Advantages and disadvantages of being vegetarian?!
Advantages and disadvantages of being vegetarian?
Answers:
Advantages: Healthier option, cheaper, less animals are being killed.
Disadvantages: can't see any.
finding things to eat is annoying. quorn is a perfect alternative though
Advantages: You are going to get laid more because you are going to be skinny.
Disadvantages: You have to act all artsy-fartsy, wear hippish clothes and ask everyone who is enjoying a chicken sandwich or hamburger if they know what they do to the animals in the slaughterhouses while shaking our head and looking down your nose.
advantages: Not consuming cholesterol, blood, pus, urine, fecal matter, growth hormones, antibiotics, steroids, bleach, peroxide and other ingredients in meat. You gain health benefits. You feel better knowing nothing had to bleed and die for you to eat. You enjoy a varied and creative diet.
Disadvantages: You get picked on and ridiculed by closed minded people who can't wrap their brains around the concept of something they know nothing about, or thats different from what they are doing.
Not being one, but living with my girlfriend, who is, the biggest disadvantage is having to cook with twice as many pots pans etc and have twice as many things to wash up . . . and her not cooking is a shade on the downside too . . . She's worth it tho'
Well there is alot you need to know to pursue a good and healthy vegetarian or vegan diet. It is considered a very healthy way of living but only if you do it right and get all the nutrition you need. If you don't give yourself what you need it can result in malnutrition and in my case I lost my period.
Here is a site which explains quite a bit http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/vegetar...
I don't know wether you are already a vegetarian or in the process or just thinking about it but I wish you all the best of luck and try not to give into friends mocking or trying to get you to eat what you don't want to.
no more bacon....!!!
healthy to be, difficult to maintain, takes you into a sidelined group, rarely cated for, need to attend to your ingredients more thus making meals more of a chore, need to ensure a balance of minerals and vitamins, but it may make you feel wonderful!
i am a vegetarian and once i became one, i felt 1000000 times better than i did when i was eating meat.not only physically but my mind was at ease knowing that i wasn't contributing to the killing of innocent animals. and i think my energy is contributed by all the chemicals and hormones that are given to the animals to make them grow at a ridiculous rate that i wasn't consuming anymore.
it is hard sometimes, because the food is limited if you live in a house where all they cook is meat (like in my house), but there are great alternatives to meat that taste great!
plus, some people tend to say that vegetarians arent healthy or that they smell bad because all they eat is fruits and vegetables but that is not true. we get to live longer :-)
I am not a vegetarian, although I might as well be as I eat very little meat (although I have a weakness for fish). The biggest disadvantage I have found so far for being a vegetarian is that when I take my best mate out for a meal (he's a vegetarian) it's often quite difficult to find something interesting for him to eat. You look through the menu and maybe one item is for veggies. I am looking around for eating places which cater far more for vegetarians.
i think i am slowy getting off all meat, but-- i can't stand the bitchy attitude of some vegetarians i meet, and they do not look healthier. i just think meat is too heavy, has that barn yard smell. Hitler was a vegetarian, but he loved his cream pastries! he let his house guests have meat if they preferred.
the only disadvantage that I see is that your options are limited at restaurants. You have to be careful and read the packaging of food items.
The advantage is that you aren't eating a dead animal.
Disadvantage: You fart more.
Advantage: It stinks less.
Meat, poultry, and fish are icky tasting and don't have a big variety of tastes, but all the wonderful vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and grains out there are hugely diverse! They are also very healthy. If you are able to grow a few things yourself, you will find they taste better and are healthier than a lot of commercially produced vegetables, which are grown more for looks and for low-cost mass production. The main disadvantage to being vegetarian is that most people and restaurants don't think about vegetarian food and won't be able to serve you the great food you make for yourself at home.
there are many good advantages of being a vegetarian.I should know I am a vegetarian my self.
