FREE ESSAY ON YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

You are what you eat, goes a famous saying. And if that is truly the case, then a lot of
Americans
would appear to be unhealthy, chemically treated, commercially raised slabs of animal
flesh. And while
that is not a particularly pleasant thought, it is nonetheless an description of the
typical American
omnivore who survives on the consumption of Big Macs and steak fajitas.
But there are individuals who do not follow this American norm and have altered their
diets so that they
do not consume any meat. These people are vegetarians, and they are the new breed of
healthy
Americans who refuse to poison themselves with fats, cholesterol, and the other harmful
additives that
come from meat. And while once thought to be a movement that would never gain much
momentum, it
has nonetheless moved itself to the forefront of Americans' healthy diets.
The word vegetarian, used to describe the diets of people who do not consume animal
flesh, was not
used until around the mid-1800s. The concept of vegetarianism, however, dates back much
further.
The Greek philosopher Pythagoras, considered by many to be the father of vegetarianism,
encouraged
a non-meat diet among his followers as a diet that was the most natural and healthful
(Messina 3).
A vegetarian diet excludes the consumption of meat, and can be exercised by people for a
number of
reasons. The largest majority of individuals chose vegetarianism for health related
reasons. For
example, someone with an ulcer might be prescribed a strict diet of vegetables in order
to promote the
healing process. Or someone with a dangerously high level of cholesterol might be advised
to follow a
vegetarian diet to lower his or her fat and cholesterol intake.
The immorality of consuming animal flesh is another argument touted by a smaller group of
vegetarians.
R.G. Frey describes this moral argument for vegetarianism and the effect that meat eating
might have on
the character of humans:
Some people have come to believe and fear that, in the suffering and killing which occurs
in commercial
farming, we demean ourselves, coarsen our sensitivities, dull our feelings of sympathy
with our fellow
creatures, and so begin the descent down the slippery slope of torture and death, to a
point where it
becomes easier for us to contemplate and carry out the torture and killing of human
beings. (20)
This moral argument for vegetarianism is also noted by John Robbins who states that the
suffering
these animals undergo has become so extreme that to partake of food from these creatures
is to
partake unknowingly of the abject misery that has been their lives(14).
But whatever the reasons behind a person's choice to be a vegetarian, it is important to
understand the
different diets that individual vegetarians can choose. In the widest sense of the word,
a vegetarian diet
is a diet that is made up of grains, vegetables and fruit, but does not include any
animal flesh, such as
fish, pork, poultry, or beef. But beyond these standards, there are many variations of
diet that occur
within the world of vegetarianism.
The first, and most prominent, category of vegetarianism is a lacto-ovo vegetarian. Mark
Messina
describes a lact-ovo diet as ...a vegetarian diet (that) includes dairy products and eggs
but no animal
flesh(7). This means that there is consumption of animal byproducts, such as milk, eggs,
or honey, but
there is no consumption of animal flesh. Another variation is the lacto-vegetarian diet
that allows the
consumption of milk and other milk products, but does not include the consumption of
eggs. And like
all vegetarians, these two groups do not consume fish, poultry, or meat (Messina 7).
Another category that vegetarians can fall into are vegans. The vegan diet is by far the
most strict of all
the vegetarian diets. According to Mark Messina, Vegans avoid meat, fish, poultry, dairy,
and eggs.
There are many other foods that may not be acceptable to many vegans, however. Foods that
involve
animal processing to any degree are often avoided(11). This means that vegans can consume
no
foods containing animal byproducts, such as milk, eggs, or honey. Being a vegan often
dictates an
animal friendly lifestyle that, aside from not eating anything that came from an animal,
also abstains
from buying or using products that were tested on animals or are made from animal hairs
or skin, such
as leather shoes or belts (Messina 11).
A common misconception of vegetarians is that they are all a bunch of skinny,
malnourished idealists
who live on plants and soy milk. And another, related common misconception is that a diet
of meat is a
diet that builds strength. Professor Irving Fisher of Yale designed a series of tests in
which he compared
the strength and stamina of meat-eaters against vegetarians, with three groups of
individuals
represented: meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and sedentary vegetarians. His
studies showed
that the average score of the two vegetarian groups was over double the average score of
the meat
eaters, even though half of the vegetarians were sedentary people and all of the
meat-eaters were
athletes. Fisher concluded that:
....the difference in endurance between the flesh-eaters and the abstainers (was due)
entirely to the
difference in their diet...There is strong evidence that a ... non-flesh ... diet is
conducive to
endurance.(206)
A comparable study was done in 1968 by a Danish group of researchers that tested a group
of men on
a variety of diets, using a stationary bicycle to measure their strength and endurance.
