1.
Be big and trendy. Go vegetarian and be part of the biggest food movement of the century.
2.
5,000 people each week can't be wrong! This is the rate at which people in the UK are currently becoming vegetarian. Join the masses!
3.
Vegetarians make great athletes! Sporting veggie/vegans include Sally Eastall (Marathon runner UK No.2 Vegan), Carl Lewis, Martina Navratilova, Bill Pearl (Mr Universe) etc etc. A 1990 Complan Report recorded that 9% of athletes were vegetarian.
4.
Vegetarianism - it's logical! Research already shows that over 60% of the UK population objects to factory farming and 90% objects to killing animals for fur - vegetarianism takes this reasoning to its logical conclusion.
5.
Do you want to eat food that causes suffering, fear, social deprivation, loss of natural environment, loss of liberty, mutilation and illness to millions of animals every year? No, I thought not - well don't - go vegetarian.
6.
Tried and tested. Vegetarianism is certainly not a fad or a new idea. Vegetarians have existed for centuries. Leonardo da Vinci in the fifteenth century said 'The day will come when men look upon the murder of animals as we now look upon the murder of men.'
7.
Veggie food is muscle building. Vegetarians are certainly not weedy and weak. If you have any doubts, take another look at these three vegetarians - elephant, rhinoceros & gorilla.
8.
Vegetarian food is brain food, if the company of the following is anything to go by - Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein. Be a veggie and feel your brain swell.
9.
Vegetarians are a great looking bunch. Join fellow vegetarians Yasmin le Bon, Woody Harrelsen, Kathy Lloyd, Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, Richard Gere, Alicia Silverstone, Alec Baldwin, Drew Barrymore, Paul Newman, Liv Tyler.
10.
Vegetarians make great pop music. Damon Albarn (Blur), Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Adams, Daniel Johns (Silverchair), Kula Shaker, Morrisey, Sinead O'Connor, Mark Owen, Neil Codling (Suede), Sarah Cracknell (St Etienne), Michael Diamond (Beastie Boys), Eddie Vedder( Pearl Jam) and Paul McCartney ...join the happy throng!
11.
Great news for veggie virgins. In the info-age of the new millennium, you will not be short of information to get you started. There are numerous books on the market dedicated to the subject and a whole Society just for you. Give us a call and we will put you on the right track. Check out our website on: www.vegsoc.org.
12.
A vegetarian diet is the only diet that doesn't mind being transported around. Transported 1000 miles across Europe in a confined space without light, heat or water. Who cares? It's only a vegetable. A bruised and battered tomato may not taste too great, but at least it isn't feeling any pain.
13.
Vegetarian foods are sexy! Aphrodisiacs from the vegetable kingdom include chillies, asparagus, celery, fennel, garlic and mustard. Not forgetting the fruity world of figs, almonds, avocados and strawberries!!!!!!!Ummmmm.
14.
Veggies give nurses a well earned break. Vegetarians are healthier than meat eaters. Medical research shows that lifelong vegetarians visit hospital 22% less often than meat eaters.
15.
Hospital express! Research has also found that veggies are so healthy that even when confined to hospital they spend a shorter time there than meat eaters.
16.
Veggies save the NHS. In economic terms it has been calculated that a lifelong vegetarian, on average, saves the NHS £45,722!
17.
Topped up with tofu. Being a veggie means you will eat more tofu, which can't be bad as it is one of the most versatile and nutritious foods on earth. Use it to make anything from burgers to ice cream.
18.
Veggies -better in bed! Evidence suggests vegetarians suffer a reduced risk of atherosclerosis, one of the known causes of impotence. A low fat vegetarian diet has even been found to reverse the process of atherosclerosis.
19.
Family matters. Becoming a vegetarian needn't annoy your family. A great thing about vegetarian food is that everyone can eat it. It will be equally delicious to traditional meat eaters and vegetarians. Treat the family to a vegetarian option.
20.
