Nowadays, health has
become the most important thing in our life. People are willing to be healthier
now. Healthy body and mind can be started from what we eat. Food is our basic
daily need that has power to change our body and mind condition. A wrong diet
can cause many dangerous diseases such as cancer and heart attack. Instead, good
diet which consists of enough nutrients for our body can make us healthier. One of the best diets is vegetarian.
Vegetarian means we don’t eat meat or other animal products. Today, many people have become vegetarians. Vegetarian not only can be seen as
a lifestyle, but also as a health choice. We may think that by consuming no meat,
we will be lack of protein and nutrient. However, vegetarian diet can prevent
us from dangerous diseases, balance our emotion and enhance our lifespan.
First, vegetarian diet can prevent us from dangerous
diseases. Many diseases can be caused by food consumption. The right food which contains
enough nutrients can keep our body healthy, but the wrong food can bring us to diseases
such as hypertension or heart attack. As we know, meat contains much fat and
cholesterol that can cause a high blood pressure and cancer. On the other hand,
vegetables contain a lot of fiber, protein and of course, low in cholesterol.
Those factors contribute in lowering the high blood pressure and cholesterol
level. A research in US shows that the
risk of contacting with cancer is increased by eating meat, and another research in England reveals
that being a vegetarian can reduce the possibility
to get cancer up to 40 %. Cancer is one of the most dreadful diseases in the
world. Actually, everybody has his own cancer cells in his body, but the cells won’t be harmful as long as they have not been activated. Those cells can be activated by carcinogen which
is mostly found in animal products. To prevent it, we need much vitamin, B-17, beta-carotene,
etc. Those substances can be found in vegetarian diet, for instance,
soybeans that contain protease inhibitor, a powerful anticancer compound. We
have to remember that diseases are easier to prevent than to cure. And vegetarian diet is the
best way to prevent from the dangerous diseases.
Second, vegetarian diet
can balance our emotion. You may think that vegetarian diet is only beneficial
for our body, but actually it will also affect our emotional health. As I have
explained before, vegetarian diet does not contain animal fat which causes
hypertension. Many people have not realized that actually hypertension causes us to have an extreme mood or bad
temper. It has been proven by a research in US that reveals 25 percent of
people with hypertension will have a poor emotional health, as compared to 15
percent of those without hypertension. Furthermore, people who eat no meat will
have a comfortable feeling because the impact of our digestive system.
Digestive system has a strong relation with our emotion. Vegetable is easier to
be digested because it contains much fiber that can absorb much water. The
combination of fiber and water can make a free bowel movement and reduce
constipation that causes discomfort. So, our emotion will be balanced. Then,
look at many philosophers and famous people who decided to be a vegetarian such as, Mahatma Gandhi, Aristoteles, Plato,
Isac Newton, Albert Einsten, Gajah Mada and many more. Those people have proven
to the world that vegetarian diet can lead us to healthy emotion. They can be charismatic
leaders or great
philosophers
because of a good emotion and healthy mind. I don’t say that we have to be a
vegetarian to be a great leader or philosopher, but vegetarian diet can bring
us to a better emotion with peace in our mind.
The last, by being a vegetarian we will also enhance our
lifespan. The most important issue of vegetarian diet is about nutrient.
Actually, we wont be lack of protein or nutrient by consuming no meat
because grains, nuts, legumes, vegetables can provide enough protein and nutrient
supply to our body. They are also high in fiber, vitamin, mineral and
antioxidant. Those substances are needed to increase the efficiency of
digestive process and metabolism. As I said before, vegetarian diet can prevent people from dangerous diseases which means we will have a chance to
have a longer healthy life. It also can clean our digestive system, so it will
allow us to absorb essentials nutrient of our food. This is very beneficial for
people in the age of 40-60. The research shows that people who become a
vegetarian will have 15 years longer lifespan than the common people (Loma Linda
University, US). And some ethnic groups who have a longer lifespan than the
others like Hunza are vegetarians.
In short, by consuming
vegetables,
fruit and no meat, we can be free from dreadful diseases, refresh our mind and expand our
lifespan. Vegetables, fruit, nut, and other vegetarian food have proven that they have good
impacts for our life because they are rich in fibers, vitamin, antioxidant and
low in fat. Then, many researches have shown that vegetarian diet can improve
our health. Actually, vegetarian diet is one of many ways that we can choose to
be healthier. But, by being a vegetarian, we do not only have healthy body, but also
healthy emotion. So it’s time for us to choose whether we want to
have a better life or not. Healthy life and well-balanced emotion are the
future of vegetarian people.