To be a vegetarian or not to be

МОУ Восточно-Европейский лицей

To be a vegetarian or not to be

Быть вегетарианцем или не быть

Творческая работа

Кондратьевой Виктории,

ученицы 11 Г класса.

Руководитель: Блинова Елена Геннадиевна,

учитель английского языка  

Саратов

2007

Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………2

Chapter 1. The Main Forms of Vegetarianism…………………………………………..4

Chapter 2. Meat-eating Versus Vegetarianism…………………………………………..5

Chapter 3. Restaurants’ Owners Respond to Vegetarians……………………………….6  

Chapter 4. Can it be that vegetarianism is bad for a human’s health?...............................9

Chapter 5. Business Sense……...……………………………………………………….11

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………12

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………13

2

Introduction

The problem of healthy lifestyle is discussed nowadays in medical journals, in popular magazines, on radio and television. It is discussed by specialists and common people and seems to be important for many people. I feel enthusiastic in researching the problem of vegetarianism and healthy diet.

           Till recently people used to say that money is the most valuable thing in their lives. It is common knowledge that money makes possible exchange and trade, it has some other very important functions but it cannot give a person health unless one takes care of his / her health deliberately.

Our health depends on many factors: our lifestyle, the environment we live in, the health care system, hereditary diseases. There is one more not less important factor. It is a balanced diet. In other words one should eat food which contains something from each of the three groups of nutrients.

Carbohydrates provide our body with quick energy. Fat also gives us energy but it contains more than twice as many food calories. Proteins are the third group of nutrients that provide energy. Proteins make up much of the structure of cells. They are needed for the growth and repair of cells. Besides these nutrients our body needs water, minerals and vitamins.

Scientists have spent years researching the effects of vegetarianism on human health.

There is a number of questions which I am going to answer in this paper:

1. What are the roots of vegetarianism?
2. Who are vegetarians?
3. Should we all be vegetarians?
4. In what shapes do vegetarians come?
5. Would we be healthier?
6. Would the planet be healthier?
7. What are the risks and benefits of a meat-free diet?  

At the beginning it should be noted that a vegetarian is someone who avoids eating the flesh of animals (meat, poultry, or fish, including shellfish). Most vegetarians will not eat eggs or cheese or use cosmetics or toiletries that contain animal ingredients or are tested on animals. The word “vegetarian”, was created not from “vegetable” but from the Latin word vegetus meaning “whole, fresh, and full of life”.

People are vegetarians for a number of reasons. Some think that it is wrong to keep and kill animals for use as food and in other products. Others choose to be vegetarians because they believe that a vegetarian diet is healthier than a diet that includes meat. Indeed, a vegetarian diet

3

fits in very well with modern medical advice to cut down on fats, salt, and sugar, and to eat more fibre and fresh vegetables. It is also cheaper than meat (not in every country). Some people are vegetarians because of their religious beliefs. Some people have chosen to be vegetarians for ecological reasons. They argue that the growing of vegetables takes up much less valuable space than the raising of livestock; moreover, it is easier (or cheaper) to provide food for all the people on Earth by growing vegetables for food than raising vegetable-eating animals.

Vegetarianism is an ancient custom. It has long existed among some Hindu and Buddhist sects that consider all animal life sacred. Vegetarianism was advocated by many philosophers and writers of ancient Greece and Rome. In the Rome Catholic church, it has been practiced since 1666 and among Protestants more recently by Seventh-Day Adventists. As an active Western movement, it was originated in 1809 near Manchester, England, among members of the Bible Christian Church. In 1847 the Vegetarian Society, a nonreligious organization, was founded. The movement spread to continental Europe and the U.S. (1850), and in 1908 the International Vegetarian Union was founded. Today the union holds congresses every two years in different countries.

4

Chapter 1

The Main Forms of Vegetarianism

Vegetarians come in many shapes and philosophical guises, from the strict to the ultralax.

1. Sproutarianism

A diet built primarily around sprouted seeds, such as bean sprouts, wheat sprouts or broccoli sprouts, but usually supplemented with other raw food.

2. Fruitarianism

Nothing but fruits and berries. But don’t panic: that includes lots of juice as well as grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and even tomatoes and eggplants.

1. Raw Foodism  

Excludes anything cooked at 48°C, the point at which enzymes begin to be destroyed. Some practitioners believe that Jesus ate mostly raw foods.

