Should People Become Vegetarians

Should people become vegetarians? Today people have many concerns in their lives so their attentions to what they eat decreases day by day. In this chaotic world eating meat-based diet cannot be good for people and the world around them. Switching to a vegetarian diet is the most effective thing that people can do to make this world a kinder, fairer, and better place to live and this can improves health. As Albert Einstein said, "Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet". I believe people should become vegetarians because it is healthy, ethical, and has less negative impacts on environment. Vegetable-based diets are healthier than meat-based diets. A vegetarian diet is inherently healthy because vegetarians consume no saturated fat and less cholesterol. Instead of them, vegetarians consume more fiber and more antioxidant. Eating meat can lead people to health problems such as heart and kidney disease, blood pressure, and certain type of cancer. A vegetarian diet can help people to live healthy and reduce the risk of suffering of diseases. Studies show that vegetarian diet reduces the risk of heart disease and second type diabetes. Vegetarian diet helps people to have strong bones, because vegetables are great source of iron and calcium. Saturated fats, processed foods, low plant-based foods, and complex carbohydrates are making us fat and killing us slowly. Vegetarian diet is the most popular way to lose fat. A vegetarian diet is quite healthy and it prevents health problem and keeps human body in shape. Then we can easily say that with vegetarian diet people can live longer. According to a Seventh - day Adventist’s study (2001), people who eat vegetables or eat very little meat showed longevity increases of 7.28 years for men and 4.42 years for women. Raising animal for food is not ethical. Animals have emotions and they can feel pain and fear. Therefore, it is not right put these creatures under unnecessary stress. Animals are able to communicate with each other so, when one animal is under stress, in pain, or in fear of being killed, they communicate this to other animals there by increasing the general level of stress to all. It is unethical to put animals in situation like this when, there are, vegetarian options available. These animals will never raise their families, root around in the soil, build nests, or do anything that is natural and important to them. Most won't even feel the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter. Raising animal in filthy, unhygienic, and overcrowded place is also cruel. About 50% of meat produce in US comes from confined animal feeding operations (CAFO). In CAFO they cut off pigs and cows tail, also they cut off chickens toenails and beaks without painkillers and they are not slaughtered animals humanely. Even the most humane forms of rearing and killing animals for food always violates the animal's most basic interest - to continue living. It is not ethical to treat with animal like this. Raising and killing animals for food has more negative environmental impact than a vegetarian diet. The production of animal protein consumes large amount of our natural resources, including water. It takes thousands of gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. In contrast, it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat. Switching to a vegetarian diet can conserve large amount of water. Another natural resource that is negatively impacted by raising animals for food is the rainforest. Between 1996 -2006, 25 million acres of Amazon rainforest were cleared. The rainforest is being threatened. Producing one hamburger destroy 55 square feet of the rainforest. An additional impact of eating meat upon the environment is the pollution of the water and the air it causes. Animal waste impacts upon our water and contaminates the air. Gases emitted through animal waste contribute to greenhouse gases and global warming. Raising animals for food damages the environment whether it's the overuse of resources, global warming, massive water or air pollution. Today, we live in a society where it is reasonable and beneficial, to choose a vegetarian diet. Switching to vegetarian diet is a personal decision, but it is not that difficult to make. A vegetarian diet can provide a healthy and long life, we don’t have to kill to eat, as well as we can save the planet with not destroying it.