Cost Benefits
Vegetarian Meals Can Make You Healthy, Wealthy and Wise
Weight loss or gain is often the marker people use to determine whether their eating lifestyle is healthy. But the real cost of our diet may have more detrimental effects on our health, our pocket and the environment.
To find out just what effect the food we put on the dinner table really has, Sanitarium undertook a comprehensive comparison of three seven day meal plans: a traditional meat diet; a diet low in meat; and a vegetarian lifestyle.
Sanitarium's team of Accredited Practicing Dietitians compiled healthy and nutritious menus for each diet, with all snacks and drinks included. Then the nutritional value of each program was analysed. An environmental expert crunched the numbers to gauge the effect of each plan on the environment in terms of water usage, the amount of land cleared to sustain each menu and the greenhouse gas emissions per adult.
Finally, just how much each plan costs in dollar terms was decided by a trip to the supermarket purchasing all foods based on a family of four adults.1
The findings will shock most Australians and should cause a re-think about what we eat every day.
The Three Diets
The traditional meat diet
Australians are renowned carnivores and this diet reflects that philosophy with meals such as BBQs, lasagna, chicken stir-fries and grilled fish. The menu features animal protein (meat, poultry, fish or eggs) every day at lunch and dinner with quantities of meat similar to the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, which is well in excess of the quantities recommended in the Australian Dietary Guidelines.2
The meat reducer diet
Catering for those looking to reduce their meat intake, this diet provides a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, dairy products, wholegrains, nuts, legumes and seeds as well as some meat, poultry and fish. The menu uses all lean meat with the fat trimmed to keep saturated fat down. Meat quantities under this plan are in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
The vegetarian diet
Jam-packed with a wide variety of nutritious plant foods, this diet is high in protective phytonutrients and meets all your nutritional needs, including essential vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin B12 and folate. In fact, despite lacking meat, this diet provides 30% more iron than the traditional meat diet.
Which Meal Plan is Best: The Findings
Vegetarian meals better for your health
Despite having adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables, the traditional meat diet still contains almost twice the amount of saturated fats as the vegetarian diet. Such meat heavy diets are high in saturated fat, which may result in higher blood cholesterol levels and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Protection against some chronic diseases is also significantly reduced in the traditional meat diet due to a lack of protective plant foods like legumes and soy products. Plant-based menus provide a high number of antioxidants and protective phytonutrients which may help to decrease the risk of cancer and chronic diseases.3,4,5
The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)5 states that we can decrease our risk of various forms of cancer by following a number of healthy lifestyle recommendations. The vegetarian diet helps meet a number of these guidelines, with its lack of red and processed meat, and the inclusion of grains and legumes at every meal. Dietary fibre and folate in the vegetarian diet was also up by 25%, providing essential vitamins and minerals for optimum health.
The meat reducer diet packed a similar punch however a lack of soy products saw the meals miss out on the associated health benefits such as lower cholesterol and a reduced risk of heart disease.
Plant foods such as legumes and nuts, which feature in the vegetarian diet, are naturally low in sodium and high in potassium. Scientific studies have shown that vegetarians are two times more likely to have low blood pressure than non-vegetarians.6
Vegetarian meals save you money
Rising interest rates and petrol prices have been putting the pressure on the family budget and what better way to save money than reducing the cost at the checkout.
Meat products cost a small fortune, with the traditional meat diet costing four adults just under $195 a week, or $50 per person in meat alone. One week's worth of food for four adults eating under this menu clocks up a hefty $508 or $127 per person.1
A massive 20% reduction in costs can be achieved by maintaining the vegetarian diet. The menu was by far the easiest on the hip pocket, coming in at $394 for four adults or just over $98 per person.1
A reduction in the amount of meat consumed saved four adults almost $90 a week, with the meat reducer diet coming in at $418 per week or $104 per person.1
Vegetarian meals have the lowest environmental footprint
In our drought stricken country, water is a precious commodity, but our passion for meat is dwindling away its supply, with the traditional meat diet sucking up a huge 24,000 litres of water during production per adult each week.7 This draining demand costs the environment 50% more in water than the vegetarian diet. Producing the recommended one kilogram of meat alone takes more than the amount of water used to produce a week's worth of food on the vegetarian diet.7
Greenhouse gas emissions are also sky high under the traditional meat diet, with more than six times the amount of emissions pumped into the atmosphere than under the vegetarian diet. Producing half a kilo of cattle meat is estimated to create more than four times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a week's worth of vegetarian meals.8
The traditional meat diet has resulted in four times more land clearing than is required to produce a meat reducer diet and 12 times more than is required to support a vegetarian diet.9
Simply reducing the amount of meat consumed each week will help save the environment, with the meat reducer diet saving 64 kilograms of greenhouse emissions, almost 12,000 litres of water and 172 square metres of cleared land when compared to the traditional meat diet.7,8,9
The Simple Facts of 2008
| Traditional Meat Diet |
Healthy
- Meat intake in excess of Australian Dietary Guidelines
- Almost 50% more saturated fat
Wealthy
- $508 a week for four adults
- 20% more at the checkout
Wise
- 12 times as much land cleared
- 50% more water
- More than six times more greenhouse gas emissions
|
| Meat Reducer Diet |
Healthy
- Lacks soy products - misses out on health benefits of lower cholesterol levels and protection against heart disease
- Provides all essential vitamins and minerals
Wealthy
- Saves $90 per week in reduced meat quantities
- $418 a week for four adults
Wise
- Twice as much greenhouse gas emissions
- Twice as much land cleared
|
| Vegetarian Diet |
Healthy
- Provides all essential vitamins and minerals
- Almost 50% lower saturated fat and 25% more fibre and folate
- Helps reduce risk of cancer and chronic diseases
Wealthy
- Saves 20% at the checkout
- $394 a week for four adults
Wise
- 50% less water
- 12 times less land cleared
- Six times lower greenhouse gas emissions
|