2. Veganism

No meat, dairy, or other animal products – not even honey. Many vegans also avoid wearing leather.

3. Ovo-vegetarianism

This group is called Generation Eggs. They eat vegetables plus eggs, on the theory that the hen would lay eggs even if we didn’t eat them.

4. Lacto-vegetarianism

Vegetables and dairy products but not eggs. People from this group can eat butter, cheese, whipped cream, milk shakes, and ice-cream.

5. Ovo-lacto-vegetarianism

The most commonly practiced vegetarian regimen. Ovo-lacto-vegetarians eat vegetables, eggs, and dairy. The idea is to avoid killing.

6. Pesco-, pollo-, and semi- vegetarianism

Pesco-vegetarians eat fish (because fish doesn’t have sophisticated nervous systems). Pollo-vegetarians eat chicken (because they just like chicken). The newest group is semi-vegetarians who frequently but not systematically avoid meat and dairy.

These three forms of vegetarianism may represent a healthy diet, but they are not, strictly speaking, vegetarians.  

5

Chapter 2

Meat-eating Versus Vegetarianism

Generally people find five reasons to eat meat:

1. It tastes good;
2. It makes you feel good;
3. It’s a great European tradition;
4. It supports farmers;
5. Your parents did it.

Though, the same reasons could be put forward to smoke cigarettes. Meat is more complicated. It’s a food most people eat practically every day: at the dinner table; in the cafeteria; between bread in the parks, at a sports stadium; or, a billion times a year, with special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions. Beef is everywhere.

But for many, meat is unacceptable food. People connect the use of meat with additives and ailments; they consider meat as a dish of hormones and E. coli bacteria (бактериальная ДНК-полимераза - фермент) which might be effective as appetite suppressant. More and more people, particularly young people, are eating their vegetables. According to the latest data, some 10 million Americans today consider themselves to be practicing vegetarians. Britain’s Mintel, a market research company, estimated that last year – in the wave of the “mad-cow” and foot-and-mouth (ящур) crises – the U.K. was home to 3.4 million vegetarians, or 5.7% of the population, up from 2.6% in 1985.

To get a taste of the meat eater’s ancient pride, one should click on South Dakota cattleman Jody Brown’s website, www.rancers.net and read new meat mottos: “Vegetarians don’t live longer, they just look older”; and “If animals weren’t to be eaten, then why are they made out of meat?” For Brown and his generation, dinner is something the parents put on the table and the kids put in their bodies. Jody Brown seems to treat vegetarians with liberal sympathy: “If a vegetarian got a flat tire in my community,” he says, “I’d come out and help him.”

For the rancher who makes his living with meat or for the vegetarian whose diet could someday drive all those breeder-slaughterers to bankruptcy, nothing is simple any more. Gone is the time of naivety, when such items as haircuts and handshakes, family names and school uniforms, farms and zoos, cowboys and ranchers, had no particular political meaning. Now everything is up for debate. And no aspect of our daily lives – our lives as food consumers – gets more heat that meat.

6

For millions of vegetarians, beef is a four-letter word; veal summons visions of infanticide. Many children, raised on hit films like Babe and Chicken Run, refuse eating their movie heroes and switch to what the vegetarians like to call a “’nonviolent” diet. Vegetarianism resolves a person’s inner war by providing an edible complex of good-deed-doing: to be a vegetarian is to be more humane. Give up meat, and save lives!

Many people have come to understand that the way farmers treat animals is monstrous. Animals are stuffed of drugs and starve of sunshine.

Vegetarians are sure that one of the lives you could save, or at least prolong, by not eating meat is your own life. Vegetarianism is about more than not eating; it’s also about smart eating. The American Dietetic Association has proclaimed that “’appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, are nutritionally adequate and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”

So, how about it? Should we all become vegetarians? Not just teens but also infants, oldsters, athletes – everyone?

7

Chapter 3

Restaurants’ Owners Respond to Vegetarians  

There are as many reasons to try vegetarianism as there are soft-eyed cows and soft-hearted kids. To impressionable young minds, vegetarianism can sound sensible and ethical. Nearly 25 % of young people in the U.S. polled by Teenage Research Unlimited said – “it’s cool to be a vegetarian.” In Britain, the cool factor is also at work, at least among girls. A U.K. Food Standards Agency survey found that 10 % of 15-to18-year-old girls claimed to be vegetarians.

