Is vegetarianism only a diet or a new philosophy? Justify your opinion.
Vegetarianism is becoming more and more popular nowadays and a lot of young people think of becoming vegetarians. I am inclined to believe that it is both a diet and a new philosophy. Vegetarianism often goes beyond the diet and it involves the way you live your life and conceive the world.
To my mind, there are two main reasons why young people become vegetarians. The first is the belief that eating meat is unethical. They believe that killing animals is wrong and cruel. They claim that animals are conscious creatures feeling anger, loneliness or suffering. Vegetarians join animal right movements that aim at the abolition of animal research, the fur industry, hunting and trapping. They believe that animals should be viewed as our equal partners. A lot of people don’t want to have their share in „meat industry”, they oppose to intensive rearing conditions and cruel slaughter methods.
The second reason why people turn to vegetarianism is that they consider it to be a healthier lifestyle. A vegetarian is someone whose diet omits meat products. But some vegetarians eat animal products such as milk, eggs, meat fats and some of them eat fish, although the strict definition of vegetarianism excludes all flesh or meat-eating. The strictest type of vegetarian is a vegan who avoids all flesh as well as meat-by-products and all products of animal origin.
A balanced vegetarian diet is perfectly healthy and offers significant extra health benefits over the average Western meat-eating diet. It consists mainly of fruit, vegetables and dairy products. Meat is not the only source of protein and it can be easily replaced, especially by Soya bean, which is a basis of many versatile products. Most studies show that vegetarians face lower risk of death from heart disease than those who eat meat, fish or poultry. The greater consumption of fruit and vegetables, usually associated with vegetarian diet, represents a major health benefits because of the vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre they supply.
In my opinion, vegetarianism means healthy diet but also the fact that we are more considerate to animals. I’m convinced that they should be treated with greater respect and it’s high time to recognize such things as animal welfare and cruelty to animals.
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Have you ever considered being a vegetarian? Why?/ Why not?
Yes, I’ve already thought about it because I believe it is a healthy diet and I can agree with some opinions concerning animal rights. Unfortunately, I haven’t done it because in my opinion it’s a lot of work. It’s easier to prepare beef steak or fried chicken than a good vegetarian dish. In summer you can get a lot of fruit and vegetables but it becomes more complicated in winter. It’s also more difficult to eat out because there isn’t much variety of vegetarian dishes in restaurants. I hardly ever eat pork or beef but I’d find it difficult to resign from poultry or fish.