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Without meat its hard to get the vitamins you need like vitamin D ,  and vitamin B12 and That can lead to many problems like higher levels of homocysteine, a risk marker for heart disease , lack of k2 can lead to fragile bones , vitamin B12 and iron is found only in animal sources

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Is vegan healthy? Recently, I’ve received a few emails from readers who’ve asked me, ‘I’m so confused about a healthy diet! Is vegan healthy? I’ve read/seen promoting a vegan lifestyle, but I know that you eat many animal products.’ Food is complicated, but let’s start with the many aspects of a balanced diet on which everyone agrees - even the vegans and paleos! This includes: Enjoy an abundance of freshly prepared vegetables Minimized processed foods and instead cook meals from scratch Eat mindfully and slowly Source local, organic foods and support small farms But what about the question of eating animals products?

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If we left animals rome around and left to die and rot in the streets that wouldn't be good for the environment with all the toxic. We can keep animals in farms and in lands and get many benefits like grazing animals can help cycle nutrients and aid in land management: while also requiring little in the way of chemicals and pesticides to grow to an edible size. Methane gas released by goats, pigs and poultry (which contributes to the greenhouse effect); the ammonia gases from urine; poison gases that emanate from manure lagoons; toxic chemicals from pesticides; and exhaust from farm equipment used to raise feed for animals.”

The problem is not animals, which roamed the earth in huge numbers emitting methane, urine and manure long before humans came on the scene, but their concentration into confinement facilities. Only strong, committed, persistent and focused human effort will accomplish the goal of eliminating these abominations—the kind of strength, commitment, persistence and focus that only animal foods rich in cholesterol, zinc, good fats and vitamin B₁₂ can sustain. In nature and on old-fashioned farms, the urine and manure from animals is not a pollutant but a critical input that nourishes plant life. As for methane, the theory that methane from animals contributes to global warming is just that—a theory, one that doesn’t even pass the test of common sense.
Not only that, but a lone cow slaughtered on a small farm can feed its owners for ages, which is why we got into agriculture in the first place. So it’s not meat itself which is the issue, so much as our current supply chain. I don't know about you but i would like a clean non toxic environment .

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Let's be honest: eating meat is an objectively bad idea. It's expensive, has been linked to cancer and causes devastating crises in the developing world. Yet, for all the rational arguments against it, some of us just can't give our carnivorous habits up. Show us a cross-section of our disease-ridden gut and we'll show you a juicy steak just begging to be eaten. Show us a slaughterhouse and we'll ask for a knife and fork. It may sound callous, but we'll only give up our bacon when you pry it from our cold, dead hands-and here's why:

Thanks to the miracles of evolution, we humans can survive just fine on a meat-free diet. But that doesn't mean we're natural vegetarians. Far from it: as far back as 2003, scientists had established our ancestors were eating meat up to 2.5 million years ago. In other words, that juicy slab of barbecue isn't some icon of modern decadence; it's part of our traditional diet, and there are plenty of other clues too. First, our bodies lack most of the equipment you'd associate with herbivores. For instance, we don't have four stomachs, any ability to break down cellulose, or the sort of complex intestinal tracts most leaf-eaters possess. Second, our teeth are obviously designed to handle both meat and non-meat diets. And a good job too, because...

From a strictly logical perspective, there are a number of oddities about us humans. For starters, our brains seemingly shouldn't be this big. If you look across most primate species, brain size increases with body size: humans are noticeable outliers. Then there's the added complexity of our brains, which are so stuffed full of neurons they're likely capable of holding more individual thoughts than there are stars in the universe. So what makes us so special? Well, according to one 2011 study, it's our appetite for meat.

Seriously: researchers from Spain identified signs of malnutrition in a child's skull dating from 1.5 million years ago, consistent with a meat-deficient diet. What's interesting about this is it suggests we were so used to eating meat back then our brains couldn't develop without it-a theory supported by other evidence that links primate brain complexity to the number of calories consumed per day. Since we didn't begin cooking our food until long after our brains went supernova, the only likely candidate for our calorific diets is meat. Meaning we're only capable of making logical choices like vegetarianism because we originally ate other animals.

