Is becoming a vegetarian/vegan worth it?

[irstupid]

scrapking said:

irstupid said:
Diets in the strict sense are never worth it. Eat the food you enjoy. Enjoying the taste of food is a huge quality of life, imo. What is the fun in living if you are hungry all the time or hate the taste of the food you eat?

Instead of sacrificing food, sacrifice something else. Play an hour less video games a night and use that time to go for a walk/run, work out, play in a league, essentially something active. In that hour, you will be able to burn the calories needed to enjoy the food you love.

Though final note. Eat the food you love, but eat in moderation. You do not need to go back for seconds, let alone thirds. Eat only a bowl full of chips instead of the entire bag, or better yet reserve your treats/desserts to only once or twice a week instead of every day.

I agree with the argument, but take it in another direction.  You describe someone living on credit cards, but the bill eventually comes in the mail.  You die early or (worse yet) are sick and miserable in your later years due to not nourishing your body well.

14 of the top 15 things that make North Americans suffer and die are diet and lifestyle related.  Living it up in the first half of our lives all too often makes us miserable in the second half, sadly.  Heart disease, diabetes, many cancers, and many neurological disorders are correlated to diet and lifestyle.  And studies have clearly demonstrated that sedentary vegans have better heart health than omnivores who work-out like crazy, so no you can't just exercise it all away.  SOURCE:  http://nutritionfacts.org/video/arteries-of-vegans-vs-runners/

So I'm focused on improving the quality of my whole life, not just the 5% of it I spend eating.  I'm quite willing to be strict for the 5% of my life that I'm chewing, in exchange for the other 95% of my life being vastly better.

The longer you live the more you distrust nutritional studies.

They constantly flip flop on things, such as whether bacon or eggs is good for you for breakfast. Whether red meat is good for you or what diseases it may cause. My dad tells me of things he was told were bad for him growing up that they now say is super good. Vise Versa. Heck, even at my 30 years of age I've seen things that were the new "health craze" become something detrimental to ones health. And no i'm not talking about some fad diet, but something that sounded smart.

The point of my original post was not to say eat whatever the F you want and screw the consiquences. The point of my post was to be active and eat in moderation. I mean heck, eating chocolate and alcohal is not good for you in excess, yet a small glass a night or small piece a day is supposed to be healthy. Anything in excess is not healthy. Even working out in excess is not healthy.