Why Go Vegetarian?
Jun 30th, 2008 by George Mole
If there’s one thing that new vegetarians are asked time and time again, it’s “why be a vegetarian?” The motivation for taking meat out of your diet may be confusing for some people, especially if they aren’t familiar with the wealth of delicious food available to vegetarians.
When asked “why be a vegetarian?” many take this question as an attack on vegetarianism and try to defend their position, whereas many people ask this question merely out of curiosity to know the motivations behind becoming a vegetarian.
Why Stick To Vegetables Only When It Is So Expensive? Meat Is Tasty And Cheap
One of the arguments made against vegetarianism is that it takes a lot of work and thought. At first glance, it may seem that vegetarians put a lot more work into their diet than meat eaters, but the truth is that they are usually just more careful with their diet and do everything they can to ensure that they are getting balanced nutrition.
The idea that it is more expensive to eat foods to replace meat in their diet is a common misconception about vegetarianism. Although meat substitutes can be costly, inexpensive vegetarian foods can be purchased in bulk. Some examples of the most inexpensive vegetarian staples are rice, oats, beans, and pasta
It is an accepted fact that we all could benefit from more fruit and vegetables in our diets. However, when fresh fruits and vegetables are taken into account, the cost of the vegetarian diet does go up a small amount. However, vegetarians generally do not consume significantly more fresh vegetables and fruit than the rest of the general public.
If the amount of resources needed to produce crops and meat are taken into account, it will be seen that it is less expensive to produce plant foods. The artificially low priced meat available in the supermarket and in restaurants are the products of the subsidies provided by the government to the farmers in the form of payments to encourage meat production.
Why Become a Vegetarian When Humans Were Designed to Eat Meat?
While many meat eaters make the argument that humans weren’t made to live without meat in their diets, there is actually plenty of biological evidence to the contrary. Our bodies more closely resemble the physiology of herbivores than carnivores: our digestive system shows that our optimal food is plant matter, not meat.
While the human body is capable of digesting meat, eating meat long-term is known to cause many health problems. High cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis are all directly linked to eating meat. Although eating meat infrequently does not seem to significantly raise our risk for these maladies, the typical American diet contains so much meat that it effectively poisons our bodies. Were we designed to be meat eaters? The evidence suggests that we were not.
Why Be a Vegetarian? Why Wouldn’t You Be One?
Even, though there are many reasons to be vegetarian, your personal beliefs are the most important. Becoming a vegetarian removes your endorsement from an industry that produces more waste than all other American industries put together. You will be doing your part to achieve a healthy lifestyle, as well as a healthier planet. You will also be doing your part in supporting animal rights. There are no known detrimental effects of being a vegetarian, in fact being one has many benefits for one’s physical, emotional, and financial well-being.