*lower risk of cancer
*lower risk of some dieses
*less likely to have meat related dieseas
*lower colestroll rate
*saves natural resorses
*saves farm land
I'm a vegetarian for 20 years now.. the main advantage is health, low cholesterol levels, and you don't age as quickly. I think its something to do with the energy required to break down meat in your system, it can take up to a week to properly digest.
its a cheaper food shop.
disadvantages are...constantly explaining your food choice, and hearing people say 'well I love meat'
very hard to get good food on holidays, only so many pizza and omelet you can stomach.
you'll have to learn to cook.
you will be physically weaker, especially if you give blood, or are an athlete.
the advantages of being a vegetarian is the comfort in knowing you have not taken an animals life just because you like the way he tasted..you will be healthier and stronger..you will live longer ..feel better in all ways .. you will help the environment ........................... the disadvantages you will have to deal with meat-eaters who are upset with you because it makes them feel guilty and they will go to any extent to fight you..even by saying ridiculous statements like Hitler was a vegetarian..when the truth of that was for a short time his doctors tried to put him on a vegetarian diet for health reasons..but he couldn't do it ..... so what does that say ?
Advantages:
Peace of mind knowing animals haven't had to die so you can eat
Less chance of contracting certain types of cancer, heart disease etc
Spending less money on food - my meat eating friends regularly spend ￡20 or ￡30 a week on meat. My vegetables cost a quarter of that.
Disadvantages:
Having to explain that "no, chicken is meat" or "no, vegetarians don't eat fish"
Having to search a menu to find the vegetarian option (which is usually pasta and slathered in cheese)
I am a vegan rather than a vegetarian but I will list it's main advantages from my viewpoint over an omnivore diet.
Advantages:
Healthier-less chance of reactions to chemicals in meat,higher fibre,less chance of getting certain cancers
Not having to feel guilty when I eat.
Religious concerns helped.
Can justify eating loads of marmite (Is high in B12) and I love the stuff.
Animal welfare.
Disadvantages:
Have to read the ingredients of everything I eat that isn't labelled as 'suitable for vegans'
Annoying questions and comments from uninformed omnivores.
Vegan products tend to be a bit more costly than the 'normal' versions.
You won't ever have rotting dead flesh in you belly. I've never eat meat and I don't understand why anyone would want to?? Seems wierd to me, but each to there own I suppose!
None of the advantages said so far hold true (except maybe cheaper).
- Healthier:
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 Vitamin 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.
Lets not forget either that protein, while it is found in plants, is better quality in animal products.
- Cholesterol
Some people claim that meat is unhealthy because it contains saturated fat. So does margarine and olive oil, and they're vegan suitable (in fact the hydrogenated fats in Marge can be very bad, but that's another story). Besides, any excess calories in your diet, any excess sugar, starch or carbohydrates are stored in your body for later use. This is done by turning them into saturated fats.
Cholesterol too. Your body on average creates four to five times more cholesterol than the average person consumes, and compensates by creating more when less is consumed. Cholesterol isn't evil, it is essential; it makes up the waterproof linings of all our cells and without it we would die. Too much can be bad, but as with saturated fats there are more healthy ways of disposing of it, like regular exercise. Anyway, it isn't so much how much cholesterol you eat, but how well your body handles it. A person who eats loads of dietary cholesterol and leads an unhealthy lifestyle can still have low cholesterol, and vice versa. Most people's bodies are able to take a large amount of cholesterol without getting atherosclerosis. For this reason that eating meat gives you heart disease is very misleading, and for the most part untrue. Of course, if you do have a problem eating loads isn't a good idea, but for most people there is nothing at all to worry about.
- Saves animals lives
Vegetarianism isn't good for the animals. If enough people went veggie to actually affect the industry at all, and the demand for meat decreased, it would mean animals which were surplus to requirement. You're kidding yourself if you think that would mean they'd live happily ever after, as they couldn't be sold no one would want to keep them, and they'd still be slaughtered.
Think about it, the second farmers couldn't sell their livestock, the second they couldn't make a profit, they wouldn't keep them any more. Keeping animals isn't cheap, and to keep them, without profit, would be hugely expensive to any farmer. How many do you reckon would be prepared to make that kind of loss?
Now, what'd happen then? Maybe a few wild pigs or goats would stay alive, but for the most part it would be impossible to release them into the wild. The vast majority would have to be slaughtered.