One argument often put forward for going vegetarian is that humans are the only primates to eat meat. Ergo, it must be unnatural: like using the internet to moan about steakhouses. But guess what? It's not just untrue; it's about as scientific as punching biology in the face.

Back in 1960, Jane Goodall observed chimps hunting and eating other animals in the wild. In the years since, it's been shown that certain chimp communities eat as much as one ton of meat annually. In other words, they're less indulging occasional cravings than they are taking part in the chimpanzee equivalent of Man V. Food. Not only that, but they apparently use the slaughtered meat to gain a reproductive and 'political' advantage over one another. So, to recap: our evolutionary cousins love a good steak so much; they'll literally whore themselves out to get it.

One of the big reasons for giving up meat is the devastating environmental impact of shipping, say, a chunk of dead cow halfway across the world. So if you're into environmentalism, dropping meat should be a no-brainer, right?

Not quite. While our current model of shipping is about as environmentally-friendly as a forest fire, it doesn't have to be this way. See, livestock-managed properly-can be used to do a lot of stuff that would otherwise require a heck-load of fossil fuel. For example, grazing animals can help cycle nutrients and aid in land management: while also requiring little in the way of chemicals and pesticides to grow to an edible size. Not only that, but a lone cow slaughtered on a small farm can feed its owners for ages, which is why we got into agriculture in the first place. So it's not meat itself which is the issue, so much as our current supply chain.

In our modern age, it's taken as read that eating meat is a bigger planet killer than chowing down on tofu. But that's not always the case. For example, compare organically reared animals with industrially produced tofu. The quantities of land needed are greater, the treatment and harvesting of the soya involves more fossil fuels, and the end product often has to be shipped great distances if you live somewhere like Britain-where the climate is really, really bad for growing meat substitutes. Simply put: that tasteless tofu burger you're forcing down to preserve our planet's future may actually be more atmosphere-frying than the delicious hunk of beef being eaten by that smug bastard across the table from you.

There are certain psychological traits among humans that seem so obvious we shouldn't need a study to prove them. One is that exposure to weapons triggers violence. Another is that meat-eaters are more aggressive than vegetarians. However, a group of scientists decided to look into the meat/aggression issue anyway-and what they found turns common sense on its head.

By exposing men to pictures of red meat then placing them in a position of power over another subject, researchers discovered that thinking about steak might actually reduce aggression in humans. No-one's really got any idea why-beyond hazily linking it to 'evolution'-but the conclusion seems valid. So, while we may imagine a rabid steak-eater to be more violence-prone than a guy who lives off soy beans and lentils; the opposite may well be true.

Of course, one of the 'big' arguments against eating meat is that it's cruel. However you look at it, cramming a bunch of chickens together in a cage and feeding them until they're too fat to stand isn't a particularly pleasant thing to do. Even if you give the animal the best life possible, there's no getting around the fact you're killing a sentient creature for no better reason than 'dinner'. So it's easy to see why some people just flat-out refuse to eat meat.

Only that's about to change. Thanks to Dutch scientist Willem van Eelen, we're now at the stage where we can grow burgers in a lab. Slow down and read that again: we're now so advanced as a species we can grow a hunk of cow in a lab without ever actually involving a living cow. Currently, the technology is too expensive for mass-production-the first lab-grown burger cost $300,000 to make and tasted only 'reasonably good'. But we're conceivably only a decade or two away from a world where steak, sausages, bacon and even veal cutlets can be created without harming a single animal.

Go for a walk in the countryside and chances are-unless you live near a National Park-that the 'natural' landscape you're seeing is nothing like how nature intended it. For thousands of years, animals belonging to our ancestors grazed dense natural forests to destruction, resulting in the great big open spaces we now associate with 'being outdoors'. And while it may seem kinda sad, this slow-motion deforestation is actually just what we need. See, if the country ever gets its act together and decides to 'go green', we're gonna need as much open space for wind farms and solar panels as we can get. Know the most eco-friendly way for maintaining such places? Yep: grazing livestock. This isn't just me speculating either, British 'eco warrior' Simon Fairlie famously argued that rearing livestock is essential for increasing biodiversity and creating a truly-sustainable world. And what do we ultimately do with all this necessary livestock? That's right: we eat it.

