Live longer, lower your weight, slash pollution and twelve
other good reasons to start cutting meat out of your diet.
People are drawn to vegetarianism by all sorts of motives.
Some of us want to live longer, healthier lives or do our part to reduce
pollution. Others have made the switch because we want to preserve Earth's
natural resources or because we've always loved animals and are ethically
opposed to eating them.
Thanks to an abundance of scientific research that
demonstrates the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet, even
the federal government recommends that we consume most of our calories from
grain products, vegetables and fruits. And no wonder: An estimated 70 percent
of all diseases, including one-third of all cancers, are related to diet. A
vegetarian diet reduces the risk for chronic degenerative diseases such as
obesity, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain
types of cancer including colon, breast, prostate, stomach, lung and
esophageal cancer.
Why go veg? Chew on these reasons:
1. You'll ward off disease. Vegetarian diets are more
healthful than the average American diet, particularly in preventing, treating
or reversing heart disease and reducing the risk of cancer. A low-fat
vegetarian diet is the single most effective way to stop the progression of
coronary artery disease or prevent it entirely. Cardiovascular disease kills 1
million Americans annually and is the leading cause of death in the United
States. But the mortality rate for cardiovascular disease is lower in
vegetarians than in nonvegetarians, says Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to
Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss. A
vegetarian diet is inherently healthful because vegetarians consume no animal
fat and less cholesterol and instead consume more fiber and more
antioxidant-rich produce -- another great reason to listen to Mom and eat your
veggies!
2. You'll keep your weight down. The standard American
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.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a
division of the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of
adults and 15 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are overweight and are at risk
of weight-related ailments including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. A
study conducted from 1986 to 1992 by Dean Ornish, MD, president and director
of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, found
that overweight people who followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet lost an average
of 24 pounds in the first year and kept off that weight 5 years later. They
lost the weight without counting calories or carbs and without measuring
portions or feeling hungry.
3. You'll live longer. If you switch from the standard
American diet to a vegetarian diet, you can add about 13 healthy years to your
life, says Michael F. Roizen, MD, author of The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself
Younger with What You Eat. "People who consume saturated, four-legged fat have
a shorter life span and more disability at the end of their lives. Animal
products clog your arteries, zap your energy and slow down your immune system.
Meat eaters also experience accelerated cognitive and sexual dysfunction at a
younger age."
Want more proof of longevity? Residents of Okinawa, Japan,
have the longest life expectancy of any Japanese and likely the longest life
expectancy of anyone in the world, according to a 30-year study of more than
600 Okinawan centenarians. Their secret: a low-calorie diet of unrefined
complex carbohydrates, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and soy.
4. You'll build strong bones. When there isn't enough
calcium in the bloodstream, our bodies will leach it from existing bone. The
metabolic result is that our skeletons will become porous and lose strength
over time. Most health care practitioners recommend that we increase our
intake of calcium the way nature intended -- through foods. Foods also supply
other nutrients such as phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin D that are necessary
for the body to absorb and use calcium.
People who are mildly lactose-intolerant can often enjoy
small amounts of dairy products such as yogurt, cheese and lactose-free milk.
But if you avoid dairy altogether, you can still get a healthful dose of
calcium from dry beans, tofu, soymilk and dark green vegetables such as
broccoli, kale, collards and turnip greens.
5. You'll reduce your risk of food-borne illnesses. The
CDC reports that food-borne illnesses of all kinds account for 76 million
illnesses a year, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths in
the United States. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
foods rich in protein such as meat, poultry, fish and seafood are frequently
involved in food-borne illness outbreaks.
6. You'll ease the symptoms of menopause. Many foods
contain nutrients beneficial to perimenopausal and menopausal women. Certain
foods are rich in phytoestrogens, the plant-based chemical compounds that
mimic the behavior of estrogen. Since phytoestrogens can increase and decrease
estrogen and progesterone levels, maintaining a balance of them in your diet
helps ensure a more comfortable passage through menopause. Soy is by far the
most abundant natural source of phytoestrogens, but these compounds also can
be found in hundreds of other foods such as apples, beets, cherries, dates,
garlic, olives, plums, raspberries, squash and yams. Because menopause is also
associated with weight gain and a slowed metabolism, a low-fat, high-fiber
vegetarian diet can help ward off extra pounds.
7. You'll have more energy. Good nutrition generates more
usable energy -- energy to keep pace with the kids, tackle that home
improvement project or have better sex more often, Michael F. Roizen, MD, says
in The RealAge Diet. Too much fat in your bloodstream means that arteries
won't open properly and that your muscles won't get enough oxygen. The result?
You feel zapped. Balanced vegetarian diets are naturally free of
cholesterol-laden, artery-clogging animal products that physically slow us
down and keep us hitting the snooze button morning after morning. And because
whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables are so high in complex
carbohydrates, they supply the body with plenty of energizing fuel.
8. You'll be more "regular." Eating a lot of vegetables
necessarily means consuming more fiber, which pushes waste out of the body.
Meat contains no fiber. People who eat lower on the food chain tend to have
fewer instances of constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulitis.
9. You'll help reduce pollution. Some people become
vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the meat industry is having
on the environment. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for more
than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is
one of the greatest threats to water quality today. Agricultural activities
that cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide
spraying, irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting.
10. You'll avoid toxic chemicals. The EPA estimates that
nearly 95 percent of the pesticide residue in the typical American diet comes
from meat, fish and dairy products. Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens
(PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals (mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium) that can't be
removed through cooking or freezing. Meat and dairy products can also be laced
with steroids and hormones, so be sure to read the labels on the dairy
products you purchase.
11. You'll help reduce famine. About 70 percent of all
grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter.
The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as
much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. "If all the
grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number
of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million," says David Pimentel,
professor of ecology at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it
would boost the US trade balance by $80 billion a year.
12. 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 yesteryear where animals
roamed freely, today most animals are factory farmed -- 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 even turn around. Farmed animals are not protected from
cruelty under the law -- in fact, the majority of state anticruelty laws
specifically exempt farm animals from basic humane protection.
13. You'll save money. Meat accounts for 10 percent of
Americans' food spending. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the
200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each nonvegetarian eats annually would
cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.
14. Your dinner plate will be full of color.
Disease-fighting phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their rich, varied
hues. They come in two main classes: carotenoids and anthocyanins. All rich
yellow and orange fruits and vegetables -- carrots, oranges, sweet potatoes,
mangoes, pumpkins, corn -- owe their color to carotenoids. Leafy green
vegetables also are rich in carotenoids but get their green color from
chlorophyll. Red, blue and purple fruits and vegetables -- plums, cherries,
red bell peppers -- contain anthocyanins. Cooking by color is a good way to
ensure you're eating a variety of naturally occurring substances that boost
immunity and prevent a range of illnesses.
15. It's a breeze. It's almost effortless these days to
find great-tasting and good-for-you vegetarian foods, whether you're strolling
the aisles of your local supermarket or walking down the street at lunchtime.
If you need inspiration in the kitchen, look no further than the Internet,
your favorite bookseller or your local vegetarian society's newsletter for
culinary tips and great recipes. And if you're eating out, almost any ethnic
restaurant will offer vegetarian selections. In a hurry? Most fast food and
fast casual restaurants now include healthful and inventive salads, sandwiches
and entrées on their menus.
