What is a vegetarian?
A vegetarian is a person who doesn't eat meat. This includes poultry, red meat, fish and other sea food. Vegetarians still eat dairy products such as eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt and icecream. Because of this they are often called lacto-ovo vegetarians. Turning vegetarian is the first step towards an animal product free lifestyle. Often, many vegetarians take a further step and become vegans.

What is a vegan?
A vegan is a person who doesn't eat meat AND doesn't eat dairy products. Strict vegans often don't buy leather, fur and other products derived from animals. To replace milk, they often drink 'soya milk' made from soya beans. Vegans also often eat tofu, another product derived from soya beans.

Why should I be a vegetarian?
The following is a summary of the three main reasons why you should adopt a vegetarian diet (courtesy of the Vegetarian Youth Network's page).


1. HEALTH



"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of `real food for real people,' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital."
--Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, D.C.

• Meat/Dairy centered diets are linked to many types of cancer, as well as heart ailments, diabetes, obesity, gallbladder disease, hypertension, and more deadly diseases and disorders.
• The National Cancer Research Institute found that women who eat meat on a daily basis are almost 4 times more likely to get breast cancer than those women who eat little or no meat.
• Meat contains approximately 14 times more pesticides than plant foods; dairy products contain 5-1/2 times more pesticides than plant foods.
• Million pounds of antibiotics are used in animal production every year.These drugs end up in your milk and meat.
• 95-99 percent of toxic chemical residues in the American diet come from animal sources.
• By reducing your consumption of meat,, dairy products and eggs by 50%, you reduce your risk of a heart attack by 45%.By following a pure vegetarian diet (no animal products at all) you reduce your risk by 90%.
• Meat and dairy products raise the acid level in human blood, causing calcium to be excreted from the bones to restore the body's natural pH balance. This calcium depletion results in osteoporosis. Contrary to the common belief that dairy products are necessary to prevent osteoporosis, dairy consumption actually increases the likeliness of this crippling disease.
• About 30% of all pork products are contaminated with toxoplasmosis, a disease which is caused by parasites. It can be passed on to consumers.
• The vegetarian diet is more likely to meet the government recommendations for fat, carbohydrate, and protein than a nonvegetarian diet. The government as well as many other organizations tell us to reduce our fat intake (especially saturated fat) and also to eat more grains, fruits, and vegetables. This is easy for a vegetarian!
• On a meatless diet, you are less likely to get a bacterial infection such as E. coli, Camphylobacter, and Salmonella.

• About 7 billion farm animals die or are slaughtered each year in the U.S. for the production of flesh food.
• There are virtually no laws against cruelty to animals raised for food in the U.S. The Animal Welfare Act, which governs the humane treatment of animals, excludes animals intended for food consumption.
• Up to five hens are crowded into a cage with floor space hardly larger than a record-cover, for their entire life-time.
• Many factory-farmed animals never see a blade of grass in their lifetime.
• In the egg industry, male chicks are considered useless so are often thrown into a grinding machine- ALIVE!
• Animals raised for food production are nearly always deprived of natural sexual, social, hygienic, and parental behaviors.
• Reason for veal's light color and tender texture: Veal calves are force-fed an iron-deficient, anemia-producing diet devoid of solid foods.
• Bulls raised for meat-production are routinely castrated without any type of anesthesia or pain-killers.
• The slaughtering process is inhumane. When the animals are stunned before they are slaughtered, it is not always reliable and the animals are in pain as they move towards their death.

• Livestock production is a major cause of desertification (where the land dries out and loses its precious topsoil so vegetation is unable to grow on it anymore) as well as deforestation (loss of trees).
• Two hundred years ago American cropland had topsoil that averaged 21 inches in depth. Today, only about 6 inches remain. Every year in the U.S. an area the size of Connecticut is lost to topsoil erosion- 85% of erosion is associated with livestock production.
• Spinach grown on an acre of land can yield 26 times more protein than beef produced on the same acre.
• Number of pure vegetarians who can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one person consuming a meat-based diet: 20
• 60 million people will starve to death this year- 60 million people could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10 percent.
• Some beef comes from cattle raised on land that was formerly rainforest. This land is not good for grazing and it lasts only for a few years, after which more rainforest must be destroyed to raise the cattle on.
• For each quarter-pound fast food hamburger sold that came from cattle raised on former rainforest land, 55 square feet of rainforest was destroyed.

Many famous actors, singers, models and other celebrities are vegetarians. Famous vegetarian actors include Brad Pitt, Kim Bassinger, Richard Gere, Alicia Silverstone, Alec Baldwin, Drew Barrymore, Paul Newman, Liv Tyler, William Shatner, David Duchovny, Daryl Hannah and Dustin Hoffman.




The photo above was taken from the AR Picture Gallery..

Above: This calf is imprisoned within a small crate in which it can only stand up or lie down. It is kept in semi-darkness in isolation and is fed a nutrient-deficient diet designed to keep its flesh light. Many calves, cows, pigs, lambs and other "meat" animals are kept in very unhealthy and inhumane conditions.



Vegetarian Fact Sheets & Information Pages