Mend Your Diet

What are the health benefits of becoming a vegetarian?

I am thinking of becoming a vegetarian. What are the benefits that this offers to my health? Vitamins wise? Skin wise?Energy wise? Thank you all in advance!

Public Comments

1. There are none. The Bible says not to worry about what to eat. Food was made for us to eat, even meat and fish. My daughter has been a vegetarian for 16 years and she sure is not different than others.
2. Human beings' teeth and digestive systems were designed (by God or nature, depending upon your belief system) to consume both plant and animal material. There are no particular benefits of switching to all plant material, UNLESS you have been consuming substantial amounts of animal fat - in meat, poultry skin, butter, lard, and so on. Then it would reduce your risk of heart problems and obesity. Vegetarians have to be careful that they get adequate, balanced protein intake to build and maintain muscles. My suggestion would be to increase your intake of vegetables and fruits, eliminate or severly limit your intake of red meat, and stick to fish, skinless chicken, non- or low-fat dairy products, nuts, and eggs (max. four per week).
3. There have been several studies done on this. Some potential benefits include losing weight, getting a better balance of vitamins and minerals (since vegetarians tend to eat more fruits and vegetables), lower risk of getting cancer later in life (since hormones in meat have been shown to cause cancer), etc.
4. If you want to do a bit of reading: http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/92/9/531
5. Just like any diet, you need balance and variety to stay healthy. A well planned plant-based diet can award many health benefits including lowered risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease. It is best to learn how to prepare everything needed for a healthy and satisfying diet before making a commitment. http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html http://www.veganhealth.org/sh -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether. You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/ http://meat.org Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/dicussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat. When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter. Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables. http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/ http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty. A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential. Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses. http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently. Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself. If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs. If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat: Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies. Lunch: VEGAN "SAUSAGE" SANDWICHES, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad. Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup I use these sites to find recipes: http://www.foodnetwork.com http://vegweb.com http://www.recipezaar.com
6. Animal products are full of saturated fat and cholesterol, for one. Also, when you eliminate meat from your diet, you have to get your nutrition from healthier sources. You won't believe how many vegetables and fruits you'll start eating as a result of giving up meat! I'm still amazed at my vegetable-rich diet. And you'll have to eat some soy, at least. Soy is GREAT for you! Just check out these sites: http://www.talksoy.com/Health/HealthBenefits.htm http://www.healthcastle.com/herb_soy.shtml http://coffeetea.about.com/od/health/a/soymilk.htm The bottom line is you just can't get the types of vitamins from meat as you can from vegetables. While I don't dispute that some people eat meat and still get 5 or more servings of veggies per day, it's just so much easier to get your servings in if that is the center of your diet. I believe this is how humans were meant to eat.
7. There are tremendous health benefits from vegetarianism, and especially veganism. This is without influence of my moral beliefs, just my honest knowledge and personal experience. First, you can expect to just feel better. Within a few weeks, you'll realize that meat and animal produce (mostly red meat) has been paralyzing you circulatory system. You with FEEL your blood flow better and more evenly. Also, you will feel much less toxic. Your mental clarity will improve, and your mood as well. Other noticeable effects are better skin (ridiculously better, especially if you eat really healthy), healthy weight loss, and more energy. I have the best skin out of any guy that I know. I lost some stomach fat, and actually gained facial fat (which I needed.) However, you can be a vegetarian and be just as unhealthy as if you ate meat. I recommend that you also do the following. -Avoid processed foods -Only eat whole wheat flour, and whole grains -Get 50-60 grams of vegetable protein (soy, vegetables) a day -Eat mostly fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts (in variety) -Eat flax seeds, a great source of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids -Exercise as much as you can -Get direct sunlight for at least 30 minutes a day (which your skin uses to generate vitamin D) -Eat fruits high in antioxidants (acai, mangosteen, berries) -Take algae supplements spirulina and chlorella I guarantee you that once you try vegetarianism, you will soon find that the benefits out way the taste of meat. It isn't even a comparison worth mentioning. I used to pretty much do the above, but ate meat. I only really noticed a difference in my health when I became a vegan.
8. Assuming that you're planning on adopting a healthy, balanced, varied vegetarian diet, there are many health benefits. Studies have shown that vegetarians can expect to live longer than meat eaters. The vegetarian population suffers less heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, prostate cancer, colon cancer, diabetes and gall stones. Vegetarians are also far more likely than the average omnivore to get enough fiber in their diet. It's been a long time since I went veg, so you'll have to judge for yourself whether you see an improvement in your skin or your energy level or whatnot. Many women report a reduction in PMS symptoms when they go veg, presumably due to the fact that you're no longer receiving all those extra hormones that cows are pumped full of.
9. tito whatever um human beings have those teeth to chew harder veggies like cucumbers and things like that - human jaws move up and down and side to side like cows - meat eaters do not and just swallow the food whole - humans are the only species who has to cook the meat not to get sick