The Reducetarian Solution: How the Surprisingly Simple Act of Reducing the Amount of Meat in Your Diet Can Transform Your Health and the Planet

by Brian Kateman Narrated by Graham Halstead, Amanda Ronconi

Overview

Brian Kateman coined the term "Reducetarian"-a person who is deliberately reducing his or her consumption of meat-and a global movement was born. In this book, Kateman, the founder of the Reducetarian Foundation, presents more than seventy original essays from influential thinkers on how the simple act of cutting ten percent or more of the meat from one's diet can transform the life of the listener, animals, and the planet. This book features contributions from such luminaries as Seth Godin, Joel Fuhrman, Victoria Moran, Jeffrey Sachs, Bill McKibben, Naomi Oreskes, Peter Singer, and others. With over forty vegan, vegetarian, and "less meat" recipes from bestselling cookbook author Pat Crocker, as well as tons of practical tips for reducing the meat in your diet (for example, skip eating meat with dinner if you ate it with lunch; replace your favorite egg omelet with a tofu scramble; choose a veggie burrito instead of a beef burrito; declare a meatless day of the week), The Reducetarian Solution is a life-not to mention planet!-saving book.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

02/20/2017
Kateman, president of the nonprofit Reducetarian Foundation, writes that he launched it in 2014 when he realized that many people, like himself, were committed to eating less meat without becoming card-carrying vegans or vegetarians. That said, reducetarianism includes the latter two groups, and is meant to “unite the growing community of individuals who are committed to eating less meat.” This book is an illuminating collection of 70 brief, pithy essays written by “thought leaders” in the food realm, including authors, researchers, educators, and even a stand-up comedian. Divided into three sections—“Mind,” “Body,” and “Planet”—they cover such diverse topics as the evils and ills of factory farming and the joys of packing tasty vegetarian treats for a child’s lunch. A Buddhism expert presents spiritual arguments for reducing meat consumption; another author describes “food waste” parties where meatless leftovers are served. The bulk of the essays eschew meat-shaming and lean toward baby steps (i.e., meatless Mondays) and non-judgmental attitudes. This eclectic compendium (including recipes) will inspire and educate the curious and reticent, as well as those who are already, in some way, walking the reducetarian path. Agent: Linda Konner, Linda Konner Literary Agency. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

This book offers us a path towards a more ecological, sustainable, humane, and compassionate world while improving our own health and well-being."
—Deepak Chopra, author of Quantum Healing
 
“Brian is a true visionary—a courageous leader of wellness and compassion. His practical advice and delicious yet simple recipes in The Reducetarian Solution will inspire you to transform the way you live, love, and eat.”
—Kris Carr, wellness activist and New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Sexy Diet
 
"Reducetarianism: 2 → 1 burgers saves as many cows as 1 → 0"
—Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

"The Reducetarian Solution is a bold new blueprint for a healthier and more compassionate food system, one conscious consumers and businesses are increasingly adopting."
—John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market

“Full vegetarianism is a noble ideal, but many are intimidated by an illogical fear that it has to be a single major, all-or-nothing leap. Reducetarianism is a good, humane, environment-friendly, step-by-step approach to an ideal whose time will finally come."
—Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, An Appetite for Wonder, and Brief Candle in the Dark

“Moderation in everything means being a reducetarian in practice. By eating less meat, you’ll be doing your body, your planet, and your kids’ future a favor. And you’ll be proving once again that small steps can take us long distances."
—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind

"The Reducetarian Solution reveals a practical way to address the moral case for animal rights, sparing farm animals from suffering, and preserving the environment from destruction." 
—Noam Chomsky, author of Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order

“The Reducetarian movement has the power to make us all—“all” meaning ourselves, our children, and millions and millions of suffering animals—happier and healthier.”
—Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

"A balanced mood, energized body, and sharp brain are just a few of the many benefits of being a reducetarian."
—Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness

"Reducetarianism reminds us that progress is achieved incrementally. The very idea empowers everyone to participate in saving the world.”
—Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity

“The Reducetarian Solution shines a spotlight on proven and time-tested tips that will help you master a delicious, healthy, and compassionate lifestyle. If you are interested in unleashing your own creativity in the kitchen, you'll want to read this book!"
—Scott Barry Kaufman, author of Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind

