What is the basis of the belief that vegetarians are healthier than meaters?

Question

A vegetarian can consume as much cake, cookies, pie and ice cream as they please. That's not healthy. A vegetarian can consume processed foods along with all of those desserts mentioned. That's not healthy.

How can anyone say that vegetarians are healthier than meaters without any other details whatsoever? Where do you get such information?

kali---that's the "details" part of it. So you don't believe the obesity that could be involved in eating what I mentioned could cause health issues?

My point is there is absolutely no way to accurately judge someone's health using veger or meater as the only criteria.

Andro--I know what your saying.

xris----Please don't use wiki as a source. Please don't use pro-meat or pro-vege sites as osurces either. None of them have credibility.

Brenda---reading a book that's funded by the agricultural industry is not credible. You vegers wouldn't award credibility to a book funded by the meat industry that was anti-vege right? So, why would you award credibility to an anti-meat book funded by the ag industry? That's called a double-standard.

mys----1. You don't know "me" so don't think you know my motivation.

2. Given the biblical reference you expose that your attention to "facts" is in question.

Krister---I think sometimes ALL food gets boring. Even myself, without any restrictions, can be hungry and want absolutely nothing to eat because nothing appeals to me. It's true though, if you eat the same thing too much you will certainly tire of it.

Jena--If the book is filled with "common knowledge" did you ask for a refund?

Majnun---I'm aware that a vegetarian diet is supposed to be low in cholesterol. The ideal vegetarian diet would be low in cholesterol. As would the ideal diet including meat. Hence the word, ideal.

But in the context that I'm asking this question, the details of the diets are unknown beyond the fact that one diet eats meat and the other doesn't. That isn't enough info. to formulate a factual answer to the question. Any answer given would be pure opinion.

Answer 1

Theres is no basis, there is a report done on a group of finish or was it Swedish people who where vegetarian and showed that they lived for 4 years longer and nothing else. I can pull up reports that say people who eat fish live longer and have lower death rates but that don't mean anything.

The answer is about having a healthy balance diet and lifestyle and nothing else.

Answer 2

I don't think anyone assumes all people of one group are ALL anything.

I do believe that vegetarians tend to be healthier. That's because I believe the most unhealthy things you can eat are flesh and milk proteins. Those are the things that contribute to cancers and heart disease (our biggest killers) more than any other foods.

Scienctific research has shown that the less animal products re consumed the fewer incidents of western disease there are. This has been shown in many parts of the world, but particularly in China they have been able to correlate the animal product consumption with the number of disease AND they've been able to show that the more accessible western-style food becomes (tons of meat, cheese in everything) the more disease there is.

Probably the most compelling information I've read has come from the book, THE CHINA STUDY. Have you read it? I think you should. I think everyone should. It goes far beyond just the famous China Study (an ongoing nutritional study conducted by Oxford, Cornell, and the government of China) and describes valid research that will blow your mind.

EDIT: Where did someoned read that Skinny ***** was funded by "the agriculture industry"? That was a great book, but it was nothing new. Most of what is in there is common knowledge and is, to my knowledge, not refuted.

Answer 3

Well, one obvious answer is that there are relatively few plant sources of saturated fat and cholesterol. With overconsumption of those foods being linked to heart problems, etc, it seems obvious that people who did not consume them would be healthier.

Additionally, people who get their calories from plants rather than animals will by default eat more protein. Meat has none. Pretty much all whole plant food does. Fiber is obviously good for you.

With no additional details, it's impossible to know for sure who eats more healthfully. However, I don't think that anyone has ever insinuated that foregoing meat is the key to healthful eating. That's just as stupid as saying that you have to eat meat to be healthy. Either way, the diet has to be balanced.

