More Info on Vegetarianism
Welcome To The Future Of Food:
Chances are you are reading this because you are already considering the meat-free alternative. You’re not alone. Every week many thousands of different people are turning their noses up at traditional meat-based meals in favour of something that’s fresh, delicious, satisfying, healthy, cruelty-free and good for the environment. Vegetarian food offers this and so much more.
Welcome to a delicious, nutritious, cruelty-free lifestyle.
Source: www.vegsoc.org, www.goveg.com
Did You Know?
- 2000 people a week in the UK are joining the veggie revolution and dropping meat completely from their diets.
- There are at least 3 million vegetarians in the UK - 5% of the adult population.
- 7 million people in the UK no longer eat red meat.
- In the last ten years, the number of vegetarians in the UK has practically doubled.
- Whether it’s overuse of resources, water or air pollution, or soil erosion, raising animals for food is wreaking havoc on the Earth. In fact, raising animals for food requires more water than all other uses of water combined, causes more water pollution than any other activity.
- Many environmental groups, including the National Audubon Society and the Union of Concerned Scientists, have recognized that raising animals for food has a worse effect on the planet than just about anything else we can do.
- There is no such thing as a meat-eating environmentalist!
- Just one pound (0.45kg) of beef requires 5,200 gallons (236 392 litres) of water per pound to produce-compared to only 25 gallons (113.6 litres) for a pound of wheat.
- A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,200 gallons of water per day.
- Roughly 2 of every 5 tons of grain produced in the world are fed to livestock, poultry, or fish; decreasing consumption of these products, especially of beef, could free up massive quantities of grain and reduce pressure on land.”
The responses presented here are by no means the only answers to common questions. They are intended as suggestions and as a source of ideas when formulating your own responses. We recommend that you do not try to memorize and repeat these, but rather, incorporate them into your own comments.
Source: www.goveg.com
Reasons Why We’re Vegetarian:
We’re heart smart and cancer-unfriendly. Vegetarian women are less than one-fourth as likely as meat-eaters to get breast cancer, while vegetarian men have a 46 percent lower chance of suffering a heart attack. In addition, a vegetarian diet helps prevent strokes, osteoporosis, kidney stones, many cancers, diabetes, hypoglycemia, kidney disease, peptic ulcers, hernias, obesity, gallstones, hypertension, asthma, and many other diseases.
“Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of coronary disease of any group in the country…. they have a fraction of our heart attack rate, and have only 40 percent of our cancer rate. On the average, they outlive other people by about six years now.” William Castelli, M.D. , Director, Farmingham Heart Study, the longest-running clinical study in medical history.
We’ve never met a cow we didn’t like.
We’re keeping our sex lives sizzling. Vegetarian foods keep our bodies slim, our skin clear, and our libido s… well, let’s just say they’re, uh, presidential. If you wouldn’t eat veggies for your mother, maybe now you’ll do it for your lover!
Vegetarians live longer, healthier lives. One 21-year-long study that compared meat-eaters and vegetarians showed that the greater the meat consumption, the greater the death rate from all causes combined.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” Albert Einstein.
“Well-planned vegan ….diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, and lactation…satisfy(ing) nutrient needs of infants, children and adolescents and promot(ing) normal growth.” The American Dietetic Association’s position paper on vegetarianism.
Vegetarianism is an automatic cholesterol-cutter. The only foods that contain cholesterol are animal products, like meat and dairy. And since a three-decade-long study found that not a single subject with a cholesterol level below 150 has ever developed heart disease, that’s hard to ignore!
Each vegetarian saves an acre of trees each year. In North America, Britain, and throughout the world, forests are being destroyed to create pastures for livestock. Between 1960 and 1985 alone, nearly 40 percent of all Central American rain forests were destroyed to create cheap grazing land for cows later served on North American and European plates. On average, 1 acre of trees disappears every 8 seconds!
We want to help conserve scarce resources. Producing just one hamburger uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles and enough water for 17 showers. In fact, more than half of all water used in the U.S. is used to raise and kill animals for the table.
Raising animals for food causes serious water pollution. Animals raised for food produce 130 x the excrement of the entire human population - 87 000 pounds (395 502 litres) per second - much of this waste contaminates water resources.
The world’s cattle alone consumes a quantity of food equal to the calorie needs of 8.7 billion people.
Vegetarians set a terrific example for friends and family. When people find out we’re veg, it’s a great opportunity to educate them about how THEY can help animals, the Earth, and themselves through a vegetarian diet.
Vegetarians are in good company. When we choose soy over sausage, and chickpeas over chicken, we’re echoing the choices made by Albert Schweitzer, Leo Tolstoy, Pythagoras, Albert Einstein, Gandhi, and dozens of other great thinkers throughout history.
Veggie food tastes great! Seven-bean chilli, raspberry sorbet, spinach lasagna, gingery baked beans, coconut-pineapple curry, wild mushroom risotto, eggplant crostini, potato croquettes, strawberry crêpes, grilled portobello mushrooms, Szechuan noodles, spicy tomato ziti - need we say more?
Vegetarianism is a personal choice. Don’t try to force it on everyone else.
6 Steps To Becoming A Vegetarian:
- Not everyone can change overnight. If you would prefer start gradually and build from there. It’s important to set your own pace! Pick a meal you really enjoy, it could be as basic or sophisticated as you like, it doesn’t really matter. Substitute Fry’s Special for the meat or fish in that meal and give Fry’s a try.
- Don’t be put off by what people around might say or think - make up your own mind.
- Visit your local supermarket and get to know the full range of Fry’s Special products on offer. You’ll be amazed! Whatever tickles your taste buds, you’re guaranteed a mouthwatering vegetarian option every time you eat.
- Buy a decent vegetarian cookbook. Check out our mouthwatering recipes in our Recipes section for some inspiration. Vegetarianism opens up a whole new, exciting and refreshing world of taste.
- When shopping make sure that the eggs you buy are free-range, cheeses are suitable for vegetarians and that the rest of your food does not contain hidden animal ingredients. Check food labelling for a list of ingredients, look for the words ’suitable for vegetarians’.
- Get to know as much about nutrition as you can. Whoever you are, an important pathway to healthy living is to ensure your diet is well-balanced and nutritious.
Vegetarian Foods
- A well balanced vegetarian diet can provide all the nutrients your body needs and there is much scientific evidence to indicate vegetarians may be healthier than meat-eaters.
- A vegetarian diet is healthy because it is typically low in saturated and total fat, high in dietary fibre and complex carbohydrate, and high in protective minerals and vitamins present in fresh fruit and vegetables.
Vegetarian food groups are:
Cereal/grains - wheat (bread & pasta), oats, maize, barley, rye, rice, etc. Potatoes are a useful cereal alternative.
Pulses - kidney beans, baked beans, chick peas, lentils, etc.
Nuts & Seeds - almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.
Fruit and vegetables.
Dairy products or Soya products - tofu, tempeh, soya protein etc.
Vegetable oils and fats - margarine or butter
Source: www.vegsoc.org
Vegetarian Celebrities - 
A few famous names who never eat animals…
Alec Baldwin, Paul McCartney, Pamela Anderson, Prince, Woody Harrelson, Drew Barrymore, Chrissie Hynde, Natalie Portman, Kim Basinger, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, Judith Shakespeare, Martina Navratilova, Carl Lewis, Billie Jean King, Edwin Moses, Albert Einstein, Aristotle, Socrates, Michael Jackson, Sting to mention a few…