"This life-changing book is all about the power you have, right now, to gain more physical, mental, social, and spiritual strength—by reducing one thing, one simple thing. If you're looking for a way to live life more fully, following the advice in this book is probably the single smartest strategy you could adopt."
—Jane McGonigal, PhD, author of SuperBetter and Reality is Broken

“Here is a simple, smart, world-changing practice that does not require me to entirely give up pork tacos. Kudos, Brian Kateman!”
—Mary Roach, author of Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

"This eclectic compendium (including recipes) will inspire and educate the curious and reticent, as well as those who are already, in some way, walking the reducetarian path." 
— Publisher's Weekly 

"[offers] delightfully practical guidance...This book will be of interest to environmentally conscious readers who wish to examine their dietary choices."
 — Library Journal 

"Reducetarianism offers a pathway toward less destructive consumption patterns and may—for some—be a gateway drug to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle... This book offers a really fantastic, thought provoking and wide-ranging perspective for how we can keep this momentum moving forward."
— Treehugger.com
 
"Even for those well-versed in the arguments in favor of the consumption of meat reduction, like Kateman, The Reducetarian Solution will likely illuminate a previously unconsidered angle...the variety of approaches and perspectives contained in the book testify to how open the avenues are for bringing about this kind of change." 
—Fast Company

"The central ideas of quite a few of the 72 chapters in The Reducetarian Solution — each by a different writer and just a few pages long — are welcome advertisements for reducetarian thinking."
—NPR

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"This eclectic compendium (including recipes) will inspire and educate the curious and reticent, as well as those who are already, in some way, walking the reducetarian path." —Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

03/15/2017
Kateman, cofounder of the Reducetarian Foundation, created the term reducetarian to describe a person whose eating habits are somewhere in the continuum between carnivore and vegetarian. This book is a collection of 60 original essays by various leaders of the meatless and less-meat society who address the idea of reducetarianism from aspects of physical health, conscious decision, and conservation of the planet. Similar to the way that Gary Taubes's The Case Against Sugar exposes how the sugar industry shaped the nation's love affair with the sweetener, several pieces here focus on the ways that the economy and corporations have shaped the country's obsession with meat consumption. The plight of farm animals and livestock welfare is also highlighted. While numerous articles such as Ginny Messina's "How To Satisfy Young Fussy Eaters" offer delightfully practical guidance, the overwhelming majority of the essays are focused on convincing readers to adopt a reducetarian lifestyle. Pat Crocker includes over 40 reducetarian recipes at the end of the volume. VERDICT This book will be of interest to environmentally conscious readers who wish to reexamine their dietary choices.—Crystal Renfro, Kennesaw State Univ., Marietta, GA

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170516803
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	04/18/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

The Reducetarian Solution

How the Surprisingly Simple Act of Reducing the Amount of Meat in Your Diet Can Transform Your Health and the Planet

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By Brian Kateman

Penguin Random House

Copyright © 2017 Reducetarian Foundation Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-14-312971-4

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CHAPTER 1

THE BIZARRE FORCES THAT DRIVE PEOPLE TO EAT TOO MUCH MEAT

* David Robinson Simon

Author of Meatonomics: How the Rigged Economics of Meat and Dairy Make You Consume Too Much — and How to Eat Better, Live Longer, and Spend Smarter

Americans consume almost 200 pounds of meat annually per person, more than almost any other people on the planet — and nearly twice what we ate 75 years ago. We also have twice the incidence of diabetes and heart disease as the rest of the world and almost three times the incidence of cancer. There is little doubt that, as this book's many authors argue, we must reduce our meat consumption. Perhaps, like an engineer peering inside a motor to see how it works, we can explore the machinery of animal food production to learn why meat consumption levels are so high to begin with. If we can understand what makes Americans want to stuff a half pound of meat into our mouths every day, maybe we can find ways to cut those huge consumption levels.

As consumers, we like to think we make informed, well-founded decisions about what to buy. But when it comes to purchasing meat, new evidence shows consumers are routinely denied the ability to make such informed, rational decisions. Instead, government bureaucrats and industry players overwhelm consumers with a triplewhammy of price miscues, product misinformation, and aggressive manipulation. Like an invisible leash pulling us around by the neck, this set of influences literally changes our behavior and makes us buy more meat than otherwise. This essay looks at one of the most pernicious forces that drive people to consume animal foods in such huge quantities: artificially low prices.

