You do not have to be vegetarian to consume less meat and benefit from it. I am not a vegetarian either, but most of my daily meals are meat-free. If you’re an extreme meat eater, here are some of the facts compiled by John Robbins and updated by Arlin, Dini and Wolfe than might change your mind.
Meat vs. Veggies:
- Amount of potatoes that can be grown on 1 acre (over 4,000 square meters): 20,000 lbs. (over 9,000 kg)
- Amount of beef that can be grown on one acre: 165 lbs. (75 kg)
- The same land to feed 1 “meat-eater” could feed from 20 to up to 150 vegetarians!
- Amount of protein fed to chicken to produce 1 lbs of chicken: 5 lbs. (1 to 5 ratio!)
- Amount of protein fed to hogs to produce 1 lbs of hog flesh: 7,5 lbs!
- Number of people who starve to death yearly: 60 million!
- Number of people who could be saved if Americans reduced their meat intake by just 10% percent: 60 million! World hunger could be solved by just introducing a meat-free day.
Water:
- Water needed to make 1 lbs of wheat: 25 gallons (95 liters)
- Water needed for 1 lbs of meat: 2,500 gallons (9465 liters)
- Cost of 1 lbs of wheat: $1.50
- Cost of 1 lbs of beefsteak: $15.40
- Cost of 1 lbs of beefsteak if the water that is needed for its production wasn’t subsidized: $89
Energy and materials:
- Time that petroleum reserves would last if everyone ate meat only: 13 years.
- If everyone was vegetarian: 260 years.
- Percentage of energy return (1 unit of food energy compared to 1 unit of energy used to produce it) from meat: 34.5% (over 65% of energy loss).
- Percentage of energy return from plant food: 328%!
- Raw materials consumed for all purposes for a meat-centered diet: 33%.
- Raw materials consumed for all purposes for a pure vegetarian diet: 2%.
Health:
- Frequency of heart attack in US: every 25 seconds.
- Frequency of death from heart attack in us: every 45 seconds.
- Heart attack death risk by average American man: 50%
- Same risk for a pure vegetarian: 4%
- Same risk for a raw-foodist: 0%
- By reducing your meat intake by 10% you wouldn’t only help fighting world hunger, but reduce the risk of heart attack by: 9%.
- By consuming 1 egg a day your blood cholesterol rises by: 12%
- Increased cholesterol by 12% rises the heart attack risk by: 24%
- Risk of dying from a disease caused by clogged arteries if you don’t consume saturated fat: only 5%
- Breast cancer risk of a woman who eats meat daily compared to a woman who eats meat less than once a week: 4 times higher.
- Ovarian cancer risk of a woman who eats eggs over 3 times a week compared to a woman who eats eggs less than once a week: 3 times higher.
- Pesticides of total pesticides in our diet supplies by meat: 55%
- By dairy products: 23%
- By fruits: 4%
- By grains: 1%
- Pesticide contamination in breast milk of meat-eating mother compared to a vegetarian mother: 35 times higher.
- The Meat Board says you don’t have to be concerned about dioxin pesticide in your diet. What they don’t tell is that dioxin is a incredibly potent pesticide: an ounce (28 grams) could kill 10,000,000 people!
These are some of the most important facts. You can find the complete list in Nature’s First Law: The Raw-Food Diet
In my opinion, we are not meant to be vegetarians. But an equilibrium has to be found between all the food sources available. Meat is just a very, very small part of it. Therefore it is not logical having so much meat in your diet. Think about it. 
Cost: $6 if you want to buy the book. (Not vital, but worth reading 
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I agree that eating less meat is something we should consider and that the amount of resources needed for obtaining meat is dramatically less efficient than it is for vegetables. I also remember in my biology studies something about the human body not able to process the nutrients in meat as efficiently as vegetable material. But at the same time, every once in a while meat just tastes better. The main point that I disagree with most though is the implication that if I consumed less meat that those who are starving will all of a sudden have the means to feed themselves (ie. “World hunger could be solved by just introducing a meat-free day.”) Statements like that make me question the validity of the other statistics they present.
Hey Gords,
Thanks for comment. I don’t believe either that those who are starving will be able to feed themselves if we stop eating meat. But WE would have the means to help them.
Just imagine the huge amounts of energy and resources being used to produce a small amount of meat. Most of these are subsidized. So, you’re spending much more than you’re getting out of it.
Now if the meat industry produced just 10% less, one could use the “saved” resources (be it money, or food used to produce meat like oats or wheat) to help those who starve.
That’s how I interpret it.
Sure, there lies a long road between reducing meat consumption and saving millions of starving people. It won’t happen at once, as people won’t stop eating meat at once. If it happened, it would be a major strike to the world’s economics.
fabulous facts, thanks! however, i whole heartedly believe we are meant to be vegetarian. Physiologically there are many characteristics for meat eating that we simply don’t possess. at worst (or best, depending on how you see it!) we are meant to be omnivores, which i understand is exactly what you’re saying, but i thought you might find it interesting to hear that i managed a very healthy pregnancy, while teaching high intensity aerobics, and am now fully breastfeeding a rather large nine month old all on a vegetarian and now fully vegan diet. i lost 1500mls of blood after the birth and avoided a blood transfusion due to maintaining a haemoglobin level of 103 which is quite acceptable. perhaps give vegetarian a try and then decide for yourself, but personally i have never felt so fantastic and i would recommend it to anyone!
Very powerful information. It isn’t that stopping eating meat is automatically going to feed the hungry of the world: the statistics show the damage that we do to the world through our selfishness. If we took down the factory farms and stopped mass producing animals for food to keep stuffing our faces (and actually eating ourselves to death), we could save the rest of the world. The US is the one of the only countries in the world that is literally killing themselves with food while people in other parts are dying of starvation. So the next time you have that Big Mac, think about the sacrifices that were made just to put that food on your plate, and decide if you really want to support those kinds of ethics.
And I agree with Andrea, I’ve never felt healthier than when I maintained a fully vegetarian diet. Eliminating dairy does a world of good as well, it’s more difficult I think but incredibly rewarding.
Unbelievable how well-written and inrofmative this was.
You know I’m pretty sure I saw this on how to guilt a meat eater and I prefer the them Omnivore
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Could you please qualify your facts? I don’t see any footnotes for where this information came from. Although I’m sure there is a lot of valuable information ‘hidden’ in here, this seems more like speculation than actual scientific information.
Where in the world did these so called “facts” come from? I raise beef cattle & run a meat processing plant. The numbers here are ludicrous. Choose a vegetarian lifestyle if you wish but please, not based on these figures.
Amy, what facts exactly do you find false? I am sure I can provide you with sources. Tell me which.