Growing up, I was raised in a household that ate primarily vegetarian, and while there were times where I wasn't necessarily thrilled about this, I definitely appreciate it now and think my current vegetarianism (with the occasional fish) is a result of this lifestyle.
Why should one go vegetarian?
This is definitely a loaded question and people have their own personal reasons, but I will stick to scientific facts for the purpose of this post. First, producing meat uses significantly more land, water, grain, and energy than it takes to grow vegetables, nuts, and legumes. To be specific, meat eaters require 20 times the land that non-vegetarians require. One acre of land yields roughly 165 lbs of beef, or 20,000 lbs of potatoes. To clear land to raise the cattle, entire forests must be destroyed, and if cattle is raised at the current rate of consumption, in 50 years there will be no forest area left.
From a health standpoint, in general, vegetarians tend to have lower mortality rates, and reduced risks of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Granted, this is for vegetarians who have balanced diets that are rich in fruits and vegetables, whole wheat or whole grain carbohydrates, lean protein from low-fat dairy, beans and soy, and healthy fats, like olive oil or avocado. One would not achieve the same health results from eating pizza for every meal.
The internet is a great place to start for anyone who is interested in eating more vegetarian meals. One of my favorite websites, FoodGawker, is a great resource with literally hundreds of vegetarian and vegan recipes! If you don't want to go meatless, fish or chicken are more sustainable that beef. You don't have to commit to an entire lifestyle change to make a difference, but every meal counts. Vegetarianism definitely seems to be a hot topic right now, so there are some great resources online. If you are interested to read more from where I got my statistics, click here.
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