One simple step to better living

What if there existed one simple step that you could take to make this world a better place to live in? Rest for a second and picture one action that if implemented by everyone could in fact change our world climate and even dramatically improve the overall quality of our lives. Does such a step exist? And if it does, what would be its cost? In fact, such a step does exist, and its cost is little. 

The solution, this one life altering step, is to be found in a new movement that goes by the name of  “Weekday Veg”. It is a movement that not only has the potential to make this world a healthier place, but is one that for once is not our wallets’ enemy, but best friend. Maybe it sounds too good to be true, but the facts are in, and this movement could truly enhance our lives. 

Weekday Veg: the rules and benefits

The idea behind Weekday Veg is simple: don’t eat meat on weekdays, and give your life a fresh breeze of health, and creative and conscious restraint while also saving the environment. After mustering the strength to be meat-free for five days, the weekend is yours: be proud of your achievement and enjoy the taste of first class beef or chicken.Weekday Veg is a non-binary movement that promotes helping the environment while still being able to enjoy the pleasures of meat. It may just seem like another doctrine of hippie-ism, but it is far from it. Free from flower power attachments, it stands independently, simply as a step towards achieving a longer, more fulfilled life for yourself and the earth.

Giving climate change a Roundhouse Kick

 The evidence of the meat industry harming the environment is mounting. In a comparison study done by the British government’s environmental authority across animal products, seven categories were researched: use of energy, pesticides, land, nonrenewable resources, and its impact on global warming, acidification, and eutrophication  Across these seven categories, red meat proved to be the worst offender in almost all seven categories, with poultry and eggs proving least harmful. In fact, red meat (which includes beef, lam, goat, and bison) produces more carbon dioxide equivalent than any other food group, and its production is responsible for four times more greenhouse gas emission than the equivalent production of chicken or fish. 

 Live longer, healthier and happier

If this isn’t reason enough to put down that hamburger, think about the fact that meat isn’t just harmful to the environment, but can be unhealthy for you, as well. It’s no secret that people living in meat driven societies tend to have higher chances of cancer and heart disease. A medical experiment done by a team in the United States indicated that adding meat to the diet of vegetarians caused a rapid and substantial increase in blood cholesterol levels. Compared to North America and Europe where meat is a focus of consumption, the people of Asia and parts of Africa where rice, vegetables, and fruits are more the focus, are healthier, and tend to live longer.

Bring quality in your life

In addition to being meat free for five days, on the weekends when you treat yourself to meat, try cutting mediocre meat and replace it with local beef that is superior not only in taste but cause. It’s not just about trying to change the world we live in; it’s about respecting your body. Respect yourself enough to seek for quality instead of quantity. Sure, you could eat mediocre meat more times a week, but isn’t your healthy and the earth’s health worth eating genuine meat less times a week? Once you begin eating local meat, the kind that melts on your tongue, you’ll never want to go back to that mediocre meat-if you can even call it meat, the way you have to chew it like it’s bubble gum just to get it past your throat. Plus, eating locally grown foods can also decrease greenhouse gas footprint, although not as much as switching meat for vegetables.

However, becoming a vegetarian full time is daunting and frankly impossible for some of us, so going local is the next best thing. According to a Carnegie Mellon University team of researchers, swapping out meat once a week would save the greenhouse gas equivalent of driving 1160 miles less each year, and while the equivalent of eating locally grown foods is less than that at 1000 miles less a year, it is still a significant decrease.

 Courage, creativity, and endurance

 Of course, being a vegetarian-even only on weekdays- in a meat driven society is far from easy; however, it is not impossible. What one needs to achieve vegetarianism is courage, creativity, and endurance. At times you may need to just take a moment to take a long breath because frankly, not being able to eat meat may at times be a struggle. Being a vegetarian takes integrity-you must be honest with yourself, because only in truth can you rally the power to stand up and jump over yourself. It’s about learning to substitute the intense, immediate, and short-term pleasure of the senses with the long-lasting content of the intellect. Humans are in battle with these two conflicting parts on an everyday basis-and it’s not to say that sensory pleasures are bad; it’s just that sometimes focusing on the intellect is more important for the future. Indeed, this task is challenging, but the good news is that the mind is like any other muscle: the more you train it, the stronger it becomes, and as a bonus you will find that this new strength will radiate into other disciplines in your life. 

Go out and play

In the best of cases, leaving a positive impact on our environment and is manifested just by what we do in our daily lives. This is the vision of Weekday Veg. The salient point is that change starts in our kitchens, and the best news is that we are the main beneficiaries. Feeling healthier, living longer, saving money…these are all great reasons to act. And once you take in all the ways that it could personally benefit you, knowing that you have a smaller carbon footprint, are wasting less of earth’s sparse water resources, and giving climate change a Roundhouse Kick isn’t too shabby either.

But maybe it’s best to forget all of that and just go out and play; go and explore the world around you. There are countless arguments that can be presented to you, but the curiosity and courage to try something new, to acquire new tastes and perceptions on life has to come from within you. The facts are obviously important, but what’s even more vital is that you go out of your comfort zone, and find pleasure in experimenting with something fresh. Perhaps Weekday Veg will guide you to new taste discoveries and a new love of cooking. In any case, whatever that new “something” is, at least give it a shot: see if is compatible in your daily life; see if it can change your daily life.

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Text by Nikolas Konstantin and Maria Garguilo

Photos by Nikolas Konstantin