Selfish (lacto-ovo)Vegetarianism

[Havet]

Many people wrongly assume that in order to become a lacto-ovo-vegetarian one must do things apart from and against their own personal interest for "the sake of the animals", when there are plenty of selfish reasons to become a lacto-ovo-vegetarian:

1. Live longer by going vegetarian (http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/70/3/516S#T7)
2. Have less (http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/2003_ADA_position_paper.pdf) health (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4801570.stm) diseases [1]
3. Help fight climate change and other environmental issues (http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM) that can affect you and your descendants.
4. Its a more efficient use of declining per capita land and water resources, making it a more economical choice (https://www.worldwatch.org/node/1626).
5. Protect your supply of oxygen by ensuring forests aren't destroyed for cattle (http://books.google.com/books?id=Z0s3X_vh1_EC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=one+hamburger+is+50+rain+forrest&hl=pt-PT#v=onepage&q&f=false).

Here's a quote to spark your interest (from the same source as number 3):


...animal agriculture is a large source of greenhouse gases and is responsible for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents. By comparison, all of the world's transportation (including all cars, trucks, buses, trains, ships, and planes) emits 13.5 percent of the CO2. Animal farming produces 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide and 37 percent of all human-induced methane. Methane has about 21 times more Global Warming Potential (GWP) than carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide has 296 times the GWP of CO2

Additional Sources:
[1] Mattson, Mark P. Diet-Brain Connection: Impact on Memory, Mood, Aging and Disease. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

[RGacky3]

numbers 3-5 only count if you have children.

#1. could be easily explained that vegetarians eat less proccessed or fast food

#2. there are also health problems that can come FROM vegetarianism, lack of protein, iron, colesterol, but again it could be becuase of eating less proccessed or fast food.

[Havet]

numbers 3-5 only count if you have children.

Not really

-Most common climate change projections claim we are likely to see meaningful bad changes within our lifetime (+/- 50 years (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6236690/Met-Office-catastrophic-climate-change-could-happen-with-50-years.html))
-Economic choices are important everyday. If you can save now, better, no?
-Last time I checked, we need oxygen. As in, right now. SOme older projections say we may be only 10 years away from a non-amazon world (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1125419.stm)! Some more recent projections though, place it in 70 years time (http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/6366). It is still part of our lifetime, and quality of life would likely deteriorate as it is being destroyed.


#1. could be easily explained that vegetarians eat less proccessed or fast food

It could be easily explained that vegetarians eat less red-meat.


#2. there are also health problems that can come FROM vegetarianism, lack of protein, iron, colesterol, but again it could be becuase of eating less proccessed or fast food.

That depends on the type of vegetarianism. Veganism indeed requires extra supplements to deal with those problems. But traditional lacto-ovo-vegetarianism does not:

Protein: Protein intake in vegetarian diets is only slightly lower than in meat diets and can meet daily requirements for any person, including athletes and bodybuilders [1]

Iron: Iron stores often tend to be lower in vegetarians than non-vegetarians, and a few small studies report higher rates of iron deficiency. However, the American Dietetic Association states iron deficiency is no more common in vegetarians than non-vegetarians (adult males are rarely iron deficient); iron deficiency anaemia is rare no matter the diet.[2][3][4]

Colesterol: I am assuming that by colesterol you mean fatty acids overall. Anyway, when animal foods are wholly excluded from the diet, the endogenous production of EPA and DHA (Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in plasma) results in low but stable plasma concentrations of these fatty acids.[5]

But i'm curious. If you think it can be only because of not eating processed food, then please show me the evidence.

Sources:
[1] Peter Emery, Tom Sanders (2002). Molecular Basis of Human Nutrition. Taylor & Francis Ltd. p. 32.
[2] Annika Waldmann, Jochen W. Koschizke, Claus Leitzmann, Andreas Hahn (2004). "Dietary Iron Intake and Iron Status of German Female Vegans: Results of the German Vegan Study". Ann Nutr Metab 48 (2): 103–108. (or link (http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?doi=10.1159/000077045))
[3]Krajcovicova-Kudlackova M, Simoncic R, Bederova A, Grancicova E, Magalova T (1997). "Influence of vegetarian and mixed nutrition on selected haematological and biochemical parameters in children". Nahrung 41: 311–14. (or link (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/113411643/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0))
[4]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864
[5] Rosell MS, Lloyd-Wright Z, Appleby PN, Sanders TA, Allen NE, Key TJ (2003). "Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in plasma in British meat-eating, vegetarian, and vegan men". Am J Clin Nutr 82 (2): 327–34. (or link (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16087975))

[Invincible Summer]

Protein deficiency only really occurs in developing nations. Any citizen of a western nation should be getting more than enough protein in their diet.

