What Can a Vegetarian Diet Do for You?

May 16, 2008

by Brian Paul

You may be wondering if your decision to give up meat is the right one. So how will it change things in your life and for the planet? It might be true that one extra person won’t make a huge statistical difference in a world of meat-eaters.

It is true just one person won’t make a huge difference but if you multiply this by millions of people who make the choice then the effect becomes much more significant. A classic example of this is illustrated by the amount of heart disease in the USA that meat-eaters suffer from.

Many of today’s heart conditions would not be so commonplace if people did not eat so much food with high levels of cholesterol, such as dairy products and eggs. The figures speak for themselves when a person who eats meat is four times as likely to suffer a heart attack as someone who is a vegetarian.

The risk of a heart attack for vegans is even lower with only a one in ten chance of having a heart attack against those of a person who eats meat. But these are not the only health benefits of choosing to be a vegetarian.

Normal, everyday food contains a whole host of preservatives (especially common in meat) that has shown links with many types of cancer. Animal feed also contains hormones to make them put weight on faster so vegetarians are not usually exposed to these chemicals which most people consume everyday.

It is also much easier to avoid the consumption of lactose which many people have intolerance to, causing digestive conditions. In addition to health benefits you will receive as an individual by becoming a vegetarian, you will also reduce your share of the suffering human beings inflict on animals.

In fact the death toll of animals may be far greater than expected with figures in the region of 2,700 eaten by an average American in their lifetime. Even a single person could, in the space of a few decades, save the lives of many hundreds of animals which would have been killed for food. To help even further and stop the number of battery hens and dairy cows from having to suffer degrading conditions you could stop drinking milk and eating eggs.

It should be clear that it is better to become a vegetarian for most people. An improvement in your overall health with less chance of cancer or a heart condition and the reduction of animal deaths provide a compelling argument.

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