Fitness School

Whether to become a vegetarian or not is a question many people face on a regular basis and the answer to this is not always clear to them. Although in the scheme of things you may wonder just what effect one person can make. With sufficient people changing their eating habits, it will make a huge difference for huge numbers of animals that would have otherwise died. A classic example of this is illustrated by the amount of heart disease in the USA that meat-eaters suffer from.

Many of today’s heart conditions would not be so commonplace if people did not eat so much food with high levels of cholesterol, such as dairy products and eggs. According to Earth Save, the average vegetarian has about a quarter of a chance of having a heart attack as the average person. Those individuals that have gone one step further an become vegans have around a ten percent chance of a heart attack as opposed to people on regular diets. But these are not the only health benefits of choosing to be a vegetarian.

Normal, everyday food contains a whole host of preservatives (especially common in meat) that has shown links with many types of cancer. Vegetarians will also benefit from knowing they will not be consuming many of the hormones cattle ingest as part of their feed; which can cause hormonal problems in people. Another substance, lactose, is also missing from their diet which has causal links with digestive conditions. Ok so there are obvious health benefits to becoming a vegetarian but it will also mean that many animals will not be harmed either.

The appalling death toll statistic suggested by Vegan Out-Reach is that over 2,700 animals will be eaten by an average American during their life. If you quit eating meat now, you could literally prevent the suffering and death of hundreds of animals over the course of a couple decades. Continuing along this line and by giving up eggs and milk, many hens and cows will be saved from the degradation of just being alive to feed us. It is difficult to ignore the impact that eating meat has on the planet and makes the case for becoming a vegetarian stronger. This commitment matters to each individual for their health, the health of the planet and those of the animals which will not need to be slaughtered to provide food.

As a prospective vegetarian, you probably question whether or not it really matters if you stop eating meat. A person in this situation may also be questioning if this dramatic change to their life will help the planet at all. Individually it probably won’t as it is only a small scale thing but if many people feel the same way, it does have an effect on the lives of many animals. To provide an example of this, you only have to look at how many people in America suffer with heart disease that eat meat regularly.

Circulatory, heart problems, high cholesterol and heart attacks are primarily caused by the regular consumption of dairy products, eggs and meat; a reduction in this consumption would lower these health problems. According to Earth Save, the average vegetarian has about a quarter of a chance of having a heart attack as the average person. For those who go one step further and become vegans the figure lowers even still to an amazing one in ten chance. A healthy heart is not the only ‘health benefit’ to becoming a vegetarian as there are other reasons too.

There is less likelihood of cancer owing to the reduced number of preservatives that will be in your diet compared to a person that regularly eats meat. Vegetarians will also benefit from knowing they will not be consuming many of the hormones cattle ingest as part of their feed; which can cause hormonal problems in people. It is also much easier to avoid the consumption of lactose which many people have intolerance to, causing digestive conditions. Ok so there are obvious health benefits to becoming a vegetarian but it will also mean that many animals will not be harmed either.

org, the average American consumes 2,714 land animals in their lifetime. Just in a couple of decades, many hundreds of animals would not need to loose their lives if you were to make this commitment. To help even further and stop the number of battery hens and dairy cows from having to suffer degrading conditions you could stop drinking milk and eating eggs. So the answer is yes, it does matter whether or not you become a vegetarian. An improvement in your overall health with less chance of cancer or a heart condition and the reduction of animal deaths provide a compelling argument.