The group fed
their test subjects a diet that was comprised of mixed amounts of vegetables and meats
for a period of
time before testing the men on the stationary bicycle. The average time that they could
pedal before
muscle failure was 114 minutes. The very same group of subjects was then fed a diet that
was
comprised of only meat, eggs, and milk for an equal amount of time, and then re-tested
them on the
bikes. On this diet, their pedaling time before muscle failure dropped dramatically to an
average of only
57 minutes. That same group of men was again fed a diet that this time was comprised
entirely of
grains, vegetables, and fruits before once again testing them on the bikes. The lack of
animal
byproducts didn't seem to hamper their performance, as many people would have thought,
and the
men were able to pedal an average of 167 minutes before muscle failure (Robbins 156).
But vegetarians are still often criticized by people who feel that vegetarians do not get
enough minerals
and vitamins as a result of their limited diet. But vegetarian food is among some of the
healthiest foods
available to mankind, and while there is no easy way to determine the extent to which a
vegetarian diet
can influence the health of those that follow its guidelines, the evidence is very
indicative that it may be
an important contributing factor. Registered dietitian Johanna Dwyer, of Tufts University
Medical
School and the New England Medical Center Hospital, Boston, summarizes these benefits:
... data are strong that vegetarians are at lesser risk for obesity, atonic [reduced
muscle tone]
constipation, lung cancer, and alcoholism. Evidence is good that risks for hypertension,
coronary artery
disease, type II diabetes, and gallstones are lower. Data are only fair to poor that
risks of breast
cancer, diverticular disease of the colon, colonic cancer, calcium kidney stones,
osteporosis, dental
erosion, and dental caries are lower among vegetarians.(53)
Vegetarian diets contain less total fat and less saturated fat, which are linked to
increased risk of
obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. In comparing the diets of vegetarians to
omnivores, Mark
Messina indicates that American omnivores eat a diet that is 34% to 36% fat, lacto-ovo
vegetarians
eat a 30% to 36% fat diet, and vegans eat a diet that is about 30% fat (59).This means
that
vegetarians also consume less cholesterol, which has been linked to an increase in the
risk of heart
disease and possibly even cancer. The amount of cholesterol of a lacto-ovo vegetarian is
about 150 to
300 mg of cholesterol per day compared to the 400 mg of cholesterol that an omnivore
consumes
(Messina 59). Vegans, who exclude the intake of any food that contains animal byproducts,
do not
consume foods that contain significant amounts of cholesterol. The US Department of
Agriculture and
Health and Human Services have created a Food Guide to better advise Americans on how to
eat
healthier, more balanced meals, and which advises using fats, oils, and sweets sparingly
(Farley 52).
Vegetarians as a group also consume higher amounts of fiber. Fiber, found mainly in grain
products, is
essential to healthy bowels and colons, lowers the risk for diabetes, helps control blood
glucose levels,
and also lowers the risk for cancer and heart disease (Messina 59). And it is grain
products that form
the base of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human
Services' Food
Guide Pyramid, which recommends servings of bread, rice, cereal, and pasta 6 to 11 times
per day.
(Farley 52) The typical intake of fiber for an average omnivore is about 12g of fiber
each day,, with
vegetarians eating 50% to 100% more fiber than nonvegetarians (Messina 59).
A vegetarian diet also includes consumption of more antioxidants, which are believed to
reduce the risk
of cancer, heart disease, and possibly arthritis and cataracts. Dietary antioxidants
include such vitamins
as vitamin E, vitamin C- of which the typical vegetarian diet includes 50%, 100%, or even
higher- and
carotenoids as well as the many phytochemicals that are found in plants (Messina 59).
They also
consume less animal protein, with omnivores consuming 14% to 18%, lacto-ovo vegetarians
consuming
12% to 14%, and vegans consuming only 10% to 12% (Messina 59). While vegetarians consume
less
total protein, they do consume adequate amounts to maintain a healthy balance, as
demonstrated by
modern nutritional science. Excess protein, and in particular excess animal protein, is
linked to the
increased risk for osteoporosis, kidney stone formation, kidney disease, and an increase
in blood
cholesterol levels (Messina 59).
