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Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism is a dietary practice excluding most or all body parts of any animal and products derived from them (e.g. lard, tallow, gelatin, cochineal) from one's diet. Most contemporary vegetarian diets may include some honey as well as cow's milk and other dairy products, and some include eggs.

Table of contents
1 Varieties of vegetarianism
2 Motivations
3 Additional considerations
4 Related beliefs
5 External Links

Varieties of vegetarianism

Different practices of vegetarianism include:

In the United States, vegetarianism is usually synonymous with ovo-lacto vegetarianism; and will sometimes be assumed to tolerate some meat, for instance, chicken (or "at least" fish). It is also possible to order a vegetarian meal and be served meat. In the UK, due to its sizeable Hindu minority, vegetarianism often refers to the Hindu practice described below.

The following is not generally considered vegetarianism:


Larger vegetarian diet photo

Motivations

A person's decision to become a vegetarian may be influenced by a combination of factors.

Religion: A majority of the world's vegetarians follow the practice for religious reasons. Many religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and especially Jainism, teach that ideally life should always be valued and not willfully destroyed for unnecessary human gratification.

Many early Christians were vegetarian, including the Desert Fathers. Since then, the Trappist, Benedictine, and Carthusian orders have encouraged vegetarianism, as have Seventh-Day Adventists. In the nineteenth century, members of the Bible Christian sect established the first vegetarian groups in England and the United States.

Rastafarians generally follow a diet called "I-tal," which eschews the eating of food that has been artificially preserved, flavoured, or chemically altered in any way. Many Rastafarians consider it to also forbid the eating of meat.

Genesis 1:29 states "And God said: Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit - to you it shall be for food." According to many classical Jewish Bible commentators, this means that God's original plan was for mankind to be vegetarian. According to many rabbis, God later gave permission for man to eat meat because of man's weak nature, but the ideal would be for man to be vegetarian. However, others argue that people may eat animals because God gave Eve and Adam dominion over them. (The Torah and vegetarianism)

Ethics: There is a small minority of people in the world today for whom meat is a staple food. (Principally, members of nomadic hunting or herding societies such as Inuit and Saami.) Since most people can live perfectly healthily on a vegetarian diet, the eating of meat is voluntary, but many people continue to eat meat out of tradition, for convenience or for the pleasure of eating it. "Ethical vegetarians" consider tradition, convenience and sensual pleasure to be insufficient justification for what they perceive is the suffering entailed in the production of meat. Vegetarianism of this sort is often associated with the animal rights movement, although not all ethical vegetarians subscribe to the notion of animal rights.

Environmental or ecological concerns: Particularly since the Industrial Revolution, machinery has enabled people to change their environment at a rate that, some argue, exceeds the ability of ecosystems to adapt. The use of large areas of land for livestock farming, and large-scale fishing in the oceans, have fundamentally affected animal and marine populations. Livestock production is also often linked to de-forestation and theft of the land from indigenous tribal people. In both environmental and economic terms, many vegetarians argue that the "cost" of raising a kilogram of animal protein is many times the "cost" of growing a kilogram of vegetable protein.

Health: Statistics indicate that people on vegetarian diets have lower incidence of heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis. The American Dietetic Association says, "Although nondietary factors, including physical activity and abstinence from smoking and alcohol, may play a role, [a meat-free, vegetarian] diet is clearly a contributing factor" in reducing both morbidity and mortality "rates from several chronic degenerative diseases than do nonvegetarians."

Researchers like Dean Ornish have had successful results treating heart disease patients with strictly vegetarian diet, exercise and stress reduction programs. There are also nutritional considerations which encourage diets emphasizing fruit, vegetables and cereals and minimising meat and fat intake.

Aesthetics: Some people intuitively find meat unappetizing, particularly when raw, and simply prefer to abstain from the consumption of animal flesh for aesthetic or emotional reasons.

Pragmatic considerations Modern-day, industrially produced meat is laced with chemicals, such as growth hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, food-coloring, and pesticides. Moreover, the meat of pen-raised animals (such as feedlot-fattened cows and pigs and farmed salmon) have much higher levels of fat and less nutritional value than the meat of their corresponding free-range or wild bretheren. Hence, many people are vegetarians not for ethical or aesthetic reasons but simply because meat nowadays has much less nutritional value than it once had while plants have just somewhat less.

Additional considerations

Choosing not to eat meat for one or more of the above-mentioned reasons must be seen as a rational choice. Likewise, choosing to eat meat is a rational choice, although there may be reasons not to do so. No diet is necessarily unnatural. Human beings have been omnivores since time immemorial; we have the teeth (incisors and molars) and the digstive systems of creatures who eat both meat and plants. Nearly all the higher primates to whom we are related are omnivores, except the gorilla. In the past, many people ate meat infrequently, because often it wasn't available or affordable. Strict vegetarianism is something comparatively new in human history, that is to say, in evolutionary terms. Although the phenomenon isn't entirely well understood, some people may not thrive on strict vegetarian diets, becoming pale and weak. It appears to be related to blood type.

There is a risk that Vitamin B12 deficiency can result from veganism. While just about all animal based foods contain useful quantities of B12, no readily available plant based source does (except the not universally available Indonesian fermented soy product tempeh). However, a range of foods have the vitamin added, including breakfast cereals, soft drinks, soy milk, Marmite, Vegemite and others. B12 supplements such as vitamin pills are often prepared from abattoir waste and are thus unsuitable for vegetarians, although there are an increasing number of brands that contain no animal products. B12 is stored in the body for many months, so B12 deficiency symptoms do not appear immediately on embarking on a pure vegan diet, but can eventually be severe. However this deficiency is rarely seen in Western vegans, since the problem is well-known.

Some important nutrients (amino acids, fats, vitamins A, D, K and E) are present in good quantities in meat, but with minimal attention a vegetarian diet with plenty of all of these can be designed. The American Dietetic Association states: "Plant sources of protein alone can provide adequate amounts of essential amino acids if a variety of plant foods are consumed and energy needs are met." It is more common to find instances of scurvy and other consequences of vitamin C deficiency in people who subsist purely on a diet of fast food. However, it is important for vegetarians and vegans to be conscious of their intake of protein, B12, and other nutrients. Like any diet, one that eschews animal products needs to be balanced and include a variety of foods.

One issue raised by choosing vegetarianism to avoid the suffering of animals is that agricultural cultivation of plant foods also harms animals. Run-off from fields harms aquatic life by polluting waterways with sediments, nutrients, and chemicals. Automatic farm machines kill small animals unintentionally, while cutting down trees takes away habitat for other animals. Pesticides kill beneficial and harmful insects alike.

Vegetarians (except fructarians) also kill plants in order to have food. A vegetarian might contend that plants do not have the same sensory mechanisms to feel pain, so the comparison is not entirely accurate.

Related beliefs

While vegetarianism is commonly defined strictly on the basis of dietary intake, many religiously, ethically or environmentally motivated vegetarians (in common with animal rights and Green movements) try to minimise the harm done to animals in all aspects of their lives.

Many religiously motivated vegetarians consider the avoidance of skin contact with products made from body parts (e.g. leather, tallow soap) an integral part of their definition of vegetarianism. Others consider leather made from the skin of animals who died of natural causes acceptable.

Many health-motivated vegetarians are also associated with the organic food movement and/or are concerned about the use of genetically modified organisms in food production.

See also: Vegetarian cuisine - List of notable vegetarians - Wikipedians/Vegetarians - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - List of diets - veganism - Macrobiotic diet - virtual water - imitation meat - in vitro meat - Animal Rights

External Links

Resources for vegetarians:

Supporting views: Opposing views: