Vegetarian V/s Non-Vegetarian

Earlier days, it was common belief that non-vegetarian diet is superior to vegetarian diet. People used to think that non-vegetarian diet provides us more power and it is full of energetic ingredients. This theory attracted more and more people and ultimately a large number of people of the world adopted non-vegetarian diet. But now this concept is changing.

According to the new developments in medical sciences, vegetarian diet is closer to and is more useful for human nature. It is more scientific for human body. Because of this, people are now adopting vegetarian diet as part of new life-style. It is a fact that the non-vegetarian diet contains cholesterol and saturated fatty acid. These are the root cause of problems like coronary heart disease, cerebro-vascular accidents (strokes), eye diseases and high blood pressure. In a non-vegetarian diet, only 60 % of its content is useful for human body, rest 40 % contains harmful and toxic products. In addition to it, non-vegetarian diet is generally heavy for stomach and produces acidity, which in turn can cause many diseases of gastrointestinal system.

Another significantly important difference between vegetarian and non-vegetarian diet is that the former contains dietary fibers whereas non-vegetarian diet is lacking in fiber. These dietary fibers are very useful for human body because it has been observed that the people who eat diet rich in these dietary fibers have low incidence of diseases like coronary heart diseases, cancer of intestinal tract, piles, obesity, diabetes, constipation, hitatus hernia, diverticulitis, irritable bowel syndrome, dental caries and gallstones. The food stuffs rich in these dietary fibers are cereals and grains, legumes, fruits with seeds, citrus fruits, carrot, cabbage, celery, green leafy vegetables, apples, melons, peaches, pears etc.

Many disease causing organisms can travel in the body of human being by consumption of non-vegetarian diet and can produce serious diseases, whereas a vegetarian diet is free of these. For example, Bovine Spongi cause Encephalopathy and mad cow disease is also a product of consumption of non-vegetarian diet. Similarly the bacteria known as salmonella typhimurium can travel in the body of human being by consumption of eggs, which can cause diseases, like pneumonia, bronchitis. These bacteria belong to the group of typhoid disease producing organisms.

According to a study, it has been observed that the body of non-vegetarian animals contain 10 times more amount of hydrochloric acid than that of vegetarian ones, but human body should not have the same amount of hydrochloric acid. This establishes the fact human body is basically meant for a vegetarian diet.

Influenced by all these facts, Mr. Robins, a well-known writer of America, has mentioned in his book "Diet for New America" that if Americans want to live long they should avoid non-vegetarian diet and eggs. Not only Americans but also Britishers and Germans are also adopting vegetarian as dietary style of their lives. Therefore in a nut shell, we can say if we want a healthy and disease free life, we must adopt vegetarian diet as our diet pattern.

Source: http://www.ourkarnataka.com/madhwakalyana/vegetarian.htm