This article won third place in the 2021 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.
This is apart of a pro/con package. To read the other side, click here.
Making the decision to be a vegetarian is easy, it’s what follows that’s difficult. Staying consistent with your meat-free diet comes with its challenges.
According to askwonder.com, meat, including chicken and fish, equates to about 13.18% of all of the food that Americans eat. As a vegetarian, you give up almost 15% of our normal diet.
While there are many health benefits to living a vegetarian lifestyle, behind the curtain exists an array of downsides that you must consider before choosing to give up meat.
Meat will be everywhere you go.
95% of the population of America eats meat, according to The Washington Post. That means that restaurants are more inclined to choose meat for their entrees. It’s going to be a tough decision for you to go out for lunch or dinner with your friends and get what everyone isn’t getting.
Believe it or not there are even issues with health when choosing to become a vegetarian. While heart problems decline, the risk of having a stroke increases. People with plant based diets have a 20% higher risk of stroke, according to this article written by Nina Avramova.
Cutting meat out of your diet also cuts out your choline intake. Choline is a nutrient that regulates vital body functions and establishes communication between neurons and forms cell membranes, and it is found in meat and poultry. In 1998, choline was listed as an essential nutrient. That means are you limiting yourself away from an essential nutrient when choosing to become a vegetarian.
Vegetarians also have to work harder to obtain their sufficient amount of nutrients. A normal vegetarian diet consists of little to no iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamin B12. Because of this, vegetarians have to take a step further and take supplements that contain those essential nutrients, or acquire a great deal of knowledge about food to be able to afford and find the right amount of nutrients without the intake of meat.
Without proper nutritional knowledge and supplements, becoming a vegetarian can actually be dangerous for long-term health.
Choosing to live a vegetarian lifestyle has its perks. But the abundance of consequences that pass by unnoticed has to be brought into consideration before making any dietary change.
