not many will switch to veggie just to keep healthy.
i definitely wont coz i am a meat person.
It was found that over seventy-five percent of the American men
examined had serious narrowing of their arteries while none of the
Korean soldiers had the disease. It was concluded that the diets of
the two groups had contributed to the difference. While the
Americans had consumed fatty meat and eggs, the Koreans had eaten
mostly beans and rice. In view of these facts, vegetarianism is
gaining wider acceptance these days. Peter Burwash, a formerly top
ranked tennis player, writes, "Having spent twenty-five years of my
life as a meat-eater, I was constantly perplexed by the physical
ups and downs that are a natural part of a high protein meat diet.
But my energy level as a vegetarian has been so consistent that for
me a low-energy day is indeed a rarity."
Virtues such as nonviolence and compassion lead to peace of
mind. Dr. A. N. Upadhye writes, "It is only a strict vegetarian
that can assure himself that he is a cultured citizen who is not
living at the cost of any other life in this commonwealth of
animate beings. Further, a vegetarian diet is conducive to a
dispassionate and balanced mind and detached and equable attitude.
It is thus the baser emotions and lower instincts are sublimated
resulting in nobler virtues of universal kindness, equality and
brotherhood."
In view of the increasing population of the planet, especially
in the developing countries, it is imperative to conserve and
efficiently use the natural resources such as land and water.
Vegetarianism is extremely essential for this purpose. A few years
after India's independence, in a discussion with Pandit Jhamman Lal
Jain, a problem of increasing population and hunger around the
world was raised.The insightful scholar mentioned the rampant
non-vegetarianism in America as the major factor in aggravating the
problem. Dr. D. C. Jain of the Animal Welfare Society of India
writes, "Vegetarianism is the greatest tool in the preservation of
the environment. Water pollution, soil erosion, shortage of energy
resources and the rapid destruction of forests are some of the
problems which are part of environmental aspects of our diet. The
availability of food depends upon the plant resources and the
livestock. Livestock agriculture requires a greater investment of
natural resources than the plant food agricultural resources. Land,
energy and water requirement for livestock agriculture is about 10
to 1000 times greater than those necessary to produce an equivalent
amount of plant food." The nutritional return per acre, published
by the US Department of Agriculture, reveals that oats produced in
an acre of land contain 110 kilograms of protein and provide 2760
kcal, while the beef produced in an acre contains only 14 kilograms
of protein and provides only 110 kcal.Over half the water consumed
in the United States is used in livestock industry. A pound of
wheat contains more calories than a pound of beef but the beef
requires 40 to 50 times more water.
The meat industry also uses a very significant quantity of oil,
another important natural resource, to power the meat processing
equipment, to store meat in refrigerators and to transport it.
Waste from the meat industry is a serious cause of pollution of
rivers, lakes and streams.
To summarize, vegetarianism is beneficial to individuals for
health and spiritual reasons. A vegetarian diet also entails an
efficient use the natural resources. For example, in India,
vegetarianism can sustain about ten times more people than the
existing population.
Production of plant food places minimal strain on the
environment. Thus vegetarianism is good for the self and good for
the environment.
