Vegetarian Argument Paper

Instead of dieting, people should look to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In an effort to do so, I have turned to a plant based diet. With new studies informing the public about the dangers of red meat as a carcinogen and its link to heart disease, I felt it was best to leave the burgers behind. While not wholly vegan, I no longer consume eggs, dairy, honey, and red meat and instead have replaced these animal products with leafy greens, fiber rich berries, and whole wheat pasta. This transition has not been solely about health, however, as, after taking an Environmental Science course, I learned about the damaging environmental impacts of the meat and dairy industries. In the United States, agriculture accounts for 80% of our water usage -- and bovine meat is the largest offender, using 48x more water than vegetables. Land usage for livestock is another massive problem and as the consumer demands for animal products increases, our available land is slowly eaten away at.

When I was growing up I was taught how to hunt, fish and trap animals for food as well as being fed an omnivorous diet, but today I have found that I no longer need animals in my diet. The Vegetarian Times recently found that out of the 311 million people in the US, 7.3 million eat a vegetarian based diet and 22.8 million eat a vegetarian inclined diet. Over the past century people have begun looking into the health implications of plant based diets as a way of improving their health and increase their longevity. This research paper is intended

Replacing all the meat in the human diet with vegetables and fruit is difficult. At the expense of refraining from eating meat, we are expected to partake in excessive

Research shows that in countries where people eat a pound or more of fruit and vegetables a day , the rate of cancer is half what it is in the United States. Pollan argues that vegetarians are less susceptible to most of the western diseases, and as a consequence live longer than the rest of us(164). Apparently, we can’t live without plants, but we don’t need to eat meat in order to obtain the nutrients we need for growth because they can be found elsewhere (Pollan 165). Since plants are less energy dense than other foods, by eating a plant-based diet one will likely consume fewer calories which is itself protective against many chronic disease (Pollan 165).I agree with Pollan that a plant-based diet can help reduce the risk of obesity, Diabetes, and Heart Disease.

Some people choose a vegetarian diet for ethical and environmental reasons and some choose to be vegetarian because of food safety issues.

Being vegetarian or vegan is not only beneficial to the animals that are being slaughtered but it also beneficial to the earth and helps to reduce global warming. According to Wikipedia, there are more than seven billion people and out of those seven billion people only three hundred and seventy five million people are said to be vegetarian or vegan. This mass slaughter of animals and livestock is also one of the leading causes of global warming. People may think that the earth is slowly dying but that is not the case anymore as global warming has caught up with us. According to NASA, there are 406.94 parts per million of carbon di oxide in the atmosphere the highest it has ever been in 650000 years. The global temperature has risen by 1.7 °F and sixteen out of the seventeen warmest years on earth have been recorded since 2001. The arctic ice minimum has decreased by 13.2% per decade and in 2012 arctic summer sea ice shrank to the lowest extent on record. The global sea level has also grown by 3.4 millimeters per year and the global average sea level has risen nearly 178mm over the past 100 years. These statistics show you how quickly global warming and climate change are having an effect on earth and who knows what the stats will be in another 50 to 100 years the earth may become uninhabitable and humans will be the sole reason for this.

“Meats, Dairies, and Eggs, Oh Why” (2014) is an argumentative essay written by Rebecca Dent that explains the benefits of eating a plant-based diet and advocates for the better treatment of the animals affected by the meat industry. Dent supports her assertions by discussing the negative health effects of an omnivorous diet, addressing reasons some might be hesitant to convert to a plant-based diet, describing the advantages of substituting meat for vegetables for both the consumers and the animals, and finally, by including expert opinions and statistical facts. Dent’s purpose for this essay is to highlight the benefits of vegetarianism in order to convince readers to convert to a plant-based diet. The intended audience for this argument is those who currently eat an omnivorous diet so that they would assess and change their eating habits.

Vegetarianism is a custom practiced in six out of the seven continents and has become more popular over the years. Vegetarianism can be defined as the exclusion of animal products such as meat and fish from one’s diet. Dairy products and eggs are often times excluded as well. Although there are many reasons one may decide to become a Vegetarian or follow such a code of ethics, the most common include: moral, religious or health reasons.

