Are vegetarians more healthy?!
Are vegetarians more healthy?
Answers:
Most people get way TOO much protein in their daily diets. Protein is not hard to get at all in vegetable form: beans and rice, tofu, etc.
If you are a vegetarian that is filling up on chips and cheese and bagels of course that's not healthy. You should follow a proper diet loaded with veggies, fruits, and "good" carbs, like sprouted wheat breads.
If you don't want to be vegan, you should choose organic dairy products (actually goat cheese is preferable).
Factory farming is not good for anyone, whether you eat meat or not. Just read Fast Food Nation, do online research. Things aren't the way they used to be, when people raised their own animals for meat. Factory farming is a nightmare and the meat is loaded with antibiotics, steroids, etc.
A meat based diet puts you at a much larger risk for heart disease, obesity, diabetes, liver problems, the list goes on and on. Even Dr. Spock said there is no need for a human to eat an animal product. So if you want to go veg, just make sure you do it right; don't load up on french fries and pizza.
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!
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fast_food_n...
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/section/8...
Yes they are...i'll be one soon..
No and they really dont live longer....it just seems like it.
I don't think so. Every vegetarian I've ever seen has been pale and scrawny. They're all emaciated.
Not necessarily. They need to learn how to get enough protein and to get a good variety so that they have all the esential amino acids. Americans definitely need to cut down on fat in their diet, and eat less red meat. But fish is good, whole grains, white meat chicken and even eggs. A good diet needs fresh fruits and vegetables and milk poducts.
That has been a matter of debate for a long time.
Frankly, the human body was made to be omnivorous, meaning that we eat EVERYTHING, meat included.
Vegans and vegetarians must find alternative sources for the protein that is absolutely necessary for the human body to function properly. Having to find artificial substitutions for things in a NORMAL diet is not considered healthy.
Having to do without a certain food because of allergy or intolerance is one thing. FORCING the body to eat only specific things for a social more is something entirely different, and not necessarily good at all.
not really. .they miss out on essential vitamins and they dont get their protein...
No they arent. they never get enough protein.
I personally think so, though you will undoubtedly get the meat eaters on here saying we are all anorexic hippies. I am much healthier than I was when I was eating meat-I went from being completely crippled to being perfectly fine. My bowel habits have improved dramatically, and in 3 years, I havent had so much as a sniffle, whereas I contantly had colds before. I think it is easier for the body to process and digest healthy grains and vegetables, than it is to try to digest muscle similar to its own. The veggie bashers will insist that we need meat, but we most certainly do not.
yes, proven fact look it up
i want a big huge rare 20 oz. steak, with a leg of lamb and some ribs... mmmm... oh hey hows your tofu salad
BLAHT!!!
i'll take my chances with the meat... dont care if im not as healthy... we all die sooner or later... im gonna enjoy every bite of my life THANK YOU
no, their just bad hunters
Sometimes they are more healthy. Healthier than they were before. Maybe healthier than some others too. We know the vegetarian diet can be healthy when its done with nutritional knowledge of how to eat wisely. The less they eat...the more careful they have to be. But it can be done.
Some dogs are now being fed all vegetarian diets and seem to do well. Its a matter of knowing how to do it.
Some vegetarian studies also show they live longer than the meat eater type.
So....we know it can be done if done wisely. Personally, I am not one and yet healthy. And our family and friends tend to live longer also so its not an option we feel must be chosen to live longer and live healthier.
On average, yes.
You will find a few who live entirely on prepackaged convenience foods. Just like their meat eating cousins, their health will not be optimal.
Generally speaking, the increase in fiber and antioxidants in a veg-head's diet makes them much healthier. Lower incidences of cancer, diabetes and for vegans osteoporosis. Shorter spans for colds and flu. Faster healing times for cuts and even bone breakage.
Contrary to what a lot of folks here are telling you, we are not designed to eat meat. Nor are we designed to ingest cow's milk. Cow's milk is for cow babies. Not for humans.
Yet we force our bodies to ingest these things, then wonder why we are tired, crabby, our body's hurt. We don't sleep well. We're sick all the time.
The average meat eater has 8 pounds of meat in their colon when they die. You've seen those little old men who are basically skinny, except for this gut that juts out over their belts. That's all rotting meat.
Since your average veg-head eats food that is less processed their pancreas does not need to produce as many digestive enzymes. This leaves more room for metabolic enzymes. Hence veg-heads (again - in general) heal faster, have better skin and are just over all more radiant.
Just 10% of our pancreas produces metabolic enzymes. The rest produces digestive enzymes. Largely because our diet is so bad. The pancreas has to work over time. When it works so far over time that it has to use that 10% for digestion as well, we develop diabetes.
Dr. Neal Bernard has shown that going vegan can reverse diabetes. The McDougall Wellness Center has shown that going vegan can reverse heart disease, MS, and a number of other diseases.
But that is with veganism - NO animal product at all. Not vegetarianism still using dairy and eggs.
The only two I know are Pam Anderson and Traci Bingham.
Yes they are...and they live longer then meat eaters too.
Well they are healthier than the average American omnivore but really look at the the average American omnivore clogged arteries and big guts. I am an omnivore and very healthy my mile time is 6:30 and my weight is within the recommended weight for my height. Now i know a lot of omnivores who are in horrible shape and i cant stress horrible enough. I have met fairly unhealthy vegetarians who don't eat really good diets. So overall it really depends on their specific diet just not if they are omnivore or vegetarian.