OK-I admit this isn't much of a point. But let's be honest: a huge amount of the vegetarian v. carnivore internet war comes down to this simple fact. For all we talk about protein and write long list articles defending our choices, most of us meat-eaters just basically like the taste. Does that make us callous, immoral people? Well, maybe kinda. But we live in a world that's an ethical minefield-every single day we log onto computers manufactured by tax-dodging multinationals using sweatshop labor; wear clothes made by virtual slaves in third world countries; give a big chunk of our paychecks to a sociopathic government; and generally reap the rewards of living in a nation subsidized by the unethical treatment of most of the rest of the planet. If eating a hunk of bacon each day is what it takes to get me through this headache-inducing liberal guilt-trip, then so be it.

Morris is a freelance writer and newly-qualified teacher, still naively hoping to make a difference in his students' lives. You can send your helpful and less-than-helpful comments to his email, or visit some of the other websites that inexplicably hire him.

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9 Reasons To Reject Vegetarianism - Listverse

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Let's be honest: eating meat is an objectively bad idea. It's expensive, has been linked to cancer and causes devastating crises in the developing world. Yet, for all the rational arguments against it, some of us just can't give our carnivorous habits up.

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 You could suffer from higher states of anxiety/depression, lower sense of well-being

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 You could suffer from higher states of anxiety/depression, lower sense of well-being

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According to a CBS Atlanta report, vegetarians suffered from a higher rate of anxiety and depression than their counterparts. Studies show that amino acid and 3-omega fatty acids are found in meat and wild salmon Without the correct supplementation and proper understanding of diet, including the importance of micro and macro nutrients, depression and anxiety can become a serious problem, bringing down the overall health and well-being of vegetarians.

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Vegetarianism has been around for a long time, finding favor with many people, including Pythagoras clear back around 580 B.C. It's been presented as one of the most healthy diets around, including being touted by the Egyptians to the point of abstaining from meat and animal clothing due to karmic beliefs. The vegetarian society ( vegsoc.org) defines vegetarianism as:

"Someone who lives on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with, or without, the use of dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish* or by-products of slaughter."

While it's pretty obvious that there are multiple benefits to following a vegetarian diet, it's always good to be informed about the cons of this dietary choice as well.

Outlined below are several things you might want to be aware of before you say good-bye to meat forever. Whether you are a current vegetarian, or contemplating making a shift, keep in mind these 8 things to keep yourself healthy.

1. You could suffer from B12 vitamin deficiency

The B vitamins are especially important for stress management, adrenal health, and brain function. Vegetarians in particularly are at risk for B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 is attached to the protein in animal products and without enough B12 you can suffer from depression, fatigue, and an inability to concentrate.

Due to its attachment to animal proteins, B12 is the hardest for vegetarians to obtain when they don't eat dairy or eggs in their diet. This essential little vitamin can be found in some algae and has been added to some yeast, but research doesn't currently provide enough information to say whether or not these forms of B12 are of good quality and can provide adequate supplementation.

The body is unable to make this vitamin, meaning it has to be taken in through food or supplementation. Essential for making red blood cells, DNA, nerves and various other function in the body, a Harvard Health Medical report in January of 2013 found symptoms of a B12 deficiency can present in sneaky ways including depression, paranoia, delusion, and loss of taste and smell.

2. You could suffer from higher states of anxiety/depression, lower sense of well-being

According to a CBS Atlanta report, vegetarians suffered from a higher rate of anxiety and depression than their counterparts. Read the full report here. Depression and/or anxiety can be a result of many possible deficiencies including essential vitamins and amino acids you can find only in meat products, including Omega-3s from wild caught salmon.

Without the correct supplementation and proper understanding of diet, including the importance of micro and macro nutrients, depression and anxiety can become a serious problem, bringing down the overall health and well-being of vegetarians.

Even though reports on health and lifestyle show vegetarians have a lower BMI and lower consumption of alcohol and drugs, it also shows they suffer from more chronic illnesses and more visits to the doctor than their meat eating counterparts.

3. You could suffer from excess weight

When you go vegetarian it opens up a lot of food, but just because there isn't any meat in front of you, it doesn't mean it's necessary healthy. Though pizza and beer technically fall under the vegetarian diet, it's not a healthy choice for your waist line.

