Reasons can range from the enviroment, personal health, finances and usually, ethics. I'm going to tell some reasons from each of this category, this will help all the undeciding people out there that don't know why they should be one or maybe to those wh don't know how to tell their parents!
ENVIROMENT:
1. Conservation of fossil fuels and other gasses - It's ridiculous how much fossill fuels and such are resulted from meat cooking and meat killing. Vegetables are things you don't have to kill - so nothing is generated there and barely anything bad is generated from common vegetarian items!
2. Soil Saving - meat and fluids and bacteria from it can totally KILL soil! Vegetables help soil nourish and stay healthy, which is pretty awesome because I don't wanna live in a bacteria filled hole.
3. Saving our forests - Millions of trees are cut down to hold a factory of live stock! Not only are they destroying habitats with livestock farms but they're killing animals just to kill animals!
PERSONAL HEALTH: *Here comes a huge one* This is not my list - this list is from: http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm all credits for the personal health section is too them! Everything but this section is me!
No deficiencies. There is no nutrient necessary for optimal human functioning which cannot be obtained from plant food.
High fat plus cholesterol. Animal foods are higher in fat than most plant foods, particularly saturated fats. Plants do not contain cholesterol.
"Carb" deficient. Meat is deficient in carbohydrates, particularly the starches which are so essential to proper health.
Vitamin deficient. Except for the b-complex, meat is largely deficient in vitamins.
Agricultural Chemicals. Being higher on the food chain, animal foods contain far higher concentrations of agricultural chemicals than plant foods, including pesticides, herbicides, etc.
Exposure to livestock drugs. There are over 20,000 different drugs, including sterols, antibiotics, growth hormones and other veterinary drugs that are given to livestock animals. These drugs are consumed when animal foods are consumed. The dangers herein, in secondary consumption of antibiotics, are well documented.
Pathogenic Microorganisms. There are a host of bacteria and viruses, some quite dangerous, that are common to animals. When I eat meat, I eat the organisms in the meat. Micro-organisms are present in plant foods too, but their number and danger to human health is by no means comparable to that of those in meat.
Worms and other Parasites. Ditto on # 13!
Shelf life differential. Plant foods last longer than animal foods. Try this experiment: Leave out a head of lettuce and a pound of hamburger for 1 day, which will make you sick?
Organoleptic Indications of Pathenogens. Plant foods give tell-tale signs of "going bad". Ever hear of someone getting sick from "bad broccoli"?
Heart Disease. Meat eating increases the risk of heart disease, this country's #1 killer. The correlation is an epidemiological fact.
Cancer prevention. Of all the natural cancer prevention substances found: vitamin C, B-17, hydroquionenes, beta carotene, NDGA, - none has been found to be animal derived. Yet most meats, when cooked, produce an array of benzenes and other carcinogenic compounds. Cancer is infinitely easier to prevent than cure. Soybeans contain protease inhibitor, a powerful anticancer compound. You won't find it in useful quantities in animal based food.
Disease Inducing. The correlation between meat consumption and a wide range of degenerative diseases is well founded and includes.....
Osteoporosis
Kidney Stones and Gallstones
Diabetes
Multiple Sclerosis
Arthritis
Gum disease
Acne. Aggravated by animal food.
Obesity. Studies confirm that vegetarians tend to be thinner than meat eaters. Obesity is considered by doctors to be a disease within itself.
Intestinal Toxemia. The condition of the intestinal flora is critical to overall health. Animal products putrefy the colon.
Transit time. Wholesome food travels quickly through the "G.I" tract, leaving little time to spoil and incite disease within the body.
Fiber deficient. Fiber absorbs unwanted, excess fats; cleans the intestines; provides bulk and aids in peristalsis. Plant food is high in fiber content; meat, poultry and dairy products have none.
Body wastes. Food from animals contain their waste, including adrenaline, uric and lactic acid, etc., Before adding ketchup, the biggest contributors to the "flavor profile" of a hamburger are the leftover blood and urine.
Excess protein. The average American eats 400% of the RDA for protein. This causes excess nitrogen in the blood that creates a host of long-term health problems.
Longevity. To increase ones risk of getting degenerative disease means decreasing ones chance to live a naturally long healthy life. Huzas and other peoples with large centenarian populations maintain lifestyles that are relatively meat free.
Well Being. I just feel better since "giving up" meat and becoming vegetarian.
FINANCES:
1. Vegetarians that maintain a healthy diet are usually WAY healthier then meat-eaters, it's from the chemicals in meat that make people sick - GROSS!
2. Vegetables usually cost less then meat!
3. I can grow my own vegetables basically for free - meat would be so expensive!
Lastly, the biggest one:
ETHICS:
1. Love of animals. How could you take something away from its family only to murder it. Shame.
2. Protest. Livestock Factory farms are disgusting and cruel - watch the movie Food Inc. (Netflix has it!) it'll show you how cruel it is. Imagine living with actually no space to walk and even if there was space you couldn't because your too fat and you legs are broken!
3. It's natural. Everything about is similar to a herbivore not an omnivore! (Even our digestive system)
4. My feelings. I feel like I'm slowly saving the world by saving a life. I mean not eating meat is barely a sacrifice to killing an animal!
5. I was clueless. I felt so bad for all those animals on shows like Animal Cops, all those people get arrested, so why don't livestock factories get charged?
6. My values and morals. I'm not a murderer but when I eat meat - I sure feel like one!
Those are the basic reasons!
YOU ARE READING
The Everything Vegetarian Book - A Book for beginners and for the more advanced!
Non-FictionDISCLAIMER: I do not claim to know anything nor do i think im a doctor! I'm just a vegetarian of 4 years! This is how i stay healthy, and the reasons why I was a vegetarian! Hope this helps. :) All rights reserved! also this is a book where you don...
