Creating A Humane And Sustainable Planet – India Can Lead The World

Our Planet and the health of all living organisms in it are deeply inter-connected. The American Society for Microbiology uses the term “One Health” to explain the microbial connection between the health of animals, humans, and the planet. This is the current scientific view. The wisdom behind it is ancient. Albert Einstein said that a human being is a part of the whole Universe, but he experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest. He called it the “optical delusion of consciousness.” This delusion is “a kind of prison” for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task, he said, must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

If we disturb one part of this interconnected system, we can cause chaos in another. The coronavirus pandemic is one such chaos in point. It has forced us to pay attention to some startling facts.

How is human health connected to animal consumption?

Let us first examine the connection between human health and animal consumption. Animals are injected with toxic chemicals for faster growth. Majority of slaughterhouses in India are illegal and unhygienic. Animal farms are breeding grounds for dangerous pathogens. 70% of new infectious diseases are said to be zoonotic in origin (diseases transmitted from animals to humans). WHO representative Dr. Gauden Galea, while explaining the risk of zoonotic viruses and their potential for ‘spillover’ into human populations, said that as long as people eat meat, there is going to be some risk of infection. It is a well-established fact that long-term consumption of red meat is associated with a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, type 2 diabetes and an increased risk of mortality.

What about the environment and animal consumption?

There are equally startling facts that connect environmental degradation with meat production. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has reported that the livestock sector is a major stressor on many ecosystems and the planet as a whole. Globally it is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases and one of the leading factors in the loss of biodiversity. And perhaps the leading source of water pollution. The IPCC, an intergovernmental body of the United Nations recently reported that a shift towards plant-based diets would help mitigate and adapt to climate change. In 2017, 15,364 world scientists signed a “Warning to Humanity” which, amongst other things, called for a drastic reduction of per capita consumption of meat.

Are the three elements really interconnected?

An example that completes this circle and demonstrates the connect between the three elements (animal consumption, human health and the environment) is the effect of air pollution caused by meat production on human respiratory health. Meat production is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, which produce several highly toxic by-products. Elevated greenhouse gas emissions from livestock have been associated with respiratory diseases like asthma, bronchitis, and COPD, as well as increased chances of acquiring pneumonia from bacterial infections.

So, what do we do?

Surprisingly, a simple change can make a big difference if done by sufficiently large number of us, i.e., move to a plant-based diet (vegetarian/vegan). Einstein is credited to have said years ago that nothing will benefit health or increase chances of survival on earth as the evolution of a vegetarian diet. This is hardly new to India! India has taught the world Ahimsa, Ayurveda and Yoga. Indian spiritual thinkers have long recognized the interconnection of all living things and the sacredness of all creation. We are what we eat. Ancient Indian wisdom links the food we eat to our physical well-being and spiritual progress. So why is India moving away from its legacy? Over the past decades more and more Indians have begun to eat meat. The Indian meat industry is growing at a CAGR of 22% every year. We are the largest exporter of beef in the world. That said, all is not lost. India still boasts of homing the largest vegetarian population in the world. Our Constitution lists compassion for all living beings as our fundamental duty. Therefore, if there is any country that can lead the world in creating a movement for an ethical diet, it is India.

A call to action

The question is – are we going to act on the lessons the current Covid-19 crisis has taught us or go back to “normal” after the crisis? Are we going to continue to condemn helpless living beings to a life of unimaginable terror for the sake of our palette when we know it endangers our own health and the planet we live in? This is a call to action for a move towards a healthier and inter- connected India that is at peace with all living beings. It will require a multi-pronged effort by a cross-section of stakeholders – the civil society, the Government and the Corporate sector. The role of the latter is crucial in bringing about a change. Corporates need to get more involved in making this a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility agenda. Currently Corporate involvement is insignificant if not entirely absent. As a start, a group of Corporate executives and business leaders have recently come forward to launch an India-focused Philanthropic fund, with an ambition to create a corpus of USD 15m to create a sustainable income stream to fund the movement – there is initial momentum with 20% already secured. The fund will seek to create partnerships with multiple stakeholders across India to elevate the plant-based diet movement in India – a movement that encourages people to embrace a plant-based lifestyle and create a healthier, more humane and sustainable India.

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Busting Old Myths About Proteins

Did you know that haemoglobin, a primary carrier of oxygen in the blood, is in fact a protein? While we may have a basic knowledge of what protein is, and how important it is for a balanced diet, how well do we truly understand its role in our keeping our body fit?

