Some Reasons Why Everyone Should Take A Serious Look At A Vegetarian Diet
Recently, a former superstar made the news by suggesting that people could help the environment if they adopted a vegetarian diet for as little as one day a week. Some media treated his suggestion with due respect. Other media outlets derided him, suggesting that the former rock star was living in his hippy past.
What the media almost universally overlooked was the truth behind his words. If everyone understood the facts about vegetarianism, they would understand why so many people have given up meat eating and felt better for it. Let's take a cold, hard look at meat eating from a vegetarian's point of view.
Looking at the subject from an environmental standpoint, there are a number of reasons to turn away from eating meat on the scale most consume it, especially beef. Raising beef cattle requires enormous amounts of arable land that could produce far more nutritional food than the cattle can. This is a fact established by hard data that no one can truthfully deny.
People living near beef processing plants and process plant workers report a high incidence of health problems directly related to the processing of beef. There is sound medical evidence to prove this, but one way to find out for yourself would be to visit one of these places. But be prepared - you may get sick from the smell before you even enter the premises.
Once inside a slaughterhouse, anyone who hasn't been numbed by years of killing cattle will be horrified by how inhumane the process is. While it is not directly an environmental issue, it is likely that after seeing the inside of a slaughterhouse, you will think twice before buying your next neatly packaged slab of beef. You will definitely look at a vegetarian diet in a new light after a horrific experience like that!
The beef industry goes to great lengths to promote the health benefits of meat eating. Aside from protein, there is very little to substantiate their claim that meat is an essential part of one's diet. An argument might be made that an occasional small serving of meat may be in order, but so many eat phenomenal amounts of meat and it is a major contributor to numerous serious health problems, including heart disease and cancer.
There are very few people who have turned to a vegetarian diet who ever go back to eating meat. Those who do generally eat far less than they did before. Vegetarians, contrary to what the meat lobbies try to make us believe, are healthier and happier than heavy meat eaters.
Interestingly, even the Catholic Church recommends that and most major religions advocate abstinence from meat from time to time, if not permanently. Hindus and many Buddhists have been vegetarians for millennia and it has worked for them. In fact, it seems like the only ones who advocate a high meat diet are the cattle industry lobbyists!
The next time a superstar advocates a vegetarian diet, don't sneer. They are trying to do the world a service. He wasn't asking for much - one day a week. Rather than laugh, educate yourself with facts of the vegetarian diets. It's time the facts were known, for the well being of all of us.
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