Leading health and environmental experts report that a vegetarian diet can improve your health in numerous ways and decrease your carbon footprint. Raising animals for slaughter and shipping the final meat product to consumers uses an enormous amount of the earth's resources, especially when compared to those needed to grow fruits and vegetables.

According to a 2008 New York Times article, "ReThinking the Meat Guzzler," "To put the energy-using demand of meat production into easy-to-understand terms, Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at the Bard Center, and Pamela A. Martin, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago, calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan - a Camry, say - to the ultra-efficient Prius," the author writes. So if you simply choose vegetarian meals over meaty meals 2-3 days/week, you are changing the world!

Healthy vegetarian diets support a lifetime of good health and protect against heart disease, cancer, and strokes. The American Dietetic Association states that vegetarians have "lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease... lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and overall cancer rates.” Contrary to popular belief, vegetarian diets can provide a well-balanced diet with adequate intake of all nutrients. (True vegans who don’t eat any animal product need to consider a B12 supplement or B-12 fortified foods.)

And compared to 10 or 20 years ago, eating a vegetarian diet is much easier. The grocery stores are now chock full of tasty vegetarian substitutes, and as you can imagine, the internet provides an endless array of recipes for vegetarian cooking. If you are new to the idea (and many people are unfamiliar to cooking without meat), make a commitment to eating vegetarian-style just one day a week. When eating out, try one a meatless entree. If you are used to ordering a ham or turkey sandwich at the deli, try a hummus and avocado sandwich with crunchy veggies, or keep it simple and order a peanut butter and jelly.

If you'd like to try a shift towards a reduced-meat diet, consider these websites for a few recipes, tips, and inspirations:

Meatless Monday is a national health campaign associated with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health to encourage people to give up meat once a week to cut saturated fat intake and prevent diet-related diseases. This website is jam-packed with fabulous recipes!

The Vegetarian Society provides an “easy” recipe list for new or time-restricted vegetarians.

My favorite vegetarian/vegan meal has been a nice, warm bowl of chocolate chili. Check out the recipe and try it out! I have prepared this vegan delight on the stovetop and crockpot; both methods create an excellent dish.

And here are 22 more reasons to try eating vegetarian.

Are you a vegetarian or vegan? Or halfway there? What inspired you to reduce your meat consumption? What positive and/or negative effects have you noticed?