GO VEG!
...For the Animals ...For the Earth ...For Yourself!

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”—Albert Einstein

Have you noticed? Vegetarian characters are now common in movies and on television. Your local restaurant now has vegetarian (and even vegan!) selections on the menu . . . the newspaper has a weekly vegetarian column . . . vegetarian cookbooks are best-sellers. A vegetarian is someone who does not eat the flesh of animals - chickens, cows, pigs, fish, horses, lobsters, ostrich, or other animals. Almost 17 million Americans consider themselves vegetarian, and this number increases by about 19,000 every week. A vegan diet is free of all animal products, including eggs, butter, and milk. An estimated 500,000 Americans are vegans. People become vegetarian or vegan for a variety of reasons - to be healthier, to help animals, to preserve the environment, for religious reasons, etc. In many countries, vegetarian meals are common. In fact, in many cultures, vegetarianism has been a way of life for centuries.

Health
“The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of ‘real food for real people,’ you’d better live real close to a real good hospital.”—Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Improved health is often the biggest motivation for people to choose a diet without animal products. A diet high in meat, eggs and dairy products has been linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and some forms of cancer. Antibiotics and hormones fed to livestock, as well as pesticide residue, often are passed on to consumers of meat and dairy products. Fish can also have high levels of pollutants, like PCBs. The risk of food poisoning - E.coli and Salmonella - from eating animal products is an additional concern.

“Some people are still going to want to eat meat … we do agree though that vegetarianism is a healthier diet.”—David Stroud of the American Meat Institute

It is easy to get ample amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and other vital nutrients from a vegetarian or vegan diet. For example, calcium for strong bones can be found in calcium-rich vegetables and in fortified foods. The proper daily amount of iron is easily found in beans, lentils, dates and other foods. A good rule to follow is to eat enough calories each day from a wide variety of foods, including vegetables, beans, fruits, nuts, whole grains and pasta, and soy products like tofu. A vegetarian or vegan diet can be an empowering and exciting choice. Virtually any meat-based dish can be prepared with vegetables or soy substitutes. Try cheeseless or soycheese pizza with lots of vegetables and extra sauce. Foods like burritos, pasta dishes and soups are often naturally meatless. Restaurants like Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian and Mexican have numerous vegetarian selections, or ask your favorite restaurant for meatless options. Add variety to your diet. Enjoy traditional favorites or explore new vegan foods. There’s never been a better time to Go Veggie!Environment

“So you are the people tearing down the Brazilian rainforest and breeding cattle.”—Prince Philip to McDonald’s of Canada

For the Environment
If you are concerned about the environment, switching to a vegetarian diet is the most important thing you can do. Animal agriculture pollutes the air, soil and water. Did you know that livestock now outnumber humans 3 to 1? With this in mind, it is not surprising that livestock production uses incredible amounts of water: more than half of all water consumed in the U.S.! These animals produce millions of pounds of excrement every day, making livestock production the largest polluter of water in the U.S. A broken waste lagoon at a North Carolina hog farm destroyed farmland, lakes and rivers in an entire county. Raising animals for food is responsible for 75% of the topsoil loss in this country. Worldwide, cattle- ranching has been responsible for destruction of rainforests. The production of meat not only destroys and pollutes the Earth, it is an unnecessary and wastefull use of scarce resources, farmland and food.

“Many things made me become a vegetarian, among them the higher food yield as a solution to world hunger.”—John Denver

For the Animals
“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian. We feel better about ourselves and better about the animals, knowing we’re not contributing to their pain.”—Paul and Linda McCartney

For many people who love animals, the institutionalized cruelty and unnecessary killing of animals for food is all the reason needed to become vegetarian, or better yet, vegan. When people order meat at a restaurant, or purchase meat at the supermarket, the slaughterhouse is most likely the last thing they are thinking of. Bloody slaughterhouses, crowded feedlots, abusive livestock haulers, and nightmarish factory farms are the realities of meat.

“Since visiting the abatoirs of South France I have stopped eating meat.”--Vincent Van Gogh

The numbers are staggering. An estimated 9 billion animals are killed for food each year in the United States. This number does not include fish! In today’s modern factory farms, where meat, dairy products and eggs are produced, animals are treated like machines. Within days of birth, pigs are separated from their mothers, and have their tails cut off; males are castrated. Pigs are kept in stalls so tiny that they cannot turn around.

“If any kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming they would never touch meat again. I was so moved by the intelligence, sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on Babe that by the end of the film I was a vegetarian.”—James Cromwell

Chickens used for egg production are stuffed into wire cages for their entire lives - they can never stretch their wings. Intensive milk production maximizes yield for profit, at the expense of the cow, whose male calves are sold to become veal, and who herself will end up one day at the slaughterhouse. These animals never get a breath of fresh air until they are crowded onto trucks, headed for slaughter.

“Martin Luther King taught us all nonviolence. I was told to extend nonviolence to the mother and her calf.”—Dick Gregory

It is high time we all realize that the suffering we cause to animals, in the name of food production, is simply unacceptable in an enlightened society.

“People get offended by animal rights campaigns. It’s ludicrous. It’s not as bad as mass animal death in a factory.”—Richard Gere

Whether your reasons are based in health, the environment, animal protection, or religion, there is no better time than now to Go Veg!