Pros and cons of vegetarianism. Blog of useful tips: is it good to be a vegetarian

Like any restrictions, vegetarianism has advantages and disadvantages - on the one hand, getting rid of cholesterol and saturated fats improves health; on the other hand, the body lacks a number of important substances. Speaking about the pros and cons of vegetarianism, you need to consider all aspects in order to get the most complete picture of this food system and decide whether it suits you or not.

What is good vegetarianism, its advantages and disadvantages

Like any phenomenon, vegetarianism has benefits and harms, more precisely, it has strengths and weaknesses. Let's start with a story about why vegetarianism is good, and how it has a beneficial effect on the body.

An indisputable plus is a large number of diverse plant foods. The diet includes vegetables, fruits, greens, legumes, nuts, grains, cereals.

Speaking about whether vegetarianism is useful, we must not forget that plant foods are rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and dietary fiber. Contains many B vitamins, provitamin A, vitamin PP, some organic acids and minerals. It is no secret that many people who adhere to traditional diets suffer from a lack of fruits and vegetables in their daily diet. Hence hypovitaminosis with traditional fatigue, loss of strength, depression and colds. With a consumption rate of 400-500 g of fresh vegetables and fruits per day, many do not even have 100 g in their diet.

Dietary fiber, which is part of plant products - fruits, vegetables, cereals, is not absorbed by our body, does not provide energy, but is necessary for our health. They ensure the normal functioning of the digestive system, fiber enhances intestinal motility, contributing to. The benefit of vegetarianism is that dietary fiber is able to remove toxins, toxins, excess cholesterol and carcinogens from the body. As food for beneficial intestinal microflora, dietary fiber contributes to the synthesis. The norm of consumption of dietary fiber is 20-30 g per day, with a vegetarian diet this is quite possible and no difficulties will arise.

It is difficult to list all the pros and cons of vegetarianism, but the important point is that plant foods, especially dark green vegetables and herbs, contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are able to reduce the amount of free radicals, protecting us from premature aging and some diseases, including some types of cancer.

Of course, when discussing the advantages and disadvantages of vegetarianism, one cannot fail to mention that the vegetarian diet is low in saturated fat and cholesterol. This explains the fact that vegetarians rarely have heart disease, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure and obesity.

Cholesterol and saturated fats are the prerogative of animal foods.

Another advantage of vegetarianism is that plant foods are digested faster than animal foods. So, for example, the speed of digestion of vegetables and fruits is limited to 30-40 minutes, grain products - 1-2 hours, dairy products - about an hour, depending on the fat content. Against this background, meat and meat products look "slow" - for example, it will take 2 hours to digest chicken meat, 3 hours for beef, and 4 hours for pork.

Another advantage of vegetarianism is the economics of the nutrition component. Someone sees a plus in this direction. What products are the most expensive in grocery supermarkets? Of course, this is meat, meat products, poultry and fish. By excluding them, you will naturally save.

By eliminating animal meat from your diet, you will also eliminate those harmful substances that are used in raising animals - hormones, antibiotics and farm additives. Unfortunately, now many chemical components are really used when raising livestock, and almost all of them then end up in our dishes.

Becoming a vegetarian will force you to get creative with the dishes you cook. It's no secret that animal products play a big role in traditional nutrition. So, by excluding them, you may create your own vegetarian gastronomic masterpieces to surprise your relatives and friends.

What is harmful vegetarianism, its advantages and disadvantages

The first significant disadvantage of vegetarianism is the lack of protein and essential amino acids. And the point is not even that vegetarian food does not contain these components, but that we are used to getting them from animal products and not thinking about it. This disadvantage is not relevant for lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegetarians who allow themselves fish and seafood.

What else is harmful to vegetarianism is the insufficient content of calcium in the diet. Traditionally, the best sources of calcium for us are dairy products - cottage cheese and cheese. Lack leads to thinning of bone tissue and the development of osteoporosis with age. This is a dangerous disadvantage for vegans who exclude dairy products from their diet. Unfortunately, no plant sources contain as much bioavailable calcium as milk and dairy products.