Vegetarians free up the land. Our entire globe is being taken over by cattle farming. This means less public space, less room for wildlife and overcrowded cities. 50% of the earth's land mass is grazed by livestock. Make some space - go veggie!
21.
An acre of quality land can produce 10,000 pounds of green beans, 30,000 pounds of carrots, 50,000 pounds of tomatoes but only 250 pounds of beef. Meat - a waste of space.
22.
Vegetarian fast food. The vegetarian market is growing so rapidly that fast food chains are, at last, seeing sense. Becoming veggie doesn't spell the end of your fast food days. Burger King has the "Veggie Whopper" approved by The Vegetarian Society and vegetarian pizzas are available from almost all pizza chains.
23.
Become a vegetarian, it is one of the easiest and most positive changes you can make. It has never been easier, there are now thousands of products specifically for vegetarians on sale in the supermarket, with meat alternatives readily available.
24.
Vegetarianism is the future of food. There are approximately 4 million vegetarians in the UK today, in 1945 the figure stood at 100,000. At the present rate of growth we will all be vegetarian by the year 2030. Don't be left behind!
25.
Vegetarianism, the natural choice. In the Western World, we can choose what we eat. This choice must be based on the knowledge of what effect our decision is having. We know meat eating causes suffering - this can easily be avoided on a vegetarian diet.
26.
Painless slaughter is a myth, it will never be achieved. A great reason to be a vegetarian is that it is a step towards ending the painful slaughter of animals.
27.
Revive the countryside! If we all turned vegetarian, the countryside would be a more interesting place. There would be more room for animals in their natural habitat, while plant and vegetable crops encourage the existence of a greater variety of wildlife.
28.
Meat isn't macho. You don't need meat to be a hot blooded male, or a body builder, or a weight lifter for that matter - Al Beckles , Andreas Cahling, Cory Everson, Louis Freitas, Sharon Hounsell, Lindford McFarquar, Bill Pearl- all veggie and all body builders! Lentils can build your muscles just as well as a slab of red flesh. Call The Vegetarian Society to find out more about our Men, Meat and Myths campaign.
29.
Born to eat meat? When was the last time you took a bite out of a live pig or hunted down a chicken? As omnivores we can survive both on a meat-based or vegetable-based diet. We have a choice, the right choice is a vegetarian one.
30.
All animals are sentient beings. Many have complex emotions and do suffer pain and stress. Eating meat causes suffering and distress, this can be avoided..so avoid it.
31.
It's so tasty. Vegetarian cuisine is delicious, colourful, varied and exciting with new recipes being created daily. You will never be bored on a vegetarian diet.
32. No need
to give up burgers and sausages. Even the traditional meat eater
obsessed with burgers and sausages can thrive on a vegetarian
diet, with meat substitutes such as textured vegetable protein,
tofu and soya mince, there are plenty of veggie burgers and
sausages available.
33.
Save your pennies. A vegetarian diet is cheaper than a meat-based diet. Meat production and processing is expensive, these costs are passed on to the consumer. Give your bank a break and go vegetarian.
34.
A simple three letter reason - BSE.
35.
If we were all vegetarian, the battery-caged chicken would become extinct, as most vegetarians eat only free range eggs. Millions of chickens would escape the torture of being confined to a space less than the size of an A4 sheet of paper for the duration of their lives. Approximately 90% of Britain's eggs are produced on battery farms.
36.
Heart warming. Coronary heart disease is the biggest killer in the UK.
Fortunately studies have shown that mortality from heart disease is an amazing 30% less amongst vegetarians.
37.
Release the pressure. Vegetarians have lower blood pressure than meat eaters (BMJ 1986). High blood pressure can contribute to heart disease, strokes and kidney failure.
38.
Clear out your colon! There is a direct correlation between a diet high in animal fat and colon cancer. Vegetarians' high fibre diet and increased consumption of fruit and vegetables provides the protective effect.
39.
Breast protection. The National Cancer Research Institute in Tokyo has concluded that women who consume meat daily have an almost four times greater risk of getting breast cancer than those who don't eat meat.