THE $1 CHEESEBURGER

The price of a McDonald's cheeseburger hasn't changed a bit in two and half decades — it was $1 in 1991, and it's $1 today. The prices of other consumer goods have increased substantially in that time. What keeps the price of meat so low?

The answer is externalized costs — a fancy term for a simple concept. Producers externalize their production costs when they impose them on society instead of bearing the costs themselves. Steve Wing, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill epidemiologist, expressed this phenomenon succinctly in a New York Times article published, serendipitously, the day I sat down to write this piece. "Pork is cheap and cheap to produce in large factories," said Wing, "because they don't pay for cleaning up the Des Moines water supply and they don't pay for the asthma neighbors get, they don't pay for polluting downstream water that used to be potable and they don't pay for the loss of property values." Couldn't have put it better myself.

The rise of factory farming over the past half century has, increasingly, given meat producers the means to externalize their production expenses and impose them on the rest of us. In my 2013 book Meatonomics, I add up these costs and find they total more than $414 billion. To put this huge number in perspective, it's about one quarter of Canada's gross domestic product or half of what the United States spends on Social Security each year.

Here's the rub: By massively externalizing their costs in this fashion, meat producers have been able to aggressively lower their products' prices. Thus, on an inflation-adjusted basis, the retail prices of various kinds of meat have fallen dramatically in the past half century. Since 1935, steak prices are down 20 percent, ham is down 48 percent, and chicken is down a whopping 74 percent.

It's hard to overstate the importance of a good's price when it comes to a consumer's decision to buy it or leave it. The most basic principle of economics, the law of demand, says that when a good's price is low, we'll likely buy more of it than if the price were higher. Pretty simple. But when it comes to meat prices, the result is shocking: Retail prices, pushed down to artificially low levels by producers' externalizing most of their production costs cause Americans to eat much more meat than we would if prices rose to their true levels.

How do we know that low prices are driving high consumption? Because hundreds of studies have shown that consumption of animal foods is closely linked to price. On average, for every 10 percent drop in meat and dairy prices, consumption rises by about 6.5 percent. Conversely, if prices rise by 10 percent, consumption falls by about 6.5 percent. There are lots of reasons people buy meat: beliefs, preferences, disposable income, force of habit, and other factors. But the data on price and consumption show that retail prices play an enormous role. As animal science professor Marta Rivera-Ferre notes, "consumer demand [for meat] is not linked with the actual biological needs of the human organism but with prices."

REPAIRING THE DAMAGE

Now that we know why the market for animal foods is broken, we can also posit one easy way to fix it: Let meat prices rise to their true levels. For every dollar of animal foods sold at retail, another $1.70 is imposed on consumers and taxpayers in the form of externalized costs. This means that a $5 Big Mac really costs society $13. A $15 slab of ribs really costs $40. If the retail prices of these goods reflected their true societal cost, meat consumption would drop faster than you can say "tofu."

There are lots of ways to add externalized costs back into the retail price of meat. We might eliminate government subsidies, impose a tax on meat, or use other legislative or regulatory measures to force producers to bear their fair share of costs. In fact, any activity that raises the price of meat will help shift Americans' protein consumption to plant-based alternatives and would be a welcome step in the right direction. Most consumers want to act rationally. Let's make that possible by giving ourselves the proper price cues to do so.

CHAPTER 2

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

* Tania Luna

Co-author of Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected

It would be nice to be able to simply wake up one day and decide: "I'm going to eat less meat." But as my fellow humans know, things rarely work out that easily. Scientists suspect that one of the reasons we have a tough time changing our habits, even when we know they're bad for us, is because willpower — our internal voice of reason — is not unlimited. Just like any other resource, it can become depleted.

In an experiment by Roy Baumeister, participants waited in a room that smelled like freshly baked cookies. They were shown two types of foods: chocolates and radishes. Half of the participants were given chocolates and the other half got radishes. Next, researchers asked both groups to do a puzzle, and they timed how long it took participants to finish the task. The chocolate eaters kept trying for over eighteen minutes; the radish eaters quit after just eight. Plenty of subsequent studies have since revealed the same concept: When we have to expend effort to regulate our impulses, we eventually run out of self-control.

