Reasons for Becoming a Vegetarian

Unfortunately, we as humans, go based off by what society thinks is morally correct. We are all mostly raised eating meat and animal products; thinking it's okay that an omnivores diet is normal. However, what we are not always aware of when we are young, is that it is possible to sustain good health consuming a vegetarian diet. We are so used to knowing meat is essential for us as humans to gain nutrients for our body, or just like we need milk to maintain nice strong bones, or that having a vegetarian diet is not enough to go day by day. This is what society has shaped us to be, and for it being this way, we might hesitate to be wanting to change our diets. Introducing a vegetarian diet won't only help us, as individuals to further improve the quality of our health, but it will also help the environment and most definitely will also help for the progress of our planet.

Americans are mostly focused more on a large portion of meat and meat products than a plant-based diet which leads to negative effects on health and other factors. Research has shown that that about a decade ago, a vegetarian diet lacked in nutrients that were usually found in meat products. In Harvard Women's Health Watch article, they state that Today, six to eight million adults in the United States eat no meat, fish, or poultry, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll commissioned by the Vegetarian Resource Group, a nonprofit organization that disseminated information about vegetarianism. Though, today, through nutritional science, it has been proven that nutrients we need from a meat product have been found in a correct vegetarian diet. Acknowledging a proper vegetarian diet is crucial for a healthy lifestyle. Becoming a vegetarian is challenging but in the long run, it will all be worth it.

Developing a vegetarian diet is absolute. When it comes to eating the right way, you should know how to balance out your food. This process is which where you know what to eat in order to get the proper nutrients your body needs. Omega-rich food like seeds, almonds, and fish is important to the maintenance and reproduction of cells in our cell membrane. While Omega fats are good for the brain, saturated fats found in red meat may compromise brain health significantly. Furthermore, Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables strengthens the brain to be able to ward off certain free radicals that destroy brain cells. Taking this into consideration, not only would it allow our brain to process things quicker but also would be able to work for a better remote future. For many health outcomes, a progressively beneficial relationship was observed between the dietary patterns, with vegan providing the best benefit compared with non-vegetarian (Francis).

As far as body mass index meat-eaters had the highest and vegetarians had the lowest. Nowadays, Americans are so ambitious to having meat in their everyday diet. Consequently, meat is made up of mostly saturated fat and cholesterol, which can be very dangerous when it comes to all different types of diseases. A leading number of serious health problems are kidney disease, cancer, and kidney stones. When we consume protein, it can be risky, because we are in taking more nitrogen than what we really need. This takes a poll on our kidneys by having to get rid of the extra nitrogen through urine. Protein portrays a big role in cancer as well. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International asserts that There is strong evidence that consumption of either red or processed meat are both causes of colorectal cancer.

Being a vegetarian sets you up for a better lifestyle. One which where you wouldn't have to worry about all kinds of factors like overweight, diabetes, or even having a high increase of lipid levels. Dr. Garry Fraser as professor of medicine and epidemiology at Loma University, states that Men that were studied, who ate meat at least three times a week had doubled the risk of fatal heart disease compared to a vegetarian. In order to strengthen the heart, consuming high-fiber whole grains can help keep the blood sugars balanced. Type 2 diabetes is also a contributing factor, Research suggests that a predominantly plant-based diet can reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes. (Harvard Women's Health Watch). This makes a vast difference when it comes to life expectancy as well. As awful this might seem, vegetarians tend to outlive non-vegetarians, and this is all due to what different types of high-based proteins found in meat does to us.

Proteins and amino acids, the compounds which are used for our body that builds and maintains us, affect how we feel or behave. Amino acids can play a role as a remote to release neurotransmitters, which might make us feel very observant, and also calm. The combination of compounds in food can also trigger brain cells to help liberate mood-changing like norepinephrine. Norepinephrine helps so that one may be able to react more quickly, as it acts on the heart by causing a threshold. By definition Norepinephrine is affirmed by Rice University, A stress hormone, that affects, parts of the brain where attention and responding actions are controlled. This is where a vegetarianism diet comes very convenient. There are many plant sources that can help vegans meet their protein needs, including peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas, seeds, nuts, soy products, and whole grains. (Harvard Women's Health Watch). A wide range of vegetarian diet can help preserve a stabilized mixture of neurons transmitters. This also helps from having a series of unstable moods.

Avoiding meat can surprisingly reduce the impact of our environment. One of the biggest contributors to climate change is livestock production and the meat industry. As humans, we normally eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, animals are in fact bigger which means they need more feed and water than we do. Consequential, producing up more greenhouse gas emissions than us humans. Climatenexus, states in their article that, Fossil Fuels [are constantly] burned to produce mineral fertilizers for feed production. Us as humans cause greenhouse gas emissions by 14.5% from meat production. Not everyone is aware that meat production has much higher gas emission impacts than a fruit and vegetable-based diet. A journal published on Time by Bryan Walsh states, The highest total of livestock-related greenhouse-gas emissions comes from the developing world, which accounts for 75% of the global emissions from cattle and other ruminants and 56% of the global emissions from poultry and pigs. Subsequently, Vegetarian diets can most definitely change our environment for better.

The food that people eat is just as important as what kind of cars they drive when it comes to creating greenhouse-gas emissions that many scientists have linked to global warming (University of Chicago News Office). If the world were to out of the blue turn to a vegetarian diet instead of a non-vegetarian diet; or gas emissions would go down up to 70%. Just like greenhouse-gases have become a problem our water is being affected too. For every portion of meat, we eat, there is a less portion of water for us to drink from. In order for animal agriculture to continue, these animals have to be fed grains and cereals. These grains have to be natured for by being watered, but what we don't realize is that most of our water is given to crops just to produce calories worth of meat.

It requires 1,799 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. (Curit). One Green Planet states that An average family of four uses about 400 hundred gallons of water; add four cheeseburgers and that number goes up to 7,000 gallons. Our water footprint is being affected by our meat-based diet every day. If we were to choose a vegetarian diet lifestyle, the footprint would have been cut down remarkably. The average American diet requires the production of an extra ton and a half of carbon dioxide-equivalent, in the form of actual carbon dioxide as well as methane and other greenhouse gases compared to a strictly vegetarian diet(University of Chicago News Office).

Many reasons are listed for why being a vegetarian or vegan can benefit us as humans, not only for nutritional reasons or health issues but also for environmental changes. It only takes one person to drastically change the world's impact on carbon and our water footprint by changing from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian or vegan diet. If we start by just one person spreading awareness, then the rest would follow. The meat production demand will go down resulting in the reduction for animals' deaths. There is no more excuse about not getting enough nutrients through a vegetarian or vegan diet, having a well-balanced diet will benefit not only us as humans but also for the animals. Most of us humans would quickly deny the request of turning to vegetarianism or a vegan diet, but if presented with this information they might reconsider. If humans start to contribute, slowly but surely, there will be unbelievably effects.

Cite this page