40.
Prostate cancer is a growing problem in elderly men. A link between meat eating and prostate cancer has been identified.
41.
Osteoporosis. Evidence is mounting that osteoporosis and associated hip fracture may be linked to high animal protein intake. The best way of avoiding this is to go vegetarian.
42.
What a lot of gall. Gall stones form in the gall bladder and are composed of cholesterol, bile pigments and calcium salts and can be extremely painful. Fortunately a study in 1985 (Pixley) found that non-vegetarians are almost twice as likely to develop them, compared to vegetarians.
43.
Vegetable therapy. As well as protecting against a whole host of ailments, a vegetarian diet has also been found to be effective when treating conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
44.
If your name name is Tony and you want to be vegetarian, you will be in good company - other great veggie Tony's include Tony Benn, Tony Banks and Tony Blackburn.
45.
Veggies have a great sense of humour, join Victoria Wood, Sean Hughes, Alan Davies, Lard and keep smiling.
46.
No sacrifice needed. Becoming a vegetarian is easy. It's no sacrifice giving up meat, and vegetarian cooking is easy. Give it a try.
47.
Vegetarian foods are available virtually everywhere other than the butcher's shop. Supermarkets, markets, health food stores, corner shops etc ...it's never been easier.
48.
Be sociable. Vegetarian menus in restaurants are improving all the time. Almost all menus have at least one vegetarian option and the number of vegetarian restaurants is increasing all the time - yes you can still eat out as a vegetarian.
49.
Meat eats the rainforest. Tropical rainforest destruction is a huge environmental problem. The forests of the world are being felled partly as a result of loggers and our expanding human population, but also to create pasture lands to rear livestock. Millions of acres of life-sustaining forest continue to be felled to create cattle ranches and to grow feed for livestock.
50.
Vegetarianism reduces methane! Methane is one of the key gases that is polluting the atmosphere. Livestock produce 15-20 per cent of all methane in the world, thus causing about 3% of global warming from all greenhouse gases. This is the result of the sheer numbers of cattle bred worldwide, far outweighing the numbers that would occur 'naturally'. Becoming a vegetarian reduces global methane and gives your nose a break.
51.
Goodbye ozone. Ozone layer depletion is caused partly by the huge quantities of methane gas emitted by livestock. A depleted ozone layer results in higher rates of ultraviolet B radiation and increased incidences of skin cancer.
52.
Fishy feelings. Vegetarians do not eat fish. Become a vegetarian and reduce the impact your diet has on our suffering seas. Fish feel pain and suffer a slow, suffocating death. Each veggie will save at least half a tonne of fish during their lifetime.
53.
Fish factory farming. We all now realise that there must be something fundamentally wrong with a system that treats animals like cans of beans. Fish are victims of this system also. Salmon are packed into floating cages, severly restricting movement and dosed with antibiotics before meeting a painful death. Become a vegetarian and help end this practice.
54.
Fat busting. A vegetarian diet has the right kind of fat. In the UK we eat too much saturated animal fat and too little unsaturated vegetable fat. Saturated animal fat is linked to heart disease and we don't need any of it in our diet. Chuck the fat and become a veggie.
55.
Give your bowels something to grip onto. Sounds unpleasant, but it's very important. Vegetarian food, unlike meat, has loads of fibre. Fibre helps prevent colon cancer and keeps your bowels in good shape.
56.
How does 40% less chance of suffering from certain cancers sound as a good reason to become vegetarian? This was the result of a 13-year study of 11,000 people by Oxford University (1995).
57.
Grain saving. Becoming a vegetarian makes sense in terms of distribution of food resources. The rearing of livestock for food is wasteful. Despite the fact that thousands of children die of malnutrition every day, most of the grain produced is eaten not by humans, but by cows. In the US, 70% of grain is consumed by livestock.
58.
Meat deserters help prevent a desert. 52 million acres are affected by desertification each year. The worst hit areas are the main cattle producing regions.
