Friday evening. You decided to have a dinner with your friends at the new restaurant. You are promptly seated at the table in a corner and are given menus. Happy mood helps to enjoy the evening. What a varied menu you have here: juicy burgers, foot-long sandwiches, salads, steaks, grilled ribs in barbecue sauce, grilled chicken ... Oh, wait! You are a vegetarian. You are not allowed to eat meat. Your evening is destroyed. Your friends are laughing at you while you’re finishing the second plate of salad, while they are playing with pork ribs. You’ve already prepared to listen to their jokes about vegetarians and answer multiple questions why you stopped eating meat.
The situation above often occurred to me. Before I chose a restaurant, I tried to find out what food was served there. I was vegetarian for over five years. And all these five years I ate no fish, no meat, no chicken, but only vegetables, fruits, nuts and cereals. I thought such an abundance of nutrient was sufficient for my organism, but my body was saying otherwise. A few months later, after the rejection of meat food and consumption of vegetables only, I started to feel the malnutrition. Hunger followed me constantly. Despite the fact that I could eat a lot, a half an hour later, I was so hungry and had to look for something else to eat. Then, health problems began. Depression, emotional imbalance, fatigue, weakness, apathy, poor sleep – this was just a small list of disorders that I have gained by eating vegetables. When I stopped eating meat, I didn’t know what it was like to be a vegetarian. I wasn’t aware of what I should have eaten and how. During this long five years, I learned a lot about vegetarianism and found out it’s not even close to what people think i...
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...rom harmful thoughts and teaches the discipline and the patience. It’s important to remember that vegetarianism is a short-term diet and should not be extended over a long period of time. Otherwise, it will bring harm and destruction to the body.
Vegetarianism taught me a good lesson. I began to feel my body and to listen to its signals. I am pleased to share my experiences with my friends. I try to show them the pros and cons of this diet. Smart people learn in someone’s mistake. I wasn’t smart enough and started five-year long experiment to understand how it’s like to be a vegetarian. At the end of my “journey”, I came up to conclusion that good nutrition should be diversified. We can not live without vegetables, eating only meat and vice versa. We need to combine meat products with plant food in order to maintain healthy lifestyle and enjoy our lives in full.
“The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."( Schopenhauer). Vegetarianism and animal rights movement have been crossing each other since 70’s. The meeting point between two is veganism which means strict vegetarianism. Vegetarianism was firstly founded as being formed on ethical issues and then it became mostly based on health reasons. Even though vegetarianism has evolved drastically over time, some of its current forms have come back full circle to its early days, when vegetarianism was an ethical-philosophical choice, not a mere health choice.
Vanessa Ha and Russell de Souza published a study they did over the health benefits of vegetarianism in the Journal of the American Heart Association. They found that switching to a vegetarian diet can cause healthy weight loss, lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure. They also found that vegetarians eat lower amounts of total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. If the United States’ population could start to lose weight, there would be a multitude of benefits. People would have more energy, they would sleep better, and the nation would get back on track. Weight loss can also help to reverse Type 2 Diabetes. Many people would be able to get off their medication and be able to function without being dependent on their medicine. They would also save time because they would not have to go to doctor’s appointments so often. If the American people were all vegetarians, the obesity problem in the United States could practically be eradicated, as Ha and Souza proved that the vegetarian diet could cause weight loss. People could live normal, healthy
Though vegetarianism was never a taboo subject as are some other controversial topics, The question of whether or not human beings should live off meat still is highly discussed amongst all types of people. Spiritual leaders, activists, scientists, and doctors have spoken up on behalf of their group’s opinion. Amongst the arguments of what is right when it comes to the food chain, resonating on many a mind is where the concept of vegetarian came from. Was it started as a religious virtue or a moral decision? Perhaps it was a forced lifestyle or a diet trend gone wrong (or right depending). Health wise, which is better for us? Educating ourselves by answering these questions helps us answer the, perhaps, most important question of all. Which lifestyle will we, as individuals, choose?
Being vegetarian opens up so many doors for people. For those who do not know what a vegetarian is or are confused on what they do or eat let me inform you that being a vegetarian simply means that you go off of plant-based diets. Although there are several kinds of vegetarian diets, it is all based on what type of food you are consuming. For example, a strict vegetarians or vegans avoid all foods of animal origin, including meat, poultry, fish, diary products, and eggs. Many people become a vegetarian for different reason according to the Calorie King he states, “being vegetarian means different things to different people, and people follow a vegetarian diet for different reason including health, religion, and ethical beliefs.”(Deusen p.1)
Every day across America millions of people wake up to start their morning. Throughout the day the vast majority of these people will consume meat, but 3% will replace the pig, cow, and chicken products for vegetable or fruit made meals (Harris). These vegetarians all have many different reasons to make this choice. This decision is a huge change in one’s life and is not without questions. Some people may wonder why would anyone abstain from the amazing food that contains meat. This essay will briefly explain the history of vegetarianism, the reasons for vegetarianism, and answer questions about vegetarianism. Vegetarian diets are all around better than diets containing meat because of three main reasons; the abuse of animals, the environmental damage, and the health benefits for humans.
