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Tatum Ryan
ENG 1101
Ms. Becker
01 December 2019

Is Being Vegetarian Actually Healthier for your Body

There are approximately 375 million people in the world that are vegetarian. There are

some different types of vegetarians. A vegetarian who eats milk/dairy products, egss, grains,

fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds but does not eat animal meat such as fish, or poultry are

called Lacto-ovo vegetarians. This is what most people would simply call being vegetarian.

Some people are pescaterians which means they eat everything listed above but they only refrain

from eating poultry, they still eat fish. Another type of diet is the Lacto-vegetarian. This is

similar to lacto-ovo vegetarianism but they do not consume eggs. (vegetarianism:The Basic

Facts) These types of diets are not to be confused with being vegan, being vegan means you do

not consume any animal products, eggs, milk, meat, and sometimes even honey. Some people

are willing to make major changes to their lifestyle in order to be vegetarian. In my opinion I

think that it's a great thing to be vegetarian, it is good for your body and the environment, but

also I think that cutting out all meats is something just anyone can do. To become vegetarian you

must be educated in how to get the protein and nutrients you normally would receive from

meats.Some people agree that being vegetarian is healthier for your body while others think it’s

better to consume meat.

Some people think that being a vegetarian is better for your body. There are many things

that can be said to support this statement. A couple of them are, when you eat red meat you are

consuming harmful hormones that can cause breast cancer. One other thing is, that eating meat

can make you gain weight, because it has a higher calorie count, also, it can shorten your life

expectancy, the main cause of death of many people is a diet high in calories, saturated and trans
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fat, high bad cholesterol levels, which can be developed by eating meat. (6 Pros and Cons of

Eating Meat) there are so many alternatives from meat that you can eat when on a plant based

diet. The list includes, tofu, lentils, chickpeas, peanuts, almonds, quinoa, chia seeds, hemp seeds,

beans with rice, potatoes, and protein rich vegetables. ( top 15 sources of plant based protein)

Many other reasons people may become vegetarian involve the environment and how the

production of meat affects it. But while that is a good reason to become vegetarian, “only about

5% of people in the United States consider themselves vegetarian.” (What to know about the

vegetarian diet) Being a vegetarian has many pros, which include, lower your risk of cancer, also

“becoming vegetarian has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular risk factors. Studies have

found that the more meat people consume, the higher their risk of type 2 diabetes.” (what to

know about the vegetarian diet), being vegetarian can also prevent heart disease, “According to

a peer-reviewed 1999 study of 76,000 people, vegetarians had 24% lower mortality from heart

disease than meat eaters.” ( should people become vegetarian)

Critic of the vegetarian diet would say that becoming a vegetarian doesn’t actually make

you healthier. Most but not all meat eaters think this way. They say that vegetarians lack

nutrition like, iron, calcium, protein, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and zinc. ( what to know about a

vegetarian diet) which is not true as long as you are eating the right foods, like what was listed

above. They might also argue that people who have been eating meat for over 2.3 million years

are what your body is used to. But humans actually evolved to have a primary plant diet, because

we do not have large mouths or long, pointed teeth of carnivores. Human teeth are short and flat

for chewing fibrous food( should people become vegetarian). These arguments are all very good,

but the arguments for the other side are just stronger.
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So now I want you to think about, really think about whether or not you could give up

meat. When you think about it, do you really eat meat that much? Maybe you could start with

only cutting meat out one day a week, or just one meal a day. Another way to do it is to cut out

all red meat, or cut out all meat except fish. All these things will help you ease into a vegetarian

diet. In the United States alone “more than 1 in 3 adults were considered overweight, more than

2 in 3 adults were considered overweight or have obesity” (overweight and obesity statistics) and

if more people became vegetarian maybe the percentage of obesity would go down. Both claims

had good arguments forward, but being vegetarian is actually healthier for your body. While

some people think it is better to consume meat, it is actually better to have a plant-based diet

(also known as vegetarianism)

Works Cited

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Chief, Editor in. “6 Pros and Cons of Eating Meat.” Green Garage, 14 Jan. 2017,

https://greengarageblog.org/6-pros-and-cons-of-eating-meat.

“Overweight & Obesity Statistics.” The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney

Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1 Aug. 2017,

www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity.

“Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” Vegetarian, 20 Nov. 2018, https://vegetarian.procon.org/.

Villines, Zawn. “15 Best Plant-Based Protein Foods.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon

International, 12 Apr. 2018, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321474.php#15-best-

vegan-proteins.

Wolfram, Taylor. “Vegetarianism The Basic Facts.” EatRight, 1 Oct. 2018,

https://www.eatright.org/food/nutrition/vegetarian-and-special-diets/vegetarianism-the-

basic-facts