But why does it take so much willpower to change how we eat? Part of the answer lies in habit. Habit is the enemy of change. Luckily for us, surprise is the enemy of habit. Most of our actions are patterns: We go home, sit on the couch, turn on the TV, think about food, get up to check the fridge, consider making a salad, feel tired and cranky — and end up grabbing the cold cuts.

It doesn't take a fortune-teller to predict the outcome of habitual actions because they contain no surprise. It's also an efficient way to live. Habits require less neural activity than new behaviors. But who wants efficiency when you can have excitement and fulfillment? (Okay, maybe you prefer efficiency, but it has its limits). Surprise disrupts the pattern of habit, opening the door just a crack for new behaviors to slip in. Here are four tips for anyone attempting to disrupt their meat-eating habits.

1. SHAKE UP HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT FOOD

Willpower is a fickle friend, but there is one exception: People who have strong beliefs can override even the coziest habits. How do you shake up your food feelings? Neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz found that surprise can intensify our emotions by about 400 percent, creating just the kind of colorful memory that can act as your mouth's bouncer — keeping meat out when you don't want it in. So what might surprise you about food? Well, you can always Google "factory farming." A visit to a factory farm or slaughterhouse is another way to shock your system.

But there are also less emotionally scarring ways to surprise yourself. My husband, Brian, is from a part of Texas where vegetarian means "one of those people who's not from around here." Brian loves dogs, and intellectually, he knew that cows weren't much different, but it wasn't until he met a calf face to face for the first time recently that his perspective shifted. Rory the Calf had long, black lashes and a fuzzy nose; when she licked him, Brian fell in love. At the time we were traveling in Ireland, where burgers are served with nearly every meal, like napkins. After meeting Rory, however, Brian didn't want burgers. He's not a vegetarian, but now he doesn't eat beef. You could argue that he should be able to transfer his experience over to other animals. But that's just not how our brains always work. We need an emotional experience for that shift to happen.

2. MIX SURPRISE INTO YOUR SHOPPING.

Let's say you've shifted your thinking. That's step one. But how do you disrupt your old meat-eating habit even further? When willpower runs out, we've got to use our environment for help. The first place to mix in surprise is shopping. The more routine your trips to the supermarket are, the less room for change. So here are some very small ways to incorporate sparks of the unexpected into your list:

* Change the order of aisles you visit in the grocery store.

* Go to a different store.

* Always buy one non-meat food you've never tried.

* Visit farmers' markets and ask the vendors about their farms.

* Wear a reducetarian-inspired outfit while you shop. (Whatever that means to you!)

Yes, our brains love efficiency, but even more than that, they love novelty. New experiences release dopamine in our brains — the neurochemical that triggers excitement and pleasure. The more hits of dopamine you give your brain, the more motivated you'll be to keep up your surprising new approach to shopping.

3. "SURPRISIFY" YOUR KITCHEN.

Research shows that we make better food choices when we eat at home, but how can we get the most out of our home-cooked meals? As it turns out, a sprinkle of surprise works here too. Introduce novelty into your kitchen, and you'll be more likely to introduce novelty in your eating habits. The most effective changes are those that make eating meat a little harder and all eating other foods a little easier (and more fun). Google used this technique when it realized employees were binging on M& M's. First, managers placed the M& M's in closed, opaque containers. Second, healthy snacks were placed in easy-to-reach areas. The result? In just seven weeks, Googlers consumed 3.1 million fewer calories (an average reduction of nine packages per employee). Again, these aren't revolutionary switches, but they do cause us to pause. And within that pause, new behaviors have the opportunity to come alive. Here are a few other small surprise tweaks you can make this week:

* Use small skillets and plates for meat and large ones for everything else.

* Keep meat in a closed-off section of the fridge and fruits and veggies easily accessible.

* Purchase meat that isn't presliced.

* Buy beautiful (or funny) plates that you can use only when eating meat free.

* Make a relaxing or dance-inspiring playlist for healthy food prep. (Salad Songs?)

* Invite friends over to make and share meals together for the week.

* Create a theme for every month or even the year (for example, Moroccan March or The Year of the Homemade Salad Dressing).

