A vegetarian diet is considered as healthy as it has shown to guards against diseases. According to new medical research, a person who adopts plant-based diet is one third less likely to suffer from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases such as heart diseases and stroke. People tend to stand a better chance of not developing the high blood pressure and bad cholesterol that might affect their health problem. According to a study from German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, vegetarians' have more effective and strong immune systems to kill tumor cells in the body compared to meat eaters'. (Dworkin 1999). There are several risk factors of metabolic syndrome, which are high blood pressure, high glucose levels, high triglycerides which are fat levels in the body, and having a big waistband. Dr Rebecca Reynolds, a reader in endocrinology and diabetes at University of Edinburgh Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, said: "Metabolic syndrome is very prevalent in Scotland because it linked in with obesity and Scotland has some of the highest obesity rates in Europe. Studies have shown that Mediterranean style diet is also beneficial to our body health because people who are vegetarian eat more fruit, vegetables and olive oil." (Newbury 2011).
Vegetarian diet is much better than diet that contains meat because of physical benefits. Several population studies showed that people who adopt a vegetarian diet tend to have lower body mass index (BMI), which is the indicator of weight and fat of the body. This is normally associated with high intake of fibre and low intake of animal fat. Vegetarians may also have a higher metabolic rate compared to meat eaters. In a study of lacto-ovo vegetarians, one of the types of diet, resting metabolic rate (RMR) was 11% higher in vegetarian compared to meat eaters. This was partly due to a higher level of plasma norepinephrine which results from higher intake of carbohydrate and lower fat intake of vegetarians. (Mangels, Messina & Messina 2004). Vegan will usually have better and good-looking skin. For instance, nuts such as almond, pumpkin seed, sesame seed, sunflower seed, vegetables that contain vitamin A and E play a big role for this part. A remarkable reduction in blemishes and improvement in the skin texture can be seen once a meat eater changes to a vegan diet. Vitamin A and E are actually antioxidants that help neutralize free radicals in our body. Fruits that could improve skin condition are tomatoes, watermelon, cucumber, apples, and papaya. Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and contain iron. It is a strong antioxidant that helps fight cancer as well. Cucumber is natural cooling and brightening agent of the skin. You can simply consume it or slice it into pieces and put it on to the face. Apples and papaya contains vitamins and high in fibers. These fruits are very useful for people who have constipation and high cholesterol. In addition, several studies indicate that people who adopt vegetarian lifestyle live an average of 3 to 6 years longer than those who do not. According to a study from Loma Linda University, vegetarians live about 7 to 15 years longer than people who are not vegetarian. (Dworkin 1999). This can be proven with the example of monk. Buddhist monks are vegetarian and they do not consume meat at all. This is because in their belief and religion, killing and eating the animal is a sin and it's cruel. There is no doubt that monk who is vegetarian live longer than normal people. Some monks are even as old as 100 years above. Furthermore, nail health is considered as an indicator of a person's body health. You can see the person's health by looking at their fingernails. People who are vegetarian tend to have a healthier and longer nails, which indicates that they are healthy. People who normally consume meat and have lesser intake of vegetables tend to have a shorter and yellowish nails. This indicates that their health is at risk. Research showed that vegan diet helps reduce the suffering from Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) for female. The diet includes reduction of meat consumption but increase in consumption of complex carbohydrates, leafy green vegetables, fruit, cereals and whole grains. (Cornforth 2009). A vegan diet also helps to stop allergies for certain people. Researchers found that people report much fewer runny nose and asthma when they switched to a vegetarian diet. This is because the reduction of common food trigger such as meat, dairy and eggs. As you know, a vegetarian tend to be thinner than meat eater. Harvard's long-term Nurses' Health found that thin people have only one-third the risk of getting asthma compared to meat eaters. (Barnard, n.d.) For example, an overweight person who adopts a vegetarian diet is more likely to lose weight and alleviate asthma because people who are thin normally do not have asthma problem. All of these are the results and physical benefits from a vegetarian diet.
