World Vegetarian Day

World Vegetarian Day FAQs

What are the benefits of a vegetarian diet?

There are lots of benefits to not eating meat.

• Eating a vegetarian diet can improve your health: Studies show the health benefits associated with eating less meat, including reduced rates of cancer and heart disease, and an increase in overall lifespan.
• A veggie diet is also good for the planet: Factory farming is one of the leading causes of climate change and deforestation. It also produces more greenhouse gases than all global transportation combined.
• A vegetarian diet is good for animals: Animals benefit from vegetarianism too, both those who suffer on farms and those whose habitats are being destroyed to make space for agriculture.
• A vegetarian diet also helps reduce world hunger: It takes 14.52 kilograms of grain to produce one kilogram of beef. Using this grain to feed humans can help us do more with the space and resources we have available.
• Plant-based foods are delicious and more accessible than ever: With so many plant-based options on the market, opting for a vegetarian diet is tasty and easy.

Is being a vegetarian healthy?

Eating a plant-based diet is healthier than eating meat when we look at the risk of heart disease, cancer, and death.

However, simply avoiding meat doesn’t necessarily mean you’re eating a healthy diet. You still need to follow a balanced diet and ensure you’re getting all the required nutrients. That means eating a good mix of fruits, vegetables, starchy carbohydrates, and protein. Vegetarians can get protein in the form of tofu, tempeh, pulses, nuts, and seeds.

How does vegetarianism help animals?

Vegetarianism helps animals in important ways.

By eating a plant-based diet, you help reduce the demand for meat and, by extension, help protect animals from factory farming. More than 70 billion animals are farmed each year — and 50 billion of them spend their lives on factory farms. They endure short, miserable lives and are often kept in cramped living conditions that prevent them from engaging in their natural behaviours.

Vegetarianism is also good for wildlife because it helps protect the Earth from factory farming. Forests and other natural habitats are being destroyed to make way for farms, so much so that grazing land and land used to produce feed for animals now take up one-third of Earth’s landmass. This mass deforestation reduces biodiversity and causes the loss of plant, insect, and animal species. It’s also speeding up climate change.

What are factory farms — and why are they harmful to animals?

Factory farms are places where intensive animal farming is the norm. The priority is profit and high production, not animal welfare.

On factory farms, all animals are kept in cruel conditions. 

• Chickens are squashed together in cages too small to flap their wings or stretch.
• Pigs are forced into cages so tight that they can’t turn around or lie down, and piglets have their tails cut off without anaesthetic.
• Cows spend their entire lives indoors, where concrete floors and crowded conditions cause lameness. High milk production leads to painful udder infections.
• Sheep experience painful tail docking and castration operations — and lambs and ewes undergo traumatic separations.

Many factory-farmed animals live unnaturally short and distressing lives. This is why animal rights and vegetarianism go hand in hand; a plant-based diet helps prevent animal cruelty.

Are farm animals intelligent and emotional?

Yes, farm animals are sentient beings. The most intelligent farm animals have thoughts, feelings, and individual personalities. 

Pigs can feel emotion and are highly intelligent. They learn quickly, have a good memory, and pick up on the emotions of others, demonstrating empathy. They use a variety of tones and noises to communicate, with nursing mothers even “singing” to their piglets as they suckle.

But pigs aren’t the only farm animals to display intelligence and emotion.

Sheep form friendships within their flock. They’re good problem-solvers and can remember up to 50 sheep and human faces. Ewes form deep bonds with their lambs, and all sheep develop their own personalities.

Similarly, cows experience a range of emotional states. They change their ear position and expose the whites of their eyes depending on how calm, excited, or fearful they’re feeling. They can also tell the difference between familiar and new objects and even recognise people from pictures.

Studies show that chickens possess some understanding of numbers. They demonstrate socially complex behaviours, have distinct personalities, and have complex negative and positive emotions.

Despite their reputation as unintelligent creatures, farm animals are clever and sentient with their own emotions and personalities. 

How does vegetarianism support endangered species?

Vegetarianism helps protect endangered species by reducing the demand for factory farming, a major driver of habitat destruction and animal endangerment. 

Forests are often cleared to grow crops used to feed livestock, leaving endangered animals with less space to roam, feed, and reproduce. By choosing a plant-based diet, you help decrease the need for factory farms, decrease the environmental damage they cause, and save the habitat of endangered species.