Is a vegetarian diet healthier than a meat and veg diet?

Take note that I'm not asking about a vegan diet. Just vegetarian diet vs meat and veg diet.Is a vegetarian diet healthier than a meat and veg diet?
A well-balanced diet including meat (in moderation, of course) is as healthy as a well-balanced vegetarian diet.
Not necessarily. You can be a junk food vegetarian or you can be a junk food omni. There's no research that definitely proves giving up meat in your diet makes you more healthy.



Veg*ns like to point to the 7th Day Adventists as "proof" that vegetarians live longer, but they also like to ignore the Mormons who live similar lifestyles, eat meat and have about the same life expectancy.



There is no record of any ancient vegetarian people. None.



From the link:



"Comparisons of the health and longevity of cultures with different dietary habits confirms that meat eaters, such as Eskimos, Nagas and Maasai, can expect to live twice as long as primitive vegetarians. It may be said that such a comparison is flawed because the situations in which these peoples live is very different but there are cases throughout the world where meaningful comparisons can be made.



In Kenya two tribes, the Maasai and the Kikuyu, live in the same country, the same climate, the same political system and the same environment. The Maasai, when wholly carnivorous, drinking only the blood and milk of their cattle, were tall, healthy, long-lived and slim. The Kikuyu, when wholly vegetarian, were stunted, diseased, short-lived and pot-bellied. Over the last few decades, the Kikuyu have started to eat meat 鈥?and their health has improved. Since 1960 the Maasai diet has also changed, but in the opposite direction. They are now eating less blood, milk and meat, replacing it with maize and beans. Their health has deteriorated (34) .



A study by Drs. W. S. McClellan and E. F. Du Bois (35) found that the Eskimos in Baffin Island and Greenland living on a diet composed almost entirely of meat and fish, and eating no starchy or sugary foods, suffered few diseases. This was not the case with the Labrador Eskimos. They had been 'civilised' and lived on preserved foods, dried potatoes, flour, canned foods and cereals. Among them the diseases of civilisation were rife.



Dr. Sir Robert McCarrison (36) , working in India, similarly compared the northern tribes 鈥?Pathans, Sikhs and Hunzas 鈥?who ate meat and fresh vegetables, had fine physiques and were healthy and long-lived with the Plains peoples 鈥?Madrassis, Bengalis and Kanarese 鈥?who ate little meat or milk, living mainly on rice and who were overweight and unhealthy."Is a vegetarian diet healthier than a meat and veg diet?
Im just going to list a couple major points on why being a vegetarian is better:



1. Every time you eat a dead animal, you are directly responsible for its death.

If you had not purchased that food item, the grower would not find it profitable to raise, kill and transport it. The grower would have to change businesses. It's just about money. Whether or not you vote in elections once or twice a year, you vote with your wallet daily.



If you are consuming meat, you create a demand for it. Supply is not required if there is no demand for a product. That is cold economics. Also, nowhere in this argument is the equation of non-human to human beings - all life is important and necessary to the planet. While comparing value of life is inherently problematic. Not only that, it suggests that animal life has no value.



Fish are factory farmed, believe it or not! They also feel pain and are intelligent creatures although many would have you believe that they aren't.



If you eat fish, you are not a vegetarian. You are what is called a "Pescetarian". The general idea people have of being vegetarian is abstaining from eating meat.



As for fish and farming...here's an exerpt from "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer. I suggest reading the book. It's incredibly informative and eye opening.



"Industrial fishing is not exactly factory "farming", but it belongs in the same category and needs to be part of the same discussion - it is part of the same argicultural coup. This is most obvious for aqua-culture (farms on which fish are confined to pens and "harvested") but it is every bit as true for wild fishing, which shares the same spirit and intensive use of modern technology."



"No reader of this book would tolerate someone swinging a pickax at a dog's face. Nothing could be more obvious or less in need of explanation. Is such concern morally out of place when applied to fish, or are we silly to have such unquestioning concern about dogs? Is the suffering of a drawn-out death something that is cruel to inflict on any animal that can experience it, or just some animals?" - Jonathan Safran Foer



2. Eating vegetarian is healthier for you.

Sure, this is not always the case. I know a vegetarian who ate nothing but quesadillas. You can still be an unhealthy veggie, but since your options for food are slimmed down, generally, so is you waist. Also, as you learn more about why it is good to be veggie and how to be a healthy veggie, you tend to make wiser food choices.



If you look at The China Study (thank you yogini for reminding me), not to mention documentation from major associations, the facts are clear: Meat and animal products are major contributors to obesity and heart disease, the former which increases risk of diabetes. More deaths are caused by heart disease - cholesterol does not exist in plant foods, only animal "food."



Average diets on both sides would allow for a meaningful comparison to take place - more meat-eaters proportionately have high blood pressure and heart disease than vegetarians and vegans, and that is a fact.



3. Eating vegetarian is better for the environment.



Contemporary agriculture - animal agriculture, that is, contributes more to greenhouse gases than all automobile pollution. Animal waste contaminates crops, leading to outbreaks of salmonella, e. coli, and other diseases that would not occur if we did not mass produce meat.



The same resources - money, feed and human work - that are used to raise these animals could be used to feed all hungry humans, more efficiently than by routing them through the raising and slaughter of animals.



This is absolutely true. Cattle alone consume 16 TIMES more grain than they put out in meat. You could feed the ENTIRE WORLD for 7 years with the grain used in just 1 year in the US ALONE! Also, consider global warming. Cattle produce 18% of methane, the worst kind of greenhouse gas. That's more than cars, planes and ALL other types of transportation combined. Livestock farms also damage local water by leeching nitrates through the dumping of their waste, primarily fecal matter. High levels of nitrates in water have been linked to spontaneous abortions in an Indiana town near to a feedlot. Fecal matter is also the breeding ground for E. Coli and Salmonella. Water contamination with these bacteria has been linked to thousands of deaths not just from water table contamination but from that water being used to hydrate and wash nearby crops. There's more, but hopefully you get the jist. So no, it's not A LITTLE pollution.



"If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth -- beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals -- would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals?" George Bernard Shaw
It depends on how your body works. I have known people who went vegetarian but had to go back on meat because their bodies could not handle not getting certain proteins and things that the meat contained. So, in reality, it can be healthier but it all depends on who you are because sometimes it can be the worst thing to do to your body.Is a vegetarian diet healthier than a meat and veg diet?
You're going to have a lot of people telling you 'yes' or 'no'. This is not a yes or no question. You can be a very healthy meat eater or a very unhealthy vegetarian. It all depends on the person.
i can;t say i don't know i say a veg and fruit is good for u on diet and grain also but i don't what eles to add maybe fish and tuna and salmon
Absolutely! Meat causes cancer, obesity, and heart disease. Not to mention the side affects of pollution and global warming!
Yes, you consume way less saturated fat and more vegetables.
It's not a yes or no question. It depends on what you eat specifically.
No.