Are you considering becoming a vegetarian or a vegan? Or have you already made the transition to being vegetarian and are finding difficulty sticking to a diet with no meat or fish? If this is the case, read on to find out why being a vegetarian is so much more beneficial to yourself and to the environment than being a meat eater.

(1) A Vegetarian Diet is generally a healthier diet – there is no vitamin or mineral that you cannot get from eating a vegetarian diet. Some people believe that meat and fish are a necessary part of a balanced diet, but this is simply not true. Vegetarian food also tends to be lower in fat and cholesterol than meat, which helps to protect the heart and prevent many diseases.

(2) Less exposure to chemicals – a lot of animals are given hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals. If you eat meat you have no idea what the animals you are eating were exposed to during their life.

(3) Kinder to the Environment – eating a vegetarian diet puts a lot less strain on the environment. Production of meat requires massive amounts of water, grain and fuel to produce. This could be used much more efficiently to feed starving people in Africa. In addition to this a huge amount of the land on the earth is used for livestock, reducing the amount of land used for forests.

(4) Eating a vegetarian diet is generally less expensive – meat and fish are generally a lot more expensive than vegetarian foodstuffs, so being vegetarian can help your budget as well as your health!

(5) Eating vegetarian helps you to stay slim – vegetarians generally find it much easier to stay within their normal weight range as a vegetarian diet tends to be lower in fat and calories than a meat eater’s diet.

(6) Making a stance against factory farming and slaughter houses – hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in slaughterhouses every day. Many of these animals are kept in dreadful conditions, often in pain and have no quality of life. By eating only vegetarian food.

(7) No nasty surprises in your food – meat products can include all sorts of nasty things, for example the animals’ tail, feet, rectum and intestines. Yuck!

(8) Less likely to get food poisoning – food poisoning is much more likely to come from eating bad meat or fish, compared to eating vegetarian foodstuffs.

(9) We are not designed to eat meat – biologically, the human digestive tract is that of a herbivore. Scientists have compared the human digestive tract to that of carnivorous and herbivorous animals and found that it is more similar to herbivorous animals.

(10) A clearer conscience – knowing that you are vegetarian or vegan and taking into account all the above reasons, you can feel better about yourself in the knowledge that you are healthier, helping the environment and not contributing to the pain and suffering of animals.

So if you are a new vegetarian and are feeling weak at the sight of meat, or if you are just wondering why you should consider being vegetarian, hopefully all these reasons will help you decide the best way forward for you.

Sustainable Living Articles @ http://www.articlegarden.com 

By: Suzy Morrison

Suzy is a vegetarian and the webmaster of Vegetarian Diet. Visit her site for more ideas on becoming vegetarian.