How Veg Diet Can Save Your Health, Wealth and the Planet
Animals are very disciplined species. They follow their natural food cycle without questioning it. And animals as we know do not attempt to experiment, jump, or skip their respective food cycles. This means if you offer grass to a carnivore animal i.e. lion or tiger they will not eat it, even if they are starved to death. Similarly, if you offer a herbivore animal like Cow, horse, or deer to eat meat, they too will not have it, and can starve to death without eating it.
By animals, I mean all animals on the Earth, whether they are birds in the sky, animals on the land, fishes in the water or microbes in the earth crust too. Mother Nature has very scientifically created food for all the species surviving on the Earth.
And, there is a pre-defined Natural food cycle and every animal or bird follows their staple food cycle without being taught about it. Each animal species, their bodies and digestive systems are designed to eat specific types of food that helps maintain the harmony & equilibrium in nature.
This implicit diet rule applies to humans too, ie. we also have a natural food cycle considering the type of teeth, digestive juices and length of large and small intestine we have. And we are supposed to eat that food only without experimenting or eating other things which our bodies are not designed to digest.
So, the big question is how can one know the natural food cycle for any species?
Any food is a natural food, when the respective animal or species is happily able to eat it raw without much processing. In other words, natural food is the food which one can eat raw directly from nature without having the need to cook or process it. Hence, for humans the natural diet is being FRUGIVOROUS, as we can only eat fruits & nuts in its raw form without processing. We cannot eat meat raw hence, meat is not our staple diet.
And why do humans do not follow their natural food cycles?
Humans, being the most superior species of the world, want to rule over everything. And, we have learnt how to cook food, and can make all types of food edible for human consumption. And Chinese are leading this path of animal cruelty by eating everything on the earth whichever is moving or crawling, whether its snakes, camel, donkey, fox, koala, dog, deer, ostrich etc.
According
to our ancient scriptures, we should consume Sattvic food, and avoid Tamasik and
Rajasic food. From time immemorial, our ancestors, through scriptures, have been
advising us to eat only food that purifies the body and keeps us healthy, safe, and fresh. It is only possible with Sattvic food. Sattvic foods are those
fruits and vegetables that don't go to any extremes as far as taste is
concerned, and they have zero negative effects on our bodies.
Emotional Stability and Health Benefits -
Being Vegetarian is Healthy, Wealthy and Wise. Plant-based foods are rich in fiber, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other nutrients that protect your health. A veg diet can help you lose weight and maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI). This is because plant-based foods are generally lower in calories, fat, and cholesterol than animal products. They also tend to be more filling and satisfying, which can prevent overeating and cravings. And that's the reason why vegetarians live longer and healthier compared to non-vegetarians (with similar lifestyles) with reduced risk of all the major diseases i.e. heart disease, fatty liver, digestion problems, cancer, diabetes, irregular blood pressure, asthma etc. Also, vegetarians generally are happy with lesser mood swings, are more emotionally resilient. They are less likely to indulge in extreme crimes, less arrogant and aggressive behaviour & more adjusting behaviour leading to more successful professional careers, harmonious marital life, and lesser divorces.
The digestive system can be compared to a complex and efficient blender. It takes food and water as inputs and produces three outputs - Usable Energy for the body, undigested material as fat deposits and
waste.
Plant-based food is faster and easier to digest and leaves less fat and waste, while animal-based food takes longer and is harder to digest and leaves more fat and waste.
Meat generates more heat in the environment and inside the body.
Meat can take up to two days to fully digest because it contains complex molecules like proteins and fats. A large part of it is not converted to energy and not absorbed by the body, remains undigested leading to obesity (excess getting deposits on the body) or is eliminated from body. Meat may stay in the intestines for 24-72 hours and still depend on its type. Likewise, red meat in particular takes 1-3 days to complete the digestion process because of fat content and high protein. Consumption of poultry meat was associated with higher risks of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, gastritis and duodenitis, diverticular disease, gallbladder disease, and diabetes. And consumption of unprocessed red meat and processed meat combined was associated with higher risks of ischaemic heart disease, pneumonia, diverticular disease, colon polyps, colon cancer, and Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
There are lot of meat substitutes available nowadays that approximate certain aesthetic qualities (primarily texture, flavor, and appearance) or chemical characteristics of a specific meat. Plant-based meat includes meat made from plants, such as soybeans (and other legumes), wheat gluten, lentils, tofu, yuba, tempeh, avocado, and a variety of nuts. (Vegetarian meat contains non-vegan ingredients, such as egg and dairy)
Financial Impact, savings, benefits
If we compare the costs of veg and non veg food, the cost of non vegetarian food is always higher across the world. In India, its atleast five times more than the same quantity of vegetarian food with similar nutritional value. Average price of fruits and vegetables is around Rs. 80 - 100 per kg while that for mutton meat is Rs. 520 - 640/- per kg in India (2023-24). The cost of cooking a non vegetarian meal is very high, as it requires longer duration of boiling and cooking leading to more cooking gas consumption, and more oil and spices to make it edible. Clearly the cost of fooding per month is higher for non vegetarians leading to lesser savings for them. This may lead to further socio-economic lifestyle comparisons & complications between veg and non veg people which is not within the purview of this article.
Community and Environmental impact & enefits
A veg diet can reduce your carbon footprint and save natural resources. This is because animal agriculture is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water pollution, soil erosion, and biodiversity loss. By avoiding animal products, you can save water, land, energy, and animals.
Also, when we disrupt the food cycles of other animals and species, those animals will gradually get extinct (Read the wild fire article). Climate Change and related disasters are indirectly due to our unnatural food habits. Can we change our food habits and help save our planet from a premature collapse?
Humans are the custodians of earth, where the responsibility to make efficient use of available resources solely lies with us as we have BRAINS.
Mahatma Gandhi defined Ahimsa (non violence) as The avoidance of harm to any living creature in thought or deed. Hence, killing animals for food is an act of violence and should be avoided consciously.
A small cut and we rush to a doctor. Like Humans, animals too have the same emotions, and feel the pain the same way as we feel it. And when trapped, they know that they are going to be killed. Animals start release chemicals & stress hormones in their bodies due to trauma, agony, fear due to abuse they go through leading to harmful effects in human bodies after that meat consumption. Halal Meat is hence more harmful than other meat. Check out PETA YouTube channel and yourself see the inhumane treatment of animals in slaughterhouse videos. And, one would never consume meat.
Athletes perform better when they are on vegetarian diet. Check out THE GAME CHANGERS documentary on Netflix - https://gamechangersmovie.com/
Keen to switch to vegetarian, but facing the craving roadblocks? Then check out the products by plant based Meat companies - GoodDot Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Imagine Meats by Genelia & Ritesh Deshmukh and many more Indian startups on this.
Inspirational Videos and guides are here - Good Food Institute, PETA - How to go Vegan & Meat Less, Meet More etc.
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