Just because being a vegetarian is associated with a healthier lifestyle in many cases, doesn't mean it's always true. Making bread and pasta your staples and not understanding where your protein sources should be coming from, can pack on body fat, which increases your chances of health issues such as diabetes and chronic inflammation.

If the choice to go vegetarian happens on a whim without the proper understanding of food control, portion, and nutritionally dense alternatives you can find yourself reaching for vegetarian foods, which could cause serious problems down the road. Nuts are a good example, but just because something is touted as healthy, it doesn't mean, your should eat it in excess.

Eating too many calories in fat will still cause you to gain weight. Eating too many calories in carbs will cause you to gain weight. Eating too many calories in protein will cause you to gain weight. See a pattern here? Not to mention you'll miss out on important nutrients the body needs by over-eating in one area and under-eating in another. Re-read number 2.

4. You could have a higher risk of heart disease

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables should be a goal we all strive for, but when you cut out meat, you also cut out what is known as complete protein, which you find in animal by-products. Complete means more than just the essential amino acids, it means those amino acids contain dietary sulfur. Without enough dietary sulfur, which is found almost exclusively in fish and pasture feed grass beef, the body will struggle with the biological activities of both protein and enzymes.

The effects cascade downward, effecting bones, joints, tissues, and even metabolic issues. In short, a low intake of sulfur associated with a vegetarian diet can result in high blood levels of homocysteine, which may lead to blood clots in your arteries, blood clots raise your risk of stroke and heart attack. To read the full report click here.

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5. You could suffer from low cholesterol

I know, at first you're thinking, wait, low cholesterol is a good thing. Yes, it is, when it's LDL cholesterol, which you get from eating an unhealthy diet, but low HDL (good cholesterol) can cause serious health issues. HDL, according to the mayo clinic, is in every cell in our body and can help fend off heart disease, not enough of it though, and too much LDL can go the other way, will be building up plaque in the arteries and leading to heart disease.

Cholesterol, the good kind, is actually vitally important to the making of every steroid hormone in the body! There are six, and without cholesterol the body is unable to convert hormones, and it can cause damage in the endocrine system.

A vegetarian without a balanced diet, meaning enough protein, enough veggies, and enough good fats, could disrupt his or her adrenals, which are directly connected to the endocrine system and the body's ability to make and synthesize the hormones your body needs. The six major hormones in the body help do everything from metabolizing carbohydrates, to the electrolyte balance, to making sure if you're a woman you can carry a healthy baby through pregnancy.

6. You could suffer from lower bone density and osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis, the disease where the bones get thinner, weaker, and fractures become a high risk with day to day movements. It's often associated with the older generation, but your risk for osteoporosis increases with a lower bone density. Bone density can be directly related to diet and lifestyle, along with many other factors.

When it comes to eating a vegetarian diet it's possible to miss getting enough of the right nutrients, causing the bones to begin to break down. If your vegetarian diet isn't balanced and providing you with the correct nutrients and the means to absorb the correct nutrients, your body could begin to break down.

Recently, Professor Tuan Nguyen of Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research led a review of both Australian and Vietnamese research around the bone density of vegetarian versus their meat eating counterparts. Helping Professor Nguyen was Dr. Ho-Pham Thuc Lan from Pham Ngoc Thac University of Medicine in Vietnam. The review was designed to sort though years of research surrounded by discrepancies and inadequate clinical data.

At the end of the review, with vegetarianism rising to around 5% of the populace in the western continents, and with wide spread osteoporosis reports - 2 million in Australia and closer to 54 million in America - the decrease in bone density of vegetarians is a serious issue which needs to be addressed, if you've cut meat and animal by-products out of your life.

7. You could be at a higher risk for colorectal cancer

Cancer seems to be running rampant through America, and it's within everyone's best interest to do all they can to keep their body healthy and happy to prevent cancer from finding a place to grow. In most studies it's been found vegetarians are at lower risk for cancer, but a European Oxford study with over 63 thousand men and women in the United Kingdom found the risk for colorectal cancer higher in vegetarians than in meat-eaters.

Extra care needs to be taken when establishing a diet to ensure the body is receiving and able to up take all the important nutritional benefits and requirements from food.

