 |
| "We endorse eating us only one day a week... or less. Thank you." |
I was thinking about Meatless Monday's the other day. It is a day that one pledges to forgo meat in order to improve the health of individuals and the planet. Not mentioned is how not eating meat improves the lives of the food animals as well.
But as far as human and planetary health goes, Meatless Monday Global says:
"Skipping meat one day a week is good for you, great for your nation’s health, and fantastic for the planet."
Of course they are right, and I think it is an excellent campaign. It was even endorsed by the recent People's Climate March.
But what if we reversed it and made Meatless Mondays into Meaty Mondays, or Meatfull Mondays? Someone making this pledge would only eat meat on Mondays, and enjoy vegetarian meals the rest of the week.
If skipping meat one day a week is good for you and the planet, imagine what eating meatless for six days a week would do. Good health would break out all over the place, and devastated ecosystems would start to heal.
Cows would moo contentedly in fields until a ripe old age.
I wonder how many people would make the Meaty Monday pledge in order to improve personal health as well as the health of ecosystems and food animals?
Some Meaty Facts
"When you reduce your meat intake, you minimize water usage because the production of beef requires 1,850 gallons of water, while the production of vegetables requires 39 gallons of water.
And when you reduce your meat consumption, you reduce your carbon footprint because beef production creates 30 kg of greenhouse gas per kg of food, while carrots, potatoes, and rice require .42, .45, and 1.3 kg respectively." - source
Thanks, this is timely. I have slowly and gradually cut down on the meat eating over the years. I also try and cut out as much as possible, dairy foods and eggs as these foods all contribute to the relentless ill usage of animals by us greedy humans. Any meal I eat which has not done damage to living creatures gives me huge pleasure. But I fail from time to time, I eat fish from time to time, I often "give in" when out for a meal as just not enough vegan or even vegetarian options are provided. This annoys me. So many meals can be made vegetarian very easily. Lasagne for example, and I can think of loads more. I used to beat myself up a bit when I "failed" but now I think that anything I do to try and eat "right" is good and slowly (very slowly!) I am getting there. Frances.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with plenty of your earth saving tips, and eating animal products in moderation is a good decision. I would not recommend cutting back too far on the animal products or becoming a vegan.
ReplyDeleteI have never been vegan or vegetarian but, ended up with an autoimmune vitamin b12 deficiency that, by the way can cause major permanent nerve damage throughout the body, as well as short term memory loss. I would never encourage changes that could create these problems for others. It is NOT worth it! And although I know plenty of educated vegans sign up to go get vitamin b12 shots to make up for this, it is plugging up the health care system for people who legitimately need help and cannot access it until major permanent damage is done.
Anon,
DeleteYou are right about the importance of B12 (the whole B complex) - it is an absolutely necessary component of a healthy diet. When we first started eating vegetarian we did not do well in our B12 intake. Then we started taking supplements and our blood work shows increased levels of this vital vitamin.
Thank you for highlighting the importance of B12. I hope that you are doing well.