Suddenly Vegetarian: 13 things that could happen if everyone turned veggie overnight

Marie-Claire Dorking

·Contributor

18 May 2017 at 8:30 am

But we’d probably need to up the supplements

Green House Gas emissions would decrease

Which could also lead to global warming slowing down

The costs of leather bags and shoes could rise

And farmers could find themselves out of a job

The number of premature deaths could be reduced

But we don’t have to turn completely veggie to see the benefits

We’d probably be healthier

“There’s no doubt that if the UK was to turn Vegetarian, the general health of the population would improve,” explains Krishan Dhokia, director of natural health clinic Maitri Health
“A dearth of fruits and vegetables in our national diet has contributed to the rise in obesity, heart disease, cholesterol and high blood pressure that we see today. All of these tend to be lowered and/or kept in check by a Vegetarian diet.”
We may also see a drop in diagnoses of certain cancers. “Red meat increases our risk of cancer of the colon and heart disease,” explains Jenny Liddle, former trustee of The Vegan Society.
“So you would expect incidences of these diseases to decrease. Resistance to antibiotics could also lessen as we would not be ingesting these second-hand through the consumption of meat.” [Photo: Kaboompics/Karolina via Pexels]

It’s National Vegetarian Week! Which means there’s more delicious meat-free recipe inspo and fancy plant-based restaurant recommendations to lure you into going veggie than at any other time of the year.

Tempted? A recent survey revealed that 12% of UK adults follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, rising to 20% of 16 to 24s. Meanwhile, the amount of red meat being eaten in Britain is on the wane, declining almost year-on-year since 1950, and this trend looks set to continue.

And a YouGov poll last month showed that 56% of the UK now believe they don’t need meat for a good meal.

But what if the number of us turning to the green-side kept rising? What would happen if everyone suddenly stepped away from the bacon butty and embraced an entirely veggie-based diet?

Would meat-farmers all be made redundant? Would we suddenly see a spike in healthiness?

We consulted the food and veggie experts to imagine what the world would look like if we all turned vegetarian overnight…

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I tracked down M&S's 'designer' jacket and it looks just as expensive as shoppers say

Suddenly Vegetarian: 13 things that could happen if everyone turned veggie overnight

We’d probably be healthier

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