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Vegetarianism Vegetarianism has been in vogue for centuries in many parts of the world. The record tells us that some of the outstanding personalities of yesteryears such as Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Darwin, Henry Thoreau, Isaac Newton, Plato, Pythagoras and many more have been pure vegetarians. Even in U. S. prior to industrial revolution, there was a little meat consumption. Meat consumption increased dramatically in U. S. between 1900 and1960 due to possibility of refrigeration and the availability of faster mode of transportation.
Vegetarian Diets Compare Favorably
‘ Vegetarian Times’ Study indicates that currently, about 7. 3 million Americans have adopted vegetarian diets and 22. 8 millions are on the path of vegetarianism. About 1 million American people consume absolutely no animal products and study also indicates that at least 11. 9 million have strong inclination to follow a vegetarian diet in the future. Many Americans today look for high-fiber, low-cholesterol, and low-calorie diet and in that sense their switching to vegetarianism is justified. Usually, vegetarian meals provide the lot of fiber, controlled calories and cholesterol free diet.
Vegetarian Diet and Its Impact on Health
Rudolph Ballentine argues that two-thirds of American households changed their diets due to health reasons in last few decades. The changes incorporated aimed at eliminating beef and pork in diets and increasing vegetable and fruit intakes. Americans are consuming now more fruits and vegetables in their diet than a few years ago. This implies that there is a conscious choice in this change discarding their age-old cultural or traditional habits. Several studies done in past few years indicate that vegetarian diet is complete in all respects and conducive to good health in comparison to the usual diet consumed by majority of Americans. Vegetarians are less prone to many diseases that are prevailing in Americans society today. More and more studies reveal that coronary heart disease, colon and breast cancer rates are much less in vegetarians than those who eat meat. The incidence of obesity, diabetes, and constipation are found much less in those who follow vegetarian diet.
Vegetarianism Supports Other Causes
The rising incidences of health issues along with mass movement to give up cruelty against animals have been the major causes forcing Americans to change their eating habits. Rudolph Ballentine argues that if meat were dropped by the people in Americas and elsewhere, everybody on this earth could be fed well. From the view point of agricultural land use and its cost economics, the producing meat is several times more expensive than plant foods. A cow consumes 21 pounds of plant protein to produce single pound of meat. That is the reason one-half of the agricultural land in US is used just to feed animals. It is sheer wastage of our land use. If the same land is used to feed humans directly most of the population of the world could be met with the protein requirements. So shifting to non-meat diets by many is surely an indication that human race is improving for the better cause of the whole mankind. Many have left meat-diets after knowing about the cruelty with animals in slaughterhouses and they do not want to be a part of it. This is an indication of improved sensitivities toward animal and other species on this planet. All this surely indicates that human race is improving.
Works Cited
Ballentine, Rudolph, Transition to Vegetarianism, the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga
Science and Philosophy of the USA, Pennsylvania, p. 4, 45-50
Vegetarian Times, Vegetarianism in America, Retrieved May 3, 2012 from
http://www. vegetariantimes. com/article/vegetarianism-in-america/