Yesterday was the kick-off to World Vegetarian Week, an effort sponsored by PETA to encourage more people to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. Bruce Friedrich, a VP at PETA, has given a top-ten list for reasons you should consider going veggy, and we’re sharing that summary here. 
1. Helping animals helps the global poor
It requires 7x as much grain to feed animals so that we can eat meat, than it does to produce biofuels.
2. Eating meat supports cruelty to animals
Due to factory farms, it is rare that farm animals get to experience the idyllic barnyard lifestyle due to the inhumane environment they are raised in.
3. Eating meat is bad for the environment
A UN report claims eating meat is “one of the … most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems.” The report goes on to say that eating meat creates 40% more greenhouse gas than the combined emissions worldwide of cars, trucks and planes.
4. Avoid Bird Flu
W.H.O. warns that if this virus were to mutate, eating undercooked eggs or even touching a contaminated egg shell could pass the virus to humans.
5. If you wouldn’t eat a dog, you shouldn’t eat a chicken
Some research has shown that chickens’ intelligence outranks that of cats and dogs, and is relative to primates.
6. Heart Disease: Our number one killer
A vegetarian lifestyle can reduce your risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease.
7. Cancer: Our number two killer
The author of the China Study says, “No chemical carcinogen is nearly so important in causing human cancer as animal protein.”
8. Fitting into that itty-bitty bikini
Vegetarians are 1/3 as likely to be obese while vegans are 1/10 as likely. These diet lifestyles are proven to help you lose weight and keep it off.
9. Global Peace
If you want to live in a peaceful world, it has to start by not killing and eating animals.
10. The joy of veggies
Vegetarians say the broad range of food they discover after giving up meat “explodes”.
If you’re interested in adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet, check out these reviews:
Skinny Bitch, the New York Times Bestseller