Why Not? It’s delicious, healthy, good for the environment, and no animal is killed in vain.
But if you need a thorough explanation, here’s an article about it:
You'll ward off disease.
Vegetarian diets are more healthful than the average American diet,
particularly in preventing, treating or reversing heart disease and
reducing the risk of cancer. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the single
most effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or
prevent it entirely. Cardiovascular disease kills 1 million Americans
annually and is the leading cause of death in the United States. But the
mortality rate for cardiovascular disease is lower in vegetarians than
in nonvegetarians, says Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss. A
vegetarian diet is inherently healthful because vegetarians consume
less animal fat and cholesterol (vegans consume no animal fat or
cholesterol) and instead consume more fiber and more antioxidant-rich
produce——another great reason to listen to Mom and eat your veggies!
You'll keep your weight down.
The standard American diet—high in saturated fats and processed foods
and low in plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates——is making us fat
and killing us slowly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and a division of the CDC, the National Center for
Health Statistics, 64 percent of adults and 15 percent of children aged 6
to 19 are overweight and are at risk of weight-related ailments
including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. A study conducted from
1986 to 1992 by Dean Ornish, MD, president and director of the
Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, found
that overweight people who followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet lost an
average of 24 pounds in the first year and kept off that weight 5 years
later. They lost the weight without counting calories or carbs and
without measuring portions or feeling hungry.
Want more proof of longevity?
Residents of Okinawa, Japan, have the longest life expectancy of any
Japanese and likely the longest life expectancy of anyone in the world,
according to a 30-year study of more than 600 Okinawan centenarians.
Their secret: a low-calorie diet of unrefined complex carbohydrates,
fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and soy.
You'll build strong bones.
When there isn'’t enough calcium in the bloodstream, our bodies will
leach it from existing bone. The metabolic result is that our skeletons
will become porous and lose strength over time. Most health care
practitioners recommend that we increase our intake of calcium the way
nature intended——through foods. Foods also supply other nutrients such
as phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin D that are necessary for the body
to absorb and use calcium.
People who are
mildly lactose-intolerant can often enjoy small amounts of dairy
products such as yogurt, cheese and lactose-free milk. But if you avoid
dairy altogether, you can still get a healthful dose of calcium from dry
beans, tofu, soymilk and dark green vegetables such as broccoli, kale,
collards and turnip greens.
You'll reduce your risk of food-borne illnesses.
The CDC reports that food-borne illnesses of all kinds account for 76
million illnesses a year, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and
5,000 deaths in the United States. According to the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), foods rich in protein such as meat, poultry, fish
and seafood are frequently involved in food-borne illness outbreaks.
You'll ease the symptoms of menopause.
Many foods contain nutrients beneficial to perimenopausal and
menopausal women. Certain foods are rich in phytoestrogens, the
plant-based chemical compounds that mimic the behavior of estrogen.
Since phytoestrogens can increase and decrease estrogen and progesterone
levels, maintaining a balance of them in your diet helps ensure a more
comfortable passage through menopause. Soy is by far the most abundant
natural source of phytoestrogens, but these compounds also can be found
in hundreds of other foods such as
apples, beets, cherries, dates, garlic, olives, plums, raspberries,
squash and yams. Because menopause is also associated with weight gain
and a slowed metabolism, a low-fat, high-fiber vegetarian diet can help
ward off extra pounds.
You'll have more energy.
Good nutrition generates more usable energy——energy to keep pace with
the kids, tackle that home improvement project or have better sex more
often, Michael F. Roizen, MD, says in The RealAge Diet. Too
much fat in your bloodstream means that arteries won’'t open properly
and that your muscles won'’t get enough oxygen. The result? You feel
zapped. Balanced vegetarian diets are naturally free of
cholesterol-laden, artery-clogging animal products that physically slow
us down and keep us hitting the snooze button morning after morning. And
because whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables are so high in
complex carbohydrates, they supply the body with plenty of energizing
fuel.
You'll be more 'regular.'
Eating a lot of vegetables necessarily means consuming more fiber,
which pushes waste out of the body. Meat contains no fiber. People who
eat lower on the food chain tend to have fewer instances of
constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulitis.
You'll help reduce pollution.
Some people become vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the
meat industry is having on the environment. According to the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff
from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of
polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the
greatest threats to water quality today. Agricultural activities that
cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide
spraying, irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting.
You'll avoid toxic chemicals.
The EPA estimates that nearly 95 percent of the pesticide residue in
the typical American diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products.
Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens (PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals
(mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium) that can'’t be removed through cooking
or freezing. Meat and dairy products can also be laced with steroids
and hormones, so be sure to read the labels on the dairy products you
purchase.
You'll help reduce famine.
About 70 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to
animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the
United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly
by the American population. “If all the grain currently fed to livestock
were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed
would be nearly 800 million,” says David Pimentel, professor of ecology
at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it would boost the
US trade balance by $80 billion a year.
You'll spare animals.
Many vegetarians give up meat because of their concern for animals. Ten
billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year. And,
unlike the farms of yesteryear where animals roamed freely, today most
animals are factory farmed: —crammed into cages where they can barely
move and fed a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics. These
animals spend their entire lives in crates or stalls so small that they
can'’t even turn around. Farmed animals are not protected from cruelty
under the law——in fact, the majority of state anticruelty laws
specifically exempt farm animals from basic humane protection.
You'll save money.
Meat accounts for 10 percent of Americans'’ food spending. Eating
vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef,
chicken and fish each nonvegetarian eats annually would cut individual
food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.
Your dinner plate will be full of color.
Disease-fighting phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their rich,
varied hues. They come in two main classes: carotenoids and
anthocyanins. All rich yellow and orange fruits and vegetables——carrots,
oranges, sweet potatoes, mangoes, pumpkins, corn—owe their color to
carotenoids. Leafy green vegetables also are rich in carotenoids but get
their green color from chlorophyll. Red, blue and purple fruits and
vegetables——plums, cherries, red bell peppers——contain anthocyanins.
Cooking by color is a good way to ensure you’re eating a variety of
naturally occurring substances that boost immunity and prevent a range
of illnesses.
Article taken from The Vegetarian Time's
