Veg for health reasons (was hey Coco)

[Guest guest]

" Rebecca " <squinkabink@b...> wrote:

 

> And new topic if anyone hasn't already answered this: If you became

 

> vegetarian for health reasons, what were those health reasons? (if not

to

 

> personal or anything)

 

 

 

I’m a vegetarian for health reasons (I tell people that I’m not

vegetarian because I love animals; I’m vegetarian because I hate

plants!), not moral ones.

 

 

 

My family has a history of heart disease and stroke, and extremely high

cholesterol (on both sides of the family). The easiest way for me to

avoid that is by limiting the cholesterol and animal fats in my diet, so

I choose to eliminate meat, though I do still eat some cheese, eggs,

etc. My cholesterol is quite low, and I intend to keep it that way.

 

 

 

Also, I’ve never been a big meat eater, just never much liked the taste

of any animal flesh except fish. When I wasn’t practicing a vegetarian

diet I’d often end up iron deficient and/or protein deficient because I

would just skip the meat portion of meals and not replace those foods

with vegetarian alternatives. Actively replacing animal proteins with

vegetable sources has made a big difference in these areas for me.

 

 

 

What’s really weird is that after so many years of having iron levels

that were too low, my most recent blood work indicates that I have too

much iron right now. My iron, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood

cell count are all elevated. It’s more than can be blamed on dietary

choices, according to my doctor, but he found it rather interesting

given my history in the other direction. (Now if we can just figure out

what’s causing me to store excess iron and deal with it, then we can get

on to changing my medication regimes to deal with another new diagnosis

(FMS). Ugh.)

 

 

 

If you know anything about the meat industry, you know that it’s

incredibly dirty and unhealthy, and it’s a wonder more people don’t get

sick from eating what comes out of it. That alone would be reason

enough for me to stop eating meat for health reasons, even without the

family history and past health problems.

 

 

 

I also think it’s more environmentally responsible to reduce meat

consumption. Raising livestock is much harder on the environment, and

not particularly efficient in terms of getting the most nutrition from

the land use.

 

--

Sherri

 

My wild oats have turned to shredded wheat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

I originally became a vegetarian for ethical reasons,

but health definitely factored into why I stayed a

vegetarian. Although ethics was my original goad, as

I learned more about vegetarianism, I saw how much

healthier it was than the typical western diet. For

awhile, health and environmental reasons were my main

reasons for being a vegetarian. About 4 years ago,

though, I came full circle back around to the ethics

issue. SO now I'm a vegetarian for all those reasons.

 

I have a friend who became vegan because eating any

animal products makes her very sick; it activates her

IBS.