successful health and fitness book in publishing history (eight million copies sold)!

We all make a commitment to one vegetarian day a week.  That's it, one day a week you simply eat no meat, chicken, fish, eggs or dairy products.  You can eat legumes and nuts (both very high in protein), fruit, vegetable dishes, salads, pastas, soups, breads, rice and other grains.  This way you are eating 10% less food derived from animals and 10% more food derived from plants.  With millions around the country doing this, it would decrease the consumption of animal products in the United States by 10% and the ramifications would be outstanding.

1.  ON A PERSONAL LEVEL YOU WILL SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE YOUR CHANCES OF DEVELOPING ATHEROSCLEROSIS, THEREBY LOWERING YOUR RISK OF SUFFERING FROM HEART DISEASE OR STROKE.  If you add up all other causes of death - cancer, lung disease, diabetes-all other diseases combined - they would not come close to equaling the deaths from atherosclerosis/car-diovascular disease alone.  On October 7th, 1988 the nation's top medical doctor, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop released the "Report on Nutrition and Health."  This highly comprehensive report, based on over 2,000 scientific research studies left no doubt that our standard meat-based, fat laden American diet is in Dr. Koop's words "killing millions prematurely and ruining the lives of tens of millions."

2.  Nearly a half a trillion pounds (250 million tons) of animal excrement a year will not be dumped into our waterways.

3.  TWELVE MILLION TONS OF GRAIN WILL BE FREED UP A YEAR.  THIS IS MORE THAN ENOUGH GRAIN TO FEED EVERY ONE OF THE 20 MILLION PEOPLE WHO DIE OF STARVATION AND RELATED DISEASES THE WORLD EVERY YEAR.  That is one death from
starvation every 1 1/2 seconds without stop.

4.  ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILLION ACRES OF LAND, CHOICE LAND, WOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR MORE PRUDENT USE.

5.  SIX HUNDRED MILLION ANIMALS A YEAR WILL BE SAVED FROM THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE.

6.  SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION TONS OF TOPSOIL WILL BE SAVED A YEAR.  Topsoil is the dark nutrient-rich soil that enables plants to grow. 

Two hundred years ago, cropland had, on average, about 21 inches of topsoil in which to grow our food.  Today we have 6 inches of topsoil.  Eighty-five percent of our topsoil loss is directly associated with livestock production.  Clearing the land for livestock grazing causes it to be blown away in the wind and washed away in our rivers.  The Sahara desert was a forest before the Roman Empire stripped it of its trees to make way for vast grainfields.  Trees protect and create topsoil.

7.  THE REDUCED NEED FOR FUEL WILL LOWER FOSSIL FUEL DEMANDS BY THE EQUIVALENT OF 2.3 BILLION GALLONS A YEAR.  THAT'S A SAVINGS OF OVER SIX MILLION GALLONS A DAY.  Of all vegetation produced by United States agriculture, 70% is consumed by livestock; 5% is consumed by the American people.  The factories the livestock are housed in require energy to be heated in the winter and cooled in hot weather.  Transporting livestock requires fuel as well as the killing and milking of cows, refrigerating the meat and milk, wrapping meat with petroleum based products (Styrofoam plates and plastic wrap).

8.  WE WILL HAVE THE BENEFIT OF THE OXYGEN OUTPUT AND CARBON DIOXIDE CONSUMPTION OF 25 MILLION ACRES OF TREES THAT WOULD NOT EXIST OTHER WISE.  Breathing air that is only 3% carbon dioxide will make you noticeably drowsy.  Forests all over the world are being cut, burned and cleared at the rate of 40 million acres a year.  The vast majority of the forestland that is cleared is used for grazing livestock or for growing livestock feed.  We're deforesting the heartland of our country and the world to supply Americans with animal products, which we consume buy the ton, so we can die from heart attacks.  The tropical rainforests of the world, which is referred to as "Earth's lungs", are being wiped out at the rate of 27 million acres a year.

                                                       cont'd
Featured in the guide are also ideas for making meals a little easier, as well as common problems and suggested solutions.  Some older people may find meal planning is more burdensome if shopping or preparing meals is difficult.

Arthritis, for instance, or impaired hearing or poor eyesight may make it hard to drive to the