This article is the first part of series of articles about why you should switch to a vegetarian diet.
Other articles in this serie are:
I haven’t been a vegetarian for more than seven years. And I didn’t experience one of those immediate switches to become all vegetarian, to me, it was a process that developed over several years.
If you’ve eaten meat your whole life, switching to a vegetarian diet might be something that could be fairly difficult. I am not sure if you can relate it to trying to quit smoking, because I think that quitting to smoke might be even more difficult.
I think that the most important part when it comes to becoming all vegetarian is to consider the reason why you should stop eating meat. Most people have been eating meat their whole life, and the easiest part is to continue eating the way they have always been eating.
So, the question you should be asking yourself is…
Why switch now?
In fact, there are many reasons why you should decide to switch to a vegetarian diet. You might want to take a look at yourself in the mirror, even though I don’t know anything about you, I know this:
The majority of Americans are not at a healthy weight and this can be the number one reason for them to switch. It seems that more and more people, not only in the US, are becoming obese. Do you think vegetarians become obese? Well, they certainly can, but so far, I have never heard of or seen (even on TV) an obese vegetarian.
Now, aks yourself the following questions:
- Are you at a healthy weight?
- Do you feel good most of the time?
- Do you wake up energized? Or tired and sluggish?
- How is your overall health?
- Is your blood pressure in a healthy range?
- Are your cholesterol and blood sugar levels normal?
If you answer no to most of the questions, you should consider a switch (you don’t have to become a vegetarian in order to feel healthy). Many people actually feel worse after eating, that’s not how food is suppose to make you feel. Food should nourish and feed your body. It should leave you feeling refreshed and energized. The body is a machine and it needs good fuel.
As I just stated, most Americans (and a lot more people in other countries as well) are overweight and obese. This is because they eat too much meat and too much fat. Problems such as high blood sugar, Type II diabetes, high cholesterol and other health related problems are caused by their diet.
All of these problems can be prevented by changing your diet.
You can become a vegetarian because of health related issues, as I just described, but if you are like me, health got nothing to do with the switch. I will update you soon, with the reasons for why I became a vegetarian, and why I will continue to be one for the rest of my life… stay tuned.
There are many reasons why you should switch to a no-meat diet, but even when you do switch, you might not want to give up all animal products. But even if you use some animal products, you can still be a vegetarian.
There are four different types of vegetarians:
Lacto Vegetarians: This diet consists of no animal products or eggs. As a Lacto vegetarian you’ll eat and drink dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt.
Ovo-Vegetarians: This diet consists of no animal or dairy, as a Ovo-vegetarian you’ll eat eggs.
Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians: This diet consists of no animal products, as a Lacto-ovo vegetarian you’ll eat and drink dairy and eggs.
Vegan: This diet consists of plant-based foods, which means that it excludes all animal products including dairy, eggs, meat and even honey.
If you are considering switching to a meat-free diet, but haven’t figured out what type of vegetarian you are going to be, it’s okay. It takes time and experimentation with different recipes to figure out what you can’t live without in your diet. For example, some people can’t live without milk and eggs.
You Really are What You Eat
The expression “you are what you eat” has been heard numerous times and it is often used in advertisements. But, if you really think about what this means, you really start to think twice about your diet.
A good example of a person being what they eat can be seen in your blood plasma. Your blood plasma is clear liquid, but after eating a fast food hamburger your blood plasma becomes cloudy with fat and cholesterol. This is what your body absorbs after eating a high-fat hamburger.
Inversely, you also become what you don’t eat. When you switch from eating a lot of meat to eating a vegetarian based diet, you lose fat. You are also less prone to various cancers and diseases. Your cholesterol can also improve. When you are lean and eating less meat products, you find that many of your health and fitness problems go away. The risk of type II diabetes is also reduced. Blood pressure falls into normal ranges as well. When you’re healthier, you also do not have to take fewer medications.
If you have a family history of high cholesterol or blood pressure, then you are particularly dependent on what you eat and it is easier for you to become what you eat. Moving towards a vegetarian diet can reduce the incidence if numerous diseases.
Vegetarians are also statistically healthier.
After being a vegetarian for a while, you start questioning society and you start thinking about the future and the past. At least, that’s what I have been doing.
Among the things I have been thinking about and questioning, is what our ancestors ate and how far we have changed our eating habits.
Let me tell you what I have discovered.
Originally, our ancestors were hunter-gatherers and not omnivores. They did not eat animals (omnivore is a person that eats food of both plant and animal origin). When you look at predators and carnivorous animals you can see that they have teeth designed to rip and tear. Their teeth are not designed for chewing. Animals that are designed for chewing like herbivores (an animal that feeds on plants) have flat teeth that are designed to breakdown food.
Humans have evolved
Humans evolved from being vegetarian. ”Our” digestive systems were not designed for eating and digesting meat. Eating meat is a fairly recent development in human history. It’s believed that people began to eat meat because they couldn’t find the natural foods they were used to eating.
Initially, we were similar to creatures that evolved from animals like herbivore apes. These apes looked similar to us and walked upright with their arms and hands. They naturally search widely for food and ate roots, berries, fruits and nuts. They also lived moment to moment constantly searching for food.
Hunting requires thought and eating meat required fire. Until fire was discovered, humans primarily ate vegetables and fruits.
As a vegetarian, I have been thinking about why humans started eating meat in the first place. This question is interesting, because originally, our ancestors were hunter-gatherers and not omnivores.
It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention, and prehistoric humans who lived in frozen areas ate anything that they could to survive. What I am saying is that, the prehistoric man had to eat meat in order to survive. This would be the first time that they had ever eaten meat. And because of this, it changed the way people would eat forever.
The first meat that was eaten would have been cooked by fire that was natural started by natural forest fires. Without fire, they could have possibly eaten raw meat as well. The digestive system most likely rebelled to eating the raw meat, but as they became adjusted meat became a part of their regular diets.
You may have heard of people who have lived vegetarian lives for a long period of time and then became violently ill after eating meat. This is similar to what prehistoric men would have gone through.
We are not really designed to digest meat, but we have adapted to it over time.