The nutritional benefits of a vegetarian diet very clearly appear to be beneficial to
human health. But a
vegetarian diet can also be healthy to the lives of our planet's other inhabitants, the
very animals that
are being eaten. Due to the increased demand for food, livestock farmers have had to keep
up by
devising new and more efficient ways to raise more animals, giving way to the
industrialization of meat
farming. As John Robbins accurately writes, the raising of chickens in the United States
today is not,
however, a process which overflows with compassion for these animals (52). Chickens, as
we grew
up believing, were farmyard animals that would root around in the soil for their food,
and were deeply
attuned to the cycles of nature, as evidenced by the rooster crowing at the break of day.
But the
industrialization of chicken farming in the past forty years has changed all this, and
the days of the
barnyard chicken are over, replaced instead with what Robbins refers to as the
assembly-line chicken
(52).
But the poultry farmers are not alone in its industrialization. The beef, turkey, pork
and other meat
industries have also had to adapt their methods of production in order to keep up with
the demands
of omnivores. This includes the use of growth hormones in the animals to produce more
eggs and fatter
animals, which are then passed on to their human consumers. John Robbins describes some
of the
products used in today's pork industry in his book Diet For A New America:
... will also be given products like the new feed additive from Shell Oil Company. Called
XLP-30, it is
designed to boost pigs per litter, though it has a name that sounds like it should be
added to motor oil
instead of animal food. Incredibly, a Shell official acknowledges- we don't know why it
works.
This is just one example of the chemical tampering that the meat industry is forced to do
with its animals
in order to fight off the diseases that the animals' cramped, unsanitary living
conditions bring with them.
As discussed by R.G. Frey, this poses the most serious of threats to the health of
Americans because
...the liberal use of antibiotics in animal feed may, in time, build immunity in animals
and, through them,
in us, to these drugs, some of which may play a role in the treatment of human diseases
(10).
Leonardo Da Vinci said the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of
animals as
they now look on the murder of men (Robbins 148). While the cruelty of murdering other
animals for
their flesh is a moral argument in favor of vegetariansim, it seems rather unlikely that
amny Americans
could ever be swayed by its message. However, many Americans are interested in preserving
their own
health and well-being, and that should lead many people towards a vegetarian lifestyle
since a
vegetarian diet includes the necessary vitamins and minerals to sustain human life, with
out any of the
negative byproducts of animal consumption, such as cholesterol, excessive fat, and
excessive protein. A
healthy lifestyle is something benefits us all, and yet most people are unwilling to give
up the meat-filled
diets.
If the phrase You are what you eat has any amount of truth to it, then Americans need to
realize what
they are ingesting every time they enjoy a Big Mac, some Whoppers, or a filet mignon.
There are
healthier alternatives to the meat eating that nearly every member of our society has
been weaned on,
and those alternatives all include the consumption of more vegetables and the absence of
meats. It is
now up to them to realize this and make the necessary adjustments.
Works Cited
1. Farley, Dixie. More People Trying Vegetarian Diets. FDA Consumer October 1995: 52-55.
2. Fisher, Irving. The Influence of Flesh Eating on Endurance. Yale Medical Journal 13.5
(1907): 205-221
3. Frey, R.G. Rights, Killing, and Suffering. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publisher Limited,
1983
4. Messina, Mark, and Messina, Virginia. The Dietian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets: Issues
and
Applications. Gaithersburg: Aspen Publishers, Inc., 1996
5. Robbins, John. Diet For A New America. Walpole: Stillpoint Publishing, 1987
Works Consulted
1. Farley, Dixie. More People Trying Vegetarian Diets. FDA Consumer October 1995:
52-55.
2. Fisher, Irving. The Influence of Flesh Eating on Endurance. Yale Medical Journal 13.5
(1907): 205-221
3. Frey, R.G. Rights, Killing, and Suffering. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publisher Limited,
1983
4. Kleiner, Susan M. Vegetarian Vitality: Striking The Right Balance. The Physician and
Sports
Medicine August 1992: 15-16
5.Messina, Mark, and Messina, Virginia. The Dietian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets: Issues
and
Applications. Gaithersburg: Aspen Publishers, Inc., 1996
6. Robbins, John. Diet For A New America. Walpole: Stillpoint Publishing, 1987