The tangible harm of vegetarianism and vitamin B12 deficiency. His need seems quite small, about 300 mcg / day, but these are very important micrograms. This vitamin is involved in hematopoiesis, and its deficiency leads to macrocytic anemia, damage to the central nervous and digestive systems. Sources of vitamin B12 are meat and meat products, fatty fish, to a lesser extent - cottage cheese and cheese. Plant sources of vitamin B12 practically do not contain. A certain amount of the vitamin is able to be synthesized by the normal microflora of the human intestine, but this does not matter much, since this is not enough to meet the needs of the body.

risk of iron deficiency. This is not to say that a vegetarian diet does not contain iron at all. But there is a "but". The iron in animal products is found in the more bioavailable form of heme iron. What can not be said about plant sources. Plant sources of iron contain much less, and it is much more difficult to absorb.

Low cholesterol diet for vegetarians. Cholesterol is necessary for our body, it performs a number of important functions. The first is an energy substrate, like all fat molecules. One gram of this substance gives the body 9 kcal. Another function of cholesterol is the plastic function - cholesterol is part of cell membranes, preventing foreign molecules from entering the cell. The most important function of cholesterol is its participation in the synthesis of hormones, including sex hormones. Cholesterol is a component exclusively of animal foods and is not found in vegetable oils or vegetables. And if a person completely excludes animal products from the diet, including dairy and eggs, he puts his body at risk.

If you are transitioning to a vegetarian diet, you should spend some time getting to know the culture of vegetarianism and the rules for formulating your diet well and deeply. You can not become a vegetarian overnight, the body, like the psyche, must be prepared for this.

You may need to eat separately from other family members. You may encounter misunderstandings from friends. Perhaps on joint holidays you will have practically nothing to eat. Someone gets out of such situations by bringing food with them, someone asks to prepare separate dishes in advance, someone simply ignores joint feasts.

You should be prepared for the fact that there are still very few good cafes for vegetarians, so you will have to take your lunch to work with you. Menus in restaurants will need to be read more carefully, and some establishments will simply be ignored.

Now that you know the pros and cons of being a vegetarian, whether or not to be a vegetarian is up to you!

Speaking of who vegetarianism is not recommended, firstly worth mentioning are pregnant women and women who are planning their pregnancy soon. The debate about whether it is possible to carry a healthy baby to vegetarians has not subsided so far, but believe me, pregnancy is not the time for experiments. During pregnancy, the body's need for nutrients, including complete protein, increases, and it is very difficult to meet these needs with only plant foods.

Secondly, these are children and adolescents in a period of intensive growth. During this period, the need for animal proteins is very high. And I think it will be fair if the child grows up and decides for himself whether to be a vegetarian or not.

Thirdly if the person is going to have surgery. During this period, the need for protein also increases, and plant sources will not be enough, plus their absorption requires great effort on the part of the body.

Fourth, with diseases of the digestive system or intolerance to legumes, as they are the main source of protein in vegetarianism.

To understand in detail the vegetarianism and the possibility of using it specifically for you, you need to understand what nutritional components a person needs and how a vegetarian diet can provide us with these essential substances.

There are three main, basic components of our nutrition: proteins; fats; carbohydrates.

There are so-called minor components or trace elements, these include: vitamins; minerals; phytonutrients (essential oils and smaller components that are also needed by our body).

The need for them is measured in grams, milligrams, micrograms. Their deficiency may not make itself felt immediately, but if they are lacking in nutrition for a long time, the body will definitely indicate this.

What is vegetarianism?

A lifestyle that involves the rejection of meat products is called vegetarianism. Initially, the term was used to describe a moral and harmonious lifestyle, and only over time it began to refer to a special type of diet that excludes the use of meat-containing products.

Types of Vegetarianism

There are also more radical forms of vegetarianism, whose adherents refuse any products of animal origin: meat, eggs, milk, fish, leather and fur products, medicines that have been tested on animals. They may cook their food, but in most cases they practice a raw food diet.

Distinguish traditional, or absolute, vegetarianism - a way of life that excludes all products that have anything to do with animals. And kill-free, or alternative, - allowing the use of eggs and dairy products.

