A Meatless Diet is Just as Nutritious as a Meat-Based Diet (Essay Sample)

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A Meatless Diet is Just as Nutritious as a Meat-Based Diet
The practice of shunning the consumption animal foods and choosing to restrict themselves only to vegetable foods is known as vegetarianism. There are two classes of vegetarians; exclusive and non-exclusive. Exclusive vegetarians, also referred to as vegans, do not consume any animal products, while non-exclusive vegetarians, also known as lacto-ovo vegetarians only exclude themselves from consuming meat, but consume animal products such as milk and eggs. A lacto vegetarian can consume eggs, butter, and other dairy products whereas the only animal product an ovo vegetarian only consumes eggs as animal products (Havala 3). A vegetarian diet includes only plant based foods such as legumes, seeds, nut fruits and grains. Contrary to popular opinion, a vegetarian diet is just as nutritional as a meat-containing diet, albeit healthier. This paper will show that human beings do not need meat to survive, as they can get all their food and nutritional needs from meatless products.
Meat consumption is the leading cause of weight gain. Meat contains saturated fats which results in the buildup of calories in the body. These fats surround the heart and the arteries, which interferes with the movement of blood in the body, exposing one to incidences of heart failure among other cardiovascular diseases. Vegetables, on the other hand, are rich in fiber which improves the functionality of the digestive system. Research has also shown that a high fiber diet helps reduce the risk of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and cardiovascular diseases (Havala 7). Meat does not contain fiber, and as such, the bodies of meat-eaters are more exposed to diseases than the bodies of vegetarians. Meat eaters are hence encouraged to balance their diet with vegetables, or reduce their consumption of meat since the nutrients found in meat are easily obtained in plants, but plant nutrients cannot be substituted.
Meat is not an essential part of a healthy and balanced diet. A study by the American Dietetic Association shows that a vegetarian diet meets the body’s protein, fats, vitamins and mineral requirements (Craig and Mangels 1272). A vegetarian diet is also capable of providing the body with all the essential amino acids. While meat contains all the amino acids needed by the body, a vegetarian would have to eat a combination of fruits, legumes, and whole grains in order to obtain the full range of amino acids. This is still better than consuming meat, which has well-known complications. Meat diets been known to cause the body to excrete uric acid, oxalate and calcium, chemicals which cause kidney stones and gallstones. Meat also increases the concentration of salts and nitrates in the body, which could cause high blood pressure (Messina and Messina 23). A diet, therefore, does not have to include meat for it to be considered healthy.
Although both meat and vegetables contain iron, a vegetable diet provides a healthier form of iron than a meat-eater’s diet. Meat contains heme iron, which increases the risk of contracting rectal and colon cancer. Iron from vegetables such as beans, lettuce and kale, however, is heme-free and doesn’t expose the body to health risks. Vegetarians have stronger and healthier bones because they absorb more calcium than meat eaters. Meat has a high concentration of renal acid, which the body neutralizes by leaching calcium from the bones. This is then excreted as urine and lost completely (Havala 27). The leaching of calcium we...