Vegans and Vegetarians at OSU

Here’s some food for thought: Can you eradicate heart disease and cancer? There’s a movie that I saw that may change your life. When I switched from being a meat eater to a vegetarian here’s how my blood changed: My LDL went from 76 to 61. My cholesterol was 161 and in 2008 it was 133. Also my triglycerides went from 120 to 83. I’d be curious to know what my levels are now that I’ve been a vegan for almost a year. The movie is called Forks Over Knives. Check it out!!

YouTube DirectForks Over Knives Official Trailer

I also love the environment and I know a vegan diet uses 1/20 of the resources of a typical omnivorous diet. What I wasn’t too sure about was whether eating meat from local sources was better than a vegetarian diet that comes from all over. Well, the data is in: Eat vegetarian! I say local, organic and vegan, but that may be way more difficult. If you want to do something just eat less meat-even that helps!

http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2011/02/25/which-is-better-for-the-environment-local-or-vegetarian/

 Here’s a quote from Environmental Science and Technology that was referenced in the above article.

“Large reductions are more difficult in shifting away from only dairy products (at least on a calorie basis) but making some shifts in both red meat and dairy, on the order of 13?15% of expenditure or 11?19% of calories, would achieve the same GHG reduction as total localization. Shifting less than 1 day per week?s (i.e., 1/7 of total calories) consumption of red meat and/or dairy to other protein sources or a vegetable-based diet could have the same climate impact as buying all household food from local providers.”

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es702969f

If you aren’t a vegetarian, please consider it, and if you are, take that extra step and become a vegan!