DID YOU KNOW?
Eating a veggie diet means 2.5 x fewer carbon emissions than a meat diet.
A chicken breast takes over 735 litres of water to produce, which could fill up your bathtub 4.6 times.
By eating vegetarian food for a year, you could save the same number of emissions as a family taking a small car off the road for 6 months.
Going veggie will help allow our oceans to be restored to their natural balance. Around 85% of fisheries are overfished or fully exploited causing a problem for our seas.
Top 8 Reasons for Going Veggie
Traditionally, research into vegetarianism focused mainly on potential nutritional deficiencies, but in recent years, the pendulum has swung the other way, and studies are confirming the health benefits of meat-free eating.
1. To ward off disease
Vegetarian diets are more healthful, particularly in preventing, treating or reversing heart disease and reducing the risk of cancer. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the single most effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it entirely. Cardiovascular disease kills 1 million Americans annually and is the leading cause of death in the US. The mortality rate for cardiovascular disease is lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians. A vegetarian diet is inherently healthful because vegetarians consume less animal fat and cholesterol and instead consume more fibre and more antioxidant-rich produce—eat your veggies!
2. Lose excess weight and keep it off
On average, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index (a measure of body fat) than meat-eaters. More than two-thirds (68.8%) of the general public are obese. The Oxford Vegetarian Study found that BMI levels are lower in vegetarians of all age groups and for both men and women. Vegetarians may have lower BMI due to consumption of a diet that is high in fibre-rich and low-energy foods such as fruits and vegetables
3. Gives healthy skin
If you wish to have healthy skin then you need to eat the right amount of vitamins and minerals with plenty of water. Fruits and vegetables that we eat are very rich in vitamins, and minerals and also have sufficient antioxidants. Moreover, as they are water-based, if you eat them raw it can further improve the intake of healthy nutrients. Many vegetarian foods also are rich sources of antioxidants that help you stay disease-free, with healthier skin.
4. Help the Environment
Eating a vegetarian diet can also benefit the environment. Animals emit greenhouse gases, resulting in a larger carbon footprint than vegetables or grains. In fact, a meat-based diet increases carbon emissions 2.5 times more than a plant-based diet. These greenhouse gases contribute to global warming and climate changes around the world.
5. Reduce Risk of Food-Borne Illness
Have you ever had food poisoning? Not fun. While eating vegetarian doesn’t completely eliminate your risk of food-borne illness, it does significantly cut down on the risk. That’s because meat, poultry, seafood, and fish are the common culprits in cases of food-borne illness.
6. Live longer, slow the aging process.
A 12-year Oxford study published in the British Medical Journal found that vegetarians outlive meat eaters by six years. Plant-based diets are generally rich in fibre, phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, which in turn strengthen the immune system and slow down the aging process. Additionally, a vegetarian diet can prevent and reverse certain chronic diseases so it makes sense that vegetarians have a longer life span!
7. Reduce Global Warming.
The United Nations said in its 2006 report that livestock generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Most of it comes from carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide gases generated by manure. Therefore, the single most important step an individual can take to reduce global warming is to adopt a vegetarian diet.
8. Help end world hunger
Every 3.6 seconds a person dies from starvation, unfortunately, children under the age of 5 are most often the victims. On average, 40% of global grain production is used to feed livestock, although in richer countries the proportion of grain used for animal feed is around 70%. If all food crops grown globally were fed directly to humans instead of animals, around 70% more food would be added to the world’s supply, which would be enough to feed 4 billion additional people.
Few vegetarian healthy salads
1. Sprouts Salad
- First, you have to Sprout the moong beans.
- Once the moong sprouts are ready, rinse them in water.
- Either steam or boil them till the moong sprouts are completely cooked. you can even keep it half cooked if you want a crunchy taste.
- Then drain the water from the cooked moong sprouts.
- Measure all the ingredients and keep ready for making moong sprouts salad.
- Take 2 cups of steamed or boiled moong sprouts in a big bowl or vessel.
- Add 1 small sized finely chopped onion and 1 medium-sized finely chopped tomato.
- Next, add 1 finely chopped green chilli and 1 boiled potato (optional).
- Then add ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder (or cayenne pepper) and ½ or 1 teaspoon chaat masala (optional).
- Stir very well.
- Lastly, season with salt and pour 1 teaspoon lemon juice or as required. Mix well.
- Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve moong sprout salad immediately with a few lemon wedges.
2. Russian Salad
- First, rinse 1 medium-sized carrot, 1 medium to large potato, 7 to 8 French beans (¼ cup chopped) and ½ cup green peas in freshwater. Other veggies you can include are cauliflower, snow peas, edamame beans, sweet corn, baby corn, cabbage, and broccoli.
- You can cook or steam the vegetables
- In a mixing bowl add ¾ to 1 cup Eggless Mayonnaise. You can also use homemade mayonnaise or your preferred brand of mayo. Here I have used homemade mayo that is both egg-free and vegan.
- Use a spatula or wired whisk to beat the mayo until smooth.
- Next add the chopped and cooked carrots, potatoes, french beans and green peas.
- Add 1 small stick of celery (finely chopped) and a pinch of salt to taste.
- Lastly, add black pepper powder (optional). Instead of black pepper, you can use cayenne or red chilli powder or paprika. This salad is mild and not at all spicy. So, add the black pepper according to your taste preferences.
- Stir and mix very well.
- Garnish with your choice of lettuce leaves, slices of tomato, cucumber, and/or capsicum (green pepper). You can also place the salad on a bed of lettuce leaves or use lettuce leaves as a garnish or mix with the salad.
- Enjoy the Russian salad right away while slightly warm or at room temperature, or refrigerate to serve cold.
To conclude
Vegetarian foods have a lot more benefits than we have actually discussed in this article. Also, our intention is not to discourage or disrespect the non-vegetarians. Vegetarian foods have their own benefits and non-vegetarians have their own.
Eat Healthy and Stay Healthy!!!
