Going vegiterian?

Question

Ok so i realy realy care bout what's happenin to our planet. so i sold my 2000 jeta and i now take the bus everywhere.

i have gone green in my apartment, from the compact fluorescent bulbs to the green household products. and i feel great bout it.

now im thinkin of committing to a vegetarian diet. I dont care that much for beef, I hate chicken, and I dont eat pork because im christian. and i hear it is also good for the environment.

So Id like to know in what way and also what are some good veggie foods that i can make at home.

Answer 1

rice and beans are good together.

mixing rice and beans gives you a complete protein

Answer 2

Maxime, all I can tell you is that you have been tricked by a guy making millions of dollars through his Generation Investment Management Corporation.  He's been trying since 1982 to get Carbon Taxes that would end up as carbon credits to go to his company.  He says so near the beginning of his "Inconvenient Truth" movie.

You have been conned.

By the way, those fluorescent bulbs are filled with toxic mercury gas. If you break one, you are supposed to flee the room immediately!  Don't vacuum up the debris because breathing the mercury fumes will damage your nervous system.  They are nasty, toxic things.

I also try to be 'green' in using organic foods and less-nasty household products.  But I'm not going to be tricked into buying stuff that is even more toxic just to feel good about being like the rest of the conformists.

Eat meat on occasion.  It is natural and your body needs it.  Get back to reality and eat like nature intended you to.

Answer 3

1. Cruelty to Animals

C'mon we all know what goes on in factory farms. Agribusiness corporations claim that animals in factory farms are “as well cared for as their own pet dog or cat.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The life of an animal in a factory farm is characterized by acute deprivation, stress, and disease.

2. Your Health

Meat is full of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, growth hormones, fat and cholesterol.

3. World Hunger

Because the tones of grain used to feed animals could be used to solve world hunger.

4. Worker Rights

Abattoir workers, and other meat industries are the most exploited and lowest paid workers in the world.

5. Government Negligence

The government subsidizes meat and dairy production. If the true cost was passed on to the consumer Cost of hamburger meat if water used by meat industry was not subsidized by US taxpayers: $35/pound.

6. The environment

Un sustainability:

Large scale omnivorous diet is ecologically unsustainable. Producing meat places massive stresses on the earth's resources and the environment. 13 pounds of grain is required to produce one pound of meat. Grain that could be used to feed to people in third world countries. 80% of agriculture land is used for livestock in the USA

Deforestation:

Thousands of hectares of rain forest are cleared every year to house or graze animals. Even more land is cleared to grow grains to feed these animals (grains which could be used to feed starving people).

Carbon emissions:

Eating meat contributes to carbon emissions, Beef generates about 24 times more CO2 than an equivalent vegie and rice dinner. http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/0...

Toxins:

Tones of pesticides, herbicides and chemicals are used in high density factory farms. Theses toxins are bio-accumulative and increase in concentration the higher in the food chain we consume.

Bacteria Resistance:

Excessive use of antibiotics has lead to antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.

Water:

Water pollution from the livestock is ruining our water ways and polluting them with toxins, waste and diseases. Water needed to produce 1 pound of wheat: 25 gallons and Water needed to produce 1 pound of meat: 2,500 gallons. That is over 2800 gallons of water per pound of meat.

Waste:

The amount of waste a single pig farm produces more waste than a medium sized city. Dairy waste is classified as industrial waste by most environmental agencies, due to it’s potency. These massive amounts of waste they produce, which goes largely untreated into the environment. http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/0...

Good luck I hope you make the right choice.

Answer 4

Going veggie is great and can open up a whole new world of foods and tastes. Have a look at the vegetarian scoiety website for some recipe ideas. Good luck and enjoy!

http://www.vegsoc.org/

Answer 5

hi, good for you!  no we cant be perfect but we can do our best!:)

try this link for some easy and tasty veggie/vegan meals!

http://www.eighth-day.co.uk/recipes.htm

all the best X

Answer 6

Not a bad idea.  Even just cutting down on eating meat,  is healthier for you,  and kinder to the planet, as you say.  It's not that it's wrong or bad to eat meat, but sometimes farmland is misused by growing fodder for beef or other livestock.  It makes no sense to grow fodder on land that needs to be irrigated for example.  That's a waste of water, on top of the fact, that you can get much more protein per acre from food crops, than from the same land, used to grow fodder for meat.

The number of cattle we have on the land is not natural, putting sometimes unsustainable pressure on the land.  

  If you eat only vegetarian, you have to know how to get the right balance of amino acids needed to make all the proteins in your body.  We think of protein as what makes muscle, but proteins are the main chemicals in the chemistry of your body.

Neurotransmitter, hormones, insulin, anti-bodys, cell regulation chemicals, enzymes, etc, are all proteins.  

  If you eat grains and legumes and nuts you will get the amino acids you need.  Beans and rice, beans and corn for example.

Of course you can eat dairy products and get some of your protein and the necessary amino acids.

A bonus of being vegetarian is that your sense of taste improves, you tend to savor things that you would have thought of as bland, when you ate meat everyday. It helps if you or someone else can prepare a variety of interesting meals.

I'm not vegetarian today but was for 5 years or more.  My intention is to move in that direction, I just need a good cook.

And don't listen to the fools here, who want to politicize how you eat.  Maybe it's them that are conned.  

  Nonetheless, using farm land more for growing food crops for humans instead of for fodder is something that needs to be considered, if the growing population of the world is to be fed.

That's not being political, that's just being human.

Answer 7

It is my intention to eat a balance of plants and animals. I choose to do so. You, of course, are free to do as you please. Good luck.

Answer 8

im a vegitarian and

tofu is pretty good ( it tastes like chicken )

mozerella is good

salad wit almonds

nuts,fruit salad,you should get the 2006-2007 vegan cookbook it got great recipies!