College students think so too. Salad eaters are rated more moral, virtuous and considerate than steak eaters. A century ago, a high-meat diet was thought to be health-favorable. Kids and young people today are the first generation to live in a culture where vegetarianism is common, where it is publicly promoted on health and ecological grounds. Kids, as any parent can tell us, stimulate the consumer economy; that explains in part the increase of sales of vegetarian burgers (soy, cooked rise, mushrooms, onions and flavourings in Big Mac drag) in supermarkets and fast-food restaurants.

There are some less healthy reasons for vegetarianism. The increasing number of young vegetarians is due to a combination of the effects of the “mad cow” crises along with the desire to control weight, especially among young girls. For them meat means fat.  It is a false kind of vegetarianism, and too often leads to anorexia. In this case calcium and iron deficiencies are the most common problems facing younger vegetarians because iron and  calcium derived from animal products is far more easily absorbed by the body than that derived from vegetable products.

Children, who are signing to vegetarianism, influence their parents. Vegetarian food sales are increasing. Top restaurants have added more meatless dishes. Trendy “living foods” or “raw” restaurants have appeared. One of them is famous Roxanne’s in Larkspur, California, where no meat, fish, poultry or dairy items are served. “Going to my restaurant,” says Roxanne Klein, “is like going to a really cool new country you haven’t experienced before.”

Fabio Bassan, a 48-year-old chef and nutritionist, founded Arancia Blu, one of the Rome’s first vegetarian restaurants, in 1993. He says food in his restaurant is anything but boring. They serve there, for example, hand-made ravioli with peas and nuts covered in a parmesan and rosemary sauce, lasagna with asparagus and rich Castelmango cheese, chocolate desserts and wine. Bassan who hasn’t eaten meat for 20 years, says: “Vegetarian food used to mean two boiled potatoes. We try to make it creative, and it is even becoming trendy. Eating vegetarian food doesn’t have to be a punishment.”

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We know that fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and nuts are very healthy. There are many studies that show that consuming more of these plant-based foods reduce the risk for a long list of chronic diseases (including coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes, and many cancers) and increase longevity in the industrialized world. We know that on average we eat too few fruits and vegetables and too much saturated fat, of which meat and dairy are prime contributors.

On the other hand there are meat-eaters who eat more and better vegetables than vegetarians, and there are vegetarians who eat more artery-clogging fats than meat eaters.

At the International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition, held in the spring 2002 at California’s Loma Linda University, research papers included some hopeful findings: that a predominantly vegetarian diet may have beneficial effects for kidney and nerve function in diabetics, as well as for weight loss; that eating more fruit and vegetables can slow age-related problems in brain function; that vegetarian seniors have a lower death rate and use less medication that meat-eating seniors; that vegetarians have a healthier total intake of fats and cholesterol but a less healthy intake of fatty acids (such as the heart-protecting omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil).

But one paper suggested that low-protein diets (associated with vegetarians) reduce calcium absorption and may have a negative impact on skeleton health. And although several studies on Seventh-Day Adventists (typically vegetarians) indicated they have a longer-than-average life expectancy, other studies found that their prostate-cancer rates were high and that they were more likely to suffer hip fractures.

9

Chapter 4

Can it be that vegetarianism is bad for a human’s health?

That’s a complex problem. There is a big, beautiful plant kingdom out there. People ought to be able to dine healthily on this botanic bounty. With perfect knowledge, people can indeed eat like a king from the vegetable world. But common people are not nutrition professionals. While some vegetarians understand how to watch their riboflavin and vitamins D and B12, many more haven’t clue. This is one reason that vegetarians, in a study of overall nutrition, scored significantly lower than nonvegetarians on the U.S. Department of Agricultural (United States Dietetic Association) Healthy Eating Index.

Another reason is that vegans strictly avoid meat, eggs and dairy products which can lead to deficiencies in iron, calcium and vitamin B12.

Debates about the efficacy of vegetarianism follow people from cradle to wheelchair. In 1998 child-care expert Dr. Benjamin Spock, who became a vegetarian late in life, caused a stir  by recommending that children over the age of two be raised as vegans. The American Dietetic Association says it is possible to raise kids as vegans but cautions that special care must be taken with little children (who don’t develop properly without the nutrients in mother’s milk). Other researchers warn that little children breast-fed by vegans have lower levels of vitamin B12 and DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid), important to vision and growth.