8. You could end up eating more processed food

Depending on how deep you choose to go as a vegetarian, it could create the need to substitute a lot of food and recipe ingredients in your diet, but what happens when you cut out meat, eggs, and dairy and your recipe calls for meat, eggs, and/or dairy? You have to end up using a "healthy" vegetarian alternative which include stabilizers, thickeners, and various other ingredients you can't pronounce.

Lauren from Empowered Substance puts it into a great perspective with her comparison of Earth Balance, a vegetarian approved butter replacement compared to butter. She points out the ingredients in Earth Balance consist of: Palm fruit oil, canola oil, safflower oil, flax oil, olive oil, salt, natural flavor, pea protein, sunflower lecithin, lactic acid, annatto color. Meanwhile, the ingredient list in butter, is much shorter. It's butter.

That's only one example. To appeal to the vegetarian lifestyle food manufacturers have found alternatives which fall under vegetarian, but aren't necessarily healthy for you. Consider baked goods, which though vegetarian can be filled with more sugars and binders than regular baked goods with diary products. It's the same with vegetarian items like mac and cheese, without using real cheese you may just be getting oil and thickeners, without even the smallest amount of nutritional value.

The reality is, most vegetarian substitutes contain the same junky alternatives which even meat eaters should be avoiding to remain happy and healthy.

On one final note, whichever lifestyle you choose to work with, remember anything in excess - including protein and animal by products - isn't healthy for the body. It takes a wide spectrum of food and nutrients to keep the beautiful body you travel around in all day running in prime condition.

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8 Things to Watch for If You're Considering Being Vegetarian

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Vegetarianism has been around for a long time, finding favor with many people, including Pythagoras clear back around 580 B.C. It's been presented as one of the most healthy diets around, including being touted by the Egyptians to the point of abstaining from meat and animal clothing due to karmic beliefs.

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When you don't eat meat you're not getting the iron and calcium you need. which can often lead to weak bones and and muscles , and also health risk like anemia. You also miss out on 3-omega fatty acids which prevent maladaptive health issues like atherosclerosis and can also work to improve mood, and combat depression.

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Top 10 Reasons Not To Become a Vegetarian

There's been a trend in recent years of everyone and their brother hopping on a proverbial train labeled "Vegetarianism." As the population has paid shrewder attention to health and nutrition, it seems that one of the most touted lifestyles is any collection of vegetarianism, most specifically veganism, which eliminates any addition of meat or dairy products in one's diet. Meats have been condemned for the alleged predispositions one will have to heart disease and various cancers due to the consumption of saturated fats.

In the 1950s, a breakfast that included greasy bacon, three egg omelettes and steak was seen as typical. "Diet" wasn't a word that was common in American vernacular and "gym rat" would likely be associated with an actual rodent as opposed to a fraternity member with a penchant for pumping iron.

Over several decades, America's views on health and diet have changed drastically. Vegetarianism is no longer a rarity and it seems that every other week a member of Hollywood's elite (or at least reality television) is touting veganism as their diet of choice, along with various "cleanses" (note: don't do a cleanse). For many, acquiring a gym membership is as crucial as having a credit card, and the word "bacon-wrapped-cheddar whatever" is synonymous with dropping an "F" bomb.

It is interesting that vegetarianism has become so much of the hype for combatting diseases when instances of heart disease and various cancers are at an all-time high and have led to more mortalities than they ever had during decades where meat was considered a staple of all dishes. The truth of the matter is, food processing and various artificial ingredients are much more likely to be contributing to health detriments than a healthful steak or lamb shank. While everyone believes meats and dairies have become unhealthy, the truth is quite the opposite. Meat consumption can actually lead to a decreased risk of various medical conditions and can help to maintain weight. Let's take a look at the 10 ways vegetarians have gotten it all wrong.

Our Ancestry Is Rooted In Eating Meat

Back in the days our primitive ancestors lived - around 2.5 million years ago - behaviors were much more instinctual. There were no "fad" diets, just a diet that consisted of hopefully finding a worthy specimen to kill and eat in order to stave off starvation. In other words, it was a simpler time.

