Why Choose Veg?

Meat and Dairy…

Farming livestock (cows, sheep, pigs, chickens etc) demands an enormous amount of land and water. Put simply, we’re using our land to feed animals, when it could be more efficiently used to grow food for people. The animals release a huge amount of greenhouse gases – methane and carbon dioxide – into the atmosphere. And that’s before you even get to the fossil fuels used for farming, shipping and transportation.

A few meaty numbers…

62.8

is the percentage of the land that feeds the UK that’s used to produce meat (beef, lamb, pork and chickens). 20% is used for dairy farming, leaving just 17.2% of our farmland for growing crops. (The Guardian, 16 August 2022)

15,415

litres of water are needed to produce a kilo of beef. It takes 322 litres of water to produce a kilo of vegetables. While these figures (from Water Footprint Network ) may have been disputed by different lobby groups, the difference is still HUGE, whichever way you do the maths!

340,000,000

tons of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere every year because forests are being cleared to make way for hungry cattle, says The World Wildlife Fund . Cattle ranching is responsible for 80% of the deforestation in Brazil.

11,000,000,000

is the United Nations’ population prediction for the end of this century. We’re currently close to 8 billion – so how will we feed everyone if we keep eating meat? There just won’t be enough land or water go round unless we make changes.

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Manchester City Council has pledged to become a zero carbon city by 2038 at the latest. That’s 12 years ahead of the Government’s UK target of 2050. You can help in many ways – not least by changing what you eat.

A growing movement

Cutting down on meat and dairy is good for your health, your pocket and it will immediately lower your carbon footprint. You can choose to go the whole way, becoming vegan or vegetarian, but you can also just think about your diet and cut down a little – because that helps too.

This might just be the start of a longer, healthier life!

A flexitarian is someone who eats a more plant-based diet – still having meat and/or dairy now and again, but much less often. It’s a GREAT place to start – and it’s easier than you might think. Read our tips.

Fruit and veg is good for you! Every single pea and parsnip contains vitamins and minerals, essential for a healthy lifestyle.*

A diet richer in fresh fruit and veg significantly reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some types of cancer. That’s because you’re not eating the saturated fat and cholesterol that you find in some types of meat, fish and dairy.*

Linked to that, kilo for kilo, fruit and veg is higher in fibre, lower in calories and can help you lose weight and feel great.*

Fruit and veg is DELICIOUS!*

There are plenty of ways that you can enjoy a balanced, healthy diet without meat and dairy. Read our tips to find out more about starting the move towards your more meat-free, sustainable life.

* Source: NHS Eat Well

Chorlton Eats... more Fruit and Veg!