The American Diet

"You are what you eat", goes a famous saying. And if that is truly the case, then a lot of Americans would appear to be unhealthy, chemically treated, commercially raised slabs of animal flesh. And while that is not a particularly pleasant thought, it is nonetheless an description of the typical American omnivore who survives on the consumption of Big Macs and steak fajitas.But there are individuals who do not follow this American norm and have altered their diets so that they do not consume any meat. These people are vegetarians, and they are the new breed of healthy Americans who refuse to poison themselves with fats, cholesterol, and the other harmful additives that come from meat. And while once thought to be a movement that would never gain much momentum, it has nonetheless moved itself to the forefront of Americans' healthy diets.The word vegetarian, used to describe the diets of people who do not consume animal flesh, was not used until around the mid-1800s. The concept of vegetarianism, however, dates back much further.

The Greek philosopher Pythagoras, considered by many to be the father of vegetarianism, encouraged a non-meat diet among his followers as a diet that was the most natural and healthful (Messina 3).A vegetarian diet excludes the consumption of meat, and can be exercised by people for a number of reasons. The largest majority of individuals chose vegetarianism for health related reasons. For example, someone with an ulcer might be prescribed a strict diet of vegetables in order to promote the healing process. Or someone with a dangerously high level of cholesterol might be advised to follow a vegetarian diet to lower his or her fat and cholesterol intake.The immorality of consuming animal flesh is another argument touted by a smaller group of vegetarians. R.G.

Frey describes this moral argument for vegetarianism and the effect that meat eating might have on the character of humans:Some people have come to believe and fear that, in the suffering and killing which occurs in commercial farming, we demean ourselves, coarsen our sensitivities, dull our feelings of sympathy with our fellow creatures, and so begin the descent down the slippery slope of torture and death, to a point where it becomes easier for us to contemplate and carry out the torture and killing of human beings. (20)This moral argument for vegetarianism is also noted by John Robbins who states that "the suffering these animals undergo has become so extreme that to partake of food from these creatures is to partake unknowingly of the abject misery that has been their lives"(14).