59.
Bags of protein in a vegetarian diet. We all need protein and the good news is veggie food is packed with the stuff. Great sources are pulses and beans, even baked beans, but it is also in cheese, free-range eggs, nuts, rice and pasta. Dietary advice now makes it clear that protein is not a problem for vegetarians.
60.
Iron - can't get enough of the stuff? Fortunately you can get plenty being a vegetarian. Iron is needed for healthy red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. Iron is found in wholemeal bread, leafy green vegetables, dried fruit, nuts, seeds - The absorption of iron is improved by consuming plenty of vitamin C.
61.
You can't hurt a vegetable. Whatever your local butcher tried to tell you about screaming lettuces, it's nonsense. Become a veggie and have a guilt free, compassionate diet.
62.
You deserve a life saving badge. A life-long veggie saves around 760 chickens, 5 cows, 20 pigs, 29 sheep, 46 turkeys, 15 ducks, 7 rabits and over half a tonne of fish. Think what effect over 4 million UK vegetarian can have.
63.
Being a vegetarian means you won't ever eat a bull's testicle, brain, hoof or intestine- yum!
64.
On the road to hell. The transportation of animals over vast distances from the farm to the slaughterhouse will never end while we depend on meat for food. Becoming a vegetarian is the most effective step you can take to end this cruel practice.
65.
Vegetarian food is truly orgasmic. Research now suggests that of those who have a more robust sex life, a significant proportion are vegetarians.
66.
A great reason to go veggie is that it is a perfect diet for the whole family. The diet provides all the nutrients needed for normal growth and development (COMA 1994) for children and infants.
67.
Pregnancy is fun when you are a veggie. Yes, you do have increased requirements for protein, vitamin A, C, D, folate etc...but the good news is, as a veggie, you can gain all this quite easily.
68.
Energize. Energy levels will be well charged on a vegetarian diet. A good reason to be veggie is that you will be bubbly, energetic and full of beans!
69.
Vegetarianism a breath of fresh air. A high intake of fruit and vegetables, consumed in a vegetarian diet, has been shown to be protective against lung cancer.
70.
1 million people in the UK suffer from diabetes. Vegetarians, thanks to their relative leanness, high intake of complex carbohydrates and fibre and low intake of saturated fat, have been found to have a lower risk of type II diabetes (non-insulin dependent).
71.
Welcome to civilisation. If we want to live in a civilised world, a vegetarian diet is an important step. A diet that avoids suffering, barbarity and exploitation must be a step towards an enlightened civilised existence.
72.
Just say NO. Drugs, when they are hidden in the carcasses of animals, are not much fun at all. Meat at every stage is filled with drugs that are inevitably passed on to humans. The effects are unknown. Antibiotics, growth promoters, and prostaglandins are all found in meat and could be harmful to humans. If you don't want to consume them, then don't eat the meat
73.
More than meat and two veg. Vegetarian cuisine is a different way of cooking, it is an exciting alternative. Vegetarian cooking is not about just cutting out the meat and leaving the veg. Become a vegetarian and discover a new way of eating.
74.
Rediscover your taste buds. Your taste buds will be revived when you become a vegetarian. Discover what you have been missing as flavours become more tantalising and distinctive.
75.
Squeaky clean. Your kitchen will love you if you go veggie. No more greasy grill pans and fat laden ovens, veggie food is cleaner and easier to clean up afterwards.
76.
Muddy waters. The most serious polluter of water in the UK is agriculture and especially factory farming. Waste from around 600 million animals is ending up in our water. Just one example - a typical battery egg factory with 60,000 hens produces around 165,000 pounds of excrement each and every week. This waste inevitably ends up in our water system. Going veggie is the most effective measure you can take to clean up our water supply.
77.
Going vegetarian is part of the whole ethic of green living. The 'green' lifestyle aims to ensure long term sustainability of the planet. Going green and being veggie is the most significant mass movement of the century and embracing green values is vital for the survival of the planet. Vegetarians are eating their way to a better world!