I quote "If no one were allowed to farm animals, farms would grow crops instead. The first thing to go would be all the animals. Once the rural landscape were rid of cattle, sheep, and the like, fields would get larger, for the convenience of the combine harvesters, and hedgerows would go. Wild animals like rabbits would now be a more major pest. No farmer would want animals eating the plants, and so the war on such animals would intensify. Grown in the fields would be domesticate species of food crops, and so the number of plant species would decline."
Vegetarianism doesn't save any lives, it just dissociates people from their deaths.
- Meat contains blood, pus, urine, fecal matter, growth hormones, antibiotics, steroids, bleach, peroxide, etc
I'll give you blood, but what's wrong with that, and I suppose it's inevitable that there's some pus, but your average animal isn't going to have any more pus in them than you do, and that'll all be right at the skin.
Urine and fecal matter...no, not in any good quality meat. Why would there be urine unless someone had burst the bladder all over the meat? Animals are gutted and cleaned to get rid of all that stuff. Given, pick apart a chicken carcass after your sunday roast (and I speak from much experience here) you'll find a little stuff which is brown and probably akin to feces, but they won't hurt you, and that doesn't get on the actual meat.
Growth hormones and antibiotics? It depends on where you live, but inside the EU (and as your posting in the UK&Ireland section that's probably you) the use of such things is illegal and meat isn't allowed to be sold if it has any more than a trace of such things.
- Varied and created diet
No, vegetarianism is a restricted diet, there's nothing a veggie can eat we can't, not vice versa.
- Live longer
On average vegetarians live longer, however, this does not necessarily mean a vegetarian diet makes you live longer, 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 vegetarianism 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 veganism.
"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 vegetarianism, 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 vegetarians."
There are other variables as well that can skew results if not properly controlled for.
- Vegetarians are mostly women. Women have a longer average lifespan than men so on average the life span of vegetarians will be longer than that of meat eaters.
- Vegetarians 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. Death rate and longevity are, obviously, closely interlinked and some studies use death rate as their marker for longevity.
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. If there is any difference it is not likely to be anywhere near the quoted 5 to 10 years average.
- lower risk of cancer, some diseases and meat related diseases
Again, the above reasons for why the longevity claims are myths are applicable here too. Meat related diseases, like BSE kill so few people (like 140, ever) there's more point being worried about crossing the road, and then stopping doing it just in case.
There is some evidence that vegans live longer and are at less risk from cancer and heart disease, etc; however those studies show only a very marginal and insignificant difference and none of those studies have yet managed to identify meat as the only variable. Veggies are less likely to smoke, drink or eat junk food, and eat a wider range of fruit and veg, making the test results inaccurate and unreliable.
In fact when those things are taken any account there's very little difference, if any, and not necessarily on the side of the veggies.
- saves natural resources
If you only eat bread or home grown produce, then yes, but considering so many plants are grown nowadays in other parts of the world or in big greenhouses so they can be kept in season (or because they don't grow where you are) a very large amount of your food will have been either kept in an artificially maintained environment or flown in from the tropics or wherever.
Meat is usually sold in the country it is grown.
- saves farm land
No, because if we didn't eat meat then that land would be used for crops to fulfil the rise in demand for vegetables. Well, not quite, because the majority of land used for animals farming isn't good enough quality to grow crops, and so either more rich, fertile land would need to be cleared, or more food would be needed to be flown in.
Remember, only small percentage of land is used to grow crops for animals, and that's all grain. I'm assuming people don't want to live off a diet of bread alone.
Now, ask yourself, which is better for the environment? Fields full of grass with a few sheep/cows/whatever, which can quite easily sustain a wide range of wildlife? Or a field so full of crops that it can sustain very little wildlife, and is sprayed with enough poison to kill them?
- digestion takes less energy
Digestion is done with enzymes, a biological catalyst, which require no energy to work. The only work your gut needs to do is to squeeze it all down your intestines.
advantages - better health
disadvantages - going out for food with carnivores and having to watch them eat