Recently, a former superstar made the news by suggesting that people could help the environment if they adopted a high protein vegetarian diet for as little as one day a week. Some media treated his suggestion with due respect. Other media outlets derided him, suggesting that the former rock star was living in his hippy past.
None of the media that covered the story did it in any depth. If they had taken him a little more seriously and considered the facts, they would have understood just how much sense he made. If you look at the issue square in the eye from a vegetarian’s standpoint, you will see why they so passionately believe in it.
You might wonder what giving up meat has to do with the environment. There are whole books devoted to facts about the meat processing industry. One of the points made is that raising beef is a terribly inefficient use of arable land. The same amount of land that it takes to satisfy America’s voracious appetite for meat could be put to far better use producing soy products, for instance.
If you have a very strong stomach, pay a visit to a meat processing plant. These are all located far away from large populations for a reason. They smell so bad, they literally make people sick. Those who are unfortunate enough to have to work in the plants or live nearby them have a higher than average incidence of a number of health complaints.
Unless you are a hardened killer, you will be shocked by what you see inside the meat processing plant. To call it inhumane is putting it mildly. While the killing process itself is not necessarily an environmental issue, it is a moral one. It is doubtful that you will reach for a shrink-wrapped sirloin steak quite so quickly after you have seen what happened at the slaughterhouse. You are more likely to turn away and go to the vegetable department and start your vegetarian diet!
Bear in mind that the cattle industry wants you to buy their product and will tell you anything to get you to buy it. They will tell you that you need the protein. Yes, you do need a certain amount of protein in your diet, but not that much protein and not that kind of protein. While a strong argument can be made for an occasional serving of meat, so many consume far too much and it is a proven contributor to innumerable diseases.
Those who have given up meat and taken up a vegetarian diet rarely feel the need to go back to eating meat. While some do go back to occasional servings of meat, they almost never go back to consuming it in large quantities. Why should they? They feel healthier and happier than they did before.
Interestingly, even the Catholic Church recommends that and most major religions advocate abstinence from meat from time to time, if not permanently. Hindus and many Buddhists have been vegetarians for millennia and it has worked for them. In fact, it seems like the only ones who advocate a high meat diet are the cattle industry lobbyists!
The next time a superstar advocates a vegetarian weight loss diet, don’t sneer. They are trying to do the world a service with the vegetarian diet.