And there is always the chance of vegetarian theory going madly wrong in practice. A Queens couple (New York) were blamed for they had brought their child nearly to starving to death on a strict diet of juices, ground nuts, herbal tea, beans, and flaxseed (льняное семя). At 16 months, the girl weighed 4.5 kg, less than half the normal weight of a child her age.  

Many children decide on their own to become vegetarians. But a youngster is at a disadvantage insisting on vegetarian food before he or she can cook food or buy it. Kids often can read the labels but ignore the ingredients. Research shows that calcium intake is often insufficient in American teens. For vegans, however, consuming adequate amounts of calcium without the use of fortified food supplements is difficult. Young vegans who do not take supplements do not intake enough iron, calcium, vitamins D and B12, and perhaps also selenium and iodine.  Lots of young people decide to become vegetarians but do it in a poor way. They don’t know how to navigate in the vegetarian world. They eat too much bread, cheese, and pastry products and load up on salad dressing. They intake not less saturated fat than red-meat eaters. They may think they are healthier because they are some sort of vegetarian and they don’t eat red meat, but in fact they may be less healthy.

10

Calcium deficiency connected with a vegan diet can lead to low bone mass and osteoporosis. There is a peculiar colour, a yellow tingle to the skin that occurs in people who eat a lot of vegetables rich in beta carotene in combination with a low-calorie diet. It is at least very unattractive.

Like kids and nursing moms, athletes need to be especially smart eaters. Their success depends on bursts of energy, sustained strength and muscle mass, factors that require nutrients more easily obtained from meat. For this reason, relatively few top athletes are vegetarians. Besides, says sports nutritionist Suzanne Girard Eberle, the author of Endurance Sports Nutrition, “lots of athletes have no idea how their bodies work.”

Eberle notes that vegetarian diets done correctly are high in fibre and low in fat. “But where are the calories?” she asks. “World-class endurance athletes need in excess of 5,000 or 6,000 calories a day. Competitions can easily consume 10,000. You need to eat a lot of plant-based food to get those calories. Being a vegetarian athlete is hard, really hard to do right.”

It’s not that easily for the rest of people, either. Middle-aged to elderly adults can also develop deficiencies in a vegetarian diet. Deficiencies in vitamins D and B12 and in iodine, which can lead to goiter, are common. The elderly tend to compensate by taking supplements, but that approach carries risks. Researchers have found cases in which vegetarian oldsters, who are susceptible to iodine deficiency, had dangerously high and potentially toxic levels of iodine in their bodies because they overdid the supplements.

11

Chapter 5

Business Sense

Meat producers acknowledge that vegetarian diets can be healthy. They also have responded to the call for leaner food; the National Pork Board says that, compared with 20 years ago, pork is 31 % lower in fat and 29% lower in saturated fat, and has 14% fewer calories and 10% less cholesterol.

And vegetarianism is beginning to make business sense. Several years ago vegetarians used to have a hard time finding products for their diet. Now supermarkets offer a wide choice of vegan foods and meat replacement products.

Meat-producers do everything to promote their products in the market. Vegan-food-producers try their best to promote their “living foods”.

There is a “war” between meat-eating advocates and vegan advocates. In the centre of this “war” are the ideas of the modern animal-rights movement. Vegetarians say they save animals from execution. Nonvegetarians point to a great number of field animals killed during crop production (rabbits, mice, pheasants and other animals and birds disappear).

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Conclusion

Having studied the arguments for eating meat and for eating vegan foods, I find myself at a loss. I feel eating too much meat and strictly decline meat means to run to extremes.

We know that fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and nuts are very healthy. Consuming more of these plant-based foods reduce the risk for a long list of chronic diseases and increase longevity in the industrialized world. We know that on average we eat too few fruits and vegetables and too much saturated fat, of which meat and dairy are prime contributors.

On the other hand there are meat-eaters who eat more and better vegetables than vegetarians, and there are vegetarians who eat more artery-clogging fats than meat eaters. Low-protein diets (associated with vegetarians) reduce calcium absorption and may have a negative impact on skeleton health.

Almost anyone can get nutrients he or she needs from a well-planned vegetarian diet. But it’s not always easy, and many people have special needs. What those needs are will vary by age, sex and activity levels. Here are some things to take into consideration.

A baby

Newborns won’t develop properly without nutrients provided by mother’s milk or formula. Babies need protein and vitamins that require fortified vegetarian foods.

A teenager

Going veggie is fine, but means junk food. Teenagers need protein, B12 and D and essential fatty acids to fuel developing bodies. Vegetarianism can lead them to eating disorders.

