I live full-time in the world of omnivores, and I've never wanted to leave. But the Standard American Diet (yes, it's SAD) got to me as it gets to almost everyone in this country. Mark Bittman More Quotes by Mark Bittman More Quotes From Mark Bittman I got into cooking out of self-defense. Mark Bittman defense cooking self This evidence is overwhelming at this point. You eat more plants, you eat less other stuff, you live longer. Mark Bittman evidence plant stuff We need real farmers who grow real food, and the will to reform a broken food system. And for that, we need not only to celebrate farmers, but also to advocate for them. Mark Bittman reform broken real People need help to change the way they eat... this is what government is for in my opinion.... We should make food an issue for everyone who runs for office. Mark Bittman issues government running If you embrace moderation, eat whole foods instead of junk, live within your physical, monetary, and environmental budget rather than constantly exceeding it, you will lose weight, tread more lightly on the planet, and gain satisfaction from these things. Mark Bittman environmental junk weight The USDA is not our ally here. We have to take matters into our own hands, not only by advocating for a better diet for everyone - and that's the hard part - but by improving our own. And that happens to be quite easy. Less meat, less junk, more plants. Mark Bittman allies meat hands The truly healthy alternative to that chip is not a fake chip; it’s a carrot. Mark Bittman alternatives fake healthy Anyone can cook, and most everyone should. Mark Bittman cooks should Junk food companies are acting very much like tobacco companies did 30 years ago. Mark Bittman junk acting years If price spikes don't change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals. Mark Bittman simple heart animal It's good to have a short memory because it keeps life fresh. Mark Bittman short-memory memories Meatless Mondays is a dead-simple strategy. Anyone can do it, and it doesn’t require major sacrifice. Even if you eat a typical American diet replete with processed, junk and fast food the other six days of the week, going meatless on Mondays will still cut your carbon footprint, improve your health and reduce demand for factory-farm meat. Mark Bittman sacrifice cutting monday I'll never stop eating animals, I'm sure, but I do think that for the benefit of everyone, the time has come to stop raising them industrially and stop eating them thoughtlessly Mark Bittman motivation inspiration animal 1 billion people in the world are chronically hungry. 1 billion people are overweight. Mark Bittman food motivational people Your 'Pringle' contains 30% potato, that yoghurt has the same amount of sugar as ice cream, that whole grain cereal bar may be no better for you than a snickers. Mark Bittman ice-cream cereal bars Let me pose you a question. Can farm-raised salmon be organic when its feed has nothing to do with its natural diet, even if the feed itself is supposedly organic, and the fish themselves are packed tightly in pens, swimming in their own filth? Mark Bittman filth salmon swimming 50-100 years from now we are all going to be eating a plant based diet. Whether that happens through a catastrophe or a peaceful sustainable life giving way is based on whether we make the right choices now and how we fight in this struggle together. Mark Bittman fighting struggle years If you're a progressive, if you're driving a Prius, or you're shopping green or you're looking for organic, you should probably be a semi-vegetarian. Mark Bittman shopping driving green We need to demonise soda, the way we've demonised cigarettes. Mark Bittman soda way needs I'm not a vegetarian. Now, don't get me wrong - I like animals. And I don't think it's just fine to industrialize their production and to churn them out like they were wrenches. But there's no way to treat animals well when you're killing 10 billion of them a year. Kindness might just be a bit of a red herring. Let's get the numbers of animals we're killing for eating down, and then we'll worry about being nice to the ones that are left. Mark Bittman nice kindness thinking