GOING VEGGIE
CHANGE YOUR DIET. CHANGE THE WORLD
Going vegetarian is the most effective single thing you can do to make this world a kinder, fairer and better place and it improves your own health. There has never been a better time to make the change: the choice of food available to vegetarians has never been more varied or more appetizing - and the scale of destruction caused by the global meat business has never been greater. Join the millions of people who have already chosen to celebrate life, and turn vegetarian today.
GOING VEGGIE: FOUR GREAT REASONS
Saving Animals
In the UK alone, 850 million animals and hundreds of millions of fish are killed every year to put meat on tables - that's more than three million animals a day. Before they are slaughtered, hundreds of millions lead desolate, disease-ridden lives on factory farms. Turning vegetarian means you're no longer a part of that cycle of death.
Saving the Planet
Rainforests are cleared for grazing; methane from livestock causes global warming; soil is eroded by cattle; slurry poisons waterways; and the seas are laid to waste by overfishing. The global appetite for meat and the industrial techniques of the meat industry are destroying the Earth.
Saving Others
While 750 million people go to bed hungry every night, one-third of the world's grain is fed to farmed animals. A typical Western meat-based diet can only feed 2.5 billion people: a plant-based diet will feed every one of us.
Saving Yourself
Vegetarians live longer and suffer less from diseases such as hypertension, obesity, coronary artery disease, certain kinds of cancer and diabetes. Vegetarian diets can even be used to treat illnesses.
GOING VEGGIE
Becoming vegetarian really is easy. Vegetarian food is easy to buy, easy to prepare and very, very easy to enjoy. Far from "missing out", almost all vegetarians find that they end up eating a greater variety of foods than they ever did when they ate meat. There isn't a supermarket, a market or a restaurant you can visit today that won't offer vegetarian food and the range available - from fabulous curries, incredibly tasty "meat substitutes" and gorgeous fruits and vegetables - is almost endless. The days when British food was "meat and two veg" are long gone and you will eat better than ever, we guarantee it.
GOING VEGAN
Hundreds of thousands of people in this country have already taken that last step into a completely cruelty-free lifestyle by going vegan. By turning vegan you'll be doing something incredibly positive for your health, your conscience and the world. What's more, we guarantee you that making the transition won't be as difficult as you think. Being vegan doesn't mean becoming a freak; it doesn't mean giving up on the pleasure of good food and it certainly doesn't mean you have to become a self-righteous bore. It won't make you a different person - only a happier one.
WHY GO VEGAN?
There are many reasons for going vegan - just as there are for going vegetarian. Being vegetarian helps immeasurably in reducing animal suffering, environmental damage, hunger in the developing world and risks to our own health. Veganism takes all those advantages just a little further. For very many people concerned about any or all of these problems, it seems the natural step to take from vegetarianism.
Saving Animals
Cattle reared for milk production are exploited and made to suffer, just like animals reared for meat. They suffer from lameness, mastitis (inflammation of the udders) and other illnesses and - worst of all - they are forcibly separated from their calves just days after they are born so that humans can drink their milk. Cows are not some kind of special animal that produces milk automatically: just like every other animal, including us, they only produce milk to nurse their young. Male dairy calves, meanwhile, are useless to the dairy industry and are usually shot at birth. Meanwhile, egg-laying hens may be crammed into battery cages or disgusting, disease ridden percheries and forced to produce twenty times the number of eggs as are natural to them. Even free range and organic layers face disease and parasites - and are slaughtered for cheap meat as soon as their productivity falls below the level that the egg business will accept. Male chicks are as useless to the industry as male dairy calves and all are killed - including those on free-range and organic systems.
Like leather, wool is a vital part of the profitability of the meat business - and animals suffer to produce it. Over 90% of British sheep flocks have problems with lameness and almost 1 in 5 lambs die before getting to market. Even honey bees are prone to infectious diseases and the ill-effects of intensive production. All animals kept for profit are exploited in one way or another: the only way to ensure that animals are not harmed is to ensure they are not farmed at all.
Saving the Planet
Dairy cattle and laying hens consume land, water and resources just like other farmed animals. They eat pesticide-soaked fodder, produce polluting slurry, consume chemicals and drugs produced at environmental cost and generate greenhouse gases. They are a drain on our resources that this planet cannot afford.
Saving Others
Again, dairy cattle and laying hens are consuming resources that could go to feeding human beings. As the developing world increasingly industrialises its animal agriculture, farming animals in order to generate revenues instead of food that problem will get worse - and as more dairy and egg produce is consumed in the developing world, so its people are at risk of falling prey to the diet-induced illnesses of Western society.
Saving Yourself
Human beings are the only animals which consume milk after infancy - and the milk of another species at that. It is neither natural nor healthy. A study published in 2003 found that a vegan diet could reduce the most harmful form of cholesterol by 29%. The American Dietetic Association has declared that a vegan diet can provide all the nutrition that human beings need - from cradle to grave. Veganism is infinitely closer to the diet human beings evolved to thrive on than a normal, animal fat-soaked western diet - and the health benefits of a well-balanced vegan diet reflect that.
GOING VEGAN
Becoming vegan isn't difficult - it just requires a little thought and commitment. You can't live on crisps, cornflakes and soya milk - but with all that fabulous vegan food out there, who would want to? Luckily, vegan food is the first thing you see when you walk into most supermarkets - row upon row of tasty, nutritious and attractive fresh vegetables. Vegan products, meanwhile, are available everywhere - from tins of beans at your corner shop to vegan roasts in your health food shop, they are all around if you know where to look. If you're in any doubt, the vegan "bible", the fabulous "Animal-Free Shopper", will answer your questions about what is vegan and what isn't. Dairy-free alternatives to milk and butter are on sale in every big supermarket and many small ones and you don't have to give up chocolate, cakes, ice cream, beer, wine or any of the other good things in life either.
Source Viva
