How Vegetables Help the Environment (and You)

I have been a vegetarian for most of the past 40 years. The reason why I support a plant-based diet is obvious: People who consume mostly plant foods are generally much healthier and may live longer. I first decided to stop eating meat when my grandmother was diagnosed with colon cancer. I was a 21-year-old pre-med student at the time and quickly found that research associated a high-fat diet and being overweight with an increased risk of cancer.

So began my lifelong journey to incorporate healthy lifestyle choices for myself and my family—and to teach others, too!

This concept received support recently from a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that studied people who consumed a mostly plant-based Mediterranean diet. (They did eat small amounts of white meat and fish).

The results of the study were striking: People eating the Mediterranean diet had a 30 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease (heart attack or stroke) than the group not eating a Mediterranean diet. The results were so dramatic that the study was stopped because of ethical reasons. (The study authors could no longer let the people who were not eating the Mediterranean diet continue to eat the way that they were eating). While not completely a vegetarian diet, the study showed how powerful a primarily plant-based diet can be.

Besides being good for your health, following a plant-based diet is also good for the earth. Since this is Earth Month, I thought I would highlight the environmental reasons for turning to a more plant-based diet:

• Carbon Footprint: Livestock farming produces a huge amount of greenhouse gases. Estimates are that livestock (from birth to death) producearound 20 percent of all greenhouse emissions. That is more greenhouse gases than cars, planes, and other transports combined.

• Water: Livestock use a lot of water. It takes an average of 2,500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of meat–almost half of all water consumed goes to livestock. In contrast, it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat.

• Deforestation: Clearing land for livestock accounts for around 60-70 percent of all Amazon deforestation.

• Oceans: The oceans are impacted two ways by our meat-based diets. The first is from runoff. The manure and urine from feedlots are collected in lagoons that often leak or overflow when it rains. This leads to high amounts of nitrogen, nitrates, and phosphorus ending up in rivers and eventually the oceans. The second is that many of the world’s fish ecosystems are so overfished that they can no longer be fished.

• Land: It is estimated that a family who is vegetarian needs around one acre of land to produce the food that it needs. The average American (who consumes around 270 pounds of meat a year) needs around 20 acres. Livestock consume the majority of our plant crops, rather than us consuming the plants. In fact, it takes 20 pounds of soybeans to make one pound of meat.

Now, you don’t have to become a full vegetarian–but I strongly recommend that we ALL eat less meat and more plants. Building your meals around fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains is one of the best ways you can help your health and help preserve the environment. Drink a soy protein-based shake for breakfast instead of bacon and eggs. Try a tofu and broccoli stir fry instead of chicken piccata. You’ll be healthier and our planet can be too.

Thank you to Shaklee Health Wise Blog for the Information.