Going Vegetarian One Day at a Time

As many of us are looking forward to the holiday season where we will be stuffed with turkey, ham, sausage and all other kinds of delicious meat; it might be the time to consider cutting back (or completely eliminating) on meat.

How, you may ask, does cutting back on meat help the environment?

1. Forests are cut down in order to make room for all the grassland needed to support cattle;
2. and not only do those cattle take up tons of room, we need to produce more food to feed them! For every one pound of meat, at least 5 times that (5lbs.) of food was consumed.
3. Less water is needed to sustain a vegetarian diet than a diet that includes meat (although, you can help out just by reducing the amount of meat eaten).
4. Saves the environment, as cattle produce 130 times more waste than the human population which would save a lot of rivers from pollution!
5. The amount of energy used to produce and transport meat amounts to roughly the 1/3 of the U.S.'s energy consumption.

Lastly, going vegetarian is usually a healthier alternative (unless you have some sort of health condition) and it will make you feel better! If you're not ready to commit to a vegetarian lifestyle, please try to go meatless for one day a week (Fridays, anyone?) and add additional days if you begin to enjoy your vegetarian days!

Alternative sources of protein:

-Kidney beans
-Chickpeas
-Soy
-Oatmeal
-Tofu
-Peanut butter
-Yogurt
-Milk