Americans are dying from diseases that are directly tied to their eating habits. A diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and soy is your best bet for living a longer, healthier and more enjoyable life. At the same time, you're doing the planet a huge favor by helping to preserve natural resources and cutting down on pollution generated by animal agriculture. Plus, you may appreciate your wonderful meals even more knowing that no animals suffered along the way. Here are 8 great benefits of being a vegetarian
- Live a lot longer- Vegetarians live about seven years longer, and vegans (who eat no animal products) about 15 years longer than meat eaters.
- Save your heart- Heart disease is still the number one killer in the United States, and the Standard American diet (SAD) is loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol from meat and dairy products. Heart disease is the number one killer in African American women. Today, the average American male eating a meat-based diet has a 50 percent chance of dying from heart disease. Fruits and vegetables are full of antioxidant nutrients that protect the heart and its arteries.
- Reduce your risk of cancer- The National Cancer Institute says that women who eat meat every day are nearly 4 times more likely to get breast cancer than those who don't. A plant-based diet helps protect against prostate, colon and skin cancers.
- Be more regular- Eating a lot of vegetables necessarily means consuming fiber, which pushes waste out of the body. Meat contains no fiber. Vegetarians tend to have fewer incidences of diverticulitis, constipation, hemorrhoids and spastic colon.
- Keep your weight down. A diet high in saturated fats and processed foods and low in plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates is making us fat and killing us slowly. Vegetarians have an average of 45-60% less body fat than meat eaters.
- Save money. Meat accounts for 20% of Americans’ food spending. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each non-vegetarian eats annually would cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.
- Your dinner plate will be full of color. Phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their rich colors. Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables... carrots, oranges, sweet potatoes, mangoes, and pumpkins get their color from carotenoids. Leafy green vegetables get their green color from chlorophyll. Plums, cherries, and red bell peppers contain anthocyanins, which gives them a red blue and purple color. Cooking by color is a good way to ensure you are eating a variety of naturally occurring substances that boost immunity and prevent a range of illnesses.
- You’ll spare animals. Many vegetarians give up meat because of their concern for animals. Ten billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year. And, unlike the farms of the pass where animals roamed freely, today most animals are factory farmed. This means they are crammed into cages where they can barely move and fed a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics. These animals spend their entire lives in crates or stalls so small that they can’t turn around. Farmed animals are not protected from cruelty under the law. The majority of state anticruelty laws specifically exempt farm animals from basic humane protection.
It is almost effortless these days to find great-tasting vegetarian foods. Whether you are strolling the aisles of your local supermarket or walking down the street at lunchtime, vegetarian options are always available. If you need inspiration in the kitchen, look no further than www.yourskinnimini.blogspot.com, your favorite bookstore or your local vegetarian community’s newsletter for great recipes. Most fast food and fast casual restaurants now include healthful and inventive salads, sandwiches and tofu on their menus. So rather than asking yourself why go vegetarian, the real question is: Why haven’t you gone vegetarian? I did it and so can you.
YourSkinniMini J
