Vegetarian Worldwide

Vegetarianism is the practice of not consuming meat, with or without the use of other animal derivatives, such as dairy products or eggs.

Some vegetarians choose to also refrain from wearing clothing involving the death of animals, such as leather, silk and fur. Veganism, sometimes called “strict vegetarianism”, excludes all animal products from diet and attire, whether or not this involves the actual death of an animal (dairy, eggs, honey, wool and down feathers).

Vegetarians are found in countries across the world with varied motivations including religious, financial, ethical, environmental, and health concerns.

Vegetarians Can be broken down into several sub-groups:
* Vegan: Diet consists of only foods of plant origin.
* Lacto-vegetarian: Diet consists of plant foods plus some or all dairy products.
* Lacto-ovovegetarian: Diet consists of plant foods, dairy products and eggs.
* Semi- or partial vegetarian: Diet consists of plant foods and may include chicken or fish, dairy products, and eggs. Excludes red meat..

People choose vegetarianism for various reasons.

Health

Many people who choose a vegetarian diet do so because they believe it will benefit their health. Some of the reasons cited for a vegetarian diet include that it has a better nutritional balance, is better suited for the human body, and/or avoids contact with harmful bacteria, hormones, and chemicals.

Nutritional

The American Dietetic Association, the largest organization of nutrition professionals, states on its website “Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals.”

As an example, American vegetarians tend to have lower body mass indices, lower levels of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and less incidence of heart disease, hypertension, some forms of cancer, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, osteoporosis, dementias such as Alzheimer’s Disease and other disorders that may be diet-related. The health of a cohort of 27,000 vegetarians is currently being followed at a UK centre of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), the largest study of the long-term effects of vegetarian diet.

Religous And Spiritual see associated article

Religious and spiritual

The majority of the world’s vegetarians are Hindu. Hinduism and Jainism teach vegetarianism as moral conduct while Christianity and Islam generally do not. Buddhism in general does not prohibit meat eating while Chinese Mahayana Buddhism encourages vegetarianism. Minor denominations that advocate a fully vegetarian diet include the Seventh-day Adventists, the Rastafari movement and the Hare Krishnas.

Some adherents of Eastern religions, such as Mahatma Gandhi, claim that spiritual awareness and experiences are greatly enhanced on a vegetarian diet. In the Western world there are also individuals like James Redfield who, independent from any specific religious beliefs, share the same sentiment.

In the West this spirituality motivation is regarded by many as a New Age reason for being vegetarian. These people believe that vegetarianism helps an individual to explore deeper levels of consciousness, find inner peace and establish a connection with the Divine, through such practices as meditation, yoga or whirling.

Hinduism

Most major paths of Hinduism hold vegetarianism as the ideal, this is for a variety of reasons based on different beliefs. For many Hindus, it is a textually-advocated belief in ahinsa (nonviolence),[12] to avoid indulgences (as meat was considered an indulgence), and to reduce bad karmic influences. For others (especially within Vaishnavism and the bhakti movements), it is because their chosen deity does not accept offerings of non-vegetarian foods, which the follower then accepts as prasad.

Generally there is the belief, based on scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita that one’s food shapes the personality, mood and mind.[13] Meat is said to promote sloth and ignorance and a mental state known as tamas while a vegetarian diet is considered to promote satvic qualities, calm the mind, and be essential for spiritual progress. The Vedic and Puranic scriptures of Hinduism assert that animals have souls and the act of killing animals without due course has considerable karmic repercussions (i.e the killer will suffer the pain of the animal he has killed in this life or the next). The principle of Ahinsa (non-violence) compels one to refrain from injuring any living creature, physically, mentally or emotionally without good reason. Most of the secular motivations for vegetarianism such as ethical considerations and nutrition apply to Hindu motivations as well.

