Eat less meat!

~Chameleon~

Continuing the theme of recent threads maybe we should all be taking a closer look at our diets and cut back on the amount of meat we actually eat, which in turn can only help to reduce the amount of intensive farming and poor welfare of the animals.

The scale of expansion in meat production and consumption is unsustainable. Rather than helping to tackle global hunger, the increase in meat consumption threatens global food security, our shared environment and our own health.

The main problems can be summarised as follows;

Human health: Alongside the increased consumption of animal fats are disturbing rates of obesity, heart disease and adult-onset diabetes. In order to reduce the risk from these diseases, all informed opinion now stresses the desirability of reduced consumption of animal products and increased intake of fresh fruit, vegetables and fibre-rich carbohydrates

The welfare of farmed animals: The explosion in meat consumption is paralleled by the global expansion of industrial “factory farming” of animals, a system which by its very nature compromises basic welfare standards. In factory farms, the animals suffer from confinement, isolation or overcrowding and the frustration of their natural behaviour.

Water scarcity: Lack of water is set to be the biggest threat to global stability in coming decades. Producing meat uses up vast amounts of water; each calorie of meat takes far more water to produce than a calorie of grain or carbohydrate; for example, it takes only 500 litres of water to produce a kilo of potatoes, but 100,000 litres to produce a kilo of beef.

Environmental impact: The unsustainably large livestock population is having a devastating effect on our environment. A major contributor to global warming, livestock herds account for 10% of all greenhouse gases, including 25% of all methane emissions. In addition, the sheer volume of waste generated by the farm animal population, together with the excessive use of fertilisers to grow their feed, causes high levels of ammonia and nitrate pollution of land, water and air.

Global food security: Much of the earth’s arable land is now being used to grow feed crops for intensively farmed animals rather than for people.
Placing animal products at the centre of food policy greatly diminishes the possibility of feeding the world’s human population. Rather than using vast areas of land to grow crops for animal feed, more food can be obtained by using land to grow crops for direct human consumption.


ETA: Forgot to include the link from where I obtained the above info - http://www.ciwf.org.uk/index.shtml

geordie_joe

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Continuing the theme of recent threads maybe we should all be taking a closer look at our diets and cut back on the amount of meat we actually eat, which in turn can only help to reduce the amount of intensive farming and poor welfare of the animals.

Unfortunately I like meat, but have to agree with you, we could all do with cutting down on out meat consumption. My doctor has told me I eat to much meat and I should cut down.

I'm also surprised we didn't get some vegan saying "Oiy! You lot stop arguing and if you are that concerned about the welfare of chickens stop bl**dy eating them!"

~Chameleon~

geordie_joe wrote: »

Unfortunately I like meat, but have to agree with you, we could all do with cutting down on out meat consumption. My doctor has told me I eat to much meat and I should cut down.

I also enjoy eating meat, hence why I could never become a veggie, but having health problems (Type 2 Diabetes) means I've had to cut back on the amount I eat anyway. We have meat only 2-3 times a week now, and that's probably more than is necessary, eating fish or veggie meals the rest of the week.

geordie_joe wrote: »

I'm also surprised we didn't get some vegan saying "Oiy! You lot stop arguing and if you are that concerned about the welfare of chickens stop bl**dy eating them!"

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Lotus-eater

geordie_joe wrote: »

I'm also surprised we didn't get some vegan saying "Oiy! You lot stop arguing and if you are that concerned about the welfare of chickens stop bl**dy eating them!"

Theres not alot they can say, if we didn't eat them they wouldn't be there.

thescouselander

I disagree, the problem is not that we are eating too much meat as individuals. It is actually that there are too many individuals eating meat ie the worlds population is getting too big - that is really what is unsustainable,

Lotus-eater

Well unless you are planning on culling the human population??

And we do eat too much meat, I suppose turning cannibal would sort the situation out? Who's first? estate agents

robpw2

you see i always loved meat .. and got annoyed with people trying to convert me to vegetarianism . Untill my doctor told me i was fat ... Not sure why he did but hey so decided after reading up that the best way to lose weight and keep it off was to eat less meat .

So i chose to become a veggie and now i eat much healthier . i have stopped eating chips etc because there is no fatty meat to go with them and i would say its the best descision i ever made . i do occasionally eat meat like at christmas but other than that i eat alternatives

Lotus-eater

I do love meat, but what we tend to do, say if I'm cooking a meat sauce, I will bulk it out and instead of one pack of mince lasting one night, if I do it in a big enough pan, it will last 3 nights.

newlywed

I bulk all meat dishes out with extra veg, hidden veg, beans, lentils or any combination of those. Mostly due to health - trying to get more healthy food into the kids, also trying to cut down on fat for me and OH. Partly also due to money - meat is expensive to buy compared to tinned pulses etc.

I would like to cut out meat intake down further still but not sure whether OH would object.