If a vegetarian diet is very carefully planned, and that may require either fortified foods or supplements, it can be AS healthy as a good meat eating diet. I think there are a couple of benefits, but they come from eating a wide range of fruit and veg and being health conscious as vegans have to be, not omitting meat, and thus those benefits can be go without actually going veggie. Needless to say a uncarefully planned vegetarian, or especially vegan, diet can lack many essential nutrients and be very bad for your health.
There are many benefits to a diet containing meat. Many vegetarians claim that meat is unhealthy. This is a blatant fallacy.
It is well established that eating meat improves the quality of nutrition, strengthens the immune system, promotes normal growth and development, is beneficial for day-to-day health, energy and well-being, and helps ensure optimal learning and academic performance.
A long term study found that children who eat more meat are less likely to have deficiencies than those who eat little or no meat. Kids who don’t eat meat ― and especially if they restrict other foods, as many girls are doing ― are more likely to feel tired, apathetic, unable to concentrate, are sick more often, more frequently depressed, and are the most likely to be malnourished and have stunted growth. Meat and other animal-source foods are the building blocks of healthy growth that have made America’s and Europe's youngsters the tallest, strongest and healthiest in the world.
Meat is an important source of quality nutrients, heme iron, protein, zinc and B-complex vitamins. It provides high-quality protein important for kids’ healthy growth and development.
The iron in meat (heme iron) is of high quality and well absorbed by the body, unlike nonheme iron from plants which is not well absorbed. More than 90 percent of iron consumed may be wasted when taken without some heme iron from animal sources. Substances found to inhibit nonheme iron absorption include phytates in cereals, nuts and legumes, and polyphenolics in vegetables. Symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue, headache, irritability and decreased work performance. For young children, it can lead to impairment in general intelligence, language, motor performance and school readiness. Girls especially need iron after puberty due to blood losses, or if pregnant. Yet studies show 75 percent of teenage girls get less iron than recommended.
Meat, poultry and eggs are also good sources of absorbable zinc, a trace mineral vital for strengthening the immune system and normal growth. Deficiencies link to decreased attention, poorer problem solving and short-term memory, weakened immune system, and the inability to fight infection. While nuts and legumes contain zinc, plant fibre contains phytates that bind it into a nonabsorbable compound.
Found almost exclusively in animal products, Vitamin B12 is necessary for forming new cells. A deficiency can cause anaemia and permanent nerve damage and paralysis. The Vitimin B12 in plants isn't even bioavailable, meaning our body can't use it.
Why not buy food supplements to replace missing vitamins and minerals? Some people believe they can fill those gaps with pills, but they may be fooling themselves. Research consistently shows that real foods in a balanced diet are far superior to trying to make up deficiencies with supplements.
Yes, on average vegetarians live longer and are healthier and at less risk of various diseasess, however, this does not necessarily mean a vegetarian diet makes you live longer, etc, as there are other considerations.
"Statistical surveys do generally suggest that vegetarians, on average, live longer, healthier lives. But we should bear in mind that research has yet to isolate the presence or absence of meat in the diet as the only variable under investigation. There are always extraneous factors which can explain equally well any health differences found between vegetarians and meat eaters. For example, many vegetarians choose their diet for health reasons simply because it is accepted on many fronts that vegantarian is healthier, rightly or wrongly. But people willing to cut out meat for health reasons are likely to be making other lifestyle decisions for health reasons. Perhaps to smoke less, drink less or exercise more frequently. Alternately stated: people unwilling to make sacrifices for the good of their health will be more likely to eat meat than those who will make those sacrifices. Thus the healthy vegetarian diet becomes self-fulfilling prophecy."
Vegetarians are much less likely to smoke, binge drink, eat junk food and are generally much more health conscious that the average meat eater, meat eating being the group that contains almost all the unhealthiest of society: the poor, the uneducated and the smokers who frankly aren't likely to give two figs about vegetrianism.
"A well-designed piece of research by using matched samples may, in theory, control for extraneous variables. But it would be virtually impossible, in the case of a large sample population studied over a lifetime, to determine whether differences found were genuine measurements of the meat/non-meat factor, or an effect of vegetarians opting for meals with higher nutritional value, irrespective of meat content.
"Moreover, irrespective of parental diet, very few western vegetarians give up meat until their late teens or early adulthood. Some will make the switch later in life. For as long as the general trend in society is away from meat and towards vegans, the average effect of people crossing the meat/non-meat barrier will be to reinforce this skew in the distribution, and create the illusion of a longer average life-span in vegans."
There are other variables as well that can skew results if not properly controlled for.
- Vegans are mostly women. Women have a longer average lifespan than men and are at less risk of various diseases, so the average of vegetarians will be better than that of meat eaters.
- Vegans are, on average, much younger than the average meat eater, because it tends to be young people who convert. Thus, as young people are at less risk from virtually all diseases and death than their older counterparts, their rates of diseases and death will be lower than the meat eating majority of the population.
As such, few studies on this subject can truthfully say they've at least tried there best to eliminate all other variables. The studies Peta show don't even try. When studies do try to control for these things they generally show little difference in longevity, if any.
then meat eaters? yes