Moo-Cluck-Oink-What?!?!

I heard something super shocking today.  If everyone in the US was a vegetarian, the state of Iowa (Go Hawkeyes!) could single-handedly produce enough food for the entire US population.  What?!?!  Now, I don’t know if this is a fact (I can’t find a source to back it up), but I suspect it’s not that far off.  The amount of land and energy it takes to “grow” meat is substantially larger than the amount of land and energy it takes to grow the equivalent number of calories in grains.  I need to do some research to understand just how much difference there is in terms of the land/energy needs (sorry, I’m under a time crunch…and I need incentives to keep you coming back), but I think it’s safe to say that eating less meat helps save the world. 

Now, I’m not a vegetarian.  And I’m not going to pretend that I’m going to become a vegetarian (because I’m not), but I will say that I’ve never been much of a meat eater.  I may or may not have been grounded for not eating my meat at dinner as a child.   I do occasionally crave a good burger or steak, and I will typically order meat if at a restaurant, but I don’t recall a time when I whipped up a pork chop just for myself.  I prefer to OD on carbohydrates and salads.  I think I still get a pretty good amount of protein—I eat a lot of cliff bars, smoothies, and nuts—so I’m pretty sure I’m ok in that department.  I would estimate that I eat 2-3 portions of meat a week, probably a bit more during BBQ season.    

The point is, by default, I’m doing a little bit of world saving by forgoing meat daily.  Forget you, Atkins! 

PS.  I really am on vacation.  But I scheduled this post before I left.  It’s that exciting?