Did you know that the below famous personnel are vegetarians ?
- Abraham Lincoln, former President of the United States
- Amitabh Bachchan, Indian celebrity superstar
- Brad Pitt, actor
- Bryan Adams, singer and songwriter
- Jackie Chan, Hong Kong action actor & martial artist
- Paul McCartney, musician, singer and songwriter, Beatles guitarist
- Naomi Watts, actress
- Michael Jackson, singer and The King of Pop
- Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian painter and inventor
- Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer and philosopher
- Kate Winslet, actress (Tatanic movie actress)
- Kareena Kapoor, actress
- John Lennon, Beatles singer and songwriter
- John Abraham, actor Bollywood
- Chinthana Vidanage, Sri Lankan Weight lifter
- Greg Chappell, Former Australian cricket captain
Also there are hundreds of genuine reasons to switch to a plant-based diet; here are the best .
1 You'll live a lot longer. Vegetarians live about seven years longer, and vegans (who eat no animal products) about 15 years longer than meat eaters, according to a study from Loma Linda University. These findings are backed up by the China Health Project (the largest population study on diet and health to date),
2 You'll save your heart. Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer in the United States, and the standard American diet (SAD) that's laden with saturated fat and cholesterol from meat and dairy is largely to blame. Children as young as age 3 who are raised on fast food and junk food show early signs of heart disease,
3 You'll reduce your risk of cancer. A study in The International Journal of Cancer concluded that red meat is strongly associated with breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute says that women who eat meat every day are nearly four times more likely to get breast cancer than those who don't.
4 You'll fit into your old jeans. On average, vegetarians are slimmer than meat eaters, and when we diet, we keep the weight off up to seven years longer.
5 You'll give your body a spring cleaning. Giving up meat helps purge the body of toxins (pesticides, environmental pollutants, preservatives) that overload our systems and cause illness. When people begin formal detoxification programs, their first step is to replace meats and dairy products with fruits and vegetables and juices.
6 Your bones will last longer. The average bone loss for a vegetarian woman at age 65 is 18 percent; for non-vegetarian women, it's double that. Researchers attribute this to the consumption of excess protein--the average meat-eating American woman eats 144 percent over the recommended daily allowance; the average man eats 175 percent more. Excess protein interferes with the absorption and retention of calcium and actually prompts the body to excrete calcium, laying the ground for the brittle bone disease osteoporosis.
7 You'll protect yourself from food-borne illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that among Americans, there were approximately 80 million incidences of food-borne illness a year--resulting in 9,000 deaths. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, 25 percent of all chicken sold in the United States carries salmonella bacteria and, the CDC estimates, 70 percent to 90 percent of chickens contain the bacteria campy-lobacter (some strains of which are antibiotic-resistant), approximately 5 percent of cows carry the lethal strain of E. coli O157:H7 (which causes virulent diseases and death), and 30 percent of pigs slaughtered each year for food are infected with toxoplasmosis (caused by parasites).
8 You may get rid of your back problems. "Back pain appears to begin, not in the back, but in the arteries," Eating a plant-based diet keeps these arteries clear of cholesterol-causing blockages to help maintain a healthy back.
9 You'll be more "regular." Eating a lot of vegetables necessarily means consuming fiber, which pushes waste out of the body. Meat contains no fiber. Studies done at Harvard and Brigham Women's Hospital found that people who ate a high-fiber diet had a 42 percent lower risk of diverticulitis. People who eat lower on the food chain also tend to have fewer incidences of constipation, hemorrhoids and spastic colon.
10 You'll cool those hot flashes. Plants, grains and legumes--especially soy--contain phytoestrogens that are believed to balance fluctuating hormones, so vegetarian women tend to go through menopause with fewer complaints of sleep problems, hot flashes, fatigue, mood swings, weight gain, depression and a diminished sex drive.
11 You'll preserve our fish population. Because of our voracious appetite for fish, 39 percent of the oceans' fish species are over harvested, and the Food & Agriculture Organization reports that 11 of 15 of the world's major fishing grounds have become depleted.
12 Going vegetarian is very easy to do. Vegetarian cooking has never been so simple. Supermarkets carry packaged convenience foods like tofu hot dogs, veggie burgers and soy yogurt, milk and cheeses. There's greater availability of vegetarian options in mall and arena food courts. Many more restaurants specializing in vegetarian food have opened, and others have added "veg-friendly" dishes to their menus. Even traditional fast food chains now offer salads, veggie burritos and vegetarian pizza
Some times I get in to arguments that the meat / fish / animal products which people used to buy from the super market or butcher are already processed or killed, therefore the buyer haven't involved in the slaughter process. Let’s be logical; first of the five precepts a Buddhist should observe is, ‘not taking others’ lives’. Even if it was not us who had killed the being, of whose flesh we ate, we cannot avoid the fact that we have encouraged its killing. If we stop eating the flesh of other animals, the killing of those animals too would stop. If No demand, there will not be any supply....One cannot do loving kindness (“Maithree“) meditation if he eats others’ flesh. How could one wish for health, happiness and well-being of others while eating them ? We do not keep human dead bodies at homes. So, why should we make our stomachs cemeteries where dead bodies are buried?
There are many more arguments about the vegetarianism & also there will be some more about this article. But still I am happy that I do not contribute my self for any animal slaughter. I would be definitely more happier if I could make a animal lover through this article
* Special thanks to www.thebuddhism.net & all the animal right organizations for acting & making voice on behalf of animals
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