“The assumption that animals are without rights, and the illusion that their treatment has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."(Schopenhauer). I always wondered why some people are not so drawn to the consumption of meat and fed up with only one thought about it. Why so many people loathe of blood, and why so few people can easily kill and be slaughter animal, until they just get used to it? This reaction should say something about the most important moments in the code, which was programmed in the human psyche. Realization the necessity of refraining from meat is especially difficult because people consume it for a long time, and in addition, there is a certain attitude to the meat as to the product that is useful, nourishing and even prestigious. On the other hand, the constant consumption of meat has made the vast majority of people completely emotionless towards it. However, there must be some real and strong reasons for refusal of consumption of meat and as I noticed they were always completely different. So, even though vegetarianism has evolved drastically over time, some of its current forms have come back full circle to resemble that of its roots, when vegetarianism was an ethical-philosophical choice, not merely a matter of personal health.
Appropriately planned vegetarian diets can be essential to any one, in any stage of their life. Vegetarian diets are associated with lower risks of cancer, death from ischemic heart disease or any cardiovascular disease. Also lower body mass index (BMI), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, low blood pressure and lower rates of hypertension than those of which are non-vegetarians.
The two primary reasons I choose to be a vegetarian are out of consideration for health (mine and others) and a sense of obligation to live a less-demanding, more equitable life. While some might think that these motivations are noble, I hardly think so. I think they are an ample mix of selfish and collective concerns, ones that recognize my desire to live a long, healthy life and at the same time wishing and allowing the same for others.
Many people don’t believe think anything of what they eat or how it got there. But the harsh truth is the meat that you eat was once a living, breathing creature that had feeling and emotions. Maybe next time you order a steak or chicken nuggets you should think about the animals that went through extreme pain and conditions for you to eat. Not only is it inhumane to put animals through such pain, not eating meat and having a vegetarian lifestyle can have huge benefits to animals, the environment, and your health.
Albert Einstein once said, "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." As people move into a more health conscious society, vegetarianism is becoming a popular choice. While some people cannot imagine a day without meat, others are convinced that a vegetarian lifestyle is the better option. There are numerous benefits of being a vegetarian. Some of the reasons are as follows: vegetarianism has multiple health paybacks, is far better for the environment, and is morally sound. Most people believe that vegetarianism is unhealthy, goes against our natural diet, and unnecessary, however, a vegetarian diet offers many health benefits and is more ethical than an omnivorous existence.
Vegetarians tend to be healthier than those who consume meat. This is due to the prevalent unnatural chemicals used in the processing of meats, and eating these are unsuitable for the body. Meats already contain harmful amounts of cholesterol, and over-consumption of red meat can lead to early heart disease. Animals that are raised on farms for their meat are not treated well, and this mistreatment can lead to harm in the meat they are producing. Although one life choice cannot change one’s environmental
For several years the issue of eating meat has been a great concern to all types of people all over the world. In many different societies controversy has began to arise over the morality of eating meat from animals. A lot of the reasons for not eating meat have to deal with religious affiliations, personal health, animal rights, and concern about the environment. Vegetarians have a greater way of expressing meats negative effects on the human body whereas meat eaters have close to no evidence of meat eating being a positive effect on the human body. Being a vegetarian is more beneficial for human beings because of health reasons, environmental issues, and animal rights.
The Advantages of a Vegetarian Diet Having a healthy dietary method can reduce the chances of receiving many health diseases. These health diseases include obesity, heart disease, and cancer. By consuming certain foods and nutrients in one’s diet, the risk factors for these health diseases can be reduced. A healthy dietary method that is beneficial to reducing and/or improving these health diseases is the vegetarian diet. The vegetarian diet follows a dietary pattern that is characterized by the consumption of plant-like foods and the avoidance of flesh foods (meat, poultry, and fish).
In conclusion, vegetarianism benefits many part of our life. A healthier body, a better environment, and more fair treatment of animals are all requites of becoming vegetarians. It is hard to change eating habits, but it is not impossible. There are many kinds of food that vegetarians can choose today. The taste of the non-meat food is not all bad and some of them maybe much better than imagination. It is not wise to deny being a vegetarian before trying to be. With more and more people adopting the vegetarian diet, the world will be a better place in the future: animals will be treated better; global warming will be alleviated; fewer people will be starving, and ultimately, people will be healthier and be living longer. Therefore, people should start action before it is too late.