When I was in college most everyone I knew was a vegetarian, including me. I thought it was so common than that when I graduated form college I was shocked to find myself surrounded by meat eaters. Vegetarians continue to be in the minority, but there ranks continue to grow.
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Vegetarians eat a plant based diet and don’t eat meat. Some people choose the vegetarian lifestyle for health reasons, others for animal rights reasons and still others for religious reasons.

Types of Vegetarians

There are many different types of vegetarians. There are vegans. I discussed veganism in a previous post. Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products but no eggs. Ovo-vegetarian eat eggs and no dairy. Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat eggs and dairy. Then there are the almost-vegetarians who sometimes refer to themselves as vegetarians and just leave me feeling confused. Some almost-vegetarians eat fish. Other almost-vegetarians eat fish and poultry occasionally.

Health Benefits

Vegetarians usually have lower cholesterol levels than omnivores and are less prone to getting heart disease. They also tend to have lower incidents of type 2 diabetes, low blood pressure, and are less likely to experience dementia as they age.

Vegetarians tend to live longer than omnivores, but many scientists don’t attribute that to the vegetarian diet. People who tend to be vegetarian also tend to be more aware of there health in general. They eat healthier foods, exercise regular and generally take better care of their bodies.

Despite some concerns people have about vegetarians and bone density vegetarians don’t have weaker bones than their omnivore counterparts. Eating too much animal protein actually causes your bones to loose their density.

The Downside

If you’re eating a healthy diet that includes a variety of foods, I don’t really see a downside to being a vegetarian. You can eat in most restaurants–this is very important to me.

Seven Day Adventists are vegetarians and they are sometimes studied to show that vegetarians live longer and have less diseases than omnivores. While studies show that Seven Day Adventists have lower rates of some cancers, like breast, prostate, and lung cancers. They have higher rates of Hodgkin’s disease, malignant melanoma, brain, skin, uterine, prostate, endometrial, cervical and ovarian cancers.
These cancer rates are linked to the Seven Day Adventist community and could have nothing to do with vegetarianism.

My Two Cents

So this is probably getting old but, I used to be a vegetarian. (I know, I know. I used to be everything.) It wasn’t a particularly difficult thing for me to pull off as far as finding delicious foods to eat and not feeling deprived of yummy goodness, but I did start to have a bit of a problem. I felt low on energy a lot of the time. I’ve always eaten a healthy diet and steered clear of processed foods, but I just felt worn out a lot and decided that being a vegetarian wasn’t for me. I started introducing meat into my diet slowly and I feel much better.

If you’re going to be a vegetarian make sure you eat a variety of healthy foods. I’ve known vegetarians who live off pizza and chips. That’s no way to eat. If that’s the way you’re eating you shouldn’t bother calling yourself a vegetarian. You should just call yourself a junk foodist.

Always listen to your body and trust the way you feel. Don’t assume that you should feel great on a certain diet just because other people you know do. If you’re interested and becoming a vegetarian check out the Vegetarian Society for more information.

Photo by foodistablog