Vegetarianism is popular in many countries of the world, among different segments of the population, in different cultures and religions. In order to understand why people become vegetarians, it is necessary to look at the main reasons for avoiding the consumption of meat and animal products. Although each meat eater has his own personal motivations for starting a new type of diet, they can all be classified according to the following reasons.

Moral cause

Most adherents of a vegetarian diet are guided by moral principles when refusing meat food. They are convinced that meat-eating is an unjustified killing of animals, since, in fact, a person does not need meat to stay alive and healthy, especially in the quantities in which we are used to eating it. To support your life and stay alert, it is enough to make the right plant-based diet, which includes the necessary proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and trace elements.

There is a belief that meat carries the fear, shock and pain that the animal experienced before death. This information is capable of energetically influencing the state of a person, prompting him to aggression and self-destruction. A program of self-destruction is launched, and negative emotions overwhelm the one who abuses meat products.

Naturally, we are accustomed to enjoying a fragrant steak sitting at a beautifully served table, but one has only to imagine a slaughterhouse where the cries of poor animals are heard, and many begin to feel disgust for an exquisite dish. Such images often shape the idea of how to become a vegetarian.

medical reason

Medical reasons for becoming a vegetarian include avoiding meat to prevent the development of cardiovascular and oncological diseases, as well as to prevent problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

Meat contains bad cholesterol, which, when it enters our body, pollutes the vessels and reduces blood flow to the heart. As a result, blood pressure rises, and there is a threat of a stroke. If you replace the meat protein with vegetable protein, then the cholesterol level will normalize after a while.

In addition, scientists argue that a meat-containing diet accelerates the wear of internal organs, provoking earlier aging of the whole organism. Moreover, cancer is much less common in those who do not eat meat or reduce its presence in their diet to a minimum. And if we take into account the "environmental friendliness" of modern meat products, you can understand why they become vegetarians.

religious reason

Vegetarianism is an important aspect of many religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. These teachings imply belief in the law of karma - reincarnation after death (including in animals). Therefore, it is believed that the murder of our smaller brothers for the sake of gluttony creates serious consequences for karma. Finding happiness becomes impossible if, in order to satisfy your passion for delicious food, another living being suffers.

Partial or complete rejection of animal products contributes to spiritual and physical purification in the Christian religion, especially during periods of fasting and fasting days. Meat-eating is considered unnatural, and people who use it are compared to predatory animals.

Eco-friendly reason

For growing animals, a variety of chemical additives are used, which are very toxic to humans. And in order for the meat to look and remain fresh for a long time, it is treated with nitrates. Such an abundance of chemicals, of course, does not improve the health of consumers. In addition, many chemicals are carcinogens, which means that they can cause cancer if used for a long time and often. Therefore, everyone decides for himself whether it is worth becoming a vegetarian, but the benefits of a plant-based diet are undeniable.

What are the benefits of a vegetarian diet?

A vegetarian diet can be considered one of the healthiest for our body, especially if it is made according to all nutritional standards. Despite the exclusion of meat and fish from the diet, the plant menu cannot be called monotonous, since more than three hundred different types of legumes, vegetables, leaves, flowers, grains and stems, as well as many fruits and more than 150 types of nuts are used for food.

Vegetarians get a lot of protein by eating soy, peas, lentils, beans, wheat. Fats come with vegetable oils. And here, too, vegetarians are real gourmets. While many of us are only familiar with sunflower and olive oils, they also use corn, walnut, cottonseed, coconut, linseed, hemp, poppy, mustard, almond and many others.

Vegetarianism contributes to the spiritual and intellectual development of a person. Adherents of a kill-free type of nutrition are, as a rule, educated people who are fond of self-improvement, thinking about their diet, studying different cultures and religions.

Scientists have conducted studies and proved that those vegetarians who became followers of a plant-based diet from childhood have a higher IQ than those who gave up meat at a later age. This means that plant foods have a positive effect on the intellectual development of a person.

From a medical point of view, vegetarianism also has many advantages. Adherents of plant foods are less likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases and more likely to live to a ripe old age. In addition, if you become a vegetarian, you can lose weight, improve overall well-being and improve the functioning of the digestive tract. The absence of harmful fats and smoked meats on the menu allows you to adjust your metabolism and no longer face the problems of excess weight.