[RGacky3]

-Most common climate change projections claim we are likely to see meaningful bad changes within our lifetime (+/- 50 years (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6236690/Met-Office-catastrophic-climate-change-could-happen-with-50-years.html))
-Economic choices are important everyday. If you can save now, better, no?

As far as the economic choices, I doubt its something that can make an individual difference.

WHen it comes to climate change or Amazon problems, I'm don't know when it will come into effect, but if you say its in our life time, then ok.


It could be easily explained that vegetarians eat less red-meat.

I doubt that, red-meat has'nt been shown to cause heart problems by itself, even food colesterol does'nt nessesarily equate to higher cholesterol, with proccessed food that link has been made.


That depends on the type of vegetarianism. Veganism indeed requires extra supplements to deal with those problems. But traditional lacto-ovo-vegetarianism does not:

Thats true, you can get most of your protein and iron and healyh fats from dairy products and eggs.


Protein: Protein intake in vegetarian diets is only slightly lower than in meat diets and can meet daily requirements for any person, including athletes and bodybuilders [1]

It CAN be done, but its much harder to be done, and I doubt most vegetarians don't make it. As far as athletes and the such, most of them are gonna have to take supliments to maintain strength and a good body composition on a vegetarian diet (depends on the athlete too, a long distance runner has different needs than a sprinter for example).


Colesterol: I am assuming that by colesterol you mean fatty acids overall. Anyway, when animal foods are wholly excluded from the diet, the endogenous production of EPA and DHA (Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in plasma) results in low but stable plasma concentrations of these fatty acids.[5]

No just Colesterol, its important for producing testosterone amung other things. But fatty acids overall are extremely important for many things.


But i'm curious. If you think it can be only because of not eating processed food, then please show me the evidence.

I'm not gonna look up the sources because A: Its not that important (I have no problem with people being vegetarian) B: Its common knowledge that processed foods are generally unhealthy and also that its less likely for vegetarians to eat a lot of processed foods, so its pointless to look up what everyone already knows.

[Dean]

Many people wrongly assume that in order to become a lacto-ovo-vegetarian one must do things apart from and against their own personal interest for "the sake of the animals", when there are plenty of selfish reasons to become a lacto-ovo-vegetarian:

1. Live longer by going vegetarian (http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/70/3/516S#T7)
2. Have less (http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/2003_ADA_position_paper.pdf) health (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4801570.stm) diseases [1]
3. Help fight climate change and other environmental issues (http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM) that can affect you and your descendants.
4. Its a more efficient use of declining per capita land and water resources, making it a more economical choice (https://www.worldwatch.org/node/1626).
5. Protect your supply of oxygen by ensuring forests aren't destroyed for cattle (http://books.google.com/books?id=Z0s3X_vh1_EC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=one+hamburger+is+50+rain+forrest&hl=pt-PT#v=onepage&q&f=false).

Here's a quote to spark your interest (from the same source as number 3):



Additional Sources:
[1] Mattson, Mark P. Diet-Brain Connection: Impact on Memory, Mood, Aging and Disease. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

The bottom line is that you're willfully limiting your potential diet. Whatever health benefits there are for being vegetarian, the optimal diet is absolutely going to involve all or nearly all of the food groups.

The overarching effect of principled dietary limitations is to limit options which simply disempowers dietary choices.

There can be no mistake that vegetarian options are generally healthier. But by limiting oneself rather than encouraging healthy options in both categories the overall effect is weaker potential for your dietary regimes.

[Skooma Addict]

Whatever makes PETA upset is in my self interest.

[Stand Your Ground]

#2. there are also health problems that can come FROM vegetarianism, lack of protein, iron, colesterol, but again it could be becuase of eating less proccessed or fast food.
There's vitamin supplements as well as non-meat protein foods that are not only delicious but full of protein and iron.

[Dean]

Whatever makes PETA upset is in my self interest.
You should drive around your neighborhood shooting peoples' pets. :)