A meatless diet

For some of us vegetarianism is best left to hippies and Lisa Simpson, but it can be more than a dietary adjustment, the lack of meat can have large implication on a person’s health. Not necessarily a bad thing, but nutritional demands do force vegetarians to become aware of their food intake.

One of the main reasons for someone becoming a vegetarian is the ethical concern, the treatment and slaughter of animals. This is not, perhaps surprisingly, a new concept. The Greek mathematician Pythagoras, alive 500 BC, stated “For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.” The modern raising and slaughter of animals is something which many people today feel can be cruel and heartless. Paul McCartney said on the issue “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”

This is one reason which causes many people to become vegetarianism, but another factor which has led to millions of people abstaining from meat is that of religion. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism all teach vegetarianism as moral conduct. Environmentalism is another reason why some people choose to adopt vegetarianism. It is believed that it takes 10 times more vegetable goods to feed animals being grown for meat than it would to feed the same number of people. This puts pressure on resources which some believe is too big a price to pay for the taste of meat if the same nutrients can be found elsewhere.

Which brings us to the health debate on the issue. Vegetarians who carefully monitor their diet tend to be healthier in most areas than meat eaters. In particular cases of diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease are less common in vegetarians as is obesity and heard conditions. People who don’t eat meat must however ensure that they receive protein and nutrients which are found in abundance in meat, such as iron, fatty acids, calcium and Vitamin B12. These can, however, be sourced from certain vegetables or from supplements.

It’s all very well me talking about vegetarianism like this but to get an idea of the diet employed by those who avoid meat I had to try it myself, if even just for a week. Now personally I have no problem with eating meat, in fact a diet of just meat is more appealing to me than one without, regardless of the fact that high cholesterol and fat would probably kill me. In ethical terms I would see no issue in eating Bambi provided he was cooked sufficiently and in terms of my faith I am of the belief that if God didn’t want us to eat animals he wouldn’t have made them taste like meat. Also, I spend less time worrying about the environment than I do training for and competing in the annual Ladies Mini Marathon. So as you can see there aren’t many reasons for me to forgo the pleasures of meat on a long term basis but none the less I sampled it out of the curiosity that it may cause an epiphany and force me to reconsider my diet. Needless to say it didn’t, it just made me depressed come mealtime every day.

I did notice, however, that I was eating a lot less than usual. This was mostly because dinners consisted of vegetables which I could handle if it weren’t for the imitation meat I had to force down so as to make my plate look full. Seriously Quorn and the Linda McCartney range of vegetarian meat substitutes should not be consumed by anyone, and all those who say there’s no difference between that and meat should consider getting a tongue transplant. The result of this is that I at times chose being hungry over eating vegetables and it made me think that if I kept the diet up I would probably have been a lot more healthy. Just a shame I’m not too concerned about that either I suppose.