Protein comprises long chains of amino acids, and is also crucial to our body’s growth, strength, and its recovery. It can be structural (like collagen), or hormonal (like insulin), and can also operate as a carrier (like haemoglobin) or enzymes, which are catalysts and allow our bodies to generate chemical reactions and stimuli to our surroundings. Protein can also act as a neurotransmitter. Aesthetically, it is also vital for the development of our muscles, skin, bones, and hair, hence constituting an indispensable component of our healthy diet.
The recommended daily intake, or Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) of protein is 0.8 gm per kg of our body weight. This amounts to 56 gm per day for an average adult man, and 46 gm per day for the average adult woman. For a good health and to meet daily intake, only about one calorie out of every 10 we consume, needs to come from protein. A plant-based diet comprising vegetables, beans, grains, nuts, and seeds can easily fit in to meet our protein requirements. Most of these food groups are protein-rich and can adequately meet the suggested intake.

Also Read| Who Says Protein Is Expensive?

Why do we often believe that vegetarians are not lucky enough to get protein as the non-vegetarians? Why do we assume that a plant-based diet would fail us in that requirement?

A good plant-based diet can provide multiple health benefits such as:

3/4 – 1/2 lower rates of high blood pressure
2/3 lower risk of type-2 diabetes
15–20% lower risk of cancer
Significantly lower cholesterol levels

A balanced intake of protein-rich foods such as kidney beans and soy meats, chickpeas, lentils, quinoa, tempeh, tofu, peanuts, and soymilk can help an individual to be healthy enough to thrive on a plant-based lifestyle. An informed approach to veganism can help one tackle obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases, and can impart more antioxidants and fibre, than a standard unregulated diet. Replacing meat, dairy, and eggs with plant-based proteins even once a week can aid prevention or reverse chronic health conditions.

Athletes normally require more proteins than the sedentary people. There is, however, no evidence that they require a higher percentage of protein in comparison with other macronutrients in their diet to boost their performance level. In other words, most athletes just need to eat more food. Protein requirement for athletes seldom varies on the kind of sports they play. Normally, for a kg of body weight 1.2 gm of protein is generally recommended (up from typical 0.8 gm protein/kg body weight), and even up to 2.0 grams for individuals participating in certain events.

Consuming plant-based food is not only beneficial to an individual’s health, but also to our environment. It could save uncountable animals from being butchered for their meat supplied for commercial purposes.

More than 80.3 billion land animals are raised and slaughtered for food all across the globe each year to feed 7.8 billion people. This implies almost 10 animals killed each year, and that’s excluding the sea animals consumed every year. In totality, close to 1.1 million animals are killed for food every single hour. By adopting a plant-based diet and saying no to meat, we could put an end to the gruesome practice of animal slaughtering.

Animal agriculture also contributes to human-made greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water pollution, and air pollution. Livestock factories result in almost 15% of global greenhouse emissions. These factories also use enormous quantities of water, thus dispensing dirty water that pollutes clean waterways and systems.

Fun Fact: While production of 1 kg of chicken would consume close to 4325 litres of water, the production of 1 kg of cereals would consume only 1644 litres in comparison. What we consume and what we produce, directly or indirectly has an impact on the way in which we utilize our resources. and affect the global environment.

All in all, a plant-based diet can change your health for the better, and also help improve the condition of animals and habitats suffering from cruel treatment, abuse, pollution, and environmental change around the world.

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Can a plant-based diet prevent the next pandemic?

HYDERABAD: Can a plant-based diet prevent the next pandemic? Recently, there has been discussions about how a change in food habits is required to restore balance in nature and save the planet.

In India, an NGO named Ahimsa Trust has launched a digital plant-based campaign called ‘Plants Are Power’ to inspire Indians to change to a healthier lifestyle, and to help them realise that in doing so, one can make an immediate impact on the planet. So far, celebrities like Lisa Haydon, Neha Dhupia and Kris Srikkanth have backed the campaign urging India to take the 21-Day Challenge.

Talking to Express, founders of the Trust, Sethu Vaidyanathan and Parag Agarwal, said: “The current health crisis due to COVID-19 is a stark reminder that there is an urgent need to change our food habits and switch to a healthier lifestyle. The rise in the number of people looking for an alternative source of food has increased. This is where a plant-based diet is most suitable. Consumption of meat and other animal products are damaging our health slowly, and also the planet. In the past few years, the number of infections passed on by animals have increased. HIV came from chimpanzees, and many more diseases which followed have animal as sources.”

“Animals are often bred and kept in crowded enclosures in an unhygienic way, which can lead to many pathogens getting transmitted to our food. They are also pumped up with antibiotics that can harm our body. The meat industry also uses an inordinate amount of water, which is damaging for the environment,” they added.

But does a plant-based diet fulfill all nutritional requirements of the body? “Most people believe that a plant-based diet does not provide adequate nutrients like protein and vitamins; there is also a misconception that we need to eat meat to build muscles and become stronger to do well in sports or to be healthy. This is not true — there are many sportspersons like Virat Kohli who swear by such a diet.”

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