JeffN wrote:Here are some statistics for you. Sadly, I do not think it is getting better, but worse.
When we look at healthy promoting behaviors, according to many large scale studies, only about 3% of Americans engage in the 5 healthy lifestyle behaviors said to be the most important (see Triage Your Health thread in my forum).
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Clearly nearly all the "significant" progress that is going to be made in the American diet is going to have to come not from getting more people to become strict vegetarians or vegans.
At most over the next 20 years, that category might double to 6%...
On the other hand if we give acceptance and encouragement to perhaps 1 in 3 of the other 96%, then we could get that 32%...about 1 in 3.... to cut their 21 meals of sad food down to 14 or 10, substituting healthy meals for formerly poor choices.
That is where nearly ALL the progress will be made (if it is made).
Vegetarians and vegans must stop speaking in terms of 100% for those folks. If you have friends who eat poorly, suggest them changing 2 to 4 meals a week, and even in those meals, perhaps only cutting down, rather than eliminating all animal products.
If 2 SAD people cut their animal product intake by half, that is the same as 1 SAD person becoming fully vegan.
Now which is more likely to happen.... That 32% of folks going half way, or 16% going fully vegan?
In my mind, most folks would hardly miss the second 3 ounces of their 6 ounce steak if the reduction in portion size was done over 5 years.
Ending up in a reduction of half of the "bad" food.
That kind of reduction would be a revolution, yet too many dismiss it as only continuing to eat the "bad" meat.
Meats, dairy, sodas, oils, cut by half. Veggies and exercise doubled.
Accomplish that in a nation over 10 years and you have veritable revolution in health.