Paul McCartney has proposed a sensible plan for helping people reduce their meat consumption and do their part for the environment. He says that people in the UK and presumably around the world can eat vegetarian dishes on Mondays.

Sir Paul McCartney has urged the UK to hold “meat-free Mondays” to reduce carbon emissions.

McCartney told The Grocer that the scheme would alert consumers to the environmental impact of meat production.

He said: “A lot of people go to the gym on a Monday. With meat-free Mondays, it’s a bit like going to the gym but with the added advantage of protecting the planet.”

McCartney noted that a similar policy had proven successful in Australia.

He added: “One of the most significant conclusions of the recent report on climate change was that we should eat less meat. This is not the Vegetarian Society that said that. It’s the UN.”

[From Digital Spy via Gossip Rocks]

A meat-based diet requires more resources and produces more waste than a plant and grain based diet and many vegetarians say that conservation is their main concern. Here’s a link to a description of the UN study on climate change that McCartney mentioned.

It’s a little too late for our family today as we’ve already had turkey for dinner, but this is something I’ve mentioned to my husband before. Food is getting so expensive that along with probably having less calories it would have the added benefit of saving us some money if we stopped centering every meal around a meat dish. We’re mostly white meat eaters here, but my father is a vegetarian, and I’ve considered giving up some types of meat. It’s really up to me as the person who prepares most of the meals for the family and I’ll just have to get more creative. Here are vegetarian recipes from AllRecipes.com that you can make from variations of just 20 main ingredients.

McCartney had another reason to speak to the industry magazine The Grocer and to advocate for vegetarian meals – he’s promoting the Linda McCartney frozen food line, which was started by his departed first wife in 1991. They’re launching a new line that will be offered at British grocery chain Sainsbury’s starting in August. If you’re buying pre-made frozen food it’s probably not much cheaper to go vegetarian.

This is a heated topic so please be respectful of both sides in the comments.

Carrie Underwood has slimmed down considerably since her days as an American Idol contestant. Carrie has admitted that she was aware of some of the negative things people said about her weight on the internet, and that she made the choice to slim down as a result.

Carrie Underwood recently shared some of her secrets for staying fit with People magazine: everything in moderation (except maybe cheese) with a lot of cardio. Carrie says when some American Idol viewers were candid in their online postings about her weight, she decided to slim down but didn’t change her diet or fitness routine radically to do so.

“I do work out, but not with a trainer,” she says. “I just do lots of cardio.” And yet, after a whirlwind year (which included lots of awards and a second CD, Carnival Ride), Carrie is in better shape than ever. A longtime vegetarian, she says she watches what she eats but also admits to a weakness for cheese. “I can eat a pound of it,” she says. “It’s a real problem.”

Carrie says she also keeps a snack tucked in her red carpet bags at all times. “I carry [whole-grain] Kashi bars everywhere.”

[From Great American Country]

Underwood also told people that she’s a bit obsessive when it comes to watching what she eats. The way she phrases it (using the word “obsessive) makes it sound like she has some food issues, however when she says she’s “obsessive” she’s referring to writing down everything she eats. Food journaling is a cornerstone of many well-regarded diet plans like Weight Watchers. It serves to remind you what you’ve eaten.

American Idol winner and US chart topper Carrie Underwood’s apparently has a great diet tip – and it involves a pen and paper! “I’m slightly obsessive-compulsive about what I eat, more than I should be. I write down everything I eat,” the 24-year-old singer tells Glamour magazine in its January issue. “I started doing it last year. And the last year is when I’ve gotten more healthy and lost weight.”

[From This Is Nottingham]

To be honest I’d never noticed anything about Carrie’s weight on American Idol. They’ve had a wide variety of body styles over the years, which has been refreshing to see. Simon Cowell’s nasty remarks about contestant’s weight weren’t so great, but it’s good that people of all shapes and sizes were succeeding on the show. There have been some rumblings that Underwood has gotten too thin. Compared to some of the shrinking stars we’ve seen in the last few years, she seems alright. Like anything, the issue is knowing when to stop. She seems to have maintained her current weight for a while now, and is definitely drop-dead gorgeous.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Carrie at the 2005 Country Music Festival about three weeks after she won American Idol. I’m not sure what people were talking about in terms of her weight at the time, though she is definitely much thinner now. Header image at the Conde Nast Media Group Presents “2007 Movie Rocks” on December 2nd. Images thanks to PR Photos.

You have to hand it to the PETA people. They know the best way to getting attention for the cruelty of fur and their belief that meat eating is unnecessary is to get a naked starlet to talk about it. We all pay attention to naked people, especially if they’re famous. Maybe they should team up with that photographer who takes pictures of hoards of nude people in public.

In a PSA for the PETA promoting vegetarianism, Alicia Silverstone emerges naked from a pool with sexy music playing in the background. Her arm and leg are strategically placed to ensure a PG rating, but the idea is that not eating meat makes you hot and desirable if you’re a woman, and able to land hot chicks if you’re a guy. At least that’s what I got out of it.

She says in the ad that being vegetarian makes her feel so much better. In a statement on PETA’s website for vegetarianism, GoVeg, she talks about the cute little lambs and cows that she no longer has to feel guilty about eating:

Like most people, I wasn’t always a vegetarian, but I’ve always loved animals. If you ever have a chance to meet a cow, pig, turkey, or goat, you will see that they are just as cute and funny as your dogs and cats and that they, too, want to live and feel love. They don’t like pain. Now when I see a steak, it makes me feel sad and sick because right away, I see my dog or the amazing cows I met at a sanctuary. I’ve been vegan for 10 years, and it’s the single-most important and helpful decision I have ever made. Physically, the effect has been amazing. Once I went vegan, I lost the weight I wanted to lose, my nails were stronger, and my skin was glowing. I feel great, and I look better now than I did 11 years ago.

[From GoVeg.com via The Sun]

I’m a meat eater and I always feel guilty when I see little animals from species I’ve eaten, that’s true. We like lamb at my place, and my family and I were at a farm and I just thought how cute the little lambs were and felt sad for eating them for a moment. It’s like that episode of the Simpsons where the lamb on Lisa’s plate gets up and says “Lee-eehsa, don’t eat me.”

Going vegetarian not only has health benefits, it’s also much better for the environment. My parents are vegetarian because they know that meat production is unsustainable and uses much more water and fossil fuels than grain production, especially with factory farming.

Although I have a lot of respect for vegetarianism it’s not something that I think is right for me, and I don’t believe it should be anything more than a personal choice. PETA oversteps their boundaries a lot, in my opinion, and I don’t like how they made it their business to tell Victoria Beckham, a vegetarian, that she was unknowingly sharing her land with free-roaming sheep owned by a chef that were meant for slaughter. It’s not like the sheep were mistreated or anything, they had tons of space. They also bashed Michael Moore for eating meat and being heavy when he was promoting Sicko.

PETA does know how to get attention, and there’s nothing like a hot naked chick to make vegetarianism seem sexy. There are sexy meat eaters too, though.

All opinions are respected here, and many of you have quite intelligent and well-researched things to say about this issue. Past posts about vegetarianism vs. meat eating have resulted in some flame wars, so please don’t bash people for opinions that you don’t agree with. We are kind to each other here.

Update: Thanks to Best Week Ever for linking the video, which wasn’t available earlier when the post was first published: