Vegetarianism - is it really heathier?!
My primary question is this: is it actually healthier to eat no meat?
I am not oblivious to what’s going on now-a-days. I know about corporate farming and the atrocities that occur there, both to the animals and to our own health through the steroids and other cancer causing unnatural crap they force feed the animals (and us).
I am absolutely ready to swear off grocery store meat and fast food meat etc,
but what about more natural meat. Like for instance; I have the ability to hunt, naturally fed, wild, ethically killed deer. (This is not an ethics question, please stick to the health side please, I am well aware of my personal morals here).
The argument I would use is that other natural creatures of the wild eat meat and seem very healthy to me. My favorite - the bear - is also an omnivore.
Answers: I am on the verge of becoming a vegetarian for reasons I don't want to say just yet. (The answers to this question may help me decide).
My primary question is this: is it actually healthier to eat no meat?
I am not oblivious to what’s going on now-a-days. I know about corporate farming and the atrocities that occur there, both to the animals and to our own health through the steroids and other cancer causing unnatural crap they force feed the animals (and us).
I am absolutely ready to swear off grocery store meat and fast food meat etc,
but what about more natural meat. Like for instance; I have the ability to hunt, naturally fed, wild, ethically killed deer. (This is not an ethics question, please stick to the health side please, I am well aware of my personal morals here).
The argument I would use is that other natural creatures of the wild eat meat and seem very healthy to me. My favorite - the bear - is also an omnivore.
I come from a family of hunters. I have an uncle with a liver disease and he can only eat wild game (or possible organic beef).
That being said, it is a matter of choice. I feel better when I don't eat meat. I think more about what I am consuming, I make healthier choices. I've heard that dairy can be pretty toxic to us now, with the hormones and pesticides filtered from cows to their milk.
I think that people eat too much meat...if you were to hunt, you would probably not eat as much....which would in turn be healthier anyway. We don't need meat everyday, let alone every meal.
I was eating only wild game before I became vegetarian, and it is healthier...but I still feel better sans meat!
My suggestion would be to start eating only wild game....cut down on your meat intake and once you are comfortable with that diet you should try vegetarian for 2 weeks....two weeks is nothing and if you are interested in a vegetarian diet, why not try it, some people love it, some hate it! My cousin who kills her own deer every year, just went vegetarian for 3 nights a week (her husband was a little stubborn about it, but loves it now).
I very much doubt that I will ever go back to eating meat, I feel to good without it...I like not cooking with it, it's messy, it has stronger odors then most veggies, and cooking without it makes me a little more experimental.... :)
We need more smart omnivores, and I support the aware meat eater...good luck!
yes, being a vegetarian is indeed healthier than the alternative. red meat contains alot of things that really aren't very good for you. and besides, you can still get the protien you'd generally get from meat by eating things like peanut butter, tofu, or sweet potatoes. ive been a vegetarian for 5 years, and id say im pretty healthy.
Even "ethically killed" meat is packed with cholesterol and saturated fat. Yes, done right, vegetarianism is healthier. We have less heart disease, fewer heart attacks and strokes, less kidney disease, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, less risk of diabetes, lower colon and prostate cancer risk and we live, statistically, 6-10 years longer. Even my medical insurance company is advocating vegetarianism.
Other carnivores and omnivores in nature simply do not get heart disease from cholesterol and saturated fat. We do. They are healthy because they eat the way nature designed them to. Those of us who eat meat eat WAY more than nature intended - I saw an ad for a restaurant serving a 20 oz steak the other day. That's FIVE servings of meat.
It depends on the exact foods you choose to consume. Vegetarians can eat junk and processed food just like meat eaters can so the potential for an unhealthy diet is there too.
You can have a healthy diet no matter what diet you adhere to. The healthiest vegetarian diet is no more healthy than the healthiest diet including meat.
Mockingbird--I'm surprised at your answer. Normally, you don't offer the propaganda approach. We both know not all meats have high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fats.
"I saw an ad for a restaurant serving a 20 oz steak the other day. That's FIVE servings of meat."---I'm 6' 4", 230 lbs. That might be 5 servings to 120 lb. person, but not to me...LOL
HUMAN HEALTH…Albert Einstein (Scientist; 1879-1955)
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“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet”
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What are the most common foodborne diseases?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseasein...
What foods are most associated with foodborne illness?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseasein...
***Illnesses & Death Caused by Food Contamination***
http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/a...
Top 10 reasons for indigenous foodborne illnesses and premature death cause by meat & by-products, and their contamination to other products.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no03/...
(Read table 3/4/5)
Top most critical illnesses were linked with meat-eating…Cancer, Heart attack, Kidney failure, Major organ disorder, Multiple sclerosis, Stroke, Obesity, etc.
Vegetarianism can be healthier, you just need to be sure you are getting all your vitamins/minerals/protein, etc. Just cutting out meat won't do it, in fact could make you sick. But done right, there is no question. In the garden of eden there was no meat eating, but after the flood, meat eating was allowed because of the lack of available produce. we were not intended to eat flesh. You can actually find better protein sources in non-flesh foods such as soybeans. They make many meat substitutes that are soybased to those that like the idea/taste of meat without actually eating it. Morningstar farms (a division of kelloggs) is a great example, you can get hot dogs, steak strips, bacon, ground beef, chicken nuggest, etc but all meat free.
This is a really good question. There are a few cookery programmes in the uk at the moment hosted by Hugh Fearney -Whititngstall and Jamie Oliver who advocate free range animals. Hugh especially. He travels Britain and eats anything that is wild and free range. We are after all I suppose hunter gatherers. I'm not too keen on meat and I am an animal lover. I know that if I had to kill the animal myself I would never eat meat again. We eat a lot of Quorn in our family. I don't think you actually need meat to survive and stay healthy, but you really need to research your diet before making any major changes like this. Good luck with whatever you decide!!!!! xx
It can be but not of done incorrectly. There is no diet that is "automatically" healthy. As for risks, they are just that, risks. If done properly, then the risks are minimized. besides, what human activity does not involve some kind of risk? As for statistics on health, for very vegetarian who says he/she is healthy, you can point out 10 omnivores who are just as healthy. For every athlete that claims he/she is a vegetarian, you can get 10 who are omnis and are just as skilled or athletic.
commitment not a diet label is the key to "success" or "failure".
it's very healthy because you can eat healthy food that's nutricious but you don't get the nutrients you need from the meat so i think it's best to eat vitamins to get nutrients see! being a vegetarian is healthier!
If you're only concerned about health, I think you have the right idea to stick with organic meat. Meat is not bad for you but certainly the large amounts we eat in north america are unnatural. Why not try being a vegetaian on most days but include meat for one or two meals. Eat whole meat like steaks or chicken breast instead of ground meat that could be containminated. If you hunt your own food even better. Lean meat is not bad for you. The proper serving size should be the size of the palm of your hand.
1. Institute of Health & Medicine: Your protein intake need only be upwards of 10% of your caloric intake.
2. RDA for protein, 56 grams for a man.
3. Excessive protein is HARMful to your body. Your organs must work overtime to digest and filter it. Research diseases of the digestive organs, liver, kidneys, etc. Not to mention the shear effort of digesting food-this is WORK! You are also increasing the amount of free radicals introduced into your body with everything you eat. Choose carefully.
4. Wildlife carries disease. Chronic Wasting Disease in deer, Crutzfeldt Jacob's Disease (Madcow) which is a prion disease that can be transmitted through improper consumption, cleaning and preparation of animal meat, E-coli (hundreds of people die yearly as a result of meat consumption in the US compared to that freak incident of 1 or two that ate contaminated spinach).
5. You do not need the additional cholesterol found in animal products. Your body produces ITS OWN and can manage it quite effectively if you are eating a healthy balanced diet. You do not need additional sources.
6. Another serious health issue is pollution to natural resources. Pollution totals from animal agriculture equal or exceed ALL forms of pollutions from travel (fuel, cars, planes, etc). Water sources are put at risk. This is an issue to all of us because meat eaters are not willing to eat normal amounts obtained from wildlife nor are the majority of people willing to hunt.
Some people will tell you that excluding flesh from your diet will make you pale, scrawny and altogether sickly. Others will tell you that eating meat and other animal products will make you fat.
Neither claim is true, you can be a healthy omnivore, vegetarian or vegan. Meat does not make the difference between a healthy diet and an unhealthy one.
Personally, I wouldn't eat flesh no matter how long or happy a life it led. The point is you took a life just so that you could have the pleasure (if you find it pleasurable) of eating meat.
I will stay away from the ethical issues of meat eating.
Disclaimer: I make no claim as to the absolute accuracy of what this post says and you should research any of this yourself to verify it.
There are several things in meat which make it unhealthy to eat.
Meat contains saturated fat and is high in fat in general, leading to heart disease etc.
It contains IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) which is a growth hormone that can promote cancer growth in your body. The human body produces its own IGF-1 during growth spurts, but in adulthood we do not need the excess IGF-1 that comes with eating meat and therefore we are at risk of cancer cell growth when there is excess IGF-1 in our bodies. Cow IGF-1 is identical to human IGF-1.
Animal protein in itself can be dangerous because it can lead to auto-immune disease. This is because the "complete" animal protein is so similar to the "complete" protein in your body in the form of muscle etc. Think of it as a lock and key where the lock is the animal protein and the key is what your body produces to break down the protein. Your body must make T cells (keys) to break down the animal protein that you eat, and sometimes this process goes awry and the T cells begin breaking down your own body's protein instead of just the animal protein. If you hadn't eaten the animal protein, you would not have all these T cells that are designed to break down complete proteins traveling around in your bloodstream . This can lead to degenerative or auto-immune diseases such as arthritis and others.
Meat can increase risk of osteoporosis since it is acid-producing in the body and can lead the body to leach calcium from your bones to alkalize the acid-alkaline balance in your body.
Most cows are fed antibiotics, more growth hormones and tranquilizers which collect in their fat and muscle. Many are fed euthanized cats and dogs, so you are not only eating the cats and dogs, you are eating the euthanasia drugs when you eat the cow.
Creuztfeld-Jacob disease, referred to as CJD or mad cow is also a risk when you eat beef. This is especially a concern with hamburger, which is mixed in large vats, so if just one cow has the disease, and that cow is ground up and mixed in a large vat with who knows how many other cows, hundreds upon hundreds or even thousands of contaminated hamburgers could be served from that one cow. The US federal government makes no claim that the US cattle supply is free of mad cow and tests only a very small percentage of cows for the disease.
Mad deer disease has been seen in the upper mid-west recently as well, by the way, and is probably spreading east.
Also I would strongly consider eliminating cow's milk of any kind from the diet since it has some of the problems of beef plus some more of its own. All cow's milk, even Lactaid milk, contains the milk sugar, lactose, which the body breaks down into the sugars glucose and galactose. Most people cannot properly digest galactose and it collects in certain organs in the body. Researchers think that this leads to increased risk of prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and cataracts. Large studies have shown that a top risk factor for prostate cancer is level of milk consumption.
Cow's milk contains large amounts of IGF-1, since the cows that are lactating just gave birth and are therefore producing large quantities of growth hormone, natural and appropriate for baby cows who are in a major rapid growth phase, but not for non-baby humans. Cow's milk is especially dangerous for human babies since it can destroy their pancreas and cause type-1 diabetes.
vegetarians are not healthier because u still need ur protein and should eat 1 thing from each food group every day!!
there are pros and cons of becoming a vegan
pros --> its cheaper, u definitely wont get mad cow disease, Paul McCartney's one
cons --> meat tastes great and satisfies ur taste, it takes a lot of effort and creativity to avoid the boredom of salads, people get uptight when they invite a vegetarian for dinner, u'll have to worry about eating the right serving of protein you need
bottom line is there are many meat-eating people in the world who are healthy, so its just a matter of choosing the right type of meat (meaning no fastfood) and if ur worried about chicken flu just boil ur chicken well and ur flu-free... please take this into consideration