Cons of a Vegetarian Diet

A plant-based diet also has disadvantages that must be considered before becoming a vegetarian. The main argument of meat eaters is that the diet of vegetarians is inadequate due to the lack of certain amino acids that are important for the balanced functioning of our body. For example, if we eat 100 or 200 grams of meat and get everything we need, then a vegetarian should eat three times the portion of plant food in order to provide the body with the same amount of important vitamins, proteins and trace elements.

Vegetarians often suffer from iron deficiency anemia, which is also difficult to treat. Meat-eaters easily solve the problem of increasing hemoglobin by including more liver, offal, and beef in their diet. And adherents of a plant-based diet in such cases have to use medications that have a number of side effects. Pregnant women who follow a vegetarian diet should be especially careful about their diet and monitor their blood counts.

Meat eaters versus vegetarians. So is it or isn't it? That is the question!

Anyone who thinks about the problem of eating meat should examine this issue from all sides. Solutions: "I want to become a vegetarian!" - not enough. It would be useful to consult a nutritionist about the correct preparation of the menu. You should also analyze the state of your health. If there are any diseases, it is better to consult a doctor about whether changing the diet will harm and whether it will exacerbate existing diseases.

If you pay enough attention to the composition of the diet and consider all the details of how to become a vegetarian correctly, you can avoid the negative consequences of eliminating meat. In a plant-based diet, careless attitude to your diet is unacceptable. Many people are used to snacking on anything, eating on the go, ignoring the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in their diet. With the transition to a new lifestyle, this approach will not work! If a person is interested in how to become and remain a vegetarian, he must plan a diet, depending on the daily energy expenditure of his body.

How to switch to a vegetarian diet?

Not all people are ready to immediately give up meat. Even having made the decision to switch to a plant-based diet, many will suffer from a lack of this component in their diet for a long time to come. There are some rules that make it easier for the body to adapt to the new menu. Moreover, these rules will be useful both for those who are ready to completely abandon meat over time, and for people who want to lead a healthy lifestyle and reduce the negative impact of eating meat products.

Try to make your diet from vegetarian dishes, eating meat only once a day at first, and over time, reduce the amount of meat in the diet to two or three times a week.
In the summer it is better to give up meat completely, replacing it with fish. The body easily adapts to the exclusion of this nutritional component in the warm season, since a person's energy costs are much less (there is no need to constantly warm the body), and all vitamins can be obtained from fresh, seasonal plant foods.
People engaged in intellectual work, the rejection of meat will benefit. Those who work physically or are actively involved in sports should carefully select protein replacement products so as not to suffer from iron deficiency anemia or malnutrition.
One of the most effective ways to change your lifestyle or transition to a new diet is with support from like-minded people. If the decision to become a vegetarian is really very strong, you can find the same opponents of meat-eating and adhere to the principles of nutrition together.
Many great people were vegetarians and urged to follow the principles of kill-free nutrition. So if you're thinking about how to become a vegetarian, reading the writings or biographies of these well-known opponents of meat-eating will be an additional motivation. Their eloquent and persuasive words will not allow you to deviate from your goals. Leo Tolstoy, Pythagoras, Bernard Shaw and many others professed the principles of vegetarianism. And Leonardo da Vinci wrote: "The time will come when people will look at the killer of an animal in the same way as they look now at the killer of a man."

Prudent Vegetarianism

It should also be remembered that food is only a means to replenish energy reserves. A fanatical attitude towards food can cause various disorders of the body, therefore, as in any other matter, one should adhere to prudence in nutrition.

If your health does not allow you to think about how to become a vegetarian, you should not force your body. But in the case when a plant-based diet has a beneficial effect on the general condition and corresponds to moral or religious principles, it is necessary to satisfy the needs of your body and mind.

Vegetarianism is the refusal to eat meat for various reasons. To this day, it causes a lot of discussion in the media and the Internet about whether it is worth giving up meat and whose faith is cooler. Additionally, the noise is added by the most radical of vegetarians - vegans, who refuse to eat any food of animal origin - milk, eggs, honey.

Is it possible to be a vegetarian?

What should be considered when becoming a vegetarian?

