Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism is a system of nutrition and lifestyle, known since ancient times and is inherently an important part of human culture. The history of this trend goes far back. A lot of famous people in different historical periods did not consume meat. In this context, we can recall the ancient thinkers Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and great minds from later historical periods - Albert Einstein, Ilya Repin, Henry Ford, and many of our contemporaries. The principles of this trend are very much in demand among its ideological followers, and among those who simply strive to lead a healthy lifestyle.

However, there are still active debates about how useful strict vegetarianism is, and whether it is worth adhering to its principles. What is vegetarianism, why people become vegetarians and what are the reasons for such changes in diet and in life, will be discussed in this article.

This current is widespread in the world. However, in some countries it is a real cult. Similar is observed in India. Vedic laws state that people have no right to take the life of other living beings, since killing for food seriously violates God's laws. The same position is held by Russian vegetarians and adherents of this system in other countries. Answering the question of how many such people there are in Russia, statistics say that about 4% of citizens practice vegetarianism.

Vegetarianism plays an important role in world religions— such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. As for how Orthodoxy relates to this trend, Christianity does not formulate a clear attitude to it. The Bible contains a number of quotations that adherents of plant foods interpret as a call to vegetarianism. However, the essence of vegetarianism differs from the essence of Christian fasts.

For most of those who practice vegetarianism, this system is not just a special diet, but a certain philosophy of life. They adhere to it, guided by ethical and moral principles.

The essence of ethical principles is that killing for food cannot be acceptable. Spiritual beliefs, however, consist in the fact that food has positive or negative energy, with which it is "saturated" in the process of extraction and cooking. And if an animal, dying, experiences fear, then a meat dish will have negative energy.

This philosophy provides not only the rejection of animal food, but also the exclusion of bad habits from life. Smoking, alcohol consumption – all this is not for real adherents of this system. In addition, they do not wear leather shoes, fur and do not accept anything related to the suffering of animals.

Famous people have written a lot about vegetarianism in different historical periods. The philosopher from ancient Greece Plato noted that the consumption of meat leads to an unreasonable use of the land.

Leo Tolstoy also wrote a lot about vegetarianism, noting that the consumption of exclusively plant-based foods allows him to feel healthier and stronger compared to people his age.

Our contemporaries also confirm this. Famous journalist Alexander Nevzorov, presenters Nikolai Drozdov and Olga Shelest have been practicing this lifestyle for many years, Mikhail Zadornov was a convinced vegetarian.

Even the appearance of some famous people is a clear proof that a vegetarian lifestyle is good for them. For example, the famous actor Jared Leto looks much younger at forty-seven.

Despite the fact that there are many similar examples, the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the main guideline in the field of health protection, does not speak either in favor of vegetarianism or against it. Such a power scheme is allowed if it fits into the general nutrition recommendations.

Wikipedia and other sources indicate that vegetarianism is divided into several currents, depending on the food consumed.

• Veganism is the most radical option when a person rejects all animal products, including dairy, eggs, honey.

• Raw food is one of the options of veganism, when food is not prepared in the usual way, but is consumed raw. So, raw foodists eat sprouted cereals, vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts. However, doctors believe that only those who have perfectly healthy intestines can practice such nutrition.

• Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism is the most "gentle option" when eggs and milk can be consumed in food.

• Lacto-vegetarianism - in addition to plant foods, you can eat dairy.

There is still a lot of debate about the benefits and harms of such nutrition for the body. However, most doctors believe that the complete exclusion of animal products from the diet is wrong. The best option can be considered lacto-ovo-vegetarianism with the consumption of fish and seafood. With such a diet, a person can feel good and get all the substances he needs, without meat dishes.

However, about this trend in the press, you can find a lot of different publications, in which we are talking about the fact that eating exclusively vegetable food is extremely harmful, and even that this is a serious mental disorder. At one time, there was even evidence that vegetarianism was recognized as a mental illness by the WHO. The World Health Organization reported that the desire to follow such a trend is a mental illness after parents practicing raw food in one of the families brought children into a coma.

Of course, such information has become the reason for the indignation of vegetarians all over the world. They wrote numerous letters to the WHO that an intelligent and conscious attitude to nutrition allows you to competently and correctly form a plant-based diet. As proof, they brought a variety of books, quotes from those who successfully practice this system, etc. But if you visit any forum where the physiological and psychological aspects of vegetarianism are discussed, you can conclude that the heated debate about this has not subsided so far.

Considering how many vegetarians there are in the world, and according to statistics there are more than a billion of them on the planet, we can safely conclude that this trend is becoming more and more in demand every year. Therefore, in order to immediately debunk the myths about this type of diet and lifesty

le, it is worth listing all the pros and cons of vegetarianism.

You can bring the following arguments to convince a person to give up meat food and observe the basics of vegetarianism:

• The composition of plant foods contains fewer carcinogens. This has been proven in numerous studies. Those who are used to regularly eating fried meat dishes are more likely to suffer from various diseases, they often develop cancer of the digestive organs.
• Such a diet makes it possible to better control weight. A vegetarian diet, as a way to lose weight, is described in many sources. Indeed, when consuming exclusively plant foods, it is easier to lose weight, since such a diet is less caloric in general. However, not all vegetarians are thin. And even among sumo wrestlers vegetarianism is widespread. Therefore, such a diet can be called easier. But the answer to the question whether there are fat vegetarians is still positive.
• Vegetable food is an effective prevention of the development of vascular and heart diseases. This thesis is motivated by the fact that in countries where a meat diet prevails in the diet, people are much more likely to suffer from diabetes, hypertension, and suffer from heart attacks. Also, people with a plant-based diet are less likely to have such a formidable disease as atherosclerosis, because vegetarians have lower cholesterol levels in the blood.
• The vegetarian diet contains more vitamins. If the plant-milk diet is varied and balanced, then a person will be able to get all the minerals and vitamins necessary for the body.
• When following such a diet scheme, a person becomes more energetic, feels better and more cheerful. In addition, his mood improves, irritability attacks are less frequent.
• There is an opinion that adherents of vegetarianism are less likely to suffer from colds.

