There are some individuals who prefer to lead a vegeterian lifestyle, claiming that removing meat or fish from their diet is the key to a healthier body as well as a better planet. In my opinion, while I admit that there are some merits to decreasing meat consumption, I strongly disagree that going against our omnivore nature is beneficial.
Proponents of vegeterianism base their dietary choices on the belief that animal meat is damaging to our health as well as the environment. It’s true that excessive meat consumption can lead to certain health problems later on in life, such as clogged arteries and cardiovascular problems. Simultaneously, vegeterians or vegans treat their dietary choices as a movement that protects living organisms and fights against animal cruelty, since they believe that it’s inhumane to raise animals for slaughter. Moreover, they claim that the environment would benefit from removing meat from our diets. This notion is partially based on the fact that excessive cultivation of livestock leads to significant amounts of methane and carbon dioxide getting released into the atmosphere, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming.
However, I oppose the stance that completely removing meat from our tables is beneficial to us. Humans are omnivores by nature, and it is not a coincidence that our evolution picked up rapidly after humans first learned how to cook meat. Meat products are crucial for our health, since they provide us with the appropriate amount of nutrients, proteins and iron. People who don’t eat enough, let alone no meat are more prone to develop anaemia, struggle with gaining muscle mass, and would need to take multiple daily supplements in order to make up for the lack of said nutrients. Furthermore, plant based diets can be just as damaging to the environment. Aggressive agriculture in order to meet the increasing demands for plant based products, like soy for example, leads to other environmental problems like soil erosion.
In conclusion, although I believe that we should decrease our weekly meat consumption and add more vegetables and fruit to our lifestyle, I do not think that a strictly vegeterian diet would be beneficial neither to our health, nor the environment.