What are the benefits for being a vegetarian opposed to non~vegetarian.?

Question

What are the benefits for being a vegetarian opposed to non~vegetarian.?

Answer 1

There are none. You'll have weaker bones, you'll have to eat more volume to keep your energy levels up, you'll be flirting with anemia , you'll have no advantage in fighting illnesses no matter what the vegans tell you, your life will in no way be extended, and to top it all off, you will have no joy or excitement at dinner time.

Answer 2

You don't have to eat your favourite animals from the farm.

Answer 3

Cutting down on your meat intake or eliminating it has many health benefits. People who eat to much meat and junk food have high cholesterol,high blood pressure,diabetes,and are at higher risk for cancer.

Answer 4

Esurk gave you the worst answer ever, everything he said was in fact WRONG!

'You'll have to eat more volume to keep your energy levels up.' This statement couldn't be further from the truth, the lower down on the tropic (feeding) level an organism is the more energy it provides for the next tropic level. I would go into the science of this but im sure i would bore..

'You'll have weaker bones.' - There are 350 milligrams of calcium in cow's milk, by the time it is processed only 10% of that is bioavailable. That's less calcium than you get from a handful of almonds.

'You'll be flirting with anemia' . If you eat iron rich veggies like spinach and broccoli, and take vitamins then it should never happen. Also many cereals like total and bran flakes are high in iron. Oatmeal is a good source of iron too.

Vegans are less likely to die from heart disease and its a proven fact they live 1-2 years longer.** (May not seem great but to be honest i would be happy living another two years!)

And im not going to even bother to respond to the last comment, that is a matter of opinion not fact.

Now yeah back to your question..

Exposure to livestock drugs. There are over 20,000 different drugs, including sterols, antibiotics, growth hormones and other veterinary drugs that are given to livestock animals. These drugs are consumed when animal foods are consumed. The dangers herein, in secondary consumption of antibiotics, are well documented.

Half the rain forests in the world have been destroyed to clear ground to graze cattle to make beefburgers. The burning of the forests contributes 20% of all green-house gases. Roughly 1,000 species a year become extinct because of the destruction of the rain forests. Approximately 60 million people a year die of starvation. All those lives could be saved because those people could eat grain used to fatten cattle and other farm animals - if Americans ate 10% less meat.

The following diseases are commoner among meat eaters: anaemia, appendicitis, arthritis, breast cancer, cancer of the colon, cancer of the prostrate, constipation, diabetes, gallstones, gout, high blood pressure, indigestion, obesity, piles, strokes and varicose veins. Lifelong vegetarians visit hospital 22% less often than meat eaters and for shorter stays. Vegetarians have a 20% lower blood cholestrol level than meat eaters and this reduces heart attack and cancer risks considerably.

Meat contains absolutely nothing - no proteins, vitamins or minerals - that the human body cannot obtain perfectly happily from a vegetarian diet.

Animals suffer from pain and fear just as much as you do. How would you like to spend your last hours locked in a truck, packed into a cage with hundreds of other terrified animals and then cruelly pushed into a blood soaked death chamber. Anyone who eats meat condones and supports the way animals are treated.

I could go on.. lol

Answer 5

Lower cholesterol, lower risk of heart disease, better stamina, depending on how you do it -a lower food bill*, lots of vegetarians including myself have stopped having migraines after cutting out animal products, better skin, more fiber in your diet improves regularity, eating more fruits and vegetables increases consumption of anti-oxidants.

* growing one's own vegetables, and eating grains and legumes is cheaper than buying animal products or mock meats.

Answer 6

looking weak, and having bad breath, not having energy..

god put animals on this planet for a reason

Answer 7

If it is your "thing" you seem to be able to claim moral superiority over mere mortals such as I.

Answer 8

Many people feel healthier for switching to a diet containing less or no meat, and Esurk's answer is nonsense from beginning to end.

Just one example from Esurk's answer - weaker bones. I have been vegetarian for most of my life, and vegan for several years. I'm a middle-aged woman - so at risk of bone loss - AND i take a prescription drug one of whose most common side effects is loss of bone mass. Yet bone density scans show no loss of bone mass.

Oh, OK two examples - I've only ever been anaemic once, and that was following a course of chemotherapy; it's a very common side effect whatever your diet. Even then my doc described it as 'mild anaemia', and it went right all by itself, without iron pills.

This doesn't mean I'm making wild claims for the health benefits of veg*nism as opposed to meat-eating. Vegetarian diets, vegan diets and diets that include meat can all be very healthy or very unhealthy, depending on what is eaten.

I'm vegan, of course I think it's healthy - but let's not get carried away just because we're on V&V and likely to get support.

Booom! - the link you provide to back up your claims about particular conditions being linked to meat eating doesn't make the claims you do, and certainly for some of them there is not evidence of a link.

In particular, the cancers you mention - there is no scientific evidence that meat is linked to breast cancer. There is no scientific evidence that meat is linked to prostate cancer, though it is thought that a diet high in dairy MAY increase the risk. And cancer specialists are prepared to say that a diet HIGH in meat MAY be a risk factor in colo-rectal cancers.

Most cancers are random, nobody - not even people whose life's work it is to research cancer -  knows what causes them. Vegetarians and vegans develop them at pretty much the same rate as the rest of the population - the reason most people who develop cancer are meat eaters is that most people are meat eaters.

It does veg*ns no favours to make unsubstantiated and unproven health claims for veg*nism

Answer 9

-you feel like you have power over meat eaters

-it's in style