Believe it or not, vegetarian diet can actually save the environment and make our world a better place to live. A vegetarian helps to reduce the destruction of rainforest and save the wildlife habitat. Malaysia is a clear example of country that has rainforest. Rainforest is very important in the world. This is due to several reasons such as regulate global climate, regulate the cycle of water, and absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The environmental community has recognizes global warming as one of the gravest threats to the planet. (Mohr, n.d.). Unfortunately, mankind in this century have become more and more obsessed with the earning of maximum profits. People only think of earning as much as they could. As a result, rainforest is being cut down and enormous of fires are used to burn down these forests in order to have more space to raise the cattle before the meats, typically found in hamburgers and processed meat, are being sold out in the market. Approximately a football field of rainforest is being destroyed in order to produce 257 hamburgers for the population every second! (Animal rights and Vegetarianism, n.d.). By switching to a vegetarian diet, we can actually save a lot of animals and also their habitat. Hundreds of thousands of animals are innocently being killed by human every year. Some corporations even inject certain chemicals, hormones, or veterinary drugs into the body of the animals so that they could grow faster and reproduce more. This is to enhance their production and gain more profits. For examples, chicken and beef cattle are injected with growing hormones. What goes beyond the doors of corporations and industries are extremely terrible and insane. Animals are regularly being butchered alive on speeded-up conveyor lines. These innocent living things are forced to be killed for human use and purposes, where in fact human have no right to do that. If people continue killing large number of animals just to feed the human beings, one day, certain animal will extinct forever and our next generation will have to pay the price for what we are doing right now. Like the quote that says, "When the buying stops, the killing stops." A vegetarian diet also reduces water and land pollution. In the modern and high technology society, a large amount of grains are sprayed with herbicides and pesticides by factories in order to feed the cattle. These two chemicals are very harmful and acidic. Extreme amount of acidic chemical will destroy the top soil and leak into rivers and grounds. Over 4 million acres of cropland are lost to erosion in the US every year due to plundering farmlands to fatten animals. (Animal rights and Vegetarianism, n.d.) When these chemicals flow into the oceans and seas through the river, this causes the deaths of millions of fishes. Other than that, meat industry contributes significantly to global warming as well. For example, methane that is released by bacteria in the rumens of cattle worsens global warming. This is because methane is a potent greenhouse gas that raises global temperature. Burning down of forest also release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This will also cause the temperature to increase and global warming worsens from day to day. Thus, a vegetarian diet can reduces the production of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The damage to the environment does not stop at cattle or chicken, the fishing industry also contributes to environmental degradation. Many species are being fished away faster than they can reproduce. (Bronk & Su 2006). This causes the ecosystem of the oceans and sea to be damaged, which in turn, affect the whole environment and worsen global warming. Approximately 300,000 different types of sea animals such as whales, dolphins and porpoises are being killed every year before their meats are sold in the supermarket. (Bronk & Su 2006). Thus, by switching to simple and easy vegetarian diet, we can actually save the environment and our earth without spending too much money or figure out the other alternative ways.
Some people still think that being a vegetarian is not good for our body because a vegetarian diet is lack of animal fat, protein, each of the 9 amino acids, iron and calcium, which scientific evidence showed that human need these nutrients for an optimum health. It is true that vegetarian diet could not afford to provide animal fats and other essential nutrients that our body somehow needs it. However, a vegetarian diet offers much more other extra nutritional benefits to our body compared to a diet containing meat. It does not mean that you need to consume meat in order to achieve an optimum health level. A carefully planned vegetarian diet can still provide an optimal health for everyone. There is always another alternative ways to get it.
For example, vegetarian foods such as nuts, seeds, and dark leafy greens provide magnesium that aids the absorption of calcium. Nuts such as almonds are a great source of protein for vegetarian other than providing vitamin E, calcium, magnesium and zinc. In addition, almond can helps lower the cholesterol level especially for the elders. According to a study from Health Research and Studies Centre, they found out that almonds are even better than olive oil in lowering LDL cholesterol. (Top ten vegan super foods 2009). Other than that, seeds such as pumpkin seeds contains high amount of amino acids, calcium, potassium, magnesium and tryptophan. Tryptophan aids in the production of serotonin in our body. Serotonin is actually one kind of hormone that can make us feel happier and lively. It sort of activates our brains and able to makes us to be more alive than normal. Several studies has shown that pumpkin seeds contain one kind of special compound called phytosterol that helps enhance and improve the body's immune system. (Top ten vegan super foods 2009). By adding pumpkin seeds into our daily diets, it also helps in reducing inflammation. We can also get the source of protein from several vegetarian foods such as beans, tofu and other soy products. In order to gain a classic combination that provides complete protein, a vegetarian is advised to eat beans and grains together to get the optimum result. This is because beans actually contain incomplete protein. Certain brand of tofu or soy milk is fortified with extra beneficial nutrients such as calcium and potassium for the need of a vegetarian. Soy protein has been shown to have as much proteins as in meat. (American Heart Association, n.d.). A vegetarian have a higher risk of iron deficiency compared to a meat eaters. Iron can be found in red meat, liver and egg yolk. However, we can also get it from plant source such as dried beans and spinach. It is not necessary to consume meat in order to get iron. Plant-based diet alone can prove as much nutrient as meat can provide to us. It is also not a healthy way to get protein just by eating meat alone. You will get surprise when you get older because all those symptoms of diseases would appear due to too much of meat consumption.
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