The main thing that you should never forget is that the human body needs the elements and vitamins contained in meat and other animal products. You can't just give up meat to find happiness. A person who decides to become a vegetarian must include substitute products in his menu that contain the same elements and vitamins as meat products. If this need is ignored, health problems are guaranteed.

Vegetarians get sick less than people who eat meat

This is a statement from the category of those that correspond to reality, but distort reality without revealing the reasons. If a person, for various reasons, has come to give up eating meat, then most likely he is watching his body, and physical exercise, the absence of bad habits, the absence of excess weight and control over the quantity and quality of food can seriously improve your health, regardless of whether you use whether you are meat. Many studies confirming the usefulness of vegetarianism also sin with this - they do not take into account other factors that positively or negatively affect the state of the body of the studied factors.

For example - often cited as evidence of the benefits of vegetarianism, the country with the largest number of vegetarians (according to various estimates from 20 to 40 percent) - India in 2016 was in 133rd place (out of 190) in terms of life expectancy. We do not claim that vegetarianism negatively affects life expectancy, this fact is only given as an illustration of the fact that giving up meat in itself will not particularly affect the quality and duration of your life, but if you actively cooperate with your body, take care of your health , and consider it necessary to abandon the use of meat products - go for it. Just do not forget about substitute products, since with the development of the Internet, it is not a problem to find detailed lists of what to replace with.

You need to give up meat, because you can not kill animals

In general, all life on this planet only exists in order to eat someone and serve as food for someone. This is a fairly balanced system, which is violated if, for example, all wolves, all hares or all mosquitoes are exterminated. Here are a couple of examples of what food chain disruptions lead to:

A year later, thanks to the previously accumulated population of pests, crops decreased sharply and famine set in the country, as a result of which 10 to 30 million people died. So it was experimentally proved that the agrotechnical benefits of sparrows are significantly higher than the harm done.

The result of the campaign was the purchase and importation of live sparrows from the USSR and Canada into the country.

Of course, a person is at the top of the food chain and in countries where everything is fine, he can afford to choose what to eat and what to refuse, because supermarkets helpfully offer a huge selection of products. In the regions, the poorer people usually eat what they can grow, and there usually there are no questions “to be or not to be a vegetarian”.

In addition, plants and fungi are also living organisms, so vegetarians still cannot do without the destruction of the living.

With the development of agriculture, people kill less and less wild animals. If the whole planet refuses to eat meat, then this will not help wild animals much. In order for everyone to have enough food of plant origin, a much larger part of the fertile soil will have to be turned into fields, which means that the habitat of many animals will decrease significantly. Humanity will leave fewer resources for herbivores to feed on, which will lead to a decrease in the number of both herbivores and predators that feed on them. If we add to this the inevitable destruction of some of the leading sectors of the economy, it can be assumed that it is unlikely that the refusal to kill specially grown animals for this purpose will positively affect humanity and the planet.

Therefore, a very good bonus of developed countries is the opportunity for each person to choose what to eat. The main thing is not to try to impose your preferences on others and leave freedom of choice for them.

Man is not a carnivore, so he should not eat meat

Man is not a predator or herbivore, he is an omnivore. If a person could not eat meat, his stomach would not be able to digest it and return it back, as in case of poisoning. In addition, the division of animals into predators and herbivores is rather arbitrary, since the same cows are also not averse to gobble up some meat and can digest it, they just prefer grass - true vegetarians 🙂

Red meat causes cancer

Yes, there are several studies confirming that people who eat red meat regularly have a higher risk of cancer. But the risk of getting cancer from eating red meat is several times lower than the chance of getting cancer caused by alcohol, smoking, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle. So it would be worth eliminating the risks from the largest to the smallest.

It's cheaper to be a vegetarian

No. Eating well as a vegetarian can even cost a little more, as some substitute foods are more expensive than meats with the same nutritional content.

Can kids be taught to be vegetarian?

Only after consultation with a pediatrician and nutritionist, as well as after many years of own experience in vegetarianism. It will be very bad if you miss something and your child gets health problems from childhood because of your beliefs. So either let the child grow up and decide on his own nutrition, or constantly consult with doctors and undergo examinations in order to notice in time if something goes wrong.

What about veganism?