An athlete

For peak performance, athletes need protein, calories and nutrients like iron and zinc. They can be easily absorbed from meat products.

A pregnant woman

What mothers eat is what babies get, so vegetarian mothers need to supplement their diets with vitamins B12 and D.

Seniors

Seniors need D to keep bones strong, but they don’t synthesize D as efficiently as younger people do. Fortified foods and supplements can help.

In the conclusion I should say that the most accessible and attractive position for me is that of semi-vegetarians. They make their diet of fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts. They avoid meat often but not systematically. To my mind semi-vegetarians keep to the healthiest diet, though they are not vegetarians in the full sense of this word.

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Bibliography

1. Geoffrey Cowley. Building a Better Way to Eat. Newsweek. January 20, 2003.
2. Carla Power. Global Obesity. Newsweek. August 11, 2004.
3. Anastasia Osipova. Vegetarianism – A Case From My Life. English N 22 / 2005

4. Melissa August, Matthew Cooper. Should We All Be Vegetarians? TIME. October 14, 2006.

5. www.rancers.net

The problem of healthy lifestyle is widely discussed nowadays.  I feel enthusiastic in researching the problem of vegetarianism and healthy diet.  People used to say that money is the most valuable thing.

Our health depends on many factors. One of these is a balanced diet. One should eat food which contains something from each of the three groups of nutrients.

Carbohydrates provide our body with energy. Fat also gives us energy but it contains too many calories. Proteins are needed for the growth and repair of cells. Besides we need water, minerals and vitamins.

There is a number of questions which I am going to answer in this paper:

8. What are the roots of vegetarianism?
9. Who are vegetarians?
10. Should we all be vegetarians?
11. Would we be healthier?
12. What are the risks and benefits of a meat-free diet?  

It should be noted that a vegetarian is someone who avoids eating the flesh of animals. Most vegetarians will not eat eggs or cheese or use cosmetics that contain animal ingredients. The word “vegetarian”, was created not from “vegetable” but from the Latin word vegetus meaning “fresh, and full of life”.

People are vegetarians for a number of reasons. Some think it is wrong to keep and kill animals for use as food. Others believe that a vegetarian diet is healthier than a diet that includes meat. Indeed, a vegetarian diet fits in very well with modern medical advice to cut down on fats, salt, and sugar, and to eat more fibre and fresh vegetables. Some people are vegetarians because of their religious beliefs. Some people have chosen to be vegetarians for ecological reasons.

Vegetarians come in many shapes.

 Sproutarianism

A diet built primarily around sprouted seeds, such as bean sprouts, wheat sprouts or broccoli sprouts, but usually supplemented with other raw food.

2. Fruitarianism

Nothing but fruits and berries. Lots of juice, grains, nuts and seeds.

3. Raw Foodism  

Excludes anything cooked at 48 degrees centigrade, the point at which enzymes begin to be destroyed.

4. Veganism

No meat, dairy, not even honey. Many vegans also avoid wearing leather.

1. Ovo-vegetarianism

They eat vegetables plus eggs, on the theory that the hen would lay eggs even if we didn’t eat them.

2. Lacto-vegetarianism

Vegetables and dairy products but not eggs. People from this group can eat butter, cheese, whipped cream, milk shakes, and ice-cream.

3. Ovo-lacto-vegetarianism

. Ovo-lacto-vegetarians eat vegetables, eggs, and dairy. The idea is to avoid killing.

4. Pesco-, pollo-, and semi- vegetarianism

Pesco-vegetarians eat fish. Pollo-vegetarians eat chicken (because they just like chicken). Semi-vegetarians frequently but not systematically avoid meat and dairy.

These three forms of vegetarianism may represent a healthy diet, but they are not, strictly speaking, vegetarians.  

Generally people find five reasons to eat meat:

6. It tastes good;
7. It makes you feel good;
8. It’s a great European tradition;
9. It supports farmers;
10. Your parents did it.

Though, the same reasons could be put forward to smoke cigarettes.

But for many, meat is unacceptable food. People connect the use of meat with additives and sickness. According to the latest data, some 10 million Americans today consider themselves to be practicing vegetarians. Britain’s Mintel, a market research company, estimated that last year – in the wave of the “mad-cow” and foot-and-mouth (ящур) crises – the U.K. was home to 3.4 million vegetarians, or 5.7% of the population, up from 2.6% in 1985.

