What are the benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet?

Just really curious. Been thinking about it for a while now.What are the benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet?
I sincerely hope you are trolling, my friend. But for the others in this question, time for a biology lesson! People are omnivores. We eat meat. That's what them pointy teeth are for. We also eat plants, that's what them big ol' flat ones in the back are for. There are many benefits to eating vegetarian, among them: health concerns (diabeetus and heart disease, for example) and, believe it or not, ecological reasons. Eating plants is a lot more efficient, in a trophic sense, than eating meat. You can feed a lot more people with plants than with meat.



There are also many drawbacks to eating vegetarian. You are fighting biology, no matter what you say. Plants are relatively low energy and low quality feed for people. We don't have the digestive system to break down cellulose into its component sugars to use them for energy. Humans used to have a cecum to break down cellulose, but a high protein, high fat diet has made that organ obsolete and all that's left of it now is your appendix. So you will have to eat a lot of plants to get the same amount of energy and nutrients that you would from meat. Next on the list of deficiencies you are likely to encounter is protein. Plants don't have a lot of it and most plants don't produce complete proteins, like those you find in meats containing all of the essential amino acids. However, some legumes do provide complete proteins (soybeans). So if you are vegetarian or vegan, be sure to eat your beans. Lastly, I'll just group all the minerals and vitamins into one group. You'll likely have to supplement your diet with a vitamin and mineral regimen. Not all of the nutrients you need come from plants (again, you were designed to eat meat). I will use vitamin B12 as an example. It comes from meat. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. We need it for healthy brain function. As far as I know, there is no reliable way to synthesize it and efforts to make it in plants have not been very successful. So pretty much if you're taking a B12 supplement, thats good, you need it, but it is more than likely extracted from meat.



Okie dokie, so what have we learned, class? We learned that humans are omnivores, we were designed to have a diet of meat and plant matter. There are legitimate reasons to be a vegetarian. If you do decide to become a vegetarian, there are some problems that you need to address in order to avoid health complications and nutrient deficiencies. I'm not saying being a vegetarian or vegan is wrong, I'm just saying have a reason to do it, don't do it just to get up on your moral high-horse to save some animals. That wont work anyway.



If you do decide to become vegetarian or vegan, please do yourself a favor and talk with your doctor to formulate a proper diet plan and supplement regimen to take care of your dietary needs.What are the benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet?
Health Benefits of Vegetarianism

Compared with non-vegetarians, Western vegetarians have:



A lower average Body Mass Index (BMI) (by about 1 kg/m2).

A lower mean plasma total cholesterol concentration (by about 0.5 mmol/l).

A lower mortality from IHD (by about 25 percent).

They may also have a lower risk for some other diseases such as constipation, diverticular disease, gallstones and appendicitis.

The evidence available suggests that widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet could prevent approximately 40,000 deaths from IHD in Britain each year.
Well, environmentally its a good practice. Factory farming is really destructive to the environment, not to mention the suffering the animals go through.



Meat, especially red meat, can stay in your intestines for up to a week and begin to rot, which can make you feel sick/bloated. A lot of meat is also full of growth hormones, etc...



Animal products are high in bad fats and can raise your triglyceride level and HDL (high level density) levels, which can lead to heart disease, stroke, etc...



A vegetarian/vegan diet can provide you with a lot more fiber/improve your digestion (you might feel a bit sick at first as your body gets used to the change)



Those are just a handful of reasons. :)What are the benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet?
Animal Rights - reduce suffering of animals. They endure endless pain and torture to satisfy human wants that are completely unnecessary.



Environmental Issues - factory farms produce more pollution than anything else on this planet. Thinking of buying a Prius? It really does not make a difference when you look at the big picture and realize that the factory farms are the number one source of pollution anyways.



Health - vegetarians live 6 to 10 years longer than meat eaters do. They are less likely to be obese, have high cholesterol, diabetes, cancers, and more.



Human Rights - people whom are employed by big factory farms are often immigrants who are mistreated and taken advantage of by their employers.



World Hunger - it takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat, and even fish on fish farms must be fed up to 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce 1 pound of farmed fish flesh.



Also - when you really think about what you are eating, meat just isn't that appetizing. I would recommend reading "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safron Foer. It's a very informative book.
An easier question to answer would be "What are the downsides of a vegan diet?" - Because as far as I can see, there are very few downsides. It's good for the environment, long-term it's good for the global economy, it's excellent for health and well-being, and obviously it's good for animal welfare.



There are only three downsides I've noticed since going vegan; It can get annoying having to check every ingredient label on things, and fully vegan foods can be hard to find; I have to put more thought into what I'm eating to make sure I have enough calcium, protein, and vitamin B12; and there are apparently a lot of people on this planet who just love letting me know how stupid and inferior they think plant-based diets are, which definitely gets annoying, especially considering most of them have no clue what they're talking about and resort to low-brow, childish tactics like describing how they like to eat their meat.



Other than that, my new healthy, vegan diet has been great for my physical and psychological health. I'm feeling happier, lighter, more energetic, I'm sleeping better than ever, I have more motivation, I can exercise for longer without getting as tired. I pretty much feel fantastic.What are the benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet?
I have read this site and it would be helpful for you. Enjoy reading. ^_^



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetariani鈥?/a>
Some benefits of a vegan diet include lower risk of lung cancer, healthy skin, lower blood pressure, higher energy, lower risk of diabetes, and healthier cholesterol levels.
I find this question kind of interesting seeing as how in the question below this one your response contained "You're vegan? Dear jebus why?"