Vegetarianism and Its Various Benefits Research Paper

Vegetarianism and Its Various Benefits - Research Paper Example People may also turn vegetarian since they feel that human beings are supposed to eat food that is obtained only from plant sources. Vegetarianism can also be manifested in different forms and degrees with some people deciding to be extreme followers and some deciding against it. With the increase in the number of vegetarians in the world, there are sects even within vegetarians. There are some who eat eggs and dairy products and others who avoid them. They are classified into lacto-vegetarians, ovo-vegetarians, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, vegans and so on and so forth (Vegetarianism, n.d.). These categories prove the importance that people assign to the constituents of their diet in a world comprising people who are increasingly conscious of their appearances and their health. In many industrial countries this may be a survival tactic to gain more immunity against the pollution that is prevalent in these countries. In others, it may be a means of gaining protein from certain sources whil e remaining faithful to their religious practices. Anyhow, these sects within the larger group of vegetarians prove how strong the overall movement against what they perceive as cruelty to animals is. In some cases, religious beliefs can be the root cause of vegetarianism and in such instances, people start attaching great value to their vegetarianism as it is a symbol of their culture. Especially in communities that consist of immigrants, vegetarianism can be a strong reminder of the culture of the homeland and may be held on to with great strength. This can be seen in the Jain communities of the United States of America. Originally from the Indian subcontinent, the people belonging to the Jain community are mostly lacto-vegetarians and they believe in not inflicting violence upon animals. This is a part of the larger theories of nonviolence that were propounded by the founder of Jainism, Mahavir (Mehta, n.d.). The importance of vegetarian diets is significant in the cultures of Ja inism and some sects of Jains even wear cloth masks so as to not accidentally inhale insects and cause harm to them. The conflict between different cultures that believe in vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism as parts of their religion creates problems for many nations. In multicultural and multi-religious societies across the world, such problems keep surfacing. In such a scenario, it becomes important for one to analyze the position of vegetarianism in the world and whether it would not be beneficial to adopt vegetarianism as a whole. This discussion is at a hypothetical level as people are free to choose the food of their choice unless of course, there are instructions from the state to the contrary. This paper shall look at the benefits of vegetarianism for human beings at an individual level and also for the environment. It shall speak of the different positive effects that vegetarianism ahs on the human body. It shall also discuss the negative effects that the meat industry ha s on the environment and the flora of a nation. The conservation of the environment would receive a boost if the presence of the meat-production centers in the world would decrease. Vegetarian diets often have the ability to provide the body with substances that would enable it to detoxify itself. The presence of various kinds of vitamins and minerals in these diets, absent from meat-only diets, helps the body to purify itself of the toxic substances that may be