Tevin Norris Ms. Ingram April 30, 2013 Why become a Vegetarian?

Youre not going to get all the protein and nutrition that you need if you become a vegetarian is the infamous line that people who eat an omnivorous diet say to you and that line right there is the main reason why people stray away from living a vegetarian lifestyle. Trust me Ive heard that line several times before becoming one and even when I tell someone that I am a vegetarian. The thing people is failing to realize is that being a vegetarian can actually be way healthier for you rather than people who consume meat in their daily diet and also the environment that you live in. The argument between which one is better for you, a vegetarian or an omnivorous diet, is clearly backed up with statistics, research, and facts to why vegetarianism is healthier for you if done correctly. So the next time youre at dinner deciding if you want to eat that big fat juicy steak, or that plate filled with vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, you should know why becoming a vegetarian would be the better option for your health and for living a long life. Everyone has had that phase of becoming a vegetarian and has failed weak to the temptation of meat but if you knew the benefits of being a vegetarian you might reconsider that. According to the book Six arguments to a greener diet written by Michael Jacobson, he stated that The total direct medical costs in the United States attributable to meat consumption were estimated to be $30-60 billion a year, based upon the higher prevalence of hypertension, heart disease, cancer,

diabetes, gallstones, obesity and food-borne illness among omnivores compared with vegetarians (Winston). The main reason to why being a vegetarian is healthier for you is because consuming whole grains, legumes, nuts, fruits and vegetables can help lower you risk of chronic diseases. According to a major report by the World Cancer research in 1997 eating a plant based diet could lower your risk of having cancer than eating meats and fish. Jacobson also mention that People who consume higher amounts of fruits and vegetables have about one-half the risk of cancer, especially the epithelial cancers (Jacobson 27). Due to the high saturated fats found in meat it allows people who have a low plant consumption to lead to higher cholesterol level, blood pressure, and higher obesity rate. When having all those effects on someone health it can lead up to the biggest health concern which is heart disease. In the book Six arguments for a Greener diet studies have showed that eating less meat will save 63,000 lives that could have possible been lost from heart disease each year due to high consumption of meat (Jacobson 61). Jacobson also included information about a group of people whose religion advocates abstinence from eating meat and poultry called Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs), and it turns out that eating a more plant-based diet seem to live longer and healthier lives. In their finding that relates to cardiovascular issues such as heart attacks is that men who are non-vegetarian have twice the rate of having a fatal heart attack then men who are SDA. They also found that being a non-vegetarian cause hypertension which can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes and is twice as common. One of the key findings of SDAs is the vegetarian SDA women live about 2.5 years longer than non-vegetarian, and SDA men tend to live 3.2 years longer than non-vegetarian-men. So not only does being a vegetarian decrease you

risk of having a heart attack and stroke according to these studies, it also increases your motality. According to the article Why Go Vegetarian, 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 . So now the question is, what about Americans? If you switch from the standard American diet to a vegetarian diet, you can add about 13 healthy years to your life, says Michael F. Roizen, MD, author of The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger with What You Eat. He explains that when you consume animal products you clog your arteries, and slow down your immune system. On that note, due to our high saturated and processed foods and eating low amounts of plants is causing the obesity rate to increase dramatically. 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 (Why Go Vegetarian?). Obesity is also a real concerning health issue in America because it can lead to type two diabetes, a higher chance of hypertension, heart diseases, and some cancers. In the book Six Arguments of a Greener Diet in 26 days showed that 652 people with diabetes more than one-third of the insulin-using subjects who adopted a low-fat vegetarian diet were able to discontinue the insulin and close to three quarters of those people who were taking oral hypoglycemic medicines were able to stop taking them. The increase in consumption of fruits, and vegetables can help contribute to the prevention of diabetes and whole grains and

nuts help reduce the rate of diabetes. Most people who are obese tend to have higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels. When living a vegetarian lifestyle and also including having a daily exercise routine could help reduce weight which can reduce the health issues that could possibly come with obesity. In a movie called Super-Size Me, Morgan Spurlock took on the challenge to prove and show how eating Mcdonald everyday can be very bad for your health and can be the main cause to obesity. In the movie he shows how processed food can be very damaging to your cholesterol levels and blood pressure and also make you gain weight rapidly. Eating a lot of meat can lead to certain cancer because according to the American Cancer Society, red meats may increase the risk of cancer such as colon and rectum (Jacobson 34). In studies ADAs men and women who ate meat every other day had almost twice the risk of having colon cancer and also a study by EPIC found that eating red and/or processed meat increase your risk of colorectal cancers. Fruits and vegetables tend to lower the risk of mouth, esophageal and stomach cancers and depending on your age and sex the amount of fruit and vegetable consumption could vary. Lastly, people do not realize that being a vegetarian can help reduce your chances of getting food-borne illnesses. Sadly due to the contamination from live-stock, fruits and vegetables can cause some to get food poisoning. On that note, more that 1,000 Americans die each year from foodborne illnesses that are link to meat and poultry (Jacobson). It also can be morally healthy for you such as when it comes to eating meat, we all know that meat has to come from some living animal. In the year 2003, America alone had slaughtered nearly 9 billion animals, unfortunately food animals are not protected by federal animal welfare law so therefore that means that animal are abuse and

mistreated such as cuttings of beaks, horns, tails, or testes and living unnatural lives ( Jacobson 114). The other side is the whole environment because due to the manufacture companies of meats use some much fossil fuels to travel and ship their product is slowing causing more air pollution and also not having cleaner water. 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 (Jacobson 115). As of human beings reducing that pressure off of our shoulders could make you feel like youre being part of a bigger picture and doing whats non-barbaric and morally incorrect. Now after hearing all the studies and facts about how being non-vegetarian can be unhealthy for you, what can you get out of being vegetarian that can make you healthier? Fruit, vegetables, legumes, and nuts nourish us with fiber, antioxidants, folate, and potassium which are important to our bodies. On that note several pants contain phytochemicals which can reduce the chances of heart diseases, cancer, stroke, cataracts, and other diseases (Jacobson 52). When it comes to legumes they end to lower your risk of heart disease while on the other hand nut protects you against it. Whole grains can provide you with B vitamins, vitamin E, fiber, zinc, iron, and proteins. A way to substitute animal products is using soy, and soybeans in countries such as China, Japan, and other Asian countries are believed to reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and etc (Jacobson 39). A quote in the article Why Go Vegetarian An estimated 70 percent of all diseases, including one-third of all cancers, are related to diet. A vegetarian diet

reduces the risk for chronic degenerative diseases such as obesity, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain types of cancer including colon, breast, prostate, stomach, lung and esophageal cancer This argument is clearly in favor of vegetarianism just because all the dangerous and fatal health concerns that come with eating meat but our main focus is at the end of the day we all want to be just healthy. The fact that just because something tastes good to you or you cannot give it up referring to meat; it should not stop you from having a healthier and longer life. The idea of just cutting cold turkey is a lot to ask for but just consuming less meat or none at all and eating a more plant-based diet can prevent and reduce your chances of having heart disease, cancers, and effects of obesity in your future. So not only will you be doing yourself a favor becoming a vegetarian you will also be taking the smalls steps in making the world a healthier place to live in ; lastly you should think about what you are eating because it could be your last.