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Sunday, June 18, 2006
Paquaio: Vegetarians
By Calixto S. Paquiao
Fitness & you
Vegetarians are often seen as people who are militant about animal rights or the environment. And they’re easily thought of as people who deserve to be marginalized and left outside society. They were largely misunderstood and rediculed.
These days, though, vegetarians are more respected. They are more difficult to pick out in a crowd. But I always had a high regard and admiration for these people because I myself am interested in someday becoming one of them. They are one of the most well disciplined people when we talk about food intake.
A vegetarian is someone who eats mostly vegetables. Now, within that classification lies several different categories of vegetarians based on what kind of food they eat:
Vegans-the most dedicated vegetarians, eat exclusively plant products, and no meat, dairy or fish products at all.
Lactovegetarians - also eat dairy products, but not eggs, meat, or fish.
Ovolactovegetarians - include both eggs and dairy products but no meat or fish.
Fruitarians - eat only raw fruit and supplements with vegetables.
Even with this structure there are hundreds who differ from each other as much as their diets do. For example, some vegetarians choose the diet for health reasons. Others choose to be vegetarians to make a stand against animal cruelty.
Many people choose to become vegetarians due to the increased risks involved in eating meat. However several other reasons exist for becoming a vegetarian:
1. Philosophy: Some people have a basic problem with eating meat .They’re against killing any animal. They’re convinced that humans were not created to consume other living things.
2. Anatomical: Some studies indicate that the human intestines are too long and are not intended to digest meat. Animals who are obviously intended to eat meat, those with longer, sharper teeth like lions and tigers, have shorter intestines perfect for digesting meat.
3. Sociological: Some people feel that animals prepared for human consumption are treated poorly. As a result, they oppose the preparation of meat for consumption.
4. Radical: Some health conscious individuals have ample data to suggest that meat harm the human body. Some claim that it’s prepared in an unsafe way. Others feel that chemicals in meat harm us.
Losing weight
If you’re into a weight loss program by becoming a vegetarian, chances are with this diet you will succeed due to a variety of factors. You’re changing the food that your body takes in, you’re removing some major fat content, and you’re eating food that is used more efficiently by your body. And because your body is using the food you’re eating more efficiently, you just might be able to eat more.
Cholesterol
When you remove meat from your diet, you remove another way your body takes in cholesterol. Now, this is not to say that your cholesterol level will go through the basement, but it just might get significantly lower. To check this out, consider getting your cholesterol checked before you try out this diet, then get it checked again after you,ve been on it awhile. You just might see a difference.
You will get sick less
Meat is treated with a lot of things like hormones and chemicals. The result?
Well, sometimes those chemicals can make people sick. Now, not real sick, but sometimes kind of sick. So when you remove meat from your diet, you remove another chance for something to make you sick. There is one drawback to being sick though. If you’re sick less often you’ll be at work more. Does that make sense?
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 18, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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