Throughout my day to day life, people are constantly asking me why I am a vegetarian. In light of this, I thought I'd compile my reasons into an article.

First of all, no dead animals. This reason may seem obvious, but honestly is it so crazy that I just don't want to eat dead animals? I have been an animal lover my entire life and eating meat feels quite hypocritical to me. Animals in the factory farming industry are often treated poorly. Mass farming lends itself to overcrowding, poor hygiene, and an extremely low quality of life for all of the animals involved.

In addition, animals such as chickens and turkeys have been grossly engineered to produce absurdly large breast which their small bones cannot support. These animals live much of their short lives in painful discomfort, some losing the ability to walk after only a few months. Additionally, the slaughtering of animals in some cases results in painful and frightening deaths. Although most factory farms take caution to anesthetize their livestock (typically using electrical shock) prior to slaughtering and bleeding, in many case livestock may still be semi-conscious when their throats are cut.

Aside from the moral implications of consuming slaughtered animals, there are also numerous health benefits to consuming a plant-based diet. A vegetarian diet when done right can satisfy all of a human's nutritional requirements and is suitable for all human's including athletes.

Vegetarians typically have low cholesterol, removing animal fats from the diet can also limit the negative impacts saturated fats have been known to have on the body. Additionally, vegetarian diets have been consistently linked to low body fat and correspondingly lower risks of cardiovascular diseases. Vegetarian diets have also been linked with a reduced risk of diabetes and some cancers and have even shown correlation to an increased life expectancy.

The bottom line is there are many more reasons to be a vegetarian than there are to not be. When comparing vegetarian to omnivorous diets, it is clear that vegetarian diets result in improved long and short-term health conditions. Aside from health benefits, there is the added bonus of not contributing to the deaths of billions of animals annually.