4. TURN EATING AT RESTAURANTS INTO A GAME.

Last but not least, when eating out of the house, think about making the experience less about convenience and more about discovery. To really increase your dopamine levels, why not invite someone to join you. That way, you'll deepen your relationship as you collect surprising experiences together. A few tips for eating out:

* Ask the server to surprise you with a meat-free choice on the menu.

* Eat in a different way from the way you usually do (for example, with your hands, sitting on the floor).

* Share a plate of food and take turns tasting the same things at the same time.

* Have a blindfolded meal.

In short, take a look at your lifestyle. Where is there room for surprising, emotionally stirring experiences? Next, examine your eating habits. What's predictable? Make one small change per week and take note of which you enjoyed the most. Novelty boosts mood, and a positive mood increases willpower (making you even more capable of changing your habits). Plus surprise is fun, and who doesn't like fun? Now go on and surprise yourself.

CHAPTER 3

A LITTLE LESS LONELY IN MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

* Joanna Zelman

Executive editor at The Dodo

I was seven years old when I decided to reduce my meat consumption to help farm animals. It was 1993, a lonely time to embark on such an endeavor in my small town. The experience is different today. The rise of social media has pieced together those in many corners of the world who are passionate about animal welfare, the environment, and human health.

These online platforms are helping create a global community that can chip away at some of the loneliness many of us experienced: First graders clamoring for Big Mac toys surrounded me two decades ago. When I unwittingly ate a pepperoni-stuffed calzone, the entire lunchroom pointed and laughed. (Okay, it was possibly just the handful of first graders at my table who laughed. Or, maybe, it was even just one kid. But it felt as if the entire world were laughing at me.) I was fortunate to have an understanding family, but there were few resources and community support was scarce.

Now, we can Instagram veggie snacks, pin tasty dishes, and "like" a cauliflower casserole. We can pledge to join health challenges, blog our concerns for animals, and join meatless Twitter chats. Heck, we can even brag more. Tenth burger free Tuesday? Shout it from the rooftops! (Rooftops = Facebook status update.) And we can support each other's goals: comments, retweets, and likes are simple ways people are encouraging friends, family, and strangers to improve their health and the planet.

A decade ago, my (incredible!) mother would stock up on bags and bags of the only gelatin-free marshmallows we could find when we visited Washington, D.C. ... six hours from home. These treats were so hard to come by that when I was roasting one marshmallow over a campfire and saw it melting into the flames, I lunged in and grabbed it with my bare hand. If only vegetarian marshmallows were an Amazon order away back then, I might have avoided wearing a burn bandage through the summer of 1999.

Access both to alternative products and to information have improved. We can find and share recipes online. Veggie-friendly restaurants are searchable by zip code. My friend on a budget wanted to reduce his meat consumption, so I sent him a Reddit thread of cheap vegan meals. We have easy access to advice from experts, like those at the Mayo Clinic encouraging meatless meals and the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention's (CDC's) fruit and veggie recommendations. We can calculate our carbon footprint with the click of a button — and then realize that what we put in our mouth impacts the planet. When a family skips steak once a week, it's like taking their car off the road for almost three months.

Like all tools, those available in the digital age can be used for ill as easily as goodwill. The illegal wildlife trade and puppy mills have taken advantage of the Internet to the detriment of animals. Some viral videos even unknowingly promote the illegal pet trade, like of the slow loris. And cameras shut off when those "teacup pigs" suddenly start growing. Meanwhile, misinformation is rampant, and it's difficult to mine for the reputable animal care advice.

Demand for the newest, hottest, shiniest, tech products to engage with our social media platforms are also demanding a lot from our planet's resources. Twice as many electronic products were sold in 2009 than in 1997, the EPA estimates — the sale of mobile devices increased nine times over. Americans throw out millions of electronics every year, often without regard for proper e-waste disposal. This toxic waste threatens the health of millions of people around the world.

But it's far from all bad. Whistle-blower sites like WildLeaks, online resources to report animal cruelty, and access to tools protecting animals are helping out the good guys. It's easier to donate to reliable welfare groups. Undercover animal footage spreads rapidly (when it's not banned).

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Reducetarian Solution by Brian Kateman. Copyright © 2017 Reducetarian Foundation Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Penguin Random House.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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