Top 5 Reasons for Being Vegetarian

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Top 5 Reasons for Being Vegetarian

This list explains five of the top reasons people become vegetarian. Whether you're a newbie or a long-term vegetarian veteran, you can see which of these reasons resonate with you, get a little more motivation or help explain your choice to non-vegetarians.

1) Animals

The horrifying conditions on factory farms and in slaughterhouses have been amply documented by animal rights groups like PETA. By not eating animal products, you are choosing – both morally and economically -- not to support the killing and suffering of animals.

 

 

2) Health

A plant-based diet is higher in healthy fiber and lower in unhealthy cholesterol than a diet that includes meat. Eliminating animal products like meat, dairy and eggs from your diet can also help you avoid food-borne illnesses ranging from food poisoning to mad cow disease and lets you avoid consuming the antibiotics and hormones that are routinely fed to farm animals. A vegetarian diet can also be a smart choice for people who are allergic or sensitive to foods like milk, eggs or shellfish.

 

 

3) Environment

 

Raising animals for meat (and raising the plant protein used to feed these animals) uses up water and land resources that could more than enough food for all the starving people on earth. Farm animals contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Manure and other wastes from animals raised for meat pollutes our water, and over-grazing leads to soil erosion.

 

 

4) Economics

A vegetarian diet is not only cheaper than a diet that includes animal products, it can also help fight global poverty and economic oppression. As mentioned under environment above, using land and water to feed people instead of animals could help eliminate world hunger. And conditions for workers in factory farms, slaughterhouses and meat packing plants -- many of whom are underpaid, non-unionized, illegal immigrants -- are almost as appalling as the conditions for animals.

 

 

5) Religion/Ethics

Many of the world's vegetarians eat a meat-free diet for religious reasons. Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism (major Asian religions) all have centuries-old traditions of vegetarianism based on compassion for all creatures. One of most important Jewish kosher laws requires meat and dairy products to be kept separate, so some Jews avoid meat as a way to keep kosher. Still others choose vegetarianism as a way to put their beliefs about the proper treatment of animals and prople into practice.

-- Diana Gonzalez Nothing wastes more energy than worrying - the longer a problem is carried, the heavier it gets. Don't take things too seriously - live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

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