subject: Vegetarian Diet For Optimal Personal And Environmental Health [print this page] It is been well documented through the years that vegetarians are healthier than people who eat meat. Vegetarians are less likely to be obese, or to have blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis rheumatoid, or colon cancer. They are also less likely to die from heart disease. Vegetarians have lower blood pressure even when they eat the same amount of salt as meat eaters and exercise less. Many studies show that vegetarians have less instances of colon cancer, due in large part to the variations in the bacterial flora that's present in the colon.
There are lots of factors in the vegetarian diet that contribute to better health. Vegetarians consume two to three times as much fiber as do meat-eaters, which has been shown to reduce cholesterol and blood glucose levels, and protect against colon cancer. They also consume more antioxidants, which are found in a wide variety of plant foods and protect cells from oxygen-induced damage and reduce the risk for heart disease, arthritis, cancer, and other diseases.
Vegetarians eat more isoflavones than do meat eaters. These compounds, found mostly in soy foods, are a kind of phytochemical. Research shows that isoflavones may reduce the risk for prostate cancer and may improve bone health.
Vegetarians also consume much less saturated fat and cholesterol than do meat eaters, resulting in significantly lower levels of blood cholesterol, decreased instances of heart disease and possibly for diabetes and cancer. And, since vegetarians do not eat meat, they aren't exposed to heme iron, a type of iron found in meat that may increase the risk of heart disease and cancer
And lastly, vegetarianism isn't just optimally healthy for your body, but your environment and the planet's animals. It allows you to live more harmoniously with the world around you, which improves mental and emotional health accordingly.
Most people imagine vegetarians as thin, unhealthy people who are constantly trying to make up for not eating meat by popping mineral pills and trying to replace real foods with substitutes so that they don t have deficiencies. However, the truth of the matter is that while vegetarians do have to make up for the lack of vitamins they can t get without eating meat, that same lack of meat means that they actually inherit some great vegetarian health benefits.
One of the biggest vegetarian health benefits is increased cancer protection. Multiple studies have found that vegetarians have a lower risk of cancer than people who eat animal products. That s because vegetables, fruits, legumes and other minimally processed starchy foods do not carry the same health risks that things like grilled or cured meats carry. Most of the cancer risk that meat carries comes from the way it s preserved and cooked, not the meat itself, and since fruits and vegetables are not preserved in any way, they do not carry the same risks. In fact, those who consume mostly vegetables experience the vegetarian health benefit of having a cancer risk that s 20 to 50% lower than those of non-vegetarians.