Other than eating meat as a survival technique - and because that along with the occasional twigs and berries were all that was at our primitive ancestors' disposal - Pete Ungar of the University of Arkansas made the discovery in 2003 that Homo sapiens "had much sharper teeth than their most likely immediate ancestor, Australopithecus afarensis, which posits that our ancestors were born to consume meat. The steep crests of primitive humans cannot be found in various omnivores, and even chimpanzees and gorillas "which consume mostly soft foods such as ripe fruit and almost no meat" do not have as steep and sharp of a crest in their teeth. The sharpness of the crest of our teeth is clearly designed for cutting and tearing of tough textures that are characteristic of meat.

There is more to the story of evolutionary reasons for keeping meat as a staple in the human diet. When Homo sapiens brains increased in size during the Ice age, their digestive systems also became smaller so that they would need less energy in order to survive the long, harsh winters of the Ice Age, which made food scarce. There were very little plant options during this time, and meat became the primary source of primates' nutrients and energy.

According to Holistic Help, the advent of agriculture is one thing that has begun to change our evolutionary assets in a negative way. Holistic Help vetted Dr. Barry Groves for more insight, and he posited that, " The brain has become 11 percent smaller since the introduction of agriculture about 10,000 years ago. Many of the calories in the diet that once consisted of nutrient-dense foods, like the high-fat animals of the Paleolithic era, were substituted with mineral-depleting grains. This has robbed the brain of the energy it needs to maintain its large size."

Consumption Of Red Meat Can Prevent Certain Deficiencies

Marbly red meats are a favorite entree several in restaurants across the nation, and also considered a "guilty pleasure" by many due to the high amount of saturated fats, as well as beef's omnipresence on fast food menus across the globe. The processing of red meat in chain restaurants has been instrumental in giving this protein and vitamin-rich food a bad rap. However, red meat purchased from grocery stores that has labels like "grass-fed," "organic," "ethical," "hormone-free" and/or "unprocessed" can serve as an essential part of one's diet and decrease the risk of physical and mental health ailments such as anemia, jaundice and dementia to name a few.

Red meat is rich in vitamin B12, a vitamin that can only be found in meats, dairy or poultry products and is essential to the operations of the central nervous system. A deficiency in this vitamin can give way to a litany of health issues such as dementia that can decrease quality of life and longevity. Deficiencies in B12 can be insidious, as people can go years without feeling the effects. There are few tastier ways to ensure you are getting enough of this essential vitamin than to "beef" things up at dinner time with a home-cooked burger or filet mignon.

Vegetarianism Does Not Necessarily Help With Weight Loss

Many people have taken to vegetarianism not for political reasons, but for weight loss reasons, as vegetarianism has been touted as a great weight loss regimen. This is not necessarily the case. In fact vegetarianism can actually lead to weight gain.

As a personal anecdote, I'll reference an ex of mine who practiced vegetarianism. When you think of a vegetarian, you're likely thinking of someone who eats tons of organic fruits and vegetables, a plethora of nuts and beans for proteins, and a smorgasbord of healthy complex carbohydrates like brown rice or quinoa, all aligned in a beautiful rainbow of health on a plate like one of those featured in many a picture on veg blogs. The reality is that you don't necessarily have to be healthy to be a vegetarian. You just have to exclude meat (and dairy as well if you are a vegan). My ex boyfriend the vegetarian had a steady diet of vodka, tofurkey, hash browns, and Oreos (which are completely vegan, by the way) to support his vegetarian lifestyle. In other words, he wasn't in the best of health.

Vegetarianism and veganism do not provide the same satiation that a diet including meat does. Because meats provide complete proteins as well as fat, you will feel fuller longer. In fact, met actually can aid in a weight-loss program and even expedite benefits gained during exercise.

According to Men's Health, "When you eat, your body has to expend calories to digest the food. Protein causes this inner fire to burn the hottest, followed by carbohydrates, followed by fat. Animal proteins increase thermogenesis more than vegetable proteins, so the best calorie-burning foods are lean meats. So eat some protein at each meal-build your dinner around lean chicken, beef, or pork. That way, you're burning the most calories through digestion at the end of the day, when your metabolism is slower."

