If you are attracted to the idea of vegetarianism for the political reasons described above, but like me, don’t have the self discipline to be a vegetarian, there are, in fact, other personal lifestyle things you can do besides be a vegetarian, to work on world hunger issues. Instead of being a vegan, you can monitor your consumption of other planetary resources such as limiting air travel, driving an energy efficient car, work on world peace issues so billions spent on military weapons can be decreased, and overall decrease the amount of consumer goods you purchase. You can then channel the money you did not spend on these planetary resources towards World Hunger causes or other charities. Let me now move on to health advantages of vegetarianism.

There are definitely health advantages to being a vegetarian. Cultures that have a high percentage of meat in their diets have a greater incidence of heart disease. Meat is high in cholesterol and fat, and grains and legumes contain no cholesterol at all, and are low fat. Therefore, anyone who has a history of hearth disease in their family should consider becoming a vegetarian. Bill Clinton, for example, after suffering a heart attack, has become a strong proponent of vegetarianism. However, not just any kind of vegetarianism has health advantages over a meat centered diet. Some people who become vegetarians have a difficult time giving up the rich, intense flavor of meat and find grains. beans, tofu, etc., bland. So they start eating lot of vegetarian dishes that contain cheeses or other dairy products and this negates the heath advantage of eating vegetarian. For example, a whole wheat bean burrito consisting of beans and lettuce and tomatoes is a healthy alternative to a steak or pork chop, but a bean burrito with cheese and sour cream preceded by cheese nachos is not; a traditional meat dinner of a lean steak with a salad and a baked potato would be a healthier meal in terms of cholesterol and fat. So vegan vegetarianism is where the advantages are for heart disease prevention, not lacto-ovo vegetarianism. Also, if you do not suffer from or have a family history of heart disease and do not have a high cholesterol count, the advantages of a vegetarian diet are not as significant.

Cultures with high meat consumption also have a higher incidence of colon cancer. So becoming a vegetarian may reduce your risk of colon cancer. Particularly because grains and legumes are a great source of dietary fiber. If colon cancer runs in your family, becoming a vegetarian could be a very good choice. However, a vegan form of vegetarianism rather than a vegetarian diet containing a lot of diary products is what would reduce your chances of colon cancer. Eating lower on the food chain also means you consume less pesticide residue in your foods. So if any kind of cancer runs in your family, a vegetarian diet is probably a better choice for you. It’s possible eating only organic meats could resolve this. But avoiding fish and seafood might be advisable. Avoiding meats also means you are not ingesting residue antibiotics found in animal flesh; raising cattle/pigs/chicken in feedlots requires them to be pumped full of antibiotics.

There are other health issues beside heart disease and cancer for which vegetarianism does not weigh in as favorably. My most pressing health issue as a middle-aged person is weight control. When I was a young, active person with a young person’s metabolism, I had no trouble remaining slim on a vegetarian diet. But as I became a middle-aged person with a very busy life and a 9-5 desk job, and an artificial knee so I can’t jog, I started to gain weight. When I reached the point of being ten pounds overweight I became concerned, as I did not want that to creep up to twenty pounds, which is pretty typical for middle-aged Americans. I therefore developed an interest in the low carb approach to weight loss and long-term weight control. All the people I observed who were following a low carb diet lost weight quicker than any diet I had ever seen and those who continued to be conscientious carb counters, kept the extra weight off. I began doing research about low carb diets. What I quickly discovered, is that a vegetarian diet was much higher carb than a health oriented meat centered diet. Beef, chicken, pork, and eggs have no carbs and lots of protein. So it is much easier to put together a lunch or dinner that is low carb that includes a lean steak or chicken breast or fish, than any kind of legume or grain based protein. So people struggling with weight control issues may not be well suited to a vegetarian diet. In addition, if you are a Diabetic, weight control is very important because an extra ten to fifteen pounds can really increase your blood sugar levels. I personally think diabetics should eat some fish and chicken and beef rather than all vegetarian sources of protein to reduce the number of carbs they are consuming.

Now, I am not meaning to imply that legumes and grains are horrible, high carb foods. The main high carb foods that make people fat are soft drinks, and sugary desserts, and beer can be a problem too. But—it is still true that a bean/grain based main course has more carbs than meat centered main course. Therefore, it is difficult to eat desserts regularly as a middle aged person without gaining weight, particularly if you are eating typical vegetarian main courses. So if you are a person who cannot live without deserts, you may want to include a fair amount of lean meats in your diet. I prefer to sometimes eat a lean meat dinner and the carbs I save by doing that, earn me a Hagen-Daz ice cream bar for the same overall carb count! However, everybody needs to include some high fiber foods in their diet, so even if you are striving to eat low carb, you need to allow some carbs for some high fiber foods, like whole wheat bread.

In summary, the decision of whether or not you should become vegetarian is somewhat complex. There are many different kinds of vegetarian foods, some are really healthy i.e. legumes and whole grains and others, like many dairy products, are not much healthier, or sometimes less healthy, than meat or fish. Whether vegetarianism is the right choice for you can also depend on your particular health issues and family history of disease. If you are attracted to the idea of vegetarianism because you don’t believe in killing, be aware that unless you are a vegan, and eat no animal products at all, there is a lot of killing involved in the cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs (and all huge number of foods that contain milk and eggs) that you have sitting on your table. If you want to be a vegetarian, make that choice from an informed position. For those attracted to vegetarianism for political reasons, that is to free up planetary food resources to address world hunger issues, I salute your compassion for humanity. I did not have the will power to remain a strict vegetarian, but I still think this could be a better world with less hunger and pollution, and less ecological destruction if there were more vegan vegetarians. However, there are other ways of rechanneling world resources towards alleviating world hunger besides being a vegetarian. Things like limiting one’s air travel, driving an energy efficient car, limiting overall consumption of consumer goods to a reasonable level are other ways, besides being a vegetarian, can free up financial resources that can then be donated to organizations fighting world hunger. Lastly, let me add, vegetarianism does not have to be a black or white issue, you can eat some vegetarian dishes each week, as well as some meat dishes. This is where my diet ended up forty years after my first introduction to vegetarianism forty years ago.