9 Reasons Why You Should Go Vegetarian

70 percent of all Americans are suffering from diseases that are directly related to the way they eat. Numerous studies show that a diet that's full of fruits and veggies, grains and soy is a sure way to living a longer and healthier life. Here's nine reasons why you should be a vegetarian.

1. You'll live a lot longer. Vegetarians live about seven years longer, and vegans (who don't eat any animal products) live about 15 years longer than meat eaters, according to a study from Loma Linda University. And a British research that studieded 6,000 vegetarians and 5,000 meat eaters for 12 years found that vegetarians were 40 percent less likely to die from cancer and 20 percent less likely to die from other diseases.
2. You'll save your heart. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the United States, and the average American diet that's full of saturated fat and cholesterol from meat and dairy is one of the main contributers.
3. Replacing meat, chicken and fish with vegetables and fruits is estimated to cut food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.
4 You'll reduce your risk of cancer. A study in The International Journal of Cancer concluded that red meat is strongly associated with breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute says that women who eat meat every day are nearly four times more likely to get breast cancer than those who don't. Studies have also shown that a plant based diet helps protect against prostate, colon and skin cancers.
5. On average, vegetarians are slimmer than meat eaters. That's because diets that are higher in vegetable proteins are much lower in fat and calories than the average American diet.
6. Giving up meat helps rid the body of toxins (pesticides, environmental pollutants, preservatives) that overload our systems and can cause sickness. When people begin formal detoxification programs, their first step is to replace meats and dairy products with fruits and vegetables and juices.
7. Each day, 22 million animals are slaughtered to support the American appetite for meat. By being a vegetarian you are making astrongpolitical statement by not contributing to the slaughtering.
8.You'll help reduce waste and air pollution. Circle 4 Farms in Milford, Utah, raises 2.5 million pigs every year, creates more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles. And this is just one farm.
9. Your bones will last longer. The average bone loss for a vegetarian woman at age 65 is 18 percent; for non-vegetarian women, it's double that.