Go veggie and see what you're missing
You can’t get healthier than a vegetarian, or better still, vegan diet. Veggies suffer less from killer diseases and tend to live longer than meat eaters. Meat is not the wonder food that people have been led to believe and is not essential to human survival, or leading a happy and healthy life. Not only is a plant-based diet packed with all the vitamins and nutrients we need, it is associated with a long and healthy life compared to eating meat and animal products, which is associated with ill health.
Here are just a few of the diseases that tend to affect vegetarians less than meat eaters and which you may be able to avoid by going veggie. Why not check out the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation’s great animation, See How a Veggie Diet can Improve Your Health, bringing all these issues to life. Visit www.vegetarian.org.uk and click on the animation link on the front page.
Allergies
Plant foods cause fewer allergies than meat, dairy, fish and shellfish
because the body doesn’t react to plant proteins in the same way it
does to animal products.
All Cancers
Vegetarians are 50 per cent less at risk of dying from cancer. Veggie
diets contain lots of fruit and vegetables which are rich in
antioxidant vitamins E, C and A (betacarotene) and selenium. They
destroy free radicals that damage cells and can cause cancer. When
they’re cooked, plant foods don’t release the same levels of
cancer-causing nitrosamines and heterocyclic amines as meat.
Breast Cancer
There is a strong link between saturated animal fat, cow’s milk and
breast cancer. A substance in cow’s milk that encourages the growth of
little calves into hefty cattle (insulin-like growth factor – IGF-1)
is also thought to encourage the growth of cancer cells. Plant foods
contain no IGF-1. The cooking of meat also has an influence.
Roll your mouse over the captions below to find out more.
Veggie diets are rich in protective vegetables and wholegrains. By omitting meat, vegetarians also avoid cancer – forming compounds called heterocyclic amines that form as beef, chicken and fish are cooked.
Crohn’s Disease
A vegan diet is effective in treating this condition – commonly
associated with high-fat, low-fibre diets and cow’s milk.
Colic
Vegans have up to 68 per cent less risk of developing colic by avoiding
dairy.
Diverticular Disease
Again it’s the high-fibre plant foods that offer protection.
Diverticular disease is the result of long-term constipation. Over many
years compacted faeces cause weakening and bulging in the lining of the
large intestine.
Ear Infections
Vegans may be less at risk as dairy can be a trigger.
Eczema
Dairy products may also be a trigger of eczema so vegans may be less at
risk.
Food Poisoning
Vegans have a 95 per cent reduced risk as meat and dairy are the main
causes.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a chronic, painful disorder widely affecting muscles and
limbs that can be alleviated by a vegan diet.
Gallstones
Solidified cholesterol forms gallstones and so it follows that a diet
lower in cholesterol reduces the risk. Plants contain none.
Hypertension
Veggies are less at risk of high blood pressure because of their lower
saturated fat and salt intake and because they are slimmer.
Heart Disease
Heart disease can begin in childhood. Vegetarians have up to
50 per cent less risk of heart disease.
Infertility
Lactose in cow’s milk can damage the ovaries and lead to infertility, as
can being obese. Plant diets reduce the risk of both.
Kidney Disease
Plant proteins don’t overwork the kidneys and are less likely to produce
kidney stones. A vegan diet is often used to treat people with kidney
failure.
Migraines
Dairy foods are one of the main triggers for migraines so a vegan diet
may reduce the risk.
Osteoporosis
Losing calcium from the body is a major cause of fragile bones –
osteoporosis. Vegetarians lose up to 50 per cent less than meat-eaters.
Obesity
Although vegetarians eat the same amount of food as meat eaters they are
usually slimmer – anything from six pounds to two stones or more. Most
overweight people shed pounds when they switch to a veggie diet.
Vegetarians are less obese.
Ovarian Cancer
Plant-based diets do not contain the sugars in cow’s milk which is
linked to ovarian cancer.
Premature Death
Vegetarians have a 20 per cent less change of dying prematurely.
Prostate Cancer Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a growth hormone
found in milk. IGF-1 is implicated in prostate cancer – now the biggest
cancer threat to men. Plant foods contain no IGF-1 and don’t produce
enzymes AMACR that are thought to help cause this cancer.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Dairy, meat and eggs can all be triggers. Veggie diets can help
alleviate symptoms and reduce flare-ups. Strokes Lower salt, cholesterol
and saturated fats and the higher fibre and nutrient content of veggie
foods reduce the risk.
Type 2 Diabetes
Is caused when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or can’t use the
insulin it does produce. There is a strong link with obesity and while
the disease occurs mostly in people over the age of 40, it is
increasingly being seen in much younger people. A study of children from
40 different countries showed that the more meat and milk they consumed,
the higher their risk of diabetes, while the more plant foods they ate,
the lower their risk.
To find out more about how you could improve your health by going veggie, visit our sister charity The Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation. To buy a Go Veggie and see what you're missing poster, visit www.vegetarian.org.uk or call 0117 970 5190 (Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm).
