Parul Kharod
The perception among men is that eating meat, or non-veg, is considered to be a sign of manliness. In many Indian households you will find that the men will eat meat while the women are vegetarian. The families that have made their home here in the US also continue this trend and take it a step further. Now the men are enjoying the barbeque and the hot dogs along with their children. According to the latest report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, meat consumption around the world continues to rise.
But perhaps time has come to change this perception and behavior for the health and wellness of not just men but mankind. The steady growth of global meat production comes at considerable cost to the health and environment of our people and planet.
The production of meat and dairy need large quantities of water. Approximately 1,850 gallons of water are needed to produce a single pound of beef. Compare that to the 39 gallons needed to produce a pound of vegetables!
Forests and lands are being cleared to feed the animals. About 70 percent of the planet’s agricultural land is used for animal pasture, and another 10 percent is used to grow grains fed to livestock. According to research, the meat industry uses so much energy to produce grain for livestock that if instead we used the grain to feed people following a vegetarian diet, it would be enough to feed about 840 million people. Unless this land is used to grow crops to feed the humans, it is estimated that by 2050, we will not have enough food for the projected population of 9 billion people.
Livestock now produces 130 times the amount of waste that people do. This waste is poisoning rivers, killing fish and getting into human drinking water. 65% of California’s population is threatened by pollution in drinking water just from dairy cow manure. It isn’t just cows that produce this waste. Factory-raised hogs produce four times the waste in North Carolina than its people. Even the oceans are polluted: 7,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico are a dead zone.
In the United States, more than 13,000 tons of antibiotics were sold for use for factory farmed animals in 2011—almost four times the medicines used to treat sick people!
But let’s say you don’t believe in all this talk about global warming and think that these are just political tactics and don’t concern you as an individual.
The health benefits of plant-based diets are well documented. There is irrefutable evidence that plant-based diets can not only prevent but treat chronic diseases and in the process save millions of dollars in health care costs.
In 2013, Kaiser Permanente, one of the leading health care groups in the nation, issued the following advice for its physicians.
“Concerns about the rising cost of health care are being voiced nationwide, even as unhealthy lifestyles are contributing to the spread of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. For these reasons, physicians looking for cost-effective interventions to improve health outcomes are becoming more involved in helping their patients adopt healthier lifestyles. Healthy eating may be best achieved with a plant-based diet, which we define as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meats, dairy products, and eggs as well as all refined and processed foods. Research shows that plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, HbA1C, and cholesterol levels. They may also reduce the number of medications needed to treat chronic diseases and lower ischemic heart disease mortality rates. Physicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity.”
A similar recommendation was issued by the United States Department of Health & Human Services and the Department of Agriculture when they updated the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for 2015 earlier this year. The report noted, “the major findings regarding sustainable diets were that a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in calories and animal based foods is more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact than is the current U.S. diet.”
A recent local event focused on the same topic. The McKimmon Center at North Carolina State University was the host for a three-day event in September 11-13, 2015 called the Plant-Based Prevention of Disease Conference. The P-POD conference brought together physicians, dietitians, researchers and educators from around the country. The focus was to discuss latest research studies and talk about how to use the evidence and create practical steps for action. There were presentations on various topics including prevention and treatment heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Talks also included bone health and digestive health benefits on a plant based diet.
It seems pretty clear that by switching to a plant-based diet, you can have a major impact on your own health in terms of lowering risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and obesity and improve the nutritional quality of your diet and live a longer healthier life. This can lower health care costs and also lighten up your grocery bill as meat is one of the costliest items in your cart. You can help lower water usage, reduce greenhouse gases, and lower our dependence on fuel, and thus improve our environment.
October is celebrated worldwide as Vegetarian Awareness Month. Let us take a pledge this month to make a change for the better.
Posted: Thursday, October 1, 2015