Meat Probably Doesn't Cause Cancer

One of the most touted reasons to steer clear of meats - particularly those high in saturated fats - is the alleged increased risk of cancer and heart disease. Not only were cases of cancer, heart disease, AND obesity much lower during decades like the 1950s - where meat was a staple of every mealtime - recent research has shown that both saturated fat and cholesterol actually pose benefits to the body. According to Authority Nutrition, cholesterol is an essential molecule and yes that includes both HDL (or "good cholesterol") and LDL (otherwise known as "bad cholesterol"). "When we get a lot of cholesterol from the diet, the liver just produces less of it instead, so the total amount doesn't change much. In fact, in about 70% of people, cholesterol has negligible effects on cholesterol in he blood. In the other 30% (termed hyper-responders), there is a mild elevation in LDL cholesterol, but HDL (which is protective) also goes up."

Authority Nutrition goes on to note that saturated fats can be beneficial by "decreasing risk of stroke" and results from studies and data collection have aggregated to show that saturated fats do not have an impact on cancer risks and heart disease.

Not Eating Meat Is Bad For The Environment

Say what?! That's right. Look, as an animal lover myself, it always feels a bit morbid to be a proponent of handing out death sentences to livestock. I can empathize with those who are put off by the idea of eating meat due to both their love of animals, and the abhorrent conditions of some ( some not all) farming industries. The fact of the matter is, however, not only do we currently have a choice of selecting meats and dairy products that are from farming industries that allow "free-range" and do not include the use of hormones or GMOs, but to eschew killing cattle for meat production would actually be detrimental to our environment. Yes, that's right, the methane produced from livestock is more potent than the deadly gas known as carbon monoxide. Moreover, soy and tofu products have always been regaled in vegetarianism (I don't know if there's a single person that orders tofu without a self-important grin plastering their face. Hey, I've been guilty of it myself) but tofu production actually exacerbates environmental harm. According to a study from Cranfield University, "Switching from British-bred beef and lamb to meat substitutes imported from abroad such as tofu and Quorn would increase the amount of land cultivated, raising the risk of forests being destroyed...The researchers concluded: 'A switch from beef and milk to highly refined livestock product analogues such as tofu could actually increase the quantity of arable land needed to supply the UK.'"

Speaking of tofu...

Soybeans Are Actually Toxic When Eaten Raw & Soy Products Pose Potential Dangers

Who doesn't enjoy an appetizer of edamame to pair with their sushi or other Asian fare? However, did you know that you'd likely be in peril if said edamame wasn't cooked to rid itself of all the toxins? That's right, soy beans are actually quite toxic when raw. According to The Healthy Home Economist, 170 scientific studies have confirmed that soy and soy products are actually dangerous. Soy has been shown in various studies to potentially lead to - or exacerbate potential risks of - to health detriments, such as:

Various properties in soy that increase cell production in breasts in a similar way to the enzymes that lead to breast cancer.

A study involving rats consuming soy showed that soy elements "suppress the pituitary-thyroid axis in middle-aged rats fed 10 mg soy isoflavones per kilo after only 3 weeks as compared with rats eating regular rat chow."

Consuming soy during pregnancy has been show to increase risks of a male fetus developing prostate cancer later in life.

Soy products can cause abnormalities with hormonal function that leads to acceleration in puberty. In other words, this so-called "natural" product leads to extremely unnatural effects in the body.

Although soy is often used in supposed muscle-building products geared toward male bodybuilders and athletes, it actually leads to a great decrease in testosterone.

Soy can be hazardous to a female's reproductive system, leading to: "delayed vaginal opening...abnormal estrous cycles, decreased fertility, and delayed parturition."

Vegetarianism Can Lead To Poor Bone Health

There are many elements in meat and dairy products that provide powerful nutrients like iron and calcium, which are essential to strong bone and muscle health, and also combat health risks like anemia. According to an article from AskMen, vegetarians miss out on things like omega-3 fatty acids, which work to prevent several maladaptive health issues like atherosclerosis and can also work to improve mood, and combat depression.

Furthermore, "Researchers at Oxford University recently followed 35,000 individuals aged 20 to 89 for a period of five years and discovered that vegans are 30% more likely to break a bone than their vegetarian and flesh-eating peers. A subsequent study conducted by Sydney's Garvan Institute for Medical Research found that vegetarians had bones 5% less dense than meat-eaters. This can be attributed to the fact that many vegetarians and vegans consume very little calcium due to the limitations of their diet."

