Meet your Meat, Vegetarian tells all
Healthy Food
There are many different reasons to be vegetarian, and more specifically many health reasons to adopt this lifestyle.
Vegetarianism’s popularity has increased since it arrived in western civilization in the mid-1800s. In other parts of the world, there are more vegetarians, resulting in more restaurants and markets with vegetarian food. Therefore it is much easier to follow these eating habits.
Only 2.8% of people in the United States never eat meat, whereas 4-10% of the people called themselves vegetarians.
Even with a vast number of cookbooks for vegetarians and meat alternative products for consumers, the number of true vegetarians in the United States may be the same today as it was 16 years ago.
The definition of vegetarianism itself is questionable. Some people who claim to be vegetarian actually eat chicken, turkey, and fish, or any combination of the three.
In other countries such as India, where they do not eat beef, approximately 30% of people are complete vegetarians. In the United Kingdom, there are 3.5 million vegetarians reported by the International Vegetarian Union (IVU). Some of these vegetarians have made the decision to avoid meat because of cultural or religious reasons and others are based on financial situations. Either way, vegetables are easily available and generally less expensive than meat-based items. Plus vegetarians have a 20% lower rate of mortality from all causes, which leads to spending less on health care.
Twenty vegetarians can live off the land of one meat-eater, and at that rate, the United States will be out of land for livestock in 50 years.
Vegetarianism isn’t a fad, but it is difficult to be vegetarian if families do not support the lifestyle.
Despite the obstacles, people are curious. The first hit on Google with “health reasons…” was followed by “to be vegetarian,” which have various lists to advocate vegetarianism. PETA, an animal advocacy program, prohibits members to personally consume any animal products.
One of the top health reasons for vegetarianism is that there are no deficiencies in vegetarian food, meaning that the vegetarian diet is complete. Vegetarian food has “good” carbohydrates which are essential to proper health, contains plenty of important fiber, and does not contain cholesterol. Aside from the b-complex, meat is vitamin deficient higher in fat than most plant foods and contains saturated fats.
If health benefits don’t persuade you to put down your hamburger, consider the fact that there are over 20,000 different drugs, sterols, antibiotics, growth hormones, and other veterinary drugs given to livestock animals which are then ingested by the people who consume animal foods. In addition, there are pathogenic organisms common in animals such as bacteria and viruses, not including worms and other parasites. Micro-organisms (such as small bacteria) are present in plants as well, but their number and danger is not comparable to the danger on human health by meat. Another bonus, vegetarian food lasts much longer. No spoilage equals lower risk of sickness.
Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and yes, eating meat increases the risk of heart disease. Vegetarians are less obese, have lower blood pressure and cholesterol level, and a 50% reduced chance of dying of diabetes. Also, animal products putrefy the colon, causing intestinal toxemia. Furthermore, carcinogenic (cancer-causing) compounds have been linked to meat, whereas vitamin C, B-17, hydroquionenes, beta carotene, and NDGA are natural cancer prevention substances found in plants.
Meat consumption is also correlated with a wide range of degenerative diseases such as: osteoporosis, kidney stones and gallstones, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and gum disease. However, this is not to say that proper organic meat raised naturally by farmers is inedible.
If you eat meat because it is delicious, the flavor you are savoring comes from the blood and urine. Animal meats contains the wastes, including adrenaline, and various acids.
The World Health Organization recommends a diet low in saturated fat, sugar, salt & with plenty of fiber. The vegetarian diet is the epitome of this recommendation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7UXtL4bNcY
Source: my.hsi.org
