Is vegetarianism healthy? That is the question, I’m going to be asking myself as I gnaw into my all natural turkey during November. I’ve been wanting to write about this subject for a while but I just wasn’t as interested as much as I thought I was. I am realizing the importance of it presently and inspiration has kicked in so its time to start writing my article! Over the past few days this concern has weighed on me heavily and I really think its because it keeps coming at me from everywhere .
I recently had a buddy of mine who I did not know was a non-meat eater until she revealed it in a conversation we were having. After her telling me this I instantaneously asked her if she ingested products made from soy and she said yes I started to make an assumption about somerecent health problems she had been suffering from and sure enough I was correct!
Now…I’m not a vegan basher and I do not like to tell folks how to eat or what to eat, but I am a big advocate of eating to live versus screeching recklessly into the arms of of dying. As a matter of fact, I attempted being a vegetarian myself but I was living on a recent college graduate’s budget which almost always narrows your choices to taco stands. At that time my lunch choices were always driven by my finances and I did not know a single thing about eating food to stop physical degeneration and deterioration.
I’m delighted I finally awoke and now my mission is to wipe the veil on people’s eyes.
My first experience into non-meat eating was very simple. I went to a soup and sandwich shop for about seven days and instead of getting lean meats on my sub, I opted to purchase fresh vegetables with vinegar and oil. I told myself I was a vegetarian but what I really was, was an dummy for believing I could become a non meat eater by just opting to get rid of the lean meat on my sandwiches. I will admit I did not know one thing about being vegetarian and within seven days and several hunger pangs later, I went back to animal flesh with a vengeance. I made the decision to give it another try when I trasferred to Atlanta. I started dating a girl who was beginning to discover the vegan lifestyle. She believed in eating no animal products and so she would frequently cook plant-based dishes.
The stuff she cooked was appetizing and a far cry from the sub sandwiches with veggies I ate years ago when I called myself a vegetarian. I was amazed at how she cooked things without using flesh but they really tasted just like she used meat from animals. Now these were some yummy dishes, I was never really convinced that I should get rid of eating meat. My reasoning was this,”my granddad ate flesh from animals, my grandma ate animal flesh, and my mommy ate meat so guess what I’m going to do? Yes…eat animal products and that is exactly what I did every chance I got. My decision to continue eating meat was a very good one because if I had stuck with it, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy my organically produced free range poultry I’m having for holiday dinner. I just really like a large juicy turkey leg what about you?
I have never been a person to force my beliefs on anyone so I won’t do that at this point. If you’ve been a follower of my blog spot by now you know I like to deal in facts. Its very easy to make a final decision when you deal with specifics versus hearsay, wouldn’t you agree? By the way, even though I never really made it completely vegan I leaned heavily towards it because I thought it was a better way to eat. I also thought it was a more conscious and humane thing to not eat meat from animals. In order to be as unbiased as I possibly can about this subject of is vegetarianism healthy, let’s start to talk about some of the reasons why non-meat eaters actually become vegetarians and then state the real facts.
1. Risk of Cancer – I recently viewed a tv documentary named, Fork over Knives which was in support of vegetarianism and one of the chief points was it reduced cancer risk. This wasn’t necessarily true as a study was done in 1994 which showed vegans had a decrease risk for breast cancers and lung cancers but their risks for these cancers were considerably increased: brain, skin, cervical, ovarian, prostate, and uterine. Research indicates carbohydrate based diet regimes are major causes of cancer. Oh Yes..vegetables are considered to be carbs. As a side note, meat eating was never affiliated with increased cancer risk.
2. Heart Disease – India has one of the largest populations of vegetarians and one of the greatest occurrences of heart ailments. On another note female vegans have a greater incidence of heart ailments than femalenon vegetarians.
3. Arteriosclerosis - Vegetarians think plaque won’t occur in the body’s arteries as a result of eating plant based foods…not so. Vegetarians have just as many incidences of arterial plaque in their arteries as those who decide to eat meat.
4. Life Span – Some vegetarians say eating only vegan foods will prolong their life. Hindus who are mostly vegan have the shortest life spans in the world.
5. Osteoporosis - Consuming animal flesh was considered to make the body acidic but consuming plants makes it alkaline therefore meat for animals was considered a contributor to Osteoporosis. The rationale is if the human body is acidic through consuming meat, calcium in the bones is used as a buffer to make the body alkaline. The studies used to prove this were done with protein powders and not real animal flesh. How can you make a generalization like this if you do not use genuine meat?
6. Energy and Growth – Vegans will usually claim they have more energy when following a plant based eating plan but in actuality most vegetarians will complain of shortage of energy because meat supplies some nutrition plants cannot provide. On the flip side, children who follow a vegetarian eating plan can have growth and development problems. I have heard more than one tale where women have problems having a baby as a result of following a strict vegan or vegetarian diet. They also have troubles with their teeth and emotional problems.
7. Saturated Fat - Vegans tend to believe eating a vegetarian diet will help them reduce cholesterol by reducing saturated fat. Well…our bodies need saturated fat and cholesterol isn’t necessarily the bad thing its made out to be. It has been proven that cholesterol is needed for brain and hormone function thus the body needs the saturated fat meats deliver to function properly.
8. Moral Issues- We should not eat farm animals is what some non meat eaters say as a rationalzation for not consuming meat. Well, if we did not consume animals, they would overpopulate the planet, right? Think about it this way if you were put in the jungle or forest and a lion or bear was hungry would they have a dilemma eating a human being like you? We are all part of a big food chain and its just by luck that humans are on top of the food chain.
Just be sure if you are going to continue to eat animal flesh that it’s organic. It’s the anti-biotics and hormones in commercially raised livestock that is making men and women ill.
Now…as I stated a little earlier I don’t force my thought processes on anybody and I’ll stick to this. I believe we get into problems when we try to take things to the extreme. Like it or not,veganism is an extreme way of eating which doesn’t have any significant health rewards over those who choose to eat meat from animals. So what’s the conclusion? All things in moderation. Excessive eating of animal flesh can be unhealthy, just as too many vegetables can be unhealthy but if there is balance which is what our body desires you can get the best of both worlds and there will be no desire to ask the question, “is vegetarianism beneficial?.
Disclaimer: The preceding post is for informational purposes only. Consult a doctor before taking any medical advice.