Jody Brown’s, a farmer from South Dakota says: “Vegetarians don’t live longer, they just look older”; and “If animals weren’t to be eaten, then why are they made out of meat?”

The rancher makes his living with meat. But the vegetarian who avoids meat can drive the rancher’s business to bankruptcy. Now everything is up for debate. But no aspect of our daily lives gets more heat that meat.

For millions of vegetarians, beef is a four-letter word. Many children, raised on hit films like Babe and Chicken Run, refuse eating their movie heroes. To be a vegetarian is to be more humane. Give up meat, and save lives!  

Vegetarianism is about more than not eating; it’s also about smart eating. The American Dietetic Association has proclaimed that correctly planned vegetarian diets are healthy and provide the prevention and treatment of many diseases.”

To young minds, vegetarianism can sound sensible and ethical. Nearly 25 % of young people in the U.S. say “it’s cool to be a vegetarian.” In Britain, the cool factor is also at work: 10% of 15-to18-year-old girls claimed to be vegetarians. Salad eaters are rated more moral than beef eaters.

The number of young vegetarians increases due to the effects of the “mad cow” crises and the desire to control weight. Meat means fat.  But it is a false kind of vegetarianism, and too often leads to anorexia. In this case calcium and iron deficiencies are the most common problems facing young vegetarians. These elements derived from animal products are more easily absorbed by the body than those derived from vegetable products.

We know that fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts are very healthy. These plant-based foods reduce the risk for a long list of chronic diseases (including coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. We know that on average we eat too few fruits and vegetables and too much saturated fat.

On the other hand there are meat-eaters who eat more and better vegetables than vegetarians, and there are vegetarians who eat more artery-clogging fats than meat eaters.

At the International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition, at a California’s university, research papers included some hopeful findings:

1. that a vegetarian diet may have useful effects for kidney and nerve function and for weight loss;
2. that eating more fruit and vegetables can slow age-related problems in brain function;
3. that vegetarian seniors have a lower death rate, use less medication;
4. that vegetarians have a healthier total intake of fats and cholesterol.

But one paper suggested that low-protein diets (associated with vegetarians) reduce calcium absorption and may have a negative influence on skeleton.

 With perfect knowledge, people can eat like a king from the vegetable world. But common people are not nutrition professionals. Some vegetarians know how to watch their  vitamins D and B12. But many more don’t. Vegans strictly avoid meat, eggs and dairy products which can lead to deficiencies in iron, calcium and vitamin B12.

In 1998 Dr. Benjamin Spock, who became a vegetarian late in life, recommended children over the age of two be raised as vegans. The American Dietetic Association says it is possible to raise kids as vegans but special care must be taken with little children. Little children breast-fed by vegans have low levels of vitamin B12 and an omega-3 fatty acid, important for vision and growth.

A young couple from New York were blamed for they had brought their child nearly to death on a strict diet of juices, ground nuts, herbal tea, beans, and flaxseed (льняное семя). At 16 months, the girl weighed 4.5 kg, less than half the normal weight of a child her age.  

Many children decide on their own to become vegetarians. Kids often can read the labels but ignore the ingredients. Calcium intake is often not enough in American teens. The way out is to take fortified food supplements. Young vegans who do not take supplements do not intake enough iron, calcium, vitamins D and B12, selenium and iodine.  

Calcium deficiency connected with a vegan diet can lead to low bone mass and osteoporosis. A yellow tingle occur to the skin if people eat a lot of vegetables rich in beta carotene in combination with a low-calorie diet. It is at least very unattractive.

Athletes need to be especially smart eaters. Their success depends on energy, strength and muscle mass, factors that require nutrients more easily obtained from meat. For this reason, relatively few athletes are vegetarians. World-class athletes need 5,000 or 6,000 calories a day. Competitions can easily consume 10,000. You need to eat a lot of plant-based food to get those calories.

Middle-aged and elderly adults can also develop deficiencies in vitamins D and B12 and in iodine. The elderly tend to compensate by taking supplements, but that it carries risks. There are cases when vegetarian oldsters, have dangerously high and potentially toxic levels of iodine in their bodies because they overdid the supplements.

Having studied the arguments for eating meat and for eating vegan foods, I find myself at a loss. I feel eating too much meat and strictly decline meat means to run to extremes.

We know that fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts are very healthy. Eating more of these plant-based foods reduce the risk for a long list of diseases. We know that on average we eat too few fruits and vegetables and too much saturated fat, of which meat and dairy are prime contributors.

