Losing My VEGinity
Welcome Veggie Lads and Lasses to the launch of veggieLad.com! A brand new website and blog for all things veggie. Join me for all the latest veggie news, recipes, restaurant reviews and guides you could wish for. Visit the About Me page to read my story and see how I went from the guy who wanted to raise and eat his own pig, to vegetarian blogger.
SO WHY ARE YOU VEGETARIAN?
Everyone I meet asks me the same questions about my choice to go vegetarian and I’ll be answering them here over the next few weeks. Let’s start off with the obvious though shall we? It boils down to 4 reasons:
- It’s better for my health:
I first tried going veggie after watching the documentary VEGUCATED which challenged 3 meat-eaters to go Vegan for 6 weeks. What shocked most was how in this short time, all 3 participants drastically improved their health by eating no animal products. They all lost weight, dropped their blood pressure and cholesterol and reported feeling more energetic and less tired. There are lots of studies showing that reducing your meat intake (especially red and processed meat) reduces your chances of contracting life-threatening diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
- It’s better for animals:
I don’t go around calling burger chains murderers or my friends ‘Corpse Crunchers’- that’s just anti-social. But what is clear from the evidence is that the animals we eat are mostly treated cruelly, kept in cramped, dirty conditions and display clear signs of fear and terror before their slaughter. Once you connect that to the steak on your plate, I found it hard to justify eating it.
- It’s better for humans:
Aside from the health benefits there are huge benefits for humans in general. Slaughterhouses are thoroughly unpleasant places to work. The staff are low-paid on insecure contracts. Add to that you’re killing animals all day and it’s unsurprising that farm-workers have a high probability of developing mental health issues.Here’s the trump card though: IF THERE WAS NO INDUSTRIAL MEAT FARMING, THERE WOULD BE NO WORLD HUNGER. A bold claim but it makes sense. Currently an area the size of Western Europe is used to grow crops to turn into animal feed. If those crops were just fed to humans instead, there would be more than enough to go around.
4. It’s Better for the Planet
The animal farming industry is responsible for more carbon emissions than the transport industry. This study claims it’s responsible for HALF OF ALL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS. If we are going to address climate change, we really need to stop eating so much meat. Add to that the general wholesale destruction: rainforest for beef production, of ocean eco-systems by industrial fishing, it really paints a bad picture. Giving up meat will make a huge difference to the world.
*Breaths in*
So that’s it in a nutshell. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my first post. I’ll be adding loads more very soon so keep in touch to get the latest from veggieLad.com!
Rob x
