Becoming a Vegetarian
If you have been considering giving up meat, you may well be asking yourself if it is worth becoming a vegetarian. The biggest question is one of ethics and whether or not this action will change anything that happens on the planet. It may not make a massive difference when one person decides to do this but each person that makes this choice will have an overall effect. For instance the number one cause of death in the United States and other countries with meat centered diets is heart disease.
Meat, dairy produce and eggs are the main sources of cholesterol which are the contributing factors in coronary heart disease and other circulation problems. The figures speak for themselves when a person who eats meat is four times as likely to suffer a heart attack as someone who is a vegetarian. The risk of a heart attack for vegans is even lower with only a one in ten chance of having a heart attack against those of a person who eats meat. But these are not the only health benefits of choosing to be a vegetarian.
Cancer is another area where reductions are seen as meat contains a number of preservatives which have been linked to this disease. Of course vegetarians will not be exposed to the number of additional hormones that are fed to cattle as part of their feed and will not experience some of the hormone problems people have because of this. Some digestive conditions are claimed to be caused by a reaction to lactose which is avoided if you are a non-meat eater. Ok so there are obvious health benefits to becoming a vegetarian but it will also mean that many animals will not be harmed either.
The appalling death toll statistic suggested by Vegan Out-Reach is that over 2,700 animals will be eaten by an average American during their life. Even a single person could, in the space of a few decades, save the lives of many hundreds of animals which would have been killed for food. To help even further and stop the number of battery hens and dairy cows from having to suffer degrading conditions you could stop drinking milk and eating eggs. So the answer is yes, it does matter whether or not you become a vegetarian. Many animal lives would be saved and your life would be improved with less chance of you developing cancer or a coronary heart condition.