Veganism is one of the most radical areas of vegetarianism, since it involves the complete rejection of animal products. Nowadays, veganism is on everyone's lips, since many of its "adherents" are fanatics who consider themselves obligated and able to turn all people into vegans. As with other branches of vegetarianism, you can be a vegan if you are able and know how to provide your body with all the vitamins and minerals it needs.

It does not matter what, how often and with what traditions you eat, only two requirements must be met:
1) Your body should receive every day the amount of calories it needs to function normally.

2) Your body should receive every day the amount of nutrients and vitamins it needs, no matter what food, as long as they are contained there.

Should you preach veganism if you are a vegan? No. This is your own choice, which we hope no one pushed you to. Let other people make their own choices too. Want to help others get on the right path? - write a competent and unbiased article about the benefits of veganism or vegetarianism and publish it on a popular portal - someone will be inspired.

In many countries, there are criminal penalties for parents trying to keep their children on a vegan diet, and rightly so. Since often people become vegans without really understanding all the risks and not controlling their diet, but simply refusing some products, which brings a lot of problems both to themselves and their loved ones.

Q: Most primates are herbivores. Does this mean that man is also "by nature" herbivorous? You can hear from vegetarians that meat is very harmful for a person (usually there is a long list of diseases that are "from meat"). Therefore, it is necessary to give up meat and eat exclusively plant foods. So, for example, Indians have been eating since ancient times ...

The assertion that "the inhabitants of India are vegetarians" is one of the most widespread and enduring legends in European society. First of all, it must be borne in mind that Hindu vegetarianism is a rather late custom. The ancient ritual texts, grhyasutras, which regulated many aspects of Hindu life, on the contrary, indicated that different types of meat are necessary to achieve different goals: an abundance of food, maintaining speed of movement, developing fluency in speech, and prolonging life expectancy. The ancient Hindus did not refrain from eating meat if it brought spiritual and physical strength.

The trend towards vegetarianism began to appear in Indian society only in the Middle Ages, as a development of the idea of ahimsa (doing no harm). But even then, the complete exclusion of food of animal origin was not required. On the contrary, milk, butter and fermented milk products (curdled milk) were considered the best food for a child, and many ritual books mentioned meat and fish dishes. And in our time, meat makes up a significant part of the diet of representatives of the "middle" and "lower" castes of the inhabitants of the tropical states of India: Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Andhara Pradesh, Tamil Nadu.

At the same time, indeed, for many peoples of southern India, food of plant origin is the main source of energy. In some population groups, up to 98% of the calorie content of food comes from cereals, about one and a half percent of the calorie content of the diet comes from milk, and only 0.5% of the energy is supplied by meat and fish. The specificity of the situation is that in this case we are not talking about vegetarianism proper, that is, a conscious complete rejection of animal food. For the vast majority of Indian peasants and representatives of the "lower" castes, meat food simply remains inaccessible for economic reasons. The very sad consequences of such a diet for health have been confirmed by many studies. Due to the lack of essential amino acids (we get them with meat, eggs and milk or sour-milk products), protein deficiency develops, in severe cases leading to a specific disease - kwashiorkor, in which the synthesis of the body's own vital proteins is disrupted. Modern India is characterized by an extremely high proportion of newborns weighing less than 2500 g (30%) and a horrendous infant mortality rate: 57 out of 1000 live births in 2006 did not live even a year. This is directly related to the imbalance of the diet and the lack of complete dietary protein.

"Real" vegetarianism (I emphasize, including the consumption of significant amounts of milk and sour-milk products) is typical mainly for representatives of the "higher" castes of India. Apparently, the predominant contacts of Europeans with representatives of precisely these castes led to the spread of ideas about the vegetarianism of the inhabitants of "mysterious India".

Modern Indian restaurants in Europe are largely focused on maintaining the "vegetarian" image of Indian cuisine, and for Indians living in European cities, they provide "prestigious" food. Accordingly, in London, for example, most Indian restaurants are vegetarian.

