Deciding On A Vegetarian Diet

January 1, 2010 by Alexis Martin
Filed under Nutrition

More and more of us are cutting meat out of our diets and turning towards a vegetarian diet meal plan. Many people are now starting to realize that vegetarians enjoy many health benefits above what meat eaters experience. As a result of this, more supermarkets are stocking a good range of vegetarian options and products and at restaurants you generally have a variety of menu choices that do not contain meat.

First and foremost, ditching meat and becoming a vegetarian brings several important health benefits. Since most vegetarian diets are much lower in saturated fats, vegetarians rarely have problems with obesity or develop type II diabetes. It is estimated that vegetarians consume around 25 percent less fat in their diets than meat eaters.

Vegetarians generally have healthier diets and the low levels of animal fats that are consumed means low levels of blood cholesterol. Over time cholesterol can build up in the arteries and stop blood from flowing and circulating effectively. This places pressure on the heart that can lead to heart disease, stroke, angina, heart attack and more.

It has been shown over and over again that a vegetarian diet can protect the body from certain types of cancer. Cutting meat out of the diet can reduce the risk of some cancers by at least 50 percent. Many fruits and vegetables are enriched with vitamins that have antioxidant powers capable of eliminating free radicals and toxins from the body. Cruciferous vegetables are especially powerful.

Eating a low fat vegetarian diet that does not include meat also helps your digestive system. Animal products tend to be very dense and are difficult for your stomach and digestive system to break down effectively. After a while your digestive system can become less effective at eliminating waste and this can potentially cause stomach, colon or intestinal cancers to form. Plant based foods are much easier for our digestive systems to deal with and eliminate effectively.

As well as being much better for your own personal health, eating vegetarian is much less damaging to the environment. Large parts of the Amazon Jungle are being decimated to make space for cattle stations and this is happening elsewhere in the world too. If you reject red meat, then you can do your bit to help prevent some forms of land degradation.

Research done into the environmental impact of meat production indicates that it is one of the most damaging industries. It is responsible for a lot of habitat loss, water and air pollution and the extinction of different species. Among meat production, beef and pork are considered to have the worst environmental impact. This is a very important reason to significantly reduce your meat consumption and move towards becoming a vegetarian.

If you follow a vegetarian diet, you will get the benefit of many health outcomes. On top of this, you can do your part to reduce damage and destruction of the global environment by cutting out meat on a high protein vegetarian diet.