Despite Ben Bernanke's assurances that the nation is not headed into a recession, a large number of persons remain worried about their monetary future. Wholesale costs of raw supplies, such as food and fuel, continue to rise, ultimately meaning higher prices for buyers down the road. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief economist reports that food prices rose 4 percent last year and will rise a different three to 4 percent this year. Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, says its hog-raising expenses have increased even more than 20 percent in the past year, largely due to the fact of the high price of feed. Meat-eaters can expect to foot the bill by paying greater pork prices.
If you don't want to invest your retirement fund on food, look at investing in a vegan diet.
Some of the most versatile vegan foods-including beans, rice, vegetables, soy goods and pasta-cost somewhat little compared to animal items. According to a 2007 MSN MoneyCentral write-up, the cheapest cuts of beef, such as ground round, typical $three per pound boneless chicken breasts cost $three.40 a pound and canned tuna expenses around $two per pound. In comparison, dried beans and lentils cost much less than $1 a pound, and rice is less expensive than $1 a pound. Tofu generally costs less than $two per pound. Even vegans who obtain costlier merchandise like soy sausage and nondairy ice cream can still invest much less than many people who load up on beef, chicken and fish.
Cows, chickens, pigs and other farmed animals are fed far more than 70 percent of the grains grown in the U.S. But it is far far more efficient and economical to eat grains and soybeans-and all the foods that can be created from them-directly rather than funneling them via farmed animals. A 2002 E Magazine post estimated that the quantity of feed needed to produce just 1 8-ounce steak would fill 45 to 50 bowls with cooked cereal grains.
And if you regularly eat fatty, cholesterol-laden animal items, you may well ultimately land in the hospital, racking up sufficient medical bills to put you in the poorhouse. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Top quality ranked America's 10 most high priced medical conditions, and various of the diseases topping the list-heart conditions, cancer, high blood pressure and sort 2 diabetes-are caused or aggravated by consuming animal goods. Those dollar-menu double-cheeseburgers won't seem like such a great value when you are paying by means of the nose for blood pressure pills or bypass surgery.
If you factor in all the dollars you will save on hospital bills, medications and weight-loss plans by avoiding unhealthy, artery-clogging animal items, a vegan diet is downright economical. Wellness insurance organizations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands even offer discounted rates for vegetarians, and U.S. health insurance carriers are also starting to encourage clients to make lifestyle adjustments to lessen the risk of chronic diseases. "The connection between a vegetarian diet plan and reducing the expenses of these high-impact wellness conditions is clear as a bell," says Scott Forslund, the communications director for Premera Blue Cross.
Plus, if you go vegan, you will not have to have to feel guilty for not shelling out revenue for an environmentally correct hybrid vehicle-researchers report that switching to a vegan diet plan is extra successful in countering global warming than switching from a standard automobile to a Prius. Of course, the most critical savings of all cannot be measured in dollars-each vegan saves additional than 100 animals each year. So, if you want to save animals, your health, the environment and dollars, bank on a vegan diet.