Vegetarianism: The New Black

I’ve recently become aware of a new trend. It seems as though the new diet trend is vegetarianism. Being vegetarian myself, when I heard of this, I immediately thought that it was about time. The benefits of a diet that excludes animal products have been known for an incredibly long time, especially so in parts of Asia and the Near East.

Vegetarianism and veganism have been around since the days of our earliest ancestors (who followed a plant-based diet, even after the domestication of animals). It is only since the 20th century in Western culture that meat has really been such a large part of the diet, and look what has resulted. Western people eat more meat and more dairy products than anyone else on the whole planet. Not coincidentally we also have more cancer, diabetes, heart attacks and osteoporosis than any other population on the planet, and don’t forget that we’re also the fattest group of people on the planet too.

Forgoing meat products is simply one of the smartest choices one can make for their own health. Some meat-eaters will talk endlessly about how vegetarians are pussies or that they don’t get enough protein or some other equally ridiculous claim about how vegetarianism or veganism simply isn’t “good enough” for them for whatever reason.

That, of course, is total crap.

A healthy vegetarian diet (not one that includes three boxes of Oreos and 17 donuts a day) is more varied. It includes the obvious like soy and tofu (these actually come in a bewildering array of forms from raw tofu to soy chicken burgers), but also nuts, legumes, dozens of different fruits and vegetables, pastas, yogurt and cheeses that go beyond the typical Western cheddar and mozzarella. Barley, rice, quinoa, buckwheat, kidney beans, navy beans, split peas, black-eyed peas, black turtle beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas, lima beans, lentils, soybeans, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter, tempeh, TVP…………how many of you have actually heard of most of these foods? Never mind the number fruits and vegetables I could name, or the hundreds of soy products and the meals you can make from these hundreds of ingredients!

The so-called “SAD diet” (Standard American Diet, AKA Western-Pattern Diet) that most Westerners follow is typically based on extremely large quantities of meat and cheese, bread (particularly white breads and refined bread), eggs, soft drinks, sugary fruit juices and processed potatoes, with very small amounts of fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and legumes. Don’t even think about finding anything like soy or tofu, or any significant spicing. Western foods in general are typically bland, heavily salted, high fat, highly refined and full of sugar. (Wretch.) It’s no wonder most people are so fat and diseased! Don’t believe me? Go to Wal-Mart, and just LOOK at people.

Vegetarians benefit hugely from their diet. On average, we consume far larger amounts of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, vitamins A + C + E + K and antioxidants and phytochemicals/phytonutrients. We also take in far less fat, especially saturated fats and trans fats, and far less protein; people typically eat more than twice the amount of protein that they actually require in a day.

Our vastly superior nutrition bestows a bewildering range of physical benefits! Disease prevention first off. We suffer far lower instances of cardiovascular disease, have better blood pressure, are up to FORTY PERCENT less likely to develop many different kinds of cancer. We almost never have cataracts, macular-degeneration, arthritis and suffer from fewer instances of osteoporosis. Vegan diets have actually been shown to greatly improve the health of those suffering from diabetes. What else do we get? We’re leaner people with lower body-mass indexes, we have more energy, clearer skin, less body odor and bad breath and suffer from fewer infections. Women who follow vegetarian and vegan diets report far less severe symptoms of PMS compared to the omnivorous and we live longer!

On average vegetarians and vegans live AT LEAST THREE YEARS LONGER THAN THOSE WHO EAT MEAT! Some studies even show up NINE YEARS of additional lifespan in certain regions!

Don’t believe me? Google it! There are thousands of pages worth of scientific studies conducted by medical associations all over the world that concluded time after time that vegetarian/vegan diets are inevitably superior.

What is truly surprising is that probably none of you will do anything about this. Those of you reading this who have not already switched to this superior diet probably won’t even bother.

Why?

“It tastes good!”