Vegetarian Diet – A Deep Glance

December 17, 2009 by Alexis Martin  
Filed under Food

Not too long ago, a famous pop star caused a minor stir when he suggested that one step everyone could take towards helping the environment would be to abstain from meat for one day a week. That’s all he asked – that we adopt a vegetarian diet meal plan for a single day out of the week. A few papers took him seriously, but most of them just laughed.

With very few exceptions, the media completely failed to take his suggestion seriously and look at the facts. Had they done so, they would have discovered that people give up meat eating for very good reasons. Why not give vegetarians a chance and listen to their point of view for a change?

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.

There are direct health risks involved with the processing of beef. Workers in these industries suffer from a variety of illnesses directly related to their industry and the risks spread to the nearby communities, as well. You can look up the medical data on this or you can quickly find out for yourself by visiting one of these places. If you have never smelled a meat processing plant before, be forewarned. You’re likely to get sick to your stomach before you even pass through the gates.

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.

Ask anyone who has given a vegetarian diet meal plan a chance and most of them will tell you that they are happier for it. Many never eat meat again. Almost no one who has been a vegetarian ever goes back to eating large amounts of meat. No matter what the meat industry tries to tell us to the contrary, a vegetarian diet is a healthy diet.

Something that a lot of people overlook is the fact that all of the major religions advocate abstaining from meat, at least periodically. This includes the Catholic Church, Judaism and the Muslim faith. While these religions do not advocate total abstinence, both Hinduism and Buddhism do advocate a strictly vegetarian diet. The only “religion” that advocates meat eating is the cattle industry!

The next time a superstar advocates a vegetarian diet meal plan, don’t sneer. They are trying to do the world a service with the vegetarian weight loss diet.

  • Brooke Fraser

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