78.
Avoid heavy metal. An effective way of reducing consumption of heavy metal, other than ear plugs, is for everyone to go vegetarian. Heavy metals are often added to animal feed and then spread on the land in vast amounts in the form of manure and slurry. Too much heavy muck!
79.
Acid rain, not a pleasant thought or reality. Manure produced by the billions of livestock in the world, gives off ammonia into the atmosphere, which is one of the principle causes of acid rain. More veggies = less acid rain.
80.
Nasty business. As more people become veggie, this applies pressure on the meat industry and helps prevent new horrors in the meat trade, such as the trend for exotic meat (now thankfully reducing partly as a result of The Vegetarian Society's campaign). The more veggies, the less chance of exotic, nasties such as kangaroo and ostrich burgers popping up on restaurant's menus.
81.
If you are a veggie you can join The Society and get copies of our wonderfully stylish magazine, discounts from hundreds of restaurants and health food stores, and lots more.
82.
It is a sociable business. If you want to meet other vegetarians, you can through the Society's local groups or through the Society's pen pal scheme.
83.
Not guilty your honour. Vegetarianism is good for your conscience, you can eat without feeling guilty.
84.
What's your poison? The majority of food poisoning cases are associated with meat production. As many as 95% of reported cases of food poisoning are a result of consuming meat or dairy products.
85.
Veggie food is easy to handle. Dried pulses, nuts, soya, seeds can all be stored conveniently and far longer than meat. You also won't need a big freezer for vegetarian food, which will save energy and you money.
86.
Giving up smoking? No need for nicotine patches, strap an aubergine to your head. Aubergines have been shown to contain nicotine, which may explain some people's addiction to the vegetable. Researchers have calculated that consuming as little as one third of an ounce of aubergine provides the same intake of nicotine as spending three hours in a faintly smoky room!
87.
Born to shop. It's easy to shop for vegetarian products, with the Society's seedling 'V' symbol. The symbol allows you to shop in confidence, in the knowledge that the product is 100% animal free. Plus the added knowledge that from August 1999 the society's symbol will be GMO free.
88.
Vegetarians are sorted for E's! .....along with vitamin A, B vitamins, C and D. In fact vegetarians get all the vitamins and minerals they need to remain healthy. Vegetarianism is a diet with nothing missing.
89.
Get poetic! Join the likes of Wordsworth, Shelley and George Bernard Shaw.
90.
Easy peasy. Becoming veggie is one of the easiest and most positive decisions to make. You will be spoilt for choice whether shopping in the supermarket or the health food store.
91.
Skinheads on a raft! On a vegetarian diet you will be full of beans, which is a fine thing, as they are full of protein. Try beans on toast for a simple and amazingly healthy vegetarian meal.
92.
Rashers of bacon. For some bizarre reason meat eaters often find the hardest thing to give up is the bacon butty. Fear not! Vegetarian cuisine has the answer. Cheating bacon is now readily available that tastes and cooks like bacon, but without a piglet in sight.
93.
Research reveals that meat eaters are more than twice as likely to develop senile dementia than their vegetarian counterparts.
94.
Free thinking. Becoming a vegetarian means you have to think outside existing conventions, possibly doing something your friends or family do not agree with. Be brave and think for yourself, becoming a vegetarian shows strength.
95.
Books for cooks. There is a wealth of great vegetarian cookery books available that make it a pleasure to cook vegetarian dishes. Try out "Feeding the Imagination" or "Vegetarian Food for Friends" - the Society's latest recipe collection.
96.
Sweeter smelling perspiration. A long running belief is that vegetarians have sweeter smelling perspiration!
97.
Prancing pensioners! A vegetarian diet is believed by many to help slow the ageing process.
98.
People power. Vegetarianism gives you real power to make a change. It is a personal, positive action that makes a real difference and is not dependent on government action - use your power!
99.
You have a week of celebrations just for you- become a real food lover in National Vegetarian Week 99.
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