Happy New Year to all of you!
Can you believe we've just entered the future? My son turned 1 and he enjoys eating as much as nursing. My daughter is 5 and she sees me as "the best cook ever!". Well, for 2010, my biggest resolution is to keep my family happy and healthy by going even greener. Food and cooking will be my main focus this year, as I am already vegetarian but not yet vegan.
picture from farmusa.org.
Some facts:
* Diet and Animals: Each year, ten billion chickens, cows, pigs, sheep, and other innocent, sentient animals are forced to live in filthy windowless sheds, wire cages, gestation crates, veal crates, and other confinement systems in U.S. factory farms and are deprived, drugged, and manhandled. They are then hauled to the slaughterhouse and slaughtered under atrocious conditions. Ten percent never make it to the slaughterhouse, dying from stress-induced diseases or injuries.
*Diet and Disease among children and adults: Across the country, meals are dominated by animal products and are laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, excess protein, hormones, drugs, and salt.
Some numbers:
15% of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight, and the Surgeon General has reported that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, particularly among children.
25% of children ages 5 to 10 have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or other early warning signs for heart disease.
As many as 30,000 children have Type II diabetes, once limited largely to adults.
*Diet and World Hunger: 24,000 people per day or 8.8 million per year die from hunger or related causes. Three-fourths are children under five.
Role of Animal Agriculture: Nearly half of the world's grains and soybeans are fed to animals, resulting in a huge waste of food calories. The extent of waste is such that even a 10% drop in US meat consumption would make sufficient food available to feed the world's starving millions.
*Diet and the Environment: Animal agriculture is more devastating to our natural environment than all other human activities combined. This devastation impacts land, oceans, air, and wildlife.
spource:
www.farmusa.orgVegan is the new green in 2010!
See below my son enjoying his rice or spaghetti...
