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Benefits
of Vegetarianism
Copyright
© PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
This
article is from the PETA site and can be found here:
http://www.goveg.com/vegkit/eatfrlife.html |
Some
people ignore dietary advice to cut back on or cut out animal
products, perhaps hoping that a “magic pill” will come along
that will make their illnesses go away. Common sense tells us
that prevention is the best medicine. More and more people are
finding wonderful ways to tempt their taste buds without
tempting fate.
Eliminating animal foods from your diet reduces the risk of some
of our biggest killers. According to Dr. T. Colin Campbell,
nutritional researcher at Cornell University and director of the
largest epidemiological study in history, “The vast majority
... of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other forms of
degenerative illness can be prevented ... simply by adopting a
plant-based diet.” Heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes,
osteoporosis, obesity, and other diseases have all been linked
to meat and dairy consumption.
It’s never too late to change your habits for the better.
Changing your diet isn’t nearly as inconvenient as enduring a
heart bypass operation, suffering paralysis from a stroke, or
facing chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer! Going
vegetarian is the single best thing you can do for your health.
• Vegetarianism is an automatic cholesterol-cutter.
Dietary cholesterol, which causes heart disease, is found only
in animal products.
• An American male meat-eater has a 50 percent chance of
dying of a heart attack, compared to virtually no chance for
a pure vegetarian.
• The incidence of high blood pressure is generally greater
among meat-eaters than among vegetarians, and cancers of the
breast, colon, and prostate are more common among people on a
high-meat, high-fat, low-fiber diet.
• Meat, dairy products, and eggs are completely devoid of
fiber and complex carbohydrates, the nutrients that we’re
supposed to be consuming more of, and are laden with saturated
fat and cholesterol, which make us fat and lethargic in the
short term and lead to clogged arteries and heart attacks in the
long term.
"
What
do you think of meat-based diets like the Atkins
diet?"
 I
call them ‘the make yourself sick diets’ because
they cause the body to go into ketosis—a state that
occurs when we are seriously ill. I also use that
designation because the very foods recommended—meat,
chicken, bacon, eggs, and cheeses—are the foods the
Heart Association and the Cancer Society say cause our
most dreaded diseases. ... There is only one way to
fully satisfy your appetite with delicious foods and
stay trim and healthy for a lifetime—that’s a
low-fat vegetarian diet with fruits and vegetables and a
bit of exercise.
ASK
THE EXPERTS: Dr. John McDougall, medical director of
the McDougall program
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“There’s
no reason to drink cow’s milk at any time in your life. It
was designed for calves, not humans, and we should all stop
drinking it today.”
—Dr. Frank A. Oski,
former director of pediatrics,
Johns Hopkins University
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In
Western countries, our problem is too much protein, not too
little. Most Americans get at least twice as much protein as
they need. Almost everything contains protein; unless you eat
nothing but junk food, it’s almost impossible to eat as many
calories as you need for good health without getting enough
protein. Healthy sources include whole-wheat bread, oatmeal,
beans, peanuts, peas, nuts, mushrooms, and broccoli.
By contrast, too much protein, especially animal protein, can
cause people to excrete calcium through their urine and increase
their risk of osteoporosis. Too much protein can also strain the
kidneys, leading to kidney disease.
Vegans do not need to combine foods at each meal to get
“complete protein.” All grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts,
and seeds provide all the essential amino acids.
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The
average vegetarian lives six years longer than the
average meat-eater.
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“Nothing
will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of
life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian
diet.”
—Albert
Einstein
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“Vegetarians
have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of coronary
disease of any group in the country ... they have a fraction
of our heart attack rate, and they have only
40 percent of our cancer rate. On the average, they outlive
other people by about six years now.”——William
Castelli, M.D.,
director, Framingham Heart Study, the longest-running clinical
study in medical history
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“Isn’t
fish a health food?”
 Anyone who
eats fish for “health” reasons should think again: The flesh
of fish can accumulate toxins up to 9 million times as
concentrated as those in the waters that they live in, and the
flesh of some sea animals, like shrimps and scallops, contains
more cholesterol than beef. Fish on farms are also fed
antibiotics that are passed along to humans, impairing the
immune system. And according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 325,000 people get sick and some die every year
in the U.S. from eating contaminated fish and other sea animals.
ASK
THE EXPERTS: Dr. Neal Barnard, author of Foods That
Fight Pain
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