About ten years ago, colleagues from the University of London decided to introduce me to Indian non-vegetarian cuisine. But it turned out that their favorite restaurant, a three-minute walk from the building of the Galton Laboratory, either closed or moved somewhere a few days ago. In search of another suitable place, we went around five or six Indian restaurants, but it turned out that they all specialize in vegetarian cuisine. It is curious that it took no more than 20 minutes to get acquainted with so many Indian restaurants in the center of London ... (Yes, then they did find a non-vegetarian restaurant. It was delicious).

As we know, vegetarianism has also spread to the "Western" world. But solid scientific research does not support the popular belief that vegetarian diets have a beneficial effect on health. Even fans of vegetarian diets with whom I had a chance to communicate could not show me a single article in which, when studying samples of sufficient size, in compliance with all the principles of the organization of medical research, the unequivocal benefits of "veganism" (strict vegetarianism) or its noticeable advantages would be confirmed. before mixed meals. And I myself could not find such works in good medical or biological journals (I mean publications in which submitted materials are peer-reviewed before they are allowed for publication). Unfortunately, convinced vegetarians for the most part react to the absence of such articles from the standpoint of conspiracy theories: they say, there is a kind of "collusion of doctors" within which publications on certain topics are simply not allowed. Alas, the motif of "world conspiracies" is one of the most reliable arguments that this or that problem does not apply to serious science (see in this connection the old, but not outdated article by Stanislav Lem about science and pseudoscience).

Proponents of vegetarianism often put forward arguments that monkeys are herbivorous creatures, and therefore for us, their evolutionary descendants, meat food is "alien". There are a number of weaknesses in such claims. First of all, what "depth of evolutionary relationship" are we talking about? The oldest primates were related to insectivores - mammals, if not predatory, then omnivorous. Why not "count" from these ancient ancestors? Then it turns out that it is omnivorous that should be considered the original, primordial type of human nutrition. And then - the development of different biotopes required adaptation from primates to different types of food. As a result, herbivory is by no means inherent in all species of modern primates: this is confirmed by numerous materials obtained in field studies in the second half of the 20th century. Primatologists can give more accurate figures, but as far as I remember, in the populations of chimpanzees and baboons, the proportion of meat food varies from 5 to 15%, which is higher than that of the poor Hindus. So the "evolutionary-primatological" argument for vegetarianism doesn't work.

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Rebuke of Vegetarianism:

Vegetarianism and its difference from Christian fasting- Holy Confessor Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Tikhon
Biblical denunciation of vegetarianism- Maxim Stepanenko
The truth about raw food and veganism. Effects. Diseases. Victims- Boris Tsatsulin
Raw food myths: favorites- Tom Billings
Should I read the Vegan FAQ?- Leonid Matseevich
Is it natural for a person to be a vegetarian?- Andrey Kozlov
Hungry lifestyle. Is raw food and vegetarianism good for health and soul?- Olesya Lonskaya
But they promised perfect health and fantastic health...- Maxim Stepanenko
- Catherine Zinkant
Today you don’t drink milk, but tomorrow you will get into a sect!(modern vegetarianism takes on occult-sectarian forms) - Uliana Skoybeda, Alexander Kulagin
India is a country of paganism, religious intolerance, monstrous rites and the wildest superstitions.- publications section

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With regard to the fruit and vegetable diet with the replacement of meat with an increased amount of milk and dairy products with the addition of nuts and legumes, in general, there are no objections. Such a variant of "soft" vegetarianism may well provide a modern person with a comfortable existence (although it would be nice to add fish). An adult does not need so many essential (complete, containing all the necessary amino acids) proteins - on average, a gram per kilogram of its own weight. Another thing is the body of a growing child, a pregnant woman or a nursing mother. They need to increase their protein intake, and it must be animal protein.

In principle, I agree with most serious nutritionists who believe that in European society, vegetarianism is rather a reflection of the worldview position ("I don't eat anyone!"). For me, a strong argument in favor of this point of view was the "rrrrevolutionary cafe" in Winnipeg, Canada, where we once went with colleagues to drink tea. In the next hall there was located, as Soviet readers would say, "a shop of political books". The distribution of books on the shelves was strictly thematic: "Marxism", "Anarchism", "Women's Rights", "Vegetarianism" ...

Andrey Kozlov, Doctor of Biological Sciences,

Candidate of Medical Sciences,

Senior Researcher

Anthropoecology Laboratories of Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Moscow State University