World Vegetarian Day was on October 1. This day was created by the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) in 1977 and later endorsed by the International Vegetarian Union in 1978. World Vegetarian Day kicks off Vegetarian Awareness Month. You can make a difference by telling others about the benefits of being a vegetarian. Vegetarian diets have health benefits and save the lives of animals.
Here are seven reasons to go vegetarian according to NAVS. Being a vegetarian can:
• Reduce risk of leading causes of death, such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer, while reducing exposure to foodborne pathogens
• Provide a viable response to feed the world’s hungry through more efficient use of grains and other crops.
• Save animals from suffering in factory farm conditions and from the pain and terror of slaughter
• Conserve vital but limited fresh water, fertile soil and other valuable resources.
• Preserve irreplaceable ecosystems such as tropical rainforests and other wildlife habitats.
• Reduce greenhouse gases that are accelerating global warming.
• Mitigate the ever-expanding environmental pollution from animal agriculture.
Some additional reasons!!!
1) Your health: prevent diseases. Meat consumption has been linked to cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, kidney stones, and many other devastating diseases. By eliminating meat from your diet, you can take a crucial step toward a long life of health and happiness.
2) Increased energy and endurance: A vegetarian diet improves stamina, concentration and a sense of well-being. In one study, athletes who switched to a vegetarian diet improved their endurance nearly 3 times more than those who remained meat-eaters.
3) Avoid Toxic Food Contaminants: Meat foods are loaded with dangerous poisons and pollutants like hormones, herbicides and pesticides, and antibiotics. Since these toxins are all fat-soluble, they are concentrated in the fatty meat of animals. Not to mention viruses, bacteria and parasites like salmonella, trichinella and other worms, and toxoplasmosis parasites.
4) Humans are by design vegetarian: Our flat teeth are perfect for grinding grains and vegetables, not for ripping animal flesh. Similarly, our hands are designed to gather, not tear at meat. Our saliva contains the enzyme alpha-amylase, whose sole purpose is to digest the complex carbohydrates in plant foods. (This enzyme is not found in the saliva of carnivores.) Basically, we have all the proper apparatus for consuming vegetarian items, and none of the proper apparatus for meat foods.
5) Environmental care: By inappropriately using animals for food, we are devouring ourselves from the planet. Farming animals specifically to kill and eat has resulted in incredible waste and devastation of our precious resources. Just one example of the consequences is the fact that, due to the looting of our farmland to fatten animals for slaughter, more than 4 million acres of farmland are lost each year to erosion in this country.
6) Help end world hunger: every day forty thousand children on this planet starve needlessly. According to Department of Agriculture statistics, one acre of land can produce 20,000 pounds of potatoes. That same acre of land, when used to grow cattle feed, can produce less than 165 pounds of edible beef.
7) Become a more peaceful person: when we consume animal meat products we are necessarily at odds with nature and our fellow men. The consumption of meat foods has been scientifically linked to violent and aggressive behavior.
8) Have compassion for animals: Animals that are raised for slaughter needlessly experience incredible suffering throughout their life and death. Many people try not to think about the torturous experiences of the animal whose meat ended up on their burger or at their dinner table. But if it is unpleasant to think about it, consider what it is like to experience it.
9) Vegetarianism is moral and ethical: Given the devastating consequences of meat consumption at an individual, social and ecological level, as thinking and supportive beings we must opt for vegetarianism. Many great philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Leo Tolstoy, and George Bernard Shaw have taught the morality of vegetarianism.
10) Animals are God’s property and have the right to life: living things temporarily caged in animal bodies are not here for us to harm and exploit. We are meant to act as caretakers and protectors of animals and the planet, not exploiters and murderers. Many world religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, and Jains, teach that eating animal flesh is wrong.
Let people know that October is Vegetarian Awareness. If you haven’t already, please explain why vegetarianism is important to you. Tell everyone about the benefits of meatless diets.
