This year has been a shocking one for healthy and unhealthy eaters alike. Between discovering that kale is not actually very good for you and neither are bacon and other processed meats, the news has been a lot for everyone to deal with. But the latest information on the healthy eating topic is perhaps the most unexpected: Apparently being a vegetarian is actually hurting the environment.

According to a new study from Carnegie Mellon University, "Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than bacon." While that might be painful for some to read, know that the study is conducted on a per calorie basis. Meaning someone would have to eat two full heads of lettuce to have the same effect as a two strips of bacon. The problem then is that it takes more energy to ship the lettuce, and it may go bad before the consumer decides to eat it, which ends up creating toxic food waste. Whereas it's super easy to eat and preserve two strips of bacon. 

But this unfortunately information doesn't apply to all vegetables. The study goes onto explain that beef is still worse for the environment than most vegetables, but pork and chicken are better than eggplant or celery because they use far fewer natural resources. 

It's so bad, in fact, that researchers have pointed out that the USDA's recommended "healthy" diet (which is mainly composed of seafood and dairy) uses 38 percent more energy than diets with meat in them. Something to keep in mind the next time you plan a "healthy" dinner.  

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