In this day and age of increasing obesity, poor health and genuine concern for our environment, I”m constantly surprised that more people aren”t turning to vegetarianism as a way to address these issues. Given our evolutionary history, it seems to me that vegetarianism is more likely to be advantageous to our physical well-being and something that more closely resembles the evolutionary environment in which we developed. In this essay, I hope to convince you that vegetarianism is a viable dietary lifestyle and one that will lead to a greater understanding of vegetarianism.
First, a definition or two: Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, and poultry. Vegans take things one step further, abstaining from eating or utilizing any animal product. In my experience, vegans make their choices more on a moral or ethical basis, while vegetarians tend to be going meatless for more selfish, healthy reasons. I am actually a lacto-ovo vegetarian.
Coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States and because a vegetarian diet has been shown to lower the incidence of coronary heart disease, the health benefits of making a switch to a vegetarian diet are unquestionable. Lower incidences of obesity and diabetes are also tied directly to a vegetarian diet.
One of the difficulties that people have in switching to a vegetarian diet is actually finding options to the meat they might be used to having, especially in a restaurant setting. However, these days it is highly common to find multiple vegetarian options on almost any menu that you run into as the market has proven to retailers that this segement of the population is growing.
Overall, as we become more in tune with our body and make more concerted attempts to increase our health and our well-being, I believe that vegetarianism will become prevalent throughout our society.