Another negative of being vegetarian is that your diet lacks certain vital vitamins and minerals unless a very wide variety of fruit, veg and dietary supplements are included which is harder than it sounds. For example, vitamin B12 is essential in any diet as it works with the folic acid in the body and converts protein, fats and carbohydrates into energy. The only vegetarian foods that contain traces of this vitamin are seaweed and something called tempeh but with the inconsistent, minute amount in each make them an insufficient form of attaining this vitamin. There are vitamin B12 injections available and these are crucial as a deficiency of this vitamin can cause fatigue, heart disease and strokes. This is just one missing vital vitamin but there are other vitamins and minerals that vegetarians are deprived of such as vitamin D, iron, zinc and copper, all very important nutrients for growing children.
It is difficult to find a good source of amino acid in plant-based diets as meat is a good source of amino acid and non-meat diets do not contain the nine vital amino acids, therefore cannot provide nearly as much. Shortage of this may produce tiredness, lack of motivation, poor performance on a whole and moodiness due to the constant changes in blood sugar levels.
Despite all the cons of being vegetarian, it is not all doom and gloom! Research shows people who do live on a no-meat basis and do it right by taking the crucial vitamins and minerals that they lack have many health benefits, such as they have stronger immune systems, live on average 15 years longer than meat eaters, are 40% less likely to die from cancer, 20% less likely to die from other diseases, you have a 15% chance of dying of a heart disease compared to the 50% chance of a regular meat eater, it is likely you will be more slim and if you diet, the weight will stay off for up to seven years longer, your body will be detoxed which promotes better health and helps you get clearer skin, your bones will last longer, you will not consume toxic chemicals and steroids that are in meats due to the animals diet and finally, you could prevent certain types of back problems or get rid of some if you already have some.
Being vegetarian not only helps you, but it also helps the environment. Eating meat is one of the largest sources of global warming, by not eating meat you help conserve natural resources. To produce just one pound of meat, approximately sixteen pounds of grain, over two thousand gallons of water and at least one gallon of fuel. This is a stupendous amount of resources for just one pound of meat. If we were to change all livestock farming to agricultural farming, there would enough arable land, enough edible grain and water that this would end world hunger.
If the meat-eating population was reduced, large amounts of rainforest would be saved daily. For the daily meat intake in the U.S. the equivalent of seven football fields of rainforest is cut down just for cattle-grazing. And for every beef burger, approximately fifty-five square feet of forest has been destroyed. This large amount of deforestation is now affecting the climate because there are not enough trees to convert the CO2 into Oxygen and the world cannot it therefore global warming is now occurring.
It seems that pro’s outdo the cons of being vegetarian, but only if it is done correctly, also some of the cons can be solved such as vegetarians can have injections for vitamins etc. In the end, is up to you but even by reducing your meat intake slightly, you can enjoy some of the vegetarian benefits. After researching this topic, I now believe that I am going to alter my diet and be more understanding towards my vegetarian friends. I also like the idea of being able to say at the end of a meal “no animals were harmed in the making of this meal”.
