Meat-eating has become one of Americans' most widely shared habits, fueling the trend of meat addiction.
Up to 90% of Americans are meat eaters. Up to 74% of Americans also eat meat every day.
Meat Addiction Is Real
Red meat overconsumption is the third-leading cause of cancer in the US, coming after alcohol and smoking.
When a person has a habit of smoking two packs a day, which results in a premature heart attack, this is considered an addiction. Moreover, in the US, opioids are considered the top killers of young individuals.
These things are considered addictions, so is meat really any different?
Meat has been implicated directly in the top 20 diseases in America. Moreover, there are several studies that show that vegetarians may have longer life spans compared to meat eaters, have fewer health conditions, enjoy sex more, and have higher physical activity.
How grave is meat addiction? Last year, humans ate as many as 15 billion pigs, cows, turkeys, goats, sheep, and rabbits.
Humans also consumed up to 66 billion chickens.
The Meat Industry Is Harming the Planet
According to a 2022 UN report, if meat consumption were to be cut by 75%, global carbon emissions could be significantly reduced by 68%. This would also open up at least 50% of agricultural lands to being reforested.
It has become increasingly clear that high meat consumption levels are associated with deteriorating climates. In fact, livestock farming makes up 20% of all the greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans.
High meat consumption has also contributed to biodiversity loss and water scarcity. Reducing meat consumption would aid in alleviating such burdens and also enable the redirection of precious resources towards forest preservation and agricultural practices that are more sustainable.
The meat industry in America also takes up more freshwater compared to all households in the US combined. It also takes up 70% of all of the US' pharmaceuticals.
Moreover, for animal feed growing, the cheapest way to do so is through monocropping, which ends up destroying the soil. This method also ends up exposing plants to disease, fueling the need to spray pesticides and herbicides.
On top of this, there are also ethical things to consider. In order to have meat, this would necessitate a dead animal. This could end up leading to indifference towards the value of the life of the animal.
Reducing Meat Consumption
Nevertheless, there has been a growing trend toward combating meat addiction.
For one, though levels of meat consumption are still highly elevated, veganism, vegetarianism, and meat-reduced diets are among the world's fastest-growing cultural movements.
One out of four Americans are trying to adhere to a meat-reduced diet of some sort.
Some of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include taking water rather than milk, warning against the consumption of processed or red meat, and continuously promoting eating patterns that are plant-based.
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