Is upholding political beliefs - or fallacious "weight loss" ones which have pervaded the media and celebrity sponsorships - worth breaking a hip? I don't think so.

On the humorous blog I Waste So Much Time, a blogger posted a photo of someone holding a head of lettuce with the caption: "This lettuce DIED just so you could be a vegetarian. Have a heart, eat a rock."

Although posted in jest, there are several truths that glimmer through here. Whether or not vegetarians would like to admit it, plants are living organisms, just as animals are. No one wants to eat lamb chops when they think of the slaughtering of cute and cuddly lambs, right? What about the slaughtering of innocent pea pods, cucumbers, and other vegetables and fruits that - although they're not much for petting or cuddling with - are in fact very much alive.Does something being alive but not cute make it fair game? And if you read this and want to take the alternate route of eating nothing that has ever been alive, that leads you with pretty much...nothing. Even if you decided to eat cardboard, guess where that cardboard came from? A tree.

To respect those that are truly incensed by the inhumane treatment of animals in slaughterhouses, I can empathize with you and would never agree to such cruelty and harsh conditions being imposed on innocent livestock. However, AskMen went on to note in their article referencing the detriments of vegetarianism that it is far from impossible to purchase meat products from organizations that treat their livestock humanely. "There are plenty of organizations that raise - and kill - animals humanely. One of them is Humane Farm Animal Care, a nonprofit organization created to improve the lives of farm animals by certifying their humane treatment. When you see the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label on a product, you can be assured that the products in question have come from facilities that meet precise, objective standards for animal treatment. Other organizations, like the American Humane Association (AHA), offer meat certifications to farms that practice humane farming techniques. Their standards are based upon the values of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as input from animal science experts and veterinarians."

Vegetarianism Can Turn You Into A Human Methane Machine

Cattle aren't the only ones who can harm the environment with their potent flatulence. When people take part in vegetarianism, their fiber consumption is increased exponentially. We all know that fiber is essential to digestive health and the prevention of disease, but vegetarians are potentially doubling or even tripling the recommended daily amount. According to AskMen, "The problem [with increased gas production once a person takes on vegetarianism] lies in the human body's inability to fully digest the complex carbohydrates in the vegetarian diet, resulting in higher production of gases like hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane." Vegetarianism is truly ironic in the sense that people often partake in the diet for humane reasons and as a way to protect the environment, but then suddenly become hosts to dangerous compounds that actually harm the environment.

For those that take to vegetarianism for superficial reasons (sorry - there is nothing humane about going vegetarian in order to look great on the beach), you're basically going to be a bag of flatulence, which is never a fun situation. Grab a chicken, steak, or salmon, and say "goodbye" to embarrassing flatulence.

Look, guys, we only have one life to live. Scratch that: if reincarnation or whatever turns out to be true, we have a ton of lives to live, but we're probably not going to remember any of them, and your next life could be you as a snail, where you wouldn't even have the option to eat meat. Meat is delicious and if you don't believe me, try ordering a filet mignon wrapped in bacon and prepare to feel like you just got transported to a seeming utopia where everything is delicious and all the perils of the world don't matter for even a mere fifteen minutes because that is how good a filet mignon wrapped in bacon is. Speaking of bacon, they're putting it in virtually everything nowadays - it's awesome, and you might want to hop on the bacon train sooner rather than later just in case pigs become extinct for whatever reason.

If you're not a big fan of red meat or pork products, try eating a lobster...or a delicious jerk chicken sandwich...or a delicately garnished salmon steak...or-well, you get what I'm saying here. It is impossible for you to not find at least one meat product that will blow your mind, satiate your appetite, and make mealtime a truly enjoyable experience. Now that we've also covered the litany of health benefits posed by eating meat, the way it can be consumed humanely, and the way it can decrease disease risk and keep you in shape, I don't think there's anything I need to say in order to coax you to ditch vegetarianism and grab yourself a nice hunk of meat.

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Top 10 Reasons Not To Become a Vegetarian

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Top 10 Reasons Not To Become a Vegetarian There's been a trend in recent years of everyone and their brother hopping on a proverbial train labeled "Vegetarianism." As the population has paid shrewder attention to health and nutrition, it seems that one of the most touted lifestyles is any collec ...