Why Vegetarian Diet?

Raising livestock is a very ineffective way of feeding the growing population of human beings.

In order to produce an overall 127,868 million pounds of meat a year, an annual 169,756 million pounds of food have to be fed to the animals. Now, one-third of the ice-free parts of the earth's surface are currently covered with pastures for cattle, while 33 per cent of the world's arable land is used to grow food for animals.

And so the 41,888 million pounds of food so wasted could feed millions of people instead and millions of animal lives would be saved.

For example, in South America, about 400 million hectares of soya crops are used as cattle feed. If this were to be used for human consumption, only 25 million hectares would be needed to feed the whole world.

According to another study, deforested land greatly contributed to global warming, raising temperatures up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

Croplands also tend to significantly heat up the environment, followed by pastures.

The carbon dioxide emissions of a cow for a year are the same as those of driving a car for 70,000 km.

On the other hand, many studies show that vegetarian foods greatly help in the prevention of heart disease, cancer and many other diet-related diseases.

Professor T. Colin Campbell, The China Study, which says that, "In the next 10 to 15 years, one of the things you're bound to hear is that animal protein is one of the most toxic nutrients of all that can be considered. Risk for disease goes up dramatically when even a little animal protein is added to the diet."

If you remember, in 2006, in the UK, serious health risk of eating the flesh of cows which were implanted with sex hormones was disclosed. Sex hormones make cows grow muscles more quickly. Implanted cows grow three pounds of meat per day - 20 per cent faster than naturally fed animals.

According to naturopathy, if we eat inorganic, denaturalized or chemically processed foods such as animals being fed with hormones, it would create a very thick layer of mucus that the body cannot eliminate it. Thus the immune system is not able to operate in this thick layer and fight against the outside enemies. And so it is very detrimental to our body and is the seed of disease causing.

Clearly, it is wise to change to a vegetarian diet for good. It is good not only for your health, but also for our environment.

Sleep and Obesity

Many studies showed that there is a link between sleep loss and obesity - a significant association between short sleep (generally less than 6 hours per night) and increased obesity risk. In other words, short sleep duration is a risk factor for the development of obesity. And the converse is true. For example, in Italy, a six year study on 1,597 respondents found that every additional hour of sleep decreased the incidence of obesity by 30 per cent.

This is because sleep is an important modulator of neuroendocrine function and glucose metabolism. Sleep loss results in metabolic and endocrine alterations. This includes decreased glucose tolerance and alteration of appetite regulating hormone. 

Ghrelin, a hormone promoting hunger, increases with sleep restriction whereas leptin, a hormone contributing to satiety perception, decreases. And leptin by itself increases energy expenditure. Therefore changes in leptin after sleep deprivation would affect both caloric intake and energy expenditure.

And so excessive food intake associated with insufficient sleep accounts for the increase in obesity risk.

To make the matter worse, severe obesity, in turn, appears to be associated with marked sleep disturbances. Such sleep disturbances may equally predispose severely obese individuals to accumulate a sleep debt and may contribute to the dysregulation of appetite, limit the drive for physical activity and further compromise weight maintenance.

Eat less, Live longer

If you want to live longer simply eat less will do.

Ageing is a product of a high metabolic rate, i.e. high metabolic rate is a risk factor for early mortality. A leading scientist, Dr Michael Mosley said if we take less calories a day, our body will adapt to it and slow down the metabolism rate, which eventually helps in prolonging our life.

He did not believe it was necessary to eat three meals a day because “what we think of as hunger is mainly habit”. He suggested that intermittent fasting could offer the same benefits. 

“If you stress the body out by restricting calories or fasting, this seems to cause it to adapt and slow the metabolism down.”

This is because calorie restriction reduces the growth of hormone IGF-1, which though maintains and repairs tissue, high levels of it have proven to contribute to cancer forming and ageing.

The same finding was obtained by the Institute of Health Ageing at University College London which said that eating 40 percent less could help extend a person’s life by 20 years.

Indulge Yourself in Chocolate

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." - from the movie "Forrest Gump"

But you can certainly know what's inside a piece of chocolate now!

Chocolate contains a large amount of antioxidants, which make your brain function better and help your body remain young and fresh for a larger period of time.

In addition, chocolate is a source of caffeine, maintaining your brain in a state of alertness for a longer period. Thus you will be able to stay focused for a more time, fact which will allow you to learn more things in a shorter period of time.

Chocolate also which brings you happiness because it increases the serotonin in your body. You will forget about your problems and worries or at least will see them in a more positive way.

If you eat dark chocolate, the benefits your brain will have are even greater, as dark chocolate is a valuable source of fibers for a good and healthy cardiovascular system. The polyphenols in chocolate inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol which is considered a major factor in the promotion of coronary disease.  If the cardiovascular system works properly, then the brain will also work well.

On the other hand, the unconstrained consumption of chocolate, without a corresponding increase in activity, can cause you increase in body weight. And chocolate absorbs lead from the environment during production, and there is a slight concern of mild lead poisoning for some types of chocolate.  In addition, chocolate is toxic to some animals such as dogs because of insufficient capacity to metabolize theobromine found in chocolate.

In any case, if life is like a box of chocolates, life would be happier and much more fun.