There are no ifs and buts because we’ve heard every excuse there is – and they don’t stand up! Being veggie is good for your health, good for the environment, good for the world’s starving people and it’s certainly good for animals! If you don’t believe us and you’ve still got little nagging doubts – read on. This is where you start to change your life.

I don’t know what one is.

There are a lot of interpretations of what a veggie diet is… so let’s set the record straight: A vegetarian simply doesn’t eat any dead animals or bits taken from them. That means no meat, poultry (chicken, turkey, duck), fish or other water animals (prawns, crabs, shrimps) or disgusting things such as gelatine from hooves and bones and animal fat.

I only eat chicken and fish…

Well done! You’re already thinking along the right lines! But we bet you didn’t know that chickens are the most abused farmed animals? Kept in gross conditions, 850 million of them are killed every year in the UK. And fish have feelings too! It’s not even open to argument that they suffer terribly when they’re caught. And healthy? Only if you think that deadly poisons such as PCBs, dioxin and mercury are healthy because most fish now contain low levels of them from pollution. Overfishing is hoovering the oceans empty and wiping out the animals that depend on fish.

We have animal welfare laws so it can’t be cruel.

Oh yes it can – and is! Most animals raised for meat are kept in disgusting conditions inside factory farms, never seeing daylight, sun or rain. Pigs killed for meat live only five or six months but it takes a battery of drugs to keep them alive. From birth until death they’re given powerful antibiotics in a desperate attempt to control the diseases that run rife in the filth of factory farms – drugs which have helped create superbugs that now threaten us all. Chicken rearing is the most intensified and automated type of animal production there is. Chicks are crammed into foul smelling windowless sheds - often 40,000 in each. The baby birds are bred to grow too fast and are pumped full of drugs to reach slaughter size in just 41 days. When they are killed the birds eyes are still blue and they cheep - chicks in an obese adult body. Most birds become crippled as their legs cannot support their body weight. Turkeys are almost all factory farmed - as are ducks - water birds that never get to swim or fly in their short, sad lives.

Fearne Cotton

TV presenter
“I have been veggie since the age of 12. I had seen a programme on live animal transportation which made me have the idea initially. Me and my mum started the same day and it's just so easy - Mum cooks amazing veggie food and you wouldn't know the difference between veggie food or meat, my dad hasn't got a clue what he's eating and is practically an involuntary veggie!”

John Feldmann

Lead singer and guitarist for US pop punk sensations Goldfinger
“I can look at all my companion animals without guilt knowing that my lif e is not dependant on their suffering. And us veggies taste better!”

If I turned vegetarian wouldn’t my health suffer?

No, it’s likely to improve. A diet packed with animal products is high in cholesterol and saturated fat and can contribute to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, strokes, obesity and other diseases. Doesn’t seem quite so appealing now, does it? ANYONE can be healthy by eating a wide variety of vegetarian foods. Try it and you’ll notice the difference in no time!

My friends will think I’m weird…

Oh come on! They can find a dozen reasons to think you’re weird if they want to. Being veggie is something to be proud of – you don’t need to apologise. Cutting suffering out of your life shows you can think for yourself – and there’s nothing weird about that. That’s strong. Most people who take the mickey out of being vegetarian know nothing about it. Go on, tell ‘em – talk to them. And if you need any help answering the questions they’re bound to throw at you, check out the Viva! website -www.viva.org.uk - with its guide to dealing with dimwits.

I don’t know what to eat!

You can eat all the things you eat now – burgers, bangers, pizzas, fish fingers, chilli, nuggets, curry and so on – but veggie versions without a trace of a dead animal. And there are thousands of new and exciting foods to discover as well! Going veggie opens up a whole world.

We need meat to feed the world

 No – it’s just the opposite! Eating meat helps to cause world starvation because there’s just not enough land for all the animals. Most of what they eat isn’t turned into meat, it’s turned into poo – wasteful or what? To feed everyone on the kind of meat diet we eat in the rich West, we’d need four planet Earths! Livestock take up too much land, use too much water and cause the trashing of rainforests, wildlife, cause acid rain, global warming and water pollution. So if you care about people or the planet - go veggie!

What difference does one person make?

More of a difference than you might think. The average Brit meat eater, throughout their life, chomp their waythrough 4 cattle, 18 pigs, 23 sheep and lambs, 1158 chickens, 39 turkeys, 28 ducks, 1 rabbit, 1 goose and 2750 fish. That is a lot of lives saved by going vegetarian, don’t you reckon?

The only question you should really be asking yourself is ‘why not go veggie!’. And when you do, remember help is at hand! Viva! is here to guide you every step of the way. A good place to start is our Guides - the L-Plate Vegetarian and Snappy Veggie Cooking with the Mollster, both of which give great advice, good meal ideas and brilliant recipes! As a special offer, you can buy both for a mere £1 from Viva!

Inspired by what you’ve read? Then get in touch with us and order our follow-up pack, ‘Proud To Be Veggie’, which goes through all the benefits of a vegetarian diet and is backed with comments from proud veggies, young and old! The best way to end animal suffering is to get people to stop eating them. Do you reckon you can help get the No More Excuses campaign out there by distributing leaflets or setting up a display, maybe in your school? If you can come up with some great ideas of your own, please let us know what they are. If you want some more of our ideas, then get in touch!

And why not join Viva! today, become an Activist (under 18’s only) for £5 and you’ll receive a mag, posters, stickers and a ton of advice on how to end animal cruelty.