Why go VEGETARIAN?

Did you know that 500,000 animals are slaughtered every hour just for consumption? And did you know that 100 acres of grain that is used to create enough meat for 20 people could be used to feed 240 people if they just ate the grain instead of feeding it to the animals? People become vegetarians for many different reasons; for health reasons, religious beliefs, animal rights or just a personal choice. Besides becoming vegetarian for animal rights, according to Medical Doctor Willian Castelli, the Director of the Framingham Health Study: National Heart, lung and Blood Institute, being a vegetarian can have tremendously positive effects on your health.

"A low-fat plant-based diet would not only lower the heart attack rate about 85 percent, but would lower the cancer rate 60 percent."

Many people think that if you are a vegetarian, you only eat vegetables. However, vegetarians can have very delicious diets full of variety that greatly benefit the body in many ways.

There are three types of Vegetarians, but in this blog, we will be mainly focusing on being a Lacto-ovovegetarian. When you are a lacto-ovovegetarian, it is easier to get certian nutrients such as calcium and protien, which can be gotten from milk and eggs. Here are the basics of the three kinds of vegetarianisms:

• Lacto-ovovegetarians don't eat meat, fish (and seafood), or poultry but do eat eggs and dairy products (such as cheese, yogurt and milk) Most vegetarian teens are lacto-ovovegetarians, so you could concider lacto-ovovegetarians the "normal" vegetarian.
  

• Lactovegetarians don't eat meat, fish (and seafood), poultry and eggs, but still eat dairy products.
  

• Vegans don't eat any animal produtcts, so no meat, fish (and seafood), poultry, eggs, and dairy.

(lacto = milk/ ovo=eggs so, lacto-ovovegetarians eat milk and eggs, lactovegetarians eat milk but not eggs etc.)

If you are interested in many other reasons why to be come a vegetarian, click here.

Sources:
http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/FDNS-E-18.html
http://www.giveusahome.co.uk/articles/vegetarianism.htm
http://www.vegsource.com/harris/cancer_vegdiet.htm
http://www.dfwnetmall.com/veg/yourfoodandyourhealth.htm
http://www.pamf.org/teen/health/nutrition/veggieteens.html
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http://mumszine.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/vegetarian-diet.jpg