Does Being Vegetarian Mean Healthful Eating?

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There is nothing healthier than a vegetarian diet. There is no one out there who would call themselves a vegetarian and who would live on a diet of french fries ice cream and soda. Meat eaters generally are the ones who ad these junk foods to their meals. Vegetarianism reduces many metabolistic disorders, practically eliminates the need for insulin for any type of diabetes. It cuts the risk of heart disease in fourth, the risk of prostate, colon and breast cancer in half. Especially today with so many fake chicken and delicious soy products available a vegan diet can be tasty and rich in protein. Even wonderful ice creams made with coconut milk and almond milk. The world would be a better place if people would stop listening to the ignorant content of articles like this one and realize that raising animals for food, meat or dairy causes severe water shortages, grain shortage underground and air pollution and a life of terrible pain and cruelty for all the animals.
Some humans will use any discourse to justify that they just love their meat and dairy no matter the consequences for all.

brigitte wallace of FL 12:01PM October 11, 2010

obviously being a vegetarian means you have to eat protein supliments like vegan chicken or beef.. you cant just live off of junk filler food. You have to know what to eat to make up for the meat your not eating.

lauren of CA 7:15PM June 10, 2010

Being a vegetarian is not that hard as like you think. Thinking about what vegetarian eat and how they eat. Probably, I am a vegetarian and i feel great for being a vegetarian.
Beside eating vegetable and fruit, I also buy meatless supplies as like soybean skin, tofu, vege fish, vege ham, vege beef, fork, lamb, and all kinds of different supplies to eat.
Look at the food dyramid, isn't it animal protein and vege protein the same? You have to know what you eat. You just can't eat poorly vegetarian because it is not healthy. So, before you say that being vegetarian is not healthy, you have to consider whether or not you know what to eat.

lily of TX 11:53AM May 03, 2010

My, my .. people tend to get very defensive when there is the slightest whiff of any moral implication around what they choose to eat.
So you find an omnivore diet that is healthy, and therefore being a vegetarian will destroy your body? Not likely. There are really enough studies that show that vegetarian diets are often very healthy. I will also concede that some omnivorous diets are healthy.
But here is the point: Eating meat has become unnecessary. It is a choice. And your choice of food is not just a taste thing, not just a health thing. It is an ethical choice.

PT of MN 6:25AM January 27, 2010

Eating a vegetarian diet will DESTROY YOUR BODY...humans are designed to eat (lean) meat!!!
Read "The Paleo Diet" by Dr. Loren Cordain and "The Vegetarian Myth" by Lierre Keith, who was herself a die-hard vegetarian for twenty years before she realized the error of her ways.

Lauren of CA 2:24AM January 25, 2010

'Many people in the world eat a poverty vegetarian diet that is mostly starch and salt'... *because* their countries use arable land primarily to grow exported grain, for slaughter animals in other countries!
That's an unhealthy diet, and a problem; but it's a problem that could be altered by a shift in our food-production paradigm, from animal- to plant-based diet emphasis, within developed countries... just sayin...

tanyalasagna of AR 1:01AM January 12, 2010

I'm not sure how 'fish' gets perceived as 'not an animal'... but, well, that's not gonna be part of a vegetarian diet. Fish aren't vegetables! If you eat a plant-based diet primarily, but also eat fish/ shellfish (might include eggs/dairy or might not), you're a pescatarian.
It's a small thing, this labeling, but causes frustrating misunderstandings -- especially when well-meaning friends have vegetarians over for dinner. Please don't add to the confusion!
In my experience, most veg-heads pay more attention to planning a well-balanced diet than most average-joe omnivores... And are far more often offered unsolicited nutritional counseling! -- often by the extremely uninformed (I don't mean in this article, just in general daily life). No one use to casually bring up, in conversation, that what with my meat-eating processed-food-product diet & all, I was at risk for inadequate consumption of vitamin A or beta carotene (I had numerous vitamin deficiencies, back then!)... but if I hear ONE more time 'But where do you get your protein?', I think I may have to kick someone in the shins! (not really, I'm peaceful by nature; but it's very aggravating!) Yes: it's possible to have an unhealthy diet, whether or not it's made of animals. But also yes: all other things being equal, dairy-free vegetarians (or dairy-free pescatarians) tend to be healthier/ have less cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, IBS, arthritis, etc. etc. etc.... partly because this group tends to pay attention to eating a healthy diet, & partly because that food doesn't clog arteries & trigger inflamation, like mammals & birds do.
Glad to see more folks reading about the veg life, though... thanks for the article. For further reading on health issues & other reasons some people go veg, check out pcrm.org (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) or ecovore.org.

tanyalasagna of AR 12:43AM January 12, 2010

Just as we have aright to continue to breathe so does a cow or any other animal or organism for that matter. Great inner strength can be obtained by living in this thought that we are at peace with the rest of creation. If we can't create a living being, if we can't breathe life into one, what gives us the right to kill a life? This just seems such plain common sense. If we are otherwise full of compassion it beats me why people become meat eaters; it must arise from not questioning why we do what we do.
We all know that many health problems arise from excessive meat consumption, but we don't do anything to change our eating habits.

Yog461 of WA 12:16AM January 12, 2010

To include eggs and fish distorts the whole concept of a vegetarian diet. People are put off because they do not know how to cook vegetarian food other than bland boiling or eating it raw.
What is forgotten is that the human stomach is geared to digesting fruits, legumes, nuts and vegetables NOT meat. Also the protein value of dead meat is on the lowest scale of dietary value. Equally relevant is that a vegetarian diet maintains and raises the vibrationary/sensitivity level of the body, why cater to the coarse level.
More importantly each species in the animal kingdom possesses a Group Soul = instinct. Killing is a sin.

Joseph I D'Souza 6:50PM January 11, 2010

I've been vegetarian for 11 years, and still fall into the habit of eating bagels and pizza instead of salads and beans! It's a good reminder to me that I still need to watch what I eat despite being vegetarian!

Michelle of NY 3:47PM January 11, 2010