by Jerry James Stone, San Francisco, CA
Here at TreeHugger, we post regularly on the connections between a vegetarian diet and the effect it has on the planet. However, OKCupid has trumped us in a way we never saw coming: vegetarians enjoy giving oral sex more than non-vegetarians.
The findings come via OKCupid’s data blog, OKTrends, where they give you a backstage pass to online dating. The blog divulges everything from the best first date questions to which states are the most gay-curious (oh really, Oregon?). As sensational as these findings are, I wouldn’t qualify them as merely trivial either.
While eating a vegetarian diet is good for the planet (carbon footprint reduction) and great for you (health and it is cheaper), this could very well be the sexiest.
Carbon Footprint
As our own Collin Dunn has reported over at Planet Green, what you eat has a significant impact on the climate (see the report here). The average U.S. diet gets 47-percent of its calories from animals or their byproducts. A consumption habit that results in a carbon footprint of 2.52 tons per person every year.
If you are veggie-curious, your yearly carbon footprint gets reduced by 0.7 tons. Check out our Weekday Vegetarian recipes for ideas and recipes. It’s kind of like being a Supermarket Catholic but tastier and with a lot less guilt. If you go full blown vegetarian your footprint drops by a full ton. Of course the winners here are vegans. Their diet has a full two ton reduction when it comes to carbon. The downfall is you no longer get to eat Gouda cheese. That’s a world I am afraid to live in!
It’s hard to talk about vegetarians, sex and not think about those quirky Isabella Rossellini videos!

The True Cost of Eating Meat
Matthew McDermott, a part-time contributor to our veggie-centric wine guide, points out how a vegetarian diet reaches way beyond just the carbon footprint. It has a huge effect on our forests, our health care system and even our pocket books. You can read the full article here but below are some highlights.
1. Raising cattle for beef accounts for 80% of Amazonian deforestation.
2. Eating your veggies means lowering your water consumption.
3. It’s cheaper, like 20% cheaper.
4. Vegetarians consume less calories, therefore no pesky crash diet needed!
5. You are healthier which saves you (and everyone else) money when it comes to health care.
6. Meat eating raises the cost of climate change mitigation. If there were more vegetarians, these costs could be cut by 70%.
It is also worth noting that vegetarians tend to be happier according to a report in the Nutrition Journal. They have a lower incidence of depression, anxiety, and other mood problems than their meat-eating neighbors. The researchers found vegetarian diets are significantly lower in EPA and DHA, the omega-3 fatty acids that we get from eating fish, and which many studies have found are a key factor in improving both physical and mental health.
Whether you become a vegetarian or not is clearly up to you. But one thing is for sure, you might want to start dating one.
(Source: www.treehugger.com )