Vegetarian Health
The Benefits of Vegetarian Health
It wasn’t that long ago that vegetarians were few and far between, and the benefits of vegetarian health were largely unknown. Vegetarians were the exception and not the rule. But, that is no longer the case. Each of us knows someone who is a vegetarian, and most of us know several people.
As more and more research has been done on what is good for our health, food consciousness in the general population has risen dramatically. Even the government’s food recommendations call for seven servings of fruits and vegetables every day. In America alone, it is estimated that at least 7,600,000 are vegetarians and that of this number over three million are vegans, who follow the strictest vegetarian standards, eating no fish, eggs, or milk products in addition to no meat.
Studies have now shown us that vegetarian diets can provide all of the nutritional needs of the human body--proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The antioxidants or phytochemicals in plants protect us against such health problems as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.
Vegetarian health is no longer just a myth. While some people eat vegetarian because they don’t want to be a part of the daily slaughter of animals for food, others simply don’t like the taste of meat, but the vast majority now do it because vegetarianism is promoted by nutritionists, dieticians, doctors and other health professionals as one of the healthiest ways to live.
Vegetarians replace a lot of the meat and fish in the average diet with other protein sources. These include all kinds of beans (kidney, navy, pinto, garbanzo, black-eyed peas) and lentils. These are often substituted in recipes that call for meat. Tofu, which is soy bean curd, is often used as well. In fact, some vegetarians substitute soy products for most of the meat and milk foods they used to eat.
The protein in soybeans contains substances known as isoflavones, which help reduce cholesterol levels, prevent the growth of tumors, maintain bone mass, and lower the risk of blot clots. If you put these together, it means the more soy and other vegetables you eat, the greater your protection from heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis and cancer.
There have, in fact, been well over two hundred studies which have proven that consuming vegetables and fruits protects us from many different kinds of cancer. In some cases, such as with carcinomas, vegetarians have only about half of the risk compared to people who have much less plant consumption.
Fifty years ago, many people thought that eating vegetarian was just a fad, and some people, even medical doctors, thought a vegetarian diet might even be unhealthy. That is certainly no longer the case. Vegetarian health is now in the mainstream.