This little piggie...

Decided to Meat The Truth.
I have seen countless documentaries that exposed the meat industry and it's disgusting treatment of animals. That wasn't enough to convince me I needed to cut out meat. Then I heard about what is in the meat I was eating and how dirty, diseased, and umped with hormones most meat it. The fact that ecoli runs rampant in ground beef made me look twice at my burger, yet I was still attached to eating meat. Since I lost weight through the South Beach Diet (focus on more protein less carbs and no processed foods) I had this idea that I would become this anemic, pale, and weak little girl if I cut out meat from my diet. What got me over this fear? Meat The Truth. After watching this documentary I could no longer ignore the mounting facts against eating meat.

Cruel for animals
Unsanitary meat = dangerous for me to eat (and I really can't afford organic grass-fed meat)
THE WORST POSSIBLE ACTIVITY for the environment

I have decided to open my mind and learn. Lo and behold I (very easily) found out there are SO many ways to get protein besides from meat! (Quinoa I love youuuuu!) But that is a whole other post- in this one I am simply going to spew some facts about the meat industry at you. Hope you enjoy :)

Just a few of my favorite awful facts about the meat industry:
-In the US alone, 500,000 animals are killed for meat every hour.
-If every country ate as much meat as the U.S. it would take 3 worlds to sustain this activity.
-In a lifetime, the average meat eater will consumer 36 pigs, 36 sheep and 750 chickens and turkeys. Sick. They didn't even include how many cows you can eat in a lifetime.
-Eating 1 lb of meat is equivalent to driving an SUV 40 miles. Just think what an impact a block party barbecue must have on the environment. And I thought Hummers were ridiculous.



Want more facts/info?
49 Reasons to become Vegetarian
21 Reasons to become Vegetarian
Goveg.com (I advise against the videos...unless you really need convincing)
Vegetarian Starter Kit

Ok all this being said- I STILL can understand someone being hesitant to becoming vegetarian. And that's perfectly ok. Just by cutting out meat 1 or 2 days a week you can still make a massive difference- take a look at these facts from Meat The Truth.

If everyone cut out meat for...

1 day a week its like:
Taking 500,000 cars off the road for an entire year. Or like saving 90 million plane tickets from L.A. to New York.

2 days a week:
Equivalent of replacing all household appliances (dishwasher, laundry machines, etc.) with energy efficient appliances.

3 days a week:
Savings equivalent to 300 megatons of greenhouse gas or replacing all the cars in the U.S. with a Honda Prius.

4 days a week:
Halving the domestic use of all electricity, gas, petroleum, etc.

5 days a week:
Carbon savings equivalent to planting 13 billion trees and letting them grow for 10 years.

6 days a week:
Comparable carbon savings to eliminating all electricity in the U.S.

Cutting out meat completely:
Would be like taking ALL the cars in America off of the road.

As you can see a small change can make a very big difference. By no means do you have to become vegetarian or vegan, stop shaving your arm pits, and dread your hair to help out the environment. Consider cutting out meat one day a week (Meatless Monday perhaps?) or try out being a flexitarian..

As for me I am trying to be vegetarian/vegan. Vegan doesn't seem like such a challenge to me personally because the only dairy products I still eat are yogurt and the occasional egg. Although I'm probably consuming more animal products than I think in the (limited) packaged foods I buy. Anyways since I know I will relapse, for now, I will label myself as a "strict" flexitarian. Giving myself time to learn how to be vegetarian.

How about you? Would you consider incorporating a meatless Monday into your week? Or take a meatless month challenge?