I enjoy eating meat and I don’t personally have an ethical problem with it.
I also believe that I would struggle to perform optimally at a high physical level if I was a vegan or vegetarian as I am of the belief that I would struggle to obtain the quantity of quality Amino Acids from the available Proteins and also the large amount of essential nutrients that my body requires to sustain and recover from its workload.
I am however very aware of the increasing research showing the dangers of our currently large meat consumption diets
WHY IS EATING MEAT BAD FOR ME?
1
Firstly the levels of Saturated Fats and Cholesterol is much higher in meats than it is in vegetables. Therefore by consuming a non-vegetarian diet we do run a higher risk of heart disease.
2
Processed Meat has been placed by Cancer Research into ‘Category 1’, highest level risk for causing Cancer. Red Meat is not far behind in ‘Category 2’ Research has in fact actually shown that Vegetarians are 40% less likely to develop Cancer compared to meat eaters
3
Meat Carries the highest risk of food borne illness. Its most probable cause being food poisoning caused by contaminated animal flesh
4
Meat has a much lower level of antioxidants and Phytonutrients than our colourful vegetables. Therefore those who have a diet higher in vegetables rather than meat will have a much further reduction of inflammation in their bodies. Whether you are painfully aware of this inflammation or not, it is inflammation in our bodies cells that leads to a multitude of our illnesses
5
With the above point in mind along with the previous points, research is showing a much greater reduced risk of illnesses and diseases such as hypertension, cancers and Type II diabetes in vegetarians compared to a standard Western Diet
6
As a final summary and last bit of food for thought, research is showing that a Vegetarian Male lives to an average age of 83.3 compared to 73.8 years of age in a non-vegetarian male. Likewise a vegetarian female lives to an average age of 85.7 compared to 79.4 years of age in a non-vegetarian female. Now, despite all of these compelling facts I am not quite ready to become a vegetarian or vegan just yet but it has made me pay attention to having periods of the year whereupon I will have 1-2 days per week of no Meat Eating. This is in the hope that this reduction of meat consumption will help my body over a prolonged period of time. Maybe it is something we should all give thought to?
Maybe one day soon I will take it a step further and experiment with vegetarianism for a while. If so I will obviously record my efforts and provide a blog. I am interested to see how my Performance and Physical appearance may or may not change …..
Watch this Space!!