7 Reasons Not to Eat Meat
Since there’s never been a better time to go vegan, we thought we’d let you in on our top seven reasons not to eat meat. Here’s how your food choices can change the world:
- 1. Preventing Animal Cruelty
Farmed animals have feelings, thoughts, and personalities, just as we do, yet the food industry treats them like machines, with cruelty that’s hard to swallow. On today’s factory farms, they’re crammed by the thousands into filthy sheds and wire cages.They’ll never raise families, root in the soil, build nests, or do anything else that’s natural and important to them. Eating vegan means sparing animals unfathomable suffering.
- 2. Saving the Planet
According to the United Nations’ Livestock’s Long Shadow report, raising animals for food is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”. And a report published by the Worldwatch Institute shows that a staggering 51 per cent or more of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. Simply put: if you care about our planet, you need to ditch meat.
- 3. Ending World Hunger
We produce enough calories globally to feed 10 to 11 billion people, yet the majority of this food is directed to animals of farms, not humans in need. Every day, millions of people are going hungry while crops that they could eat are instead being used to fatten animals for meat.
- 4. Protecting Human Rights
An investigation into the UK meat industry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found evidence of widespread mistreatment and exploitation of workers – in particular, migrant workers – in abattoirs and on factory farms, including discrimination, bullying, physical abuse by managers, and unsafe working conditions. Some workers were forced to work 90 hours a week, and pregnant women were made to stand for long hours and perform heavy lifting and were denied the right to go to the toilet. These workers are typically some of the poorest and most exploited in the country – because it’s a job that nobody wants to do.
- 5. Lowering Your Risk of Heart Disease
Heart and circulatory diseases cause more than a quarter of all deaths in the UK – and diet is a major cause. Going vegan is one of the best ways to keep your heart in shape, lower your cholesterol levels, and thereby decrease your risk of having a heart attack. Since dietary cholesterol is found only in animal-derived foods, a plant-based diet is 100 per cent cholesterol-free.
- 6. Taking Care of Your Body
Every time you consume animal-derived foods, you’re also taking in faecal material, dioxins, and a host of other substances. Eating meat is also a sure-fire way to expand your waistline, increase your chances of becoming impotent (if you’re male), and make yourself more susceptible to a variety of illnesses. If you want to be healthier, take meat off the menu.
- 7. Enjoying Vegan Cuisine
Vegan food options are better than ever, so leaving animals off your plate has never been as easy as it is today. Most major food chains offer at least one tasty plant-based option, and many have a whole vegan menu. Check out our favourite vegan-friendly restaurants across the country – their delicious vegan dishes are cruelty-free and compassionate!
Now that you’ve read our list of reasons not to eat meat, are you left wondering how to begin your vegan journey in 2019? We’ve got good news – not eating meat is very easy! We can help you get started with our free vegan starter kit, which you can order here. Also, you can take our 30-day pledge today. Pledgers receive regular advice and support to help them make the transition to vegan living.
