World Vegetarian Day

October 1st is World Vegetarian Day and starts the kick off of Vegetarian Awareness Month! Here are 14 reasons to be a vegetarian according to the The Vegetarian Alliance

1.With proper exercise and a vegetarian diet your body will naturally regulate it’s weight (as long as you do not have any circumstances preventing this…thyroid problems.)

2.You will feel lighter and more energetic.

3.Vegetarians are 40% less likely to get certain cancers related to meat-eating (colon and prostate cancer, for example).

4.The risk of heart disease and strokes drops about 50%.

5. Mucus that forms in the throat and nasal passages is reduced or eliminated with the elimination of dairy products.

6.Lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

7.Vegetarians have been found to have stronger immune systems.

8.Lower risk of osteoporosis, Alzheimer's and asthma.

9.Life expectancy is 6 to 10 years longer than that of a meat-eater.

10. Reduce the demand for factory farming and the horrible animal cruelty that is associated with mass producing meat and dairy.

11.Reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants – Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions and 64% of ammonia emissions which contribute to acid rain.

12.Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States. This contributes to water pollution, air contamination and the destroying of top soil.

13.Animal production is highly inefficient. Animals raised for food use up 70% of the grain, 80% of the agricultural land and nearly 50% of the country’s water supply in the United States alone.

14.The average vegetarian save about 95 animal lives a year.