Benefits of Natural Health
June 15, 2008
You may be wondering if your decision to give up meat is the right one. You may ask yourself will it really make much difference in the scheme of things. It is true just one person won’t make a huge difference but if you multiply this by millions of people who make the choice then the effect becomes much more significant. For instance the number one cause of death in the United States and other countries with meat centered diets is heart disease.
If it weren’t specifically for meat, eggs, and dairy products which are the three largest sources of cholesterol, heart attacks and other heart and circulatory problems would be far less prevalent. 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.
Preservatives which are used a great deal in meat are reduced and so are the incidences of cancer. As a vegetarian you won’t be exposed to various hormones (that are packed into animal feed), which often disrupt normal hormonal processes in the body. And you won’t consume as much lactose, which most people cannot digest properly and which some dietitians have suggested is a cause of digestive problems. On a more ethical note, you will be surprised how much less suffering in animals you will be responsible for by becoming a vegetarian.
One particular study illustrates this point by claiming that the average American is responsible for the death (for food) of over two thousand seven hundred animals during their life. By giving up meat, it is possible to protect the lives of possibly hundreds of animals in the space of a few years and many more if continued for a few decades. The suffering of many cows and battery farmed hens would also be reduced if you were to give up eggs and milk as well. So the answer is yes, it does matter whether or not you become a vegetarian. It is hard to ignore the facts and the number of animal lives that would be saved is huge, not to mention the reduction in your chances of contracting a heart condition or cancer.
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