Judaism

In the Jewish religion people are allowed to consume meat, with some restrictions. Jewish law, or halakha, forbids the eating of meat and dairy products together. It also restricts which animals can be eaten to mammals with split hooves and that chew their cud, fish with fins and scales, and certain bird species. Animals are also required to be slaughtered in a manner that minimizes their suffering. There are some in the Jewish community that believe it to be a religious obligation to eat meat on the Sabbath and on holidays based on a statement in the Talmud; however, it is generally accepted that it is okay not to eat meat on those days, if one does not enjoy it. Jewish law technically requires everyone to eat meat once a year for the Passover offering, but that only applied when the Temple stood in Jerusalem. Today, some Jews choose not to eat meat simply due to the difficulty of finding kosher meat or poultry in areas far from established Jewish communities. There are also those who do not eat meat because they believe that while Jewish law permits meat, doing so is not ideal. This is based on the story of Genesis, where Noah and his family were allowed to eat meat after the Flood, whereas it had been forbidden previously. Others do not eat meat because Jewish law forbids causing needless pain to animals.

Buddhism

Chinese Mahayana Buddhists oppose meat eating for their followers but not necessarily for those who do not practice Chinese Buddhism. The Mahayana schools of Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism do not consider a vegetarian diet to be essential, nor do Theravadin Buddhists, although Theravadin Buddhists will refuse meat if the animal has been killed specifically for them.

Actual Chinese Buddhist Vegetarian practice considers the consumption of onion, garlic and chives to be the same as consuming meat. This is called,”五荤” (Literally means five “non-vegetarian”). This covers onions, garlic and chives. (Refer http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%91%B7%E8%8F%9C). Devoted buddhists typically in Asia practise this form of vegetarianism. The same classification has been stated in the ancient chinese medical book <<本草纲目>> published in the year 1596AD. The chinese doctor Lee Shi Zhen spent 27 years adding, editing and correcting medical lores with the result that the book eventually contains 1892 types of medicinal plants and 11096 types of medicines(or ways to cure illness). The book is translated to latin by P.MichaelBoym，1612AD～1659AD and rename as “Flora sinensis”. Some vegetarian Indians also remove onions and garlic from their diet as they consider the plants to impede spiritual enlightenment.

Christianity

While vegetarianism is not common in Christian thought some Christian leaders, such as the Reverend Andrew Linzey, have supported the view that Jesus was a vegetarian. Some people believe that the Book of Daniel Chapter 1 v 8-16 specifically promotes vegetarianism as beneficial. However, common theology argues that in this instance Daniel is rejecting food that is considered to be unholy by his faith, not strictly meat. Specifically, the New Testament of the Bible says that a person’s dietary choice is of small consequence and should not be a point of confrontation (Romans 14:19-21). Therefore, some modern Christians consider vegetarianism as a perfectly acceptable personal choice that has many of the same implications as fasting.

Islam

Islam allows some consumption of meat; this meat is known as “halal”, and this meat is slaughtered by the Islamic standards, and disallowed meat is haram, which is non permitted meat or meat not slaughtered according to Islam’s standards. Islam accepts the ritualistic animal slaughter done by Jews, known as shechita. (Hebrew)” Islam also excludes the consumption of pork (pig meat). Muslim vegetarians are very rare as the consumption of meat is intertwined with religious sacrificing of animals (namely caprids, bovines and camels) in Eid ul-Adha. Moreover, in Islamic jurisprudence, it is wrong to forbid what is not forbidden. When travelling to locations where it is difficult to get halal meat, Muslims eat fish instead or eat only vegetables.

Sikhism

Followers of the Sikh religion are divided in their opinion on whether their religion opposes meat consumption for Sikhs. Although many Sikhs eat meat and drink alcohol, orthodox Sikhs (or those who have chosen to be baptized) generally abstain from the consumption of meat and eggs, and certainly alcohol.

In the case of meat, the Sikh Gurus have indicated their preference for a simple diet and depending on what one sees as a simple diet could be meat or vegetarian. Passages from the Guru Granth Sahib (the holy book of Sikhs, also known as the Adi Granth) says that fools argue over this issue since both meat and vegetarian food contain life, how can be sinful over the other. The tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, prohibited the Sikhs from the consumption of halal or Kutha meat in order to boycott the Mogul Empire. It should be noted that meat and eggs are never served in the Guru Ka Langar (Free Kitchen) that runs at all Gurudwaras (Sikh Temples).