Categories: Health & Beauty

Top 5 Reasons to Eat Less Red Meat

A vegetarian (or vegan) diet can significantly benefit your health and the environment. If committing to a meat-free diet makes you want to run into the nearest Outback Steakhouse the good news is simply eating less meat can make a difference.

 Chicken and fish can cause their own set of negative consequences. But, let’s focus on red meat today. Read on!

1. Help save water and cut down on pollution. Livestock animals consume massive amounts of food and water in order to keep production high. It’s estimated that two to five times more water is used to grow the grain to sustain these animals than humans eat. This is a big drain on not only the current food and water supply but on future reserves.

  2. Save money. Most meat is much pricier than vegetarian staples like beans, oats, quinoa, millet etc. Switch to a few meatless meals a week and you’ll save at the grocery store. (Stay tuned to Green Philly Blog for tasty recipes using these ingredients!)

 3. Lessen the mistreatment of animals. Sadly, animals are squeezed into feedlots that are crowded and often unsanitary. Maximizing space to improve production may mean good business for livestock farms, but a close look at the conditions involved are enough to make any animal-lover majorly cringe.

 4. Lower your cholesterol and risk of heart-disease.  Researchers urge people to eat less meat as a means to lose weight – and lower their risk of heart disease.  A meat-eaters risk of developing heart disease is 50 percent higher than it is among vegetarians. Eating meat can also contribute to high cholesterol. A friend of mine consciously cut down her intake and her cholesterol level went down an impressive 26 points in a year!

 5. Cut down on greenhouse gases. Methane gases (very harmful to the environment) are emitted by cows and fertilizers. Additionally, gases emitted by livestock and from transportation to grocers causes a hefty amount of gases. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that agriculture accounts for 10-12 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Read more on this topic from ars technica here.

Posted by Beth

Beth Funari

Beth is a Health and Wellness expert who believes sustainability goes hand-in-hand with self care. She’s the girl whipping up kombucha cocktails at parties, and extolling the benefits of canning vegetables to anyone who will listen.

Share
Published by
Beth Funari

Recent Posts

Moving Fast and Breaking Climate goals: What Pennsylvania’s Data Center boom means for local communities

$90 billion in investments could reshape the energy landscape, but community voices and renewable alternatives…

3 days ago

Trash competition, government shutdown, November elections, & more

Catch up on the latest sustainability news:  Block by Block launches citywide cleanup competition with…

3 days ago

From coal to solar affordability: PA’s next energy chapter shaped by HB 504

Farmers and city residents alike stand to benefit from local, homegrown power, says Land &…

4 days ago

Celebrating Solar at “Sun Day,” trash burning ban proposed & more

Catch up on the latest sustainability news:  Philly mobilizes for Sun Day solar energy celebration.…

1 week ago

You can be exposed to PFAS through food, water, even swimming in lakes – new maps show how risk from ‘forever chemicals’ varies

Drinking water isn’t the only way people are exposed to PFAS today. This article is…

2 weeks ago

Building connections: How Ash Richards uses land care as cultural preservation

The city’s Director of Urban Agriculture talks about the impact of history, gardening as collective…

2 weeks ago