Half a slice of bacon a day or one and a half eggs a week for vegetarians. One and a half chicken nuggets a week (save them for the day when you've got a hangover). No, this has nothing to do with the Ketogenic diet. According new research - it's what we need to reduce our animal product intake to and it could mean 11 million fewer premature deaths by 2050.
I've been a vegetarian my whole life and spent most of it staying quiet about my reasons for fear of sounding preachy and having a hot dog thrown at my head (also I sort of understand because this is how I feel about people who do marathons and vanity gluten intolerance).
But a new generation of wellness-obsessive, kombucha-guzzling Gen-Zer vegans has changed the game. Suddenly I am querying my dairy intake and pondering the most millennial of dilemmas: can I conceivably cut out feta? (I don't think I can) in-between compulsively worrying that my avocado habit is actually causing mass destruction (it takes 72 gallons of water to grow a pound of them and the fact that drug cartels have begun to control the production of the fruit has resulted in the term "blood guacamole". The world has literally developed a similar habit for avocado as it has for class A drugs).
But it turns out there's actually a very good reason for us to be thinking about going vegan, or in the very least reducing the amount of meat we eat, here's why:
The Planet Can't Sustain The Current Western Diet
The report released by ITV today is based on a study carried out by EAT-lancet commission (If you're worried they're bankrolling almond milk or something - I've done my research and I can confirm they're a .org non-profit who used 16 researchers from different countries)
According to their findings if we don't make dietary changes the population could face food sources running out in 30 years time because current practices of farming meat and dairy are having a dire impact on the planet, and when it comes to grain and vegetables even the most unsustainable ways of farming these foods are more sustainable than the most sustainable practices for farming meat and dairy.
Reducing the amount of meat we eat could "substantially reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, produce zero carbon dioxide emissions, and cause no further increase in methane and nitrous oxide emissions". The study also predicts that we're going to be seeing a major food shortage unless changes are made - and with the population expected to increase by 10 billion by 2050 according to scientists, the planet simply won't be able to take the strain of the Western diet.
"A Vegan Diet Is The Single Biggest Way To Reduce Your Impact On Planet Earth"
In fact, a study carried outby Oxford researchers prior to this in 2018 that stated outright "A vegan diet is the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet earth". The study showed that farming meat and dairy takes up 83% of farmland and produces 60% of agricultural greenhouse emissions.
The story was covered by The Guardian and The Independent. John Poore, who spearheaded the project which was published in Science journal explained “Converting grass into [meat] is like converting coal to energy. It comes with an immense cost in emissions”. Not only would being vegan theoretically reduce greenhouse gas emissions but it would have the biggest impact in reducing "global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use”
Is It Actually Healthy?
We know that eating too much meat - especially red meat can have an impact on your health and increase the risk of cancer, however whether or not a vegan diet is healthy is still a controversial subject.
But without meat and dairy farmland use could be reduced by more than 75%. I really can't stress this enough - I like cheese and I don't buy into the idea of anything that is pretending to be cheese as a satisfying alternative. And in a world where people are doing things like creating recyclable keep-cups for drugs to be more eco-friendly it seems silly not to cut down the amount of animal products we eat to help out the environment.
But it seems veganism is trending as it. Despite the fact we all know exactly how Piers Morgan felt about the vegan sausage roll it was actually one of the biggest marketing triumphs of 2019 so far and Yougov reported that Greggs Buzz Score went up by +8.2% following it's release while it's ad awareness score around the vegan sausage roll campaign spiked to +13.1%. The number of people going Vegan in the UK in the last 10 years has gone up by a staggering 360% and according to Neilsen dairy-free brands have seen a spend increase of 24.9% in the last year.
So does this mean that the outlook for your bacon intake is pretty bleak? Yes. But on the upside, the world already seems to be adapting to a demand for alternatives that don't contribute to destroying the planet. Does it also justify spending £5.20 on an Aqua Algae almond milk latte and buying the palm leaf patterned bamboo leaf yoga mat that has been calling your name? Absolutely it does. Silver linings.