If you are considering becoming a vegetarian, then you must be asking yourself about the pros and cons of doing so. There are different ways of looking at this. On the macro or global scale, you as an individual, by giving up eating meat, will personally save the lives and suffering of all the animals that you would have eaten, if you had not given up.

On the other hand, a couple of hundred animals over quite a number of years will not make much difference to the animal numbers. What is more, with the Chinese and Indian populations becoming richer, it is almost certain that they will be eating more and more meat in the near future. You will be doing your bit though.

However, on the micro, or personal level, becoming a vegetarian will transform your life. Those who have faith in detox diets say that lots of the toxins that they say build up in our bodies come from the hormones, pesticides and antibiotics that are in meat yet ought not to be.

Meat, eggs and dairy products are a Westerners main sources of cholesterol and fat but cholesterol and fat are blamed for being the foremost contributor to the West’s biggest killer – heart disease.

It is a fact that there are other reasons for heart disease, yet it has been worked out that vegetarians have about a quarter of their meat-eating compatriots’ chances of having a heart attack. This seems significant, but the difference between vegans and meat-eaters is even more stark at one tenth the chance.

So, it appears to matter what form of vegetarian you become, because lots of vegetarians still eat fish, eggs and cheese and drink milk. However, by giving up meat alone, you will miss out on many of the chemicals that farmers force into their meat and poultry.

For instance, preservatives are reckoned to be linked to some cancers; growth hormones given to animals affect our own hormones and many individuals simply cannot digest milk, which causes the production of mucous and can give rise to digestive problems

On the negative side, you will need to learn a complete new system of supplying your body with the nutrients and vitamins that it needs. Meat is a concentrated kind of food so only eating a normal western meat and two vegetables type meal without the meat will soon become boring and land you in very hot water.

Malnutrition is the biggest danger that novice vegetarians have to be wary of. Obviously, it is not so a problem to get hold of knowledge to help you get your vegetarian diet right as it used to be and there is a vast choice of foodstuffs on hand for the contemporary vegetarian, yet they are not all cheap, so cutting out meat will probably not save you much money.

At the end of the day, becoming a vegetarian is a highly personal affair. It is between you and your conscience, but doing the right thing will make your life more difficult, as does attempting any lifestyle change, yet you will find it simpler as you get into the swing of things.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with detox diet menus. If you want to know more, please visit our site at