Answer 4

On average, vegetarian diets are healthier than non-vegetarian diets. Most vegetarians don't live off of cake and cookies. And if you have a well-balanced vegetarian diet, it is more healthy than a non-vegetarian diet because people who consume meat generally consume a lot more saturated fat and cholesterol. Vegetarian/Vegan diets have also been linked to a reduced risk for many diseases, and the average vegetarian has a life expectancy about 6 years longer than the average non-vegetarian. For a more detailed explanation, go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian_nutrition

Answer 5

I'm a vegetarian and I am one hundred% healthful, I have not gotten a bloodless or something for two years... Guys, veterinarians can take nutrients and drugs to get the further protein, I do and I do not see the gigantic deal, we're honestly heather than so much individuals in the event you do it the proper approach!

Answer 6

There are some possible benefits because vegetarians tend to have lower cholesterol, and therefore, less chance of developing heart disease. There may be some lowered risk of certain types of cancer. But, some people are vegetarian and die of those things anyway, there is no guarantee. Linda McCartney was an outspoken vegetarian and died of cancer anyway.

In addition, you can be totally vegetarian and still have an unhealthy diet. You could eat nothing but potato chips and be vegetarian, for example.

Here's an unbiased source for you:

(quote from the American Dietetic Association)
Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.

http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML.htm

Answer 7

I'm not even a vegetarian and I can see how angry you are with them.

Scientifically, the human body is not designed to consume animal flesh. You can tell by the shape of our teeth and the length of our digestive track. But yes, jerk chicken is hella tasty. If you wanna eat meat, then do so, just don't dog anyone who chooses not to.

Biblically, Scavengers like pigs and shellfish were put on the earth to clean up after us. Hence we were not to eat them, because that meant we were eating our crap, or "recycling" if you're into coprophagy.


In response to your response to me...
You obviously are not gonna like any answer given regardless if it's fact or opinion, so why did you even ask? We get it, you hate vegetarians probably more than Hitler. Fine. Just live & let live.

Answer 8

The book Skinny Bi+ch is a great place to start reading. They site references throughout the book and explain how having animal products in your diet effects your health.

For some reason people believe that vegetarians/vegans do not integrate enough protein into their diets.
Where did this originate?! Do you ever hear of people dying of lack of protein?! no!
My daily recommended protein allowance is 46-50g being a 20yr old female. I can easily acheive this every day. Do people think you have to eat meat in order to get protein? You get 7g of protein for a shot glass full of almonds and 74mg calcium, and 211mg of potassium. That is one ounce of almonds, and for me, no salt please. My soy yogurt in the mornings or at lunch provide me 4g of protein, not to mention the very important calcium 300mg, of the 1800-2000mg I need.
eating a vegetarian diet tends to be lower in fat, not always, as you said some people may choose to consume unhealthy foods no matter what their diet is, but in general a diet lower in fat is healthy for any human. You do need fat in your diet though, just not the amount you get in a typical americans diet. Meat, milk and cheese pack large amounts of fat.
the argument goes back and forth, if you are one or the other, you will feel one way about it. you won't see it from both sides. just do some research. why would you go to a vegetarian post, and ask vegetarians to tell you why they are unhealthy? of course they think they are healthy, if they eat balanced diets. and of course a meat eater thinks their diet is perfect and a diet that is different than theirs couldn't possibly be sustaniable.

edit:
I didn't just read skinny bi+ch and decide that what they said is true. they site references and I do look up those sites, or read another book. I also go by non-biased books, for example:
complete idiots guide to: Vitamins and minerals
complete idiots guide to: total nutrition
by the way, did you even read that book? skinny bi+ch? why do you think everything they said in that book is fueled by the agri business? did you even read it?! geez, it sounds like you are believing a reference you heard say it is all about agribusiness. its NOT. its about being healthy

Answer 9

Naturally, you'd want to compare across the same category. E.g. healthy vegetarians to healthy meaters
unhealthy veggies to unhealthy meaters

and of course, most important comparison of all:

average vegetarian to average meater.

Answer 10

I'm a vegetarian who definitely is not as healthy as anyone who eats a good, healthy diet- meat eater or otherwise. Good thing I'm not vegetarian for health reasons.