The benefits of a meat-free lifestyle

Andie Chilson, a junior at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, has been a vegetarian since age 12. Here she is pictured on a trip to New York.

Growing up, I had an innate and unprejudiced love for animals. Although I didn’t have a pet of my own until the age of 11, I took every opportunity to groom, cuddle and love on my friends’ and neighbors’ animals. At the impressionable age of 12, I watched, without my mother’s knowledge, the incredibly impactful, honest and graphic documentary on the vile inner workings of the fast-food industry titled Fast Food Nation.

Along with gut-wrenching images from slaughterhouses across the nation, I saw equally as horrific statistics. One number in particular that was branded in my mind seemingly indefinitely was the number of animals slaughtered each year for human consumption, which, as of 2006, was over 56 billion annually. Heartbroken and physically ailed by my discoveries, I declared myself a devout vegetarian from then on out.

The transition into a meatless lifestyle was relatively easy for me, as I had grown up under the culinary influence of my mother, a dedicated vegetarian for over 25 years. My meat-free diet proved to be of great interest to my friends and peers, as it was a frequently discussed topic at lunch. I was accused many times of pursuing a nutritionally deficient diet, as meat provides vital and inimitable nutrients, according to my friends and classmates.

I found this to be far from the truth. In the following months and years as a vegetarian, I went to the doctor for checkups, and invariably my health was up to par or above average, aside from slight anemia, which was quickly remedied by an iron supplement and daily spinach smoothies. I have found such success in the vegetarian diet that I have since pursued veganism, a diet lacking not only meat, but all animal products. 

For me, the choice of a vegetarian diet is just one of the ways I express my love for animals. But for those who are not as motivated by the ethics behind the diet, I would urge you to consider it for one of the other endless benefits, such as a life with decreased heart-disease, lower cholesterol levels and longer life expectancy.

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