 28.
Calories of fossil fuel needed to produce 1 calorie of protein in soybeans: 2.
10. Environmental Pollution. Raising 动物 for 食物 is the biggest polluter of our water and topsoil. Factory farm animal waste pollutes the ground and groundwater horribly.
11. Destruction of natural habitat. It takes 更多 land to raise 动物 for 食物 than it does to produce the equivalent nutritional value 由 raising edible plants. Rain forests are being destroyed to make room for huge cattle ranches. Coyotes and other 动物 are poisoned and shot 由 western cattle ranchers who consider federal land to be their land for grazing.
Animal Rights Reasons:
12. 动物 on factory farms are over-crowded. They spend their brief lives in crowded and ammonia-filled conditions, many of them so cramped that they can't even turn around 或者 spread a wing.
13. 动物 on factory farms are tortured. Within days of birth, for example, chickens have their beaks seared off with a hot blade. 动物 are hung upside down and their throats are sliced open, often while they're fully conscious.
14. 动物 on factory farms are treated like machines. They are pumped up with drugs, fed their own waste and forced to grow 或者 produce as fast as possible. They are subjected to 24-hour artificial lighting while being crammed into tiny cages one on 最佳, 返回页首 of the other to make it easier to harvest.
15. We don't need to eat animals! Most of us in the U.S. don't eat 动物 because we must in order to survive. We eat them because we want to. We are subjecting 动物 to torture, damaging the environment unnecessarily and subjecting ourselves to greater risk of disease just to satisfy a desire, not a need.
你 can get a totally balanced diet without eating meat. All vegetables contain protein and too much protein consumption is unhealthy. Grains, legumes and soybeans contain plenty of protein. Vegetarian foods do not have to be boring. Spice it up! For example, veggies and 白饭, 大米 with some 红烧, teriyaki, 照烧 sauce is delicious and as filling as any meat dish 你 can think of while being far 更多 healthy for 你 and easier on 动物 and the environment. Why not give a vegetarian diet a try and give our environment a break. Your body will thank 你 and so will the Earth!
