What are the health benefits of being vegetarian or vegan?

Well, first of all, meat rots in your stomach, that's disgusting to me.

Lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, less obesity and consequently less heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, mortality, prevents cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Vegetarians eat more antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotenes and phytochemicals. Phyotochemicals are components in plants that help to prevent disease. Antioxidants decrease the chance of getting heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

Eating red meat increases the chance of dying from cancer of the breast and colon, heart disease and strokes. Meat eaters have much higher rates of cancer than vegetarians. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are linked to diets with a high amount of saturated fat (meat) and with a low amount of fiber (meat).

Animal products are high in sodium, which causes the blood to retain water and also causes plaque to build up in the arteries, lowering the flow of blood, which are major causes of high blood pressure.

According to a study done in England for 12 years of 5,015 meat eaters and 6,115 vegetarians, it was found that vegetarians had 40% less chance of getting cancer.

Sorry that this was so long, but it will thoroughly answer your question properly :)

Good luck!

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First off, I know any "meat-eaters" viewing this are going to put this down. But regardless, I'll continue.

Becoming a vegetarian or vegan is extremely beneficial to health. I am currently a vegetarian, but hope to become a vegan in a few years time and remain that way for the rest of my life. Many say that you must consume meat in order to receive complete proteins. This couldn't be more wrong. There are other foods, outside of meat AND dairy, that will give you your full proteins. Eating a mix of any legumes (beans, pea pods, etc.) with either seeds, nuts or any type of whole grain (whole grain pasta, whole grain bread, etc.) will provide you with complete proteins and all essential amino acids. Additionally, ALL soy products contain complete proteins on their own, and taste delicious. The only difference is that you'll consume these foods without getting all the unwanted cholesterol, bad fats and trans fats, and other carcinogenic features that are beyond the food label.

Did you know that in each package of raw red meat shipped to our grocery stores over 10,000 cows are processed into each? That's right. 10,000. Meaning that if one of these cows were infected, suddenly, the entire product does. The number of slaughter houses in the U.S.A alone has dropped from thousands to only three prime ones, meaning that meat from all across the country is combined. But hey, if you choose to eat a tomato instead, at least you know 10,000 different items were combined to create that tomato.

Nextly, take aside the countless poor nutritional features to meat, they are also manipulated. Think about it this way, when you picture a farm, or see a picture of a farm on the front of a product, you see a large green field with cows feeding. Right, that's how it should be. Unfortunately, over the last 50 years, farmers have realized that it is far cheaper to feed their cows and livestock with corn. No big deal? Very wrong. The feeding of corn to our livestock is causing the animals to grow at different and unnatural rates, and essentially manipulates their formation. It is basically putting our animals on steroids, and we are next to consume that. Uhm, ew.

Lastly, are humans really supposed to eat meat? Sure people can say "Well, we have molars. That means we're supposed to eat meat." Well maybe at one point we were, but evolution is about change. If we're supposed to still eat meat like that cavemen once did, shouldn't we have intense strength, incredibly strong jaws, and large heads too? But yet, we don't. Animals in the wild are capable of eyeing an animal, having the agility to chase after it, being able to effectively kill the animal without the use of tools, and knowing how to eat it. Could we possibly compete with the strength, agility and natural instinct of carnivorous predators out there? Of course not. So why are we trying to eat the way they do? It's not natural. And the amount of hydrochloric acid in our saliva meant to decompose meat is only a tenth of what meat-eaters in the wild have. They have 10 TIMES MORE! There's a reason for that. Becoming vegetarian/vegan will benefit your overall health, viewpoint in life, and essentially happiness. We are natural beings, as we should eat naturally in order to assist the world with the image God intended. Sustaining a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle boosts your energy levels and will inspire you to gain more knowledge of a world beyond meat, and how promising it is. You will not regret becoming vegan/vegetarian. I guarantee it.

I apologize for a long answer, but I trust that this was necessary in order to motivate you. Good luck with your decision and I hope this will help you!

My number one health reason was to avoid diabetes type 2 (a vegetarian diet drastically reduces your risk) I've also lower my cholesterol and rather then being sick once or twice a year like I used to, I've been sick twice in the last 4 years since I went veg.

The American Dietetic Association says: "The results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates. "

http://www.eatright.org/About/Content.aspx?id=8357

The American Heart Society says: "Most vegetarian diets are low in or devoid of animal products. They’re also usually lower than nonvegetarian diets in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Many studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer. "

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?ident...

Meat has cholesterol and saturated fats, neither of which we need and too much of which are bad. Also, unless you are only eating organic meat you're getting antibiotics (which reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating diseases) hormones, and things like arsenic (which is fed to chickens to make them get bigger faster.) Meat is also protein dense - an 8 oz steak is about as much protein as you need in a day, which means that you're getting about 2 or 3 times as much as you need (every food except oil and sugar has protein) which stresses the kidneys, strips the bones of nutrients, and dehydrates the body.

Hi, I became vegetarian due to moral reasoning but the health benefits which come are brilliant! People who have been veggie for 10+years are proven to live upto 5 years longer and are more active in their final years! Also, meat contains lots of saturated fats which clog up your heart and can cause serious problems such as heart disease. Therefore, you are less likely to be overweight, develop diabetes, suffer from heart problems etc.

There are no advantages of going vegan. It is an unnatural diet for human beings. A vegan diet can cause SOMEONE TO GET a deficiency disorder, anemia, personality changes, MALNUTRITION, etc. Including meat in your diet or by just being Vegetarianism is a more appropriate diet. Vegans lose out on vital vitamins like vitamin B12 and D. Vegan diets are unnatural and they lack the specific nutrients need in the human diet. You cannot find vitamins like vitamin B12 and vitamin D naturally in any plant foods.

A human diet naturally includes a variety of foods: meat, milk and dairy products, fruits, vegetables, etc.

Meat is an excellent source of many other important vitamins and minerals, including zinc and Vitamin B12, essential for healthy metabolism, for growth and repair of body cells. body’s building materials and are used to grow and repair our body tissues. Proteins are also an integral part of our immune systems and they can even be used for energy and are to grow and repair our body tissues. and all nine essential amino acids are found in meat. and all nine essential amino acids are found in meat.

Part of the protein that carries oxygen in blood, iron is also important for energy metabolism. Iron is often lacking in the diets of young children, teenagers and pregnant women. Nursing mothers, pre-menopausal women and athletes have an increased need for iron.

Vitamin C increases the absorption of iron, so eating fresh fruit or salad with, or adding tomatoes to, a meat dish can increase iron intake.

I don't think there are aly health benefits of being a vegan or vegetarian. Health benefits come from eating a smart and balanced diet. If you go vegetarian/vegan and eat carbs instead of meats then you may actually be doing more harm than good. By the same token, if you eat a steak every day, you're not eating smartly either.

you will only get one sided answers because you have asked in Veg Vegans section.. if you actually wanna know the real thing behind it kindly ask in some neutral zone.

you need meat to live because it has protein, my sister was a vegetarian but she eats meat now.