These components all work together to cause major issues like obesity, heart disease, and cancer leading to billions of dollars being put to the treatment of millions of patients each year. Researchers like John McDougall, John Robbins, and David Robinson Simon have put in years and years of research and experimentation to prove to society and the Western culture that we are not fueling our bodies appropriately and in fact, we are causing serious damage that may or may not be reversible. With simple dietary changes, the three big killers-cancer, heart disease, and obesity-can all be eradicated. As proven by hundreds of years of healthy, disease free cultures, we can thrive on a plant-based, starch heavy diet without added animal products high in acid, fat, and cholesterol. The meat and dairy industries survive by telling society that we must consume excessive amounts of protein and calcium to stay healthy when Asian and ancient societies have proven this to be false. Maybe it is time for us to stop treating health problems, most likely caused by poor and harmful diets, with a plant-based diet. These simple and easy changes could be the difference in not only quality of life, but the extension of it. Maybe Albert Einstein was right, “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chance for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian

“You are what you eat”, a famous saying says. If this were truly the case, then the majority of Americans would be unhealthy, chemically processed, commercially grown slabs of animal meat. And although this is not a particularly pleasing thought, it is the epitome of a standard American diet that consists of Big Macs and Taco Bell. There are a select few who stray from this typical diet, and have altered it to where they can substitute meat with other nutrients. This type of diet is called vegetarianism, and is considered the way to live without poisoning oneself with the harmful and hazardous treatment that animals go through before becoming the next meal on your plates. While vegetarianism was once thought to be a movement without much action,

Research shows that there are approximately one million Americans who are 100% vegan (Harris Interactive Service Bureau, 2013). It is unfortunate that the majority of the population is missing out on the opportunity to easily better their health and wellness, especially when the rate of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes has drastically increased over the last fifty years. It is completely within one’s power to prevent those specific illnesses and diseases, as well as many others. Learning about one’s body and what nutrition it actually needs to function is the most important knowledge to obtain when one is trying to better his or her health. Too often, the foods ingested as a population are lacking in essential ingredients which would nourish everyone’s bodies in the most efficient way. In the long run, humans will deteriorate at a much faster pace if they lacked the proper diet throughout life. In order for a person to maintain his or her best overall health, he or she needs to choose a plant-based diet which focuses on a surplus of fruits and vegetables while excluding animal proteins and processed foods.

The quote “A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral” from Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, encompasses what vegetarianism is about. Veganism and vegetarianism is generally associated with leafy green salads but there is a long list of health benefits attached to that way of eating and a reduction in livestock farming benefits our environment. Diving into the benefits of becoming a vegetarian or vegan, there has been extensive research done on how a teak in diet can reduce risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Plant-based dieting is a lifestyle that is beneficial for health, moral and environmental reasons.

It is believed that those that partake in vegan and vegetarian diets have a healthier lifestyle than those that partake in omnivorous diets. Vegans and vegetarians are healthier in that they have a lower chance of getting diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. According to the authors of the academic article entitled, “Vegetarian Diets and Weight Status” these diseases are some of the most prevalent with the highest mortality rates in the world. The number of those affected by these diseases are increasing quite rapidly, along with the number of overweight and obese people—approximately 1.2 billion; of this 1.2 billion, 64% are overweight and 30% are obese —which leads one to draw the conclusion that weight is a huge factor when it comes to attaining one of these three major diseases. There are of course many other factors as well, those being genetic and environmental. However, vegetarians and vegans typically have a lower BMI and are usually healthier than those that consume a higher amount of red meats, are more “health conscious”, and are less likely to smoke, drink, and tend to work out more (Barnard, Berkow 175, 176). The foods they eat also aid tremendously in reducing the risk of these diseases. These foods include: fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains; they are lower in carbohydrates, saturated and trans fats, and cholesterol, which all have a negative impact on one’s health in

Having a healthy dietary method can reduce the chances of receiving many health diseases. These health diseases include obesity, heart disease, and cancer. By consuming certain foods and nutrients in one’s diet the risk factors for these health diseases can be reduced. A healthy dietary method that is beneficial to reducing and/or improving these health diseases is the vegetarian diet. The vegetarian diet follows a dietary pattern that is characterized by the consumption of plant-like foods and the avoidance of flesh foods (meat, poultry, and fish). The foods in this diet provide the body with many essential nutrients. This is why many health benefits have been associated with the vegetarian

The human body needs energy from the nutrients. Additionally, people are all different and what works for one person may not work for the others, so that each has unique eating habits. Different types of nutrition are the omnivorous diet and plant-based diets, such as vegetarianism and its varieties. Inherently, humans are omnivores, their bodies function healthily with eating both animal and plant-based products. Even so, physicians recommend healthier lifestyles based on herbal products, against animal originated and processed foods to prevent ‘‘the spread of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases’’ (Tuso 1). Vegan diet is healthy and environmentally friendly, but in the long term, it can cause environmental damage and health problems in multiple body parts, such as bones, cardiovascular and nerve systems because of the lack of nutrients.