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Going Veggie
Go vegetarian! A vegetarian is someone who doesn’t include meat or fish in their diet, they eat vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, and many other nutritious goodness instead. Going vegetarian is for people who want to live a long healthy life and help make the world a better place. By being vegetarian, people everywhere can help their environment, the animals in it, and themselves: In the last fifteen years, I have seen vegetarianism go from fringe to fashion to fact of life because it's a healthy and worthy way to live. The hippie connotation, which kept many people away, is a thing of the past. Today the American vegetarian is not just the health nut, it's the stay-at-home mom, the computer engineer, the veterinarian, the nurse, the store clerk, the neighbor across the street, and the teenager next door. They are familiar, individuals, and students. They live in urban areas and in suburbia, and together they represent 16 million people. You can see how health-conscious our culture has become just by taking a trip to the local grocery store where the words
"natural," "organic," and "meatless" jump out at you in every aisle.(Farrell 9)
Vegetarianism is a lifestyle for anyone. Our generation seems very aware of what they put in their bodies, on our planet, and what we do to our beloved animals. Although in the end it is a personal choice, just because it’s a better lifestyle doesn’t mean everyone is going to be a part of it. Lets talk about the risks associated with eating meat. Meats cause an abundance of diseases and contain unhealthy amounts of hormones, steroids, and fats. Diseases include:
Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and Alzheimer’s. "Our demand for meat, dairy, and

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processed carbohydrates drives us to consume way more calories than are good for us; and those calories are in foods that cause, not prevent, disease. The evidence is very clear that plants promote health."(Shepherd). “Plants promote health”, what a clever and accurate statement, that would be a great on a t-shirt for fellow vegetarians. Some people might assume that not all meats cause diseases, such as white meats and fish, but that is not the case. According to Dr. Furhman, a family physician and bestselling author, HCAs are highly concentrated into grilled chicken compared to beef. HCAs are cancer-causing compounds found in meat, chicken, and fish. Out of all of those, who would’ve guessed that chicken was the top contributor and was just as threatening to the heart as red meat was. Guess that just proves that things aren’t always as they seem. The most common benefit of vegetarianism are health benefits. Benefits expected by being a vegetarian include a longer life expectancy to lessened symptoms of menopause. There have been several studies across the globe about vegetarians living longer, approximately three to six years. With a “veggie” diet, there is a clean slate. People will notice having an abundance of energy, clearer skin, decreased body odor and bad breath. For women, eliminating the source of excess hormones and steroids, pesky things such as acne, tiredness, menopause, obesity, and depression will be lessened. “After a heavy meal with lots of meat, I often feel 'heavy' and lethargic and just feel like tucking into bed. These experiences are very real, and I do not really need any scientific studies or vegetarian statistics to validate them.”(Webmaster). Most people presumably have had that experience, which is reasonable after consuming a slab of hormonetreated meat. When going veggie, the positives outweigh the negatives by a long shot.

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Excess hormones and steroids are not only harmful to the human body but also to the animals receiving it first hand. They are injected with stimulants so that they will grow faster and bigger, except they don’t grow stronger. Today, 80% of feedlot cattle are injected with stimulants.
Hormone-treated animals suffer