Healthier World/Healthier Body





		Your Path to Healthy Living and a Healthy Life

Healthier Bodies/Healthier World

By Beth Yim

David Suzuki’s “Nature Challenge” suggests ten ways you can make dramatic improvements to the environment. According to research conducted by his foundation having one meat free day a week can make a significant impact on the health of our planet and our bodies. Amazingly, one person adding one meat free day per week can reduce the number of water pollutants by 21 kilograms annually and reduce his risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and inflammatory conditions.

Now some of you may be groaning, imagining bland, colourless meat-free meals or you may be wondering how to broach the subject of changing eating habits. Finding the right motivation through understanding the facts and discussing this with your family engages everyone in the decision making process and goes a long way in making change a little more palatable.

Producing food is not always environmentally sound. Chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides may pollute ground water. Land suffers through soil erosion from overuse and biodiversity suffers as the variety of crops being raised declines. Meat production is the most harmful agricultural practice as it requires more land and water than the growing of crops.

Here are some statistics on meat consumption:

Canadians eat twice as much meat than the global average.
High protein meat based diets may increase the amount of calcium lost from the body every day and increase the risk of developing osteoporosis.1
One-fifth of the world’s land is used for grazing, twice as much as is used for growing produce.
10 ounces of beef requires 85 times more water to raise than the same amount needed to produce potatoes.
It takes 3,500 litres of water to produce 1kg of chicken meat.
Adding plant based protein to your diet may significantly lower both total serum cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels. 2
A hectare of crops will feed up to ten times as many people as a hectare of land used to graze livestock.

Though change may not come easy, there are ways to make it less painful. A gradual approach is less traumatic. It makes the transition more comfortable and follow through easier. After all, the goal is to create lasting change you can live with. The following steps, adapted from the American Dietetic Association, outline an easy transition to incorporating one meat free day a week.

Analyze your current diet. With your family, list favourite plant based recipes you already consume. For example, spaghetti and tomato sauce, bean burritos, cheese sandwiches, bean soup, etc. You may be surprised to find you already eat several vegetarian meals.
Some recipes are converted to vegetarian simply by replacing meat with beans. Chilli is a good example, it can be made with kidney beans and textured vegetable protein instead of meat. Lasagne tastes delicious without meat and lentil soup is just as hearty without beef stock.
Experiment with vegetarian cookbooks and different products. The Vegetarian Times Magazine is an excellent resource for recipes, tips, and nutritional information.
Create a list of vegetarian meals you can eat away from home. Many restaurants, delis, and cafes cater to the vegetarian palate. Make note of the ones closest to work or school in case of emergency hunger pangs.
Eliminate meat at breakfast or lunch first. These are the easiest meals to convert.

For breakfast: scrambled eggs on toast, whole grain pancakes, French toast, or yoghurt, dried fruit, and nuts.
For lunch: pita pockets with refried beans, vegetables, and a whole grain; pasta salad with chickpeas, vegetables, and a favourite dressing, or bean soup in a thermos with crackers, whole grain roll or bread.

Planning and organizing a week’s worth of dinner meals ahead of time can not only save you time, but also unnecessary stress. Sit down with your family once a week and decide what meals will be served. Involve the kids in deciding and in the preparing. Also, keep reinforcing how making dietary changes can help their health and the environment. Take into account how much time you have to prepare the meal and plan accordingly. If it is a busy day consider preparing a slow cooker meal in the morning. Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson is an excellent cookbook with colourful pictures and clear directions. Also consider creating a shopping list from your week’s plan and once a week purchase everything on your list. Think of the time and money saved by visiting the grocery store only once a week!
If your family is open to new experiences try adding a hint of the exotic by using a curry paste or unusual spice blend in your vegetarian dish with the aim being variety and adventure.

Choices we make as adults influence the next genreation. When we choose to change our eating habits by adding a meat free day a week, we are showing our childrne, that we care about their future and the future of the world. David Suzuki states, "reducing consumption does not mean reducing our quality of life..." It simply means adding true wealth to our life through conscious choices.

Resources

www.animalaid.org for more reasons to add meat free meals and for some great vegan recipes.

www.vegweb.com for everything you need to know about meat free dining.

www.stopglobalwarming.org Let your voice be heard!

1 Zemel MB: Calcium utilization: Effect of varying level and source of dietary protein. Am J Clin Nutr 1988; 48: 880-883.

2 American Dietetic Association