Humans have been eating meat for thousands of years. Today, meat has become a natural source of food. Some people, referred to as vegetarians or vegans, have chosen to go on a meatless diet. It is important to note that Vegetarianism is not merely a new “trend” and actually dates back to the times of ancient Greeks. Since then, the number of vegetarian has only been growing, and the impact of vegetarianism can only be described as positive. Now there is a pretty big amount of vegetarians in the United States. Ultimately, a vegetarian diet is better than an omnivorous one, for the practice is healthy, environmentally friendly, and prevents animal cruelty.

Plant based diets are healthier than meat based diets. In a survey taken in 2000, Dr. T. Colin Campbell proved that plant based foods were the healthiest with a 20 year long study which revealed that plants have a greater amounts of nutrients than meat but still have less calories. This study advocates for a vegetarian diet rather than an omnivorous diet, emphasizing the dietary benefits that plant-based diets have over meat based diets. Being a vegetarian is a better alternative to a human’s diet because it keeps one healthy.

Being a vegetarian is also very environmentally friendly. Studies show that eating meat wastes a lot of our resources. Eating meat is a waste because we are sharing our limited resources with animals and killing them which is not good for us or our environment. There are several ways we are using resources such as land, water, and food. Housing animals take up a lot of land, and the space that it takes to house one animal can be better used to grow many plants. Animals use more water because they drink more, and plants don’t need water when it rains. They also use more food because plants don’t need to be fed anything besides water. Being a vegetarian helps our environment while eating meat does not help.

By being a vegetarian, one also helps prevent animal cruelty, for if the market for meat does not exist, then animals would not have to be caged and slaughtered. If more people are willing to give up meat in their diets, the market will dwindle, which, in turn, will help animals by preventing them from being forced to live in dirty places like meat factories where disease and bacterias are abundant. In this way, being a vegetarian is a great way to prevent animal abuse.

Being a vegetarian has many benefits for people of all ages. Vegetarianism has existed for hundreds of years in countless cultures across the world. Quite recently, the number of vegetarians has only grown in our generation. As more surveys and studies are being conducted, more evidence is revealed that being a vegetarian is a great way to improve one’s health, help the environment, and discourage animal abuse.

<Kristian Yejoon Won Richardson Middle School 8th Grad>