There are also several weighty arguments against following a vegetarian lifestyle:

• Considering that vegetarians eat, it should be understood that their diet lacks those minerals and vitamins that are present exclusively in meat products. We are talking, first of all, about iron and vitamin B12. Even if soy and legumes are present in the diet instead of meat, they still do not satisfy all the needs of the body. As a result, in more than half of cases vegetarians have anemia and lack of iron, which leads to hair loss and brittle nails, decreased performance and loss of strength. In women, the monthly cycle may be disrupted, there are problems with the intestines.
• The food of plant origin contains little iodine, calcium, vitamin D. The consequence of the deficiency of these substances may be disorders in the thyroid gland, problems with teeth, bones. This condition is especially dangerous for the elderly.
• Since vegetarian food contains a lot of plant fiber, its constant consumption leads to a violation of protein absorption. This condition causes the development of muscular dystrophy, deterioration of immunity, increased risk of tuberculosis, etc.
• Pregnant women and mothers nursing babies cannot get enough of the substances they need from such food, in particular, protein, which the child needs for normal development.
• Many sources note that it is impossible to practice exclusively plant-based nutrition for children under the age of 15. Meat should be introduced into the child's complementary food in a timely manner in order to avoid the development of anemia, dystrophy, mental and physical development lag. In addition, later, when the baby goes to kindergarten or attends a children's camp, he will have to give up the usual food and probably not eat enough.
• Another disadvantage is that vegetarian food is not always available. In many cafes, shops, restaurants, hotels, it is very difficult for vegans or vegetarians to buy the food that meets all the principles of their nutrition system. Therefore, meals have to be planned in a special way.
• Saving with such a diet is also unlikely to work. Despite the fact that there is no need to buy meat, products that allow you to diversify the diet are quite expensive. And mushrooms, and high-quality dairy products, and fruits are not cheap.

When following such a food system, it is necessary not only to eat "permitted" food, but also to adhere to some rules that adherents of this system consider very important. It is believed that if a person confidently says about himself: "I am a vegetarian or a vegetarian," then even in small things he must behave correctly. Most adherents of this trend follow these rules:

• You should eat only when hunger appears. If a person is full, and an appetizing dish appears in front of him, this is not a reason to eat again.
• Vegetarians do not eat immediately after they finish hard physical or mental work. First, they must give the body time to restore balance.
• You need to sit down at the table only in a normal mood. It is believed that a bad mood can negatively affect digestion.
• During the cold period, you need to eat as little as possible. The forces of the body should be directed to fight viruses, and not to digest food.
• It's important to remember not to eat too fast. To make it better digested, you need to chew the pieces carefully.

A person should be sated gradually, so that in the end he does not finish the meal in a state of overeating.

The whole truth about this system should include information about those diseases, the risk of which increases in the absence of animal food in the diet. As already noted above, due to the rejection of animal products in the body there is a lack of a number of important substances. The result of this can be the development of serious diseases and pathological conditions:

• Iron deficiency and other types of anemia are a condition associated with the absence of meat in the diet. In this condition, weakness, pallor, shortness of breath, palpitations, etc. are bothering.
• B12- and folic deficiency anemia- as a result of such a deficiency, neurological disorders can develop.
• Urolithiasis and cholelithiasis - vegans develop such diseases more often. When refusing animal food in the body, the outflow of bile is more often disrupted, which leads to the formation of sand and stones. In addition, some plant foods (spinach, rhubarb, sorrel) provoke the accumulation of oxalic acid salts in the urine. Stones are formed from them later. Also, stone formation is associated with a lack of vitamin D in the body.
• Digestive disorders – in the process of switching to a vegetarian menu, very often people are worried about diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, cramps, bloating.
• Deficient conditions – if the body lacks certain minerals, this can lead to the development of brain diseases. According to some scientists, the lack of folic acid and vitamins B6, B12 activates brain aging, provokes the development of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. A lack of vitamin D leads to the development of osteoporosis.
• Hormonal imbalance - studies of scientists have confirmed that if people do not eat animal products, this can lead to disruptions in the balance of thyroid hormones. Therefore, vegetarians are more likely to have endocrine disorders.
• Deterioration of the teeth - when consuming a large amount of acidic vegetables and fruits, the tooth enamel is destroyed, which increases the risk of caries and other dental diseases.

Therefore, vegetarianism should be treated consciously and try to diversify the diet as much as possible.

In this context, there is still a debate about who has a longer life expectancy – those who eat meat, or those who refused it. In some studies, scientists note that the average life expectancy is about three and a half years higher for those who refused meat. Among those who do not consume meat dishes, long-livers are quite common. However, there are many studies on this subject, some of which, on the contrary, indicate that meat-eaters live longer. After reading an abstract or a report on this subject, you can find many arguments confirming this or that opinion. But in general, the issue is still quite ambiguous.

Moreover, there are many myths about this current. For example, some sources say that those who do not eat animal food do not get cancer. However, this statement does not stand up to criticism, since numerous studies show that vegetarians are slightly less likely to suffer from only certain types of cancer.