On the other hand there are meat-eaters who eat more and better vegetables than vegetarians, and there are vegetarians who eat more unhealthy fats than meat eaters

In the conclusion I should say that the most accessible and attractive position for me is that of semi-vegetarians. They make their diet of fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts. They avoid meat often but not systematically. To my mind semi-vegetarians keep to the healthiest diet, though they are not vegetarians in the full sense of this word.

The problem of healthy lifestyle is widely discussed nowadays. I feel enthusiastic in researching the problem of vegetarianism and meat diet.

           Nothing can give a person health unless one takes care of his / her health deliberately.

One of the factors that influence a human’s health is a balanced diet.

One should eat food which contains something from each of the three groups of nutrients.

Carbohydrates and fat give us energy; and proteins make up the structure of cells. We need water, minerals and vitamins.

There is a number of questions which I am going to answer in this paper:

13. What are the roots of vegetarianism?
14. Who are vegetarians?
15. Would we be healthier?
16. Would the planet be healthier?
17. What are the risks and benefits of a meat-free diet?  

At the beginning it should be noted that a vegetarian is someone who avoids eating the flesh of animals. The word “vegetarian”, was created not from “vegetable” but from the Latin word vegetus meaning “fresh, and full of life”.

             People are vegetarians for a number of reasons.

1. Some think that it is wrong to keep and kill animals for use as food.
2. Others believe that a vegetarian diet is healthier than a diet that includes meat.
3. Some people are vegetarians because of their religious beliefs.
4. Some people are vegetarians for ecological reasons. They say growing vegetables takes up much less space than the raising vegetable-eating animals.

Vegetarianism is an ancient custom. It has long existed among some Hindu and Buddhist sects, in ancient Greece and Rome, among Protestants and Seventh-Day Adventists.

Vegetarianism comes in many shapes.

1. Sproutarianism

The diet includes sprouted seeds, such as bean sprouts, wheat sprouts and other raw food.

2. Fruitarianism

Nothing but fruits and berries, lots of juice, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and also tomatoes and eggplants (баклажан).

3. Raw Foodism  

Excludes anything cooked at 48°C, the point at which enzymes begin to be destroyed. Veganism

No meat, dairy, or even honey. Many vegans do not wear leather.

4. Ovo-vegetarianism

The diet includes vegetables plus eggs, on the theory that the hen would lay eggs even if we didn’t eat them.

5. Lacto-vegetarianism

People from this group eat vegetables and dairy (butter, cheese, cream, and ice-cream).

6. Ovo-lacto-vegetarianism

People from this group eat vegetables, eggs, and dairy. The idea is not to kill.

7. Pesco-, pollo-, and semi- vegetarianism

Pesco-vegetarians eat fish. Pollo-vegetarians eat chicken. Semi-vegetarians eat meat and dairy only sometimes, not systematically.  

These three forms of vegetarianism may represent a healthy diet, but they are not, strictly speaking, vegetarians.  

Generally people find five reasons to eat meat:

11. It tastes good;
12. It makes you feel good;
13. It’s a great European tradition;
14. It supports farmers;
15. Your parents did it.

But for many, meat is unacceptable food. People consider meat as a dish of hormones and E. coli bacteria (бактериальная ДНК-полимераза - фермент) which are unhealthy. More and more people are eating their vegetables. According to the latest data, some 10 million Americans consider themselves vegetarians. In 2003, in the wave of the “mad-cow” and foot-and-mouth (ящур) crises, the U.K. was home to 3.4 million vegetarians, or 5.7% of the population, up from 2.6% in 1985.

The motto of the vegetarians is “Give up meat, and save lives!” Vegetarians are sure that one of the lives you could save, or prolong, by not eating meat is your own life.

To the contrary meat eaters have new meat mottos: “Vegetarians don’t live longer, they just look older”; and “If animals weren’t to be eaten, then why are they made out of meat?” Ranchers who make their living with meat keep to these mottos because vegetarians’ diet can someday drive them to bankruptcy. No aspect of our daily lives as food consumers – gets more heat than meat.

For millions of vegetarians, beef is a four-letter word. Many children, who watched films Babe and Chicken Run, refuse eating their film heroes. To young minds, vegetarianism sounds sensible and ethical. Nearly 25 % of young people in the U.S. polled by Teenage Research Unlimited said – “it’s cool to be a vegetarian.” A U.K. Food Standards Agency survey found that 10 % of teenagers keep to vegetarian diet.

Kids and young people today are the first generation to live in a culture where vegetarianism is common. That explains in part the increase of sales of vegetarian burgers in supermarkets and fast-food restaurants.

Vegetarian food sales are increasing. Top restaurants serve more meatless dishes. Trendy “living foods” or “raw” restaurants have appeared. The owner of one of such restaurants says: “Vegetarian food used to mean two boiled potatoes. We try to make it creative, and it is even becoming trendy. Eating vegetarian food doesn’t have to be a punishment.”

People say vegetarianism is about more than not eating; it’s also about smart eating. The American Dietetic Association has proclaimed that “correctly planned vegetarian diets are healthful and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment diseases (illnesses).”

We know that fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and nuts are very healthy. There are many studies that show that consuming more of these plant-based foods reduce the risk for a long list of chronic diseases (including coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer). We know that on average we eat too few fruits and vegetables and too much saturated fat, of which meat and dairy are prime contributors.

On the other hand there are meat-eaters who eat more and better vegetables than vegetarians, and there are vegetarians who eat more artery-clogging fats than meat eaters.

At the International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition, held in 2002 in California, research papers included some hopeful findings: that a predominantly vegetarian diet may have beneficial effects for kidney and nerve function, for brain function, for weight loss.

But one paper suggested that low-protein diets (associated with vegetarians) reduce calcium absorption and may have a negative impact on skeleton health.

Can it be that vegetarianism is bad for a human’s health? Should we all become vegetarians - babies, teens, old people, athletes – everyone?

One of the reasons to keep to a vegetarian diet is to control weight, especially among young girls. For them meat means fat.  It is a false kind of vegetarianism, and too often leads to anorexia.

There is a big, beautiful plant kingdom in the world. With perfect knowledge, people can indeed eat like a king from the vegetable world. But common people are not nutrition professionals. Vegans strictly avoid meat, eggs and dairy products which can lead to deficiencies in iron, calcium, selenium, iodine and vitamins B12 and D.

Calcium deficiency connected with a vegan diet can lead to low bone mass and osteoporosis. People who eat a lot of vegetables rich in beta carotene in combination with a low-calorie diet often have a yellow tingle to the skin. It is at least very unattractive.

 Sometimes vegetarian theory goes madly wrong in practice. A Queens couple (New York) were blamed for they had brought their child nearly to starving to death on a strict diet of juices, ground nuts, beans, and flaxseed (льняное семя). At 16 months, the girl weighed 4.5 kg, less than half the normal weight.

People often don’t know how to navigate in the vegetarian world. They eat too much bread, cheese, and pastry products. They intake not less saturated fat than red-meat eaters.

Athletes need to be especially smart eaters. Their success depends on bursts of energy, strength and muscle mass, factors that require nutrients more easily obtained from meat.

Vegetarian diets done correctly are high in fibre and low in fat. But where are the calories? World-class athletes need about 6,000 calories a day. Competitions can easily consume 10,000. One should eat a lot of plant-based food to get those calories.

Middle-aged and old people can also develop deficiencies in a vegetarian diet. Deficiencies in vitamins D and B12 and in iodine can lead to goiter.

Conclusion

Having studied the arguments for eating meat and for eating vegan foods, I was at a loss. I feel eating too much meat and strictly decline meat means to run to extremes.

In the conclusion I should say that the most accessible and attractive position for me is that of semi-vegetarians. They make their diet of fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts. They avoid meat often but not systematically. To my mind semi-vegetarians keep to the healthiest diet, though they are not vegetarians in the full sense of this word.

Why have you chosen this topic?

I would like to take part in the city conference “Naturopa”. There students discuss problems concerning ecology, I mean ecology of the Earth and ecology of man. Healthy diet is the problem of ecology of man. So, I have taken up this topic.

What is your personal opinion of what a healthy diet is?

I think we eat too few fruits and vegetables and too much saturated fat. Though I understand that fruit and vegetables are rather expensive in Russia and in Saratov, I should strongly advise everyone to eat more greens.

What diet do you keep to?

I think I belong to semi-vegetarians. I mean that I eat a lot of vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, cabbages, eggplants, legumes). I like meat dishes but I eat meat from to time.

I am not sure I can answer your question now. I’ll study this problem later.

Will you repeat your question, please?

I don’t understand you. Can you put your question in other words?